Chapter 1655: Chapter 332: Dawn of a New Era
The Holy Nation has always been cracking down on the population trade, yet the goblins always have their excuses—because the Parthian Ancient Country has a tradition of slavery and trade.
Perhaps it is because Parthia is older, or maybe for reasons even the goblins are unaware of, the Holy Nation has always been particularly tolerant and forgiving towards Parthia.
It is precisely because of Parthia’s existence that these profit-driven goblins have room to maneuver.
The elves are good people.
And good people always adhere to rules and reason.
But now, the Parthian Ancient Country has been completely overthrown... The Celestial Marshal has fallen, the Pillar God has changed. The ancient tradition spanning ten thousand years has perished overnight, Parthia has now become Wanning, and this transition does not face any resistance.
The Holy Nation naturally has no objection, and all neighboring countries must surely praise it. The majority of Pillar Gods and Celestial Marshals favor this change, and Aiwass has even demonstrated the power to slay multiple Celestial Marshals—
Bear in mind, this was a meticulously planned trap crafted over time by a dozen Benevolent Lords of the Sixth Power Level.
And even such a trap was of no use against Aiwass—if all these Celestial Marshals are counted as Aiwass’s kills, he has already slain six Celestial Marshals!
The first one could be attributed to compatibility restraint.
The second one could be considered good luck.
But the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth... what could they be attributed to?
Extraordinary luck? Super luck? Ultimate invincible luck?
Aiwass has now fully proven that he is, in essence, the world’s number one, the god about to ascend to divine status!
And because of this, the entire world has entered an unprecedented era of peace—those harboring sinister intentions dare not make a fuss in front of Aiwass.
And the end of the Parthian era signifies another matter:
That is, from now on... the only country in the world still practicing slavery is now only the goblins.
Of course, strictly speaking, they are not really a country—because goblins do not have a nation of their own. And the trolls of the Southern Continent do not count as a nation either... their fragmented state organized by village, formed by clusters of closely related clans, can only at most be considered a tribe.
If this earthly god dislikes slavery, then what the goblins are doing now is courting death.
Goblins are always profit-oriented; they are born merchants. So who is the largest interest group now?
That would naturally be Aiwass.
Therefore, their most correct choice is to immediately relinquish their enslavement of the trolls, disband their control over all plantations, and return the lands of the Southern Continent to the trolls.
However, there is a blood feud between trolls and goblins—for the trolls, who eat everything, goblins were once their premium livestock, equivalent to cattle. If they now order other goblins to immediately abandon their enslavement of the trolls... this would be very difficult to implement.
Although the smartest and most correct choice is to immediately surrender, although goblins are born merchants, not all goblins are intelligent. Or put differently, the smart ones among them have surely all joined the Goblin Commerce Association and become part of the middle and upper echelons.
The average intelligence of goblins does not actually surpass that of humans. It’s just that due to their high reproduction rate, there’s a greater probability of a mutation producing smart individuals.
Take, for example, the family of Geront—at the time of his Third Month Festival, which was when he was just three months old, he already had fourteen brothers and twelve sisters. Because the goblin gestation period is only two months, a single birth often produces one to three goblins, and they can reproduce year-round. To curb this outrageous fertility rate, goblins turned to monogamy after fleeing the troll threat.
Under these circumstances, a goblin family could produce more than ten baby goblins a year. And in the past, even accounting for troll predation, a significant number of young goblins could survive beyond three months.
At three months, goblins are capable of walking and begin to wean. Once weaned, goblins rapidly develop their brains, and their bodies begin to become visibly ugly and twisted, emitting an unpleasant odor similar to that of uncastrated pigs.
Therefore, trolls prefer to eat goblins under three months old because at this stage, their meat is tender, juicy, and odorless.
It is for this reason that goblins celebrate the "Third Month Festival." As long as they survive three months, they can basically reach adulthood.
Judging by the goblins’ attitude towards the Third Month Festival, it is clear that they have not let go of their old grudges.
In the past, when being preyed upon by trolls, only the smartest goblins could survive. If their brains hadn’t developed by three months, it was hard for them to remain calm during predation and not burden their parents. And back then, goblins had already learned how to use the noisiest and most useless offspring as bait in traps to retaliate against trolls or draw their attention.
So in the era of blood feuds, the goblins who survived were often the smart ones.
But now, with this layer of natural selection gone... a large number of goblins are actually quite dim-witted. After all, their brains are a size smaller than humans’ and elves’, and purely in terms of intelligence, they can’t even compete with the brain-equipped but unused trolls.
