Chapter 408 - 327: You Are Favored by the Gods
Chapter 408: Chapter 327: You Are Favored by the Gods
Shire looked at the somewhat frustrated Pazani, shook his head, and smiled. If Pazani had offered the alliance agreement the moment they met, Shui Yumo would have undoubtedly given him new instructions.
This coming-of-age trial was perhaps more of an exploration into the power and responsibility a King should possess. Only by truly accomplishing that could he be considered to have grown, to have truly come "of age."
However, this little "episode" was also rather unexpected. He recalled Pazani mentioning that the Naga Race received certain revelations while worshiping nature.
’Could this also be a form of Forest Whisper?’ He waved his hand, sending the Naga Prince off to prepare the Rune Language: Frosty Winter. Watching the Feathered Serpent Kingdom gradually fall silent, he couldn’t help but smile. ’Looks like those goblins have been brought under control.’
’Next, I need to gather all these goblins and then go back to have a talk with the Elephant Lord.’ Shire stretched lazily. For this operation, he had prepared a large supply of Red Bull for everyone involved in the battle.
If it weren’t for the Red Bull, he never would have dared to risk such a tactic. Getting goblins to fight in the dead of night was next to impossible.
Soon after Shire gave the order to assemble, a goblin leaning on a Bone Staff appeared before him.
This goblin’s skin was somewhat dull, its face deeply wrinkled, and its hair a grayish-white. Upon arriving, it looked Shire up and down several times.
"Are you the goblin who desecrated the Feathered Serpent God?" After looking him over a few more times, the goblin finally asked.
"You are..." Hearing the goblin’s somewhat aged voice, Shire immediately realized. "The High Priest?"
"You know of me?" The High Priest was clearly taken aback, but he quickly understood. "The other goblins must have told you."
Shire nodded, and the High Priest immediately followed up, "You can speak Common Speech?"
"Knowing Common Speech isn’t that unusual." Shire shrugged, holding out his hands as if to say it was nothing.
"That’s true. It seems you were also reared by humans," the High Priest said, nodding slowly with a look of understanding. "Did the humans release you back into the forest, too? When did that happen?"
"Stop," Shire said, raising a hand to interrupt. "I am not a goblin who was reared by humans. And I wasn’t released by any human, either."
The statement struck the High Priest like a bolt of lightning, leaving him utterly dumbfounded. "You... you weren’t... you weren’t raised by humans?"
"Th-that’s impossible," he muttered, tightening his grip on his Bone Staff. "How could a goblin like you know Common Speech? How could you know so much?"
"And why can’t goblins know Common Speech?" Shire asked with a tilt of his head and a slight smile. "I’m not the only one in my tribe who does. Several others do as well."
"Besides," he said, gesturing to his own gear and the goblins around him, "this stuff isn’t hard to learn. My subordinates have already started learning to write poetry and carve."
"Impossible!" the High Priest’s voice rose. He banged his Bone Staff on the ground several times. "Goblins can’t possibly possess these... these things..."
As he spoke, his voice trailed off. "Goblins cannot possess wisdom."
"Wisdom can only be obtained from humans. Only from them can we learn anything," the High Priest muttered. He then looked up, his eyes boring into Shire’s as if trying to peer into his very soul.
Shire simply spread his hands, standing his ground nonchalantly. "There’s some truth to what you say. It’s true that many things—High Level techniques—are in the hands of humans, Dwarves, and Elves. But that in no way means goblins are incapable of acquiring them."
"Goblins simply need a stable environment and a few qualified teachers."
"No, the goblins of the forest are too foolish," the High Priest said, taking two steps toward Shire while leaning on his Bone Staff. "You must know how many goblins are incapable of learning. Their minds just aren’t..."
He trailed off, falling silent as if recalling something. The High Priest’s voice grew choked with emotion. "Do you have any idea the price a goblin must pay to gain wisdom?"
"A price?"
"Fifteen goblins. All of them died. In the end, I was the only one who survived." The High Priest reached out a trembling hand, slowly moving it toward Shire’s face. "I was raised by humans, and I learned many things from them."
Shire took a step back, avoiding the High Priest’s outstretched hand. "If you really learned so much from humans, then I’m sorry, but I don’t think you learned nearly enough."
"The goblins of the Feathered Serpent Kingdom still can’t keep themselves fed and warm. They can’t live in peace. You even used to have to drive goblins out of the Kingdom."
"No, you don’t understand," the High Priest retorted. "It is the goblin’s fate. In the forest, we cannot possess too many things. Only by living like this can we survive. Only then will humans not try to exterminate us on a massive scale."
"Just because of that?"
"Yes," the High Priest nodded. "This Kingdom cannot protect that many goblins. Once our population exceeds a certain number, we have no choice but to let some of them go and fend for themselves."
"Your reasoning is flawed. You believe that as long as goblins are poor enough and wretched enough, humans won’t pay them any mind. You think they’ll just kill a few at random, collect their ears, and let the rest live." Shire sighed, then continued, "But have you never once considered that human greed knows no bounds?"