Chapter 190 - 162: Goblin Kingdom
"The Feathered Serpent Kingdom," Cyan Hide said, his head lowered. "I was driven out of that Goblin Kingdom."
"Feathered Serpent?" Shire gently tapped the armrest of his high-backed chair. He hadn’t heard of this Kingdom, and no goblin had ever mentioned it to him. "Were all of you driven out of that Kingdom?"
"Yes, the goblins in the Evil Throat Army all come from the Kingdom."
"Do you remember anything else about that Kingdom?" Shire calmly looked at the goblin before him.
"It’s huge. There are lots of stone houses in the woods. Some goblins live in those stone houses, and others live underground," Cyan Hide said, tilting his head up as he tried hard to recall everything. His memory wasn’t particularly strong, and coupled with a goblin’s typical Intelligence, the information he could provide was limited. "In the middle, there’s a big, multi-story building. The god the goblins believe in lives inside."
’The god the goblins believe in?’ Shire narrowed his eyes. He instinctively knew what it was—an Evil God.
"Are there a lot of goblins living there?" He tried to recall the continent’s map from memory. Many maps didn’t clearly depict the Nightmare Forest region, but they almost all drew a lake in the center of the forest. That was Darren Lake, and the Darren River that flowed through Yangjiao Town originated from it.
The word "Darren" was also from an ancient language, said to be derived from Dragon Speech, meaning "eternal sleep."
’Which means this Goblin Kingdom is likely near Darren Lake.’ Shire glanced at Cyan Hide, who was still struggling to remember. ’If its name is Feathered Serpent, does that mean the Evil God is a Feathered Serpent?’
"Since you were all driven out, the Feathered Serpent Kingdom must be full of powerful goblins," he said, lightly tapping the table to interrupt the other’s reminiscing. "There should be quite a few Bear Goblins living there."
Cyan Hide didn’t answer immediately. Instead, he tilted his head and thought for a few seconds. "They’re not very strong, just ordinary goblins. Some of them can’t even beat me. There are no Bear Goblins in the Kingdom. Not a single one."
"None?" Shire tapped slowly on the table. ’That doesn’t make sense. If this Kingdom believes in an Evil God, there should be many Blessings of the Evil God. Once a goblin receives a blessing, its offspring are born as Bear Goblins.’
He recalled the Bear Goblin he and his three subordinates had killed using Hallucinogenic Mushrooms and Red Ring Snake Venom. Its Ability, Blessing of the Evil God, had since been permanently bestowed upon Giant Demon Caocao. But how could this Feathered Serpent Kingdom have no Bear Goblins? For a moment, Shire couldn’t figure it out. "Are you sure you saw correctly? Not a single one?"
"I... maybe... maybe there are," Cyan Hide said, a little dazed by Shire’s persistent questioning. But he quickly added, "I’ve never seen one. And I heard some goblins say that if a newborn goblin is a Bear Goblin, it won’t pass the faith screening."
’Faith screening? So the goblins in the Evil Throat Army are all ones who failed it?’ Shire smiled faintly. ’This Evil God’s faith sounds quite... pure.’
"Yes. None of us passed, so we were all driven out," Cyan Hide nodded.
"How do they screen them? Do you have to touch a stone, do a Bloodline Test, or stand in front of a mirror?" Shire mentally ran through all the methods from the novels he’d read, things like Measuring Spirit Root, Bloodline Tests, and Testing Dao Foundations. ’I’m very curious how this Feathered Serpent Evil God plays its game.’
"We..." Cyan Hide thought for a moment. "...draw lots."
"Hm? Is it Spiritual Divination? No, a ’divination of faith’?" Shire asked with great interest.
"I don’t know. I just drew a small wooden stick from the priest’s hand. I drew the one with the red tip." As he spoke, Cyan Hide lowered his head. He felt that was the moment his "road to ruin" began.
"Just drawing little wooden sticks?" Shire was a bit stunned. "Is there nothing special about the lots? Like, do they glow, have a certain smell, or are they pure white or something?"
"No. The priest just plucked the branches from a nearby tree," Cyan Hide said with a nod.
"This..." Shire rubbed his temples. ’What kind of faith screening is this?’
"How often does this screening happen? And how many do they screen out each time?" he asked after a soft sigh.
"I don’t know the exact time," Cyan Hide said, looking down and fiddling with his fingers. After a moment, he continued, "It happens every so often. I passed the screening a few times before. I don’t know how many people they screen out. I just know I was running through the forest with a group of goblins when we were captured by the Earth Goblins. But there were more of us than a goblin has toes on both feet."
’So they run a screening every so often,’ Shire thought, tapping the desk. ’And they weed out quite a few, including Bear Goblin cubs.’
