Forests Don't Support Idle Goblins

Charles stood with his hands behind his back beside his men. In front of him were Bucktooth, Nine Fingers, and the limping man assembling the newly built "mortar," while he was still recalling the events of the previous night.

After the vampire Herbert knelt down and begged, Charles finally agreed. He figured that finding one eye or two ears was the same as searching for an eye, and since he was going to search the entire Nightmare Forest anyway, he was sure he would find all the organs of the five demon lords.

He was very confident that he could do it. For some reason, Xia Er just felt that he could find it, just like these ancient runes that had been buried in the forest for thousands of years and no one had ever discovered them until he finally found them himself.

He always felt as if an invisible hand was pushing him forward, and the road ahead was full of temptations and dangers, as well as many unknowns and surprises.

Finally, Herbert signed a new contract with the "Undying" alchemy workshop, which stipulated the cooperative relationship between the two parties. From now on, the other party would provide Charles with potion bottles free of charge, and he would need to do his best to help the Dawn family find the ear of the demon lord Jealousy.

Charles had asked the other party if these fees, which would become substantial later, could be waived entirely, but the other party insisted on doing so.

In Herbert's words, "I'll mine a few more mines, and you'll make back your fees." As Charles gradually frowned, the middle-aged man calmly said that the glass business was only part of the Dawn family's business. They also owned several mines and had shops in many parts of the continent. He himself was also a count in the Kingdom of Savoy.

The Kingdom of Savoy is located to the west of the Kingdom of Fran, separated from it by the Daren River. At the same time, part of the kingdom's eastern border also borders the Nightmare Forest.

When Ciel learned about the other person's background, he could only try his best to maintain a smile and not lose his composure.

"It's all bad luck. Why can they become vampires while I'm cursed to be a goblin?" Ciel said angrily, his lips twitching.

When Herbert left, he took out an emerald necklace from his pocket and gave it to Mary. Although Mary tried to refuse, she couldn't resist Mr. Herbert, or perhaps the Earl of Dawn. He said, "Beautiful Miss Mary, you are a brave and intelligent girl. Thank you very much for what you said earlier. This necklace is just a small gift and it's not worth much money."

"Worthless? Do you think I'm some country bumpkin from the forest?" Charles sighed lightly. "I used to be a nobleman, I've seen this before."

The green gemstone on that necklace, while not very expensive, was still quite valuable; it was clearly something that would cost a lot of gold coins to buy.

"Since you've already given the gifts meant for the children to my men, it's not unreasonable for me not to work hard," Charles glanced at his men beside him. "Starting tomorrow, ramp up potion production. Get them to gather herbs. Those skeleton warriors are already skilled at making potions, so the millstone can start turning."

"Chief, that's about it." The lame man squatted on the ground and tapped the iron pipe in front of him with his fingers. The goblins had successfully assembled the thing according to the diagram that Sharl had drawn earlier, but they hadn't tested it yet and didn't know if it was successful. Moreover, the buck-toothed goblins all had their own ideas about assembling the "iron pipe".

"Let me see." Charles walked over, and the goblins automatically moved aside to make room for him.

"The bottom rune stone," Charles said, comparing each part of his design drawings. "It's installed, the bracket is fixed, but why is this angle scale installed backwards?"

After some work, the "Rune Mortar" was finally installed. A group of goblins surrounded the metal lump, wondering what it was for. Nine Fingers even loudly proclaimed that it was used to blow air into the fire pit when White Hair was cooking.

"What's this thing for?" A voice sounded from behind. Charles turned around and saw Evita and several tribesmen also stopping to look. "What new thing has the chief come up with this time?"

"This thing is amazing," Charles said, stroking the iron barrel. The cold touch didn't bother him at all; instead, it felt like touching a girl's thigh. "It can shoot very far."

Unlike the weapons of the past, this "rune mortar" does not derive its energy from explosives, but from a runic power, or as Agatha would say, "the power of the laws of the gods." Therefore, its outer shell is not very thick, and its weight is also acceptable.

"A long distance?" The centaur girl smirked, then took a longbow from her body, swiftly drew an arrow, and with a "whoosh," the arrow shot into the forest. "Is it that far?"

Ciel smiled as he looked at Evita, who was holding her head high. She was gradually becoming more confident and adapting to the role of centaur chieftain. At the same time, her inherent pride was slowly awakening.

"We'll only know if we try." Charles waved to his men, who began to position the cannon, adjust the angle, and aim it directly at the direction Evita had shot the arrow. "Let's use the 'Guangguang Fruit' as cannonballs."

He took out a kuangguo (a type of fruit), and instead of putting it in an iron shell, he fixed it directly onto a wooden disc engraved with runes.

"The weight is alright." Charles weighed it in his hand, then slowly put it into the tube.

After confirming that the wooden rune disc was attached to the white stone rune disc at the bottom, he called over Red Eyes and said, "Take this and insert it into the hole under the cannon barrel."

Charles pointed to the target location, then handed over a fan-shaped white stone to secure the sheet metal. He immediately stepped back several paces, while also telling everyone to step back to prevent the first test shot from failing and the barrel from exploding.

Red Eyes paid no attention to the goblins' actions around him. He just looked at the thing in his hand over and over. After figuring it out, he squatted down and put the white stone into the notch at the bottom of the cannon barrel.

With a casual flick of the red-eyed eye, a "whoosh" sounded, and everyone saw a shadow quickly disappear before their eyes. Immediately afterward, an explosion was heard in the distance. Just as everyone was stunned, Xia Er clapped his hands and laughed, "Success! This time it didn't explode. It was done on the first try."

Chi Mu stared blankly at his palm, confused as to what had just flown out. He had only put a stone in, so why had it exploded in the distance?

Charles walked over to him and patted the red-eyed man on the shoulder. "Well done."

"Leader," Red Eyes said immediately, "Why did it explode?"