Published at 25th of March 2019 11:12 pm

Chapter 5: Day 41 to Day 50

Day 41

As the early morning sun rose, I went out alone, searching for prey that I have never eaten before in places that I have not yet visited—I was walking in the blank area of my mental map that I decided to call the Unexplored Zone.

The opportunities to take charge of the morning training have been getting fewer, and it has reached the point where Gobukichi-kun can take over when I'm not present.

In other words, I now have free time in the mornings.

Having no one to spar with, the amount of free time I have is fairly large.

Though it would be problematic if something were to happen, like someone getting hurt for instance. For the time being, I had thought of a good alternative by spending time doing basic training, making sleeping bags or working on the unfinished clothes and armor. Unfortunately, both the clothes and armour as well as the sleeping bags made of shells have already been distributed, so my ingenious plan was now gone.

Which led me to decide that, for now, finding new abilities would be a worthwhile endeavor.

The first prey for today was a 2 meter-class "Argiope (Tentative Name)" with a distinctive carapace which had an enchanting, golden color.

Making a rustling sound when moving, the spider was capable of quick movement and the thread it shot out recklessly was both strong and abundant in volume. Its golden carapace was so much tougher that it couldn't be compared to that of the Demon Spider.

I was struggling with those three threats, but I retaliated with threads of my own, burned it with my fire and finally succeeded in bringing it down by piercing through the Argiope's carapace with my silver arm.

When the spider finally died, I stripped the expensive looking carapace since it could be used for trading and crafting then ate the rest.

I found and ate eight of these guys in total.

Ability [Golden Thread Creation] learned.

Ability [Adamantine Spider's Carapace] learned.

As a result, the abilities that I learned increased my personal defense and the strength of my threads.

This ability makes extremely beautiful threads—and the ability's name, does it refer to the golden colour or that the thread itself is real gold?

It's quite flashy—so I thought that I could give Gobumi-chan and Redhead a present using this.

Still, I doubt that making golden clothes with this thread would be in good taste, so it's probably better if I make some ethnic accessories like the ones I made Gobumi-chan earlier.

My next prey was a Four-Eyed, Four-Eared Red Deer (Tentative Name)sporting a pair of antlers that looked like they were made of Rose Quartz.

It appears that the Red Deer had a wild temperament. The two sharp and beautiful antlers sat on its head, thrusting into the trees in its way, shredding them like a drill, but I pinned its head down using the indestructible silver arm and injected it with poison from my fingertips.

The Red Deer began foaming at its mouth and died within four seconds.

Apart from the antlers that looked like they would sell at a high price because of their beauty, the rest of its fine pelt, that showed no obvious damage, seemed like it would be useful, so I quickly skinned it and threw it together with the antlers into my Item Box, after that I ate its flesh.

Unfortunately, I could not secure any abilities, but after eating two or three there was something of a reaction not unlike learning a new skill, because I was able to strengthen my body, so let's say it turned out ok.

After that, I found a beautiful woman, "Dryad (Tentative Name)", who lived within the woods. However, I didn't kill the nearly-naked girl who had a Greek-like appearance and extraordinary proportions that appeared in front of me, so yeah, I had second thoughts about eating her.

For now, let's just say that having experienced all sorts of things, my [Libido] finally flourished. As I am now, there might be no problem even if I didn't but it seems like Dryad-san had the racial characteristic ability Absorption, so I tried to counter it by using my tireless [Libido].

It was a very sweet time.

Moreover, she leaned onto me and sweetly whispered "Come again~" near my ear, it was extremely sexy the way her coy expression was directed at me.

Goburou obtain Dryad's Mistletoe of Love and Blessing!

Well, it was like that.

When I parted with Dryad-san and walked back up again, I found a medium sized river. When, for no particular reason, I followed the river upstream, I discovered a large waterfall. I then decided to wash off my body in the small lake underneath it; my body was drenched with sweat and emitting a unique odor from doing the deed.

I took off my clothing to swim in the decent size lake, where I was surrounded by green scaled Lizardmen who approached while staying underwater.

That I was too negligent was also a factor but, with my current level of [Presence Sensor], apparently if the enemy is in water the reaction will be slightly slower.

Becoming aware of their presence now was pure luck.

Because of this, I finally became aware that I was having an encounter with strong enemies that I couldn't face head-on. I was getting chills in my spine.

Well, past events aside, I immediately refocused my thoughts. Based on their appearance, I decided to call the Lizardmen in front of me "Green Lizards (Tentative Name)".

The Green Lizards each held a refurbished falchion—a sword that had a curved edge and a straight back—as a weapon. Also, they each had a buckler similar to a round shield that seemed usable even though they were obviously a little damaged.

Unlike Orcs or Kobolds, they were not wearing any leather or metal armor, at best, they were only wearing light clothes made of thick cloth to cover their groins.

The Green Lizards had no armor. But, the green scales packed together covering their entire bodies may be no different from armor, perhaps they are more effective than they seem, and I cannot make light of their attacks from my blind spot using their long and thick tails.

