Forests Don't Support Idle Goblins

"Is this the territory I control?"

This yellowish-brown parchment is estimated to be 50 centimeters long and 30 centimeters wide. A black ink outline is drawn in the center of the paper, dotted with numerous ink dots.

For the first time, Xia Er saw the complete outline of his territory. It was shaped like a gourd, with the largest section in the north. "This should be the territory of the original Seven Caves tribe."

Around the gourd were patterns resembling clouds and mist, which he believed to be the so-called mist, which he needed to lead people to explore in order to open.

The map was covered with ink dots, but he didn't know what they were.

"I wonder if it can be scaled up," Charles thought.

As he pondered, the ink on the parchment seemed to ripple and swirl like flowing water. When the ink settled, Charles discovered that the map had indeed been enlarged.

Upon closer inspection, he discovered that the ink dots were plant icons, some of which had faded.

Some of these dim icons resemble the icons for bluethorn leaves, suggesting they've been harvested by these adventurers who came to my territory to steal my herbs.

However, many of the bluethorn leaf icons are still clear. "Adventurers can only rely on their memory to search for herbs, but I can see them all directly."

He plans to take people to the two collection sites tomorrow afternoon.

Xia Er used his consciousness to move the map upwards, focusing on the activity area of ​​the Seven Caves tribe.

This place is already quite a distance from Giraffe Town, and ordinary adventurers wouldn't venture this far. In this area, Sharl discovered that gathering points are very densely packed. "Those goblins don't gather these herbs, which is a boon for me. Let's see if I can find a market for them before winter. This could be a considerable income."

Then he noticed two icons on the map: one was a pair of crossed swords, and the other was a question mark.

"Where is this place?" Charles frowned. "It seems to be a dangerous area. Let's check it out later."

He tried moving the map up again and found that it was covered with faint, cloud-like lines, making it impossible to see any specific details.

"We still need to explore it ourselves."

After reflecting on this, Charles used his consciousness to shrink the map. When it shrank to a certain extent, he discovered a bear image appearing in the area he controlled.

"A Deinonychus?" Sharl chuckled. "Does that mean there's a roaming wild boss in the area I control?"

"Once I'm strong enough, I'll go fight the BOSS."

"Let's see how big the map can be zoomed in," Charles said with a smile.

The ink on the map swirled and rolled, and after a short while, Charles realized that the area he controlled was just a dot of ink.

Above the ink dots, there are four red dots in the cloud pattern, one of which is quite close to him.

"What is this? Red?" Charles looked serious. He thought that black ink dots on a map were nothing, but if they were red, it was probably a big problem.

"Luckily, it's still far away from me."

After having his fill, Ciel withdrew his consciousness and returned to reality.

Looking at his two clearly divided groups of subordinates, he thought for a moment and then ordered, "Go back and eat."

…………

"They seem to be eating better than us."

A few goblins huddled together and whispered among themselves. They saw the white-haired goblin cooking something with three female goblins.

Five large pots were lined up in a row. White Hair had cut up a lot of jerky and thrown it into them. There was also rice and tubers in the pots. She had smoked the jerky according to Xia Er's instructions over the past few days, and she had taken out quite a lot of it this time.

The goblins of the Seven Caves tribe huddled to one side, drooling as they stared at the large pot. If they didn't know it would take a while longer to cook before they could eat, they would have rushed up and started snatching it right now.

"This is probably their own victory celebration, something they're eating to impress us." Nine Fingers stood at the edge of the crowd, craning his neck to look. "Our leader is too stupid, which led to our defeat. Now we're at their mercy."

He was still a little bothered by the defeat, after all, more than 20 goblins were defeated by only 8, and everyone was injured, and the injuries were inflicted by their own people.

Nine Fingers felt uneasy about the uncertainties of the future. He didn't know how the new leader would treat the newcomer—whether he would make an example of him or continue to enslave him.

Although they had already performed the ankle-touching ceremony, they were, after all, the defeated side, and their performance would certainly be different from the original team.

"If our side wins, the leader won't let us eat this meal; instead, he'll make us fight the new goblins."

"Hiss." He gasped; a goblin had just bumped into him, aggravating the injury on his face.

"And even if I win, I won't have enough to eat." Nine Fingers covered his face, his eyes filled with dejection.

After a while, White Hair called the leader over, and Charles sprinkled some powder that Nine Fingers didn't know into the pot. Then White Hair began to stir it vigorously.

After stirring for almost a minute, she tapped the edge of the pot with a thick wooden stick and said, "Dinner's ready."

The goblins stared in fear at their leader, Sharl, who waved his hand and walked to a small pot. "You eat," he said.

Upon hearing this, the goblins of the Seven Caves tribe swarmed forward, ready to snatch the food.

"Damn it, I'll kill you if you dare steal again!" Red Eyes shouted as he swung his wooden stick to scatter the goblins. His hearing wasn't fully recovered, so his voice was a bit loud.

The new goblins were startled by him and shrank back. They watched meekly as the natives picked up wooden bowls and lined up to have the white-haired man serve them porridge from the pot.

Nine Fingers hid in the crowd and overheard people talking about him: "He's from the local area," "He's never had a full meal," and "He'll remember you after a beating."

He was afraid, thinking that the other party would still beat up the goblin from the seventh cave after they had eaten their fill.

Then he saw a skinny goblin scoop up a bowl of meat porridge and then suddenly leap into the shadows.

Nine Fingers was startled. He had only ever heard of humans having many amazing abilities before, and seeing goblins for the first time was quite something.

"What if they kill us and then cut off our ears to give to humans?" Nine Fingers started sweating. If that happened, he would lead everyone to run, to run as far away as possible.

"You need to go over there to get bowls, and then line up to get your food." A buck-toothed goblin came up to the Seven Caves tribe. Nine Fingers recognized him; it was this goblin who had initially identified himself as a member of the Seven Caves tribe.

"Don't cut in line. You can get more after you finish eating," the buck-toothed man said.

The goblins picked up the bowls with some skepticism and then lined up in front of the five large cauldrons, but soon they became chaotic again.

Red Eyes put down his bowl, picked up a wooden stick, and stood in front of the line. A few seconds later, the line miraculously formed itself.

Nine Fingers also received his bowl of meat porridge. He picked up the wooden spoon, took a bite, and immediately his eyes widened. "Delicious!"

This was a flavor he had never tasted before, salty and savory. He quickly ate a couple of bites, but burned his tongue. He stuck out his tongue to relieve the burn, which aggravated the injury on his face.

The other goblins around them, ignoring the scalding heat, swung their wooden spoons, leaving afterimages.

In less than two minutes, they finished the meat porridge in the wooden bowl, and then looked at the big pot with a mixture of hope and trepidation.

Nine Fingers looked at the shadows by the pot and raised a wooden bowl. White Hair took the bowl, filled it, and then handed it back.

He thought for a moment, then got up and went to the pot, saying cautiously, "Serve, serve a bowl of food."

He braced himself to be kicked away, but the goblin with the stick ignored him, and the white-haired man took his bowl and filled it for him.

Seeing that Nine Fingers had filled another bowl with meat porridge, the other goblins immediately swarmed forward. After Red Eyes snorted, everyone started running around and lined up again.

Nine Fingers sat on the side, eating large mouthfuls of meat porridge. The pain on his face was nothing to him anymore. Tears streamed down his face as he knew he would be able to eat his fill today.

This was the first time he had ever eaten his fill, and he wanted to eat his fill every day from now on.

"I'm going to find the 'Guangguang Fruit' in a bit. Who can come with me?" Charles asked as he walked over.

"Oh my god, Chief," Nine Fingers said, standing up.