Alissa joined her brother, maternal instincts taking over. "Your master died?"
"Master Cornelius... good to Grix." The goblin wiped its nose with a dirty sleeve. "Give Grix food, a warm place to sleep. Now Master is gone, and Grix has nowhere."
Is that a domestic goblin? Of course, this world has domestic goblins.
Noah cracked the door open slightly, still wary. "How long have you been in this alleyway?"
"Three days," Grix sniffled. "Looking for a new home. But nobody wants Grix. I have no food, except for a chicken from three days ago."
The creature's story unfolded in halting sentences. Cornelius had been an elderly alchemist who'd bought Grix from goblin raiders twenty years ago. Too old to fight, too small to be useful in traditional ways, Grix had become a laboratory assistant instead.
Twenty years of domestication. No wonder it seems harmless. Although it looked so scary trying to go after that chicken a few days ago.
"When Master die, other humans say Grix must go. Cannot stay in nice house." More tears. "Grix try to find work, but everyone hate goblin."
Alissa's tail swished with sympathy. "You've been living in this alley?"
"Yes, sometimes. Very cold at night. Very hungry."
Grix's stomach chose that moment to rumble loudly.
"Smell good food. Make Grix remember Master's cooking."
The goblin's eyes fixed on their abandoned meal with desperate longing.
Noah finally emerged from the shop.
It's just a homeless creature looking for help.
"Are you dangerous in anyway?" he asked directly.
He wasn't sure if that goblin was being sneaky to try get him out of the shop, but from the way he was talking and his body language, Grix really seemed like a chill goblin.
Grix shook his head vigorously. "No!"
I've never thought that one day, I would meet a pacifist goblin.
The creature looked so pitiful that Noah's resistance crumbled entirely.
Noah glanced at Kip and Alissa, reading the same sympathy in their expressions. They understood hunger, understood abandonment.
We can't leave it here to starve.
"Grix," Noah said carefully, "Wanna join us?"
The goblin's entire body went rigid.
His large, watery eyes blinked rapidly as if Noah's words were spoken in some forgotten language.
"Join... you?" Grix's voice cracked. "Grix can... can stay?"
The poor thing looks like I just offered him the crown jewels.
"For meals, at least." Noah gestured toward their cooling food. "You help with cleaning alongside Alissa and Kip, we make sure you eat."
Grix's thin frame trembled. His ratlike tail twitched with barely contained hope.
"Grix is a very good cleaner!"
The words tumbled out in a desperate rush from the goblin's mouth.
"Know how to organise things, sweep floors. Master always says Grix have gentle hands for delicate work!"
Alissa's ears drooped with sudden insecurity.
"S-Sir Noah... am I not doing well in cleaning?"
The question hit Noah like a punch to the gut. Her amber eyes glistened with worry, her tail curled defensively around her legs.
She thinks I'm replacing her.
"What? No!"
Noah's response came too quickly, too loudly.
"Alissa, you're perfect at cleaning. The shop has never looked better."
Shit. I didn't think about how this would look to her.
Grix's large eyes darted between them, confusion clouding his weathered features. The goblin's excitement dimmed as he sensed the tension.
"Listen."
Noah ran fingers through his hair, his mind racing for the right words.
"Alissa, you're not being replaced. You're irreplaceable."
The cat-girl's posture gradually relaxed. Her tail unfurled from its position.
"So... we're all working together?"
"Exactly." Noah smiled, relief flooding through him.
"You handle the important stuff, cooking, and main cleaning. Grix can help with cleaning the area outside the shop, and stuff like that."
Grix perked up immediately. "Grix is very good with small tasks! Never get in Miss Alissa's way!"
The goblin's earnest promise drew a tiny smile from Alissa.
After enjoying the meal together, Grix busied himself cleaning the alleyway and their eating area.
Noah retreated inside, expecting the usual afternoon customers.
None came.
Alissa and Kip followed him in, settling into comfortable silence. When Grix finished his work, he joined them, sitting cross-legged on the floor with obvious contentment.
An hour crawled by in peaceful monotony.
The door chimed, breaking their moment of peace.
Woodrow entered with a companion, a slightly older man of similar age.
Their eyes swept the shop's occupants: a goblin, two cat-kin, and Noah surrounded by his unlikely collection of employees.
Woodrow raised an eyebrow but said nothing.
His friend had no such restraint.
"What do we have here?" The stranger's voice carried casual amusement. "A goblin and some stray kittens?"
Oh, hell no.
Noah's expression darkened instantly. The temperature in the small shop seemed to drop several degrees.
"What did you say?"
Woodrow caught Noah's shift in mood, nudging his companion urgently. He had barely stepped into the store, and he had already made Noah angry.
"Sto—"
'Damn this idiot, he still has that superiority complex. I shouldn't have brought him here. If I hadn't met him on the way here, I wouldn't have brought him. But alas, I can't change fate.'
"I said a goblin and stray kittens." The man shrugged, oblivious to the mounting tension. "What's the fuss?"
Noah's voice cut through the air like a blade. "Apologise or get out of my store."
The stranger's eyebrows climbed toward his receding hairline. "Calm down, young friend. I wasn't insulting you. It's just some demi-humans and an old goblin. Why are you so agitated?"
Just some demi-humans. Just an old goblin? You are insulting me by insulting those around me.
The casual dismissal made Noah's blood boil.
I would have kicked his old butt out of my store had I been strong enough.
Woodrow finally found his voice, embarrassment colouring his cheeks. "You're embarrassing me. Apologise."
The man looked between Noah's thunderous expression and Woodrow's mortified face. Something in their combined disapproval finally penetrated his thick skull.
"I... apologise."
"Not to me." Noah pointed toward Alissa, Kip, and Grix, who sat frozen with obvious discomfort.
"To them."