Green Monster Epic

Chapter 91: Philip's Suggestion

The food problem is currently manageable for the Greenwood Tribe, but there's another issue causing Alan anxiety.

The population issue has been a constant source of concern for Alan. Without population growth, any talk of strengthening the tribe's power is just empty words.

Before Alan and his group set off for Thornsburg, the Greenwood Tribe had a population of around 37-8. After their return, the population increased to over 50, which seems like a significant increase, but in reality, the tribe's actual strength has decreased rather than increased. The number of Hobgoblin male warriors capable of fighting, including Alan, is only 19, including the few males purchased from the slave traders.

If we include the three Earth Goblin males, their warrior level is around level 5, a bit weaker than the Hobgoblin males, but still somewhat stronger than the Kobolds.

However, the tribe has a shortage of Hobgoblin females, especially after the Kobolds breached the village. Including the females taken in by Camellia and those who returned to the old camp, there are only 6-7 in total, barely enough for each Hobgoblin male to have a mate. This forces Alan to use Earth Goblin and Goblin females as substitutes.

As mentioned before, the offspring of Hobgoblin males and Earth Goblin, especially Goblin, females are much weaker than those born from females of the same race. Unless absolutely necessary, no male would choose to mate with a Goblin female to produce offspring; this is an instinct developed over tens of thousands of years of evolution.

However, Alan's forceful measures and methods, forcing the tribesmen to reproduce and strengthen the tribe against their will, is inherently a hidden danger. It's just that the tribe is currently in a state of recovery, and everyone doesn't have a better choice for the time being, so the crisis isn't apparent. But when the tribe truly grows stronger and more females join, his followers may develop resentment and hatred towards Alan due to various drawbacks.

"From today onwards, any female who is pregnant will receive an extra piece of fish with every meal!"

During breakfast, Alan stood in front of the large wooden buckets filled with dishes and food, loudly announcing to the tribesmen who were lined up in a crooked queue, eagerly waiting to be served.

"Of course, the males work hard at night. Whoever gets his female pregnant, I will reward him with an extra bird egg every day for a month!!"

Alan has found that there is no better way to motivate the tribesmen than with food. Perhaps the Goblins are used to living in poverty, even though they haven't truly gone hungry in the village. However, whenever Alan uses food as a reward and makes certain task requests, it is often very effective.

"What about my wife? She's already got something in her belly!"

Flower Snake was unhappy. Young and vigorous, he was assigned an Earth Goblin female as a partner by Alan on the way back. They started their baby-making journey halfway, and now his female is already more than 3 months pregnant, with only 5 months until the baby is born.

"It counts, you'll get extra eggs starting today!"

Alan immediately gave Flower Snake a satisfactory answer. When it was Flower Snake's turn to get food, sure enough, there was an extra boiled wild duck egg in his bowl.

The wild duck eggs came from the bushes by Green Lake. During this period of wildlife breeding season, wild ducks also came to the Green Lake in groups to build nests and breed the next generation. During their free time, Camellia and the females would go into the dense bushes and shrubs by the lake and always find dozens of unhatched duck eggs.

At the suggestion of Philip and the human slaves, Alan also had people catch many wild ducks, cut off the feathers on their wings, and kept them in a separate open space in the village, preparing to slowly domesticate these wild ducks. In addition to wild ducks, the hunting team also captured some goats, wild chickens, and other living herbivores at Alan's request, and handed them over to the humans and Goblins to domesticate.

Of course, these animals are difficult to tame, and it will take a long time to truly turn them into domestic animals. Perhaps Alan and his people will not see the success of domestication in their lifetime. However, since the animals being domesticated are all herbivores, the Goblins in the tribe are short and weak, and it is just right for them to do these simple tasks.

"Chieftain, didn't you say that there are still several of our tribesmen in the Shattered Bone Tribe? Now that our relationship with them has eased, maybe they will agree to let us redeem those tribesmen!"

Philip was anxious about Alan's worries, knowing what Alan had been anxious about during this time, so he took the opportunity to sit down with Alan for a meal and offer a suggestion.

"Redeem? Redeem with what?"

Alan looked up, somewhat tempted, but couldn't think of anything in the tribe that the tribesmen didn't need but the Kobolds valued.

"Isn't there a batch of moldy grain in our tribe's granary? Although our tribesmen are strong, these things are still somewhat harmful. Instead of consuming them ourselves, why not make use of waste and exchange them with the Kobolds."

Philip never dared to eat too much during meals because Alan and the others were almost scammed by the Silver Flash Trading Company due to frugality. The batch of moldy grain that was obtained for free has been the main source of consumption in the village recently.

Alan and his Goblin species have strong digestive systems, and in their opinion, slightly moldy grain is just a slight change in taste, but Philip and the other human slaves have suffered. They don't have the digestive system of the Goblin species, but they can't fill their stomachs completely without eating staple food. From the beginning, they had a stomach ache for several days after eating moldy grain, and now they can barely tolerate it. It's just that their stomachs will hurt for a while after meals, and they can't poop for a long time when they go to the latrine. Philip has really had enough of that taste.

Now that he openly makes this suggestion, firstly, to help Alan alleviate these days of sorrow, and secondly, to find a way to deal with these grains and reduce his suffering.

"Hmm…"

Alan was calculating whether this deal was worthwhile. The more he thought about it, the more he was moved by the other party's proposal. As for whether he could redeem the tribesmen with grain in the end, and how much grain it would take to exchange for a tribesman, he would have to try it himself to know.

From birth to adulthood, a Hobgoblin generally needs sixteen years to be able to reproduce the next generation. During these sixteen years, the amount of food he (she) needs to consume is definitely no less than a thousand pounds. And the most important thing is that if the tribesmen captured by the Kobolds can be redeemed, then they will soon be able to reproduce the next generation for the tribe. No matter how you look at it, this deal is worthwhile.