As a mining village, Guia Town naturally had a lot of goblin slaves.
It was just that they were all concentrated in prohibited areas and they had yet to see one up close. Similarly, in other territories, most goblins were also confined in well-protected mining spots. Normal people wouldn't be able to see them at all.
In fact, if Guia town didn't just have the most common iron-like metal, their team wouldn't even have the right to stay overnight, no matter how well-connected Bart was.
Guia village was divided into two areas: One was the village center where the accommodations of majority of the population—mostly miners', the guards', their families, as well as guests like them—were located.
This was very restrictive in itself. Because guests like them could only get visitors pass and had to pay 10 silver per day. This was not including the inn fees that rivaled those of large towns.
They heard a lot of refugees from the adjacent villages that were destroyed came here, but were eventually kicked out due to not being able to pay the visitor's fee.
They could imagine the tragic sight of desperate people simply trying to find a safe haven, only to be denied because of people's greed.
The other area was the actual mining area, which took up over half of the territory's land. This was strictly prohibited to outsiders.
It was heavily guarded and monitored, taking up nearly half of the guard team. This was also where all the goblin slaves were.
They turned to look at Gaudi, the 'veteran' who had been here for nearly three decades.
"What do you know about the other races and how do us humans fare amongst the forces in this world?" Gill asked the old man.
They also tried to find out, but this type of knowledge would take years if they didn't have the right channels.
Bart was fine, but they feared things would change if he found out they weren't from this world at all by asking too much, so for this they could only ask a fellow outsider.
The older man nodded, as a slave of the mercenary union, he had indeed overheard a lot of news through the years. "As far as I know, there has never been a hegemonic force among intelligent beings, even among humans.
"It's sad, but amongst the human territories, there was always in-fighting."
"As for the other races…" He paused, recalling his limited knowledge on the matter. "Other than goblins, I have heard of various races like dwarves, mermaids, the undead, trolls, ogres, and elves."
"The Goblins, as you may already know, are small and weak. While rare, you can still see goblin slaves from nobles and central territories. They comprise the most population next to humans in the human territory.
"They specialize in detecting minerals and ores. Amongst all intelligent beings, no one can compare to them in terms of detecting such things.
"They said even a goblin child was better than a human expert that studied stones for decades."
"What? That's amazing. There must be something to their physiques, then…" Luis mumbled, chewing on something. Gaudi nodded.
"Goblins also had the strongest fertility, so even if they're the weakest, they could make up for it in numbers. I heard of a small mercenary group from a border village had an unfortunate skirmish with a rare aggressive goblin group.
"There are still horror stories about the status of their corpses even until now, many years later."
Gaudi paused, rummaging his memory, before speaking again. "They're also extremely skilled at digging; I heard their abodes are generally dungeons and caves they created themselves. Next to the orcs, they were the other race who often attacked human territories, especially those with goblin slaves…"
"Ferrol Town and Guia village happened to both be territories near the borders of the Goblin and Dwarf territories."
This made them pause. "So dangerous?"
"I… haven't actually heard a lot of dwarves attacking human territories so far. At least not on this side.
"Dwarves are known for their ingenious weapons and tools, but they have been enslaved by humans until about a hundred years ago, and have gone into hiding since regaining their freedom.
"They are a small and reclusive race, and I have only heard about a handful of encounters after all these years.
"Elves were the smallest population, less than a hundred per generation, yet the most powerful.
"They have been extinct for thousands of years, but they were recorded as heroes. Xeno seemed to have also encountered catastrophic events, similar to our planets', and the elves saved the whole continent.
"My personal theory was that perhaps the reason why several civilizations could be sent here to survive was because of this lasting magic of the elves. But that's just my guess.
"The Undead… I have no idea except they were disgusting creatures that eat live meat. They were pushed toward the barren lands in the northwest, but I hear occasional sightings and fights.
"With no exception, it was always accompanied by massive losses on our side against this race."
"That's like zombies right?"
"Mermaids had their own kingdom on the Western and Eastern seas, though I have no idea how the two kingdoms differed."
Luis couldn't help but look wistful. And he wasn't alone. "Are they pretty?"
Gaudi looked at him weirdly. "I… from what I heard they had sharp fangs, white eyes, and aggressive temperaments…"
Gill rolled his eyes at the fools and just looked at Gaudi who was being weirded out by their questions. "Ignore them and continue."
"A-Ah, yes." The old man said, "Trolls are also called Stone men, basically made of stone, and they live next to ogres known for their green skin and grotesque appearance. The former were peaceful and timid, while the ogres were more aggressive, but somehow the two races worked well together."
"Because they live in the same areas, they often cross-marry. I had the fortune to see a crossbreed being dragged as a slave. The nobleman who bought this slave paid enough money to build an entirely new village."
"As for the others…" He shook his head, "I don't know anything."
Gaudi stopped and no one said anything, absorbing the new information. It had to be said that in the past three months, they had focused too deeply on the way home, that a lot of knowledge had been bypassed.
It was around this time that they heard a bit of commotion outside.
They looked at each other and went out, to see a line of well-equipped soldiers dragging a long line of goblins.
In the past few months they had only seen a few goblin slaves from afar, this was the first time they actually saw them up close.
It was just that, as low-key as they wanted to be in a foreign territory, what they saw made their blood boil.