I should consider the tail a third arm. And since the tails were underwater, they represent an additional danger since it's hard to spot them.

There were eight Green Lizards, which is a lot, and they seemed to be used to hunting in groups.

Moreover, they were pointlessly flashing their long tongues and falchions making incomprehensible noises like "hyacchahecchizo~ go~gyakutterowigya~ janbettenbachurua~", but I could read the atmosphere that was filled with killing intent.

Because this hunt was a solo action to get used to my silver arm and confirm its abilities, I had no assistance from allies. They also had another advantage due to the fact that my lower body was restrained by being underwater. Perhaps they were thinking "Even if it's an ogre, we can kill it." —which reminds me, come to think of it, although it's a little late, Gobujii never mentioned about the existence of [Rare Variants]. I'll ask him when I have the chance—, yeah, there's no question about it.

With my overlapping abilities active, I made my move.

With the bottom half of my body still in the water, I can propel myself easily by using [Hydro Hand], in the first place, my leg strength which was strengthened by overlapping my abilities had allowed me to move quickly in the water despite receiving heavy water resistance.

I gained an explosive burst of speed by controlling the water and, along with the help of the current, I was able to stomp the enemy deeply in the chest in an instant. I made a fist with both arms and, with more force than usual, fed them to the Green Lizard.

The Green Lizard reacted well, using its buckler to guard against the first strike of my silver arm at the last moment, but the buckler shattered uselessly in the blink of an eye and a life was crushed.

The blow from my silver arm sent the Green Lizard's arm along with its buckler flying in pieces, without losing momentum I struck its body. The body fared no better than the arm, with scales crushed, flesh torn, and bones broken, all of which are results of the silver arm having penetrated through them in its path.

Incidentally, my flesh and blood fist was stopped after crushing the scales, bruising the flesh and breaking the bones. It was a magnificent blow, but it was incomparably weaker than the silver arm.

Well, I'd say it's to be expected.

Repeatedly striking and occasionally kicking, it didn't even take 30 seconds to kill the Green Lizards. I had caught the ones trying to escape with my thread and lightning earlier, so I didn't unexpectedly lose any weakened prey.

After killing the Green Lizards, I put their armaments in the item box, and since their bodies are difficult to cut apart, I ate them whole.

Ability [Aquatic] learned.

Ability [Lizardman Language] learned.

The Green Lizard's flesh and bone had an unusual taste and consistency, It was rather delicious.

Wanting to eat some more, but unable to find any more Lizards nearby, I gave up for now.

I walked toward the Unexplored Zone of my mental map that was automatically created by my [Mental Mapping] ability.

After walking a little while I came out of the forest, from there I found a large expanse of grassland.

It was the first time since my reincarnation that I saw something other than forests, mountains or rivers. The blowing wind was pleasant.

As I was having such light thoughts, I found a cow charging towards me. I decided to name the human-faced cow with two sharp horns "Bicorn".

"For the straight on charging Bicorn, I'd use nothing less than the Jolt Counter!!" while thinking that, I hit it head on with my silver arm, and it sank all the way to the elbow and left the Bicorn as a splattered corpse.

[T/N: Jolt Counter reference to Hajime no Ippo.]

Yeah, today I had enough confirmation of the silver arm's usefulness. No matter how many times I thank Velvet, who I got the silver arm from, it wouldn't be enough.

"Namu". I offered a prayer for him again.

There was only one Bicorn and although I ate it until I became round, I didn't gain any abilities, but I was satisfied with having yakiniku by myself on top of having my body strengthened. Furthermore, the Bicorn's entire body tasted delicious.

I decided to hold a yakiniku party with everyone using the Bicorn I killed as soon as I got back.

After that, since it was just the right time, I hunted some Night Vipers as a souvenir, came home, ate, and then slept.

* * *

Day 42

Among my five Hobgoblin minions, I identified two who were suitable to become mages.

I immediately transferred them from my direct command to Hobusei-san's «Magician» corps in order to have them begin training.

As I accompanied them out of curiousity, I discovered that Hobusei-san had scores of magic-related books in her bedroom. From what I heard, it seems that each of them had been laboriously collected from the plundered goods until now.

Hearing her story, it seems that even Hobusei-san didn't start off knowing three systems of magic like she does now.

Individuals with magical aptitude had the spell for the basic magic system best suited for themselves—for me it was [End], for Hobusei-san it seemed to be [Fire]—inscribed in their head, like I was, and when their level increased, they gained additional spells, but only superior versions of the spells they had in the beginning; they cannot handle spells for other magical systems.

It was to be expected, since they wouldn't have known the key spells.

However, as a result of studying from the books she gathered, Hobusei-san had expanded the range of magical systems she can use. She was such a hard-worker.

Then, it seemed that Hobusei-san was happy because this is the first time she had apprentices, so her mood was at an all time high to teach the two hobgoblins the fundamentals of magic, and I got myself some books and laid down to read so I didn't hinder their training.

