Before long, Alex spotted Arthur soaring through the sky towards the castle, clutching a green creature in his front claws.
"Wow, Arthur's even nabbing live ones now. Having a smart undead really makes a difference."
Soon, Arthur returned to the castle and landed in front of Alex, casually tossing the Goblin mage to the side.
The Goblin immediately prostrated himself, trembling all over.
"Respected human powerhouse, please don't kill me, I'll tell you anything!" the Goblin pleaded.
"Your Majesty, this is a suspicious intelligent creature from near the castle. I deliberately kept one alive for questioning," Arthur said respectfully.
Alex was quite intrigued as she examined the creature, which was about 4.5 feet tall with green skin and two pointy ears. Not too shabby recognizing authority, huh?
This Goblin was clearly terrified, unaccustomed to such a spectacle, and even the castle's protective barrier seemed to pose a great threat to him. Alex asked questions, and the Goblin answered promptly.
The Goblin's name was quite a mouthful, so Alex decided to call him "Greenbean" for now.
Outside of Hamburger, beyond the southern marshes, there was a hidden cave where Greenbean and his Goblin tribe lived. The tribe consisted of over a thousand Goblins, forming a small community. Since they were not far from the Snowy Mountains and Goblins are naturally timid, they mostly ventured out at night.
Alex wondered if there might be hobgoblins around, and whether finding them could mean striking it rich. However, Greenbean's subsequent revelations dashed her hopes.
Unlike Goblins, hobgoblins in Eldoria were organized under the rule of a Hobgoblins King, making it highly unlikely to encounter them outside the Hobgoblins Kingdom.
"A whole kingdom, huh? That's gotta be huge."
According to Greenbean, the strongest in their tribe was their chieftain—a Commanding level—and they also had several level 9 Goblin Warriors and Goblin Mages.
"That strong? Then how mighty must the frost dragon up on Snowy Mountain be?"
It turned out she was just a small fry in a big pond...
On Snowy Mountain, there were two factions. Saying two factions might be a bit misleading, as the frost dragon alone was a force to be reckoned with, capable of holding its own against the other faction.
The other faction was the Moon Wolf Clan, which Alex had previously encountered. The clan boasted over three thousand members, with seven or eight at the Commanding level, and their leader's strength was unfathomably deep. However, they definitely weren't at the Monarch level, otherwise the Goblin tribe would have been history long ago.
Only the Moon Silver Wolves at level 7 could transform into werewolves. The werewolves of the Moon Silver Wolf lineage weren't numerous, most being the non-sentient Moon Silver Wolves.
On nights of the full moon, the Moon Silver Wolf clan's strength greatly increased. Bathed in moonlight, some of the ordinary Moon Silver Wolves could also transform into werewolves.
Alex was taken aback. "Seriously?"
Great, wolves hold grudges like nobody's business. Now she'd really stirred up a hornet's nest!
Alex fell silent, and seeing the beautiful girl's silence, Greenbean wisely shut his mouth.
Suddenly, Alex had a thought and asked Greenbean, "Have you guys come across any other castles like mine?"
Greenbean's face paled, and sensing something was off, Alex pressed her foot down on Greenbean's head. "Spill it!"
"I'll talk, I'll talk, mercy, Your Majesty! There was indeed a castle like yours near our tribe, but it's gone now," Greenbean hurriedly pleaded.
"Gone? Explain!" Alex pressed harder with her foot.
"Not long after that castle appeared, some unfamiliar members of our tribe came out from it and started hunting. Through our interactions, we learned that these tribe members were enslaved by the castle's owner. To rescue them, we had these tribe members lure the humans out of the castle and then... they were killed."
Greenbean's voice trembled, his heart seemingly about to leap out of his chest. In his eyes, Alex must be in league with that person, he having killed her comrades.
What?
Alex was dumbfounded.
Someone had that kind of bad luck? Summoning Goblin troops right at the Goblin's doorstep and then getting tricked and killed by their own troops?
That's just tragically ironic.
"Rest in peace, buddy. I'll avenge you!"
But Alex couldn't help but throw some shade, "Seriously, dude? Venturing out of the castle on day one? Kinda had it coming, didn't you?"
In her mind, Alex wasn't driven by any desire for resources; she simply decided to avenge this fellow countryman she had never met. Luckily, her undead troops were the only troops she had.
Alex breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed like that sort of mess wouldn't happen to her.
However, the system had mentioned that if a Lord died, the castle would disappear, or if the castle's crystal exploded, it was game over for the Lord too. Curious, Alex asked Greenbean, "After that human died, did the castle still exist?"
"The castle just vanished, as if it had never been there. But we found five hundred magic crystals and five Essence Shards at the site of the old castle," Greenbean replied, sensing that Alex wasn't going to harm him and relaxing a bit.
What?! Was that the loot drop from killing a Lord?
That's way too much. If other Lords got wind of this, it would be chaos.
Once the newbie protection period was over, the lords of Eldoria might just ignore everything else and start a free-for-all.
Alex mentally noted this information.
So, this Goblin tribe had at least five hundred magic crystals and five Essence Shards?
This only strengthened Alex's resolve to avenge her human compatriot!
Alex soon learned why this group of Goblins dared to roam about during the day—they had set their sights on her castle! But before the squad even reached Alex's fortress, they were spotted by Arthur flying high in the sky and were wiped out by him.
"Thanks a bunch for filling me in. I'd be clueless otherwise. The outside world is a scary place, huh?" Alex said with a cheeky grin.
"Respected human powerhouse, I've told you everything I know, please spare my life," Greenbean pleaded, kneeling on the ground.
"Sure thing!" Alex responded.
Greenbean immediately looked up at Alex, grateful. But then Alex turned to Arthur and said, "Arthur, send him to meet his great-grandma!"
Arthur didn't quite catch Alex's drift, but he saw a flicker of murderous intent in her eyes. Before Greenbean could feel relieved, Arthur's dragon breath turned him into an ice sculpture.
"Man, oh man!" That was probably the last thought running through Greenbean's mind.
But hey, this was a level 5 Skeleton Warrior—Alex wasn't about to let that go to waste. Looks like Greenbean was going to stick around as a permanent member of her crew.
"Now I've got three level 5 Skeleton Warriors, hehe."
[Your troops have successfully killed a level 5 Goblin mage, gaining thirty experience points.]
[Detecting Goblin mage corpse, would you like to Disassemble immediately?]
"Disassemble!"
[Successfully disassembled Goblin mage corpse, obtained one common-grade leather armor, one common-grade weapon.]
[Note: Weapon grades include common, Commanding gear, King's gear, Sacred gear, Emperor's gear, and Divine gear.]
"Didn't Goblin have any meat on him?"
"Ew, no meat is probably for the best. Just the thought is gross."
"Arthur, go fetch the other Goblin corpses and then continue leveling up!"
Goblins didn't drop food, but they did drop equipment. While the gear was of no use to Alex, she spotted yet another business opportunity.