Forests Don't Support Idle Goblins

"There are church matters here?" Uncle Musa tapped the table lightly, somewhat shocked by Charles's statement. "You know, the Baron was quite devout before."

"I know, Father used to take us to church often." Charles nodded slowly. "But I don't believe those churches are unaware of something as serious as treason. Their tentacles have long since reached every corner of the world. Although they always claim not to get involved in politics, they're always behind every political event."

Recalling what Sophia had mentioned about the Chosen Ones and the War of the Gods, Sharl felt that his family was probably just cannon fodder in it.

After all, the last war of the gods directly led to the Kingdom of Fran replacing the previous kingdom and the Golden Flower family becoming the new royal family. It is unknown what this war of the gods will be like. Sophia has said that "the war of the gods has already begun."

"Those churches were involved too?" Musa frowned. "I hadn't thought of that. After the Duke was arrested, I considered immediately informing you to seek refuge with the Church of Night and Fate, but unfortunately, I had completely lost contact with you by then."

Charles paused for a few seconds, then said, "At that time, I guessed I was already being watched, and now it seems the Church isn't trustworthy either."

"What exactly happened back then?" Uncle Musa leaned forward and asked with concern.

"When I heard about my father's situation, I immediately set off to return to Torch City," Charles said calmly. He tried to recall his previous experiences, which he had already gone through several times. "That night, I found a very inconspicuous hotel to stay in, for fear of being exposed."

"When I woke up, I found myself lying on the edge of the forest, and I had turned into a goblin." He shrugged and said, "I don't know what happened during that time, and since I was in the forest, I don't know the exact date, and I have absolutely no recollection of what happened during that period."

"Where's Obodo? Wasn't he with you at the time?" Musa asked immediately. Obodo was Charles's personal bodyguard, responsible for protecting the Baron's son.

"I don't know, maybe he's alive, maybe he's dead." Charles sighed. "He's still young after all. If someone sets a trap for us, the two of us won't be able to handle it."

"Sigh, if only I had accompanied the young master to Black Lion City back then." Musa slammed his fist on the table, feeling very guilty. It was he who had assigned Obodo to go.

"You don't need to be like that. Nobody knew those guys were plotting against our family back then," Charles quickly reassured her. "And now it seems it's a good thing you didn't come in person. If you had come with me, the Merlo family wouldn't have any hope of revenge now."

"Does the young master mean," Musa hesitated for a moment, "that there's a problem with Count Valentine?"

“Yes,” Charles nodded. “We came to discuss an iron ore deal, but we only visited the place and didn’t meet Valentine himself. The officials said he was leading people into the forest to clear out goblins, but he’s not the kind of person who does things personally. The next day we received a message from my father, and that’s when the rest of the story happened.”

He tapped the table lightly. "I think that old man Valentine was in the castle at the time, and he was involved in this whole affair from the very beginning."

"Why is he always your most loyal reading companion, no matter when or where? Our family has no enmity with Black Lion City, does it?" Musa frowned, he really couldn't understand why Earl Valentine would do this.

"First of all, if someone bypasses the local lord and attacks another noble, it will incur the lord's displeasure, as this is an unwritten rule among nobles," Charles said slowly. This principle is also tacitly understood among nobles in various regions, unless the other party also intended to target the local nobles from the beginning. Count Valentine is just a border count, and according to many, he is so poor that he only has an iron mine and a lumber mill. "Secondly, Valentine may still have some minor grudges against us."

"A grudge?" Uncle Musa asked, puzzled. "Our territory doesn't border his, and our family ancestors never killed their ancestors. Did you perhaps beat up Count Valentine's child when you were studying in Plantagenet City, young master?"

Charles chuckled. He had never beaten up Philip when he was in school, mainly because the guy was stupid and he had never met him at grammar school. But now he had already given him a good beating.

"That's not the reason," Charles shook his head, "it's still related to money."

"Is it about gold coins again?"

"Valentine wrote to Father several times, hoping to reduce the taxes on his family's cargo ships. He even went so far as to ask Father to let his son marry Vivian." Charles smirked. "But Father thought that if he agreed to that old man Valentine's request, other nobles would follow suit and make the same request, so he politely refused."

"Besides, Father will never agree to marry Vivian to that idiot Philip," Charles shrugged, "even if he's the Earl's son."

"Just because of this, he went so far as to scheme against us?" Musa said in an unfriendly tone, his hands clenching into fists several times, looking like he was suppressing his anger.

"I think that's partly true. You know, my father was just a baron at the time, and he actually rejected the suggestion of an earl so directly. If word got out, it would definitely make Valentine lose face," Charles chuckled. "And for nobles, gossip spreads very easily."

"Those guys really schemed against the Baron," Uncle Musa said angrily. From his perspective, Torch City hadn't done anything wrong at all. "The Baron didn't do anything wrong."

“No, Father only made one mistake.” Charles held up one finger. “That was that his strength was too weak.”

His fingers tapped slowly on the table as he calmly said, "I've heard a saying: 'Commoners are innocent, but possessing great wealth is a sin.' We were too weak back then, yet we occupied such a good deep-water port. Everyone with ulterior motives wanted to seize it or get a share of the spoils."

"This isn't exactly a conspiracy. After all, for those nobles, profit is their primary motivation." Charles smiled. "If it weren't for profit, the Plantagenet family wouldn't have participated in that great war and ultimately succeeded in overthrowing the rule of the Sword and Rose family."

"The war 500 years ago?" Musa asked.

"Yes, the Battle of the Fallen Flowers," Charles nodded. "The roses have faded, and the brooms have bloomed."

He had studied grammar and read history. Although the books said that the Mad King of the House of Swords and Roses caused the nobles to complain, the Plantagenet family was not a kind person.

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