Green Monster Epic

Chapter 623 Smuggling

“According to your previous request, here are thirteen nail-studded clubs made of refined iron.”

In a nameless valley in the Auro Hills, within a sparse, shaded forest, two groups of different races stood facing each other, warily watching one another.

At the center of the confrontation, an adult earth gnome stood in front of a wooden box the size of a person. As he spoke, the earth gnome flipped open the box with one hand, revealing round, one-handed war hammers filled with sharp spikes, lying haphazardly inside.

Opposite the earth gnome stood a gnoll with red eyes. When he saw the brand-new nail-studded war hammers in the box, he couldn't hide the greedy look on his face.

“Good stuff!! With these weapons, we can defeat Nelson's kobolds!!”

Muttering to himself, the gnoll couldn't help but reach into the box, wanting to pick up a war hammer and feel its texture.

“Wait, we've shown you our goods, where are the things you promised??”

The earth gnome blocked the gnoll's hand with his thick arm, questioning him impolitely.

“Haha, it's ready!!”

The gnoll laughed awkwardly, a hint of reluctance in his eyes. He pulled a crumpled cloth bundle from inside his shirt, then slowly opened it, revealing a dozen rough, unpolished rubies and sapphires.

The earth gnome opened his hand, and only after the gnoll reluctantly placed the cloth bundle and the gems into his palm did he retract it.

The earth gnome immediately threw the cloth bundle aside, picked out a ruby the size of a pigeon's egg, and shone it in the sunlight filtering through the sparse leaves overhead before putting it away with satisfaction.

“Alright, the goods are yours. Remember to look for me again if you need anything in the future!! The price is absolutely fair!!!”

While putting the gemstone ore into his money bag, the earth gnome didn't forget to continue promoting his wares.

The gnoll didn't bother talking to the earth gnome at this time. He was busy with his companions, lovingly stroking the brand-new nail-studded hammers, as if they were holding their future in their hands.

These nail-studded hammers were indeed their hope for the future for these gnolls. As a small tribe living on the southern border of the Green Field Plains, the entire tribe of warriors had less ironware than what was in the wooden box.

Without sufficiently powerful weapons, relying solely on weapons made of wood and stone that grew naturally in the wilderness, they would inevitably appear shabby when fighting other tribes, possessing great strength but unable to use it.

Not every tribe could be like the warriors of the Green Field Tribe, where as long as they worked hard and steadily, they could have their own set of equipment and weapons. For most of the small tribes in the wilderness, every piece of ironware was a precious treasure. If they could have a stable channel to obtain ironware, they would flock to it.

Since discovering the mineral veins in the Auro Hills, the Green Field Tribe had never stopped developing this mining area. Although there had been a demon sacrifice incident, the tribe subsequently suppressed and cleaned it up, and then re-operated the mine.

As the tribe's strength and population increased, they invested more in the mine. In the days that followed, they successively discovered several more mineral deposits in the hills, making the Auro Hills an important source of metal resources for the tribe.

From the initially discovered pyrite, to the later black coal, stardust sand, red copper ore, and even scattered gemstone ore mixed between iron ore and copper ore, this barren hill suddenly became prosperous.

However, the reserves of this mining area were generally small, and the distribution range was relatively wide. Some mining areas were hundreds of miles apart, and the closest were also dozens of miles away, which made management very difficult for the tribe and required a lot of manpower.

In the end, except for a few important and large-reserve mines that were held by the tribe, most of the scattered mines with little development value were handed over to other members of the tribe for mining. Even the gray dwarves supported by the tribe contracted a pyrite vein.

The gnomes and gray dwarves who contracted these small mines only needed to pay a batch of smelted metal ingots to the tribe every year as rent for contracting the mines. The remaining metal was considered their reward.

However, even for the metal ore belonging to the contractors, the tribe did not allow private sales to outsiders, but only allowed them to be sent to Green Lake Town or Namur Fortress and handed over to the United Chamber of Commerce for sale.

The reason for doing this was to control the strength of the wild indigenous tribes constantly emerging around the Green Field Plains, and not give them the opportunity to develop too quickly. At the same time, by concentrating the sale of equipment and resources in Green Lake Town, they took the opportunity to understand the intelligence information of the surrounding large and small tribes, and effectively deter these small tribes in the wilderness, demonstrating the powerful strength of the Green Field Tribe.

Just as these two groups were satisfied and wanted to end this private transaction, an abrupt voice came from a large tree branch next to them.

“A bunch of rats who can't see the light, courting death!!”