"Hm hm, ooh, I see~", I said as I studied ways of handling other magic systems, like [Fire] system magic, [Water] system magic, besides the [End] magic I had been using up to now for creating impressively destructive lances.

Well, it appears that the [Origin] attribute that I possess is convenient since it allows me to immediately make use of other magic systems. Having bad affinity with a magic system and only being able to bring out half the power or not being able to use it at all etc, others will, without exception, have problems, but I can do it easily. It also seems to strengthen my memory, so yeah, it makes it easy for me.

Well, putting minor details aside, since I can use it now I'm not going to complain. [Pyrokinesis] and [Electro master] are probably better, because there is an advantage in being able to use them without signs unlike Magic, it may be pointless to remember the spells.

Still, it was no problem since having a wide range of usable magic is not a bad thing.

After about three hours had passed, I picked up a new book from Hobusei-san's collection and started reading it, I have finally found a use for my skill [Job-Enchanter].

Well you see, [Job-Bishop] is slightly different from [Job-Druid] but there were many similar portions so I quickly became able to use it, but [Job-Enchanter] is completely different when compared to [Job-Magician] so I couldn't skillfully use it.

That was why I had halfway neglected it until now.

Oh, that's right.

[Magician] is fundamentally a technique that releases something into the open, while [Enchanter] is an art that intervenes with materials.

Yeah, that's how it is, while magicians can do things similar to enchanters like strengthening materials, leaving the issue of support aside, a magician's enchants are much weaker than an enchanters, in exchange, enchanters are completely useless in combat.

Yeah, for now I think I'd better treat it differently to magic.

Leaving aside the hard part for a while, for now I can use the skill [Enchanter]. Since she had previous experience, I went to Blacksmith-san.

As soon as she saw my face she pouted a little which made me slightly confused, then she let me practice using various things that she had made.

I enchanted knives made from purified spirit stones and ones made from iron.

As a result, the knives made from Fire Spirit Stones could shoot out stronger fire, the ones made from Water Spirit Stones could spout more water, while the Iron Knives' strength and sharpness increased drastically.

Yeah, I was surprised at how easy [Enchanter] was to use. You can make powerful weapons comparatively easier, than making them the non-magical way.

Well, behind the scenes there were numerous prototypes that were smashed up because of failed enchantments…

The success rate is low if the enchanter isn't too familiar with enchanting.

Then this and that happened, time passed, I went hunting, ate, and then slept.

* * *

Day 43

Gobumi-chan looks moody lately. It started around two days ago, I first noticed it when I returned from solo-hunting.

Why is it? I asked Gobukichi-kun about this and he just tilted his head saying he doesn't know, when I consulted with Gobue-chan about this she told me that I know what I did, and as I asked Hobusato-san and Hobusei-san they just said "How nice to be young~" and such, in the end everyone evaded my question.

When I went to Redhead since I really don't know why, she cutely puffed her cheeks and turned away. I was also told by Blacksmith-san that she was a little moody when I went to her place, "I've also been wondering about that since yesterday, Why?" as soon as I asked her this, she showed a shocked and slightly angry expression on her face and went somewhere.

While feeling worried, I tried going to the sisters' place, they forcibly fed me something with a little poison mixed in saying, "This is a prototype, please enjoy." Without any emotion, when I tried eating it, it tasted delicious—just to remind you, poison won't work on me—so I surprised them by telling them to make it again.

I wonder why?

Getting really stressed about it, I went to Alchemist-san and told her what I felt, she told me the reason while she was still looking shocked.

So yeah, it seems like the cause of it was jealousy. Well, when I had the affair with Dryad-san, she left a hickey on my neck and when they noticed it, they got upset.

Since it was harmless I didn't really mind it.

So that's why, having solved the reason I nodded but Alchemist-san suddenly hugged me tightly and greedily gave me a deep kiss.

Passionately, our tongues entwined— wait what, we are exchanging saliva?! While I was thinking, after a while I was released.

"This is my thanks for saving me and my feelings for you." was what she said, I replied "Is that so?" nodding, she looks at me for a moment, with teary eyes and quivering lips, losing her balance I held her close, and thinking what if I also touched here, I got in the mood and the situation escalated.

So as not to harm her, I lovingly embraced her body and as soon as we started flirting in a concealing manner, Gobumi-chan stormed in.

I looked like a husband caught having an affair in the way I panicked, but surprisingly I got embraced instead.

Then she said "Do it with me too!"

Compared to when she was a Goblin, as soon as she turned into a hobgoblin she became really cute so my feelings for her wouldn't be a problem, as soon as I was about to do this and that, intruders came in one after another!!

Well, I don't want to explain what exactly happened next, truthfully I can't do that however; Blacksmith-san, Redhead and the sisters who intruded have decided to spend the night together in an orgy.

Using [Metamorphosis] and [Self-Body Fluid Control] was a big success. Not even in my dreams did I imagine that I would use my own twisting tentacle-like things this way since my reincarnation.

And I didn't think I would use it on so many individuals at once.

After that, I didn't expect I could use [Self Body-Fluid control] to turn my body fluid into an aphrodisiac.

