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As a human city developed from a small town in the wasteland, the natives were a tremendous minority. The large numbers of new immigrants had replaced most of them.

Fire Throne was the place where adepts lived and indulged in their research, after all. It was ill-suited as a place to deal with the increasingly busy clan matters that popped up. As such, Gargamel had already moved his office to Pinecone City twenty years ago.

Since then, there were two centers of activity within the clan.

Adepts and apprentices delved into their magical research and took on clan missions at Fire Throne. Meanwhile, the daily communications and reports from worldly nobles and local resource sites were managed at Pinecone City.

Pinecone City had undergone a series of expansion and renovations. The outdated, low, and old buildings were all razed. Rows of luxurious mansions were built in their place. Moreover, due to privacy concerns, every single estate had its own defensive array and magical barrier that could prevent scrying from the outside.

Consequently, wandering adepts or foreign apprentices, who had no right to enter Fire Throne to study, loved to rent mansions as their living space. Even the nobles of various ranks from all over the place would stay in these mansions when they came to request an audience with Lord Gargamel.

With the growing business and territory of the Crimson Clan, the traffic that Pinecone City experienced reached a peak of one to two thousand people a day. The city itself also had a standing population of thirteen thousand. Such a large group of high-grade individuals naturally allowed the food, beverage, and entertainment industries of the city to flourish.

One had to admit, despite the tiny scale and population of Pinecone City, its standard of living was the highest throughout Ailovis.

However, with the start of the adept war, all of the outer territories of the Crimson Clan had been conquered. The nobles, adepts, and apprentices loyal to the clan had no choice but to escape back to Pinecone Town.

For a moment, all the high-class mansions, inns, and hotels in the city were full of nobles from all over Ailovis. Moreover, there were still even more refugees swarming into the city. In the end, magical tents with unique designs started to appear all over the place and were quickly rented by the homeless nobles.

The displaced nobles gathered in Pinecone City daily, always searching and looking out for information about the frontlines.

This place was the last they could retreat to.

If the Crimson Clan could not defend against the invasion, then they would unavoidably fall into the hands of the Fabres Clan with the defeat of Pinecone City. Given the Fabres Clan’s cruelty and the grudges they held over the nobles for refusing their call for surrender, it wasn’t hard to imagine what would happen to the nobles once they were captured.

As such, when all-out war broke out in the south, everyone silently started to pray for the gods of luck’s blessings.

If the Crimson Clan obtained victory and beat back the enemy’s invasion, they would celebrate, cheer, and dance in high spirits. If the Crimson Clan lost a battle and yet another territory, they would sigh, and clouds of sorrow would hang over the city.

The emotions of the nobles in Pinecone City fluctuated with the progress of the war, rising and falling like a roller coaster, constantly flipping between heaven and hell.

............

The mansion area.

A few dozen goblin nobles in luxurious clothes were gathered in one of the mansions, conversing in loud voices and heated tones.

“This cannot continue,” a goblin in a well-ironed military uniform, who was clearly from the Musen Merchant Group that enjoyed selling firearms, raised his arms and shouted, “We goblins have made enough sacrifices over the past few months. This cannot continue.”

“Indeed! Indeed,” a goblin to the side quickly agreed with him, “I have already made the calculations. The number of machinist-sorcerers who died on the battlefield over the past month has exceeded two hundred. And what about the adepts? No more than five of them have died. That is not fair!”

“This isn’t about what is fair and what isn’t!” An old goblin from the research institutes with tortoise-shell glasses on the rim of his nose shook his head. He said, “Human adepts like fighting under the protection of the magical machines, while our machinist-sorcerers like charging onto the very frontlines. The ratio of casualties naturally differ.”

“But those sacrificed to the war mostly come from us goblins, even though our status and position are far inferior to the human adepts. We must protest this. We must fight.”

“When? When exactly? Now?” The old goblin pressed his glasses against his face. A mocking smile appeared on his jade-green face, “Are you sure you want to discuss the treatment of the machinist-sorcerers with Lord Gargamel, now, when the war is at its height?”

The few goblins who had been shouting earlier immediately fell silent when the name of the sinister and vicious Gargamel was invoked. They stuttered, “...we need to fight for our people’s benefit, somehow.”

“Fools! Benefit is obtained with blood and sweat, not through a loud voice.” Pain flashed between the old goblin’s eyes, “We can only choose to stand with the Crimson Clan now. If we want to obtain greater welfare for our descendants, we must be willing to fight and charge onto the frontline to fight for their interest with proper results on the battlefield, not by finding ways to drag them down.”

The old goblin lifted his head and looked at his kinsmen. He then spoke solemnly, “I know that some of you here have already made contact with the enemies and have gotten certain promises. However, I need you to reflect properly on the situation. If the Crimson Clan is truly defeated, how are you, the defectors, meant to ensure that they will make good on their promises?”

