Chapter 471: Chapter 358: Whip of Creation

"Sixty sets of clothes in total, all brand new." Shire tilted his head slightly, looking at the somewhat stunned Diana.

"I’m starting to suspect you had these prepared in advance." Diana pouted, her expression souring.

A few days ago, she had agreed to a bet with the goblins. She originally thought they couldn’t possibly gather fifty identical sets of clothes in five days, but to her surprise, when the time was up, they had ten extra.

She had paid special attention to the style of the outfits. They weren’t made for human children; they had to have been specially designed for the goblins living in the forest.

"I never thought goblins had mastered sewing and could make their own clothes. I guess I was just ignorant." Diana sighed softly. She truly hadn’t expected goblins to have "evolved" to such an extent. In the eyes of the Holy Order Army—or rather, in the eyes of all humans—if a creature like a goblin was wearing even a tattered scrap of cloth, it was assumed to have been stolen from a human village.

"Well, we didn’t exactly make them ourselves." Shire chuckled and held out his hands as he explained, "I actually funded the establishment of a Clothing Workshop in Yangjiao Town. Then I had Mary recruit a number of women from the surrounding villages to make the clothes according to a design. The villages around Yangjiao Town are quite large, you know. They need the numbers to defend against goblins coming out of the forest, which means there are plenty of people for me to hire."

Noticing her stunned expression, Shire continued, "Of course, this is the first time they’ve seen this style, so their work is still a bit rough. I think once they get more familiar with it, production will speed up."

"You..." Diana bit her lower lip. "How many village women did you hire?"

"Er, over two hundred?" Shire thought for a moment. "I don’t know the exact number; Mary is handling everything. Of course, that number is still growing. Count Valentine raised taxes again, making life even harder for the common folk. An extra job is a pretty good thing for a commoner’s family."

"I think I’d rather believe the goblins learned to sew themselves," Diana retorted, exasperated. "Do you realize how much more absurd that sounds? Monsters, whom humans are so careful to guard against, are hiring humans to work for them—paying them money to ease their financial pressures—while the nobles, who are supposed to be protecting these commoners, are greedily squeezing their subjects dry."

"Oh," she pressed her hands to her cheeks. "I must be going mad. Is this even the same world I’ve been living in?"

"Of course, Miss Grand Commander." Shire smiled and waved a hand, quite pleased with her reaction.

"No need to call me Grand Commander anymore. I imagine I’ve been struck from the roster by now," Diana shook her head, smiling with a sense of release. "Just call me Diana from now on."

"In that case, Miss Diana, would you be willing to become the Supreme Commander of the goblins?" Shire asked with a smile, gazing at the former Grand Commander of the Holy Order Army, his eyes full of sincerity.

"A bet’s a bet." Diana took a deep breath, as if trying to convince herself.

Shire simply nodded. "Don’t worry. I know that as a member of the Holy Order Army, you must have sworn a Blood Oath before the statue of the God of Battle and Glory when you joined. You have my word: I won’t make you break that vow."

"Honor above all, cherish faith, protect the weak, and vanquish evil," Diana recited in a low voice. She looked down at her own palm, her thoughts drifting back many years to a scene of her standing before the divine statue, holding a crystal goblet filled with blood.

"Protect the weak and vanquish evil," Shire echoed with a smile, walking to her side. He then produced a mask from behind his back.

"What’s this?"

"Oh, just a little something I had made for you," Shire said casually. "I thought you might need some time to come to terms with things, but I didn’t expect you to adapt so quickly."

’She really is the Grand Commander who acts faster than she thinks.’

"A white cat mask?" Before Shire could retract his hand, Diana snatched it from him and began to inspect it. "It only covers the top half of the face?"

Shire, not expecting her to be so quick, said a little sheepishly, "Of course. You’ll have to command troops, after all. It would be hard to give orders if it covered your whole face, wouldn’t it?"

"Thank you. I rather like it." Diana put it on immediately, wrapping the mask’s ties around the back of her head and securing them beneath her high ponytail.

"I thought you might refuse at first."

"Why would I do that?" Diana asked, adjusting the mask on her face.

Shire shrugged. "Well, we’re goblins."

"But you haven’t done anything evil. I’ve spent the last few days walking around and observing. If it weren’t for your green skin, I’d almost think you were a group of farmers clearing new land."

"Shakes up your worldview, doesn’t it?"

"A little. But frankly, you can’t judge evil and weakness by Race alone."

Hearing this, Shire raised an eyebrow. "Is there something out there more evil than goblins?"

"As I’ve said before, I spend some time each year away from the Holy Order Army’s garrisons, traveling the continent." Diana lifted her head slightly, her gaze drifting into the distance. Over there, a group of goblins surrounded a herd of elephants, leveling the land. Farther off, several large trees had been felled, and more goblins swarmed around them, beginning to cut the lumber. "Looking for my Fourth Uncle is part of it, of course, but I have something more important I need to do."

Seeing the serious look on her face, Shire let his smile fade and waited quietly for her answer.

"Have you ever experienced despair?"

"Despair?"

"That’s right. A pitch-black gate opens wide before you, and innumerable fierce, bloodthirsty things come rushing at you. They have sharp claws, with jagged Bone Spikes and horns growing from their backs. Each one has a maw of sharp, disorderly teeth. Human armies start to retreat in fear before the fighting even starts. With just a single engagement, soldiers who pride themselves on being well-trained will break and rout."

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