Forests Don't Support Idle Goblins

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Inside the cave, Baldy was shivering from the cold. He reached out and gathered the dry grass around himself, trying to warm himself up.

After being sent away by the high priest, he went to find some food and then returned to his burrow. Now, the other goblins in the burrow had long since become the enemy's subordinates, and he was now the only "burrow leader" there.

Fortunately, the high priest promised that when the number of goblins increased, the extra goblins from other caves would be assigned to the caves with only entrances. This gave Baldy some hope, and the high priest also said that he would be assigned to one first.

A cold wind blew into the cave, and Baldy shivered. He was a little unaccustomed to the absence of other goblins in the cave; it was quiet and desolate. In the past, when the goblins huddled together, they could at least keep each other warm, but now he could only control himself, staying close to the small fire but avoiding getting the weeds on fire.

The thought of the goblins in the burrow reminded him of the enemy leader, dressed in strange fabric, standing before him with his hands behind his back.

Although he wasn't tall, the scene of him sitting in the chair receiving the goblins' allegiance was etched into his mind and he couldn't shake it off.

Baldy gritted his teeth, and at that scene, he couldn't help but think, "This is what goblins should be like."

However, he soon shook his head. After spring, when Quetzalcoatl awakens, it will be the end of these goblins. He himself still needs to continue to perform until one day he can take over the position of high priest. On that day, he will sit upright in his chair and look down on the goblins in the kingdom who come up one by one to pledge their loyalty to him.

But it's too early to talk about that now. He still needs to go out and collect food tomorrow. Right now, he's the only "cave head" in the burrow, so he has to do everything himself. The thought of the other burrows in the kingdom teeming with goblins gives him a headache. It'll be hard for him to compete with the other burrows on his own. So he can only try to act as soon as possible and go into the forest to find food before the other goblins set off.

"In terms of combat ability, I'm no worse than any other goblin," Baldy muttered. "I'm definitely stronger than the enemy leader, who's so short."

Thinking of Charles's height, Baldy smiled confidently, "If I have a weapon, I'm not even afraid of those centaurs."

With that thought in mind, he gathered up some more weeds, preparing to go to sleep as soon as possible so he could get things moving tomorrow.

Unfortunately, a commotion arose outside the cave, as if something was making noise. Baldy jumped up in a flash. "What is it? Has a wild beast wandered into the kingdom?"

In the past, few wild beasts would venture into the Feathered Serpent Kingdom on their own initiative. They seemed to know that this was the kingdom of goblins, so they generally kept their distance.

But such things do happen occasionally.

Baldy immediately got up, ready to go out of the cave to take a look. "If I can find something or catch some prey, it might be enough to eat for a long time. The high priest will also arrange goblins for me in advance."

Thinking of this, he shook his hands and stomped his feet a few times, picked up a thick wooden stick from the ground, and prepared to go out of the cave to take a look.

But after taking only a few steps, he froze on the spot. A dark figure had appeared in the cave at some point. By the light of the small fire, he squinted and saw that the figure was a centaur.

"How can there be centaurs in the kingdom?" Baldy immediately gripped his wooden club tightly, staring intently at the other person.

The centaur, clad in full armor, simply gripped a long sword, pointing it at Baldy, the firelight highlighting the gleam of its blade.

"Wah wah wah," a deep shout came from outside the cave. The voice sounded somewhat familiar, as if it belonged to the cave keeper in the next cave. That guy was all alone now. Baldy frowned and tried to take a step forward.

"Ah—" A sharp scream came over, startling him, and then the outside became as silent as death.

"Go back." The centaur said slowly, holding his long sword level.

Baldy couldn't understand what the other person was saying; the tone sounded like the strange language spoken by some high priests. But that didn't stop him from seeing a contemptuous expression on the other person's face.

His gaze swept over the blade of the long sword, and then, very quickly, he dropped the wooden stick in his hand, turned around and shrank back into the pile of weeds, even gathering the weeds with his hands.

Pretend nothing happened.

…………

With his hands behind his back, Ciel strolled slowly along the "streets" of the Feathered Serpent Kingdom.

