"That’s a good suggestion. I’m interested." He immediately took out his notebook and wrote, "Post a request to the Association for information on the Giant Ants and Giant Spiders."
"And this," Agatha said, holding up the leg segment and examining the thickness of its shell. "I wonder if we can make use of it?"
"You mean, to make Armor?"
"Right. It’s very tough."
"Yes, I’ve considered making Armor out of it before," Shire said with a nod. "This is the exoskeleton of just one ant. If we find the nest, we can collect them continuously and figure out a way to use all the shells."
"It’s a bit tricky, though." His excited expression faded slightly. "Normal Hand Grenade Fruits can barely harm the ants. Killing them requires Blazing Fire Glue, but if we throw Blazing Fire Glue at the ants, their exoskeletons will just get incinerated."
"That is a problem," Agatha said, setting down the leg segment.
"If worst comes to worst, we can have Caocao charge in, pin the ant down, and then stab it through the neck," Shire proposed. "I saw it before—the head and thorax were separated, which proves there’s no armor plating at the neck joint."
"Still, I think a live Giant Ant would be more useful than a dead one." Agatha smiled at Shire. "Remember those two metal plates you gave me before?"
"You mean the Rune Speech: Mind?" Shire said.
"We could give it a try. Dragon Hide is hard to get, but we can start by trying the hide of a Magical Beast."
"We can get some of the Cyan-Eyed Dragon Snake’s hide. The leatherworker should have some left over. I’ll go tell Mary right away." Holding his notebook, Shire got up and hurried to the Teleportation Room.
...
"The southern defensive layout," Shire muttered, staring at the relief carving on the wall. "This cluster of buildings in the east is quite large, about the same size as the Fortress area. The question is how much space there is underground."
He had sent an intelligence request to Mary a few days ago and had just received her reply.
’No sightings of Giant Ants or Giant Spiders have been reported for several days?’ Shire mused, looking at the intelligence report in his hand. ’The Adventurer Association did provide one rumor, though.’
’Several years ago, people were attacked by two giant spiders. There were casualties. The victims were a full party of adventurers, and only one person survived.’ He put down the report. ’So, two Giant Spiders can take on a five-person adventurer party.’
’Why were there two Giant Spiders?’
Shire frowned. He had gone to the Mother Tree before, but her reply was that her Ability couldn’t detect things that far away, and the Forest Whisper had never told her anything about it.
’I need to expand my subordinates to 300 people before I can hear this ’Forest Whisper’ thing.’ Shire clasped his hands behind his back and walked out of the Teleportation Room. ’The Fortress renovations can wait a bit longer, but we need to start on the underground area for the Tree-man Race now.’
The underground stone chamber where the Druid had experimented with Mushrooms was still some distance from the Tree-man Race’s territory. If the goblins lived in the stone chamber, they would have to travel above ground every day to get to work, which was undeniably risky.
He was too short-staffed now, so Shire could only station a few Medicine Gatherers there for the time being. ’If they run into Adventurers, it would be a "Here, take my ears, and have a good day" situation.’
Not to mention, when it came time to harvest the Tree-man Fruits, there was no telling how long it would take for the small-bodied goblins to transport everything.
’Not only do we need to dig an underground tunnel straight to the Tree-man Region, we also need ants to transport goods.’ Shire was becoming more and more convinced of the eastern region’s importance.
"Shire," Agatha called out, walking over to the pensive Goblin Leader. "The Rune Speech items are ready. Want to give them a try?"
"They’re ready?" Shire immediately exclaimed. "Let’s go test them out."
They walked out of the Fortress and into the forest. Two Big-horned Deer were tied up with ropes and thrown next to a large tree. This was the clan’s meal for the day.
Agatha took out several leather circlets. Each one was less than ten centimeters wide and engraved with Runes.
"Let’s try these first." She handed two to Shire. "They’re made of ordinary sheepskin."
Shire took them and called over Caocao, who was carrying logs nearby, telling him to hold down the panicking Big-horned Deer.
