Forests Don't Support Idle Goblins

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"My lord, Your Majesty," Captain Byron said carefully, choosing his words cautiously, "the goods you requested have all been delivered."

"You can call me boss," Charles said with a smile and a wave of his hand. His gaze was fixed on the distance, where four small boats were unloading cargo from the "Make Enough to Retire" cargo ship, transporting bags back and forth like ants carrying grains of rice.

The sailors were all locked in a corner on the deck, watching the goblins go in and out of the cabin with some fear in their eyes. Several of them carried large bags together and lowered them onto the small boat with ropes.

"Hmm, it seems we need to build a simple dock first." Charles stroked his chin, scrutinizing the unloading speed. This shipment consisted of grains, including wheat, rice, and potatoes. These foods would temporarily alleviate the tribe's food shortage.

"There should be other goods piled up at the dock," he murmured softly. "It will probably take several more boat trips to get them all here."

Thinking of the ship, Charles suddenly realized something. He turned to look at his side, where Captain Byron was standing respectfully by his side, bowing slightly, with a smile on his face and not saying a word, showing no intention of urging him on.

However, Charles still saw a hint of helplessness in the other person's eyes; the other person clearly had something to say but dared not say it.

"I still want to thank you," Charles said with a smile, reaching into the leather pouch at his back and starting to rummage around. "I'll give you the payment now."

"No, no, boss," Byron immediately waved his hand, "it's all I should do, it's just delivering a shipment."

As he spoke, he took a step back, as if afraid that the goblin in front of him would pull something strange out of the bag.

However, Charles didn't keep him waiting long. He immediately pulled out a handful of gold coins and said, "According to our previous agreement, these gold coins are yours to keep. You don't need to refuse."

He handed over the gold coins, which Captain Byron received with both hands while bowing.

"Too many, two extra gold coins." The captain quickly counted out the gold coins and returned the extra ones.

"Oh, okay." Charles nodded, taking the gold coin. "You're good, you didn't think of anything else."

He was pleased that Captain Byron across from him hadn't "coveted" the extra gold coins just because he was a goblin. "Nothing else has happened along the way, has it?"

"No, it went smoothly," Byron replied immediately. "It's just that we got back a little late that day, and the dockworkers had all gone to the tavern, so we had to load the ship the next day."

In fact, when Captain Byron wanted to load the cargo onto the ship that day, the laborers would have accepted the job for the sake of the pay. However, everyone on the ship was still in shock, so no one wanted to do it immediately.

However, Byron himself felt that the transport was going very fast, as long as it went north along the Darren River, and he felt that there were no obstacles on the road, so the speed of the voyage was not affected much.

Previously, when his ship sailed north to Lake Dallen, paladins used some magic to accelerate the ship. He didn't invest that much money to modify the ship. Wealthy captains would attach arcane runes to the hull to change the water flow so that the ship could go upstream, while poorer captains would hire a mage apprentice to use magic to influence the ship.

Byron was just an ordinary captain, so ordinary that he didn't have that much money to do these things, which is why he dared to accept the commission from the Crusades.

It's all about making money.

But this time, he felt that it was only slightly slower than the Crusader's magically driven sailing speed, and he didn't have to spend much effort maneuvering or changing the sails. Byron found it strange. Could it be that the Crusader's magic was still working?

"I know, as long as it goes smoothly," Charles nodded. Then, a splash came from afar, and a monster with a fish head, human body, and snake tail climbed ashore and swam towards them, twisting its body. "I specifically asked my friends to keep an eye on your boat along the way. It seems their water magic is quite useful."

"Water magic?" Captain Byron opened his mouth, his chin twitched a few times, but he couldn't utter a sound. He didn't expect that what he found strange was actually arranged by the goblins in advance. That meant that these fish-headed monsters had been hiding in the river since his ship entered the forest basin.

"Brother," Pazzani swam over, extending his webbed hands in greeting, then glanced at the astonished Captain Byron, grinned, revealing a set of sharp teeth, and his mustache twitched. "Hello."

