Lord: Starting from a Goblin Nest

Ron took a deep breath. ”I’m ready.”

They had known for a long time that there was something strange about Quest’s identity, but he had never been willing to talk about it, and Ron didn’t want to force him.

Now that he was willing to confess on his own, it was for the best.

”It’s not that mysterious, really. It’s just that my race isn’t well-liked in any world or region, so it’s more convenient to stay hidden.”

Quest stretched. His Tiffling form and features began to twist and distort. His skin, as if coming alive, rippled like water, all the red fading away.

The small pair of horns on his head retracted into his forehead, and the tail behind him vanished into thin air. When all the parts that could identify his form and appearance had disappeared, leaving his face with little more than a pair of pitch-black eyes and a mouth, Quest’s true form was finally revealed to Ron.

”So you’re...” Ron watched Quest’s transformation in shock. He recognized the race, of course, but he found this identity of Quest’s utterly unbelievable.

”You’re a Shapeshifter?”

”Or a doppelganger,” Quest’s voice was no longer as friendly and slick as it had been in his Tiffling form; it had become stiff and cold. ”Clearly, your impression of our race isn’t a very good one either.”

”Not really,” Ron said with a wry smile. ”I’ve never even met any others of your kind. I’ve only heard about you in books and from other people.”

”An impression based on hearsay can’t really be called good or bad. But in that case...”

”It explains a lot, doesn’t it?” Quest said in an ’I-knew-it’ tone. His true form was only visible for a moment before he reverted to his Tiffling identity. ”The Mind Reading, the transformations, and all that.”

”Indeed,” Ron said, looking Quest up and down. ”First, let me assure you, I won’t drive you away or treat you with hostility because of your race. Your actions have already made your stance clear.”

”We are indeed allies.”

”But since you’ve decided to reveal your true form to me, might I ask you to reintroduce yourself?”

”Reintroduce... myself?” Quest raised an eyebrow. ”Aside from concealing my race, everything else has been true and credible. I can assure you of that.”

”I was indeed a Spy, responsible for matters related to the remnants of the Hailan Empire. And I was indeed searching for a reliable and magnanimous Lord, so I could gather my people and find a place we could call ’home’ to settle down.”

”As for before that...” Quest seemed to be reminiscing. ”A long, long time ago, I was abandoned as a babe in swaddling clothes. A kind monk adopted me and took me to his monastery to study, train, and grow.”

”If you’re asking why I’m a Martial Monk, that’s your answer—and also one of the reasons I use a Tiffling’s appearance when I’m out and about.”

”One of them?”

”Heh, you see,” Quest said, sitting at the entrance of the tent, ”doppelgangers, or Shapeshifters, rarely show their original forms to others. We know we’re not welcome.”

”Some of us fall into depravity because of it, choosing to use our natural racial advantages to engage in thievery, robbery, or swindling, or to work as assassins. Others try to change the impression people have of us. They’ll join armies or serve a Lord—like me, for example.”

”But unfortunately, no matter what profession we choose, this innate racial identity can never be erased. Some of us constantly change our forms, appearances, and homes, to always remind ourselves not to forget our true identities. Others choose to appear in one primary form and live with that identity.”

”A small, very extreme group of Shapeshifters refuse to accept, or even detest, their own bloodline. So they simply abandon their ability to transform and live their entire lives as someone else.”

”Usually, it’s not until they die for one reason or another that the people around them see their true form—because they might even forget they’re supposed to be a Shapeshifter themselves.”

Quest recalled something funny. ”I once knew a guy like that. He lived as a human in a human town for decades—worked, married, had a child. But when his wife gave birth, he discovered his child was actually a half-Shapeshifter!”

”He was terrified. He thought his wife had cheated on him with a Shapeshifter who had snuck into his house without anyone noticing! He was sad, angry, and above all, terrified.”

”He fired everyone in the house: the cook, the butler, the gardener... but he just couldn’t find any trace of the Shapeshifter! Meanwhile, his wife swore up and down that she had never done anything to betray him.”

”So, he hired you, the Spy, to investigate?” Ron asked, intrigued.

”Right,” Quest couldn’t help but laugh himself. ”Although I work for a Lord, I also take on some private jobs on the side. That was one of them.”

”I conducted interviews constantly, even questioning neighbors two streets away, but in the end, I came up with nothing.”

”It wasn’t until I finally returned to his house to look for clues that I discovered the ’secret’ even he himself had forgotten.”

”And what happened in the end?” Ron pressed.

”A happy ending. His wife forgave him for his deception—after all, he’d forgotten about it himself long before they even got married.”

Quest spread his hands. ”You see, that’s the kind of race we are. When you make a clean break with your innate identity, even you can’t accept your own existence. My dream is to find a place for a group like that to live in peace.”

”Can your Delusional Land give us that chance?”

Ron pondered for a moment. ”Honestly, this isn’t something I can decide on my own, but I am willing to help you.”

”After all, goblins have already settled on this land. But as you know, they have to find their own place to live. It’s almost impossible for them to live among others.”

”After all, the shadow that both goblins and Shapeshifters cast on other races isn’t something that can be erased in a day or two.”