He quickly slipped the leather circlet over the deer’s head and secured it. Agatha had thoughtfully added a buckle and punched holes in it, making it just like a belt.
"Okay, Caocao, you can let go now." He fastened the other leather circlet to his own head. Looking at the struggling Big-horned Deer on the ground, he tried speaking to it. "Quiet. I won’t hurt you."
The Big-horned Deer continued to whine and struggle. At the same time, its nostrils flared and it strained to lift its head and look around, as if searching for something.
Shire continued, "It’s me. I’m right in front of you. I won’t hurt you."
He squatted down, his eyes fixed on the Big-horned Deer.
Gradually, the deer seemed to realize the goblin in front of it was speaking to it, and its struggles began to slow.
"It seems to be working," Shire said, turning back to Agatha with a smile.
"Do you feel anything from the circlet?" Agatha kept her eyes fixed on the runed leather circlet on Shire’s head, watching for any changes.
"It’s a little warm, but just barely." Shire touched the circlet and then continued trying to communicate with the Big-horned Deer. "You’re safe. I’m going to untie you."
He then took out a knife and approached the Big-horned Deer, but as Shire got closer, the deer clearly began to tremble and grow resistant.
’It must be animal instinct. It’s scared,’ Shire deduced. Then, he sliced through the ropes with one cut. The Big-horned Deer lay on the ground, stunned for a few seconds, before immediately trying to get up.
"Don’t be afraid, I won’t hurt you." Shire put away his knife and reached out, trying to stroke the now-freed deer.
Just as he was about to touch it—SNAP!—the leather circlet on the deer’s head suddenly broke. Shire continued to speak, trying to soothe the Big-horned Deer, but it was useless. The deer scrambled to its feet in a panic and bolted.
Agatha walked over, picked up the broken circlet from the ground, and began to inspect it. "As expected. The sheepskin couldn’t handle the strain."
"Here." She handed over two more circlets. "These are made from the hide of a Cyan-Eyed Dragon Snake."
Shire took them and felt them. They were indeed much thicker, almost three times as thick as the sheepskin, and much sturdier too.
He used the same method on the remaining Big-horned Deer. Before long, this deer was standing quietly to the side, though it still didn’t dare to get close to Caocao.
"Success. This circlet doesn’t feel warm at all," Shire said. "That means if you feel anything strange, you can replace it in advance."
"Theoretically, yes," Agatha said with a nod. Then she held out her hand. "Let me see it again. Maybe it can be improved even more."
"Hang on." Shire snatched the circlet off the Big-horned Deer’s head. Completely ignoring the startled prey as it fled, he dashed excitedly back toward the Fortress.
He quickly arrived at the Underground River Platform. Shire rang the small Copper Bell, and Rubus shot out.
"Come here, come here, we’ve got a new toy." Shire chuckled, throwing his arms around the Star Realm Dog’s neck.
He expertly placed the circlet on Rubus’s head and tried to soothe the big dog, which was still unaccustomed to it. "Stay still. I am the Dog King. I’m your leader."
Rubus tilted its head, looking at the goblin before it, clearly confused about the situation.
"I provide food for you. I am your leader, and you are my subordinate." Shire tried his best to maintain a dignified expression while continuously amplifying the Enchantment.
Rubus still looked baffled.
After a moment’s thought, Shire ran to the side, loaded the innards that Bai Mao and the others had cleaned into an iron basin, and presented it to Rubus. "I am the Dog King. I give you food."
Rubus stared at Shire, then slowly approached the iron basin and tried to snatch a piece of the innards.
Shire rapped on the iron basin. "I am your leader." Rubus flinched, pulling its head back.
After this went back and forth a few times, he finally felt a change in the [Subordinates] section of his status panel.
’That was not easy at all.’ Shire was overjoyed, then he bestowed the [Lustful] trait upon Rubus.
Meanwhile, Agatha muttered in confusion, "Where on earth did that guy run off to?"