But since the goblins had no [English] skill listed on their status screens, I figured it had to be something else.
Perhaps the System had a special kind of magical writing that displayed any text in a form readable to the target?
Like… the quest details would appear in English for me. But when the goblins looked at the paper, it would show up as Goblish.
(Still, there must be a way for me to understand these guys!)
For some reason, I was sure of it. Because how could I rule over these guys if I couldn't understand a bit of what they are saying?
Perhaps once I upgraded the shop further, I'd be able to unlock language skills?
(I hope that's the case.)
Anyway, the goblins had accepted the quest and were ready to go.
But before that, there's one more thing: They couldn't just chop trees with their bare hands, could they?
So I dropped two stone axes I'd purchased earlier from the System in front of them. Both axes came equipped with the [Lumberjack] skill. Either I got lucky, or there was actually a higher chance of an item rolling a relevant skill than a useless one!
The goblins snatched the axes up and held them aloft like treasures, their eyes sparkling!
(Haha, go! My minions! Go make me some wood!)
****
A few moments later…
At first, I thought I'd be able to expand my vision to see what my citizens were seeing, like in those RTS games, controlling units roaming around and dispelling the fog of war.
But nope.
Even when the goblins stood at the edge of my range, I still couldn't see beyond my own limits.
Still, watching the two chop down trees was kinda fun!
They had each chosen different trees, swinging their axes with all their might like they were in some kind of heated competition. But since Gopuran picked a smaller tree, I wondered who would complete the quest first.
Gopuro had more Attack stat, so his swings was obviously more powerful. The blade bit into the oak with a dull thunk, sending vibrations up his arms. His muscles bunched under his green skin, showcasing raw masculine power.
But… Gopuran… on the other hand…
Yeah, a hot and muscular goblin girl in almost no clothes doing lumber work?
Hell fucking yes!
(oooh!)
(OOOOH!)
Her massive boobs bounced with every swing. Her hips swayed, her ass jiggled, and sweat soaked her body, glistening in the sunlight. Fallen leaves clung to her ponytail. The sight was absolute peak fan service!
Perhaps that was why time seemed to pass much faster than it should have. The trees were fairly large, so it took a while to fell them. On top of that, they needed to chop each tree into manageable logs before they could bring them back to my castle.
And speaking of carrying, something interesting happened as well.
I had been wondering how the hell these two were going to haul all that wood back to me, only for them to come up with their own solution.
First, they found two long poles from the fallen branches of the tree they had just cut down.
Then, after spending another twenty minutes rummaging through the woods, they managed to weave together a simple harness out of sturdy vines. Using the two poles and the vines, they fashioned a crude drag sled and loaded the freshly cut logs onto it. After securing everything with a few more lengths of vine, they were able to drag the wood back to my castle.
(Damn… how are these guys even smarter than me?!)
I felt a little ashamed, because only now did I realize that I had lived thirty years of my life without knowing how to make something as simple as a wooden sled.
Still… I couldn't help feeling a bit confused.
How did these two even know how to make a sled?
There was no way they had just invented it on the spot. They had clearly done this before.
Did they learn it from other goblins?
And then I remembered… back then, the goblins had brought ladders when they raided me.
So perhaps primitive technology like this wasn't all that surprising after all.
Anyway, that was good news.
And since I could store any item in my inventory as long as it was inside my territory, I snatched up the wood as soon as the goblins passed through my gate and dropped their loads.
[Ding! 1 Wood Obtained]
[Ding! 1 Wood Obtained]
Each unit of wood weighed 10kg. The two trees yielded around 100 units each, more or less. So, one tree was already enough for them to complete their quest . But even so, it took them three hours each to do that.
I definitely must find a way to improve the efficiency further later on.
Gopuro completed the quest first.
[Ding!]
[Gopuro has completed your "Wood Gathering Quest" quest!]
He plopped down on his rear for a moment, breathing heavily, wiping sweat from his brow. But through the tiredness and exhaustion, a big smile stretched across his face.
In less than two seconds, he was already back on his feet, probably thinking about accepting the quest one more time.
Just then, another chime rang through the air.
[Ding!]
Gopuro looked up.
[Processing Quest Reward… Completed!]
From thin air, something materialized. Slowly drifting down into Gopuro's hand, a small white crystal glowed, emitting a faint light.
It was the Powerstone! His quest reward!
At the same time, I noticed my Powerstone balance had been deducted by one.
Gopuro cheered with joy and pumped his fist. His grin was like a child getting their most wanted toy.
(Haha! I'm glad he's happy with the reward!)
(I wonder how he'll use the Powerstone, though…)
But as soon as the thought flashed through my head, Gopuro tossed the crystal into his mouth.
Crunch!
He ate it like hard candy!
His whole body glowed briefly, then returned to normal.
I checked his status right after, but I didn't see any changes, except his Mana and stamina had recovered slightly.
But given his happy reaction just now…
The Powerstone's effect… there's no way it would just stop at recovering MP and stamina, right?