Larry handed the last goblin ear to Lin Mo. His neighbor didn't seem to have any objections, while the young man nad Renn remained silent as ever. He sat with his knees drawn up, staring blankly at the goblin corpses, tightly clutching the bloody ear in his hand.
Lin Mo didn't refuse out of politeness and accepted the ear, stuffing it into his pocket. Currently penniless and without even a place to stay, he desperately needed money.
The goblin corpses could be left where they were - wild beasts or other monsters would naturally dispose of them. The sa went for Barnes. Not long ago, this young man had vowed to wait until goblins smashed Lin Mo's skull and stripped his clothes. Now it was Barnes who had his head smashed in.
To be precise, it wasn't exactly smashed - just a hole punctured through his temple. There was an extrely slim chance he might still be alive, rely severely injured and unconscious. But even so, in this dangerous forest, no one would be willing to carry such deadweight. Nobody would bother checking if he still breathed.
Larry plucked a wildflower from nearby and placed it on Barnes' chest, murmuring, "May the Holy Light bless your soul and grant you peace, my friend."
Lin Mo watched this brief, hurried little ritual with interest, gleaning more information about this world. From Larry's words, it seed this world had religious beliefs. He couldn't yet determine whether these beliefs corresponded to actual deities, but judging from Larry's precise movents and phrasing, there was likely an established church that formulated these rituals.
Of course, after the blessing, they still needed to search Barnes' body. As expected of soone who appeared poor, they only found about a dozen copper coins on him. As for his already patched and now bloodstained clothes, they left them as his shroud.
Larry discreetly pocketed the dozen or so copper coins. Although his family circumstances had been decent before, recently he couldn't find any work, and their farmland had been repeatedly ravaged by those damned goblins, making life increasingly difficult.
Lin Mo didn't expose this but instead approached the squatting youth and patted his shoulder. "You were really brave earlier, charging in like that."
The youth looked up at him, then shook his head and rested his chin on his knees again, appearing quite despondent. This wasn't the expected reaction after winning a battle and securing loot worth 100 copper coins. Considering his earlier ferocity and frenzy against the goblins, Lin Mo vaguely guessed sothing.
He patted the youth's shoulder again and took out the remaining half of his black bread, offering it to the young man nad Renn. "Here. Life must go on."
Renn hesitated for a long mont before tentatively accepting the bread and stuffing the entire piece into his mouth... Lin Mo noticed his reddened eyes and how his chewing sounds carried traces of sobs.
"What's the plan now?" The man nad Leo spoke up. "Should we head back or continue?"
Larry touched the goblin ear in his pocket. "With these ears as trophies, we probably won't be driven out if we return to town now. But do you really want to go back already?" He slowly raised a finger. "One goblin is worth 100 copper coins. Even in better tis, earning this much would require half a month of backbreaking work for those wealthy masters... My opinion is, since we're already here, we might as well earn more - enough to get through these difficult tis."
"Exactly! Weren't we only caught and conscripted because we were job hunting on the streets? If we return now, these 100 copper coins won't last long. Soon we'll need to find work again and might get caught once more. I don't want to co back to this damned place a second ti. Better to earn enough now, then I'll just hide at ho afterward. Surely the guards won't break into hos to arrest people?" Leo chid in.
Both n looked over, seemingly seeking Lin Mo and Renn's opinions.
"Continue!" Renn's answer was brief and resolute, without the slightest hesitation.
Lin Mo frowned. Honestly, he wasn't keen on continuing this risky venture. Although he'd gained two points in agility and evolved a new skill, this didn't make him overconfident. His understanding of this world remained limited, especially concerning the Roland Forest. Compared to Larry's gambler-like decision-making, he preferred quitting while ahead - returning to gather information and prepare properly before venturing out again.
But with the other three already committed, even if he objected now, it would be hard to stop this montum. Causing dissent or splitting up now would be unwise - he had no desire to wander this dangerous forest alone.
Fine. Continue they would. If things went south, with his two extra agility points, he'd be the fastest runner present and could simply flee. Conversely, if all went well, they could earn more money.
Lin Mo wasn't sure about the purchasing power of 200 copper coins, but with that as his entire net worth, comfortable living seed unlikely.
"What a coincidence - I was thinking the sa." Thus he gave his affirmative answer.
"Then let's pack up and move forward!" Larry made the final decision, standing up and marking their direction by carving simple symbols on nearby trees with his small knife.
Along the way, Lin Mo proactively conversed with Larry, learning more about goblins. Like in most fictional depictions, while individually weak, goblins' most troubleso trait was their incredible reproductive capacity.
Left unchecked, a pair of goblins could multiply into a small tribe of over a dozen within a year. Moreover, goblins matured alarmingly fast - reaching adulthood in under a year. Therefore, lords of towns near forests needed to manually control local goblin populations through regular culling, preventing these damned monsters from overrunning the area. Clearly, Roland Town's lord had failed in this regard, leading to the current situation.
Additionally, Lin Mo learned sothing even more significant from Larry. Pure-blooded goblins were typically very weak, but their powerful reproductive genes allowed breeding not just within their species. They could reproduce with any powerful non-goblin race - humans, orcs, half-orcs, elves, etc.
These hybrid goblin offspring often inherited or even mutated stronger talents from their non-goblin parentage. This explained goblins' obsession with abducting human girls - to produce these enhanced hybrids.
What would such mutated hybrid goblins look like? Lin Mo found himself growing curious.
User Comments
0 comments from readers