Forests Don't Support Idle Goblins

Charles glanced at the few leaves in his subordinate's hand, almost crumpled and yellowish, with a hint of green still in the center. He then looked up at his subordinate, followed by a glance at the man's lower back, and asked hesitantly, "Where did you get these from?"

Duan Ya was a little confused. He scratched his head and said, "In the leather bag in the back."

Charles took the leaves with some skepticism, then held them up to his face with two fingers. "They look like ordinary leaves. Are those humans really transporting this kind of thing?"

He nodded assertively, then thought for a moment, counting on his fingers, and said after a few seconds, "A bag with six fingers."

"Each bag is this big." He crossed his arms and gestured to the leader to indicate the size.

Charles watched his subordinates' actions, then frowned. "It's not even that much. Six bags aren't even as much as what we gather in one go. Why do these humans go to such lengths to collect this stuff?"

He stared at the yellowing leaf in his hand with a puzzled look, but he couldn't see anything special about it. Then he gritted his teeth, put the leaf to his nose and smelled it.

A faint scent of grass mingled with a strange fragrance, unlike anything Xia Er had ever smelled in this world, yet remarkably similar to one he had encountered in his previous life.

The wisps of smoke rising between your fingers while playing video games; the satisfying "click" after a hearty meal; the energy boost one cigarette after another while working on a project at night.

"Tobacco?" He squinted, his expression very serious. "Did you see where those goblins were collecting these leaves?"

"I saw it," Broken Tooth nodded several times. "It's from some trees."

"On a tree?" Charles repeated. He knew tobacco didn't grow on trees, and the size of the leaves he held did indeed seem different from the tobacco he'd seen in his previous life. "Grows on a tree?"

He thought for a few seconds, then tore a page from his notebook, rolled the tobacco leaves in the middle of the page, and waved his hand and broken tooth, saying, "Give me a light."

Broken Tooth stared blankly at the leader, unsure of what to do next. However, Charles quickly told him what to do. Broken Tooth swiftly took out a fire-starting tool from his pouch and lit a piece of scrap paper nearby.

Charles leaned closer and, seeing the paper roll lit, took a deep drag. A strange smell filled his lungs, and he coughed violently before quickly extinguishing the paper roll.

"No, it's far from good enough. It can't be considered tobacco. Although it has that flavor, the smell after burning is too pungent." He shook his head, coughed a few more times, then reached for a water glass on the table and took several sips. "The burnt smell is too strong, and it's too irritating. It's far worse than counterfeit cigarettes."

After catching his breath, he glanced at the piece of paper he had extinguished. Then he stared at the ceiling, carefully reflecting on the sensations he had just experienced. "It wouldn't be accurate to say there were none at all. There were still some sensations. I could feel a sense of relaxation, and it was also a bit invigorating and exciting, but the overall effect wasn't as good as Red Bull."

"Perhaps it's a processing issue. It seems the tobacco leaves need to be roasted, air-dried, and fermented beforehand. This stuff works; we can try roasting them first." He stared at the rolled-up paper for a moment, then asked Broken Tooth again, "Did you only bring these few of these leaves?"

Broken Tooth shook his head, then reached into the leather pouch at his lower back and started rummaging again. This time, Ciel saw clearly that the other man's movements were somewhat unnatural, probably because he hadn't fully recovered from being hit by Quetzalcoatl's lightning ball.

Although the limbs have healed under the influence of the [regeneration] ability, there are probably still some problems with the muscles and fascia inside. After all, according to the previous description of the broken tooth, the situation was very dangerous. The muscles on the entire arm were almost blown into pieces, and only the bones were intact.

This time, Broken Tooth rummaged around for a few moments and pulled out several leaves. Charles looked at his lower back and asked again, "Any more?"

Broken Tooth took the leather bag, placed it on the table, and carefully searched through it. He took out a small bag of honey, a half-eaten tree fruit cake, and a few nuts. He also took out a long strip of dried venison. After rummaging around a few times, he took out two more "tree tobacco leaves," opened the bag, and said, "That's all."

