137. 6 days left (2)

The next six days did not pass quietly.

Carlos simply stopped treating every repeated task as something that needed him standing beside it.

The first troop lease taught him that quickly.

Joren Pell paid his clay share before each new work period, exactly as the contract required.

Cosmic checked every transfer. On the second day, the Four-Armed Goblin Berserker stopped one Tusked Burrower from reaching the extraction frame.

On the third, the second creature fled after the goblin met its charge head-on and drove both blades into its shoulder.

Joren said that when it crossed the territory's boundary, it vanished, which made Carlos sad. Meat from that beast could have been useful for his territory.

When the third working day ended, the goblin returned to Ironroot through the system transfer. It had cuts across two arms and a cracked lower club, but it was alive.

Carlos did not send it out again.