By the way, I sealed off all the exits of the room with my threads in order to prevent the other goblins from peeping, and used [Aero Master] to possibly prevent the voices from leaking out of the room.

My thoughts:

Yep, it was a satisfying night that felt awfully good.

It's just that, because of my overwhelming stamina, I did not feel any weaker no matter how many times I came, on top of that, it was so strong that if I hadn't used my [Metamorphosis] I would have broken them for sure.

"Nevertheless, it was very intense", I thought.

I now have important people to protect.

Hmm… I really didn't plan any of this.

Well, it can't be helped. There's no doubt I am happy with this.

* * *

Day 44

I felt something with my [Presence Sensor].

Because the ability's level had increased recently, its species name—though it's only the Tentative name I gave them—will be displayed if I had met it once, if I knew their real name, then that name will be displayed. Furthermore, it will indicate whether it's an ally or an enemy. It was a handy ability.

Based on that, it seems that the ones coming over are Gobukichi-kun and two of his subordinates, I started to get up wondering if something happened, then I became aware of the beings lying down cuddling me tightly.

Because I couldn't bring myself to wake the girls who were sleeping soundly due to the fatigue from last night's intense orgy, I slipped through using [Metamorphosis] to prevent waking them up.

Then I exited the room made from thread and had a talk with Gobukichi-kun. According to their story, it seems that three long-eared humanoids had come strutting into the cave's entrance.

Whether to attack and kill them or invite them into the cave was an important decision that needed to be made by me who was the top. Because they couldn't make a decision yet, they had the strangers wait outside.

This was a good idea, the result of their education bearing fruit. If it was before, they wouldn't have thought twice before attacking them.

For now I took out a bottle (filled with water from the lake the other day) from my [Item Box], I quickly washed myself with the water inside to give myself the minimum presentable appearance and then went to meet them, they were "Elves (Tentative Name)" consisting of one man and two armed women who looked like his escorts.

The three had fairly good looks, both the man's ceremonial dress and the two women's light metal armor were superior quality products. Taste and other things aside, it was easy to guess their respective social status.

Judging from their appearance, the rapiers hanging from the hips of the two women in the back were [Rare] class magic items, other than that they also had ring-type and bracelet-type magic items, all of them [Rare] class.

Unless you have the appropriate social status, collecting equipment of this quality is impossible.

Incidentally, although I thought "The adventurers last time had some nice equipment huh?", most of their high quality equipment are goods looted from dungeons, for that reason, it is inevitable that for high level adventurers, their equipment is also of high quality.

But for those who don't venture inside dungeons, it's necessary to do so through financial power, that's how it is.

Also, their fairly high-handed attitude is one of the main factors. Well, this was perhaps a racial trait.

While suppressing violent remarks like "For someone who came along without making any appointments, they sure act self-important, let's tear them apart and eat them." in my heart, I asked for the reason for the visit, it seems that we fell under their jurisdiction blah blah blah.

Putting in order what they said over the long chat, it seems that the main point was that they wanted me and my followers to become their subordinates—which appears to mean their slaves, by the way they speak.

Also, "There is news in support of the fact that the inferior humans are preparing an attack soon aimed at getting the Elves' treasure, and to make some preparation, we wanted some strong pawns".

They concluded that I, who had killed the original Lord of the Mountain "Red Bear"—it seemed to have become a rumor lately. Well, a black Ogre wearing armor made of Red Bear fur would stand out—who had in turn preyed on the elven hunters, was the one most suitable.

The reward they offered was a large amount of food to be shared among the goblins, and a [Unique] Class magic item or two elven beauties for me.

This, is an exceptional reward for an ogre (or so it seems. According to Gobujii anyways).

Buying a [Unique] class magic item, even the worst of them, would cost over 10 million gold. And of course, the price varies by a lot depending on its abilities. It seems some are items that are worth more than 30 million gold.

The reward isn't an [Artifact] as was expected, but it is still very expensive.

The two elven maiden I saw in front of me, they were very beautiful. It's bad of me to say this, but they were certainly more beautiful than the Redhead and co. Personal preference aside, beauty is merely in the eye of the beholder.

I was somewhat surprised by their reward, but it isn't hard to see from the fact that they were willing to offer this much that they were at their wits' end. While on the surface they seem to show composure, perhaps they would lose greatly when it comes to fighting strength. Really, this is just another typical story.

Afterwards, the elven royalty would be enslaved, this was no laughing matter.

Violence is surely about numbers. Even with individuals with overwhelming power, there is too much precedent in stories where they would soon be crushed by the masses.

I would've gotten on board with this story if it was a few days ago, but because we had already inherited better quality and stronger magic items from Velvet, my heart wasn't moved.

It's a shame about the two elven girls, but well, I'm telling this now, I have no need for spies or traitors.

While appearance is of course valuable, but for interaction in the long term, it's what's inside that's truly important.

In the end, I clearly refused the Elves' offer.

Leaving out the official reason, I concluded the matter by saying "Why should I care about your situation."

