Decision

Larry handed the last goblin ear to Lin Mo. His neighbor seemed to have no objections, while the youth named Raine remained silent.

He hugged his knees, staring blankly at the goblin corpses, his hand tightly clutching the bloody ear.

Lin Mo did not stand on ceremony. He accepted the ear and stuffed it into his pocket.

He did not have a single coin to his name, nor did he even have a place to stay. This was precisely when he needed money the most.

There was no need to deal with the goblin corpses. Beasts or other monsters would naturally take care of them, Barnes included.

This young man, who had said not long ago that he would wait for the goblins to smash Lin Mo's head in and strip him of his clothes, had now gotten his own head smashed in.

Of course, to be precise, it had not exactly been smashed in. There was merely a hole in his temple, and there was even an extremely slim chance that he was still alive, only seriously injured and unconscious.

But even so, in this dangerous forest, clearly no one would be willing to carry such dead weight. Naturally, no one had the spare concern to check whether he was still breathing.

Larry plucked a wildflower from the nearby grass and placed it on Barnes's chest. He murmured, "May the Holy Light bless your soul with rest, my friend."

Lin Mo watched this brief, hasty little ceremony with interest, gleaning more information about this world from it.

From Larry's earlier words, this world apparently had faith.

For the time being, he could not determine whether there were gods corresponding to that faith, but judging from Larry's clearly practiced movements and words, there was most likely a church that had established these rites.

Of course, after the prayer, they still had to search Barnes for valuables. The kid was indeed as poor as he looked. After searching him from head to toe, they found only a dozen or so copper coins. As for his clothes, already covered in patches and now stained with blood, they could stay on him as a shroud.

Larry casually slipped the dozen or so copper coins into his pocket. His family had been fairly well-off, but that had been in the past. Recently, he could not find work at all, and their farmland had been ravaged by those damned goblins several times. Life was getting harder and harder.

Lin Mo did not expose him. Instead, he walked over to the crouching youth and patted his shoulder.

"Brother, you were really brave just now. You charged in right away."

The youth looked up at him, then shook his head and rested his chin on his knees again. He looked deeply dejected.

This was not how someone should look after winning a fight and obtaining loot worth a hundred copper coins. Combined with the ferocity and frenzy he had displayed against the goblins earlier, Lin Mo vaguely guessed what was going on.

He patted his shoulder again, took the half piece of black bread from his pocket, and handed it to the youth named Raine.

"Here. Life has to move forward."

Raine froze for a long while before hesitantly taking the bread from him and stuffing the whole thing into his mouth...

Lin Mo noticed that his eyes were slightly red, and there was a faint choking sound mixed into his chewing.

"What do we do next?"

The uncle named Leo spoke up. "Do we go back now, or keep going?"

Larry touched the goblin ear in his pocket. "With these ears as loot, we probably won't be driven out if we return to town now. But do you really want to go back already?"

He slowly raised one finger. "One goblin is worth a hundred copper coins. Even back in the good old days, we would have had to slave away for those wealthy lords for half a month to earn that much... In my opinion, since we're already here, we might as well earn more in one go—enough to get through this rough patch."

"Yeah! Weren't we drafted by those guards because we were looking everywhere for work in the streets? If we go back now, these hundred copper coins won't last long. Then we'll have to find ways to make money again, and maybe we'll get dragged back here. I don't want to come to this damned place a second time. We might as well earn enough this time. After that, I'll hide at home and refuse to go out. Those guards can't exactly break into people's homes to grab them, can they?"

Leo chimed in as well. The two of them looked over together, seemingly seeking Lin Mo and Raine's opinions.

"Keep going!"

Raine's answer was simple and decisive, without the slightest hesitation.

Lin Mo frowned. To be honest, he did not want to keep taking risks.

Although he had gained two points of agility and evolved a new skill, he would not let that go to his head. He still knew far too little about this world, especially Lorraine Forest. Compared to Larry's gambler-like decision, he preferred to quit while he was ahead, return to gather relevant information, and make preparations before venturing in again.

But now that the other three had all made their positions clear, even if he objected, it would probably be hard to put on the brakes.

Disagreeing or even splitting up at a time like this was not a good idea. He did not want to wander through this dangerous forest alone.

Fine, then they would continue. Even if things went wrong later, after gaining two points of agility, he was the fastest runner among everyone present. He could completely find an opportunity to make a run for it.

On the other hand, if everything went smoothly, he could earn more money.

Lin Mo still did not know how much two hundred copper coins could buy, but with his entire fortune amounting to only two hundred copper coins, he probably would not be living comfortably.

"Funny, I was thinking the same thing."

Thus, he gave an affirmative answer.

"Then let's tidy up and keep moving!"

Larry made the decision. He rose to his feet, chose a direction, and used the small knife he carried to make a simple mark on a nearby tree.

Along the way, Lin Mo took the initiative to talk with Larry and learned more about goblins.

Just as they were depicted in most works he remembered, goblins were individually weak—one could even say feeble. What made them most troublesome was their astonishing reproductive ability.

If left entirely unchecked, a pair of goblins could reproduce into a small tribe of more than a dozen goblins within a year. Their growth rate was also astonishing, as they needed less than a year to reach maturity.

Therefore, every lord of a town near a forest needed to artificially control the goblin population around their territory, clearing them out regularly to prevent these damned monsters from becoming a disaster.

And Roland Town's lord had clearly not done a good enough job in that regard, which had led to the current situation.

Furthermore, Lin Mo learned an even more shocking piece of news from Larry.

Pure-blooded goblins were usually very weak, but their powerful reproductive genes meant they were not limited to reproducing only among their own kind. Any powerful foreign race—humans, orcs, half-beastmen, Elves, and so on—could produce offspring with goblins.

Goblins born from such mixed bloodlines often inherited, or even mutated, stronger talents. This was also the most important reason goblins were so obsessed with abducting human girls.

What would a Mutated Goblin born from mixed blood look like?

Lin Mo could not help feeling curious.