Chapter 10: The Goblin Thief's Identity, the Clan Elder, Mushroom Picking...
Sunlight streamed into the courtyard, and wisps of smoke rose from the chimneys. Another busy day began for the Hagrid family.
Linda rolled the fermented dough into long strips and scored them with lines. Then she brushed them with a light layer of oil, arranged them neatly, and put them into the oven.
Reese's wife, Farah, picked a basin full of greens from the vegetable garden, washed them clean, and made a delicious vegetable soup.
After washing up, the family gathered around the dining table to enjoy breakfast.
Lamb, sporting dark circles under his eyes, mechanically chewed the bread in his mouth.
Although the food tasted good, he had no appetite at all.
Everyone was puzzled by Lamb's low spirits.
"Uncle, did you go steal vegetables last night?"
Luna asked curiously.
"That was so long ago," Lamb replied listlessly. "Little Luna, have you finished your homework?"
Luna playfully stuck out her tongue.
When Lamb was a child, he was mischievous and often went to the vegetable garden to steal and eat the newly sprouted radishes. Linda often teased him about this, and Luna remembered it.
After breakfast, Lamb stopped Hagrid and his two brothers and told them about what he had seen the night before.
"Can it stand up?"
"Reese asked."
"Yes."
"It has no tail and no fur?"
Brian asked curiously, thinking his brother must have seen wrong.
"No, no, there are a few on his arms and legs."
How tall is he when he stands up?
Hagrid asked.
"He's much shorter than me, about the same height as Danny."
Danny is Brian's son, and he is thirteen years old.
"Are you sure he has a human face?"
Hagrid asked again.
"Yes, I'm sure."
Hagrid was lost in his memories.
"Dad, do you know what that is?"
Lamb looked at him expectantly.
"If I'm not mistaken, it should be a goblin."
"Goblin?"
"Goblin?"
"Goblin?"
The reason the three brothers were so shocked by this was because of the Holy War.
Centuries ago, the Holy War ended, and the Papacy rose to power.
They viewed demons as symbols of evil, and goblins as their lackeys.
They sent knights to drive out all the goblins and offered a bounty: two gold coins for capturing a demon and delivering it to the church; and five silver coins for capturing a goblin and delivering it to the church.
From then on, people who had suffered from war and poverty regarded goblins as a small fortune (capturing demons was something ordinary people wouldn't even dare to dream of), and goblins became very difficult to find in human city-states.
It must be mentioned that the Church's deep aversion to goblins is inextricably linked to their disastrous performance in the Holy War. Goblins often took advantage of the chaos of war to steal the offspring of various races, either selling them to forest witches or eating them outright.
"Well, no matter what, this matter must be reported to the clan elders."
Hagrid made up his mind and took his three sons to the clan elder's house.
It was still early, but some people had arrived even earlier than them. A dozen or so villagers were sitting in the elder's living room.
Some were shouting loudly, some were putting on a pitiful act with a bitter face, and some were even rolling around on the ground.
"All the red-billed ravens in my village have been stolen. The village has been unable to catch the culprit, so they must compensate me. Otherwise, I'm lying here and refusing to leave today!"
Maggie rolled around and wailed. If she hadn't been all talk and no action, people would have thought someone had done something to her.
"Exactly! We need an explanation."
This is the guy making all the noise, the rogue Buz; his family only lost two dogs. But seeing the village's notorious shrew Maggie causing trouble, he joined in the fun.
Kari watched this farce with a livid face. The villagers were all related by blood, and it was really difficult to deal with these troublemaking acquaintances.
Hunting and fighting are his strengths, but dealing with the mundane affairs of the village only gives him a headache.
What are you all doing?
As soon as Hagrid spoke, the noise in the room immediately subsided. Maggie, who was lying on the floor, also sat up and smoothed her messy hair.
Hagrid was of high seniority, with three tall and strong sons following behind him, plus a sorceress daughter. Few in the village dared to mess with his family.
Kari seemed to have seen a savior and eagerly welcomed the four of them inside.
"Kari, where is your father?"
"I'm not feeling well, so I'm resting upstairs."
