Forests Don't Support Idle Goblins

Torch City, Sacred Oak Cathedral.

A black carriage stopped at the side gate. The coachman pulled the bell inside the carriage, and a few seconds later, the carriage remained quiet.

The coachman jumped out of the driver's seat, knocked on the door, and when there was no response, he called out loudly, "Miss, we've arrived."

There was still no response, so he opened the car door to look inside. He found a girl wearing a brown and green robe leaning against the side of the car, fast asleep. With her soft snores, a trickle of drool dripped down the side of the car.

The coachman looked at the round-faced, red-haired girl whose braid, coiled at the back of her head, had been rubbed and made a little messy by the carriage wall.

"Miss, we've arrived at Oak Cathedral." The coachman leaned over and gave her a gentle push.

"Ah, demon, die!" the girl shouted, and with a "smack," she kicked the coachman out of the carriage.

Then she sat up straight, her dazed eyes taking in her surroundings. Once she realized where she was, she immediately shook her head. "Ah, I've fallen asleep again."

"Ouch, my back!" The coachman lay sprawled on the street, unable to get up for a long time.

The girl stepped out of the carriage, holding onto the door, wiped the drool from her cheek, and said apologetically, "I'm so sorry, I just had a dream where I was fighting demons. Are you alright?"

"Miss, what do you think?" The coachman struggled for a long time before finally sitting up.

"It's alright, I'll find someone to treat you." After saying that, the girl immediately ran into the church and soon brought out two priests. "Please help me out."

"Sophia, what's going on this time?" one of the priests sighed.

"Please help me, I beg you, His Holiness the Bishop is still waiting for me." The girl clasped her hands together, a fawning smile on her face.

"Go ahead, we'll handle it." The priest waved Sophia away, then cast a Resurrection spell on the coachman.

Not long after, a female voice rang out from the doorway of the bishop's office on the fifth floor of the church: "Sophia, the bishop wants you to come in."

A nun pushed open the office door, glanced around the quiet corridor, then twitched her lips, giving an expression that suggested she was used to such things.

"Wake up, Bishop Luther is calling you." The nun nudged Sophia, who was dozing against the wall.

The two then went into the inner office room.

"Your Excellency, Bishop," Sophia bowed.

"Child, you're back." The gray-haired Bishop Luther put down his pen, looked up and smiled at Sophia, and said to the nun, "Please make us two cups of coffee."

"No, no, Your Excellency," Sophia hurriedly waved her hand.

"I don't need it, but you can't say anything," the bishop said with a smile. "Just one cup, make it for her."

After the nun nodded and left, Bishop Luther took a document from the side and placed it in front of Sophia. "Has the matter from before been resolved?"

"Okay, that's all. It was just the spirits of about twenty sailors. They've all been purified," Sophia nodded and said.

"Take a look at this," the bishop said, pointing to a document.

Sofia picked it up, opened it, and quickly read the title: "Druid Visanz has defected and disappeared?"

“Yes,” Bishop Luther nodded. “He has fallen, no longer believes in the glory of God, and has broken his vows. Now you need to capture or kill him. If we leave him unattended, it will lead to disaster.”

"The document says he has been missing for two years." Sofia flipped through the records in the document.

"Yes, the Church gave him ample time to reflect, but to no avail," Bishop Luther sighed. "He used to be excellent, but now..."

"Yes, Your Excellency, I will set off for Nightmare Forest immediately." Sophia folded the document and put it into the pouch behind her.

"No need to rush. The church made buttered mussels at noon today. Just make sure you don't oversleep." Bishop Luther smiled kindly, then instructed Sophia, "You must bring back everything that was kept in Wisance, including the books and notes."

"Yes, Your Excellency," Sophia said solemnly.

"He's very capable, even strong enough to compete for the position of assistant bishop of the district. Although you are the best judge in our diocese, you still need to be careful," Bishop Luther said earnestly.

Sophia nodded emphatically.

"Alright, go ahead and get busy. Remember, all the books and notes." The bishop emphasized again, then added, "The coffee should be ready by now. Drink it before you go, or you'll oversleep and miss the butter mussels—a delicacy even the Merlot family praises."

"Yes, Your Excellency." Sophia nodded repeatedly, her smile revealing two small tiger teeth.

"Your Excellency, coffee." The nun knocked on the door and brought in a cup of coffee.

Sophia took it, tested the temperature, and drank it in two gulps. "Your Excellency, I'm going to take a nap."

She walked to the window and jumped out of the fifth floor with a "whoosh." Soon after, a chubby owl flew past the window.