It's called a street only in relation to the surrounding buildings and caves. This crooked road, whether it was trampled out by goblins or was originally the original street of the city of all races, doesn't have any plants growing on the soil, nor is it full of potholes.

"It's a bit rugged, so we'll need to add some more soil and level it out later." Charles stepped over a propped-up tree root and looked around at the surrounding buildings.

In order to capture as many goblins as possible, he specifically chose to operate before dawn.

"As it stands now, restoring it to its former scale would be a huge undertaking." He surveyed the ruins and the numerous entrances to the dug tunnels. "Everything needs to be planned out later, including the tunnels and the houses."

Rebuilding a city here would be very difficult, but Xia Er has already made this decision. On the one hand, this place is quite far from human settlements, which can ensure that it will not be disturbed by human adventurers to the greatest extent. On the other hand, it is adjacent to Lake Dallen, making it an excellent choice for both water collection and port construction.

Just as he was slowly walking towards the "center" of the Feathered Serpent Kingdom, a loud shout suddenly came from afar, "Brother, it really is you."

"Hmm?" Ciel, using the faint moonlight, recognized the person and couldn't help but laugh. "Pazzani, what brings you here?"

"Brother, it's Shui Yumo, my coming-of-age trial." Prince Naga slowly "swam" over, and when he got closer, Xia Er noticed that he was carrying a huge bundle on his back, much larger than any he had carried before.

"Don't call me that, forget it," Charles waved his hand, giving up on correcting the other person. Call him whatever you want, "The adulthood trial told you to come find me?"

"No, it's writing on the animal hide that tells me to come to the Feathered Serpent Kingdom to see you at dawn," Pazzani said excitedly. "Does that mean you're going to kill the Feathered Serpent God, brother?"

"Not necessarily, it's just taking advantage of its hibernation."

"And then we just launched a surprise attack here." Charles's gaze was fixed on Pazzani's back. "What are you carrying? How come you have so much?"

"An ice magic circle," Pazzani grinned, his four fleshy whiskers trembling with excitement. "This morning I noticed the handwriting on the adulthood trial had changed, and I immediately realized you must have led an attack on the Feathered Serpent Kingdom. So I argued with the elders for a long time. At first, they didn't want to participate and wouldn't let me come, but I blocked them with the hints from the Water Ink. I also said that if I didn't come, I wouldn't be able to complete the adulthood trial, and then they would have to find my brothers to become the kings of the Naga."

"And then?" Charles raised his hand, signaling the other person to lower their voice. Although his men had taken control of the place, Charles still felt that they were in someone else's "home" and should be careful.

"Then those elders were at their wits' end. You have no idea, their faces looked like they'd eaten unripe red algae. They were so miserable," Pazzani said, patting the fish scales on his lower body, trying to control his voice, but he couldn't suppress the smile on his lips. "After that, they had no choice but to agree to let me come, but they only agreed to let me come to the Feathered Serpent Kingdom alone, saying something like 'It is the enemy's country, and you cannot enter it without permission.'"

"They're right," Charles nodded. He could understand the elders' choice. It's said that the older people get, the more timid they become, and sometimes they really can't bear the consequences of taking the wrong step.

"I said if you won't let me bring anyone, then make me something." With that, Pazzani took off the large bundle from his back and put it on the ground with a "thud." "I had the elders make a large-scale freezing magic circle with the white holy stone you gave me before."

"Runeword: Winter's Breath?" Sharl untied the animal hide from the package and looked inside. "Not bad, with this, we have a better chance of winning."

After thinking for a moment, he decided to place this item in the "plaza" in front of the tower where the Feathered Serpent God was hiding, as Broken Tooth had mentioned before. If the Feathered Serpent God were to wake up unexpectedly and rush out of the tower's opening, he would immediately activate the runeword "Winter".

"You go with Broken Tooth and Nine Fingers to arrange this thing." With that thought, Charles immediately beckoned his men over.

We must race against time now; completing the setup sooner will increase our chances of winning.

