Forests Don't Support Idle Goblins

"I deeply hate the people who framed my family." This was a thought buried deep in Charles's heart. He had finally transmigrated and become a nobleman. The good days were just around the corner, but he was a former nobleman.

"Every day I would wake up on a soft, velvety bed that was 3 meters long and 3 meters wide. I would even have to pull my arms out from between my smooth, white thighs to get out of bed. Then a beautiful and lovely maid with pigtails would bring me a warm nightgown that still retained her body heat. Then I would look out at the bustling city from the castle balcony. As soon as I reached out, a cup of coffee or red wine would be respectfully handed to me. I would turn my head and a slender finger would put a peeled grape into my mouth. Such a life would suddenly burst and disappear like a soap bubble."

Whenever he thought of this, Charles felt a burning hatred. "I hate two kinds of people the most: the corrupt and those who don't let me be corrupt."

This is why Charles was angry that the Naga prince separated work and rest so clearly, because he could have worked only two hours a day.

"Young master, who do you think is framing us?" Uncle Musa looked at the goblin in front of him. After the topic came up, the goblin's face darkened considerably, and its green skin and sharp teeth made it look even more sinister.

"Who benefits the most?" Charles asked slowly.

"Benefit? It should be the royal family. Torch City is full of royal officials now, fighting each other all day long, arguing over a few gold coins."

“That’s right,” Charles nodded. “The royal family must take responsibility. Some of them have their eyes on the port that Father built. That deep-water port generates a lot of revenue every day.”

"Is it the king?" Musa asked.

"It shouldn't be," Charles said, crossing his arms in front of him and leaning back in his chair. "That old man is quite old and has always lived a very dissolute life. I've heard a lot about him in Golden Flower City, but I think it must be one of his two sons."

"The second prince or the third prince?"

"It's also possible that both are true."

"You have them all?"

"Hmm," Charles narrowed his eyes, "one is plotting, while the other remains inactive, simply waiting to seize the spoils."

"That's possible," Uncle Musa nodded.

"And it's not just the royal family," Charles smiled. "They probably won't set their sights on Torch City for the time being. You know, the family's territory is still far from the capital, and their eyes can't reach that far all at once."

"What you mean, young master, is that someone instigated this incident and attracted the attention of the royal family."

"right."

"Who could it be?" Musa recalled the events of the past, somewhat puzzled as to who the Melo family could have formed a grudge against. "The Baron is a sincere person and has had little conflict with the surrounding nobles. Who could it be?"

"There's a group of people who would feel worse if we didn't let them make money than if we killed them," Charles said softly, a slight smirk playing on his lips.

"Not let them make money?" Musa repeated, then his eyes flashed with a cold light, "The Chamber of Commerce Alliance?"

Charles chuckled dismissively. "After Father built the port, he brought the gold coin exchange business under the control of the Baron's Mansion. He also built a large number of warehouses. These were originally handled by those merchant guilds. Although Father only decided to do this from the perspective of stabilizing the operation of the deep-water port, these affairs have caused those merchant guilds to earn a lot less money for no reason."

Torch City's deep-water port not only connects to overseas islands but is also the mouth of the Darren River. This leads to very frequent exchanges of gold and silver coins. Previously, those merchant guilds could make a fortune simply by "adding a little water" to the exchange, and it was a business with no initial investment.

As a transit port, merchants from all over the world need to rent warehouses around the port to temporarily store their goods. The merchant guilds had already bought land and built a large number of warehouses. Originally, after the deep-water port was built, they could have raised the rental fees as the amount of goods increased. However, Baron Mello believed that only by speeding up logistics could the port operate better. Therefore, he built a large number of warehouses to facilitate merchants traveling to and from the north and south.

"But these are things that must be done, so why are they dissatisfied?" Musa said, frowning.

"Yes, it's something that has to be done, but what they're unhappy about is that these things weren't assigned to them." Charles chuckled, recalling his past memories. Every time those merchants saw him and his father, they would bow and scrape with utmost respect, but behind their backs, they harbored deep hatred for his family. He had heard before that those merchants cursed his family behind their backs, wishing for their "early demise."

"Uncle, you've been in the trade for a while now, so you should be able to understand the changes that have occurred," he said, looking at Musa and extending his hand.

"Hmph," Uncle Musa sneered, "It's much more chaotic than when the Baron was here."

Uncle Musa recalled for a few seconds before nodding emphatically, "When the Duke was in charge, the management of the entire Deepwater Port was, if not perfect, quite orderly, but now..."

He shook his head. "Those officials who are directly under the royal family are fighting amongst themselves all day long. They have long since delegated all affairs to the Chamber of Commerce. But the Chamber of Commerce not only charges high prices, but also handles many things in a very chaotic manner. If I hadn't paid more money, I wouldn't even have been able to find the warehouse. Moreover, those merchants only care about the security of the warehouse and completely ignore the area around the port and the sea."

"Is the security good?" Charles raised an eyebrow. "Isn't it going to breed a lot of bandits?"

"If only they were bandits," Uncle Musa sighed. "They're the undead, or more accurately, skeletons."

Charles squinted, as if he had thought of something.

"It's still the same infighting among the officials. I don't know who's behind it, but they hired a necromancer to set up a necromancy summoning circle around the port, which has caused a large number of skeleton sailors to crawl on the ships entering and leaving the port. Although this has been going on for almost a month, they are still arguing about it."

"So what do we do now?" Charles asked. He had heard John mention this before, so it seemed that it wasn't just their ship that encountered the undead.

"What else can we do? Just get a few more adventurers on board," Uncle Musa said irritably.

"That's true..." Charles shook his head slightly. He had been wondering why he hadn't heard any news about adventurers since winter began. He had thought they were scared off by the giant spiders and bees, but now it seemed that many people had probably gone to Torch City to earn extra money. After all, those skeleton sailors were much easier to deal with than the monsters deep in the Nightmare Forest.

"Many people secretly miss the days when the Lord was alive," Musa sighed softly. "Unfortunately, even praying to the gods is useless now."

"Uncle, there's no need to pray," Charles chuckled. "The church isn't a good place either."

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