Filed to story: A Bullied Boy Died: A Mafia King Woke Up In His Body
“Got shaken down again by Fred. Fuck man, he used to be an all right enforcer until the Sanctum of Yual sent one of their priests into town. Now he’s all righteous and holy, unwilling even to look the other way for even a moment. We used to drink in this town all day and night. Now? Not even a single drop!”
“Mate, my hands are already shaking from the lack of card games here. It’s only been a week, but I’m dying right now. Maybe I should just head and join the forest bandits.”
“You serious? After hearing about the monster that attacked them? What would Mary say? You can’t just leave her and the kids.”
“Bah! The three merchants are off their rockers. Fuck it, I’ll bring them all along. Maybe I’ll join the slave traders too when they make their next pass-through.”
“Don’t count on it. The next time they come around, Fred and his cronies will probably be all over it. A bust like that would be big on their record.”
“HAH! Fred won’t stand a chance against them guards. He barely swung a sword in his life!”
Looks like the prohibitions are being enforced in the neighboring towns too… Kyle took note of the conversations in town, marking them in his head for future reference. If he wanted to establish a proper supply line of Euria Seeds, this town might have a big part to play in it.
Euria Seeds had yet to be deemed prohibited, so Kyle did not have to worry too much. However, seeing how the Sanctum of Yual was willing to ban many things outright, he was certain they would soon start banning Euria Seeds, especially with the way he was about to develop the business.
There was not much else going on, mostly just other people complaining about the enforcers moving into town. Kyle did not see any idea of a local mob or mafia existing yet. There was a chance for business here, but he could only do something once he got a better picture of the town and made some more connections.
Perhaps I could set up a few shell companies here to handle the trade of Euria Seeds.
He was also on a strict time limit, with the repayment of the debt coming up. For now, he decided to focus on finding the habitat of the Euria Seeds and the goblins who supposedly lived in the same area.
The next day, Kyle immediately left the inn as early as he could, continuously checking behind him for any tails or people watching. He was unsure if any of the city gangs had posted someone to watch over him, but he already knew that if the Violet Demons learned of him killing their forest bandits, he would have a problem.
Using a replica map bought from the town, he navigated his way through the dense forest, trudging through the foliage and dead leaves. He spotted a few animals, noticing that most of them were similar to those of Ancient Earth. Squirrels, deer, wild pigs, and rabbits were seemingly common here. He expected a bit more of a fantasy twist, seeing as goblins were already around.
As he walked through the forest, a bloody stench soon wafted through the air, becoming stronger over time. It put him on guard, forcing him to keep his hammer at the ready, his eyes darting all over the tree branches to check for ambushes.
Pushing his way through a few dense bushes, he soon got a glimpse of the source of the smell. It seemed to be a mass grave of sorts, except the bodies were all fully decomposing and rotting, clear signs that they had died quite some time ago.
Three goblins were crouched over in the mass grave, sorting through the rotten human meat and limbs. They used their little green grubby hands to scoop something out of the meat, stuffing it into dirty pouches made of leather and skin patches, grunting at one another.
Kyle decided to hide and watch, seeing as the goblins did not notice him. The three goblins worked their way through the pit, scooping continuously. Soon, Kyle finally understood what they were doing.
They are harvesting the maggots from the decomposing meat as food. Interesting…
Suddenly, a loud, rickety sound could be heard, with the three goblins immediately scampering away toward the mountains. Kyle hid even more, lying low in the bushes as he spotted a wheelbarrow coming through a small path. It was two forest bandits, one escorting and one pushing two dead girls on the wheelbarrow.
They dumped the bodies into the mass grave pit, with one of the forest bandits peering over the edge. “Hey, look. Your former girl is doing pretty good.”
“Cheh. Thought she would have been reduced to bones by now. I guess the maggots and goblins don’t even like her. What a waste of rakels that one was.”
They didn’t converse anymore, simply heading back the same way. Kyle did not move at all, continuously observing his surroundings. He soon saw the three goblins reappear, obviously not having collected enough.
He paid more attention to their loadout this time. Each one was barely armored, with only a flint or stone knife hanging from a loose cloth belt. Only one of them had a decent metal knife, which seemed to serve as the only weapon they had.
When entering a new environment, observing how the locals worked was the best way to get the lay of the land the fastest. Kyle decided to follow the goblins back to the den before deciding on a course of action.
Maybe they can be the perfect underlings…
Mental Fatigue
Three days later…
Kyle had the place mapped out for now. There was indeed a vast amount of Euria Seeds in the region. If he somehow managed to pick everything up, he could supply the city of Raktor with up to fifty times its current consumption each year, and that was just his estimate. Not even the plantations he had learned about from Damian could produce that much in a controlled environment.
The reason no one harvested much here was due to the constant threat of goblins. While the weaker ones were sent out to forage for food, the stronger ones remained in their dens and protected the nearby areas, which somehow corresponded with a dense concentration of Euria Trees. Kyle had already watched another human harvester get chased out of some of the denser Euria Tree habitats, which seemed to be considered sacred or protected by the goblins.
The stronger goblins had much better gear from former fallen adventurers and failed expeditions. Some goblins were even stronger than Kyle, although that was rare.
Kyle had located one goblin den nested in an abandoned mining shaft from decades ago, the tunnels leading into the mountain’s base. It was well defended, with nearly twenty to thirty goblins patrolling the main entrance at all times.
Working his way around the mountain, he found a secondary entrance to the same mining tunnels, though it was much smaller and subsequently less defended as well. He only saw five goblins on guard duty at any given time, and they were significantly less defended.