The Forest Feeds No Idle Goblins

"These Earth Goblins are truly vicious," Shire remarked, looking at the devastated landscape around him.

He was now back at the Centaur Village. Previously, after the Centaurs had all fled, the Evil Throat Army had put the place to the torch. They then sent men to search the surrounding area for several days, hoping to find any trace of the Centaurs.

Only recently had these guys given up their stakeout and finally withdrawn their forces. During this time, Broken Tooth had remained hidden in the shadows of the Centaur Village, observing everything with a telescope.

"They haven’t shown up for two days?" Shire asked, turning to Broken Tooth as he stepped on the black ash underfoot.

Broken Tooth didn’t speak, simply nodding his head.

"You wait here on the side. Everyone else, start moving the stones." Shire began assigning tasks to his subordinates. He hadn’t brought many men this time to guard against any tricks the Evil Throat Army might have left behind, but so far, there was no sign of unusual activity.

The goblins began cautiously moving the white stones from the ashes, afraid of making too much noise, while Shire vigilantly scanned the surroundings with his telescope.

This Rune Language Material Library contained a large number of pure white stones. It would take many days to move them all back, but Shire wasn’t in a hurry; they just had to move them slowly and steadily.

At the same time, he summoned his Domain map to check the situation in this area.

’Most of this area is still shrouded in fog and hasn’t been fully revealed. Only the parts I’ve passed through are displayed.’ Shire looked at the sallow parchment map before him. A winding road headed north, leading straight to his current position. ’Based on past experience, I’ll probably have to find or incorporate the goblin Race in this area to reveal the entire map.’

’The goblins in this area...’ He thought for a moment before smiling wryly. ’They’ve probably all become Slave Soldiers for the Evil Throat Army.’

’Only by defeating the Evil Throat Army, killing those Earth Goblins, and then capturing and incorporating the other goblins can I fully reveal the map.’

’Still, this area is quite large.’ Shire zoomed out in his mind, expanding his perspective. He discovered that this new region was almost half the size of the area currently under his Control. ’I wonder what good things are hidden here. There are definitely herbs, that’s a given. It would be nice if there were some Relics, too.’

"Hm?" While examining the map, he noticed a strange pattern revealed on the winding northern road. Shire immediately zoomed in as far as he could, carefully examining the texture.

’It looks like there’s an underground Relic here. I didn’t notice it when I passed by on the road.’ He rubbed his chin, staring intently at the small corner that was visible. ’It doesn’t look like an herb spot. The icon is very similar to the ones for the watchtower basements on the map.’

’After we’re done moving the stones, I’ll lead a team to check it out.’ Shire made up his mind. ’I can’t believe my luck. If I hadn’t opened the Domain map and looked carefully, I probably would have missed this place.’

Just as Shire was examining the map inch by inch, Nine-finger ran to his side. "Leader, you’d better come see this."

"What is it?" Shire stopped his examination, opening his eyes to look at his subordinate. Nine-finger didn’t speak, but pointed into the distance.

"Let’s go see." After he spoke, a few goblins crept over quietly. Soon, Shire saw what Nine-finger wanted him to see.

It was the corpse of a goblin, buried in the ash. It was likely a dead Slave Soldier from the Evil Throat Army. The bodies of the centaurs and goblins from before had already been taken away by the Evil Throat Army—presumably to be "recycled." It seemed their search hadn’t been thorough enough, and they had left one body behind.

Shire covered his mouth and nose and crouched down to examine it. Several days had passed, and the corpse was clearly decomposed, emitting a foul odor. Its skin was no longer the red color he had seen before.

’It’s changed back to green.’ He picked up a long branch and prodded the corpse, but other than signs of decay, there was no other special reaction. ’Its appearance hasn’t changed much otherwise. This means the Evil Throat Army can’t permanently change a goblin’s appearance. At most, they can drive them into a frenzy for a period of time.’

’No, something’s different.’ As Shire continued to clear away the ash, more details of the corpse were revealed. ’It feels like there are severe injuries on many parts of its body. Could they have been caused by the centaurs’ attacks?’

’But the external injuries aren’t that severe. There are only a few arrow wounds. It looks like its legs were severed by spade-headed arrows, forcing it to crawl. But why did its body end up like this?’

After studying it for a good while, Shire decided to give up for now. After all, he wasn’t a real medical examiner. Fortunately, it was winter, so the body was relatively well-preserved and hadn’t been dragged away by wild animals.

"Get back to work," he said, turning to his subordinates. "Remember to stay away from this spot. We’ll leave those few white stones."

’It seems these Slave Soldiers of the Evil Throat Army can die after all.’ Shire moved away from the corpse, recalling the battle he had witnessed. The fierce, death-defying red goblins had left a deep impression on him. ’It’s good that they can die. I just need to find the source of their power.’

