Forests Don't Support Idle Goblins

Chapter 396 The President Becomes a Gambler

Charles originally agreed to Earl Silver Wolf's request because he could cooperate with him in the long term and strengthen himself by exchanging gold and silver.

Moreover, he believed that dealing with the ratmen, a race that dared not climb to the ground, should not be too difficult. After all, once his strength reached a certain level, he would be "hard to beat" in the forest.

But now, seeing the dead guards, Charles realized that he had clearly underestimated the ratmen.

"As expected, there are no easy characters in the Nightmare Forest." He sighed and rubbed his temples.

The "ghoul" on the ground had been completely charred, and a strange smell of burnt meat filled the air. Little John slowly walked over. "That's how it is, boss."

"I understand." Charles nodded. "By the way, are there any adventurers on the edge of the Savoy forest?"

"No more," Little John shook his head, his eyes becoming somewhat heavy. "I heard from the locals that there used to be some, at least fifty years ago, there were still some adventurers, but as the number of ratmen increased, the adventurers began to give up accepting commissions in the forest."

"Later," he thought for a moment, and continued, "other creatures also became scarce, especially goblins, which were almost completely gone. So the adventurers turned to the kingdom and began to take on some jobs from employers."

"Then," Charles thought for a few seconds, then asked again, "Are there any other dangers in the forest?"

"Well, really nothing," John nodded. "The only danger is some burrows. These burrows are very thin, with only a layer of loose soil and vegetation on the surface. If you're not careful, you can easily fall in. And below them are basically ratmen's burrows."

As he spoke, he frowned, as if he was thinking about something. It seemed that his previous experience in the western part of the forest had not been good.

"Do these ratmen only come out of their burrows at night?" Sharl asked again, glancing at the surrounding vegetation. "Also, what are the produce like in the western part of the forest?"

This question immediately made John raise an eyebrow. "I must say, boss, you're really amazing."

"I saw at least two kinds of herbs just on the way to the cave entrance with these two guards," he nodded excitedly, "one of which is the very expensive Aromatic Herb."

Charles remembered this herb; it seemed that when he met John the second time, John had asked where in the forest there was a herb called Rhyme, whose tubers were then 20 silver coins a kilogram.

"It seems these ratmen have unexpectedly made the western part of the forest lush with vegetation." Charles smiled, but he knew that he couldn't get those herbs yet. After all, no one knew if he would slip through the grass and fall into a hole. If he did, he would have to face a group of vicious ratmen. Even if he won, he would most likely be injured and eventually die from the plague.

This is many times more dangerous than going into the forest to search for a few goblin nests, kill them, cut off their ears, and sell them for money.

"Are you thinking of going to the western part of the forest to collect herbs?" A voice sounded beside her. Diana walked over slowly. She had just witnessed the entire process of the guard's death and had also heard Charles and Little John's conversation.

"It would be a lie to say I don't want to go," Charles shrugged. To be honest, he really wanted to go to the West District to gather herbs. There were no adventurers there, and the plants on the ground were plentiful—it was practically a gathering paradise.

“But as you can see,” Diana pointed to the charred corpse on the ground, “this is not a simple disease, you can’t risk doing this.”

She feared that Charles might succumb to temptation and risk sending his men to gather herbs. If he did so, given the goblins' nature, it could easily bring the plague back to their tribe.

If this happens, the entire tribe will suffer a disaster.

In fact, given the nature of goblins, after they scatter and flee, they will spread the plague to other parts of the forest, infecting adventurers and eventually turning the entire town of Giraffe into a "living hell".

"I understand your concerns," Charles sighed. "We really can't make a decision so easily."

Although he said that, he was still a little reluctant to part with it, after all, that herb farm was just as big as the area he currently occupied.

If we can send our men over, we can safely collect all the herbs.

Now that spring has arrived, adventurers will be heading into the southern part of the forest. They will search for goblins, gather herbs, or hunt wild animals, which will inevitably lead to conflict with the goblins of the Shire.

