Chapter 427: Chapter 337: Chief Project Commander, Part 2

You idiot! Do you have any idea how delicious blueberries are? How hard mice are to catch?

And so, the battle began.

No one knew who swung their wooden club first. Perhaps it was the few goblins involved in the trade, all at once. But this was normal, a "goblin-style" method of transaction.

Hearing the High Priest’s words, Shire couldn’t help but smile. As long as the goblins understood the concept of trade, things would be fine. He had been worried they all subscribed to the philosophy of ’What’s mine is mine, and what’s yours is also mine.’ That would have made things difficult.

So he began to "shower them with coins," so to speak. On one hand, he wanted to cultivate an awareness of trade and commerce within the Race. On the other, he started to categorize the goblins to prepare for a large-scale division of labor in the future.

At the same time, Shire also had One-Eyed build a bulletin board and set it up in front of the collapsed Feathered Serpent God Square Tower.

The board was huge, with only a few lines written on it in Common Speech. He had Buck Teeth and Lame Leg explain the contents to everyone.

It listed various foods for sale, all purchased from Yangjiao Town—mostly small, handmade snacks like roasted chestnuts. The item at the very top of the list, and the one many goblins were eager to try again, was Light Beer.

When Shire set up the board, he also had several large wooden barrels brought in from Yangjiao Town. They were filled with Light Beer, and he had every goblin in the Race try the drink.

The goblins of the Race were already familiar with the taste of honey water, and a few had even tried chrysanthemum tea and coffee. For most of them, however, this was their first time tasting Light Beer.

The strange sensation—somewhat pleasant, yet somewhat bitter—shocked many of the goblins.

As a Race that had never tasted alcohol before, they were surprisingly quick to get hooked.

Now, many members of the Race were eager to try that magical drink again, but the only way to get it was to buy it with Silver Coins.

And so, all the goblins started working with a fervor, as if they’d been shot full of adrenaline.

Shire had Mary order many more large, beer-filled barrels from the Ear-Cleaning Master Tavern in Yangjiao Town. This supply should be enough to satisfy the Race’s needs for the time being.

Even more interesting, the owner of the Ear-Cleaning Master Tavern had asked why they were ordering so much Light Beer. Was she planning on bottling it and selling it to Adventurers? Or perhaps mixing it into Healing Potions would improve their effects?

Mary simply smiled and didn’t answer the owner’s questions.

"Move those logs to the side! Stack them up, and be careful not to crush yourselves!" One-Eyed shouted, waving his arms. He instructed the transport teams to pile up the materials first and wait for the ground to be leveled before starting on the fence.

The forest might not have beer, but it had no shortage of wood. Besides, building the City of Ten Thousand Races required felling a great number of trees, and these logs were perfect for the city’s construction.

One-Eyed diligently directed the entire construction site, but he felt overwhelmed. The area was too vast, and there were too many goblins involved. He frequently missed things, and by the time he noticed, numerous mistakes had already been made.

All he could do was constantly refer back to the blueprints and have the goblins who made errors correct them—for instance, telling them not to leave logs scattered about, but to stack them in their designated places.

This had been happening since the very first day. He’d encountered similar issues before when leading members of the Race to dig tunnels, but there were fewer of them back then, so mistakes were spotted and corrected immediately.

But now, with over a thousand goblins working together, One-Eyed was completely swamped.

"Chief, it’s too much," One-Eyed said, finding Shire at the end of the first day to vent his frustrations. "I can’t watch everyone. The second I look away, they mess up."

"I know. Making mistakes is perfectly normal." Shire put down the book he was reading, *Where are the Mythical Creatures?*, and began to counsel his subordinate. "This is the first time any of the goblins have taken on a project like this. None of them have any experience, not even the High Priest."

Still, even with the constant errors, Shire was pleased. Mistakes meant his people were actually *trying*, not just shirking their duties to go hide in a hole and groom themselves. As long as they were willing to work, mistakes were acceptable.

"But we didn’t finish anything today!" One-Eyed threw his hands up, his face twisted as if he’d just eaten a bitter melon. "The moment I look away, a bunch of them mess up. When I go to correct them, the other goblins just stand around and watch me do it. Only after I’ve corrected everyone do they get back to work. But then, sure enough, another goblin makes a mistake."

"Haha." Shire slapped his thigh and laughed. ’Everyone loves a good show.’ He was reminded of his past life, how whenever the boss in the next department was chewing someone out, his own colleagues would secretly crowd the doorway, eager to eavesdrop on the drama. "You can delegate the simple tasks to other goblins. Your job is to supervise and guide them."

Shire then explained to One-Eyed how to break down a large project into smaller parts and how to direct the other goblins.

One-Eyed nodded, still a bit confused. He thought it sounded a lot like when he used to lead the others in digging tunnels. Back then, he would have the Ant Farmers manage the Worker Ants, another group transport materials, and a third clear away the soil.

’So, is this like having a few other goblins take on my old role? The only difference is that they’re all focused on the same task?’

Frowning and chewing on his finger, One-Eyed walked out of Shire’s stone house with his head bowed in thought. He was so preoccupied that he nearly bumped into another goblin without even noticing.

Broken Tooth, who was just entering the stone house, gave the departing One-Eyed a curious glance.

"Chief." Broken Tooth tore his gaze away from One-Eyed and reported what he had found. "They’ve all fled."

"The Dongtou?" Shire asked with a smile. "They must have gotten pretty far by now."

Broken Tooth nodded. "Very far. They just kept running."

He meant that the Dongtou were running blindly, as if terrified and desperate to get as far away from the area as possible.

Shire knew the Dongtou were likely afraid of him. After all, the High Priest had told them that he was the one who had driven off the Feathered Serpent God. The goblins were probably terrified he would catch and eat them.

"Some didn’t run," Broken Tooth added.

"Some didn’t?" Shire raised an eyebrow. "Are they just hiding in the nearby forest?"

Broken Tooth nodded. "A Military Leader."

"A Military Leader?" Shire instantly recalled who he meant. "You mean Bald Hide, right? He didn’t run?"

When his subordinate confirmed it, Shire’s interest was piqued. "That one’s clever. He knows it’s hard to survive in the forest alone, so he’s hiding on the edge of our territory, trying to mooch off the convenience we provide."

His Race was in the middle of a massive construction project, which had scared away all the nearby beasts. Hiding in the vicinity would be perfectly safe for Bald Hide. For now, all he had to do was keep himself fed. If something happened to the Race, or if the Feathered Serpent God returned, he could always find a way back to the Goblin Kingdom.

"A goblin that smart is a rare sight indeed." Shire shook his head, then said to Broken Tooth, "You know where to find him, right? Go rough him up a bit and chase him to the east. Watch how far you go, though. Make sure he stays alive."

He wanted to see if a clever goblin like Bald Hide might discover something else in the forest. After all, Shire himself had never been to the eastern region, and there were bound to be other goblin tribes there.

And as a "Transport Captain," Bald Hide would surely be unwilling to play second fiddle. He might even try a scheme like borrowing troops from another tribe.

"Don’t disappoint me," Shire said with a smile as he dismissed Broken Tooth.

After his meeting with the Chief, One-Eyed began to gradually implement the methods he’d been taught. He assigned his old subordinates—goblins who were already familiar with basic operations like managing Worker Ants or leveling ground—to lead the others.

Even so, mistakes continued to pop up all over the construction site. The only difference was that now, when One-Eyed corrected an offender, the other goblins no longer gathered around to watch.

It was hard to say whether they’d just seen it too many times, or if they’d simply gotten used to it.

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