Forests Don't Support Idle Goblins

Sharl knew that today's hunt was definitely not as easy as the frogman chieftain had made it out to be.

From the very beginning, he had been plotting against the benthic demon fish. Thanks to his previous battles with those demonic beasts, Xia Er already knew that these demonic beasts, after being infected by the evil power, would become very intelligent and would no longer be comparable to ordinary wild beasts.

So, from figuring out their psychology to devising a plan, to digging a trap, and finally using hot water and ice to trap the bottom-dwelling fish, what he was most worried about was whether Frog 23571 could successfully attract the enemy's attention and lure them to the shore.

"I didn't expect the frogman to be so brave. He just wouldn't let go of those two middle fingers," Charles glanced at the frogman being taken care of by the centaur next to him. "It's really beyond my expectations."

There's a lot of gambling involved. What if the demon fish doesn't chase the frogman? What if it doesn't jump when it reaches the shore? What if it fails to fall into the pit? But Sharl knows that sometimes hunting is a gamble. For this reason, he even cast two curses on himself, hoping to confuse the bottom-dwelling demon fish's judgment.

Fortunately, the final result was good. He made the right bet. In the extremely harsh conditions of an underground cave, where there were no tools at all, he successfully hunted a powerful magical beast, which made Xia Er feel a great sense of accomplishment.

"How does it taste compared to the divine water?" He asked with a smile, looking at the frogman chieftain who was stroking his white belly, his hands behind his back.

"This," the frogman chieftain shook the water pouch in his hand, the light beer inside already empty, "to be honest, I've forgotten what the divine water tastes like. I drank it when I was young, when I succeeded as chieftain, and that was the last bit of divine water I had, ribbit."

"I have plenty of this kind of wine. If you want, I can trade with you." Charles pointed to the water pouch in the frogman chieftain's hand.

The pale ale inside was something he got from Pazzani. When he discovered the writing on the jars, he realized that the "divine water" the frogmen were talking about might be ancient brewed liquor. And these frogmen were truly fearless, daring to drink liquor that had been sealed for thousands of years. Perhaps those jars contained high-proof liquor, which is why they hadn't undergone any strange changes.

Since Frog 23571 still seemed disappointed when talking about the divine water from the past, this group must be more interested in alcohol, which is a business that could be done.

The Shire has always believed in the exchange of goods, not enslavement and plunder. Violence is not a sustainable method, and there are no known races in the forest. If they start plundering one of these races, it could very well trigger a domino effect, eventually spiraling out of control.

"So, outsider, how do you plan to make the exchange, quack?"

Upon hearing the clan chief's question, Charles fell silent, considering what price to offer. "Such a large jar, and I'll trade it for two jars of your black clay?"

He tried to express his thoughts, but the frogman chieftain opposite him curled his lips and clucked a few times. "Outsider, you are too cautious. The frogman race is not such a stingy race. Black clay comes from our bodies. You want to use such divine water to exchange for lowly black clay? Your price is wrong, croak."

"So what do you mean?"

The frogman chieftain stretched out a hand, spreading his four fingers, "One jar of divine water in exchange for four jars of black clay, ribbit."

"This price," Charles's eyes lit up. Those pale beers weren't expensive. He'd heard from John that a large glass of them only cost a silver coin in the taverns of Gieshorn. And with four jars of black clay, he could build at least a brick wall. "Okay, I agree to this price."

"No, it's not over yet," the frogman chieftain waved his hand. "You still have to fulfill your previous promise and help our tribe find a suitable habitat, ribbit."

"You can rest assured about that," Charles nodded, then pointed to the Naga prince who was sitting and dozing against a stone wall, "That guy lives in Lake Darren, so you can move to the lake to live when the time comes."

"We live on land, but we need water to hatch our offspring. Of course, the water can also provide us with food, quack."

"In that case," Charles stroked his chin, "we can only live by Lake Darren and make a living from the lake."

Thinking of this, he couldn't help but narrow his eyes. He estimated that he would have to expand the City of Ten Thousand Races to make room for the frogmen. With the addition of the little fairies and centaurs that would appear, the city might really see a return to its former glory.

