Chapter 368 - 307: The Scheming Goblin (2)

Chapter 368: Chapter 307: The Scheming Goblin (2)

"You want my tribe to surrender?" Shire sized up the goblins opposite him with great interest. They were huddled close together, likely trying to stay warm, but their greedy eyes never left the clothes his own people were wearing.

A goblin was shoved forward. Shivering slightly, he shouted, "Yes! By order of the Military Leader, we are here to demand that you wild goblins, who have blasphemed the Feathered Serpent God, surrender immediately! If you," he paused to sneeze, wiping his nose with the back of his hand, "if you dare to resist, you’ll definitely be killed."

Shire smiled as he listened to the "surrender speech." He glanced at his subordinates out of the corner of his eye; their expressions were all filled with contempt.

"And if I refuse?" Shire asked, secretly casting two group Curse Spells on himself.

"Then the result will be... you’ll be..." The Surrender Envoy began to count on his fingers. But there were probably too many goblins in his party for him to count; he fumbled a few times but couldn’t get it right, so he just gave up. "You’ll be attacked by lots and lots of goblins! Only death awaits you!"

A gloomy voice floated up from behind him: "And an iron pot."

"Death and an iron pot?" Shire shook his head slightly. He was truly speechless at these greedy, foolish creatures. "You should know, my tribe has plenty of goblins too. It won’t be so easy for you to win with just your numbers."

"There are a lot of us," the Surrender Envoy said, his body trembling. Judging by his appearance alone, no one would believe he was demanding surrender; he looked more like he was surrendering himself. "ACHOO! And we brought all the big lizards from the Kingdom."

"All the big lizards?" Shire asked, feigning a casual tone. "How many is that?"

The goblins immediately huddled together, starting to calculate the number with great seriousness. After ten or so seconds, the Surrender Envoy announced rather proudly, "Five burrows’ worth. You’re scared now, aren’t you?"

’Five burrows’ worth,’ Shire calculated inwardly. ’So, that’s over 100 of them. A considerable number, indeed.’

In the conflict more than half a month ago, he had dealt with over twenty Petrifying Lizards at once using Rune Language: Frosty Winter. Without the help of Rune Speech now, dealing with so many lizards would be somewhat difficult.

"If you’re going to surrender, give me your clothes first." Hearing Shire’s words, the Surrender Envoy immediately straightened his back and even stepped forward, reaching out to pull at Shire’s clothes.

But Shire wasn’t about to indulge him. He sent the goblin flying back with a swift kick.

"Surrender? In your dreams."

"You... you..." The Surrender Envoy rolled on the ground twice before other goblins helped him up. The kick had left him winded, and he said haltingly, "You dare hit me? I... I’ll go back and tell the Military Leader, and then..."

"Who’s the Military Leader?" Shire cut him off, taking a few steps forward.

"Huh? The Military Leader... the Military Leader is Bald Hide." The Surrender Envoy answered subconsciously, not having processed the question.

"Bald Hide?" Shire tilted his head, thinking. The name sounded familiar. "Isn’t that the guy who led the goblins to attack me before?"

The "Bald" in his name jogged Shire’s memory. After the last batch of goblins surrendered, they had shared some information about the Feathered Serpent Kingdom.

"That’s him!" Seeing Shire bring up their leader, the Surrender Envoy stopped cowering. "The Military Leader sent us to demand your surrender today."

"Didn’t he fail last time?"

"The High Priest appointed him. He said Bald Hide will be in command this time and even promoted him to Military Leader," the Surrender Envoy said with a hint of pride.

What he said, however, was a bit of a surprise to Shire. ’This High Priest seems to have some intelligence.’

Shire stroked his chin, his eyes sizing up the goblins. ’According to the information Broken Tooth brought back before, the High Priest can speak Common Speech and communicate with humans. Now he’s showing organizational skills... Could he really be a human who turned into a goblin?’

Compared to the High Priest, Shire was more interested in Bald Hide’s promotion. He smiled and asked, "Did your Military Leader say why he sent you to demand surrender?"

"The Military Leader..." The Surrender Envoy and the goblins beside him looked at each other. After a few seconds, he said weakly, "We were fighting over food at the time... we forgot."

’So typically goblin.’ Shire shook his head in exasperation. His interest waned. He ordered his men, "Drive them off."

"Chief, should we kill them all?" Red Eyes sidled up, slowly drawing his longsword.

"No need to kill them. Of course, if they resist, killing a few is fine," Shire said with a wave of his hand. "I’m just interested in this fellow who knows how to play the surrender-demand game."

He could guess what Bald Hide was thinking. It was nothing more than sending some cannon fodder to demand surrender and see if they could bluff him. If it succeeded, great. If it failed, it might still make him lower his guard. The fool just didn’t know that Shire could use two types of Curse Spells and had instead coaxed the information he wanted out of these goblins’ mouths.

’Their numbers are definitely greater than before, possibly over 1,500 goblins,’ he thought, watching his men send the enemy goblins running and screaming into the distance. A smirk touched his lips. ’On top of that, there are over 100 Petrifying Lizards. I just don’t know how many of their goblins can fly.’

The surrender-demanding goblins had already taken to their heels, running headlong into the forest without a backward glance. Shire’s men stopped their pursuit. Even a "battle maniac" like Red Eyes found no satisfaction in beating up such defenseless goblins.

’I’ll have to send Broken Tooth out to scout.’ Shire decided to first have Broken Tooth determine the current position of the Feathered Serpent Kingdom’s army so he could formulate a response. If the Petrifying Lizards proved too difficult to handle, his only option would be to ask the Elephant Lord for help.

’The Elephant Lord said it wouldn’t get involved in our conflicts, but the Greenhouse is built now, so keeping the elephant herd warm is no longer an issue. I can probably persuade it.’ Shire mulled it over but wasn’t very confident. After all, persuading an "Evil God" was no easy task.

"Let’s head back." He waved to his men, then gazed into the depths of the northern forest. ’This Military Leader knows how to use schemes. They’re all rather useless ideas, but at least compared to other goblins, his brain has a few wrinkles. It’s not just a smooth, pickled egg.’

Shire couldn’t help but feel curious about the enemy’s Supreme Commander. ’Commanding so many goblins must be a real headache.’

「Meanwhile, deep within the Nightmare Forest.」

Bald Hide wrapped his ragged furs tighter around himself. ’This damned weather is freezing.’

’Since winter began, finding food has become incredibly difficult, but the Feathered Serpent God insisted we come out and attack,’ he grumbled internally. ’We have to dig burrows for the big lizards to hide and keep warm every day, and those things have become extremely irritable. They’ll attack any nearby goblin at the slightest provocation.’

He knew that in past winters, the Petrifying Lizards would just huddle in their burrows, unwilling to come out. But without the big lizards’ help, Bald Hide felt it was impossible to defeat Shire’s tribe.

Sometimes he would even complain inwardly about the Feathered Serpent God. Why insist on attacking those goblins in the middle of winter? What had they even blasphemed? Since the end of autumn, the Feathered Serpent God hadn’t left its great cavern beneath the high tower at all. ’Could the Feathered Serpent God’s power be weakening?’

But he couldn’t voice these thoughts. The High Priest had strictly forbidden any goblin from showing any opposition to the Feathered Serpent God. Anyone who did would be immediately kicked out of the Kingdom.

’Why is it called a Kingdom, anyway?’ he thought, looking up at the sky through the gaps in the canopy. ’It’s not like any goblin in this tribe has declared themself king.’

"Military Leader, we’ve spotted a giant snail up ahead," a goblin ran up to report.

Bald Hide waved his hand and said as if by rote, "Send in the big lizards."