On the fifth day after Yor gave birth to the Goblins, the five newborn Goblins had fully matured, integrating into the group as typical adult Goblins. These Goblins would have a natural lifespan of about fifteen years, with combat power and intelligence roughly equivalent to that of human children around ten years old.
Currently, he tallied the total number of Goblins: eighty-three originally brought, plus the five newborns, making a total of eighty-eight Goblins. Niu Zida estimated their combat strength. Without his two maidservants fighting, these eighty-odd Goblins could probably ambush a bandit squad of five or fewer in a frontal engagement. If it were a frontal battle where they were known in advance, it's estimated they couldn't even take down a prepared bandit squad of five.
"For now, it seems it's not the time to go looking for trouble with those bandits."
With a wry smile, Niu Zida looked at the not-so-bright Goblins and felt that, given the current situation, there was a tiny bit of a gap between his ideal of establishing an army of at least hundreds of thousands of Goblins and a force composed of thousands of various types of Goblins.
The food in this area, at least until spring arrives, would not support his large-scale breeding and population expansion. Otherwise, producing too many Goblins would lead to them starving themselves to death before even thinking about expansion. Niu Zida hadn't expected that the first major task for him as a Goblin Lord would be to solve the food problem.
Damn it, what about those plots in other novels where the protagonist strategizes, maneuvers, and, with their super strength, participates in political struggles to become a crucial force courted by all parties in the kingdom, then has various beautiful noblewomen and charming young ladies throw themselves at him? Why, when it's his turn, is he only left with daily whistling and ordering a bunch of idiot Goblins?
If it weren't for the two beautiful maidservants (one of whom never said anything nice to him) by his side, Niu Zida would genuinely consider jumping off a high place and restarting with a new character, given his current miserable state.
However, complaints aside, real problems still needed to be solved. First and foremost was the food issue. For now, he could only rely on Goblin hunting, gathering, and a food rationing system to control food consumption. Fortunately, due to his absolute power and the existence of the Goblin bone whistle, as long as it didn't reach the point of starvation, controlling these Goblins with less food was still possible.
Yor now had no issues with activity at all. It seemed that three or four days of recovery after giving birth to the Goblins was perfectly fine. Although Yor herself felt she could have been active even earlier, fully recovering in two days.
The Goblins had now broken their original three-group structure and were organized by Niu Zida into four teams: a hunting team, a construction team, a gathering team, and a guard team, to distribute tasks. If the work team finished its tasks, it would be temporarily assigned to the hunting and gathering teams to find food, while external reconnaissance was given to the guard team. Niu Zida specifically used the Goblin bone whistle to appoint leaders for each of the four teams.
All five Goblins born to Yor were assigned to the guard team and were directly responsible for the security of his main residence. Although he had the Goblin bone whistle to control the Goblins, and Yor and Misato Shizuku possessed combat strength superior to the Goblins, Niu Zida was still very cautious and could not easily trust these Goblins collected from outside.
On this day, Niu Zida took Yor and Misato Shizuku to survey the surrounding area from a distance. The matter of gathering Goblins had delayed them for about ten days. Niu Zida had been very concerned about Aponia's village, which the bandits had mentioned. They said it was twenty kilometers from here, and the bandits' lair was about ten kilometers to the north. Looking at it this way, his location should be in the middle of the two places. No wonder those bandits said they would pass through here when they went to scout the village. But then another problem arose: why hadn't those bandits passed through here again afterward? Perhaps the gully to the north made the path here difficult?
Precisely because he couldn't understand this, Niu Zida became increasingly uneasy and decided to take his two maidservants to investigate. Before leaving, he told the Goblins that if they encountered an attack from the bandit group while he was away, they should protect the old woman and retreat to the previous cave, and not casually engage in conflict with the bandit group.
Aponia's village was south of his stronghold. The path there wasn't difficult. Passing through the dense forest, Yor, carrying Niu Zida, and Misato Shizuku walked for about five hours. Around noon, they could already see signs of cultivated farmland, indicating that humans indeed lived nearby. But even in winter, not a single villager could be seen near the farmland, which was clearly abnormal.
However, as they walked further, they distinctly felt something was wrong. Some of the farmlands were cultivated, others fallow, and there were even traces of burning, clearly indicating that a battle had taken place here. Further ahead, they could see the roof of a church, which must have been the church building where Aponia was located, right?
Niu Zida did not rush into the village. He had his two maidservants take him to a higher hill nearby, from where he could overlook all the houses in the village. It was there that he realized this was a small village of about a few dozen houses, scattered around the church. A long fence encircled the entire village, indicating that the church was the center of the village.
However, on the outskirts of the village, Niu Zida now understood why no one was visible outside the village. A large group of about two to three hundred bandits were currently outside the fence, attempting to breach it, while the villagers inside the fence stood behind it as a barrier to prevent the bandits from entering. The bandits used bows and arrows for long-range attacks on the villagers, who used iron pots, wooden planks, and similar items for protection. Even if someone was injured, someone else quickly took their place. Although their combat ability was clearly inferior to the bandits, their will was firm, and they were clearly organized and orderly.
"No wonder these bandits haven't come this way; they've all been concentrating on attacking the village."
"Master, what should we do? Should we help these villagers?"
"Don't rush. It looks like these villagers can hold out at least until night. There are many bandits, and if we rashly go to help during the day, we'll also be in danger. Let's wait until night."
Hearing Niu Zida's arrangements, Yor and Misato Shizuku both agreed. Thus, the three of them remained hidden on the high ground, watching the villagers bravely resist until nightfall. Although a few people were injured, they managed to withstand the bandits' assault and defend the fence.
"These villagers seem well-organized."
"However, their stamina has reached its limit. It looks like their fall is only a matter of time."
Misato Shizuku coldly pointed out the crux of the problem, and Niu Zida agreed, saying:
"That's why tonight is our chance to strike..."
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