Forests Don't Support Idle Goblins

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"But I have a condition." Herbert glanced at Charles's exposed green skin, "Only if you do one thing for me."

"One thing?" Charles frowned. He hadn't realized he had been exposed, but he seemed to have guessed what the other party wanted to do.

Mary, standing by the door, kept gesturing, pointing to her forehead. Charles glanced at her and immediately understood what she meant: "Oh no, I've been exposed."

"Let's get straight to the point, Mr. Charles," Herbert said, shrugging. "It's not good to keep things under wraps. I know you're a goblin."

Upon hearing this, Charles remained silent for a few seconds. He was still wondering how he had been exposed. If it was just because he had revealed a bit of green skin, it didn't seem to prove anything.

"Actually, I already knew when I last saw you," Herbert said with a slight smile.

"Last time?" Charles tried hard to recall the last time. He was very sure that he had not been exposed during the last meeting, and the transaction between the two parties was very fast. It could be said that the business contract was signed in less than ten minutes. It was practically a lightning contract.

"Yes," Herbert glanced at Mary behind him, "If Miss Mary is here, I need to tell you in advance that you will see something incredible in a moment. It's not dangerous, so don't be too afraid."

Charles frowned as he looked at the other man, a middle-aged gentleman in black, who seemed to be hiding something.

Then, Herbert shook his neck a few times, and an indescribable aura emanated from him. His body began to tremble slightly, his skin turned from fair to grayish, and his ears visibly elongated and became pointed.

His eyes turned red after blinking a few times, and with his movements, his two canine teeth grew longer and sharper.

"As you can see," Herbert said, spreading his arms, "I am a vampire. When we met before, I confirmed that you were not human by the smell of your blood."

Charles stared blankly at Herbert across from him, while Mary by the door covered her mouth, gripping the doorframe tightly with both hands, desperately trying to suppress her scream.

Charles had told her before that if anything bad happened, she should run away to save her life, but now even though Mary's arms were trembling with fear, she did not choose to run away alone. "That's true, after seeing so many goblins, trolls and hags, seeing one more vampire is nothing."

Charles slowly took off his hat and mask, then removed his gloves. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to deceive you."

"It sounds absurd that a goblin runs an alchemy workshop. I was afraid you wouldn't accept it, so I've made this cover-up." He dropped his disguise and then extended his palm, indicating that the other party could sit down and talk.

Herbert smirked and walked to the sofa to sit down. He was a little surprised that the goblin in front of him didn't react much to the vampire, but when he thought about how the goblin was already a "hot commodity" for two demon lords, he immediately felt relieved. "I understand. I believe you were a little surprised when I said I had to talk business tonight."

Charles nodded, then asked, "Tea? Coffee?"

"No, I'm not really interested in those." Herbert shook his head slightly, but then he raised an eyebrow and looked at Mary, who was walking over with a bottle of red wine and two glasses.

Seeing that the two "people" who had taken their seats were looking at her, Mary carefully put down the wine bottle and glass, and then tried to control her voice: "When Mr. Herbert came before, he said that he preferred to drink red wine."

Herbert smiled and sat on the sofa, bowing slightly. "You are a very clever and beautiful woman, Miss Mary."

Mary's expression tightened when she saw the vampire's pale smile. She quickly waved her hand and said, "You flatter me."

She gave a slight bow, then quickly returned to the door, continuing to grip the doorframe and watch the two men talk.

"I think she's just used to it." Charles glanced at Mary. He wasn't surprised at all by her actions. She was just a vampire. Mary had seen the corpse of a two-headed ogre before and had chased a unicorn through the forest.

"I understand." Herbert nodded, then picked up the red wine, poured himself half a glass, and gestured to the goblin with the glass. However, after being refused, he swirled the wine in his glass. "I can give you all the remaining potion bottles for free, as long as Mr. Charles can do one thing for me."

Charles picked up the teacup in front of him, took a sip. It was a winter night, and the tea was getting cold quickly. He thought to himself, "If only I had a way to keep it warm." Then he put the teacup down. "You want me to help you find something in the forest, right?"

Herbert narrowed his eyes, and before he could say anything, the goblin opposite him nearly made him drop his cup.

"Are you jealous that it lost something in the forest, or what does it want you to find?" Ciel asked calmly, looking at the vampire before him.

"How...how did you know?" Herbert gripped the wine glass in his hand, controlling his strength, otherwise the glass would have shattered by now. But he quickly relaxed, considering that there were two demon lords standing behind him, it seemed somewhat normal for him to say such a thing.

Charles crossed his legs, placed his hands on his knees, leaned back slightly, and had a calm and collected expression.

"They are a pair of ears." Finally, Herbert relaxed, took a sip of red wine, and nodded in satisfaction.

"Ears?" Ciel raised his gaze to the ceiling, his anger rising at the lost horns. It's an eye, while envy is two ears. What on earth did these ancient high elves do? Could it be that they've taken an organ from all six demon lords?

As for the ears, he smirked, "I wonder if some weirdo has used them to do something funny again."

"Perhaps," Charles glanced at Herbert, who was tasting wine in front of him, "it's already been soaked in medicinal wine."

"You've been looking for a long time, haven't you?" he asked again.

"Hmm," Herbert swirled his wine glass, his red eyes fixed on the liquid inside, "I should say that my family has been searching for a long time. The contract with Jealousy is not about me personally, but about our family."

"family?"

“Yes,” Herbert sighed, then downed the rest of his drink in one gulp. “Our entire vampire family are jealous contractors. Whoever comes of age will be the one to find that damned ear.”

"And he even had people monitoring us."

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