"Hmm," Charles nodded, looking at the seven leaves on the table, planning to go find White Hair later and have him roast them.

He had originally planned to lead a group to explore the north in the next couple of days, but Mary quickly replied, saying that the town hall had responded and discussed the clothing workshop. This forced him to change his plans temporarily. Fortunately, the plans were changed, otherwise he probably would have missed meeting Broken Tooth. Moreover, looking at the food on the table, Charles could imagine one of his men huddled in the shadows, chewing his food alone, and cautiously observing his surroundings.

Broken Tooth was still as timid as ever, but whenever Ciel gave him a reconnaissance mission, he would still run out alone to carry it out.

"Take a good shower and get a good night's sleep," Charles said to his subordinates with a smile. They could explore again tomorrow; with Broken Tooth's reconnaissance, things would go much more smoothly.

This afternoon, Xia Er went to find Bai Mao to deal with these "tree tobacco leaves." He was quite interested in this stuff, after all, in his previous life, it was "military funding." When the group of them gathered together to smoke, they would often joke with each other about how many bullets they had contributed to the country and whether they would ever be able to pull out a Type 99 main battle tank in their lifetime.

"If this thing really works, then that region must be mine, Quetzalcoatl," he exhaled softly, "you need to get out of my city."

…………

In the afternoon, the leaves were dried quickly. Unlike tobacco leaves, these leaves were small and had turned yellow and dried out after winter, so Shire quickly got the finished product from White Hair.

He tore off another piece of paper, rolled two dried, curled leaves around it, lit it, and slowly inhaled. This time, he didn't inhale as forcefully as before, but rather took a careful, light puff.

"Cough cough," he coughed as he removed the roll of paper. "It's still a bit pungent. Although the bitter taste has faded a bit, the burnt smell is still very strong."

"Is it impossible to do this?" Charles breathed slowly, his gaze fixed on the wisps of white smoke rising between his two fingers.

"There must be some process I don't know about." He frowned, thinking about the information he had seen in his previous life. Although he had never actually produced it, as a "smoke demon," he still knew a little about the differences between various brands and varieties, and he also knew about the special processes that were touted in the advertisements.

"Why don't we crush it and see?" Charles extinguished the paper roll, then opened it and took out the remaining half of the "tree tobacco leaf." He then excitedly ran out of the stone house to find Little Claw and ask for a tool to grind medicine.

When Charles saw Little Paw again, he was diligently brewing a potion. After Charles greeted him, Little Paw jumped onto the table, pointed to the smallest medicine grinder placed next to him with a finger with distinct knuckles, indicating that he could use that.

Meanwhile, Little Paw inquired about the other masters again. Charles picked up the medicine grinder and said with a smile, "I'll be going out to explore in the next few days. Don't worry, I'll definitely help you find a master." Hearing this reply, Little Paw didn't say anything more and continued to dutifully hold the thick wooden stick used for brewing medicine, stirring it frantically.

To be honest, Sharl really didn't want to lose the "supervisor" Creeping Claw. He was now able to guide the goblins to successfully pre-process various herbs and also guide the skeleton warriors to brew qualified potions. Although the consumption of magic potions was much greater than before, the production of healing potions and other potions was stable and efficient.

If it weren't for the fact that all the adventurers had gone to the sea off Torch City to fight skeleton sailors, causing a backlog of healing potions, a considerable amount could have been sold by now, successfully alleviating the financial pressure on the clan.

Fortunately, the pressure was relieved after selling Red Bull, but the potions continued to accumulate. Charles didn't know what to do for the time being. He considered whether to open more alchemy workshops in other towns or Black Lion City throughout the entire Earl of Valentine's territory, or to set up a franchise store for the "Undying" healing potion to provide a stable supply to the surrounding area.

"Don't worry, I'll let you know as soon as I have any news." Charles smiled, waved to Little Paw, and left. Little Paw then raised his middle finger, bent it a few times, and "nodded" at him.

