Chapter 39: Drawings

I issued the quest.

The two goblins immediately snatched up a couple of nearby sticks and began scribbling across the dirt with surprising enthusiasm.

If anything, I was quite confident in their ability to draw.

After all, the two goblins who had previously doodled all over my walls with dicks and boobies were dead proof that goblins were at least capable of putting something on a surface.

So surely these two could manage a few simple drawings, right?

One by one, their scribbled creations began taking shape on the ground.

Of course, they weren’t anywhere close to what anyone would call "real artists." Their techniques were rough and childlike at best. Still, both of them put genuine effort into their work, each displaying their own unique brand of chaotic artistry.

First up was Gopuro.

The guy’s drawings were hilariously simple, almost comically minimalist.

He drew the sun as a big, uneven circle with straight lines radiating outward like spikes. The moon was nothing more than a slightly curved banana shape.

For the tree, he sketched something that looked suspiciously like three lopsided circles stacked on top of an upside-down ice cream cone.

When it came to the animals, he clearly decided to go with the easiest options possible.

A round-bodied bird with a triangular beak and two stick legs.

A fish that was basically an elongated oval with a fan-shaped tail, no fins whatsoever, and an X for an eye.

And finally... a single, wiggly worm.

That was it.

The entire masterpiece took him barely two minutes.

Still, a pass was a pass.

A chicken drumstick promptly materialized on the ground in front of him as his reward.

Meanwhile, Gopuran approached the task with far more care and sincerity.

It didn’t look like she was simply trying to complete the quest. She poured genuine effort into every single line, drawing with a bright, childlike smile spreading across her face as though she were genuinely excited to show off her budding artistic talent to her ruler.

As a result, her sun had a cheerful smiling face, happily "holding hands" with the crescent moon beside it.

She didn’t settle for just one tree, either.

She drew an entire little grove.

Trees of different shapes and sizes filled the scene: a tall, pointy pine tree, a leafy oak with sprawling branches, and even an apple tree heavy with round fruit. She even added tufts of grass around their roots and scattered a few flowers throughout the scene for good measure.

For the animals, she placed them naturally within the landscape instead of drawing them separately.

A small, fluffy bunny sat beneath the trees, gazing up at the smiling sun with big, curious eyes.

Meanwhile, a large, menacing wolf lurked behind the trees, baring its sharp fangs in an overly dramatic pose.

And a snake coiled quietly nearby, its forked tongue sticking out between its jaws.

In the end, everything came together into one surprisingly cohesive little landscape.

She even framed the entire picture with a neat, slightly crooked border.

"Woah..."

I was genuinely impressed.

This was way better than I had expected.

I couldn’t help but reward her with an extra chicken drumstick on top of the original prize.

But the moment Gopuro saw Gopuran receive the bonus reward, he froze.

His eyes widened.

Then his expression twisted into pure shock and jealousy.

Without a moment’s hesitation, he frantically wiped away his crude masterpieces with the side of his foot and immediately started redrawing everything with far greater ambition.

His second attempt featured more trees, more animals, and even a few extra silly details.

I couldn’t help but chuckle as I watched the competitive little goblin desperately trying to catch up with his sister.

"Alright, alright..."

I materialized another chicken drumstick in front of him, and the dude’s face immediately lit up.

He snatched it up with both hands and inhaled the entire thing in a single chomp.

"These two really are siblings... haha"

"Now then... how about we try another drawing challenge?"

I prepared another fresh quest scroll and materialized it in front of them.

This time, I had something much more ambitious in mind.

"Can you two draw a car?"

****

The new quest included several modern objects: a car, a human, a gun, a book, a dress, and a burger.

The quest scroll materialized smoothly, but neither goblin reached for it right away.

They leaned in close to read the objectives, then turned to each other with deeply puzzled expressions. They began muttering rapidly in their goblin tongue, scratching their heads and gesturing wildly at the list as if trying to figure out what on earth I was talking about.

I see...

So they can’t accept the quest because they literally don’t understand what most of these objects are.

It seemed obvious in hindsight, but I still needed to confirm it.

After all, the System was powerful enough to bridge communication between completely different races. For a moment, I had wondered whether issuing a quest might automatically implant the necessary knowledge into their minds.

Apparently, it didn’t work that way.

With that important detail settled, I quickly adjusted the quest.

This time, I asked them to draw only the objects from the list that they actually recognized.

In the end, they were only able to complete two: a human and a dress.

The rest, the gun, the book, and especially the burger, were met with nothing but blank stares and confused shrugs. Neither of them showed any sign of ever having encountered such things before.

But what caught my attention the most was how they depicted the human.

Both goblins drew nearly identical stick figures with wide, wicked grins full of sharp teeth, weapons clutched in their hands.

Some held swords and shields, others carried spears.

A few even seemed to be casting fireballs directly from their palms.

I see...

So this world really does have humans.

After all, if humans didn’t exist in this world, there was no way these goblins could have drawn such a specific image of them.

With nothing more than a simple drawing quest, I had just confirmed the existence of humans in this world.

But that wasn’t the only thing I had learned.

I had also gained a glimpse into the relationship between humans and goblins.

And my suspicion was right.

It didn’t seem to be a particularly friendly one.

The way the goblins portrayed humans... They certainly didn’t see them as kind or harmless people.

Instead, in their eyes, humans seemed to be something closer to terrifying and dangerous monsters.

No wonder they reacted so violently to my human emperor statue...

Now I finally understood why they had hated that statue so much.

But this discovery also raised another potential long-term problem.

If I continued taking in goblins, or eventually welcomed other monster races into my territory, then sooner or later, I might find myself standing on the opposite side of humanity.