* * *

"General, this is what we found." Scarface respectfully held up an Arrow with both hands before the Earth Goblin.

"An Arrow?" Evil Throat said with disgust. "Is this the result of your search these past few days?"

He gave a signal with his eyes, and several Earth Goblins walked over and kicked Scarface to the ground. "You’ve disappointed me. It seems my only choice is to send you to the Ogres."

"No, General," Scarface struggled desperately on the ground. "We found this in the woods south of the Centaur Village. It looks new, and it’s small. It wouldn’t have been used by those large centaurs who fought you."

Hearing the goblin’s words, Evil Throat glanced at the Arrow on the ground. Just as he’d said, the Arrow was indeed rather small. "So, what are you trying to say?"

"South! They’ve fled south!" Scarface shouted in pain as the Earth Goblins forcefully stomped on his back and waist.

"You’re that certain?" Evil Throat asked, his voice calm and betraying no emotion.

"Yes, General. I’m certain." Scarface had no other thoughts at this point. He had taken a few goblins and scoured the surrounding forests for days. Thanks to the previous battle and the fire, few wild beasts dared to venture into this large area for the time being. But at the same time, he had made no useful discoveries.

It was only at the very end that he found this Arrow stuck in a tree trunk. He felt as if he’d found a priceless treasure, something he could finally use to report back to General Evil Throat.

Some goblins had tried to escape, but he had taught them a lesson with his club. Ropes were tied around their feet, making escape impossible. Besides, Scarface himself had no desire to run. He had previously experienced being a "Commander-in-Chief" to the Ogres, threatened the Centaur Race Leader, and even extorted a few Big-horned Deer. He savored the memory of that power and didn’t want to lose it completely.

"A single Arrow doesn’t prove anything." Evil Throat waved his hand, motioning for the Earth Goblins to release Scarface. "I need you to find those Centaurs. If you still can’t find them, you know what your fate will be."

"Yes, General." Scarface scrambled back to his feet, then quickly crawled a few steps to cradle the Arrow in his arms, terrified that the other Earth Goblins might step on it and break it.

"I’ll give you more time. Take the goblins and find those Centaurs for me." Evil Throat reached up and touched his nose, then continued, "Or if you can find some other valuable target, I’ll be lenient with you."

Scarface kowtowed, thanking him profusely, completely ignoring how the movement pulled at the wound on his ear. "I will, General! I’ll take my men and search immediately."

"General, you’re just letting him go?" one of the Earth Goblins asked, watching the goblin leave respectfully, his face full of disdain. "I was just about to crush him."

"No, it’s not time yet." Evil Throat stood up, his Iron-Plated Armor making a metallic grinding sound as he moved. "How many goblins did the Slave Capture Team catch today?"

"Over 50," an Earth Goblin immediately replied.

"Not enough. We need to increase the patrols to the north over the next few days and catch more. It’s time for the Goblin Kingdom’s ’Reckoning’." A cruel smirk twisted Evil Throat’s lips. "It’s also the time for us to build our strength. Too many goblins died in the battle with the Centaurs."

"However, General, there are four Bear Goblin whelps among them," that Earth Goblin reported, holding up his fingers.

"More of those blessed by the Evil God?" Evil Throat’s smile vanished. "I truly envy this Goblin Kingdom, being able to gain such a powerful fighting force from an Evil God."

Then, he waved his hand. "Kill them all. Then throw them to the Ogres."

"Yes, General."

* * *

"Sir, can you make this?" Little John slapped a blueprint down on the Blacksmith Shop counter.

"Is this a Lance? The dimensions seem a bit small." The blacksmith picked up the blueprint, carefully studying the numbers marked on it.

"That’s right, a Lance." Little John nodded, then handed over another blueprint. "And this Armored Horse Armor?"

"You’re certainly ordering a lot this time." The proprietor smiled obsequiously, quickly glancing over the Horse Armor blueprint. "This looks much smaller than ordinary Horse Armor. And... it seems incomplete."

"Can you make it or not? If you can, I have more orders for you."

The blacksmith thought for a moment, then leaned in and whispered, "So you’re working for the Count’s Mansion. I never would have guessed you Reapers had such powerful backing."

"Er," Little John grimaced, not wanting to say anything more.

"I heard before that the Storm Brotherhood had a nasty falling out with the Count’s Mansion. So it was you guys who took them out! Now you’re stocking up on bows and arrows and preparing to make Lances... Who are you planning to fight next?" The proprietor gave Little John a knowing look, winking and nudging as if to say, ’I get it, and don’t forget me when the good stuff comes around.’

"Oh, we’re going to kill goblins," Little John said calmly.

The blacksmith chuckled. "You’re kidding me. The Count already wiped out all the goblins in the forest."