To put it more bluntly—
the smart goblins in the Goblin Commerce Association know what to do, but the vast majority of goblins either don’t know or are unwilling to give up.
Goblins ultimately have no country of their own, nor do they have a monarch or laws.
The internal binding power of the Commerce Association is evidently weak—the title "Hidden in the Horse’s Belly" itself arose because Geront’s family was caught up in the Commerce Association’s factional infighting. His entire family was killed on the day of Geront’s Third Month Festival, with only him surviving inside a horse’s belly... the perpetrators were fellow goblin merchants from other factions.
If the Goblin merchants were willing to comply with the orders of the Commerce Association, then the tragedy of the Geront family would never have occurred.
He realized that Aiwass’s morals aligned with the Elves and would naturally abhor slavery.
— And since it was already confirmed, those foolish Goblins could never respect Geront’s suggestions, so he decided to sever ties with them before they embarked on any self-destructive actions!
This is why Geront hurried to Aiwass at this moment.
Before Aiwass could remember, "Oh right, it seems that the Goblins of the Southern Continent are also engaging in slavery," he first confessed and pointed out the many great sins of the Goblins!
This was also a reminder to Aiwass — Look, there are still Goblins to deal with.
"... Precisely because of this, great Face of Halo, Son of Candle, Lord of Miracles."
Geront respectfully kneeled to the ground: "I am willing to devote all my efforts in my remaining life to your numerous achievements and miracles. I swear to eradicate all evils and order my blood relatives and my Commerce Association to accompany me. We will strictly adhere to your numerous prohibitions, abandon what needs to be abandoned, forget what needs to be forgotten... We will revere your brilliance, and spread your gospel.
"... I do not seek your forgiveness for all Goblins, only for my lineage. I have no power to change them, so I must become independent from the Goblin race; from now on, we will no longer be Goblins.
"— I beg you to bestow a name!"
This is undoubtedly an unprecedented initiative.
There have been those who became independent from their former organizations, from former countries... yet never have we heard of someone becoming independent from their former race!
Even Sherlock and Isabel were shocked by Geront’s determination.
"... Truly a wise man, Geront."
After a long silence, Aiwass’s voice slowly echoed: "Are you so sure I can win?"
"— No matter what the enemy is, you will eventually achieve victory. Just as the Sun is destined to rise."
With a firm, powerful, deep, and magnetic voice, Geront flattered Aiwass.
In the face of absolute strength, there are indeed those who are blind to the bigger picture... but fortunately, wise people often hold high positions.
Although foolish people certainly exist, it doesn’t mean they cannot be replaced.
"It’s unnecessary to rename... however, you indeed still have some use for you all."
After much contemplation, Aiwass gave the final pronouncement: "Give your Troll employees an identity, bring them along with the members of your Commerce Association and family, and integrate all of them into Wanning. I give you only half a month to transfer personnel and assets — before the end of the month, I will initiate Judgment on the Southern Continent."
It must be said, Aiwass indeed did not remember the Goblins before.
After all, the descent of the Great Abyss and the nation-building of Wanning had kept him incredibly busy...
But now that he remembered, he indeed had to deal with it — as if completing long-postponed important side quests before entering an unwinnable final battle.
Yes, just like that...
He couldn’t possibly defeat the great enemy, only for these small fry to emerge and steal the spoils, right?
First, eliminate the unruly rats — from the hints of Geront, some Goblins apparently held hostility towards Aiwass.
Yet, perhaps due to the vast disparity, Aiwass harbored no real intent to kill them.
To Aiwass now, freeing the Trolls from Goblin slavery no longer seemed a challenging task.
He held no particular fondness for either Goblins or Trolls. Some among them had committed wrongs against humans and Elves — he would merely conduct a round of vengeance-like judgment, punishing all who committed unforgivable great sins and abolishing the ancient bond-based slavery of the Great Abyss.
After that, let them battle it out.
Alter the terrain to enclose the island, let grudges be settled — whether one side is annihilated, a handshake and reconciliation occurs, both perish together, or they splinter into opposing factions... since these are their blood feuds, they should not trouble others and resolve it amongst themselves.
As for the Goblins willing to step into the new era, let them follow Geront here. Flee to Wanning Country, abide by the new laws, enter the new age. Although Aiwass did not grant a name, it was only because he feared some unknown effect in mysticism — they were factually no longer of the same species as their kin.
After all, even Aiwass himself didn’t know what he would become after August 8th.
Therefore, before that, he wanted to complete all regrets and accomplish all he wished to do.
For that back-against-the-wall, unobserved final battle.
Aiwass decided not to leave any regrets.