Chapter 132: Suspecting a Mastermind

In the neat and uniform Olive Grove, Xia Duo rode his horse behind Hanke, observing these evergreen olive trees.

Perhaps because the wind and snow came early last year, many olive trees had branches that had been snapped off; some of the broken branches that hadn't been cleared away yet even still had blackened olive fruits remaining on them.

Thinking that last year's harvest must not have been satisfactory, and now encountering the Goblins' inexplicable raids—refusing to give up even after being beaten back multiple times—it was hard for Xia Duo not to think of a conspiracy theory.

Why such a coincidence? The Goblins didn't come last year, but they came this year, and it happened just when the Lord could not be reached. Expanding on this, the news that the Lord could not be reached should have been limited to a small circle.

If it weren't for the fact that Xia Duo happened to be upgrading his Mage Tower Permission Level, he would have been completely unaware of this.

If there really were a conspiracy in this, it might even involve a Mage, and a Mage with a high Permission Level at that.

With this thought, Xia Duo entered a state of Spellcasting Focus; he felt that perhaps the reason these Goblins were so recklessly charging at the Olive Grove might be due to the influence of Magic.

The people who came before were all Apprentices and might not have been able to discover it, but Xia Duo was already an Official Mage; perhaps he could discover something from it.

Thinking this, Xia Duo was no longer in a hurry to go north to see the Goblins. He called out to Hanke, who was leading the way in front, and said, "You go to the village head; I will inspect the grove first."

"My lord—" Hanke was about to speak, but Xia Duo had already urged his mount to run back. Helpless, Hanke could only follow.

After Xia Duo rushed out of the Olive Grove, he saw the somewhat bewildered village head, but he didn't explain; instead, he galloped along the grove, row by row, from east to west.

Since the duration of the mount was limited, Xia Duo could only make the best use of it, hoping to discover clues without needing to activate another Scroll.

Sitting on the horse's back, flying past one olive tree after another, Xia Duo had no intention of paying attention to others' opinions, focusing all his attention on "observing" the anomalies in the Magic Net.

If these Goblins were truly influenced by Magic, and if there really were such a spell, then it would inevitably leave traces in the background of the Magic Net.

Soon, the first row was inspected. Then, Xia Duo skipped the second row and started directly from the third. In order to perceive the anomalies of the Magic Net more precisely, Xia Duo kept his main range of Perception within 5 meters.

This distance was about the best range he could perceive; beyond this range, it might not be accurate.

One, three, five—Xia Duo patrolled rapidly, skipping every other row. This Olive Grove covered a vast area, at least one thousand meters from east to west. It took Xia Duo about 1 minute to ride through it once.

Just like this, after repeating it I don't know how many times, Xia Duo felt someone calling his name, but at this moment he had put almost all his thoughts into observing the state of the Magic Net, only subconsciously feeling that the voice held no hostility toward him.

So he ignored it.

It wasn't until Xia Duo felt the Magic Aura of the mount beneath him flickering inexplicably, and its speed slightly lower than at the beginning, that he immediately knew the mount's duration was almost up.

Not wanting to fall off the horse, Xia Duo immediately gave an Indication for the mount to slow down. When Xia Duo got off the horse's back and hadn't even had time to stretch his limbs, the Forest Horse suddenly disappeared in a hazy glimmer.

It was just as sudden as when it appeared.

"Mage Xia Duo!"

It was Wuke! Xia Duo looked back and, sure enough, Wuke was jogging toward him. "Captain Wuke, you're here!"

"Mage Xia Duo, what were you doing just now? I called you several times!"

"I thought of a situation that might be related to the Goblins' unusual movements this time." Xia Duo did not hide it and shared his speculation that there might be mysterious Magic in the Olive Grove.

Of course, he did not reveal the news about the Lord being unreachable.

"Before, had anyone suspected that the Goblins were attracted by Magic?"

"Of course, but we let individual Goblins in and found that they only destroyed the olive trees nearby and wouldn't go looking for anything. If it really were Magic, wouldn't that mean the entire Olive Grove had been cast with a spell?"

Wuke clearly also had some understanding of Magic; he did not believe that anyone could cast a spell on such a large, entire Olive Grove.

To this, Xia Duo did not refute. Wuke was inferring from the existing results, but Xia Duo had directly assumed a mastermind. If there really were a mastermind who wanted to achieve this effect, there would certainly be other ways.

Magic is so miraculous, how could one be sure that such a spell doesn't exist?

Xia Duo was still more inclined toward his own speculation, which was that there might really be a mastermind.

Thinking this way, Xia Duo also became suspicious of the people in the village. Although the Lord ordered them to look after the Olive Grove, if someone threatened them or used profit to tempt them, it was hard to guarantee they wouldn't commit betrayal.

And the most likely to betray was, of course, the village head. For a moment, Xia Duo's imagination ran wild, suspecting everyone, but in the end, it remained just a suspicion in his mind.

Here, Wuke saw Xia Duo suddenly fall silent and reminded him softly: "Mage Xia Duo, the Goblins are gathered enough now. If we don't clear them out as soon as possible, it will become harder and harder to clear them later, and they will also charge at the Olive Grove. We are short-handed and cannot fully defend it."

"Oh, right, let's go clear out the Goblins first."

Xia Duo put his suspicions away for the moment, preparing to observe the villagers who came over carefully later. Moreover, Xia Duo had absolute malice toward the Goblins; when he first transmigrated, he was almost scared by a Goblin.

Later, during the Orc War, although he led teams to clear out many Goblin dens, he had never personally killed one. Now, due to his Bloodline Awakening, his strength had greatly increased, and his desire for battle had strengthened significantly.

On the north side of the Olive Grove, there was originally a patch of shrubs. During the previous several Goblin clearing processes, they had all been cut down. It was just that the Goblins seemed to have set their sights on that piece of land; even without any cover, they still gathered there.

Xia Duo looked over from afar; there was a dense mass of them, countless in number, at least several dozen. He really didn't know where these Goblins had come from.

"Captain Wuke, there are quite a lot of those Goblins, and there are only ten of you—"

"Mage Xia Duo, don't worry. Those Goblins don't belong to the same tribe. Sometimes when they fight, they even fight among themselves. Besides, aren't they there too?"

As he spoke, Wuke pointed to the villagers following behind. And when the villagers were mentioned, Xia Duo felt a bit ridiculous. These villagers' clothes were still neat, all uniform linen clothes.

But as for weapons, they were a motley collection: pitchforks, sickles, wooden sticks, hoes, machetes—they used almost whatever they could get their hands on. Xia Duo seriously doubted their combat effectiveness.

However, since Wuke was confident and there had been several clearings before, Xia Duo reluctantly believed them.