Chapter 29: Wood Gathering

Anyway, the goblins had accepted the quest and were now ready to head out.

But before they could leave, there was one small problem.

They couldn’t exactly chop down trees with their bare hands, could they?

Fortunately, I had already prepared for this.

I summoned the two stone axes I had purchased from the System earlier and dropped them onto the floor in front of the goblins. Both axes came equipped with the [Lumberjack] skill, making them perfect for the job.

Yeah...

Either I got really lucky... or the System actually has a higher chance of rolling relevant skills on equipment rather than completely useless ones.

That was definitely something worth investigating later.

For now, though, it was nice to have some tools ready.

The moment the two goblins saw the axes, they immediately snatched them up.

They held the weapons aloft as if I had just bestowed upon them a pair of priceless treasures, their eyes sparkling with excitement.

Gopuro even gave his new axe a few experimental swings, clearly eager to put it to use.

Whoosh!

Whoosh!

He swung the axe through the air, testing its weight and handling.

Gopuran did the same, giving her own axe a few practice swings.

Then they looked at each other and nodded confidently.

Both of them seemed incredibly excited about their first task as my citizens.

Haha! Go, my minions!

Go forth and make me some wood!

****

A few moments later, the siblings arrived at the edge of the forest.

Towering trees, some more than ten meters tall, stretched before them, their trunks surrounded by dense bushes and undergrowth.

At first, I thought I would be able to expand my vision by following what my citizens could see, just like in those RTS games where your units roam around and gradually dispel the fog of war.

But nope.

Even when the goblins stood right at the edge of my vision range, I still couldn’t see beyond my own limits.

Well, that would have been too convenient.

Still, watching the two of them chop down trees was surprisingly fun.

They had each chosen different trees and were swinging their axes with all their might, almost as if they had turned the whole thing into a competition.

Since Gopuran had picked a smaller tree, though, I found myself wondering who would finish first.

Gopuro had a higher Attack stat, so his swings were obviously more powerful. Each strike bit into the oak with a heavy THUNK!, sending vibrations up through his arms. His muscles tensed beneath his green skin as he put his newfound strength to work.

But Gopuran wasn’t exactly slacking off either.

In fact...

A hot, muscular goblin girl waifu doing lumber work?

Hell fucking yes!

Her chests bounced with every swing. Her hips swayed, her butts jiggled, and sweat glistened across her body under the sunlight. Fallen leaves clung to her ponytail, somehow making the whole scene even better.

It was absolute peak fan service!

And that was maybe why time seemed to pass much faster than it should have.

The trees were fairly large, so it took a while to bring them down. On top of that, the goblins still had to chop the fallen trees into manageable logs before they could carry everything back to the castle.

And speaking of carrying...

Something interesting happened.

I had been wondering how the hell these two were planning to haul all that wood back to me, only for them to come up with their own solution.

First, they found two long poles among the fallen branches of the trees they had just cut down.

Then, after spending another twenty minutes rummaging through the surrounding woods, they managed to weave together a simple harness out of sturdy vines.

Using the poles and vines, they fashioned a crude drag sled and loaded the freshly cut logs onto it. After securing everything with a few more lengths of vine, they were able to drag the entire load back toward the castle.

Damn... how are these guys actually smarter than me now?!

I felt a little ashamed.

I had somehow lived for thirty years without knowing how to make something as simple as a wooden sled.

Still, I couldn’t help feeling confused.

How did these two even know how to make one?

There was no way they had invented it completely on the spot. They had clearly done something similar before.

Did they learn it from other goblins?

Then I suddenly remembered something.

Back when the goblins had attacked my castle, they had brought ladders with them.

So maybe primitive technology like this wasn’t all that unusual for them after all.

Well, that’s definitely good news.

If my citizens already possessed some basic knowledge of tools and construction, that meant I wouldn’t have to teach them everything from scratch.

And since I could store any item in my Inventory as long as it entered my territory, I immediately snatched up the wood the moment the goblins passed through the gate and dropped their loads.

[Ding! 1 Wood Obtained]

[Ding! 1 Wood Obtained]

Each unit of Wood weighed 10 kilograms.

The two trees yielded roughly 100 Units each, more or less. That meant a single tree was already enough for them to complete the quest.

But even so...

It took them around three hours each to finish.

Yeah, I definitely need to find a way to improve their efficiency later.

Perhaps better tools would help.

Right now, stone axes were definitely not the ideal thing to be used to chop wood.

Or maybe I could eventually find some kind of equipment that would increase their strength or speed.

There were plenty of possibilities.

For now, though, I would have to make do with what I had.

Gopuro completed the quest first.

[Ding!]

[Gopuro has completed your "Wood Gathering Quest" quest!

He plopped down onto the ground for a moment, breathing heavily as he wiped the sweat from his brow.

Despite his exhaustion, however, a huge smile stretched across his face.

Less than two seconds later, he was already back on his feet.

Wait... is he seriously ready to do it again already?

Apparently, he was. Brother was already about to walk toward the quest board to accept it again.

Just then, another chime rang out.

[Ding!]

Gopuro looked up.

[Processing Quest Reward... Completed!]

Something materialized out of thin air.

Slowly drifting downward into Gopuro’s hand was a small white crystal that emitted a faint, gentle glow.

It was the Powerstone! His quest reward, automatically delivered by the System!

At the same time, I noticed that my Powerstone balance had decreased by one.

"Nice! So rewarding my citizens is an automatic process. That means I won’t need to micromanage everything!"

Gopuro stared at the crystal for a moment before his face lit up.

He cheered and pumped his fist into the air, looking like a child who had just received a brand-new toy.

Haha! I’m glad he’s happy with the reward!

I wonder how he’ll use the Powerstone, though...

But the moment that thought crossed my mind, Gopuro tossed the crystal straight into his mouth.

Crunch!

He ate it like a piece of hard candy!

"..."

I stared at him in disbelief.

You... can eat it?!

His entire body briefly glowed before the light faded away.

I immediately checked his status, but I didn’t notice any major changes.

Except...

His Mana and Stamina had recovered slightly.

"Huh?"

That was interesting.

But given how happy Gopuro had been just moments ago...

There’s no way the Powerstone’s only purpose is recovering MP and Stamina, right?