leonardwarren Chapter 103: The Great Cleanup
Chapter 103: The Great Cleanup
Inside the Flying Dragon Tribe's main tent, Tecot smashed the bone cup on the ground.
The bone cup, made from the skull of the previous patriarch, bounced twice on the animal-hide-covered ground before rolling to a stop in front of Prude's knees.
The goblin heroes in the tent lowered their heads at the same time, not daring to look at their chieftain's only remaining right eye.
Tecott is old; the scar in his left eye socket has faded to grayish-white, but the fierce glint in his right eye when he gets angry is even stronger than when he was young.
"Earth Dragon Canyon is gone. You say humans conquered the canyon that Rampage Hammer had guarded for decades in just a few days?" Tiecott's voice wasn't loud, but it was chilling. "And then? They even built a wall at the canyon entrance, and in front of the wall was an arrow tower, with something reflecting light off it. You don't even know what that is?"
Prude knelt on the ground, his forehead touching the earth.
"It's because my subordinates are incompetent."
"You are indeed incompetent." Tecott stood up. He was a full head taller than an average goblin. His hunched back was slightly hunched due to old injuries, but the muscles on his shoulders were still as gnarled as old tree roots.
If he hadn't been severely injured during the struggle for the chieftainship, which damaged his foundation, he would very likely have advanced to become the Goblin King.
"But you're right about one thing: if we don't act soon, the goblins will lose Blackthorn Wasteland." Tecott walked to the campfire, poked a few embers from the ashes with his missing finger, and drew a circle on a large stone slab. "This is Ashwood Territory." He then drew several lines outside the circle. "These are their walls, five kilometers long. That scoundrel Devon said they only have a few hundred soldiers. Do you believe him?"
"I don't believe it! A few hundred soldiers couldn't hold a five-kilometer-long city wall." Prut raised his head. "They didn't rely on soldiers, they relied on the city wall, the arrow towers, and the kind of weapons we've never seen before."
A few of the defeated goblins managed to escape back, but they were captured by the dragon tribe on the way, so the dragon tribe was aware of their defeat.
Tecott remained silent for a long time, so long that the embers in the fire dimmed further. Then he raised his head and scanned the face of every goblin in the tent with his right eye.
"Barkl, go to the Black Dragon Tribe. Luke, go to the Great Dragon Tribe. Tell them that if they don't join forces, they'll die." Tecott paused. "Herman, go to the Royal Court and tell the Goblin King that the Wyvern Tribe is willing to lead the charge. Ask the Royal Court to issue an order to the other goblin tribes to launch a full-scale attack on human territory."
The three goblin heroes who were named stood up at the same time, pounded their chests with their right hands, and turned to leave the tent.
Prude remained kneeling until Tecott placed his hand, missing a finger, on his shoulder.
"Prud, continue your reconnaissance southwards. I need to know what they're building, how fast they're building it, and where they're building it."
"Yes."
Tecott released his grip, turned his back to everyone, and looked at the dragon flag with three holes in it on the tent wall.
"We must act before winter. Otherwise, by this time next year, humans won't just be building walls at the mouth of the canyon; they'll be building them right up to the gates of our tribe."
In fact, every few years, the Goblin Royal Court organizes large-scale goblin tribes to clear human territory from the Blackthorn Wasteland.
This is also why human territories have been difficult to sustain.
This is known among goblins as the Great Cleanup of the Blackthorn Wasteland.
The human race calls it the Goblin Tide.
This is because, as development progresses to a certain point, the goblin population reaches its limit, and the available food is simply insufficient to feed such a large population. Therefore, wars are the only option to deplete the excess population and simultaneously create more living space for the goblins.
According to the timeline, there is still a year until the next major cleanup of the Blackthorn Wasteland. However, this time, the Earth Dragon tribe was wiped out, and the goblin tribe in the south was almost completely annihilated. This freed up a lot of territory, which could have slowed down the time required for the major cleanup of the Blackthorn Wasteland.
However, Ashwood's rise was too rapid, and its infrastructure capabilities were the most terrifying aspect, which forced Ironclad to take action ahead of schedule.
The goblins' activity space cannot be reduced any further.
Ron stood on the hill, with the first layer of newly laid stone slabs beneath his feet.
The castle's foundation has been completed in the past few days, with a 20-meter-deep foundation pit filled with volcanic ash lime mortar, and the base embedded in the granite layer of the mountain.
Old Hall stood beside him with the blueprints, on which Ron had circled several areas with charcoal, each circle marked with dimensions and material specifications.
Today we're laying the first layer of stone blocks for the main fortress. Each block is about a person's length and half a person's width, and they were solidified using a solidification technique from rubble dug from the ground.
Ron had already calculated that the transformed hill would still occupy fifteen acres, and he planned to build it according to the template of Neuschwanstein Castle.
It was because in his previous life he had taken on a contract from a wealthy man in China to build a castle. He had searched far and wide for the design blueprints of Neuschwanstein Castle and used existing technology and building materials to make improvements, resulting in a castle with a similarity of over 90%.
This was his only experience in building castles.
Therefore, he planned to start with a scheme he was familiar with, given the current level of architecture in the kingdom.
Once Neuschwanstein Castle is completed, it will undoubtedly become the most beautiful castle in Blackthorn Wasteland, no, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say it's the most beautiful castle in the entire kingdom.
After all, the castles in this world are mainly for defense, and their aesthetic design is relatively backward.
"Build the main fortress first." Ron didn't even look up, his fingertips simultaneously controlling the compaction of three foundations.
After becoming a formal architectural mage, he can cover a range five times larger and with greater precision than during his apprenticeship.
The Condensation spell compresses a pile of sawdust into a whole oak log within a few breaths, followed by the Transformation spell which carves the oak into neat square beams and stacks them next to the foundation, forming a small hill.
"The main castle area is estimated to take three days to complete, and it will take another two days to complete the topping-out. Then there will be the side buildings, the balcony castle, the square main tower, the auxiliary towers, and finally the entrance castle."
Old Hall mentally calculated the amount of work, then closed the ledger.
He stopped calculating. The young master's construction speed after his breakthrough was equivalent to that of dozens of ordinary building mages. His estimation speed couldn't keep up with the young master's house-building speed.
He needs to wait until the young master finishes building before he can assess the young master's true construction speed.
This is a required course for every architect, so that they can easily control the construction speed.
The young master's construction speed was already fast, and it became even faster after the breakthrough, exceeding his comprehension.
Fanta walked down the adobe city wall, his face covered with a fine layer of sweat.
He had just come from the main city. In the direction of Harvest Town, everything was calm in his binoculars; the smoke signals had long since dissipated, but the messenger sent by Hilden had just arrived.
The goblin wolf riders did not turn back; they had already returned to the depths of the Blackthorn Wasteland.