Nikola knew that he was going to meet resistance eventually. He knew that with the clarity that came from knowing that the people you were championing were hated in most towns.
But he never quite expected to meet such resistance.
"These carvings are barbaric, and we have a reputation to uphold!" The furniture craftsman told him, as he handed him the carved bone back.
"Barbaric? They are made from goblins, so they are a bit wilder, I admit," Nikola was speaking from the heart. He knew that the goblins weren't going to hold it against him, even if he agreed with the overseer, but he felt no need to demean the craft of the little green creatures.
"But that doesn't make them barbaric. That just means that they had done their craft correctly!"
The chief snorted. It was clear to everyone in the small workshop that he wasn't buying it.
"And what do you think?" the chief asked, as he held up the goblin-carved bone. "What would my buyers think if I started to put bones on their furniture?"
"Now, that is hardly fair," Nikola said, who was seeing this for what it was. No, the chief probably just wanted a discount.
Or really didn't like goblins.
In which case, this was all wasted effort on their part.
"You put ivory on the furniture, right? Then sell it for a premium price. Ivory that doesn't even have carvings on it! The goblins have put all their craft and soul into this! You can't just say that you won't give them a chance!"
"Goblins," the chief looked at Arch, Brog, and Flog so, as if they were dirt at the soles of his shoes. "Are nothing but trouble! They don't contribute anything to anything! They live off plunder and murder!"
Those were valid points, and Nikola knew that he couldn't just dispute them.
He still remembered how bloody the chest with the coins for the first delivery of meat had been.
"If they don't get the opportunity to change," Nikola began, knowing that this was his last bet. "Then how are they going to learn that humans can be partners, and not food?"
"They shouldn't need to learn such a basic thing, world traveler!" The chief roared. "Show yourself out!"
Nikola bowed his head. His brown eyes found Arch, who was clutching at his hunting knife.
"No. Prove him wrong," the brunette whispered, knowing that the goblin would hear him.
Arch relaxed.
Nikola walked on not knowing what he was going to do.
His plan had failed.
****
"Can we go to the Black Market now?" Arch asked, as he looked at Nikola so, as if the man had failed the entire tribe.
And in a sense, Nikola figured he had.
But if he didn't try to change things, how were the goblins ever going to become respectable?
"We will first go to the market," he wasn't going to give up trying to get the goblins the good recognition they so sorely needed. "And we will make a stand there. Say, can you dance?"
"What do you think we are, performing monkeys?" Arch roared, only for Nikola to raise his hand.
"No. But if the town's folk see you dancing, they will realize that you are not so different from them. It is such a peaceful thing, dancing."
Nikola had never seen a goblin dance before. He was a world traveler.
But Arch, Brog and Flog saw the error in his ways.
"You think that this," Arch began to beat at his chest while jumping in place. "Is peaceful?"
Nikola blinked. Yeah, they got him there.
"Then… fine, let us go to the Black Market," There was no chance of him ever getting the town's folk to like his wares enough to ignore who made them, Nikola thought.
It was painful for the goblins to learn things this way. It was painful for him to realize that he was the only person fighting the good fight.
But as they began to exit the town, a couple of guards stopped them.
"Do you have some bones left? We spread the word, and now some of our friends want to buy them!"
"Even though we made them?" Arch asked, his eyes narrowed.
"Sir Goblin, these are the most delicate carved bones I have ever seen," the same guard who had bought a carved bone for his son said. "And I went to an appraiser, and he told me that they are also good for warding off ghosts!"
Arch nodded. He knew that already.
"And even if the furniture crafter and the other business owners have shunned you before, we, the guards, won't! We have to deal with ghosts all the time! Please, sell us the bones!"
Nikola looked at Arch. It was his mission; the call was his.
The goblin waved him over.
Soon, all four of them were in a huddle.
"If he pays just 5 gold coins, like last time," Arch began, who really didn't want to bring home rotten meat, instead of beef sausages. "And we sell everything; how many sausages does that make?"
"Arch," Nikola said, as he smiled at the goblin. "You are thinking in the short term. It is not about how many sausages it will make, but how many investments it will make."
"Explain," the goblin said, his eyes narrowed.
"We can buy land. The tribe can farm it. Even raise their animals. That way, when the meat supply is thin, you can butcher your animals and not have to plunder the travelers!"
Arch nodded. That was a good point.
"We have no idea how to take care of animals. Just how to butcher them," the goblin countered.
"I know," Nikola told him with a smile. "But if you are willing, I can help enroll you all in night school! They have husbandry and agricultural classes! The fee is not all that big!"
Arch nodded, Nikola took out the bag with the bones and spread them over a blanket.
"Five golden coins, right?" A guard asked who had heard about the guard by the workshop having to fork over 10 gold coins.
"Yes. And if you know of someone selling land, do please let me know!"
Nikola was not going to let the opportunity for improvement slip.
The goblins needed him.
Either as a leader or on a split.
He already knew what he wanted to be for them.