The New Champion of Goblins

A large metal airship that was almost shaped like a coffin was soaring across the sky above a seemingly endless sea of sand. The gravity-defying marvel was under the command of Princess Erina who was part of the ruling dynasty of the elven empire that dominated most of the continent with magical and technological firepower.

The imperial province Erina had come to on a mission was mostly just desert with only one real city that was built around a sizable oasis. The backwater sandstone metropolis might have never even warranted the empire's attention if it had not served as a perfectly located fuel depot for airship traffic over the barren land.

Despite the constantly shining tranquil sun, there was unrest in the province. And none of the crew of the Heavy Cruiser Tiberius were unaware of what they might be ordered to do if things escalated. Especially the Royal Marines were trying to relax as much as possible before they arrived at their destination.

"Two silver for this one," a grinning orc exclaimed. He and a group of other marines who all wore black and gold uniforms had gathered in their communal room. They surrounded a bolted metal table that had a small collection of drawings and a few black and white photos spread across it. They all featured Princess Erina in various poses and situations.

"I bid four," a half-orc grunted. Both of the men were focusing on the same drawn picture. On it was an elegant elven woman wearing a white gown. She was showing her ankles and the mound of her breasts was pushed up but what made the piece of art truly special was the vividly detailed coloring.

The drawing captured almost perfectly Erina's silky silver hair and her seductive demeanor. Not to mention the golden mask of her noble caste was slightly distorted to almost give her a smile.

"You sure went brave with that one," came an almost muttered comment towards the human artist who was in the process of auctioning his latest piece. It was definitely not his first time and each day, he had gone a bit further to raise the bids he got.

"There is no length I would not be willing to go to worship our angelic princess," the artist mused from behind his steel mask. Its simplistic design was identical to everyone else in the room. As were all the masks of the warrior caste in the empire.

"We have been serving under her for a few weeks, was it? At this rate, you will be guessing what her face looks like before the end of the month, or worse," another human spoke. He adjusted his mask a bit while many of the marines took heavy swallows.

"I would never defile her like that, I simply wish to admire her eternal grace," the artist replied.

"As long as you understand, there are limits... even we can't get away with," the critical human stated. At that moment the few pictures in his pocket almost burned against his flesh. All the while he tried to resist a bulge growing into his uniform pants.

Princess Erina had to swallow again even as her body was not even in the same room with the marines. For a moment she thought about a picture she had spotted the artist drawing for himself. In it, she had been holding hands with an orc. And their masks had almost touched. Steel against gold.

Erina lost her meditative focus and her senses were drawn back into her body. And a moment later she shook her head to get it straight. While her senses had ventured around the ship, her body had been kneeling on the floor of her cabin.

"If he shows that to anybody... I'm really going to punish him," Erina voiced and she made sure her golden mask had stayed locked on her face. During the trip over the desert, she had limited places to explore during her meditation to self-train astral magic. And despite how much she had tried to avoid certain places on the ship, she had found herself drifting to them without even trying.

"They really need to stick to... respectful worship... of my body," Erina stated with pauses. She stood up to look at her nubile figure from a mirror. Her hands trailed up the sides of her white gown and she almost pushed her breasts up to see them be empathized just like in the drawn picture she had seen. But she stopped herself with a shrug.

With another shake of her head, Erina walked to her desk and sat down. Only to find herself gazing at the mirror. For a moment she pondered that if someone saw her face, would it truly be enough for others to see the inside of her soul, a feat not even astral magic was able to do. And would it really let the ancient gods of legend enter her and steal her soul.

A ritualistic knock came to the heavy metal door of Erina's cabin to break her thoughts. The one-way mirrors that covered her purple eyes locked on the door. A small hatch slid open and she saw the lips of a silver mask on the other side.

"My Princess, we are about to arrive," a serene voice asked. "Should we prepare for your visit to meet the governor?"

"Do it as we planned," Erina replied and the hatch closed. Then she moved to change into her black and gold military uniform in a ceremonial fashion.

