Chapter 40: Map

...

Well, that’s a problem for the distant future!

It wasn’t like I would be meeting any humans anytime soon. From the look of my surroundings, I was deep within goblin territory, far away from any human settlements.

Yeah... let’s not worry about that for now.

I handed out their well-earned rewards, then prepared two more quests.

At first, I wasn’t entirely sure whether they could handle them. But after seeing the amount of creativity they had put into their previous drawings, I felt a little more confident.

This time, I wanted to learn more about the world around my castle. I wanted to know what was out there.

[Quest: Draw the simplest possible image of every monster or humanoid creature living in this forest that you know. Draw one image for each race.]

[Quest: Draw a simple map of this forest, using symbols to mark any notable locations you know. The map does not need to be precise.]

Time Limit: 2 hours

*****

And just like that, the goblins got to work.

They continued drawing with surprising enthusiasm, filling the ground with simple sketches as they tried to put everything they knew onto paper, or rather, dirt.

Slowly, through their drawings, the fog surrounding the world beyond my castle began to lift, and I finally managed to piece together a rough picture of my surroundings.

First and foremost, I was deep inside a truly massive forest.

My castle stood slightly southeast of its center, while most of the surrounding woodland was controlled by goblins. They lived in independent communities and tribes, with a total of twenty-four tribes represented on the map, each occupying its own territory.

There was even a massive tribe located a little farther to the north.

Perhaps that’s the strongest tribe out there.

But goblins were far from the only creatures living in these woods.

There were the horned gray wolves, whose den lay not far from here. Other monsters included large boars, bears, slimes, and countless other fantasy beasts lurking throughout the forest.

As for notable locations, the two goblins were able to mark several caves, small lakes, a swamp, a river, and even a massive waterfall.

But then there was one detail that really caught my attention...

Apparently, there was a mysterious region marked with skull-and-bone symbols on the map. It covered a surprisingly large area, almost as if someone had deliberately left a huge hole in the middle of the map.

There must be something dangerous in there.

I couldn’t help but wonder what could possibly be lurking in that mysterious region.

And... that was about it.

This was the extent of the knowledge these two goblins possessed.

Of course, I knew better than to take every detail at face value.

The scale of the world they had drawn seemed far too vast for these two goblins to have explored on their own. If I had to guess, most of this information had probably been passed down through their tribe by stronger and more experienced goblins.

Which meant there were almost certainly gaps in the picture.

Some details might be missing entirely. Others could be inaccurate, exaggerated, or based on rumors.

That was an important limitation I would need to keep firmly in mind going forward.

Still, even an imperfect map was far better than having no information at all.

And with that, today’s experiments with the [Quest Creation] skill were finally complete.

Things had gone far better than I had expected, and I felt deeply satisfied with the results.

For the first time since becoming a castle, I finally had a rough idea of what lay beyond my walls.

******

Anyways, after the map was finally completed... I just stared at it for a moment and sighed.

Man... I really wish the System would give me some kind of screenshot or photography skill!

I wanted to preserve this map properly, either as an image, a painting, or something similar. Unfortunately, I had no way to do that. Sooner or later, all the drawings on the dirt ground would be gone.

The best I could do was use my [Quest Creation] skill to make notes.

Yup.

Apparently, I had stumbled upon another rather creative use for the Quest System.

Since I could write practically anything into a quest’s description, the quest scrolls could also function as an information storage system!

It wasn’t exactly convenient, but it worked.

I carefully entered the most important details from the map into a quest note, then stored the scroll inside my Inventory.

There. At least I wouldn’t have to rely entirely on my memory anymore.

Now then... time for some more questions.

I prepared another quest.

[Quest: The creator wishes to know about your origin. Point to the tribe where you are from.]

I gave the quest to both of them.

The moment they read it, the two goblins exchanged a brief glance before simultaneously pointing toward a particular tribe located not too far from my castle.

According to their map, the area around the tribe looked fairly pleasant. There was a small lake nearby, along with a cave that could presumably serve as shelter.

Interesting.

And that immediately gave me another idea.

I quickly prepared another quest.

[Quest: Goblin Citizen Recruitment!]

Prerequisite: None

Quest Info: Your ruler wishes to take in more citizens! Return to your tribe and tell your fellow goblins about this place!

Quest Type: One-Time

Objective: Convince as many members of your tribe as possible to come and become citizens of the great Castle Lord!

Time Limit: 2 days

Reward: 1 Powerstone per 10 successful recruits.

Punishment: None

Yup.

I needed to increase my number of citizens as quickly as possible!

More citizens meant more Castle Points, which meant faster access to higher-level shops, abilities, and all sorts of other useful upgrades.

And since their tribe wasn’t particularly far away, this should have been a relatively simple task. There was really no reason not to try.

If they moved quickly, they could probably even complete the quest by this afternoon!

All they had to do was tell their fellow goblins about their incredible new ruler.

They could boast about an almighty Castle Lord who could provide an endless supply of delicious food, a steady stream of Powerstones, and perhaps even the opportunity to evolve into stronger forms.

Honestly, from my perspective, it sounded like an incredibly easy sell. Who wouldn’t want to join a place like that?

But to my surprise, neither of the two goblins accepted the quest.

Instead, they remained completely still, staring down at the quest scroll in silence.

Several long seconds passed before they finally exchanged a slow glance, and the expressions on their faces had changed completely.

There was no excitement or anticipation at the thought of returning to their tribe, nor was there even the slightest hint of greed at the prospect of recruiting more citizens and earning additional rewards. Instead, their eyes were filled with something far more complicated.

Worry. Hesitation. Fear. And perhaps even a faint trace of anger and pain.

The atmosphere around them suddenly felt much heavier than before.

Oi....

...What’s going on?