Goblin Sage Snorlax stood at the very end of the table, one foot crossed over the other as two goblin beauties massaged his shoulders. He continued to take puffs from his thick cigar, motionlessly looking at the goblin leaders around him.

Blackwater Magnate Vice-Leader Gemisini Moneybags.

Risk Investment Company Acting Director Razel.

Musen Merchant Group Head Executive Mordekin.

Goblin Chamber of Commerce Vice President Bausch.

Magical Mechanics Federation Chairman Adept Locke.

Brutalblood Army Commander Drusilla La Salle.

......

In all honesty, those who could be present in this room were all major figures that had emerged from the goblins. Though most of the representatives sent by the few major goblin forces were all deputies, they could fully represent the organization they served.

In contrast, those whose influence and number were the most inferior, like Magical-Mechanic Locke and Machinist-Sorcerer Drusilla, seldom spoke up. Instead, they coldly watched the clownish performance of the representatives from the sidelines, just like Snorlax, who had called for this meeting.

Compared to the Blackwater Magnate, the Risk Investment Company, and the Musen Merchant group, the magical-mechanics and machinist-sorcerers were a considerable minority. However, they also represented the true future of the goblin race.

Yet, these goblins who had deeply experienced the changes brought about by the adepts’ arcane system no longer shared the same minds as their former companions. Meanwhile, the old goblin who represented Dead Gonga of the Goblin Research Institute also seemed to have a more comprehensive, long-term picture of the future of goblins. He seemed particularly unwilling to participate in the fight for power between the others of his kind.

Despite all this, the few foolish goblins seemed not to have understood the situation yet. They were still cautiously probing the old goblin with questions to see if he would provide some support in their ‘righteous’ fight for more individual rights.

“Support? What kind of support?” The old goblin narrowed his eyes and asked, even though he knew the answer full well.

“Of course, we are talking about that greatest bargaining chip in our hands.” The goblin in military uniform rubbed his hands nervously, “I believe...if...it’s possible, that the old dean is willing to apply some pressure with the golem dragon, the human adepts will cave-in to our demands!”

When the words ‘golem dragon’ came jumping out of the goblin’s mouth, the eyebrows of all the goblin leaders in the room jumped along with it. Their gazes turned sharp and cutting.

This was a pace that would bring the goblins to extinction.

Silently, a few of the goblin leaders exchanged looks. They started to consider their own routes of escape and development in the future.

Betray the Crimson Clan?

Such an idea was a path of no return!

Living in the World of Adepts for so many years, and having their worldviews broadened to this extent, had allowed for the smart and knowledgeable goblin leaders to further understand the massive gulf in power between the Goblin Plane and the World of Adepts.

The Goblin Plane’s fate was sealed the moment it caught the eye of the adepts.

In all honesty, the fact that the Goblin Plane could fall into the hands of the more gentle and open-minded Crimson Clan was already their greatest blessing!

If they had been even slightly less fortunate and had been invaded by any other adept clan, it would most definitely have been a complete take-over, swiftly followed by the brutal and unrelenting exploitation of their race and homeworld. Acknowledge the status of goblins as citizens? Give them a chance to assimilate into the adepts’ system? These policies had never before appeared in the other adept clans.

Citizens and slaves. Every goblin here knew the tremendous difference between those two statuses.

As such, though choosing to betray the Crimson Clan in their time of crisis to join another powerful adept clan may sound like a good idea, it was not. If this plan was executed, it would drag the entire goblin race into an abyss of death.

The enemy desperately needed to do away with the influence and pressure created by the presence of the Fourth Grade golem dragon now. That was why they had promised such incredible amounts of benefits and welfare. However, if the goblins were to truly switch sides, what were they supposed to use to compete with the human adepts of the enemy clan?

Would they really provide goblin adepts with the same status and treatment as the human adepts?

Would they still allow the magical machine golem dragon to remain in the hands of the goblins once they managed to obtain such a powerful machine of destruction?

Could the goblins really obtain freedom and power far beyond what they currently had?

After experiencing the knowledge system of this new world, the goblins were no longer frogs stuck in a well. They now understood the brutality and savagery of competition between the planar worlds. How could they possibly be tricked by those empty lies, like these fools and idiots?

The secret goblin meeting quickly ended with no conclusion.

When the few foolish goblins went out to eat and enjoy themselves with the company of a group of goblin beauties, the leaders who could truly decide the future of the goblin race finally gathered together once again.

“I see it clearly. It’s the people from Musen Merchant Group who are stirring trouble.”

“Agreed! However, in my opinion, some of the goblins in the Risk Investment Company need to be dealt with as well.”

“Mm, we will report this to Lord Gargamel! I will try my best to fight for the right of execution. That should allow us to reduce the damage to our people to the minimum!”