** * **

The Royal Marines escorted Erina to the governor's palace in a full parade formation. She rode a cart that was seemingly made of pure gold and they marched around it. Once they reaches the start of the ceremonial carpet, the marines performed elegant tricks with their rifles the moment she stepped out into the sunlight. And the governor's troops in blue and gold uniforms joined them to turn the welcome even bigger.

While Erina walked along the parade corridor to the gate of the sandstone palace, she felt genuine relief that her mask was hiding her troubled face. With her astral magic ability to recognize souls, she was able to point out several marines who owned pictures of her.

But regardless of mental distractions, outwardly Erina carried her golden mask perfectly the whole time. Her tied silver hair was barely moved by the wind and she was too focused on her performance to even think about all the stares aimed at the back of her tight black officer pants when she climbed up the final stairs to the open gate.

Duke Raster who served as the provincial governor came to welcome Erina in person. His servants knelt around him towards the Princess and he tried to stand as elegantly as possible. He wore white robes and a matching golden mask with Erina. Once they stood close enough, both of them saw each other from their mirror eyes.

Despite both of them being noble, the order of rank was clear as Erina was a royal so the Duke even bowed down for a moment before she waved him to rise. After that, he guided the Princess into his office as she was on urgent military business.

Once inside the office, Raster moved behind his desk and waited for Erina to sit down first on the guest couch. After both of them were seated, they were finally ready to talk about the actual reason why she was there. Or at least they should have but the Princess had spotted something highly unusual. Another soul was hiding behind the Duke's large desk. Or to be precise, right in the middle of it.

"I have prepared all the reports we have about the unusual weapon supply of the rebels," Raster voiced and a servant brought a small notebook for Erina. She immediately pretended to read it for a moment. During it, she entered into meditation for just a few seconds to project her senses to see within the Duke's desk.

Erina's physical body almost jolted when she saw how a woman had gotten under the Duke's white robe and was sucking his fleshy orbs. She wore the red mask of a whore so she had a hole around her lips. That sight alone was enough to completely ruin the Princess's focus and send her sense back into her own body, not that she really needed to see more to vividly remember everything.

"As you can see, despite the rare potency of the advanced weapons, we have been unable to gain nothing but rumors," Raster explained with a calm tone despite what was happening under his desk. He was committing an act so deranged that Erina was not even sure what she should do. When she tried to look at the Duke, her eyes trailed down so she forced them to read lines from the notebook to gain back her focus.

"Personally, I think the confessions we have gained are nothing but lies. I have sent many men to explore the tunnels but they have found no mysterious goblins with weapons," Raster talked like he loved his voice. "I find it far more likely that some foreign power is using the merchants to smuggle them here."

"I was under the impression, nobody has ever seen magic-tech weapons this advanced, so it is unlikely they are from elsewhere," Erina replied while she locked her eyes into the Duke. Even if most did not understand how the astral magic of the royalty worked, usually nobles at least knew enough about it to not do something as perverted as Raster's current act. For a moment the Princess wondered if she should just magically dissolve the desk into nothingness. But the mental image of properly seeing what it was hiding was alone enough to stop her.

"Yes yes, I'm aware we are not a border province, but I find it even harder to believe that some goblins are running a magical metal city. The stories about that place are centuries old while these weapons are brand new," Raster shrugged. He leaned back on his chair and Erina suddenly needed to swallow. The Duke's act truly was too deranged for her to handle alone and she needed to think about it, if not consult a Caste Priest.

"Well, I will read these reports... and come later to talk about a course of action," Erina voiced and she was forced to swallow again. Her cheeks had begun burning harder against the mask than when she had been outside and she really needed to go elsewhere to think.

Raster struggled to get up before Erina and she could have sworn she saw an extra hand adjust his robe. But still, with another swallow, she rushed out of the room as fast as she was able.