Hagrid immediately understood; the elder was using this as an excuse to throw Kari out for training.
"I need to discuss something with him."
"Why."
Kari led the father and his three sons upstairs.
The crowd looked left and right, unsure whether to stay or leave.
Maggie simply sat on the ground again, pounding her legs and pretending to cry, howling and cursing at the same time.
"Auntie, everyone's gone, why are you still wailing?"
Buz, always eager for drama, glared at Maggie and began directing his fire at him.
Not to be outdone, Buz dredged up old grievances between the two families and started hurling insults at each other. The others stopped chatting, either watching the spectacle or trying to mediate between the two.
"Alright!"
Elder Barnett's loud shout stopped the farce.
"How old are you? Still acting like this! Aren't you afraid of being laughed at by young people?"
There was indeed a young man present who had come to Barnett to report the losses; he scratched his head awkwardly.
"Elder, if it weren't for him..."
Maggie relentlessly complained to Barnett.
"Shut up."
Maggie kept her mouth shut.
"I know about what's going on in the village. I'll give you an answer in three days on how this matter will be handled. Now you can all leave."
Barnett was extremely respected in the village. This was not only due to his family's accumulated influence over generations, but also to his absolute authority. Since he came to govern the small mountain village, no one had ever starved to death.
Everyone dispersed after hearing his promise, except for Maggie and Booz, who stared at each other, neither willing to back down.
Everyone had left, and the living room finally became quiet.
Hagrid and Barnett began to talk about what had happened recently.
It turns out that not only George's house was robbed last night, but the red rockbirds of four other households also suffered the same fate.
In just a few days, more than forty red rockbirds have gone missing from the village! The villagers were not well-off to begin with, and each family was counting on the bird eggs to provide some nutrition for their children or to sell for some silver coins.
Well, that's just great! A pack of wild beasts came and wreaked havoc on everyone's homes!
Hagrid shared his guesses and then had Lamb recount what had happened the previous night.
Upon hearing this, Barnett's expression turned serious.
Goblins are creatures that are extremely cunning.
"Although Lamb's method is not perfect, it is still better than a large-scale search of the mountains."
Barnett continued,
"Kari, go and call those guys from the Self-Defense Forces. This shouldn't be talked about in the village."
"OK."
Kari called her two sons, and the three of them rushed out to the village to look for the person.
A dozen minutes later, everyone had arrived.
Some members of the Self-Defense Forces had lost their own or their relatives' Red Wild Birds, and after hearing the cause and details of the incident, they all became indignant.
Barnett instructed them to set a trap at their home; since they didn't have many red rockbirds, they borrowed some from relatives. After agreeing on the details, they went their separate ways.
Everything is ready; all that remains is night.
After the clouds dispersed, the temperature finally began to rise. It was a sunny morning all day.
Early in the morning, Lai and Neil changed into their old shoes, carried baskets on their backs, and went to the woods to pick mushrooms.
After the rain, there must be plenty of mushrooms in the forest. They need to hurry, or others will pick them all first.
They arrived a little late; people were already picking them in the woods.
“Neil!”
A little girl with braided pigtails waved to them.
"Helen!"
Neil greeted her cheerfully as well.
The little girl skipped and hopped over to them.
“Neil, you’re late today. The mushrooms on the outer perimeter have been picked clean. I’ve been searching for a long time and only managed to pick this little bit.”
Helen held up a small half-basket of fresh mushrooms to show them.
"Huh? What should we do then?"
Neil was somewhat annoyed.
The weather was fantastic this morning, so he specifically asked Lai to come with him so they could pick more mushrooms. He should have come even earlier.
Ray watched the two children chatting with sighs, his tone full of regret.
"How about I take you a little further in?"
Lei proposed it.
"good!"
"Thank you, Brother Lei!"
Neil and Helen immediately became happy.
Ray led the two children deep into the forest, where they indeed found many more.
Oyster mushrooms, straw mushrooms, chicken leg mushrooms...
They also found a deep red mushroom called the Elton mushroom, a local specialty. It tastes extremely delicious, but it's very rare and hard to find.
