Homesteading in a fantasy world

Next morning came through troubled sleep. At one point, I had to hold on to my sword to get some proper sleep.I was afraid that the goblins will find a way across, and the traps didn't notify me, or I didn't hear them.

But morning came, and I was not attacked by anything. I do my morning chores in a sombre mood. I will most likely not be able to leave the farm for at least a few days. If there are no more attacks, I will go back to a regular schedule.

After the chores, I decided to board up the top of the tower in a way that I’m not visible when I’m sitting there, but I still left a gap where I could look out of, when I was sitting down and hidden.

I also made a place for lots of arrows to be out of the rain and for the bow as well. So now I had one stash of arrows at the house, at the bottom of the tower, and now on top as well.

I sat there and watched until it was time for lunch, but before I could get up and go down, I notice some movement at the edge of the forest.

Soon, two goblins came out. They looked similar to the ones yesterday, one was even limping. I watch curiously as they came closer.

They seem to be arguing with each other and looking around on the ground. They had to be quite a lot closer when I finally noticed what they were looking for. I think they were tracking the goblins that came yesterday.

That was stupid of me not to erase the tracks. But if they were doing that, then most likely this wasn’t a sanctioned attack and from the look of their belly, it was quite a lot smaller and had flapping skin.

They were starving, and they had many old wounds, and one had a bad leg wound. With the bad condition they are in, I would have to assume that these are the worst-off goblins wherever they live.

Looks like they are willing to take the risk of coming here to be able to get some food and maybe a better position in their society.

I tried to listen to their language, but I couldn’t pick up any familiar words until they reached the bridge and one said go in the common language of the humans.

That was really interesting to know that they could speak some common or at least their word sounded extremely similar.

But they were now in position, one waiting on the bridge and the other one trying not to fall off the main support as he walks on it. I prepared my bow and quickly got up, startling them.

I quickly shot the one that was on the bridge, this time not aiming for the central mass but the head and hitting it, killing it instantly.

But before I could shoot the other one, he had fallen into the river and was currently drowning. My suspicions were correct. Their belly worked as a floating device making the head go under water.

I still quickly shot into the chest, hopefully making his struggles end quickly. I shot him just in case he was able to grab onto this side of the riverbank and drag himself up.

I was smart not to just leave steel tipped arrows here because otherwise I would have lost one right now and watched it floating down river.

I kept watching, but it didn’t seem there was anyone else coming, so I lower the bridge and threw the other one into the river as well.

This caused me to have to reset the traps again and doing that on a regular basis was going to be annoying. So, when I was back at home eating lunch, I thought of a quick plan to fix that.

I made a throwing hook with wood and nails that I attached to a piece of rope long enough so I could just throw the hook and drag the goblins into the river without me having to lower the bridge.

With that done, I was back on top of the tower for another stay on the watch. But I didn’t just do that, I also trained a bit of my energy, and some abilities especially the sight ones, learning more about them might help me in the future.

That evening I made some more small meat pie so I can bring them with me, and I didn’t have to leave for lunch.

I was also starting to run out of rabbit meat. I still have a lot of smoked deer meat, but I hope this doesn’t last too long or else I might be in quite a lot of trouble.

Today there weren’t any goblins, but I was still getting annoyed with the constant distractions the goblins created. A solution must be found.

During night I did dream of a solution, but that would mean going on the offensive and I don’t know if I wish to antagonize the goblins even more.

Who knows how many there are and how well organized they could be. During my chores, I also checked out my supplies, and I did have enough to make what I need.

I didn’t know if I was ready for what needed to be done. I was not certain about that, so I just went on my watch, did energy training, but mostly just thought about my next move.

To my annoyance during the evening, I saw another group of goblins show up. They looked similar to the ones before. Four moved out slowly from the forest. They seemed to be looking back at something.

Then I saw what they were looking at, a goblin that looked healthy and had an iron spear. The 4 looked to be urging him to follow.

They were stopped at the forest edge where the four were pointing towards the ground and then the bridge, and they looked like they were pleading with the iron spear wielder about something.

I guess the bigger one was annoyed because he hit one of the other ones that got too close. Then he pointed with the spear towards the bridge, and they all started walking towards it.

When they got close, I could hear that the four goblins were trying to explain something with pointing and pleading.

If I had to guess, I would say that they know the goblins that came before and wanted the goblin with the iron spear to help them look for them, but he looked very hesitant to approach.

I hoped that the goblin with the iron spear will order them to leave. As they were looking at the bridge and around it, the iron spear goblin commanded the other 4 to go onto the main supports and try to cross the bridge on both sides.

As all four goblins were about halfway across. It was time for another small fight. I shot at the goblin that was still on the bridge first and quickly killed him, but only one of the goblins on the main supports fell into the river because of the sudden surprise.

Next shot went for the one that fell into the river. The other 3 goblins were trying to quickly get back onto the bridge.

I got one more into the back before the others reached the bridge. The second one didn't leave it, and the third one got only a few steps onto the grass before I hit his back as well, making him bleed out.

Using the hook was pointless because I wanted to get the iron spear. It was in an awful state similar to the other ones, but it will still give more metal to smelt down even if it’s just to make some nails.

After all this was done and I was back on top of the tower looking out, I knew I was in trouble. If the poor-looking ones were able to convince someone higher up to help them, look for their family or friends, then certainly the one with the iron spear will be searched for.

That meant I had no other option than to go on the offensive. Sitting back and just defending will give them all the initiative and if you want to survive, giving your enemy something for free is never a good idea.

After watching for a bit, I went to gather the wood I will need and started to making the fold up walkway I thought of.

I could use it to cross, not from here but from another place, attack or scout, then quickly rush back again without ever having to use the bridge.

I will defend and control the forest because the forest across the bridge was technically my land, and I was not going to give up on it that easily.

I will make this walkway from seven sections of 1-meter-long wooden boards. They are going to be foldable with hinges.

That would never hold my weight, for that I needed to make a sideways foldable box that I could fold underneath the boards.

Foldable boxes will be on both sides of the boards. They must be made with hinges as well and will need to be slidable so they will support the connecting parts of the boards. This will make it all strong enough to carry my weight and get me across quickly.

For the hinges, I did use nails to connect them onto the boards, but also used my ability merging joints to give them some extra strength.

It was a complex build, and I sometimes needed to take things apart and rework them to be able to fold it up. I will carry it in a backpack that meant my back will be occupied.

I will need to make a hip quiver. The back one will not work, there is no room for it. I wasn’t able to finish the build completely before the sun went down, but I came really close.

That didn’t end today's work after my dinner. I started to work on the hip quiver I used the deer leather I have. Working with so little light the candle and fireplace gave me was difficult, but it needs to be done.

I finished it late into the night. It was a simple design. I didn’t make the extra slot where the bow will go when it is unstrung.

That just wasn’t required at the moment, and it would have extended the build time too much. So a simple leather tube it is with reinforced edge and a wood circle at the bottom so the arrow tips will not break through the bottom.