Forests Don't Support Idle Goblins

Kapibala, while taking a bath, said: Read this book!

"Of these designs, this is the only one we already have," Agatha said, waving a piece of paper in her hand to Charles, who was sitting opposite her.

"Is that so? That means the others are all new?" Charles glanced at the papers on the table, then looked up and around.

They are now in the runeword material warehouse, which has now been completely transformed into Agatha's research space. She has even moved her bookshelves, desk, and a bed over.

Not far away, his clone "Red Tiga" hastily moved a two-meter-long white holy stone to a corner, while Agatha's second-in-command, the lame man, was muttering something while cleaning. Judging from what he was saying, it seemed to be simple common language.

"This place has completely become your studio now," Charles said with a smile. Compared to the small cabin where the two of them met before, this place is much, much larger.

"Hmm, it's too much trouble to keep running around," Agatha continued, picking up the papers on the table and carefully examining the patterns on them. She didn't even glance at Ciel once, as if the goblin was just a tool. "Your drawing skills are terrible. I can't make out what these patterns are trying to express at all."

"That's enough. You can't ask for more than one goblin, especially in freezing water." Charles immediately tapped the table.

"Alright," Agatha put down the drawing paper in her hand and said, "That controller, the limp one should be able to be cleaned out in a while. As for the other patterns, I want to personally go to the frogman tribe and go down into the pool to take a look."

Hearing this, Charles shrugged. "Sure, since Orek will be bringing people and worker ants to transport the first batch of supplies to the frogmen soon, you can come along."

Charles did not move the frogman tribe to live in the fortress. Although there was an underground river there, the water temperature was very low. It would be better to bring them to live by Lake Dalen later. This time, he only brought a few cans of black clay back to the fortress, intending to try it out in the wooden house built by the centaurs first.

He had previously suggested to Evita, the centaur chieftain, that they build a fireplace for the cabin. However, after learning that it would require bricks and adhesive, Evita temporarily declined, feeling that the large amount of material needed would slow down the construction and prevent everyone in the tribe from having a comfortable place to live as soon as possible.

Now that black mortar is available, Shire needs to familiarize himself with how to use this new building material.

"Oh, right, Uncle Musa wrote to you on the day you left." Agatha suddenly remembered, so she bent down and took a letter from the drawer next to her desk.

When Charles left, he specifically instructed Agatha that if Uncle Musa wrote to her, she should keep the intelligence letter safe and hand it over to him when he returned. The intelligence from Uncle Musa was more important than the intelligence from Mary, and Agatha's safekeeping would ensure that it would not be lost.

"Uncle has already set off back to Torch City, and this time he's taking the Fran administrative route again." Charles opened the letter in front of Agatha and slowly began to read it, while Agatha completely ignored Charles's actions and continued to examine the drawings on her own.

"When will the centaurs set off?" Agatha asked, arranging the drawings on her desk and observing the order of the runes.

"Soon, once Mary brings the light beer and smoked fish, we can set off." Charles folded the intelligence letter back up and put it back in the envelope. He had checked the envelope when he received it; the wax seal was intact. Agatha hadn't even opened the letter.

"That means I need to speed things up with the rune cannon project here."

"How's the rune cannon coming along?" Hearing Agatha's words, Charles raised an eyebrow. He had seen her adjusting the sights before they set off, and wondered how things were going after all these days.

"It'll be done soon. The sight is finished. Now we just need to modify the base. If all goes well, we might be able to produce a prototype by tomorrow." Agatha pointed to a small metal part on the workbench beside her. "According to your description, the operating procedures and scales have been simplified. Now even a novice can easily understand how to operate it."

"Is that so?" Charles jumped off the chair and walked over, picking up the sight from the workbench. It was made of brass, with a bright yellow surface and only four markings indicating different lengths and sizes, making its use immediately clear. "This thing looks like something you'd find on a child's toy."

"It was indeed inspired by that," Agatha replied without turning her head.

"By adjusting the tilt of the gun barrel according to the fixed pointer, the range can be effectively controlled." Charles examined the aiming scale from side to side. This thing now has four fixed design distances. As long as the specific range standard is confirmed before firing, the gun barrel can be adjusted and then fired directly.

Although it's no longer possible to have an observer report the distance and wind speed first, then quickly calculate the elevation angle and firing parameters, and rotate the various parts of the mortar to launch the shells, as was the case in the previous life, the Shard has centaurs who are skilled marksmen. As long as the centaurs fire a few arrows on the ground in advance to determine the distance during the battle, the mortar shells can be fired directly when the enemy is about to reach the distance.

Unlike the precision of mortars in the previous life, mortar shells are still unstable, so several cannons can only be fired at the same time to achieve the effect of attacking a large area.

However, this is the best weapon that Charles can currently produce to deal with large groups of enemies.

"As you said, fill the hood with pyrotechnic glue," Agatha heard Charles's somewhat delighted words, put down the papers in her hand, got up and walked to the side, took a mortar shell from the corner and placed it on the worktable, "Mary brought it to me yesterday."

"It's already finished?" Charles immediately picked up the shell carefully. He designed it based on the appearance of a mortar shell from his previous life, and it did look very similar to the original in his hand. "It's very light."

"Yes, the hood has been changed from iron to clay." Agatha pointed to the nose of the mortar shell. "I also made some modifications to the tail. It's lighter and can fly farther. Also, the iron nose might not be conducive to the spread of the incandescent glue, but the clay doesn't have that problem."

"That's true," Charles nodded, looking at the shell. The explosive power of the bang-bang fruit was far inferior to the explosives of his previous life. Using too much iron would be unsuitable. "There is another greater advantage to doing it this way."

