Chapter 365: Sandra's Shock
"Mother hasn't returned yet. Father is a little worried, so I need to find her and bring her back."
Knowing her personality, it's certain that she won't obediently return home.
She'll likely complete tasks as an adventurer while making her way back to Obenlo.
It wouldn't be surprising if she takes an entire year to come home.
After all, as a half-elf, she doesn't have much of a sense of time.
Hearing this, Morris smiled helplessly.
This wasn't the first time something like this had happened.
"Alright, go ahead, but be careful on the way."
Time ticked by, and the night grew deeper.
Meanwhile, elsewhere in the Goblin Forest...
In the Throne Tribe's royal palace chambers...
Li Meng lay in bed, holding Bai Ling's cold yet graceful body in his arms.
Bai Ling looked utterly exhausted, resting her head on Li Meng's chest with her eyes tightly shut.
[Master, she has surrendered.]
This news made the corners of Li Meng's mouth curl upward.
"After all, she's human. How could she willingly become a breeding tool for goblins?"
Li Meng understood Sandra's mindset all too well.
Her hatred for him was etched into her very bones.
It was the pride she held as a human.
In the eyes of humans, goblins were grotesque creatures comparable to monsters.
No one would willingly become a breeding tool for goblins.
Sandra's resistance was entirely within Li Meng's expectations.
He suspected that even the Ring of Lust couldn't erase the hatred Sandra harbored in her heart.
A Charm stat of 100 only improved the first impression of females.
It didn't have the ability to hypnotize.
The seeds of hatred had already been deeply planted, and a high Charm stat might even have the opposite effect, making Sandra hate him even more.
But such things didn't matter to him.
Lowering his gaze to Bai Ling, who lay in his arms, Li Meng chuckled.
Although swamp lizardmen didn't align with his aesthetics, they were the most perfect breeding tools.
Li Meng was thankful that a group of swamp lizardmen lived in the Goblin Forest.
Otherwise, he'd have had to resort to dealing with monsters and animals.
Though that wouldn't be a big deal for goblins—after all, goblins had little preference for the appearance of females. As long as it was female and capable of reproduction, it was enough.
But as someone who had once been human, Li Meng couldn't accept that.
Swamp lizardmen were already his limit.
Time passed, and the night deepened.
The next morning, Li Meng left the Throne Tribe and entered the Iron Cavern.
Five days later, in the afternoon.
Outside the northern wall of the Throne Tribe...
"Humans! It's a human!"
The sun was shining brightly in the afternoon sky.
From the forest outside the northern wall emerged a graceful figure dressed in a water-blue mage's robe.
Her appearance immediately caught the attention of the various laborers and goblins.
"This is..."
Standing at the edge of the forest, Sandra looked at the Throne Tribe before her in shock.
The Throne Tribe had changed significantly since she had left.
The most striking change was the neatly arranged floating ships under construction outside the wooden wall.
Sandra was stunned by the scale of shipbuilding outside the wooden wall.
"Floating ships?"
Something in the sky caught Sandra's attention.
Her pupils shrank as she looked.
A floating ship was rising into the air, heading southward from the southern part of the Throne Tribe.
The design of that floating ship was identical to the ones under construction.
The massive ship, over 100 meters long, looked like a giant beast.
Goblins were capable of building floating ships?
Standing dumbfounded at the edge of the forest, Sandra was filled with disbelief.
No, something was off. It wasn't just goblins constructing the ships.
To a professional, a few hundred meters wasn't far.
The laborers building the ships weren't just goblins. There were also gnolls, pigmen, beastmen, and ogres.
"It's the queen! The queen!"
"The queen? Why haven't I seen her before?"
"Idiot! The last time the queen came here, you were still in the boss's balls!"
A group of goblins rushed over to Sandra.
Some goblins recognized her identity.
After all, Sandra had visited before, and many goblins remembered her.
Facing the goblins' greedy gazes, Sandra took a deep breath.
She didn't understand what the goblins around her were saying, but she knew where she needed to go.
Sandra stepped forward, heading for the northern gate.
Wherever she went, the goblins stepped aside.
Behind her, a large crowd of goblins gathered to watch the commotion.
As she entered the Throne Tribe, Sandra grew more and more alarmed.
Although the wooden wall was still the same, the streets inside had been paved with stone slabs.
Many wooden buildings had been replaced with two-story stone houses.
The streets were no longer filled with just goblins but also swamp lizardmen.
Compared to her last visit, the foul odor of the Throne Tribe was almost gone.
If one listened carefully, the faint sound of underground water flows could occasionally be heard.
This indicated that the Throne Tribe had an advanced sewer system.
"How can goblins achieve this?"
Everything she saw left Sandra bewildered.
The changes in the Throne Tribe made it difficult for her to associate such progress with goblins.
What baffled her even more was that goblins had the ability to construct floating ships.
Floating ships were supposed to be something only the Alchemist Guild could build.
How could mere goblins possibly possess such skills?
After all, goblins had no knowledge of magic or runes.
No, goblins didn't—except for one exception.
Sandra hadn't forgotten the powerful water magic it had unleashed during the last war with the demons.
"Your Majesty, she's here!"
In the Throne Hall, Margarita turned to look at the king seated on the throne.
"Margarita, you must be wondering why I summoned her at this time, right?"
Margarita nodded slightly.
The king was right; she was indeed curious.
After all, Sandra was human.
Her arrival would inevitably expose the king's military strength, prompting humanity to prepare more thoroughly.
"The reason is simple. This time, the goal is to lay all the cards on the table with her."
"Your Majesty, why? Doing so will only allow humanity to be better prepared."
Confusion flashed in Margarita's eyes.
She couldn't understand why the king would do such a thing.
Li Meng smiled and leaned back against the wide throne.
"She's just one woman with very limited influence. Even if she sees everything, she won't say a word, because she can't explain how she came to know these things. At most, she'll use her influence to strengthen the allied forces' military preparations."
"Territorial expansion is a lengthy process. To shorten this process, one must destroy a large portion of the enemy's viable forces in war, leaving them incapable of forming another army. Only then will subsequent conquests face no resistance."
Li Meng wasn't afraid of the Irisis Principality's border lords uniting.
He hoped the border lords would take the war seriously.
If he could deal a heavy blow to the allied forces' viable troops during the war, the goblin army's subsequent offensives would be unstoppable.