Little walkthrough for obtain red shards fast:
1)to increase fast the lust, prostitution on merchant Ole and the guys at goblin surveillance camp. Read the notes you find from Helga and the others as well. (i didn't do the Boneless quest because i want to let a certain faction open for the future updates);
2)Each day, remember to purchase some crystals from the goblin slayer;
3)take the quest for ransom the slave girl from the goblin slavers (be sure to read all the 5 books for learn the goblin language);
4)at slave camp, you can try your luck with the guard: the answers i found correct were "patriarch, the first option in the second question. About the slave number, afair, 17 and 44 were wrong answers;
4-bis)if you don't want to test your luck, just go to the forest (make sure to have some raw ingredients for cook and enough coal), seduce the patrol leader, reach the camp, and accept the various quests. Prostituting will give you 5 crystals each day, the weak slave will give you 20 crystals, and if you put together with the ones from the goblin slayer, you should have 40 crystals for purchase the permanent map of the goblin village.