The Forest Feeds No Idle Goblins

Chapter 230: Chapter 202: Future Problems

"Isn’t this distance a little too far?" Evita said, arriving at the spot where the Bang-Bang Fruit had exploded. The location was still quite a ways from her arrow. After Red Eyes launched the first Bang-Bang Fruit, Shire had his subordinates fire off several more in a row. As they got the hang of it, Evita watched in astonishment as the goblins formed a line to launch the Bang-Bang Fruits.

"It’s fine. The range is mostly because the Bang-Bang Fruits are pretty light," Shire said, standing beside the centaur maiden while scanning their surroundings. After a dozen or so Bang-Bang Fruits had been launched in succession, the trees in this patch of woods were blasted, their branches shattered and leaves stripped away. "But the shape of the Bang-Bang Fruit isn’t aerodynamic."

"Besides, a single Bang-Bang Fruit on its own has very limited destructive power." Shire bent over and picked up a small, broken twig from the ground. It was so thin you could easily snap it with your hands. "If we want to deal with enemies in Iron Armor, or frenzied goblins who’ve drunk an Anger Potion, we’ll need to wrap these in an Iron Shell."

"You’re saying that even if you put an Iron Shell on these fruits, they can still fly this far?" Evita asked, glancing back in the direction of her own arrow.

"Yeah, it shouldn’t be a problem. We might lose a little range, but it’s an acceptable trade-off for the increase in lethality." Shire nodded, tossing the twig aside. "We can make the shell more streamlined and add fins to the back, just like your arrows."

Evita blinked. As a centaur who had spent her life with a bow and arrows, she knew exactly how fletching affected an arrow’s flight. The thought of those goblins lining up, continuously feeding what were effectively flying "Hand Grenade Fruits" into that iron tube, sent a chill down her spine. "A continuous barrage of explosions... An unprepared enemy would be thrown into chaos."

"Exactly. And we can make more of those iron tubes," Shire said, hands clasped behind his back as he prepared to return to the Rune Mortar’s position. "If twenty of these cannons were firing at once, a continuous, non-stop barrage... I imagine only a force using a wide-area Magic Protection Shield could withstand that kind of attack."

"And a large-scale Magic Protection Shield isn’t something just anyone can deploy." He glanced up at the sky. From what he recalled, not even a regular Kingdom Army could use such an Ability. It was something more commonly seen among High Level Knight Orders and the personal Guard Corps of the nobility.

’Guess cannon fodder exists in every world,’ Shire griped internally. With his hands still behind his back, he began to stroll back. Evita, however, remained rooted to the spot, surveying the area.

’He was right, this thing is terrifyingly powerful,’ Evita thought, pawing at a piece of the fruit on the ground with her forehoof. She could only imagine the horrific carnage if they were encased in an Iron Shell. On their walk over, Shire had mentioned that the "iron tube" was made from a stone that had been used to weigh down the corner of a thatched hut in her own village. He’d also said the source of this power was inscribed on a White Stone.

’So, back then...’ She lowered her head, silent for a few seconds. ’I was sleeping right on top of such a powerful thing, yet we were still humiliated so badly by the Evil Throat Army.’

’No, that’s not right,’ Evita thought with a wry smile. ’If Shire hadn’t been searching for these White Stones, we might never have met. I guess it just goes to show that the forest is full of interesting things. If you don’t know their use, you’ll just overlook them forever.’

She sighed, once again taking the Bow and Arrow from her back. She nocked an arrow, drew the bowstring, and fired it at an angle into the sky. ’Under his leadership, our people should never have to suffer like that again.’

Seeing Shire getting further away, Evita grabbed her Longbow and broke into a trot, her four hooves kicking up dust as she chased after him. A quick CLIPPITY-CLOP later, she had caught up to the goblin.

"What’s on your mind?" Shire asked without turning, having heard her approaching.

"About the future," Evita said as she fell into step beside Shire, her hooves clopping softly. "As long as we follow you, our people will always be safe."

"Don’t be so blindly optimistic," Shire said with a chuckle. "It’s best not to be so confident over a single weapon."

"Why not?" Evita asked.

"The forest is vast, and full of things we don’t yet understand," Shire said, batting away branches as he walked. "Besides, this ’Rune Cannon’ is far from complete. It still needs a lot of testing. Its angle and precision aren’t good enough."

"I was just looking at the impact zone. Maybe it’s because the projectiles are oval, but the impacts were scattered all over the place. There was no precision at all." He plucked a few leaves from a nearby bush and tossed them into the air. Pushed by the wind, they scattered everywhere. "Like that. If it can’t deliver its payload to a specific area with precision, it’s not effective enough."

"You mean like a volley, an arrow shower?" Evita looked at the scattered leaves and understood his point. It was true; if her people’s arrows didn’t land in the same area, it was better to conserve them.

"So it still needs calibration and improvement," Shire nodded. "But right now, there’s an even bigger problem."

Evita glanced down at the goblin. He had been so calm, even cheerful, just moments before, but now his brow was furrowed. After a moment’s thought, she asked, "What problem is that?"

"Manpower." Shire gazed into the distance where the goblins were swarming around the Rune Mortar, chattering and shrieking. If he hadn’t explicitly forbidden them from using it without permission, they’d probably be lining up to launch Bang-Bang Fruits for fun. The most enthusiastic of the bunch wasn’t Lame Leg, but Red Eyes.

"Don’t you have plenty of minions?" Evita said with a chuckle.

"They’re a bunch of idiots," Shire said, the corner of his mouth twitching. He knew artillery was a technical military branch, not a toy anyone could play with. If he let his current minions serve as the gun crew, the first person they’d probably blow up would be... their leader, Green Egg.

It couldn’t be helped. These goblins knew nothing about parabolas, elevation angles, or firing ranges. They probably didn’t even know which way to point the muzzle. It was more likely they’d try to fire the mortar horizontally, like a cannon.

"We’ll need to train a specialized crew and get them proficient with this weapon." Shire sighed. As his clan continued to grow, he found himself longing more and more for smarter subordinates, or for the ability to establish an educational system suitable for goblins.

But that was far too difficult.

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!