Byron forced a smile. He was familiar with these Nagas; they had captured the entire ship before. Now that he knew they were being monitored again, he was helpless.

"How are you? Are you alright in the water?" Sharl looked up at Naga and asked.

"It's alright, we've explored the entire waterway, there's no problem, just some water monsters along the way, nothing serious." Pazzani waved his hand dismissively, "It's just that controlling the water flow to deal with this one boat is manageable for now, but if there are more boats, we'll be overwhelmed."

"It's alright, it's just this once. We'll leave the rest to them." Charles pointed to the ships in the distance, then turned to Captain Byron. "Oh, by the way, I forgot to ask, I still have quite a bit of cargo piled up at the dock. I wonder if you'd be willing to continue?"

"And, there's more?" Byron stammered out a few words. He really wanted to say, "Sorry, I'm not doing it. Go find whoever you want," but after glancing at the burly Naga monster standing to the side, he swallowed his thoughts.

Looking at the silent captain, Charles pursed his lips. "I know what you're thinking. Business deals mainly depend on the willingness of both parties, but you can also listen to my thoughts first."

Seeing that Captain Byron remained silent, Charles continued, "I know that in the transportation industry, there are several very important metrics: freight volume, arrival volume, and turnover rate."

"I still have a lot of goods piled up at the Giethoorn dock. It would take us a lot of time and manpower to transport these things into Lake Dallen on our own, but with your cargo ships, it would be much faster. The amount of these goods is large, enough for your ships to make many trips. And this waterway is not far, so you can make round trips. After spring begins, I will transport some of the forest produce out, at which time you can maintain a high turnover rate."

Upon hearing Charles's words, Captain Byron's eyes no longer showed resistance, and he began to lower his head and seriously consider what the other had said.

"Of course, I know that the shipping routes from Giethoorn to Black Lion City, or directly to Torch City, are also quite good, but there would be a lot of competition there. I heard that at the docks in Giethoorn, ships are already queuing up to unload their cargo, while this forest waterway only has your ship." Charles continued speaking slowly, his tone calm, as if chatting with a friend. "This kind of opportunity is hard to come by, and besides, I'm a sentimental person."

He looked at Captain Byron and grinned, his sharp teeth gleaming with a "kind" light.

"I suggest you think about it carefully. Although I can't make you a lot of money right away, I can ensure you have a steady stream of shipping contracts, which is much more reliable than competing with other captains for shipping orders."

"I need to discuss this with the crew," Captain Byron stammered. Admittedly, the goblin boss had a point. His ships were not as wealthy as those of other captains, and he often had to wait a while to receive transport orders, which were usually for very low-value cargo.

"Yes, it does need to be discussed." Charles didn't pay attention to the other party's words. It's best if everyone on the ship agrees on this kind of thing. If even one person has a problem, it will cause trouble. "Then you can meet your crew now and have a good talk with them. I look forward to your answer."

"Oh, right," Charles remembered something, "if they'd like, they can come ashore for a couple of drinks. This time I've prepared light beer, not that bitter algae beer from last time, which they brewed themselves."

He smiled and pointed to Pazzani next to him, who frowned and twitched his fleshy beard. "Algae wine is a craft of our own Naga people."

"That thing isn't...it's not poison?" Byron asked in astonishment. Although the goblin had said that the green drink with only a slight alcoholic taste was alcohol, none of them on the ship believed him.

"Of course it's not poison. It takes more than half a year to make a barrel of algae wine. Moreover, algae are very difficult to grow. Our Naga tribe spent a lot of time training them to grow in Lake Dallen," Pazzani said proudly, raising his head.

"Yes, yes, yes." Byron immediately smiled obsequiously, for he was terrified of the strong "monster" beside him.

"Go on, meet your crew." Seeing that things were still busy by the cargo ship, Charles waved and called out, "Little John, take the captain over there."

Upon hearing this, John, who was standing at a distance looking around, immediately turned around. He had been helping the magic craftsman Martial transport various tools and materials from Torch City to the clothing workshop, and only now did he have a moment to spare to come and take a look at this abandoned city.

