Overlord: Start from the Goblin Lair.

Chapter 204 Transformed Refugees

After not seeing him for a long time, the hobgoblin seemed to be more radiant. It seemed that the attack on Carolina satisfied his need for war, and the spiritual satisfaction was reflected on the material level.

"Sir?" The two bear goblins were confused. This didn't seem right. Why did Lord Kalade seem to be very familiar with this person?
If that's the case, then aren't they just like that?
"You two idiots, go clean your boots!" Karad kicked a bear goblin on the butt. "The master here is back! How dare you stop them outside? Do you still want to live?"

"Forget about cleaning my boots," Ron dodged the bugbear that rushed over to offer his courtesy, "See this guy? Driver, you should clean his boots."

Ron didn't feel safe at all with these two 1.89-meter-tall guys surrounding him. Driver, on the other hand, enjoyed this kind of service very much and looked at Ron with gratitude in his eyes.

"This kid has enjoyed eight lifetimes of blood luck following you," Karad laughed. "I heard from Seymour and the others that you set out in a hurry after defeating the elf. What happened? Have you solved it?"

"If you can't solve it, now I'm back with my army, you can use all of them!"

"It's not solved, but this can't be solved by numbers alone," Ron said as he walked in. "But when did you come back? This carriage is quite majestic!"

"That's right! We plundered a caravan of more than a hundred people in Carolina and used their goods and other materials to build this chariot," Karad patted the animal skin on the outside proudly, "If the two sides had not stopped fighting and made peace, I would have prepared three more of these and used them as the vanguard to attack the city walls of Carolina!"

"Those fat-headed slave owners will definitely not be able to withstand this. Then we won't have to stay here anymore and can go conquer more land!"

"Attacking a caravan is one thing, but attacking a city's defenses is another," Ron smiled and shook his head. "It's probably a little difficult to attack the city with this."

"According to the current intelligence, Carolina has a diverse group of talents, including necromancers, shadow spirits, and probably some other remnants of the Hailan Empire. And if we really do this, the attitude of the city-state alliance headed by Rose City will also be a problem."

"It is also necessary to quit while you are ahead."

"I guess so," Karad nodded, "So I pulled all the teams back. We have built a lot of buildings and settlements here, so we can ask them to help us open up and enrich the land."

"You also know how to farm?"

"That's true," the hobgoblin shrugged. "We are not in purgatory. There is no reason to fight every day. We must rest at least."

"But I have to remind you that my men are all serving the war. Peace can only be a temporary transition, otherwise it will inevitably evolve into internal strife and riots. It's true that I am their commander, but I can't stop them."

"Then don't worry," Sera interrupted, "We have fallen into a pile of undead creatures this time. As long as you want to fight, there will be no shortage of opponents!"

"Just as Sera said," Ron nodded, "You don't have to worry about this, but you still have to try to restrain your subordinates. After all, ordinary civilians are still the majority. Once a conflict breaks out between bugbears of this size, people will definitely die." Karad hummed, "The bugbears are still a minority, and they are basically my personal guards. The majority of the team is still goblins. During this time outside, I recruited several goblin nests and gathered a few priests. We can now form a team of spellcasters."

"This Pero is a member of my personal guards," Karad pointed at the bear goblin who was about to polish Yelena's shoes. Shadow Spirit raised his head and saw Ron's disapproving look, and quickly retracted his foot. "He used to lead a small goblin tribe of 20 people. After I defeated him, he followed me. These days I let him stand guard at the door to prevent people from passing by."

"Yes, he told me about it—but why? Did something happen at the trading post?"

"Something did happen," Karad's face darkened when he spoke of this. "Not long after I came back, a group of refugees led by a tiefling came to us. I didn't pay much attention to it at first, especially since the tiefling said he was familiar with you."

"I took them in temporarily, and planned to wait for you to come back to determine their fate. The tiefling said that they should have a separate remote place to live. But after a few days, other guests of the trading post began to lose things one after another. At first, they lost some worthless sundries, and later, goods, coins, and valuables."

"The investigation soon focused on this group of refugees, but guess what? Except for the tiefling, everyone else's appearance and even species have changed!"

The hobgoblin warlord pointed at his yellow eyes and said, "Although I may not remember their specific appearances, I can still count how many elves, humans, and dwarves there are in a team!"

After hearing Karad's description, Ron knew who was coming: "So, how did you solve this problem?"

"There's no way to solve it!" Karad snorted in frustration. "If it were me, I would just separate them and punish them separately. I'm not afraid that they won't confess! But the tiefling kept blocking us, and the people he brought with him started to make trouble for him. Seeing that he is in a difficult position, I can't just do it. I can only lock them up first and wait for you to come back to make a decision."

"Is it Mr. Quest?" Sylvia asked, "I was wondering why he left without saying goodbye that night. So this is it."

"But why would a tiefling bring elves, humans, and dwarves with him? Unless..."

"Unless, they are actually shapeshifters," Ron sighed. "To be honest, I thought the people he selected would at least wait until they were settled before revealing their true colors. I didn't expect something strange would happen so early."

"Victoria, prepare your spells. It looks like if we want to accept these 'refugees', we'll have to go through them first."

"I understand," Victoria nodded. "But let me remind you: although the Domain of Honesty can resist lies, the affected creatures can be aware of the existence of this effect, so they can actively avoid answering questions that are usually answered with lies. When answering questions, they can be evasive and avoid the main point without any feedback. As long as they do not go beyond the scope of the truth, there will be no problem."

"As shapeshifters, they are probably already used to dealing with this kind of spell."

(End of this chapter)