Forests Don't Support Idle Goblins

"What can I do for you?" Ciel smiled at Evita across the table. "Would you like something to drink, chrysanthemum tea or honey water?"

"Uh..." Evita hesitated for a moment. She wanted to say that plain water would be fine, but when she thought of the honey water she had drunk before, she unconsciously swallowed.

"Then let's have chrysanthemum tea," Charles said, getting up to brew tea for the two of them. "This is a specialty from the southern Saros Islands. I'm sure you've never had it before, so you should give it a try."

He quickly poured himself and Evita each a cup of slightly yellow tea. "Drink it while it's hot, be careful not to burn yourself. If you find it a little bitter, you can add some honey."

"Thank you." Evita held the teacup with both hands and took a small sip. She didn't know where the islands the other person was talking about were, but they must be somewhere very far away from here.

After taking a few sips of tea, Evita organized her thoughts and then tentatively asked, "I'd like to know if you would agree to our tribe relocating to your territory."

"Relocate?" Charles took a sip of tea, then raised an eyebrow and asked, "If you insist on doing this, I can't stop you, after all, you have a tradition of following unicorns."

"No, it's better to make things clear to you." Evita looked at Charles, who was leaning back in his chair with a relaxed expression, and her expression became a little tense. She had personally witnessed him defeat the cannibalistic mage, and she had also seen so many goblins, trolls, hags, goblins, soldier ants, and treants in the fortress. She knew that if she moved the fortress against his wishes, it would definitely cause a fight, and in that case, only her own tribe would lose.

"Oh, I'm a little sorry." Charles glanced at the other person's gaze, then looked down at the chair beneath him. "This chair is too small; you can't sit on it. If possible, I'd like to bring you a bed."

"No, no, that's not what I meant." Evita hurriedly waved her hand. She knew what the other person meant by bed. The goblins would sleep on it, and the bed was padded with soft fur, unlike the centaurs who would lie directly on the ground, at most with a layer of deerskin on the ground.

When Evita first saw the bed, she was even a little skeptical. She couldn't imagine that the evil race, who were supposed to sleep in caves in the forest and roll around in the mud, lived a more refined life than the centaur tribe. The goblin in front of her had even filled her teacup again.

"However, seeing you all has given me a new idea. I can make another kind of chair for you." Charles then poured himself some tea and said that the furniture he was thinking of was a low couch similar to a chaise longue, with a railing around it, just big enough for a centaur to lie on.

"Thank you, but not for now." Evita paused for a few seconds before continuing, "Our centaur race is not one that enjoys fighting. This relocation is partly to pursue unicorns, and partly because our race is facing a crisis. Therefore, we hope you can agree to exchange resources with us in exchange for your consent."

"A trade of goods?" Charles chuckled. "So, what can you offer?"

"We..." Evita composed herself, "Our tribe raises great antler deer and also cultivates some tubers. Moreover, we centaurs are excellent archers and can hunt quite a lot of prey."

"To be honest, we goblins don't lack food," Sharl replied immediately. "I'm sure you can't offer much of what you're talking about, since you yourselves need to survive, and once you move, the deer and tubers will be greatly affected, since the tubers can't come with you."

More than the supplies, Shire was interested in the centaur's archery skills.

Previously, when he was training several goblins to shoot with crossbows, Evita was watching from the side. She quickly became very disdainful of the goblins' shooting skills and drew her bow and arrow from a distance, hitting the target with one shot.

Ciel could never forget the way that proud centaur girl walked by with her head held high, "tick-tick-tick."

If all the centaurs were equally skilled in archery, they could easily form a ranged unit, which would make up for his current deficiency. He currently only has a few goblins using crossbows, and most of them are melee units equipped with spears, swords, and shields.

"You're right, we do have limited resources," Evita honestly admitted.

"So you've always eaten venison and tubers?" Ciel asked with a smile, showing his interest in the daily lives of centaurs.

"We usually eat roasted venison and some game. It's difficult to grow tubers, so we can't eat tubers."

"Is that so?" Charles became interested and leaned forward slightly. "I've grilled venison before. It doesn't have much fat, and if you grill it for too long, it gets very dry and tough, and it's not very tasty."

"Well, we'll put a piece of fat on top." Evita became a little more cheerful when talking about how to cook venison. She put down her teacup and gestured to explain how to cook centaur.

