Following the alliances, it took so ti before much activity started between any of the groups. Before anything, both sides sent delegates to Lance's goblin village, and of course, for goblins, anyone would be surprised to see what they had built and how rather sophisticated their lives were… well, not all that much of course.
The goblin village humd with activity. The goblins had begun trading with their new allies with simple things at the mont, exchanging tools, food, and knowledge. The beastkin also had a few of their people staying temporarily with the goblins.
But behind the unity, sothing darker was brewing.
It began subtly—murmurs among the goblins about the beastkin's true intentions. So whispered that the beastkin saw the goblins as pawns, expendable in any larger conflict. Others claid the beastkin were preparing to betray them to the humans, after all, they had so form of relationship.
Lance noticed the shift in mood almost imdiately. Goblins who had once been eager to work with the beastkin now eyed them with suspicion, their conversations hushed and wary.
"It doesn't make sense," Lance muttered as he stood in his tent, poring over reports. Zarra stood beside him, her sharp green eyes narrowed.
[A/N: I still use tent for now because it still isn't good enough to be called a house. But of course, with the new developnts, its bound to change]
"It's too coordinated," she agreed. "These rumors didn't start on their own."
"Spies?" Lia said from across the room, her tone grim. "Spreading lies, sowing distrust, it's exactly what they'd do to weaken us. But of course, it can't be the demons this ti, also, I don't see any of our people doing sothing like this." She said.
"Maybe, but you can't be totally certain either, we won't rule it out just to be safe." Lance said.
Following these observations, Lance had Zarra position so of her scouts all around the camp to gather information. Of course, there was no need to be hidden in shadows or go around like so top spies, all the scouts had to do was take so days off scouting duties. If they heard or encountered anything, they'd just have to report back.
In such a small society, Lance had the option of just asking who said what, and by the end, it would definitely trickle down to the source, but that didn't sound good enough, so he decided to take a more complex route…
Only a few days later, Zarra returned with good news. "We've found them," Zarra announced, as she t Lance in his tent. "A number of goblins, they're the ones who have been spreading these rumors." She said.
"Goblins?" Lance asked.
"Yes, but not outright, either" Zarra replied. "They're doing a good job of hiding their identities well, but their actions speak for themselves. They're using fear to tear us apart."
Lance leaned forward, his eyes narrowing. "Can we get a hold of them now?"
"Yes," Zarra said. "We've been keeping track of them."
"Good, we'll do so right now." Lance said, urging her to take action.
'We make an alliance and all of a sudden this?' Lance thought to himself, suspecting sothing else that could potentially be the root of everything.
It didn't take ti for Zarra and her people to capture these 'spies'.
The spies were restrained and brought to the center of the goblin village where the gathered goblins watched with curiosity.
Lance went ahead to explain the situation to everyone gathered. "These are the ones who have been spreading lies," Lance announced, his voice carrying over the crowd. "They ca to divide us, to weaken us. But they failed." He said, explaining further after that. "For this! We will execute them here and now! They are not of us, they are simply enemies of our tribe and our progress." He decreed.
Following his words, Dran stepped forward, his eyes reflecting a glint in them as he held the axe in hand, waiting for the goblins before him to be held properly so he would deliver the strike. Just when the first one was dragged and his head was placed over the bucket, he scread out, pleading for Dran to wait.
Simultaneously, the spies' disguises lted away, revealing a surprising truth beneath. They weren't goblins as they had appeared to be, instead, they were the very beastkin who had been living amongst the goblins for a while.
A gasp rippled through the crowd, followed by murmurs of realization.
"The beastkin themselves?!" soone shouted.
"They've been lying to us!"
"What is this?!"
Lance who watched everything under a calm gaze, gestured for Dran to hold off as he thought to himself in silence. 'Just as I thought.'
The beastkin appeared to be angry rather than fearful, and it was directed towards the one who had called for the execution to stop and exposing them.
"What is this fool planning?"
"He even undid the spell, we shouldn't have left it in his hands." They spoke in hushed voiced that more than easily drowned under the goblins louder murmurs. Despite everything, the beastkin who had ratted out didn't even once look at his brethren, and even for soone who had just begged for his life, he didn't look fearful or panicked, rather, he appeared calm.
Lance raised a hand for silence. Following so questioning, Lance asked for them to be held captive while word was sent to the beastkin of the situation, and requesting a formal explanation from them.
Hopefully, Lance wished for this to be dealt with without violence, everything was going well, he didn't want otherwise.
As it would turn out, these beastkin had been sent by their clan leader to disrupt the alliance with the goblins, and following what the one who exposed them told, it was all a ploy to overthrow the current leader. It was a political sche that had touched them.
Either way, Lance had to report to their people of what had happened, anything that went down after that was not his concern.
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