’This sounds less like a screening and more like population control,’ Shire analyzed the information internally. ’It seems this Evil God Kingdom is deliberately controlling its total population. Once the number of goblins exceeds a certain point, they immediately drive a portion of them away.’
Thinking of this, he immediately asked Cyan Hide, "What do the goblins in this Feathered Serpent Kingdom eat?"
"Tubers, bird eggs, bird meat, rats, frogs, big bugs..." Cyan Hide began to count on his fingers the things he used to eat. "Sometimes there was rabbit meat and other prey."
"A truly traditional goblin diet." Shire shook his head with a smile. He figured it was just a very large Goblin Race living together. Once their massive Hunting Ground could no longer support the excess population, a group of goblins would be periodically purged. "So why didn’t you just leave on your own?"
"It’s dangerous outside. There’s no protection from the god," Cyan Hide said immediately.
"So, that Feathered Serpent protects these goblins? Is it free?"
"The Feathered Serpent God protects us, but we have to draw lots to decide who gets sacrificed."
"Sacrificed?" Shire scoffed. "You mean fed to the serpent."
"Yes..." Cyan Hide lowered his head again, his voice trailing off into silence. It seemed a companion of his had drawn that damned Sacrifice Lottery before.
’So this Feathered Serpent Kingdom not only draws lots to feed the serpent, but also drives out a batch of goblins periodically. That means it must maintain a fixed number of goblins. And it seems their lifestyle is different from the other goblins around the forest,’ Shire analyzed, leaning back in his chair again. ’They seem to have moved beyond being a primitive cave-dwelling race and have developed a certain degree of social structure.’
A group of goblins with a degree of social structure was completely different from the ones who would just lie in the sun after eating. Shire had only managed to train his own subordinates through the discipline of Red Bull and two meals a day. Goblins from this Feathered Serpent Kingdom, however, would probably adapt to his management style very quickly.
’Perhaps all the goblins in the southern Nightmare Forest who constantly have their ears cut off by Adventurers come from this Kingdom,’ Shire thought with a smile. ’A few thousand goblins, or even tens of thousands... that would be wonderful.’
He desperately wanted to annex this Feathered Serpent Kingdom. Doing so would give him a powerful enough force. Then he could find a way to arm them. After next year, when the Fran Kingdom descends into chaos, he could finally lead his forces out of the Nightmare Forest.
’I could be the leader of the Spiritual Feathered Serpent Kingdom. A ten-year fan, here uninvited,’ he chuckled to himself. ’But this Feathered Serpent Evil God will be tricky to deal with. It’s an Evil God, after all.’
’I should plan this out carefully.’ Shire let out a breath. ’To get so much information at once... this goblin is truly a gift from the heavens.’
The conversation paused for a few minutes while Shire was lost in thought. Soon, he remembered what the goblin had said earlier. He looked at Cyan Hide, who was now holding his cup and seemed less tense, and asked, "That ’Brother-in-law’ who ran away, the one called Scarface—do you think he’ll make it back to the Evil Throat Army?"
"I don’t know," Cyan Hide shook his head. "We were all tied up with ropes back then. But... I think I saw him carving something on some trees."
’Probably some kind of markings.’ Shire narrowed his eyes. This could potentially expose the Centaurs. If that guy managed to get back, the Evil Throat Army would surely march south.
’They’re probably coveting that Goblin Kingdom, just like me. Otherwise, they wouldn’t be constantly capturing the exiled goblins on the outskirts.’ His gaze locked onto Cyan Hide. ’If those guys find out I not only have Centaurs but also other military supplies, they’ll definitely attack me.’
’It’s a bit troublesome, but manageable. After all, the Skeleton Warriors are training them now with combined ranged and melee formations, so they won’t be too afraid of those frenzied Red-skinned Goblins.’ Shire sized up Cyan Hide. If the Evil Throat Army’s Slave Soldiers all had physiques like his, they would be manageable. ’And I have the Skeleton Warriors to fight. There are only twelve of them, but they aren’t afraid of being bitten. If worst comes to worst, I can still ask the Tree-men for help.’
He had carefully stored away the emerald leaf the Mother Tree had given him as a gift of gratitude. ’But I only have three uses. It’s best not to use it if I don’t have to. Besides, that Scarface goblin might have just been scared off and run away.’
He took a sip of tea, then smiled and called for Nine-finger, telling him to take Cyan Hide away and get him settled. Then he called for the next goblin, preparing to interrogate him for more information.
’When Broken Tooth gets back, I’ll have him increase the patrols to the north. No need to watch the south for now.’
...
「Meanwhile.」 In the northern thickets, the goblin Scarface bared his teeth as he peeked out. His body was covered in scratches from thorns, a clear sign of his wretched escape.
"There are other goblins here? And they can command those Giant Ants?"