"Heh, this child." The bishop waved for the nun to leave, then picked up his pen and continued reading the documents.

A few seconds later, with a "snap," the pen was snapped in two.

Bishop Luther took a deep breath and slowly exhaled. Then he opened the drawer next to him and threw the broken pen inside. There were several other broken pens in the drawer.

…………

"I, Visans, have failed again. I'm so unwilling to accept it. Those three goblins didn't become controllable zombies. Instead, they went crazy and even started tearing each other apart. This spore still needs further improvement. The research direction that old bastard Luther mentioned is completely wrong."

Charles turned to the next page of his research notes and continued reading.

After lunch, he led his men to the underground stone chamber, which had been completely destroyed by fire, leaving only black ash and a foul smell.

He inspected the stone chamber and felt it was usable, but it would take time to clean. He also found traces of burial on the east and west walls.

Charles had his men dig up the mound on the west side, which led to a straight passage that connected to another stone chamber. That chamber was only about 300 square meters, less than half the size of the Druid Mushroom Chamber.

This must be where the Druids first lived and conducted experiments. Various experimental instruments, crucibles, and culture media are scattered everywhere. Charles also saw several books on a simple wooden table, one of which was the "Experimental Notebook" that he was reading now.

"Failed again. This guy is really persistent. He's failed so many times before." Charles shook his head and complained, while stroking Lupus's hair.

Lupus lay motionless on the ground, letting Charles rub him.

After the Celestial Hound was injured last time, Ciel was very worried and afraid that something might happen to it. However, it seems that apart from being a little listless, it is not in any serious condition.

However, Lupus was full of energy when eating. Every day at noon, when the goblins dissected their prey, Shire made them leave the internal organs to feed the Starhounds. By noon today, Lupus was already standing by and waiting to eat.

Charles guessed that this was probably the way it was replenishing its energy and recovering its strength as soon as possible.

Moreover, over the past few days, it seems that Lupus and he have become closer. Charles estimates that in a few more days, the Starhound might recognize him as its master.

"The experiment is finally showing some progress. One goblin can now follow my commands, but it is slow to react and can only crawl on the ground. Perhaps it is not completely zombified. We are running out of experimental materials, and we need to go out and catch some more goblins tomorrow."

"That bastard has killed dozens of goblins so far," Charles said bitterly. "I wish I could have kept them."

The next shard of text has appeared, containing the message: [Forest Whispers: You may occasionally hear whispers carried by the wind in the forest; these whispers will contain messages about you. Advancement requirement: Have 300 subordinates.]

"After activating this letter, I can hear the whispers of the forest again, but I don't know if it's right or wrong," Charles said, still somewhat bothered by what had happened before. "They said only I could solve it, but they didn't say what price I would have to pay."

"It's alright, though. It does have some prophetic ability." He thought for a moment and continued reading the rest of the notes.

"I succeeded, Luther, you old bastard! You didn't expect that, did you? You wanted me to do research, but you also wanted to steal my results. To hell with your great earth god, I'm going to be the god of the forest in the future."

"This person has gone mad." Charles sighed, carefully putting away the research notebook. This thing must not be seen by anyone, or it would cause an even greater catastrophe.

"This Vesans actually wants to control the humans in Goat's Horn through zombie spores, and then spread them. What a pipe dream," Charles shook his head. "The guy behind him, Luther, isn't any better."

"Luther, that name sounds familiar, it seems to be the name of the bishop of Torch City Cathedral."

The entire Shire family were believers in the God of Night and Fate, and they didn't have much contact with the bishop of the God of Earth.

With a "plop," Ciel placed the notebook on the torch and burned it to ashes, then began to look through other books.

"The Covenant of the Earth, that's the scripture of the Church of Earth and Life. And this one," he tossed the scripture aside, "The Alchemy Notebook, this guy's an alchemist."

"It should be somewhat useful. Take it back and show it to Agatha."

"Laboratory Supplies List?" Charles flipped to the last page, gritting his teeth as he looked at the number. "They're supposed to be academics, but they're completely broke. They even threw their last 10 copper coins to a beggar."

He threw the list of supplies next to the scriptures while cursing.

"This Alchemy Notebook is still somewhat useful." Charles patted Rupus on the ground. "Get up, we're done here."

"Chief, they've dug up over there," Red Eyes ran over to report.

"Let's go take a look." Charles nodded and said. This stone chamber contains the other party's research results. What else might the druid have sealed away in the other stone chamber?

"It can't be a bunch of mushrooms, can it?" Charles said.