Chapter 24: Let's Become Goblins in the Next Life
Early in the morning, Altair sent Cassvia back to her cell and personally prepared food for her and Lyra, who had just woken up.
After satisfying the appetites of the two, Altair controlled a Goblin Knight and rode a Dire Wolf out on patrol.
There were three tamed Dire Wolves in the Goblin Cave. They were wolf pups stolen from the pack by goblins whom Anrus had personally dispatched to raise them. They served as mounts for the weaker Violet Goblins.
The Goblin Commander (Wolf Clan) in the cave, who could communicate with and control wolves, obtained this class by living day and night with these three Dire Wolves. Later, he used the profession's ability to capture three adult wolves from the pack.
However, the three adults died when the overlord attacked earlier, leaving only the three substitutes. After suffering such a heavy blow, the goblins were heartbroken and could only look for another wolf pack to approach later.
The goblin cavalry squad Altair controlled rode wolves to check several sites the goblins had found that met the requirements, and selected the plot most suitable for building palisades.
Don't put all your eggs in one basket. This saying fit goblins perfectly as they faced danger from overlords.
Now it was no longer realistic to rely on goblins to repel assaults by dominant creatures.
Although Altair's own stats were not low, as an emperor who had invested all his points into appearance, longevity, and reproductive ability, if he also possessed overwhelming combat power, he wouldn't be a goblin.
With Altair's current strength, he might only contend with a one-star overlord—after all, his health bar was too thin.
At present, after venting their anger on the outskirts, humans had shifted to the territory of the Ledgebreak Monkeys to search for vitality herbs. They had not found any trace of the goblins in the central region of Qirwood.
The overlord of this area had just been here not long ago, so it would not come a second time in such a short span.
Thus, the Goblin Cave entered a brief period of peace.
In the mornings, Altair controlled the Goblin Knights to patrol the territory, checked on the goblins' hunting, and inspected progress on the planting plans.
In the afternoons, the goblins gathered and Altair ate with them. After that, he returned to the Goblin Cave to keep Lyra and Cassvia company, raising Lyra's hope value to 24.
At night, the old goblin scholar sent in human women they had captured and trained, but Altair refused.
Their bodies already contained a large amount of genetic residue from other goblins, which would affect the quality of Altair's offspring.
Food was scarce at this stage, and adding mouths with lower capability but large appetites would only hinder his eugenics plan.
Manpower was insufficient, and the daily lives of Lyra and Cassvia also required the help of the human women to care for them.
Only two days later did Lyra's body recover and her vitality increase.
In the darkness of night, Altair quietly walked to Lyra's room.
"Ah!"
"Lyra, if one day we're rescued, would you still stay with me? I heard you have a fiancé named Orren."
"Th-this…"
Lyra blushed and said, "I already belong to you. I won't be with anyone else in the future. Even… even if it's Lord Orren, we can't be together anymore."
"Good. I love you, Lyra—let's have more goblins~~"
"Yes, but I don't want to give birth to goblins."
"Lyra, I want to be close to you."
"Wuu, wuu, okay…"
Lord Orren, forgive me…
The next day, Lyra's appetite increased, indicating her pregnancy.
To raise Lyra's hope and prevent her from collapsing again, Altair persuaded Cassvia for quite a while and succeeded in getting her to agree to keep certain things concealed. She came to Lyra's room to accompany her so the two would have more company to talk with.
Only 4 days remained until Cassvia gave birth.
Cassvia's current Hope Value: 48
Only 7 days remained until Lyra gave birth.
Lyra's current Hope Value: 28
In the last three days, Altair and the goblins had identified crop-planting bases at five different locations, built simple fences, and started tilling the plots.
Altair asked Anrus to write down all knowledge about cultivation, had the Violet Goblins study it, and took full charge of supervising them.
They were also required to observe the crops and select seeds.
Altair also taught them how to perform hybrid breeding to produce better plants in preparation for major development in the future.
Altair's direct-line goblin offspring had been following him lately, receiving personal training and instruction from the emperor.
Among them, the training directive for the small Violet Goblin was the clearest. Altair arranged for that goblin to live with the Dire Wolves. The goal was to make it a Commander (Wolf Clan) and then reuse it in the future.
All seven little goblins were Altair's direct offspring, but if you thought they treated one another as father and children, you'd be entirely mistaken.
The bond between high- and low-tier goblins had always been stronger than that between parent and child. The current social status of goblins, based on the concept of individual lineage, was extremely low.
Because goblins centered themselves around superior, advanced individuals, their race had survived to this day.
The little Crimson Goblin had now grown to the size of a seven-year-old human child. In eleven more days, it would grow strong and become the most powerful combatant in the Goblin Cave besides its father, Altair.
The little Violet Goblin was only the size of a three-year-old. Violet Goblins were generally smaller than ordinary goblins; when grown, their height was only about 1.23 meters.
Although the other five little goblins were ordinary individuals, they had already become the strongest among the other goblins in the cave, and their intelligence was higher, making them easier to train. In the future, they could also be used to help train the next generation of newborn goblins.
Altair's training requirements for them were to expose them to as many things as possible, learn various combat methods, and try to train them into more specialized professions.
Early in the morning, Altair looked at the sky and nodded.
Three lookouts continuously monitored movement in the forest from several high points in the dense woods. The deployed goblin scouts reported that human forces in the outer area had not entered the Dire Wolves' territory and had all moved toward the territory of the Ledgebreak Monkeys.
Fighting had broken out between the middle and outer territories of the Ledgebreak Monkeys' groups.
The time had come—it was time to act.
Altair stood and looked toward the outskirts of Qirwood Forest.
There lay the small wolf pack territory that had previously prevented them from entering the central area.
Altair decided to subdue the wolf pack and make the wolves the goblins' friends.
Whether in planting or expanding hunting grounds, the process of development and growth would inevitably make the target goblin group larger. At present, the vigilant goblin scouts sometimes discovered traces of human adventurers.
Avoiding them was clearly not a long-term solution, and being discovered by humans was only a matter of time.
Once human adventurers discovered high-tier goblins in the forest, they would form teams and come hunting by following the scent like hounds, because high-tier goblins were extremely valuable.
At the very least, Altair had found that each time he had relations with Lyra without using any medicine, Lyra's vitality and magic power would increase.
The same happened with Cassvia. The more was injected, the better the effect.
Advanced individuals were clearly high-grade medicinal "herbs."
Lyra's father was Earl Rejerson. If he learned there were goblins in the central area of the Misty Forest, he might consider the fact that Lyra and Cassvia were still alive.
Given Lyra's and Cassvia's identities, they would surely send troops to encircle and suppress them again. Moreover, knowing they were in the central area, the human force sent this time would certainly be stronger than before.
Lyra had been captured again when she was about to attend the birthday banquet of the Duke Nass's daughter. This news had surely reached the Duke's ears. If discovered, the Duke would likely dispatch people to come.
Lyra said that when the Duke's daughter was at the Royal Academy, she was her good friend, and Lyra had once sworn that her best friend would come to save her.
Who knows—after the Duke's daughter learned of Lyra's "death," she might bring people to retrieve Lyra's remains (ashes). If it turned out Lyra was still alive, it would be troublesome.