The moment the strange voice sounded, the earth gnome and his three companions' faces changed drastically, and their legs jumped directly, fleeing in several directions.

The seven or eight gnolls who were still checking the weapons in their hands first thought of looking up to find the source of the sound after hearing the voice, until they saw a dwarf gnome in black tight-fitting leather armor, covering half of his face with a black and gray mask, looking at them playfully on the tree branch a dozen meters away.

“Where did this wild thing come from, daring to disturb our business!!!!”

After checking again and confirming that the opponent was only one dwarf gnome, the gnoll leader revealed his cruel face and roared fiercely.

As soon as he finished speaking, his companions on both sides received his hint and rushed out, heading straight for the sapling with the thickness of a thigh a dozen meters away.

Dong!!!

Crack crack crack!!!

The sturdy paulownia tree was broken into two pieces on the spot under the fierce blow of the nail-studded hammer, and the dwarf gnome's body also slowly fell to the ground with the tilting action of the paulownia tree. And just where he was about to land, three gnolls were already eager to try with nail-studded hammers, waiting for him to jump into their encirclement.

The dwarf gnome's height and weight seemed to be very different from these eight gnolls, but there was no panic on his face. As the paulownia trunk was about to fall to the ground, his legs suddenly kicked on the trunk, and the whole person suddenly jumped more than two meters high. When his hands waved, two more cold-light-flashing short swords appeared.

Whoosh!! Whoosh!!

Two nail-studded hammers swept towards the dwarf gnome's body in mid-air, and seeing the nail-studded hammer passing through the dwarf gnome's body without feeling any force, just as the two gnolls felt bad, one of them suddenly let out a terrified roar, and the others looked at the sound, and there was already a sharp blade in the chest of this companion, but it was pierced through the chest by the dwarf gnome from behind with a sword.

The gnoll's body slowly fell, and the other companions were shocked and angry. The newly arrived nail-studded hammer tore through the air and roared straight towards the dwarf gnome.

Dong!! Dong!!

Ding!!!

The nail-studded hammer splashed a cloud of blood on the lifeless gnoll's body. At the same time, the dwarf gnome hiding behind the gnoll's corpse pulled out the short sword inserted into the gnoll's chest with his right hand, and waved his left hand to the front left, using the strength of one of the nail-studded hammers to fly over the heads of several people.

Before his body could land, the hobgoblin chieftain seized the opportunity, delivering a horizontal sweep with his warhammer towards the kobold assassin's waist.

The kobold assassin couldn't easily find leverage in the air, but he remained calm in the face of danger, twisting his waist in a 360-degree spin, turning upside down, and crossing his daggers in front of him. He was struck squarely by the warhammer, and the force immediately launched him another 3-4 meters into the air.

Seeing that his body was about to collide with a large tree, the kobold channeled his strength into his lower limbs. His right leg slammed against the tree trunk, absorbing and dissipating most of the impact. Then, with another extension of his leg, he slipped out of a gap to the right rear before the enemy's encirclement could fully form.

His feet landed firmly, and the kobold immediately activated his Shadow Step technique. Two afterimages split off in two directions, causing the surrounding hobgoblins to hesitate for a few seconds, unsure of how to react. When the hobgoblins, following the principle of prioritizing the closest target, all charged towards their chosen targets, a sharp shout rang out. In a direction completely different from the two afterimages, the kobold appeared like a phantom behind another hobgoblin, his twin daggers piercing the enemy's neck and throat.

Revealing a contemptuous and cruel smile, the kobold assassin didn't forget to twist his wrist as he withdrew his daggers, merging the four puncture wounds on the hobgoblin's neck into one.

"Yip yip ~ ~ ~ ~"

The injured hobgoblin weakly dropped his newly acquired spiked club, clutching his neck with both hands, trying to stop the gushing of blood and air. However, all his attempts at remediation couldn't prevent the life force from slowly fading from his body.

The remaining six hobgoblins' eyes became even more crazed and furious, puffs of white air constantly escaping their mouths, staring intently at the kobold who had reappeared. They launched their attack almost simultaneously.

The kobold assassin responded calmly, flicking the daggers in his hands, sending a few drops of blood splattering around. Then, the kobold suddenly vanished from everyone's sight.

A bloody slaughter unfolded once again. After more than half a magic hour, the valley was filled with traces of the battle, and the mottled, rancid bloodstains left behind by the hobgoblins' bodies.