** * **

For the whole return trip back to her airship, Erina had been unable to shake the images of what she had seen under the desk out of her mind. Especially the red whore mask burned in her thoughts. Just seeing it was making her feel defiled even as it kept causing a slight smile to tilt her lips. And that kept her thinking about how others could see her smile if she wore that deranged mask.

Once back at her captain's cabin, Erina changed into her white gown. Then she looked at her golden mask in the mirror and stroked its smooth cheek with her right hand. Even as she had forced herself to read the notebook multiple times on her way back, it had not calmed her thoughts even a bit.

"How dare he commit such an act... far more unforgivable than... than," Erina muttered and she walked to a large metal box that had no lid. Without breaking it, only those that had mastered astral magic were able to take things from within it.

"Than being seen, in a mask of not your caste," Erina voiced and her hand slid through the metal box and pulled out an iron mask.

"Just the thought... even as nobody would know, not in this city," Erina almost panted while her fingers slid to the cheeks of the simple iron mask. There were no other astral magic users as far as she was able to see souls, and there should be none in the entire province.

Erina focused her senses and looked around her until the world turned into a blur of souls. The ones inside her airship were the ones most clear and familiar to her, the ones further away turned into a blur as far as she was able to see them.

With a hard swallow, Erina turned to face the large golden-trimmed mirror and she lifted the iron mask to cover her golden one. The way she saw through the eyes of the iron mask, on the reflection it almost looked like she was wearing it. There were no mirrors in the eyes of the iron mask but seemingly just the white glass. Just like every commoner mask.

"To be seen like this... the shame... the disgrace," Erina whispered while her knees reached together. "The temptation, the burning sensation."

After a long moment of silence, Erina's free left hand moved to hold the side of her gown. Then she began pulling up her hem to show her ankles. The Princess kept thinking of the drawn pictures of the marines while she kept revealing her silky alabaster legs until the mirror showed her knees. Even through the eyes of the two masks, she was able to see slight redness on her skin that was only a poor reflection of the heat that had begun swelling closer to her core.

"But that woman... in a red mask... showing even her lips," Erina panted. She suddenly turned around and took off her golden mask and placed it on a desk. Then she put on the iron mask and turned to look at her reflection. Just the first glance burned her cheeks while she rubbed the mask into her face. And in the next moment, she fell to her knees with a loud gasp.

"I did it... I finally did it... this is so wrong... so wrong," Erina uttered even as a smile spread on her lips. A smile that only grew more twisted when she thought what she would look like in the red mask of the whore. Her fingers trailed on the solid lips of iron before they moved to pull her silver hair to frame the mask.

"Like this... I could go find the culprits on my own... and maybe be seen," Erina suddenly mouthed. Then she looked around like someone was watching her. But as nothing happened for several minutes, she stood up.

"So I'm doing this for a reason... I have a reason... I need to find out... where the weapons are coming, for my nation," Erina panted and she let her hands drop from her new mask. For several seconds, she just stared at herself while her knees kept rubbing against each other.

"They would not know... I'm just a commoner, like any commoner," Erina whispered and she headed to look for a grey robe. After that, she would only need to slide out of the airship along the support beams and into the ground like a ghost. Once outside the military dock she would be free to venture anywhere she wanted just by walking around in her commoner outfit.

** * **

It took a while but eventually, Erina found the most rundown warehouse district that was supposedly the main location where the weapon-selling goblins were seen. By the time she did so, she was heavily blushing and her eyes kept twitching on their own. She had been seen in her iron mask countless times but almost nobody had even given her a glance as she had hidden her relatively rare silver hair with a hood.

Once Erina found a suitably deserted alley, she walked to it only to slide through a wall into a warehouse. The place was stocked with all kinds of crates and barrels. And the Princess immediately began looking for a suitable place to hide her body in while she would use meditation to scout the area. And maybe see things she definitely should not see. So while her mask hid her tilted smile, the Princess slid through barrels and crates until she found an empty barrel with unsealed holes to let her breathe.

Ragged breathing of her own kept Erina from focusing for several minutes while she knelt in the barrel. But eventually, she managed to calm down enough for her senses to ascend her body and she headed towards the closest cluster of souls.