"Oil, how do you obtain oil?" Charles keenly noticed the word and immediately asked.

"We will breed mimic monsters and extract oil from their bodies."

"Mimetic monsters?" Charles was taken aback. Weren't those the seventeen large chests that the Mind Flayer had left him as a "legacy" and which he had later transferred to the Brotherhood of Storms?

"Yes, our centaurs have been raising mimics for a long time. These monsters are very interesting. They will mimic nearby objects and wait for prey to take the bait. As long as you don't touch them, they will stay still."

"And then what did you do?"

"We wrap the planted tubers in some deer entrails, then feed them with twigs."

"Isn't it dangerous?" Ciel remembered that thing would extend long pseudo-legs to attack enemies.

"No, we hide behind the wall and just put the food right in front of their mouths. That way, once the mimics eat, they won't continue attacking."

"That's a clever idea..." Charles hadn't expected them to come up with something like this. "Do these mimicry monsters have a lot of oil on their bodies?"

"There are many. The mimic monster only has two large muscles around its mouth for biting; the rest of its body is fat. Once you peel off the outer skin, you'll find nothing but white, fatty meat."

Charles smiled at the other party. He had already made up his mind to take over this centaur tribe. Now that Bucktooth had obtained a lot of tree fruits from the tree people, he was short of oil. If the centaur tribe could bring the mimicry monster breeding technology, it would effectively alleviate the oil shortage.

Moreover, these mimicry monsters are different from magical beasts. Strictly speaking, they are a kind of creature that has not been contaminated. The previous Deinonychus and Blue-Eyes Serpent were animals that mutated after being contaminated, and they all emitted wisps of black smoke. However, the seventeen "big boxes" did not emit any black smoke.

"That way, even if we eat them, there won't be any risk of contamination." Charles muttered to himself, now somewhat regretting his initial arrangement. He should have kept a few mimics for breeding.

"So how do you slaughter them and how do you breed them?" He refilled Evita's teacup and asked with great interest.

"They're easy to kill," Evita said with a smile. "Just replace the tubers with herbs that can put the mimics to sleep. After they eat them, they'll fall into a deep sleep. Then, just tie them up and stab them a few times in a specific spot on their backs. These mimics will immediately lose their ability to move, and it will be over very quickly."

"I see." Charles nodded with a smile. He felt that this was similar to killing squid or some fish. As long as you make a few cuts to the main nerve connection, the mimicry monster will be unable to resist.

"Moreover, we usually feed them offal and tubers, which the mimics can completely digest. This makes cleaning and processing very convenient. As long as we don't feed them hard things, the mimics will vomit up indigestible things. And if they vomit too much, they will pupate and move to another place to mimic."

"This is really interesting." Charles now wants to establish a mimicry breeding area in the fortress. He's particularly interested in these "forest giant fat pigs." "How do these things reproduce? You can't just kill them and then catch them, can you?"

"I don't know much about that. I only know that there are male and female mimics. The males have an odd number of eyes, while the females have a plural number. Also, they mate, and the mimics' appearance changes before mating. Some people in my tribe know about this." Evita tilted her head shyly. She really didn't know everything about raising mimics.

"Sounds very good." Charles smiled and took a sip of tea. He was thinking that if he raised mimics in the fortress and planted tubers in the territory, he should get a lot of output. On the one hand, the little fairies could use the wind of nature to promote the growth of tubers, thus making up for the centaur race's shortcomings in planting. On the other hand, he also had the blessing of the god of earth and life, which would also stimulate the growth of mimics and tubers.

What? You're saying the God of Life doesn't want to bless the anthropomorphic creature? Are you kidding me? What does my blessing have to do with the God of Earth and Life?

"So where do you keep the shapeshifters? Just a few straw sheds like this?" Charles asked with great interest.

"Of course not. Mimics don't like to stay in places with too much light. We keep them in an underground stone chamber," Evita said with a smile.

"An underground stone chamber?" Upon hearing this, Charles narrowed his eyes immediately. "Do you still have underground stone chambers where you live?"

"Yes, it was a fairly large stone chamber; that's where we kept the mimics."

"What else is in that stone chamber?" Charles asked casually, already sensing that the other person was referring to the place he was looking for.

"It's nothing much, just some white stones that we used to build our thatched hut," Evita said with a smile, taking a sip of tea.