"Yes, and I've already found a place, but it will take some time," Charles said frankly, spreading his hands. "It's not possible right now, but I believe it should be possible soon."

"I understand. After all, the migration of a tribe is not a simple matter. Ribbit." The frogman chieftain stretched out his palm towards Sharl and smiled at the goblin.

Seeing the other's actions, Charles understood what was happening, so he approached and patted the frogman's palm. "It feels alright, no slime."

"However, I have a personal request," the frogman chieftain withdrew his hand, clenched his fist, and rubbed his palm a few times, clearly considering his words. "Could you hurry up, quack?"

"Hurry up?"

"Yes, I hope to see the tribe reach its new habitat before I 'deliver water,' quack."

"Send water?" Ciel didn't understand what this meant. He looked up at Furu floating beside him to confirm that there was nothing wrong with the telepathic communication platform he had set up. Furu also nodded a few times with its eye stalks to indicate that there was nothing wrong.

"Water transport is a unique custom of our frogman tribe," the frogman chieftain stroked his white belly, his eyes looking at the dark lake in the distance. "When a frogman member gets old, he is placed on a log and pushed towards the middle of the pool. The old frogman can retrieve food from the water on his own, but he can no longer go ashore until he dies. Ribbit."

The chieftain paused mid-sentence, silently gazing at the lake, as if counting the dead frogmen in the pool.

Charles frowned. He had felt something was strange before. When Frog 2, 3, 5, 7, 1 led him through the frogman village, he noticed that there were no funeral or tomb structures in this area. These goblins were different. Goblins live in the forest, and their tombs consist only of forest soil and the bellies of wild animals. What would happen to the frogmen after they died in this originally sealed underground cave?

Now he finally knows how the frogman tribe is dealt with. It sounds cruel, like the "earthenware graves" he heard about in his previous life, but in this underground cave, the availability of food is definitely limited.

"I'm already very old, and I don't know when I'll die. I hope my 'water-receiving' location will be in a new body of water, ribbit." The frogman chieftain didn't see Sharl's expression and spoke to himself.

"I will do it as soon as possible," Charles nodded. "However, the body of water is quite large, and I think there will be plenty of food. Plus, you can exchange with me, so perhaps we won't need to hold any more 'water offering' ceremonies."

Upon hearing Sharl's words, the frogman chieftain turned his gaze from the distance and looked down at the goblin in front of him. Sharl met his gaze calmly, and the two remained silent, staring at each other for nearly ten seconds before the frogman chieftain finally said, "Thank you, savior."

Charles pursed his lips. Although Frog 5144 was already old, and although he was trying to control his tone, and although their previous communication was through Furu's mental platform, Charles could still hear the tremor in the other's voice.

"No need to thank me. If it weren't for your daily offerings to the Gate of Egg-Born, if Frog Two, Three, Five, Seven One hadn't diligently patrolled, and if he hadn't gritted his teeth and provoked the strange fish, things might not have turned out this way." He smiled politely.

What Charles wanted to say was that if it weren't for your firm belief in the prophecy, your persistence in the prophecy, and your determination to survive, you wouldn't have been able to get to where you are today. But as for that vague prophecy, he had a vague feeling that someone was stirring things up behind the scenes.

"You're being modest, quack." The frogman chieftain didn't dwell on the matter, but instead patted his belly again. "It seems your people have come looking for you, quack."

"Is that so?" Charles also heard footsteps. He turned around and saw Red Eyes jogging over, carrying a longsword.

"Boss, the monster isn't moving anymore."

"Not moving?" Ciel raised an eyebrow. "Is it dead?"

Red-eyed shook his head, indicating that he did not know.

So, Xiaer bid farewell to the frogman chieftain and led his men back to the waterhole.

This time, he approached the edge of the pit and carefully examined the bottom-dwelling demon fish inside. In the murky water, the bottom-dwelling demon fish remained motionless, seemingly already dead.

"Something's not right," Charles frowned. "I didn't receive any notifications about acquiring new abilities, and this thing just died like that. Could it have been faking its death at the last minute?"

Sometimes, animals play dead on instinct, and some even use it to lure other animals away before suddenly getting up and ambushing them. This makes it difficult for Charles to deal with them. "Go and call Pazzani over, Red Eyes."