The inferior humans blah blah blah were of no concern to me and I had different interests and ideas, so I'm having no part of any conflict that breaks out. But regardless of the war's goodness or evilness, it's certainly convenient for me because it would be a good opportunity to obtain a lot of abilities, and the rewards weren't bad, either.

They had lots of quality goods, there were only a few drawbacks.

But being unilaterally ordered around with such an obvious condescending attitude, who wouldn't hate it? All the more if the job involves risking one's life. I wanted to shout out loud and clear "Show us some sincerity!"

"At the least, you could humbly get out", I warned internally, though without any particular meaning.

A few seconds after, the elven male's face changed into a stupid expression. Apparently thinking he wouldn't be refused. Using metaphors to call us fools, thinking that I wouldn't notice — a common ogre has muscle for a brain, thinking I am the same. Maybe. —with an unforgettable condescending look.

Restarting —passing what would be a fatal amount of time on the battlefield — from the beginning, putting into order what he'd seen and heard to understand their meanings, the elven male turned red from anger, before he can say anything I glared at him silently.

I overlapped the activation of [Snake's Evil Eye], [Intimidating Glare], and then [Intimidation of the Strong], they worked perfectly.

Yep, it's unexpected that you wouldn't be able to breathe until I released [Intimidation of the Strong].

Finally able to breathe at last, his face paled from the terror causing me to smirk, further scaring him.

Because of an ogre's scary face. And other things.

Making him this nervous gave me a feeling of satisfaction. I then grabbed the elven male by the neck with my silver arm and yanked him, quickly moving into the escorts' line of sight, I dragged the elf by ear into his hidden escorts' view and ordered them to lower their bows. An arrow flew toward my face at the same moment, which I stopped by grabbing it with my mouth.

I made some crunching sounds as I ate the arrow, I gave them a gaze that told them that if they had anymore reaction I would shred his neck. Well, I merely flashed a grin and smiled.

They called out to me with a somewhat weak voice, but I just ignored them saying "Yeah, yeah, is that so", while tightening my grip to send them a message. I smiled again at the male elf who was giving orders loudly while in a state of confusion, and confirmed that the escorts who concealed themselves and aimed their arrows at me did as ordered by overlapping my [Enlarged Field of Vision] and [Predict], then, without releasing him, I slowly warned the elf in his ear.

"I don't feel like taking part in your 'request' so I'm rejecting it this time, but well, if it's about your home being invaded by humans, then I won't be reluctant to cooperate. Since we live in the same forest after all, I'll go deal with it accordingly. I've decided to do this much."

"But, if you're thinking of some kind of revenge for this and any of my subordinates or important people get injured, you're getting eaten. You and all your allies will be killed and eaten.", using [Intimidation of the Strong] once again, I drilled this into their heads.

And then to make it clear that I was capable of that much violence I took out [Kazikli Bey] from my Item Box, stabbed the ground with the red lance, and used the [Army of Blood-dyed Crimson Spears(Tepes)] ability contained within.

[T/N : Tepes is the Romanian version of his Turkish nickname, it means "impaler" or "spike".]

By doing this, red lances suddenly appeared in front of the eyes of all the Elves that came today. Even the ones that should have been hidden.

After displaying my abilities, the looks on the Elves' faces changed, while seeing them off scurrying back home, I looked at the red lance in my hand.

I don't understand the theory, but I can make red spears appear on anything stabbed by this Kazikli Bey and everything within a radius of 100 meters from the point it was stabbed into. This is only the second time I've used this ability, but having red spears come out of the ground and trees felt a bit surreal.

Well, its sharpness and length are good, it's convenient for me who is an Ogre to use, there isn't any dissatisfaction because it's an optimal tactical weapon that specializes in "piercing and stabbing".

However, there are many magical items that can be capable of this and more, this world is really difficult to understand.

From the contents of my little chat with the Redhead and company, if I think of it as a fantasy world where I made an inkling of progress, it's obvious with the existence of such unreasonable bundles and overtechnology, this world is seriously twisted.

Some say that [Artifacts] are relics of gods, but I still feel it's completely out of balance with the current civilizations.

Setting that aside for now, by having done this much, I doubt they will even consider revenge. It is unlikely, but it's difficult to say there's zero percent probability. So let's just think about it when it happens.

Oh, yeah.

In addition, the elven male whom I threatened is one of the candidates for the next clan chief, it seems very fitting.

The Village of Elves is deep inside the Unexplored Zone that has yet to be mapped. Now going to see it this time might be interesting.

I was able to guess and infer their meaning to some extent with [Orc Language].

It is a convenient ability to use with races whose way of speaking is greatly different from ours like Green Lizards, but there are races of humanoids who understand similar languages like ogres, goblins and humans, even if I didn't have it, it's still somehow possible to have a conversation with them.

That was how I understood the Elves' speech. I still didn't have the language ability since I haven't eaten any elf yet, though I manage to communicate. But it would certainly be easier with it, yeah, the ability would help with understanding the peculiarity of their words — namely their meaning within their dialect.