"Boss, you called me?" Little John ran over quickly and came to Charles's side.

"Take Captain Byron over there and let him meet his crew. You lead the way, and those goblins won't say anything." Charles pointed to the rather reserved captain beside him. If Byron went over alone, it might attract the attention of the other goblins. Little John and the others were already familiar with them, so there wouldn't be any trouble.

"Alright." Little John nodded and said to Captain Byron with a smile, "Come with me."

After saying that, he walked ahead on his own, completely ignoring whether the captain was following.

But just as they had taken a few steps, a sharp eagle cry came from the sky. As everyone looked up at the sky, a dark shadow swooped down.

With a "whoosh," before anyone around could react, Pazzani quickly condensed several short, thick ice spikes and then flung them into the sky.

Just as the ice spikes were shooting rapidly toward the dark figure and were about to hit it, a few "crack" sounds rang out, and a person stood up from the dark figure. He swung his sword in front of him with both hands, and the ice spikes broke into several pieces in front of the dark figure without even touching it.

"Enemy attack." Little John drew his longsword and looked up at the sky, while the person in the shadow jumped up with a "whoosh" and landed directly on the ground.

"It seems you've captured my companions," the newcomer said, tossing his high ponytail behind his head and pointing his sword directly at the tallest man, Pazzani. "Hand over those paladins."

"It's you." Little John was taken aback when he recognized the person. It was the "three-sword style" girl he had met in Torch City. "You're that... that commander?"

"He's the commander-in-chief of the Crusader," Diana corrected coldly. "So you really are involved in this, Evil Swordsman."

"Me? The evil swordsman?" Little John's cheek twitched, and he pointed to himself with a wry smile.

"Tell me, what exactly is your conspiracy in blowing up the Church of Life?" Diana said coldly, still furious at the memory of being chased like a rabbit by the security forces in Torch City. "If you don't want to talk, I can beat you until you do."

"Are you the commander-in-chief of the Crusader?" Charles frowned and glanced at the other person. This girl was about the same height as Red Eyes, and she was holding two longswords, with one of them still unsheathed. How could she be the commander-in-chief of the Crusader?

Either the Crusaders are all lolicon, or the girl with the high ponytail in front of them has something special about her.

"Goblins? Goblins that speak Common?" Diana glanced at Ciel. "Interesting. They even taught goblins Common. What tricks are they planning to play with them?"

"Me? Tricks?" Charles was stunned. The girl hadn't looked at him once, but was staring intently at Pazzani next to her, as if the tall Naga was the "boss" here.

"What are you, Naga, planning? What are you plotting to cause all this trouble?" Diana raised another longsword and pointed it at Pazzani, her tone chilling.

"Me? A conspiracy?" Pazzani pointed to his face, then looked down at Charles beside him and asked, "Brother, what conspiracy are you planning? I have no idea!"

"There's no conspiracy." Charles frowned. He thought about what he had done recently and realized there really wasn't anything. If he really had to name a conspiracy, would tricking the demon lord into helping him fight Quetzalcoatl count?

"You call him brother?" Diana was taken aback when she heard Pazzani's words.

“Yes,” Prince Naga puffed out his chest, “he’s my brother.”

"He's my boss," John Jr. added at the opportune moment.

Captain Byron, who was hiding behind Little John, stammered, "Boss, boss."

He mechanically followed along, saying that the dark shadow in the sky had landed on the ground; it was a black-feathered griffin, pacing anxiously in the dirt and watching everyone warily.

"You, boss?" Diana froze on the spot. "You're just a goblin, how could you be?"

"Perhaps it's because I'm more charming; they all volunteered." Seeing the girl's sword moving towards him, Charles couldn't help but take two steps back.

"Either I'm crazy, or the world is crazy," Diana gritted her teeth, "but it doesn't matter, it's the same whether I find you or not."

"Hand over those paladins." She raised her longsword and leaped towards Charles.