After one or two conflicts, news of the Goblin Kingdom is likely to leak out, which will attract the attention of Earl Valentine.

What Shire lacks most right now is time. He knows that Valentine is also unwilling to see any hidden dangers appear in his rear. If he learns that a goblin kingdom is sprouting, he will definitely nip it in the bud.

However, if the southern region is given to adventurers and their own tribe goes to the west to gather herbs, they can avoid encountering adventurers. At the same time, they can post herb gathering commissions through the Adventurers' Guild and "hire" adventurers to gather herbs for goblins by paying a portion of silver coins.

"But you seem to still be unwilling to give up." Diana looked at Charles, her eyes still full of suspicion.

"No, I understand the importance of this matter." Charles waved his hand, reiterating that he was not the kind of leader who would disregard the lives of his people for personal gain.

"Alright," Diana nodded, then glanced again at the charred corpse on the ground. "I thought you would have a way to deal with this, but it seems you don't have one."

After saying that, she glanced at Ciel, "The King of the World?"

"I'm not omnipotent," Charles said, shrugging his shoulders and spreading his hands.

It's all because I overdid it before; now that I've encountered the rat people, I don't know how to handle the situation.

Fortunately, the other party was just joking and didn't have any particular intentions.

“Actually,” Little John interjected, cracking his knuckles, “if there’s a way to deal with the ratmen plague, it’s not that difficult. I’ve fought a few ratmen myself. Those guys don’t even have any wood; they just rely on their teeth and claws, and at most they have some big bone clubs. They’re quite easy to deal with.”

"Is it really that easy?" Diana frowned at Little John, then pointed to the "guard" on the ground. "You call this easy?"

"Uh—" Little John didn't say a word for a long time. Indeed, if the ratmen carried the plague, they would be very difficult to deal with.

"It's nothing, we should be able to handle it if we think of a way," Charles quickly smoothed things over. "Of course, I'm not talking about now."

He still had to fulfill his agreement with Earl Silver Wolf; those ratmen would eventually have to be dealt with.

"How should we handle this?" Diana frowned. "What do you plan to rely on? Healing spells or something else?"

"I don't have any ideas yet," Charles smiled. "It's not too late to deal with it when I have some ideas."

"You?" Diana sized up the goblin in front of her, then glanced at the dead guards. "I believe healing spells are definitely useless against those ratmen."

John nodded repeatedly at this, "Yes, the people from Savoy said before that they had tried many methods, and even consulted the bishop of the Church of Life, but still to no avail."

"Even healing spells won't work?" Shar pursed his lips. He had indeed had such an idea before, mainly to look for suitable runewords in the forest, or even large runeword arrays that could pray for healing effects, similar to the runeword "Winter" that the Naga had given him.

The Treefolk territory of the Mother Tree is right next to the Darren River. If a transit station is built there, it might be able to deal with the ratfolk plague.

But now it seems that even the archbishop of the Church of Life has no solution.

Upon hearing John's words, Diana immediately raised her head and looked at Charles with the gaze of a victor, "You see, even the Church of Life can't do anything about it—"

But before she could finish speaking, she heard Little John add, "However, I think the boss should have a way to deal with it, otherwise he wouldn't have been so certain about signing the agreement with Earl Silver Wolf."

"Hmm?" Diana looked at Little John suspiciously. You just said that even the archbishop was helpless, how come you're praising the goblins now?

Is it possible that the Archbishop of the Church of Life is inferior to a goblin in healing magic?

"I, uh, I—" Charles smiled. He wanted to say that he didn't know the ratmen were like this at the time. After all, he had only been in this world for a short time, and he had only recently seen real tauren. Before that, he had only controlled tauren druids in games.

"You really have a way?" Diana, seeing how certain and even assertive Little John was, couldn't help but take a step back and scrutinize Charles. "Could it be that you are the Archbishop of the Church of Life, and that novice bishop who came to the forest to see you?"

"No, no, no, of course not." Charles quickly waved his hand. "Sophia is just—"

"Sophia's here?" John raised an eyebrow. "Haven't seen her in ages. How's she doing?"