For example [Great] turns into → [tiring] and [Scary] turns into → [tiring]

Well, that kind of feeling.

After chasing the Elves away, I went hunting as usual, tonight will also be hot and intense.

Day 45

Early morning, today I wandered through the forest alone.

Going to the Unexplored Zone of my mental map, I discovered a Gray Slime (Tentative Name) that looked like a superior subspecies of green slime. The reason why its tentative name is this way was because of its gray color, it's size is twice that of the first Green Slime I met, the overall speed of its movement and twisting tentacles is different, and so is the digestive power of its bodily liquids as they scatter.

As soon as I fought it, I realized it was quite tough compared to Green slimes. More like, it is somewhat strange.

Finally remembering that they are the same, I attacked it with a fire-based magic but the first strike wasn't very effective since it didn't die, "Then how about [Pyrokinesis]?" when I tried it out while thinking of this, it died pretty easily.

From this fact, it seems like the Gray Slimes are resistant to certain fire-based magic. I picked up the gray nucleus that was rolling and placed it in my item box, then I proceeded to search for more Gray Slimes. Wonder what kind characteristics they have, further investigation is needed was what I said to myself.

After about an hour, I had roughly hunted 20 Gray Slimes.

As things turn out, I can't use any of the magic systems against Gray Slimes effectively aside from [End].

Based on that, not only fire-based magic but Gray Slimes are resistant to magic itself, unless it's at a certain level, anything below that would be neutralized. Also, if you add up its ability to nullify physical attacks it would work perfectly together.

The basic slime ability [Physical Damage Reduction] that can significantly reduce or nullify direct physical attacks below certain levels, and slime species are supposed to be weak against magic but these guys gained a little resistance toward it. With its decent speed and high digestive power, a normal enemy became a formidable opponent.

Though it's weird, I wonder why they die so quickly when I use [Pyrokinesis]' flames and [Electro Master]'s lightning.

Are they not considered magic? I'm oblivious on that subject, I couldn't really understand the "Essential facts/ Ways of killing", so it doesn't really matter since I don't care.

I took 20 pieces of the gray nucleus in the item box and ate them all at once. The candy-like nucleus is about 5cm in diameter. Though it is tasteless, it really feels like candy just by popping it into my mouth and rolling it around.

Ability [Physical Damage Resistance] learned.

Ability [Self-Replication] learned.

Ability [Infused Liquid Restoration] learned.

It seems like the ability I got from the Gray Slime wasn't [Physical Damage Reduction] but a superior version named [Physical Damage Resistance]. I was convinced, it looked strong.

By the way, it seems like a slime would multiply by increasing its volume to some extent and it would divide itself into two. No, I was able to understand this as soon as I learned [Self-replication].

I bit my finger and let the blood flow, soon after the blood began twisting and wriggling, I created a crimson colored mini version of me. And it seems like me and my little self are connected to each other to some degree since the ability name is [Self-Replication], I can share both my thoughts and vision with it.

I shared vision with the mini-me who I can see in my field of vision, while the original me can be seen in mini-me's field of vision view, it was a bizarre situation.

The feeling of the skin and sense of touch may be impossible to share as expected, but it's a good ability since it's so convenient, even I think it's foul play.

It's not a kind of ability that could be demonstrated immediately, give it enough time to multiply and its usefulness would be shown. It can be used to gather intelligence or to determine the battle strength easily.

The materials seems to be my blood, though it's easy to replenish it since I can suck blood from others.

To end it on a good note, I went hunting and ate animals such as Demon Spider, Argiope and the Triple-Horned Horse.

* * *

Day 46

Instead of hunting today, I planned to make presents for Gobumi-chan, Redhead, Alchemist-san, Blacksmith-san, and the Sisters.

Not armor, but rather cute clothes for travelling would be good is what I thought, I will measure their sizes for the time being. Though I may have already seen every corner of their bodies, I could only roughly guess their size, I really don't know their exact sizes.

It shouldn't be too flashy as to attract dirty looks from travelers when going into town, but I think the design shouldn't be too modest either. It needs to be able to provide protection in case something happens, so I knitted a beautiful cloth (with prior loot) with normal thread.

And in addition in case something happens I would secretly make a small clone of myself with my blood and permeate it at the back, so that it would notify me in case of emergencies. If it comes to it, they could work as diversions before I arrive.

I made some clothing with threads and replication which have higher defense compared to the inferior armours from before, feeling that they are a little lonely, I made some bracelets and accessories with the Red Deer's Rose Quartz antlers and Demon Spider's carapace as material. They aren't exactly regal, but they are beautiful nonetheless.

They were delighted, seeing them made the effort spent well worth it.

That night, everyone was a little intense.

Afterwards Gobumi and Redhead wore the clothes everyday during hunting or training, though I think they should stop it. Since it may tear the clothes.

Well, I think it would be alright.

* * *

Day 47

When I woke up as usual, from that moment my [Intuition] sprung into action.

It's whispering to me that I should stay in the cave hiding myself quietly, and that if I move I'll regret it.

