Even when led by a king, goblins weren’t the most intelligent. They would almost certainly charge directly at the city. In response, countless layers of trenches, breastworks, and barricades lined the plains in between the distant army and the outermost parts of the holdings.

  With nearly 800 recruits armed with rifled muzzle loading guns, he hoped to be able to hold off the tens of thousands of goblins. It sounded ridiculous, but Kyle was certain he could kill thousands using his railgun from hundreds of meters away.

  The total 840 men armed with guns were just to stop stragglers from reaching the town and causing damage. Even though each bullet could probably kill several goblins, there just weren’t enough troops to stop the thousands that would be coming.

  The goblins had slowly moved across the plains towards the city. Within two days, they would arrive.

  Kyle watched as lines of volunteers wearing thick gloves and multiple layers of clothes laid down barbed wire across the snow-covered ground. He’d had to start a steel wire factory. Hopefully, the empire’s legions would like barbed wire as a weapon and it wouldn’t be a waste of a factory.

  Time for the first real challenge. Hopefully it won’t be the last.

  ————

  The Goblin Lord Balagg surveyed his horde. Masses and clumps of green bodies slowly rolled across the plains in an incredibly disorganized manner. Every now and then, a crude chariot carrying a shaman or squad of elite hobgoblins would pull the horde back into order, only for it to fall back into disarray moments later.

  In the distance, the human settlement was visible-huge black rectangular buildings rising above smaller wooden ones. In between the juicy loot and his army, stood a line of pits and wooden barricades.

  The horde couldn’t go around. They weren’t smart enough for even the simplest of tactical commands, so punching through was the only option.

  Balagg had fought many humans when he was a goblin, and had fought as a mercenary when he was a hobgoblin. He knew their tactics well enough-hide lines of men with poky bits of metal behind cover, while the plinky ones rained arrows down on enemies.

  The only way goblins could defeat an organised force was with numbers. Numbers that his horde was certainly bringing. Within the hour, his goblins would hit the front lines of the enemy and die.

  They would bury the enemy in bodies.

  ———

  From nearly ? of a mile away, Kyle slammed his finger down on the trigger of his railgun. With a sonic boom, the plasma-carrying rod sped away at nearly mach 5.

  In the distance, a huge explosion tore through the mass of goblins. It barely killed more than a few hundred, and didn’t stop the momentum of the force in any meaningful way. Too stupid to feel morale loss, probably. Any human army would have broken instantly after the first shot.

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  Round after round, he killed hundreds of goblins with each shot. He suspected he’d only killed a few thousand out of the tens of thousands needed though.

  Soon enough, they reached the first lines of barbed wire. Too stupid to cut through it or go thorough the small maintenance paths, they died en-masse, shredding limbs and spilling guts on the first lines.

  Those that made it over the hill fell into a 5 foot deep ditch. No spikes or anything fancy, just a hole deep enough to break the legs of the 3 foot tall goblins.

  After some five rounds of this, the outermost effective range of the riflemen came into play. With a crack, the frontline of goblins immediately collapsed as a wave of minie bullets tore into them.

  The nanofactory could make smokeless powder, and he would have if he had been nearby. But he’d been in the capitol. The best option was to have a 3 wind mages he’d hired simply blow the smoke out of the was before the next volley.

  Eventually, once he got a concrete and construction industry that didn’t rely on mages running, he would build chemical plants. As well as a thousand other things.

  But the wind mages were good enough for now.

  Although blackpowder and minie bullets were in good supply, there were only 850 men shooting at any given time. Combined with the various static defenses, they stopped the wave of goblins cold. Disgustingly, many goblins were slowed down by eating their nearby fallen comrades.

  The goblin assault had ground to a halt. The combined force of nearly 1000 riflemen, Kyle’s constant railgun fire, and the static defenses had stopped the already slow horde in its tracks.

  There weren’t that many goblins to start with, only about 30,000. Not too insane when a volley of rifle fire could kill nearly 500.

  Then, Kyle’s scanners detected something. A group of hobgoblins wearing cloaks with bones woven into them had gathered amidst the horde. They were all chanting, and a ritual circle of bones and entrails had been laid out on the dirt between them.

  I don’t think so. Kyle knew a priority target when he saw one. Slamming the trigger down, a huge detonation ripped through the circle of shamans.

  ———

  Markus had been a merchant for about a year. His father had sent him out into the world to get some experience before he could manage the family business.

  He’d built up a small business trading metal goods. Some of his contacts had told him of an incredibly cheap source of steel products, and he’d headed there to check it out.

  The prices this House Jessek was offering were insane. If he could sell these tools at market price, he would make nearly 8 times the money on his investment. He’d come back a second time with some money and a second wagon with a few lads to help him load it.

  In the distance, thunder echoed across the plains. Strange. It’s perfectly clear out…

  Walking up to a female clerk, he asked, “What’s that sound, if you don’t mind me asking?” “Oh, some goblins. I’m sure the army’s got it handled. Especially the lord. I’ve heard tell that he was a legendary Adamantine-rank adventurer before settling down, can you believe that? With that armor of his, I could see it…”

  Markus merely nodded and finished purchasing the crates of steel tools. Hammer and axe heads, chisels, pickaxes, shovels, many things. All of it was also unbelievably cheap. So cheap, in fact, that it was suspect.

  “Does this lord have a license for steel making? Merchants dealing with unlicensed producers are executed alongside them, you know.” “Yes, actually, just last week the lord went to Tetrelta for a license.” The woman looked around conspiratorially before telling him, “I thought the prices were impossible as well. But my husband was a blacksmith all his life, and says the way the lord does it is… not impossible, just brilliant.”

  Markus nodded and thanked the woman. He walked back to his waiting carts, thinking about the future of the steelmaking industry. Good times were ahead, at least for his company.