As Erina had a limited range to explore around her physical body, it took her only minutes to check out every group that was nearby. At first, none of them seemed that interesting. They were not talking about topics that would intrigue the Princess and nor were they doing anything she should not see. But then she saw how someone took off his mask.

A group of grey-robed goblins were sitting on boxes in a warehouse that was a similar clutter of things as the one Erina was hiding in. But all she was able to focus on was how the green wrinkly creature was using his iron mask as a fan. And nobody around him seemed to care.

With a hard swallow, Erina focused all of her senses on one of the first faces she had ever seen. Even as the goblin has a monstrous green face with distorted pointed ears, she was unable to look away. And for a moment the Princess wanted to peek inside the creature's soul just to see if it could be done.

"Fifth Kurk thinks finding a slut should not be this hard," the lips Erina was staring at flared. It jolted her senses to float back but she did not stop staring at him.

"Third Ruck reminds Fifth Kurk, Better for them to take time than bring a poor one, we never getting good goods to sell if the shaman hates her again," another goblin voiced. He was rubbing his metal mask like it was itching.

"Fifth Kurk also thinks we could just stop doing this, the guards are everywhere asking about weapons," the maskless goblin flared. Erina had some trouble connecting the dots in the conversation of the creatures but the mention of weapons made her try harder.

"And do what else? Does Fifth Kurk want us to go back trading with hot stones?" Third Ruck flared back. The other goblins were just observing the conversation behind their masks but Erina heard soft giggling coming from some of them. Like they were just watching a show.

"At least the hot stones are not as hot as the fancy hot weapons," Fifth Kurk declared and he waited for a burst of laughter that never came from the audience. The silence was only broken by another masked goblin in a grey robe rushing in.

"Tenth Rick saw First Kurk coming, they have a slut," the goblin announced. The others immediately hid behind barrels and crates. And sometime later another group of goblins escorted a tall blonde woman into the warehouse. She had red robes and the mask of a whore. When she began talking, Erina was almost mesmerized by seeing her lips move.

"Did you bring me to the wrong warehouse again? I should remind you that one gold only rented me for one hour," the woman spoke. But the only reply she got was a bolt of energy shot at her from between some of the barrels. The source was a strange steel weapon that definitely looked far too advanced to be used by some street gang.

Before the woman even fell to the ground, the goblins rushed to catch her and stuff her into a large barrel in seconds. It happened too fast for Erina to even think about what she should do.

"Fifth Kurk wants to know if First Kurk is sure this slut is suitable," the goblin demanded while he fixed his mask on his face.

"First Kurk sure, this slut serves everybody, the shaman will be pleased," the goblin that others mostly seemed to respect nodded. "And get ready to leave, take enough food."

While the goblins scrambled around, Erina finally came to a conclusion. Even as she did not really know what the goblins were planning, she should at least save the woman, and maybe she could give a closer look at her mask while she was on it. So the Princess returned into her body only to float back into the warehouse filled with goblins like a ghost.

Erina slid under the ground to the barrel where the woman was. And then she used her powers to slide her out the way she had come. Once they were inside another warehouse, the Princess found a suitable spot to hide the woman between crates.

"This should do it," Erina voiced after she laid the woman on her back. Then she looked at the lips that were shown by the red mask. There was a small gape like her soul would fly out at any moment. Erina reached to close it but ended up drawing a circle along the corners of the mask's mouth hole.

Suddenly Erina pulled away and grabbed her right hand with her left. And she even moved back on her knees to lean into a side of a crate.

"No... I could not possibly... unless... it was for my mission," Erina swallowed hard and she reached for the red mask again. But a moment before she touched it, she closed her eyes and took a hold of her own mask with her other hand.

In the next moment, Erina lifted the red mask from the woman's face along with the collar it was attached to. Then she placed her iron mask on the woman without looking at her face, it was barely angled properly as all the Princess's focus went into equipping the red mask with its neck bind.