Forests Don't Support Idle Goblins

"Father, why did you sign that contract? It's practically enslaving us!" Evita stamped her hooves and questioned her father loudly.

"Shut up!" the centaur chieftain shouted.

"Not only do they demand that we hand over most of our domesticated forest deer, leaving us only a tiny bit of food, but they also want to take away the roots we've painstakingly cultivated." Evita ignored her father's scolding. "We also have to send our tribesmen to fight alongside us, as they demand."

"If we don't sign, they will attack our entire tribe. At that time, all the great deer we raise and the root crops we cultivate will be destroyed." The chieftain stared at his daughter.

"We can fight back, we can run away!" Evita waved her hands excitedly and retorted loudly.

"How can we resist? You've seen their fighting power. Those guys aren't afraid of attacks at all. They charge at us like madmen. How many of our warriors have died?" The chief pointed outside the thatched hut and continued, "You can run away, everyone else can run away, but what about the children of the tribe? What about the elderly centaurs? They will be caught by those ogres, skinned, and boiled."

Hearing her father's words, Evita fell silent for a moment, but after a while, she spoke up: "The contract also states that the goblins have the right to kill any centaur they deem disrespectful. Father, this is not an oath of allegiance, this is a notice to enslave us."

"Alas," her father sighed, "I know all too well that this is what enslaves us, but what can we do now?"

"I'll go find it, Father. I'll go out and find that blessed land." Evita suddenly stepped forward, clenching her fists. "I believe I can find it."

"You're not allowed to go!" her father roared. "The entire tribe is surrounded by ogres. If you dare to run away, you'll die."

"Stop fantasizing," his voice trailed off, and he looked somber. "The forest has abandoned us, and the unicorns have abandoned us too."

"No, Father, I dreamed about it just a few days ago," Evita said firmly. "The unicorn is our totem; it will not abandon the centaurs in the forest."

"In short, you are not allowed to leave." The centaur chieftain said sternly as he walked out of the hut, leaving a few people at the door to watch over his daughter.

"No, no," Evita said, watching her father walk away. She collapsed to the ground, her hooves curled up. "The unicorn will protect us. It will guide us."

She covered her face and wept, doubting her own words. It turned out that there was a unicorn around the centaur tribe, constantly patrolling its territory. Its powerful magic and agile figure inspired the centaur tribe. But over the past year, the unicorn's presence had gradually disappeared. Not long after, ogres began to appear, and the goblins behind them launched several attacks on the centaur tribe.

Evita had always believed in the distant legend of her people that unicorns would lead the centaurs to their home, but now it seemed that it was just a legend.

"What should I do?" she sobbed softly.

…………

"So, what should I do?" Charles took a sip of tea, looking at Sansio on the table with great interest.

"No need to do anything," the little fairy swallowed a big mouthful of honey water and continued, "Unicorns will find their own habitat in the forest. If our little fairy clan sees a unicorn, we will definitely follow it."

Charles nodded, indicating that he understood what the other party had said. What Sancio had just said could be roughly confirmed: this unicorn was preparing to settle in its territory. This species would seek out safe areas in the forest as its habitat, so many creatures, such as goblins and centaurs, would actively follow the unicorn's movements.

"It feels like a security radar, able to sense whether there is danger in a certain area," he summarized with a smile. "In other words, my territory is safe now, otherwise it wouldn't have come here."

"Yes," Shan Xiao nodded vigorously, "and the elders of the tribe once said that unicorns are very interesting. They seem to be able to predict the future and only stay in safe areas. If changes occur in the territory that they cannot cope with after a while, they will migrate away."

"In other words, there won't be any crisis here for a while," Charles leaned forward, his eyes shining. "Or rather, even if a crisis does occur, it won't be a big deal."

"Yes, that's the principle," Shan Xiao said, nodding with his hands behind his back and a straight face, "if the elders in the tribe aren't talking nonsense."

"The elders in your clan have said the same nonsense many times before." Charles curled his lip. If he believed what the little fairy elder said, he wouldn't be meeting with Shansio now, let alone sitting at the same table chatting.

"Uh." Shan Xiao hesitated. He realized that what Xia Er said was also true. Sometimes the elders in the tribe were not quite right, especially when those words were applied to the Xia Er tribe.

"Fine, if you like staying here, then stay. It's just a few blades of grass on the ground," Charles said dismissively. He trusted intelligence gathering and his own analysis and judgment more than the unicorn's "safety alarm."