I activated [Hiding] that got boosted from [Job-Assassin] and [Hide Presence] at the same time as I headed toward the back of the cave where Blacksmith-san, the sisters, Alchemist-san and so forth were had made themselves at home.

I relaxed, lately it has become my hobby to fill in the unexplored area in my mental map, yesterday I created a replicate of me out of my flesh and blood that stood to my waist — overall ability is halved, because it behaves in a certain way, it also has some free will — and sent it out.

This replica had the ability [Infused Liquid Restoration] that I secured from the Grey Slime,

which is an ability that makes it so that if it receives limb damage or gets pierced by something it can to a certain degree restore itself by absorbing the necessary amount of water, which is why I tried making it.

Its current combat ability is rather low compared to (the original) me, but it is still strong to a reasonable degree, so it won't get killed. It can also run fast.

Using [Metamorphosis], the replica changed its appearance to that of a large wolf and sprinted outside, after seeing it off, I went back inside as planned.

I assigned some goblins of my generation from the logistical support group «Patri» to assist Blacksmith-san because it would be inconvenient all by herself, having considered making new cookery for the sisters' place, and having analyzed the old medicine that for some reason hadn't degraded at all which we secured from Velvet's inheritance at Alchemist-san's place. After having done all these things, time passed.

And then it happened.

Basically, the place where Gobukichi-kun and the others were practicing is directly linked to the cave's entrance, it's a place called the Great Hall. It had the largest space within the dwelling, here Gobukichi-kun, Gobumi-chan, Redhead, and the others were hard at practice, wielding wooden swords.

At that time my [Presence Sensor] detected some enemy contacts approaching the entrance. The species name on display was "Elf". Furthermore, the name of the Elf male I drove out the other day was mixed in among them. Even I didn't expect that they would turn up this early.

Hurriedly I called the goblins inside and made preparations. Luckily, since they were already in the middle of training, they already had their equipment on, so they finished preparing in just a short time.

After a simple inspection of the equipment, we hid oursElves in the trenches we made beforehand near the Great Hall, because of that, we simply waited in place where it's easy to spring a surprise attack against the invading Elves. I had Gobue-chan continue mining for the time being, the sound of her mining that can be heard throughout the cave will be used for cover.

A short time later, the armed group of Elves entered the cave.

Hobgoblins like Gobukichi-kun notwithstanding, for the Goblins as they were to win against the twenty five quiet and swift yet bloodlust Elves armed with specialized weapons, even when facing them three to one, these are hard to deal with enemies it seems.

The mood was already full of hostile intent, but still, I first need to capture them and hear their story.

Alone, I flew out from behind cover while using my [Intimidating Roar] and [Scaled Horse's Neigh] together loudly and made them flinch, furthermore I immediately activated [Intimidating Glare] and [Snake's Evil Eye] which gave me the chance to capture them with my threads.

After lining up the captured Elves, I beat up the elf who was the next clan chief (and other titles of no concern)'s face with my red spear while I had a small talk with them.

Yeah, I seemed to have deeply injured his pride.

Because two days had passed, his fear of me had faded a little bit, once he was able to think a little clearly, he decided that he had no choice but to kill the one who looked down on them thinking, "Why does a noble Elf such as me blablabla…, if I'm not afraid of the likes of the ogre this and that…", so he took along elite level Elves from among his subordinates, allowed himself to be controlled by his emotions and attacked, and as a result, they arrived at the current predicament of having had the tables turned on them.

I pity the Elves for working under such a boss. The two female Elves from the other day also hung their heads before my eyes. I was a little curious and tried to speak to them, but they refused to listen.

The damage the subordinates had to bear for the sake of an incompetent boss struck a chord with me, so as expected, killing them as they were did not sit well with me, and I did the following more or less out of sympathy.

Give up on the next clan chief candidate Elf, he's dead.

Fight in a mock battle with Goblins and Hobgoblins other than me, without killing your opponent, make them faint or otherwise make them incapable of fighting. If you succeed at this you win.

If you win the mock battle, you won't get killed, if you lose, you get killed and eaten.

That was the gist of it.

As I finished explaining, I untied the threads for all of them except for the next clan chief candidate Elf male.

When I did that, one highly loyal Elf tried to kill me, but I broke his chin with a hook and gave him a concussion, I then grabbed the unsteadily moving Elf by his head and shoulders, and killed him by twisting his neck until it broke.

I told Redhead, Blacksmith, and the others to stay inside until I come back, then devoured the fresh corpse, heart and all.

Ability [Elf Language] learned.

The Elves didn't stop trembling.

Because their bodies were frozen in fear, I said "The fight with the humans is close, and yet you're fine with dying unseemly deaths in this kind of place? Don't you want to live?", to put some fighting spirit in them.

Those were my own words, and yet they sounded shameless.

But still, for now it had an effect, everyone became motivated.

And then, the mock battle began.

The final result, of the 23 people who participated in the mock battle, only 17 people survived.

