Intermission 8 Page 30

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“Goblin relocation?”

“It would’ve ended before you were born, probably. Then the travel ban was lifted some time after.”

“I’m kind of surprised Lohk never told you about it.”

“In the very earliest days of the Empire, it was those who tended to live nomadically who were first designated as hostile. Orcs, goblins, apes, and so on.”

“The justification was that since they didn’t have the things humans had, they would eventually try to take those things from us.”

“Goblins never built houses because we have insulated skin. We don’t get hot or cold as easily as humans.”

“Lohk still doesn’t like sleeping indoors.”

“I’m sure they all had their reasons for living how they did. It didn’t matter.”

“But those battles had mostly ended by the time I came along, and all those people had either been “brought into the Empire” or killed.”

“Goblins, apparently, were an exception. They had a knack for hiding themselves, and still had a number of small camps in remote areas.”

“But the Emperor himself divined their locations, and the task force was sent to bring them back to the Capital.”

“By that time the narrative had changed, and we were doing it for their own good.”

“When the Guard would show up in force, most goblins would surrender and allow themselves to be transported.”

“They were forced to remain in the city in an attempt to make them conform to human civilization.”

“That’s where Goblintown came from.”

“But some of the goblins we found rejected our “offer” and fought back.”

“They fought back very, very hard.”