Where Neil and Helen found it, there were some smaller ones, indicating a small underground colony of Elton mushrooms. The two marked the spot on the tree and divided the harvested Elton mushrooms equally.
Ray also had some other finds; he discovered wood ear mushrooms on a fallen, rotten piece of wood.
They were very well-grown, dark brown in color, and full of gelatinous substance. Lai used to especially enjoy eating wood ear mushrooms in hot pot. He picked the mushrooms one by one and put them in his basket.
Seeing that they had picked enough, Lai led them back to the village, and both children had a bountiful harvest.
Back home, Lai and Neil took off their muddy shoes outside before going inside. After washing their feet, they spread a cloth on the dining table and poured the mushrooms from the basket onto it.
"Brother, you can't eat this, it's poisonous."
Neil picked out the wood ear mushrooms that Lai had picked.
"It's edible."
"Really?"
Neil picked up a small piece and pretended to throw it into his mouth, but was quickly stopped by Ray.
"It can't be eaten raw, it will cause rashes. It has to be cooked."
"ah."
Neil's ears turned red.
My brother knows so much.
Lei left a bowl of mushrooms to make mushroom soup later.
Smaller mushrooms weren't processed directly, while larger ones were torn into pieces. The wood ear mushrooms were simply separated. With the sun shining brightly, they were laid out to dry on wooden planks in the yard.
Ray soaked their shoes in water, then washed some wild strawberries Neil had picked. The two sat on the steps, eating and chatting. Neil mostly asked what had happened the night before.
In the afternoon, after catching up on his sleep, Lamb went to Ray's house again and excitedly told him about Hagrid's speculation and the elder's plan.
"Isn't it better if as few people as possible know about this?"
"You're not an outsider."
Lamb said matter-of-factly, and Ray chuckled.
"What's this?"
Lamb pointed to the Go board on the table.
Gomoku (Five in a Row)
"Gomoku?"
"Um."
Ray thought Neil was too boring, so he made this for him to play with.
"Brother, can you teach me?"
Lamb blinked like Luna, making him feel a chill.
Lei really wanted to ask him how old he was.
Ray gave him a brief explanation of the rules, but Lamb kept him playing for more than half an hour.
The more you play, the more you lose; the more you lose, the more you play—a typical case of someone who's bad at the game but has a huge addiction.
Lei was a little tired, so he sent him upstairs to play with Neil.
It didn't rain in the afternoon; the sky was cloudless and clear.
The rainy season seems to be over.
To Ray's surprise, Rhys also came to find him.
"How was your rest?"
"Reese asked."
"fine."
Ray couldn't quite figure out what he was thinking.
"Hahaha! You lost!"
Lamb's exaggerated laughter came from upstairs.
"I knew that kid would be here. Did he tell you everything?"
"Um."
Lei nodded.
"Want to come with me tonight?"
Lei hesitated.
"What's wrong?"
"Lamb and I were exposed yesterday, so it might not come tonight."
Lei told the truth.
“Other families were also victimized yesterday, so there must be more than just this one goblin. If word gets out, it could cause panic in the village. So we have no choice but to give it a try; what if we manage to catch it?”
Reese gave a wry smile.
"At least you have some experience, which is better than knowing nothing."
After thinking for a moment, Lei agreed.
As night falls, a clandestine manhunt is about to unfold.
A note from the author:
----------------------
Goblins—the most despicable race in the world.
A known intelligent species. They stand 1.3 meters tall, with a hunched posture, large, claw-like hands and feet, four toes, and no tail. Their skin is dark, with some groups being dark green.
They can crawl, but can also walk upright.
Xueju is strong and good at digging holes.
He has an eccentric personality, is good at flattery, and has no moral bottom line.
Omnivorous, it can eat rotten food.
Wherever it goes, not a single root or blade of grass remains.
Editor's Note: If you encounter it, either chase it away or stay far away; it's bad luck!
—Excerpt from "Vagura on Anecdotes of Race"
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No updates tomorrow, I'll be resting for every ten chapters I update and then take a day off (mainly to make up for the lack of drafts).
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