Chapter 43 - 43 40 Gos's Little Scheme_1

43: Chapter 40 Gos’s Little Scheme_1 43: Chapter 40 Gos’s Little Scheme_1 “An Ogre, a powerful Ogre. He’s as tall as that tree over there, with arms thicker than your thighs, and a voice that booms like thunder. He says his name is Hou…” Gos tried hard to describe the Ogre’s imposing build. “An Ogre, or an Ogre Shaman?” Gaven seemed worried that Gos hadn’t understood his question, so he added, “Does he fight in close combat? Or does he use spells?” “Close combat,” Gos was quite certain, “He uses an enormous club, thicker than my waist. I’ve never seen him cast spells.” “When does he usually come?” “Every ten days, usually during the last two or three days. It’s not fixed; sometimes it’s early, sometimes late.” “Okay, I got it. I appreciate your kindness. For now, go manage your tribespeople and have them mine as much as possible. It won’t be long before my friends bring more food and new tools. I promise, the price for the ores mined by our Blackwell will be triple what you sold them for last time.” Gaven gestured with his hand, intending to end the conversation with Gos and continue preparing dinner. “That’s it?” Gos’s face was full of disbelief. That was an Ogre, an incredibly powerful monster that could eat half a Gnoll in one bite. “That’s it,” Gaven smiled and nodded, “I’ll deal with the other matters, and with that self-proclaimed Guardian later.” Gaven’s reaction was completely unexpected, and Gos scratched the fine scales on his head, unsure how to continue the conversation. “By the way, what’s the story with those two Gnolls who just arrived?” Gaven suddenly remembered the two Gnolls from earlier. “They are warriors from a nearby tribe. They found that the food is better here and decided to join our tribe,” Gos answered listlessly. Under normal circumstances, Gos would have been jumping for joy, as attracting members from other tribes to join is a sign of strength for a Gnoll Tribe. But now, Gos couldn’t feel happy at all, for this wasn’t his achievement but that of this Human before him. If this Human decided to leave, taking the extraordinary food with him, these newly joined Gnolls would rebel at the first opportunity, possibly even inciting the original members of the tribe. “I see,” Gaven said, stroking his chin with his eyes nearly squinted into a line. If Anna were here, she would undoubtedly whisper in shock that Mr. Gaven was coming up with another sneaky plan, and someone was going to be unlucky again. The inclusive nature of the Gnoll Tribe was very advantageous for his future plans. The plan Gaven told Bede was but the first step in his grand scheme. How could his vision possibly be limited to a mere vein of ore, a small Gnoll Tribe? This was merely his first foothold. As long as he secured his position here, expansion outward was inevitable. That’s right. Gaven planned to use these cannon fodder-like Gnolls to conquer the Rocklands. Since waking up, Gaven had been strategizing all along. His past life had proven that no matter how strong an individual is, there are limits. Only by having one’s own power can one leverage it effectively. But to establish his own power among Humans, even with memories from a past life to aid him, it would be difficult to make headway without three to five years. First, Humans have a strong tendency towards xenophobia. This trait isn’t unique to Humans; other Sage Races mostly share it. Long-lived races like Elves and Dwarves are particularly strict. There’s an adage among Elves: it takes one hundred years to get to know someone and another hundred to trust them. Second, most powers have their own Rulers. If he were to suddenly intrude and try to take over, it would inevitably lead to internal strife first, severely draining his energy. After much thought, Gaven decided to break the norm and set his sights on the monster races. Although the monster races have the same flaws, they are not as severe. The most important thing is that some methods constrained by morals wouldn’t cause any trouble for them. Among the monster races that are easiest to handle, Goblins and Gnolls are the natural choices. Gaven’s choice of the Gnolls over the Goblins was deliberate. The main reason was that Goblins are much more widespread than Gnolls and more numerous, leading to more conflicts with the Humans and a worse reputation. Many people hold blood feuds against the Goblins. Having Vick along the journey made this feeling deeper; many experienced merchants were full of prejudice against Vick’s Goblin identity, not to mention ordinary people. Gos originally wanted to use the Ogre’s name to scare Gaven and his group away. In Gos’s eyes, Gaven posed a much greater threat to them, particularly to himself. Because he could see through the demands of the Ogre bandit right away—so long as his greedy desires were satisfied, he would not threaten the status of the Blackwell Tribe, nor his position of rule. Gaven was different, though; thus far, everything about his conduct had exceeded Gos’s understanding. The reaction of the other party this time also exceeded Gos’s expectations. It was as if they did not care at all about the Ogre bandit he mentioned; those who were hunting continued hunting, and those who were cooking continued cooking. It’s not that there were no changes at all; at least that Human woman went out less frequently, and even when she did go out, she didn’t go far. What truly shocked Gos was that the Human man, in his free time, actually had the Goblin Sorcerer cast a spell to turn him into a Gnoll. This discovery made the scales on Gos’s back stand on end. How could he not have thought of this possibility? Had the other party transformed into a Gnoll before and snuck into Blackwell to explore his secrets? Or did they already know about the Ogre bandit coming to collect the tribute today? Luckily, he told them about it today to scare them away. If they had found out on their own, who knows how they would have dealt with him. After the man turned into a Gnoll, he didn’t sit idle. He showed off various weapons in the clearing by the small river, and you know what, all his moves were unexpectedly smooth and graceful. Gos, who was spying, was almost stunned, not to mention the little Gnolls who were barking and cheering beside him. … “Burp…” Hou let out a long, satisfied belch. He was in a great mood today; both the Goblins and the Gnolls were very obedient. They had not only prepared ample tributes, filling his bag to the brim but also prepared a lot of food, satisfying his hunger after two days and saving him from a wasted trip. Which tribe is next? Let me think. Is it a Goblin Tribe? Or was it a Gnoll Tribe? Right, it’s a Gnoll Tribe, a poor one. Sёarᴄh the ηovelFire.ηet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. They didn’t give the full tribute last time. If they can’t produce double this time, I must teach them a lesson. Should I take one of their whelps for a tooth festival? Or kill their chief and replace him with someone more capable? “Hmm… that smells delicious… the scent of wild bison… who hunted a big one? It couldn’t be the Gnoll Tribe that I’m headed to, could it? Could it be that they knew I was coming today… and prepared the tribute in advance? Burp… Although I’ve already eaten quite a bit, if it’s bison… I could still eat half a leg… the rest I can take home, enough to last me for three or five days…” Hou, with a giant wooden club in one hand and a big bag slung over the other shoulder, his belly protruding, wobbled over the ridge, and the sight before him immediately made him roar in anger, “You’ve got some nerve… daring to eat my… my bison…”