My Living Shadow System Devours To Make Me Stronger

Chapter 957: Chapter 958: My Wha

”What you want?” the goblin leader asked in a coarse, unrefined version of the common tongue.

Damon was about to reply when another goblin suddenly stepped forward and grabbed his head in frustration.

”Dad, come on. I told you this before. You have to start with a greeting when meeting people.”

The voice came from another redcap goblin wearing leather armor. His expression was full of exasperation.

What caught Damon completely off guard was the way he spoke.

Fluent.

Perfectly fluent.

There was no roughness, no broken phrasing. The words flowed naturally, like any educated person speaking the common tongue.

Damon was certain that if he closed his eyes and only listened to that voice, he would never guess it belonged to a goblin.

He wasn’t the only one surprised.

Even Renata blinked slightly.

Wendy, however, saw nothing strange about it. She wasn’t familiar with goblins, and none of the stereotypes from the Goddess Races had been ingrained in her mind.

Matia didn’t react at all.

She looked completely indifferent.

It had been a long time since she had seen goblins like this. The last time she encountered redcaps they had been chasing her and her friends across the Duhu Mountains.

Back then those creatures had been terrifying.

Now?

They looked weak.

Lana, on the other hand, stared with her eyes wide as saucers.

Goblins could speak. That much she knew.

But not like this.

Not with such sophistication.

True, goblins possessed intelligence and even some level of tribal organization. Still, everything she had learned as a knight taught her to view them as little more than monsters.

Damon kept his expression calm.

Yes, he was surprised.

But not overly so.

He remembered reading system descriptions about certain races migrating to demon territories. Troll clans, for example, had once joined the nation of Mugu because the demon races didn’t belittle or persecute them.

”Ah... hello,” Damon said calmly, offering a gentle and friendly smile.

”Where are you gentlemen headed, if you don’t mind me asking?”

He made sure to sound polite.

But not too polite.

Too much courtesy might raise suspicion.

And if they did grow suspicious...

Well.

He could kill them with a single move.

The goblin who had spoken had red skin and looked almost like a human teenager, aside from his slightly pointed ears.

”Oh, it’s no problem,” he said. ”We’re headed toward the city of Trace.”

Damon scratched the back of his head awkwardly.

”I see. Forgive my ignorance. We were actually headed there too. It’s just... I’ve never left my hometown before, so I’m a bit ignorant about the outside world.”

The young goblin waved his hand dismissively and dipped his head slightly.

”Oh, don’t worry about it. You must be heading there to answer the call to arms. A lot of demon races are going to Trace right now.”

Damon kept his expression calm.

So that was it.

A call to arms.

What a convenient opportunity.

If things went well, he might even be able to infiltrate the demon army itself.

The young goblin placed a hand over his chest.

”I’m Gabo,” he said. ”And this is my father. He’s the leader of our tribe. Sorry about his common tongue. He’s more fluent in our native language.”

Damon nodded before turning toward the older goblin.

”Hello. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

Gabo suddenly froze.

His eyes widened in shock.

The reason was simple.

Damon had just spoken in fluent goblin tongue.

The other goblins glanced at each other in confusion as their leader slowly responded with a greeting of his own.

Damon smiled and continued speaking with them in their native language.

He had learned something important over the years.

If you spoke to someone in their native tongue, it immediately put them at ease. It made them feel understood. It made them believe you respected their people and their culture.

And once someone believed that, they were far more likely to trust you.

After a brief conversation, Damon smiled and extended his hand.

The gesture clearly caught the goblin leader off guard.

After all, Damon was demonkin.

By race alone he stood far above them in status.

The goblin leader let out a strange ”jeejeje” sound before finally taking Damon’s hand.

Their handshake was firm.

’I believe this is the start of a beautiful friendship.’

Of course, Damon almost felt a little guilty.

Traveling with him was dangerous.

His skill, Deathless, had a strange habit of attracting increasingly dangerous situations.

Which meant these goblins were probably about to experience something extremely unpleasant.

He really wanted to apologize in advance.

With introductions finished, the goblins stepped aside and spoke quietly among themselves. Damon watched them from a short distance, curious.

’They’re a lot more civilized than I expected,’ he thought.

After a moment, they returned.

Gabo stepped forward again, acting as their spokesperson.

”Sir, you and your wives may travel with us. We of the Horn Tribe are an unaffiliated goblin tribe—”

Damon immediately coughed.

”Erhm... my what? My wives?”

Gabo paused, confused. His eyes drifted past Damon to the four women standing behind him.

Each of them was an exquisite demonkin maiden. Renata with her calm confidence, Wendy with her casual indifference, Matia with her quiet lethality, and Lana standing stiffly like a nervous statue.

Then there was Damon himself.

A tall demonkin man with large horns and powerful wings.

To Gabo, the conclusion was obvious.

A handsome demonkin traveling alone with four beautiful women?

Clearly they were his wives.

Damon opened his mouth to correct him.

”They aren—”

”My, is it that obvious?” Renata suddenly said.

She walked forward, slipped her hand into Damon’s, and leaned her chin against his shoulder with a faint smile.

”Yes. We are his wives.”

Wendy shrugged.

”I only wanted to have children with him,” she said casually. ”But whatever.”

Matia said nothing.

Her expression remained blank, which the goblins naturally took as silent confirmation.

Lana, on the other hand, was already red from head to toe.

”Ah—my lord—I—I mean it’s not unusual for nobles to take their dames but I—I’m not mentally prepared for this!”

Damon’s face went completely blank.