Back in his stone hut, Ciel churned up dried leaves while recalling the report about the broken tooth.

"Those goblins seem to be living a miserable life too," he muttered to himself as he pushed the millstone with a creaking sound. "The cave leaders are like the chiefs of the various burrows, no, maybe they were driven out goblins who, after regrouping into a tribe, automatically inherited the cave leaders' management style."

"So it seems that the management model of the Feathered Serpent Kingdom is quite interesting. They are loosely organized, yet they have formed a hierarchical organizational structure. They are organized, yet they still live in individual cave dwellings."

Squeak, squeak.

"This can only be described as a tribal-style management method, but it is still very crude. However, with the cave entrance suppressing them, the goblins underground won't cause any trouble. That high priest who is leading them is actually quite capable."

Squeak, squeak.

"This management model is acceptable when food and supplies are scarce, but it is not suitable for my people, no, for my kingdom."

Squeak, squeak.

"The tribe has already begun to evolve. After the division of labor, the management model can no longer be like that of the Feathered Serpent Kingdom. But Broken Tooth said there are many caves there, and he doesn't have enough toes to use them all."

Squeak, squeak.

"The tribe has already begun to evolve. After the division of labor, the management model can no longer be like that of the Feathered Serpent Kingdom. But Broken Tooth said there are many caves there, and he doesn't have enough toes to use them all."

Squeak, squeak.

"Having so many people is a bit of a headache. The current division of labor is a bit haphazard. We'll have to see how it goes later."

He put down the millstone and sighed, "As expected, the process of socialization is not so easy. It's still very difficult to transform the goblin community into a human society in just a few steps."

Xia Er carefully poured the leaf powder from the mortar onto a piece of paper, then examined it closely. These dried leaves had been ground into a fine powder. The next step was to see if there would be any special changes after altering their appearance.

He tore another page from the notebook, rubbed the powder between his fingers, put it in, and rolled it up, being careful not to spill any.

After lighting the fire, Charles took a deep breath.

"Cough cough," he patted his chest to catch his breath, "The burnt smell is still there, it's pungent, it looks like this stuff is unusable."

Charles sighed, extinguished the scroll, and placed it on the table. He leaned back in his chair. "I thought we were going to have another big trade deal, but it seems there's no way around it now."

He looked at the remaining brown powder on the paper, rubbed his temples, and wondered, "What are those humans going to do with this stuff? Do they have some way of processing it? But I have absolutely no memory of tobacco. If those guys can make it, it will definitely appear in Golden Flower City soon, or at least on Perfume Lily Street."

I recall that street, which was known as the most fashionable street in the entire continent. Whenever something new appeared, it would soon become the talk of the town, and then quickly become a physical product, which would then spread rapidly to the surrounding cities.

"Don't those humans use these leaves to make tobacco?" Charles frowned. "Then what do they use them for? Perhaps as spices or in alchemical potions?"

He couldn't understand it for a moment, but after thinking about it, he immediately got up and ran out of the stone house.

After a long pause, Agatha looked at the last remaining dried leaf in front of her and said, "It's a leaf from a dragon claw tree, it should be, but why is it dried out like this?"

"Dragon Claw Tree?" Charles asked.

"Yes, this tree is very rare. Its leaves grow asymmetrically, with three on one side and one on the other, somewhat resembling a dragon's claw, hence the name Dragon Claw Tree. It has a somewhat spicy taste and is sometimes used as an alchemical ingredient, but as far as I know, it is only used in a very few recipes, and it doesn't seem to be a necessity."

"So, this thing is completely unimportant now?" Charles stared at the powder on the table, pondering what to do.

"Yes." Agatha nodded.

Charles paced back and forth by the table with his hands behind his back, his brows furrowing more and more. Just as Agatha was about to ask him what he was doing, Charles stopped at the table.

Then, he stretched out two fingers, picked up a bit from the paper, and placed it on the back of his hand.

Then, Charles stared at the back of his hand, as if making up his mind, brought his nostrils close, and took a deep breath.

"Oops—"