As she spoke, she chuckled a few times, "She came to the forest, of course, specifically to see the boss."

"Look," Diana said, shrugging with a look of disdain that said, "You goblin, stop pretending."

However, she was also puzzled as to why the apprentice archbishop would specifically come to see this goblin. Could he really be the archbishop?

But this situation is too absurd.

The Cardinal of the Church of Life passed away more than six months ago, and no new monarch has been elected since. This situation is very unusual and has left the other three churches wondering what the Church of Life is trying to do.

But what Diana saw today left the former president of the Crusades extremely confused.

After thinking for a few seconds, she took a deep breath and then looked directly at Charles in front of her. "Let's make a bet."

"Huh?" Charles was stunned. Did I hear that right? This girl actually offered to make a bet. Has she forgotten how she lost the previous times?

Or perhaps she was beaten too lightly by the elephant spirit, her wings hardened, and her angelic feathers grew back?

Gambling is indeed addictive; how did a perfectly good Holy Army commander fall into the quagmire of gambling?

"Okay, what are we betting on?" Charles nodded immediately, thinking to himself, "I'm not getting caught up in gambling, but sacrificing myself to save a lost girl. If I don't enter the sea of ​​gambling, who will?"

"If you can solve the ratmen problem, I, uh—" Diana stroked her chin, looking down as she began to consider what kind of bet she would have to make. She had spoken too quickly earlier and hadn't thought things through, so she could only come up with a solution on the spot.

There's no way around it; she's just that kind of person whose hands move faster than her brain.

"I've got it! If I win, I'll tell you something important." After thinking for a few seconds, her eyes finally lit up.

"One thing?" Charles thought for a moment. "Then it must be something I don't know."

"Yes, that's right." Diana nodded quickly.

"In that case," Charles clasped his hands together, looking up at the distant treetops, "it's not impossible."

Although he possesses some knowledge of the world's history and has some experience in human governance, he doesn't really know much about magic, monsters, gods, and demons.

Moreover, the problem of the rat people will still need to be addressed in the future; it's just a matter of sooner or later.

"Then my wager is—" Ciel began to think about what he should give in return, but before he could finish speaking, Diana interrupted him, "If you lose, it's the same request as last time."

"That one from last time? I have something to tell you?"

"Yes." Diana nodded emphatically, her face showing a "let's see how you hide it now" expression.

"That's all?" Charles raised an eyebrow. "Nothing else?"

"That's enough." Diana nodded in satisfaction, her expression smug, as if she had already won a victory.

But Little John, standing to the side, said, "So I'm the witness? The witness to the boss, no, the witness to the wager between the King of the Forest and the Commander-in-Chief of the Crusade."

He chuckled a few times, then turned to Diana, "But I still have to warn you, the boss is very capable, you might lose."

"Me? Lose?" Diana pointed to her face, looking at John with some surprise.

But the other person just nodded and didn't say anything.

"I don't believe he's more powerful than the Archbishop of the Church of Life," Diana said irritably. "And there has to be a time limit, a year, no, six months."

"Six months?" Charles frowned. Time seemed a bit tight, but he had already said it, and it wouldn't be good to change his mind now.

"Boss, I support you," John said with a big laugh.

Diana looked at Little John beside her, somewhat puzzled by his confidence. Ciel was just a goblin; even if he had been blessed by the God of War, he couldn't possibly reach that level.

She looked at the human and goblin in front of her with some suspicion. The human was just an adventurer wearing "tattered" equipment. He couldn't even last three moves against her when they fought before. The other one was just a green-skinned goblin.

But the two of them looked at each other and smiled.

"Hmm—" Diana thought for a few seconds, then asked, "What are you laughing at? You said before that you wanted me to instruct Red Eyes and his swordsmanship?"

"Oh? Yes, that's right."

"Okay," Diana nodded. "Now that you've finished your business, it's time for your swordsmanship lesson."

As she spoke, she unconsciously laughed. How interesting, happiness really is contagious.