"Little John is back, and he brought news of the Storm Brotherhood escapee's disappearance," he pondered the current situation. "Valentine's army has already begun to withdraw, so we still can't let our guard down and lest he launch a surprise attack."

"Tomorrow, take a team to explore the ant area and see if the soldiers have left. If they have, sweep through the area and clear out the remaining giant spiders and burrowing wasps."

"Oh, and the underground stone chamber of that watchtower, I can finally go and take a look." He took a sip of tea, leaned back in his chair, crossed his hands in front of him, and rotated his thumbs back and forth.

Sansio also took a big gulp of honey water, then swallowed it down with a thud, and then followed suit by shaking his thumb.

Charles thought for a moment, then noticed the little imp on the table. Lately, the boy seemed to be constantly imitating his various behaviors, as if he were deliberately learning.

"Ah, there's something important," Charles smiled, then leaned forward, resting his hands on the table and his chin on them.

Seeing Ciel frowning in thought, Sansio stretched out his hands, intending to lean his chin over, then leaned forward and, with a "Ah!", fell into the wooden cup filled with honey water in front of him.

Charles chuckled twice, watching the two short legs still kicking around the rim of the cup. Then he reached out, grabbed one of Sancho's feet, and pulled him out of the wooden cup.

"Ah, pfft." Shan Xiao wiped his face with honey water and gasped for breath. This was his first time experiencing a honey water bath.

"I..." He was about to say something when Charles casually said, "If this honey water dries, you'll feel sticky all over, which probably won't be very comfortable."

Sangio stomped his foot angrily, turned around, flapped his wings, and flew to the small wooden house on the wall of the stone chamber in the distance, preparing to wash off the honey.

Charles watched the little fairy fly away with a mischievous grin. He knew that Yunxia wanted her younger brother to get closer to him, partly to improve their relationship and partly to learn from him. However, Shanxiao was still young and sometimes didn't know the gravity of things. Like today, if he ran out and was discovered by Valentine's soldiers, it would have irreversible consequences.

"Fortunately, my territory is relatively safe, so consider this a small punishment." Charles picked up his teacup and took a big gulp.

…………

"I'll go check on them right away." Charles looked at the little queen ant in front of him, who was surrounded by many worker ants busy feeding and cleaning.

"Heroes, are they all dead?" the little queen ant asked, shaking her antennae.

"They should all be dead. Maybe a few escaped, but the spider queen and the bee queen are both dead." Charles smiled and patted the queen ant's head. "Grow up quickly, your colony needs you."

After feeding the queen ant a piece of honey, he led his men out of the cave on a dozen or so soldier ants. The current "ant saddle" is the second version. Compared to the original design, Charles made some changes to the size and comfort, especially the riding stability when the soldier ants are running. However, his men are not very good at riding attacks. Previously, Philip and his guards only contributed five [cavalry thrusts], which was better than nothing for Charles.

"Keep an eye on your surroundings," he shouted to his men, to prevent giant spiders or bees from emerging from the woods.

As they slowly approached their destination, Charles stared in astonishment at what lay before him. The original spider burrow and the giant bee's nest had been destroyed, forming two huge pits, and the stone chamber had also collapsed. The entire area had been almost completely destroyed.

"That's ruthless, Valentine." He stroked his chin, looking at the scene before him. "This is truly the way nobles do things: if they're going to do something, they're going to do it to the extreme."

He had originally planned to use this area as a goblin stronghold after some rest and recuperation, but now that's completely out of the question.

"Let's go, patrol eastward," Charles ordered his men, and then everyone ran eastward.

He stopped when he reached the underground stone chamber of the watchtower marked on the territory map. "It's been cleaned up quite well. There weren't any giant spiders or bees along the way."

He jumped off the soldier ants and ordered his men to search the surroundings. Soon someone shouted, "Found something!"

In the same situation, with the same actions, Sharl stood in front of the stone chamber door. "Red Eyes, open it."

With a clatter, the stone door was pushed open, and several torches were thrown inside. After confirming that there was no danger, Charles crawled inside.

The collapse here was much more severe than the previous ones, and it was only about half the size of the other two stone chambers. Charles, holding a torch, quickly finished inspecting the entire stone chamber.

The only thing that caught his attention was the carvings on the side wall.

"Hmm, a runeword material repository?"

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