"Be careful not to make too much noise," Charles instructed the goblins in front of him and Pazzani. "We can't underestimate the Feathered Serpent God; he's very powerful, so make your preparations quietly and without making a sound."

Everyone nodded heavily, and then, led by Broken Tooth, they began to walk away into the distance.

But after walking a few meters, Pazzani actually swam back again, took out an animal skin and handed it to Charles, "Brother, I've already signed this, do you want to sign it too?"

"What are we signing?" Sharl held it up to him, using the torchlight beside him to take a look. "The Alliance Agreement between the Goblin Kingdom and the Naga?"

"Yes, that's what I was thinking on the way here. We've already reached the lair of the Feathered Serpent God, so if we don't sign an alliance now, we'll probably have to later anyway." He smiled and pointed into the distance. "That Feathered Serpent won't give us any more chances."

"Do the Naga elders know about this?" Shar frowned as he scanned the contents. He could clearly see that this was something Pazzani had written on a whim, and many of the clauses still needed to be discussed and considered.

"They don't know," Pazzani shook his head. "If they did find out, this alliance would be in serious trouble."

"You are not yet the King of Naga, and you haven't completed your coming-of-age trials. Even if I sign it, it won't have much effect," Charles said hesitantly. This guy had stirred up some trouble, and he wasn't sure if it was appropriate to discuss this now.

"It's alright, brother. Although I'm still a prince now, I'll eventually complete the trial. It's better to sign an alliance now than to be debated by those elders for days without reaching a conclusion." He waved his hand dismissively. "After spending time with you, I know you're nothing like a goblin. On the contrary, you're a very good leader. More importantly, you like trading, or rather, exchanging. You don't like to rob."

"Me?" Ciel chuckled.

“Yes, just like those frogmen before. They were clearly weak, and with your strength you could have easily stolen their things, or even captured them all and scraped off their slime every day, but you didn’t do that.” Pazzani nodded, his smile fading. “You’re different from other goblins, and even different from those vicious humans. You seem to view all the species in the forest with equality.”

"Uh," Charles stammered for a moment, "How should I put it? Perhaps it's because my upbringing taught me to treat everyone equally."

"So I thought we could sign an alliance agreement," Pazzani said, sighing softly. "I don't know what my trials will be like in the future, and I don't know if... if we sign it today, even if my brothers see you again, they will take this agreement seriously."

Charles pursed his lips a few times, not saying anything immediately. He knew what the pause in the Naga prince's words meant. Tonight he would face the Feathered Serpent God. If something unfortunate happened to him in the battle, then perhaps a new Naga prince would come to see him in the future. That one would definitely be Pazzani's brother. At that time, the two races could continue to discuss the unfinished alliance agreement.

"You always say you don't care about your people, that you don't want to be king, and that you just want to be an office worker, but you clearly care about your people more than anyone else." Charles teased Pazzani, but his eyes were full of admiration for the Naga prince.

"I'll sign the agreement." With that, Charles took out a charcoal pencil from his back and hastily signed his name on the animal hide. "However, I must also make it clear that the contents of the agreement still need further discussion; this is just a letter of intent."

As he spoke, he quickly finished writing the rest of the text, then folded the animal skin and handed it back to Pazzani.

But Pazzani didn't take it immediately. Instead, he frowned and took out another animal hide from the small bag behind him. The hide looked somewhat familiar to Sharl; it was the Naga prince's "Trial of Adulthood."

"What's wrong?" Charles asked.

"The adult trial seems to have changed," Pazzani said. He always sensed something whenever Shui Yumo's handwriting changed.

When he opened the animal hide, his eyes widened in shock. "It's...it's finished?"

"Is it finished?" Upon hearing the Naga prince's words, Sharl also looked at the animal hide in the other's hand.

"Yes." Pazzani said with a mournful face, showing the animal hide to Sharl. The water-ink on it displayed several large characters: "Adult Trials Completed."

"If I had known it would be this easy, I would have signed the contract the first time I met you, and then I could have had three more days off every week." He wailed, his dorsal fin visibly drooping.