The Forest Feeds No Idle Goblins

Chapter 70: Chapter 64: Problems Facing the Fortress

"We really are running low on food," Shire nodded.

The tribe had grown in number, and with everyone focused on the big clean-up lately, they hadn’t organized many hunts. The jerky reserves were almost gone.

"Big worm at the gate. Make jerky." Bai Mao waved a cleaver, making a few chopping motions.

"The Heart-devouring Giant Worm?" Shire’s eyes went wide. The thing was indeed still sitting in the Brain-Eating Monsters’ old room, unmoved. It couldn’t be helped; it was just too big. But the thought of eating it sent a shiver down Shire’s spine. He remembered the scene of dozens of Brain-Eating Monsters frantically feeding on the Heart-devouring Giant Worm’s body.

"Let’s not." He shook his head, rejecting Bai Mao’s suggestion.

"Meat. Lots of meat," Bai Mao said stubbornly.

Shire thought for a moment, then stared at her seriously, gesturing with his hands. "Eat that, and you’ll turn into a Heart Stealer. You’ll grow four tentacles on your mouth, your head will get really big, and you’ll lose all your hair."

Bai Mao tilted her head, thinking for a few seconds. Then her whole body shuddered. She touched her hair, which had grown longer, and shook her head. "Not eating. Too ugly."

"Don’t worry, I have other uses for that big worm," Shire said.

Bai Mao nodded, then tossed a few chunks of meat from nearby into a wicker basket. As she threw them, she muttered, "Bad meat. Makes you bald."

"What kind of meat is this?" Shire asked, curious.

"Rat meat."

"The dead Skull Rats?" Shire asked at once, startled.

Bai Mao grunted in affirmation and tossed a few nearby "rat pancakes" into the basket as well.

’You’re certainly frugal,’ Shire muttered to himself. Then he gently reassured Bai Mao, "I’ll organize a hunting party soon. Our Hunting Ground is large, so we’ll be able to build up our food stores quickly."

"This... almost gone," Bai Mao said, taking out two more bags.

Shire opened one and found only a small handful of spices left inside. It would probably be gone after today’s meal.

Lately, Bai Mao had been cooking for the goblins, adding just a pinch to each pot for the evening meal. The goblins much preferred the taste of dinner now. One-Eyed even said that if goblins from other tribes ever tasted this food, they would surely tie up their own leaders, drag them to the Fortress gate, and beg Shire to let them join.

While it was an exaggeration, Shire knew that for goblins used to eating nothing but frog-and-bug stew, the spices were a game-changer.

"Alright, I’ll figure out a way to get a few more bags," Shire said, handing the bag back to Bai Mao.

Now that the tribe had a stable place to live, they needed more supplies: reserves of grain and jerky, Hand Grenade Fruit shells, spices, salt, and sugar, fur clothing, and some small pieces of furniture. All of it had to be purchased.

’Expand the trade route through Little John?’ Shire shook his head. ’One person could hardly transport that many goods.’ He didn’t trust bringing other Adventurers into the fold; that would be no different from handing out a Fortress map drawn by a Heart Stealer. He could just picture it, with text printed in the margins: "Grand Opening! Special Discounts! Limited Ears! First Come, First Served!" and "Win a Gold Coin Beast Core Grand Prize! Come and Claim It!"

’I’ll just have to think of something else.’ After telling Bai Mao to keep up the good cooking, Shire turned and left. The number of Red Bull Mushrooms was also running low, so he needed to go ask Buck Teeth about it.

"Your fragrance leads me to the enchanting XX, it is an island of XX, full of XX..."

"XX my ass!" Shire kicked Buck Teeth aside. The guy still hadn’t learned all his characters, so whenever he came across one he didn’t know, he just replaced it with "XX." As a result, Shire often heard him say things like "your XX," "my XX," "the XX in the sky," and "the fruit of XX."

"Chief, it’s you, my XX chief." Seeing Shire, Buck Teeth started up again immediately.

"Speak goblin speech," Shire asked through clenched teeth. "How are the Red Bulls?"

"Chief, the situation is so-so." Buck Teeth’s speech returned to normal.

He led Shire to inspect the fir logs and the Red Bull Mushrooms being cultivated on them in the stone room.

This stone room was the one where the Heart Stealer had kept the giant worm. It wasn’t very large. Shire had originally wanted to build the Red Bull cultivation farm in the large, 700-square-meter stone chamber where the strange materials were stored, but that would have to wait until Agatha’s research yielded results before they could start clearing it out.

Now, several felled fir logs were placed here, with only a few lonely clusters of yellow Red Bull Mushrooms on them. Being moved several times, combined with the goblins’ crude cultivation techniques, had resulted in dismal growth for the Red Bulls. Shire could only pat Buck Teeth’s shoulder and urge him to be more diligent and stop staring at his poetry collection "XX-ing" all day long.

"Don’t worry, Chief. You are like that smear of XX in the XX sky..." Buck Teeth said with a solemn expression.

Shire gave him another swift kick and walked away quickly. ’This kid is a lost cause.’

’We need to buy supplies, but we also need things to sell. Right now, besides that equipment, it seems we have nothing else. I can’t give the Beast Cores to Little John for now, and we’re consuming all the herbs ourselves.’ Shire continued to ponder the trade route issue. Although he had a fair amount of Gold Coins, he wasn’t sure if he should change their current partnership model and just give Little John the Gold Coins to buy things on his behalf.

Besides, there wasn’t much equipment left by the Adventurers. It wouldn’t last for many more sales. He needed to develop a new product to replace it as soon as possible.

"Little Claw," Shire said with a broad smile as he arrived at the stone chamber with the relief carvings.

In the center of the chamber sat a large, bubbling cauldron. In the corner were several large bundles filled with herbs, and a few goblins were taking herbs out and grinding them back and forth in mortars.

The Wriggling Claw was grasping a stirring rod, spinning it around so fast that it left afterimages.

"Take a break. I want to ask you something," Shire said.

Little Claw stopped stirring and hopped onto a nearby wooden crate. It then climbed into a wooden bowl, blissfully stretching its five fingers as it soaked in a Magic Potion.

Shire waved a hand, and a Fulu floated over, stopping between them.

"So, how many pots of potion can you produce in a day?" Shire asked with a smile.

"No more than six pots," Little Claw said.

They had both been pulled into a telepathic link by the Fulu. This was another function of the Fulu that Shire had developed, and Little Claw finally didn’t have to frantically scratch words on the ground anymore.

"That’s still a bit low. Can we increase it?" Shire asked, a crafty merchant’s smile on his face.

"It’s not low at all! We only have one cauldron, and those goblins are still inexperienced. They’ve even messed up the ingredients a few times," Little Claw complained.

"Right, right. I’ll make improvements. How about we sort the ingredients properly and add a few more cauldrons?" Shire asked.

"I’m supposed to be looking for my master," Little Claw said, its tone reluctant.

"Don’t worry. Your master, Spencer, right? I’ll definitely help you keep an eye out for him. I’ll even use my connections to ask the human Adventurers," Shire promised earnestly, nodding.

"Can I have more Magic Potion?" Little Claw asked tentatively.

"No problem. If you work 24 hours a day, you’ll get one bottle in the morning and two at night," Shire agreed instantly.

"Hmm..." Little Claw hesitated.

"How about this: two bottles in the morning, one at night?" Shire immediately changed his offer.

"Deal. Let’s do that." Little Claw formed a fist, extended only its middle finger, and then bent the finger a few times, as if nodding in agreement.