"Even greater benefits?"

"Mass production," Charles said with a smile. "Clay will be much faster than iron. All we need to do is make the part that encases the 'Guangguang Fruit' in the middle iron."

"Is something wrong again? The author, Kapibala, is waiting for you with 'The Forest Doesn't Keep Idle Goblins'." Agatha frowned slightly; she could sense the deeper meaning in Charles's words.

"Hmm, I reckon someone will be harassing us again soon." Charles nodded as he fiddled with the clanging mortar shells. "We defeated the goblins of the Feathered Serpent Kingdom before, but they probably won't let it go. From what I know, they're unwilling to accept defeat, so the next attack should already be in the works."

"I see," Agatha said, glancing at the cannonball in Charles's hand. "I knew there was a reason why you've been urging me to make this thing these past few days. Honestly, I, who studied history and grammar, have started doing the work of a master craftsman."

"There's nothing I can do about this. You're the only one I can rely on." Charles looked up at Agatha with a smile.

"Never mind, we've already finished it." Agatha ignored Charles's smile and returned to her desk, continuing to work on the blueprints, occasionally comparing them with a few white stones nearby.

"Nothing much, I'll be going now. I'll come back tomorrow," Charles said, relieved.

"Hmm." Agatha was once again immersed in the world of ancient runes, without even lifting her head.

…………

"Is this the place?" Little John looked up at the magnificent cathedral in front of him. A huge oak tree stood in the small square in front of the Holy Oak Cathedral.

Birdsong echoed from the oak tree, and he also spotted red squirrels leaping among the branches.

John then looked around and saw a clergyman coming down the steps. He immediately went up to him and asked, "Hello, do you know Sophia?"

"Sophia?" The clergyman paused, taken aback. "You mean, Sophia Earth?"

"Uh," John paused, "I'm sorry, I don't know her last name, I only know her name is Sophia."

"What are her distinctive features?"

"As for specific characteristics," John immediately said, "does being frequently sleepy and dozing off count?"

"Hahaha," the clergyman immediately covered his mouth and laughed, "That's Sophia Earth. She should be inside the church. I saw her at breakfast, but she's not a member of the secular department. She should be at the back of the church now."

"So how can I see her?" Little John smiled. "To be honest, I'm her friend."

The clergyman looked little John up and down, and said with some surprise, "She actually has... I'm sorry, how about this, I'll take you there."

Soon, with this person leading the way, little John quickly met the sleepy-eyed Sophia.

"It's you, Idiot Number One." Sophia rubbed her eyes, thanked the clergy, and then looked Little John up and down again.

"What the hell is 'Idiot Number One'? My name is John."

"Oh, sorry, you and that little vixen, there was a bit of a..." Sofia ran a finger around her temple a few times, "I originally wanted to call you Big Idiot or Little Idiot, but after thinking about it, calling you Big Idiot seems a bit impolite."

"Wait, you mean I used to be stupid, right?" John's lips twitched. "And is being number one stupid considered polite?"

"Okay, I'm sorry, John." Sophia said, bowing slightly in apology, her loose hair becoming disheveled with the movement.

"Never mind, you should tidy up your hair first..." Little John pointed to his hair and didn't finish his sentence.

"After breakfast, I just wanted to take a nap, but you woke me up." With that, Sophia turned and ran back to the clergy quarters behind the cathedral, leaving John with only the words, "Wait for me."

A few minutes later, she tidied her hair and came back down the stairs. "What do you want? Do you need to buy holy water again?"

"No," Little John said, watching Sophia re-braid her hair before continuing, "The leader sent me to Torch City on some business. You mentioned before that you'd be staying at the Torch City Cathedral for a long time, so I came to see you."

Then, he took a small cloth bag from the leather pouch at his back. "The leader asked me to bring you this Red Bull."

"Ah," Sophia exclaimed softly, then immediately took it with both hands. She stood there, the image of the green figure and those divine eyes flashing through her mind.

"How is your leader, no, how is his people now?" Sofia asked, holding a small bag of Red Bull.

"It's nothing. When I left, he had just set off with a group of people into the forest to explore," John shrugged. "You know, the Nightmare Forest is huge. You never know what might be hidden inside, or what you might find."

"Exploration? That doesn't sound like something a goblin would do at all."

"Ordinary goblins don't do these things either."

Sophia didn't answer after hearing what Little John said, but nodded slightly, as if what he said made a lot of sense, and that such exploration should be done by goblins like Sharl.

"So, you came here to bring me Red Bull?" Sophia tilted her head and asked.

"Well, that's all. Of course, if you need any help from me, you can come to me," John reached into his pocket and rummaged around for a few moments before handing over a slip of paper. "This is where I live now. You can come to me if you need anything."

Sofia took the note and read, "The port area is full of cheap hotels. Why are you staying there?"

"There are things to do," John shrugged.

"You're not here to look for someone, are you?" Sophia laughed.

Looking for someone?

"Yes, look for Charles Mello. There are countless adventurers in Torch City searching for his whereabouts. After all, a bounty of 30 gold coins is enough to live on for several lifetimes."

"Uh, well," John ran his hand through his hair, "just pretend I'm here for this."

"I knew it, you're an adventurer too, here to try your luck." Sophia looked at the other person with a smile, as if to say, "No matter how you hide, you're still a fool."

Meanwhile, on the third floor of the cathedral, Bishop Luther was watching them from behind a glass window. "It's quite surprising that this child has friends."

"But the time is almost up, forgive me, child."