Red Eyes nodded, immediately grabbed his sword and ran to the Naga prince who was dozing off. Then he jumped up and kicked Pazzani to the ground.

"Who? Who is it?" Prince Naga rolled twice on the ground, immediately got up, and then saw Red Eyes who was "gibberishing" something.

"What is it?" Pazzani rubbed his shoulder. Was it this goblin who woke him up? How did he wake him up?

Red Eyes continued to chatter on and on, while pointing at Ciel by the puddle.

"You should have said so earlier, there was no need for this." Pazzani muttered, wagging its tail as it "swam" to Charles's side. "You called me?"

"Let's see how you do it," Charles said with a bright smile. Red Eyes' kick was really solid, but he didn't jump high enough to hit the face, which made Charles, who was watching the show, feel a little unsatisfied. "Help me see if this strange fish is playing dead."

"Playing dead?" Pazzani peeked out. "If it's not moving, it must have survived the death." However, despite his words, he still stretched out his palm and conjured a blue-white ice spear in his hand.

With a "plop," Prince Naga threw the ice spear forcefully, and it plunged into the puddle, piercing the benthic demon fish's body. The intense pain caused the demon fish to thrash its tail again, trying to figure out who was trying to kill it.

"He's not quite dead yet." Seeing the splashing water in the puddle, Charles immediately retreated, while Prince Naga was "protected" in front of him.

"Whoosh whoosh!" Seeing the splashing water from the puddle, Chi Mu, who had come over, immediately raised his long sword, ran a few steps, and jumped into the puddle with the sword raised. As he jumped in, several jets of water shot out of the murky water in the puddle again.

Then Charles's eyes widened as he listened to the red-eyed maniacal chatter and the strange fish's hissing. "Quick, Pazzani, help!"

"Oh," Prince Naga was also stunned. After being reminded by Shar, he immediately condensed his ice spear again, preparing to throw it into the pit. But with a "clang," a longsword was thrown out of the pit, followed by Chi Mu's voice, "Chief, I can't get up there."

Xia Er chuckled. He had already learned from the panel notification that he had gained the ability of [Enslavement], which meant that Red Eyes had already killed the benthic demon fish. "This guy, still so reckless."

The group quickly pulled Chi Mu out of the puddle. Several wounds on his body were healing rapidly, and his regenerative abilities were working to heal his body.

"Leader, it poked its head out, and I stabbed it to death." Red Eyes rubbed his body, then took the longsword handed to him by the other goblins and reported to Sharl.

"I saw it," Charles said irritably. When he went to see the frogman chieftain, he had indeed instructed Red Eyes that if the bottom-dwelling demon fish really jumped out of the water pit, he should immediately go up and stab it a few times to ensure that the guy could not return to the pool. However, he did not expect that Red Eyes would immediately go up and stab it as soon as he saw the bottom-dwelling demon fish make a move. "You did a good job."

Fortunately, the benthic demon fish was already on the verge of weakness, so even if it struggled, it wouldn't have much strength. Red Eye also had bonuses to strength, stamina, and magic resistance, and more importantly, it had regenerative abilities.

Without these abilities, even if Red-Eye were not dead, he would be crippled.

"Now that this thing is dead, let's all work together to pull it out." Instead of reprimanding his men, Charles began to instruct others to get to work, while Pazzani stood around Red Eyes, sizing up the goblin who was either brave or reckless.

Soon, the benthic demon fish was pulled out of the water pit. Several wounds on its body were bleeding continuously, and a faint black mist was still rising from its entire body. The largest wound was on the back of its head, and it seemed that Red Eye had cleaved the benthic demon fish's back bones with a single sword strike from the beginning.

"This guy is really big," Charles said with a smirk, beginning to measure the size of the benthic demon fish with his eyes.

However, someone quickly interrupted him. The frogmen croaked and rushed at the monster fish, throwing stones, hammering it with their hands, and even biting it with their mouths. They shouted loudly, their voices filled with endless anger. Before long, the monster fish's blood began to flow, eventually trickling into the pool through cracks in the ground.

"What are they doing here?" Pazzani asked as he approached Charles.

"They are seeking revenge."