Several goblins slowly appeared in the valley. The four goblins at the lead were none other than the earth goblins who had fled in disarray earlier. At this time, they were also covered in wounds. Although there were no obvious external injuries, the dark blue stripes under their tattered clothes were enough to prove that they had been severely beaten.

"Captain???"

From the rear of the group, a bear goblin poked out his furry head, the heavy armor he wore clanking. The double-bladed battleaxe on his back gleamed with a cold light as he cautiously called out, surveying his surroundings.

"Over here!!"

A lazy voice suddenly came from above. The bear goblin looked up and saw the kobold assassin who had fought the hobgoblins earlier.

"What took you so long? Did it really take you so long to deal with a few little guys??"

The kobold was sitting on a branch as thick as an arm, leaning against the tree trunk with his short, stubby legs dangling, frowning as he asked.

"They were too good at running, and they weren't even running in the same direction. If it weren't for Xier monitoring and guiding from the sky, I probably would have missed two of them if I were relying on myself alone."

The bear goblin warrior scratched his head honestly, clumsily defending himself.

"Hehe, I thought you would secretly take all the credit for yourself!!"

A gust of wind suddenly swept through the sky, and a magnificent giant eagle, more than a meter tall, descended from the sky, landing on a branch next to the kobold. The tree shook violently, and a green glow emanated from the giant eagle before a delicate and lovely kobold girl appeared on the branch.

"Then you really underestimate this dumb bear! He has bigger goals!!"

The kobold assassin was used to this scene, glancing at the bear goblin who kept peeking at the girl after she appeared, teasingly saying.

"Hmph!! I can't be bothered with you!!"

The girl raised her head, the braids tied into a ponytail on her head swinging back and forth.

"Alright, the mission is complete. Let's go back and report!!"

"Okay!!"

"By the way, the spoils are behind that big tree. Mandel, this matter is left to you!!"

"Ugh, you're bullying Mandel again…"

The three goblin companions joked with each other, escorting the four unlucky earth goblin prisoners, slowly disappearing into the nameless valley.

After half a day, the slow-moving group appeared in front of the town gate of the Aulore Town which was newly built on the site of the first pyrite mine that was discovered and mined.

A team of guards guarded the entrance to the town. Seeing the appearance of these three goblins, they greeted them warmly, seemingly very familiar with each other. Even the four earth goblins they were escorting had their names called out by the guards.

"Yo, you guys caught the guys who were selling ironware privately again, amazing!!!"

"Eh, isn't that Kandern from the Ata Iron Mine in the north? You little guy is brave enough, you're really not afraid of death!!"

"Just a few petty thieves, what's the big fuss!!"

The kobold assassin captain, Leif, replied with a smile, his expression indeed indifferent. As a level 12 assassin about to advance to the high-tier, and with two companions with slightly weaker strength acting together, it would be really embarrassing if he couldn't even complete this kind of task.

The strongest of the hobgoblin gang was only a level 10 mid-tier Bloodthirsty One. The remaining seven accomplices basically hadn't advanced. As for the four goblin compatriots in front of him, only two had just advanced to the mid-tier. The difference in strength was really too great.

"Lock these guys up here first. We'll go to the administrative hall to settle the mission, and then come back to pick them up and send them to the security office for them to handle."

Leif casually threw the rope binding the four goblins to the bear goblin captain at the head.

"Then you have to treat us to a big drink when you come back!!"

"Dream on!! See you later!!"

The administrative hall, a management institution that basically every town has, is where various tasks that require manpower in the town and surrounding areas are gathered. As long as the adventurers registered in the town can accept and complete tasks from here, they can obtain corresponding rewards.

Of course, most of those who accept tasks in the administrative hall of Aulore Town are still goblins of the tribe. Occasionally, ogres from the Wilderness Heart or dark elves from the Kolyma Town come to travel and adventure, and incidentally take on a few related tasks to earn some extra money.

Tasks such as privately selling ironware and various metal ingots are the most frequently posted tasks in Aulore Town on a daily basis, and basically never fall off the task list.

The incidents of private sales are too rampant, and the surrounding mines are too scattered and not easy to manage. Therefore, the tribe did not personally organize a team to clear these incidents, but instead handed it over to the adventurers in the town to handle.

In this way, capable and available tribesmen can earn good rewards through these tasks, and at the same time gain various experiences. The tribe also reduces a continuous stream of expenses, and most importantly, it saves a lot of elite forces, which can be placed where the tribe needs them more.

The introduction to the situation of the major strongholds in Green Field will be written in these few chapters for now, and then we will return to the main storyline.