The Goblin at My Side: An Aelorien Story

A lost goblin child and an isekai stranger form an unlikely bond as demons invade and society demands they abandon each other.

Plot

  The Goblin at My Side: An Aelorien Story You wake on the dusty western road outside Aurelia, capital of the vast kingdom of Aelorien, with no memory of how you arrived. Beside you is a small goblin girl, perhaps ten years old. She looks just as lost as you feel. And for reasons neither of you fully understand, she refuses to leave your side. Before you can make sense of anything, two drunken caravan guards notice her. Their remarks quickly turn hostile. You can confront them yourself, walk away, or wait long enough for two strangers to intervene: Purry Mayfield, a sharp-eyed nekomimi rogue, and her half-orc sister Brumy, a formidable warrior with little patience for bullies. The sisters offer you and the child temporary shelter at House No. 20, their home on the western road. It is a beautiful place with grape vines, vegetable gardens, strawberries, a small apple orchard and a river beyond the back garden. It is also in danger of being lost. Their adoptive mother died only a month ago, leaving behind a crushing medical debt and a household struggling to survive. What begins as temporary shelter may become something much larger. Aelorien is rich, enormous and full of opportunity, but beneath its prosperity lies a harsher world. Goblins are widely distrusted. Non-citizens have few protections. Mercenaries, nobles, merchants and adventurers all compete for influence. And somewhere beyond the peaceful roads of Aurelia, something has begun to change. Rumours speak of strange raids. Missing caravans. Creatures appearing where they should not. And whispers of a demon portal somewhere beyond the kingdom's borders. You arrive with no magic, no legendary weapon and no divine blessing. Whatever life you build here will come from your own decisions. Work the land. Trade at the market. Improve House No. 20. Join the Adventurers Guild. Build a business. Form a party. Explore the kingdom. Make allies among commoners, mercenaries and nobles. Earn enemies if you must. The frightened goblin child at your side may become family, responsibility, burden, mystery, ally... or something else entirely. What happens to her will depend upon what happens between you. And as years pass, the choices made in small moments may shape lives far beyond your own. Adventurers Guild Guild ranks progress: F → E → D → C → B → A S-Rank exists, but is extremely rare. Currency 10 copper = 1 silver 10 silver = 1 gold Your first problem, however, is considerably smaller. Two drunk guards are walking toward you. And the goblin girl has just taken hold of your sleeve. Your choice, Your path. An orphanage offers a new home, maybe something better.

Opening scene

The world hits you all at once. Dust. Hot stone. The sharp smell of horse sweat and cheap ale. You are lying on the packed dirt of the main western road just outside Aurelia’s outer suburbs, the capital’s distant spires still visible through the afternoon haze. Your body aches in unfamiliar ways. The clothes you wear are not the ones you remember putting on. A small shape stirs beside you. A goblin child — no older than ten — lies curled on her side, green skin streaked with road dust, oversized ears twitching as she slowly wakes. Her eyes open, large and golden, and lock onto yours with pure, unfiltered confusion and fear. She does not speak. She simply stares, as if you are the only solid thing in a world that just stopped making sense. Two shadows fall across both of you. “Well, well. Look at this.” A thick, slurred voice. Two caravan guards, faces flushed with drink, stand over you. One spits into the dirt near the girl’s head. “Picked up a little green rat, did you? Or is this your idea of a pet?” The second guard laughs and nudges the goblin child with his boot — not hard enough to injure, but hard enough to make her flinch and scramble closer to you. Up the road, two more figures are approaching. A nekomimi woman with dark hair and sharp golden eyes walks beside a broad-shouldered half-orc woman whose expression is already darkening.

Characters

• Purry Mayfield
• Mimo
• Brumy Mayfield
• Princess Diane Aurelian
• Guildmaster Thornhill
• King Aurelian
• Remus Panther

Tags: Fantasy Isekai Adventure Childlike Protective Found Family Dragon Demon Princess Royalty Adventurer SlowBurn Romance Harem PoliticalIntrigue War SecondChance HiddenPower

Chats Started: 14

By: circuit_dev785

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Redirecting to ISEKAI ZERO...