The Forest Feeds No Idle Goblins

"This is what Evil Throat was trying to take," Evita said, placing the red cloak she was holding onto the table. "I saw him pull it out of a large wooden barrel."

"Is that so?" Shire frowned, staring at the object on his desk.

He had just been looking for the little goblins when Evita intercepted him in the fortress. Afterward, the two of them came to Shire’s stone house.

"This must be the source of the Evil Throat Army’s Holy Water," Shire mused, nodding slightly. He then looked up at the centaur maiden. The dark cloud hanging over her had lifted considerably; it seemed killing Evil Throat with her own hands had brought her much-needed relief. "Did you run into any trouble when you killed him?"

Hearing the goblin’s question, Evita pursed her lips and gave a slight bow. "I haven’t thanked you yet. If you hadn’t specifically instructed Oreco to watch over me, I might be a lifeless corpse right now."

"Was it that dangerous?" Shire narrowed his eyes, his gaze shifting down to once again size up the object wrapped in the red cloak on the table.

"Evil Throat was still very strong. The Magic Energy Burst he unleashed was incredibly powerful. If not for the armor you gave me, I never would have been able to kill him," Evita recalled, her hands unconsciously clenching into fists as she thought back on the battle. "If Oreco hadn’t fired his arrow just in time..."

As she spoke, she fell silent for a few seconds, then shook her head. "In that moment, watching Evil Throat’s triumphant, cruel smile, I actually felt a sliver of fear. From the very beginning of the charge, I hadn’t been the least bit afraid."

"That’s nothing," Shire said with a smile, gently tapping the tabletop a few times to distract the centaur maiden. "True courage isn’t the absence of fear, but choosing to do the right thing even when you’re afraid."

Evita’s lips moved, as if she was savoring his words.

"Fear is a creature’s instinct, but courage is our anthem," Shire said with a smile.

"Thank you, Leader." Evita nodded firmly. Then, ignoring the object on the table completely, she tossed her hair and turned. "I’ll leave this for you to worry about, then. I’m going to find my people and clean up the battlefield."

Watching the centaur maiden return to her usual proud and aloof self, the corner of Shire’s mouth twitched. ’With her personality, it must be rare for anyone to see her afraid. For her to admit it to someone else... that’s practically a miracle.’

After Evita left, Shire reached out and lifted the coarse fabric. A black object was wrapped within the cloak.

It appeared to be a slightly curved horn, about the length of an adult’s forearm. The black surface was covered in several spiral grooves, and red, vein-like markings that looked like blood seemed to ooze from its base.

’A long horn?’ Shire thought, reaching out to pick it up. ’It looks pretty ordinary. The curve makes it look like a goat’s horn, but this one seems a bit longer.’

’So this is what the Evil Throat Army used to control those Slave Soldiers?’ he wondered, examining the object in his hands from all angles. ’And how could those Earth Goblins and Ogres all use Magic Energy Burst? It must have something to do with this thing.’

Without wasting any more thought on it, Shire called up the panel for the object in his hand. The next instant, he threw the black horn to the ground as if it were a grenade about to explode.

[Item: Forehead Horn of the Demon Lord, Anger]

[Quality: Epic]

[Use: Wear]

[Status: Eternal Immortality (Positive)]

[Note: Anger is searching for this horn by any means necessary. Only by reclaiming it will Anger feel complete.]

"What the fuck," Shire blurted out. "This damn thing is a massive liability."

Every intelligent race in this world knew the score: the Four Gods proclaimed themselves the side of good, and their opposites were the Six Great Demon Lords. Although their physical bodies were trapped in the Eternal Darkness Plane, their malevolent consciousnesses constantly roamed the Material Plane. Since childhood, Shire had been taught to beware the temptations of Demons and to pray to the Gods for protection from their harm.

Demon races would sometimes tear through the planar barrier into the Material Plane, causing immense casualties. The only saving grace was that the Six Great Demon Lords’ true bodies were too massive to cross over.

But now, the horn of Anger, one of the Six Great Demon Lords, was lying silently before him. It made the hair on his body stand on end. ’A Demon Lord... even one who’s a bit weaker than the Four Gods... is still a terrifying figure. If he finds out his horn is here with me, my people will be wiped out overnight.’

’No, knowing how Demon Lords operate,’ he sighed, looking up at the glowing mushrooms on the ceiling, ’my people would likely be driven into a collective madness, attacking one another until only the last one remained.’

’So this was the true source of the Evil Throat Army’s power,’ Shire thought with a grim smile as he walked over and picked the horn off the floor. ’He was certainly brazen, soaking a Demon Lord’s horn in water just to drive his Slave Soldiers into a bloodthirsty frenzy.’

’Evil Throat... was he brave, or just an idiot?’ he muttered, placing the horn back on the table. ’And now he’s dumped this mess on me.’

Shire rubbed his face and sank back into his chair. ’Should I keep this thing? Or should I find some deserted underground ruin and just bury it?’

After thinking for a moment, he shook his head. ’If I bury it, there’s no guarantee some other Green Throat or Lan Hou won’t dig it up. But if I keep it with me, who knows what other accidents might happen.’

’The Demon Lord, Anger,’ Shire thought, slowly tapping his fingers on the desk. ’Where the hell did Evil Throat get this horn? Did he rob someone’s ancestral grave or a ruin?’

’And who was it that managed to get Anger’s horn in the first place, and then bury it in the forest?’

His intuition told him it was probably those High Elves from the Ancient Times again. ’So let me get this straight, you found a way to surpass the Gods and decided to test it out on a Demon Lord first, is that it?’

’What about the other five, then? Envy, Greed, Sloth, Pride, and Lust. Don’t tell me they buried stuff in the forest, too.’

Shire pinched the bridge of his nose. ’What is this, a 5,000-year-old time capsule?’

’Regardless, I have to find a way to deal with it. Keeping it safely with me is the most secure option,’ he decided, staring at the horn on the table and beginning to think about how to store it.

’I’ll find a wooden barrel and seal it inside,’ Shire thought, gritting his teeth. ’And it’d be best to seal it in there with some Holy Water from the Four Gods Church.’

’I hear that stuff works against Demons.’