I had no choice but to say my condolences to the people who got Gobukichi-kun, Gobumi-chan, and Hobusato-san. Of the ordinary Elves and hobgoblins it'd usually end up with Elves winning nine out of ten times, but the strength of Gobukichi-kun and the others who have continued to train already greatly surpassed that of an average hobgoblin.

Though it's regrettable for the defeated who beg for their lives, there's no such thing as mercy for those who come to kill us, I killed them after saying that.

It's a pity, but this is war. Besides, it was the other side that pulled the trigger first. There's no need for sympathy.

The six who lost — — all were male. No, it became that way after I rigged the matches because intentionally killing a beautiful woman or girl is unpleasant—— were all delicious.

Ability [Inhabitant of the Forest] learned.

Ability [Elemental] learned.

Ability [Archery Proficiency] learned.

Ability [Tracking] learned.

Ability [Hiding] learned.

When I finished eating the losers, I turned around to the winning Elves who were staring blankly in a dazed state, after putting all their equipped magical items in one place, I tied them up with thread again.

They screamed that they weren't released, but I declared that I didn't particularly say they'd be "released".

Only that you wouldn't be killed, I couldn't know if they misunderstood being released. Although I help those who are one-sidedly oppressed such as Redhead, I won't be a hypocrite and have an ounce of mercy for the "Enemy" that has attacked.

This mercy is "Not killing".

That's how it is… Breaking it down there are ten men and seven women, let's cooperate to increase the number. Oh, I said I hated doing it by force before, and I will never do it by force. It's true.

But I administer the stimulant made from my body fluids to all of them, I had them thrown in jail and gave a strict order that they shall not be touched unless they wanted to be touched themselves.

Because they may relieve each other in the same room, they were placed in their own separate prison cell.

Though the male Elves can't bear any children, well, they could still be used for relieving one's libido. They look good anyway.

But geez, I'm rather grateful for their timing. The goblins of the same generation as me, and the older goblins could no longer be satisfied with just the female goblins, and a lot of stress has accumulated. Because of the harsh training we've had until now, they've somehow been distracted from this issue, but they've gotten used to the training so their limit is fast approaching.

That's why I am grateful for this.

… Are you saying I'm acting like a villain? Nope, it's troubling me that you've gotten the wrong idea. In the first place, it was the other side who started it.

They had lost as a result of trying to kill us, and yet you tell us, who were attacked, to release the prisoners peacefully? That's just not possible. We were unreasonably attacked, so if we strike them back there's no way that would count as being villains.

We didn't even have rules regarding prisoners of war to begin with, so even doing things like this is no problem. What one does with them is a question for them based on their own feelings.

Also, although it's me saying this about myself, let me say it first. I still believe I made the rules relatively fair, in which I did.

At such a sight, the Elf ringleader began to say something, but I ignored him.

After the 17 Elves had been taken to jail, the one Elf left behind became material for various things. Things like new torture methods and lectures on vital spots of humanoids.

Of course, he ended up in my stomach in the end.

Ability [Overcharge] learned.

Ability [Discount] learned.

[T/N: These are named after Ragnarok Online's Merchant Skill.]

I ate a fair number, the individual ability of those I ate was high and on top of that they held duplicates of the useful skills so I got a lot of useful skills, yeah, I was so thankful that I could even pray for them.

* * *

Day 48

I went out hunting in search of Kobolds, Demon Spiders, Hind Bears, Argiope and other creatures; it was a veritable monster buffet.

It's been a while since I had such a peaceful and mundane day.

Of course at night…

* * *

Day 49

When I woke up Gobukichi-kun had experienced rank up and turned into an ogre.

It was because he single-handedly killed a Hind Bear recently, I thought it'd be soon and it was as I expected.

He hadn't turned into a normal ogre either, but a subspecies.

The color of his skin was "Dark Metallic Red".

The body color was similar to that of the Red Bear. In most cases having red skin is proof that you have been blessed by the [Demigod of Fire's Divine Protection].

When I asked if he could breathe fire, he blew fire as if he was a flamethrower.

Him somehow turning into a subspecies was probably because of habitually using main arms with fire abilities like the fire spirit stone-studded burning Crescent Axe and later the huge double-edged battleaxe as tall as himself, a magic item from Velvet's inheritance named [Decapitating Axe of Demonic Heat].

Also, his skin shines with metallic luster, this seems to be [Demigod of War's Divine Protection] in addition to [Demigod of Fire's Divine Protection], so says Gobujii. His arm responds with a metallic clang when lightly struck.

"Being supported by two divine protections is great isn't it?", I asked Gobujii, "If you call it unusual then sure, it is, although not as unusual as you.", he remarked.

Ah, talent is it?

"So Gobukichi-kun, how about a spar?", I asked him with a smile that is somewhat charming despite being an ogre.The result is: Gobukichi-kun was way too strong.

He was 2m 80cm in height, 30cm taller than me, with shakudou skin and muscular body, his base specs without abilities easily surpassed mine in physical strength and stamina.

[T/N: Shakudou is a decorative alloy of gold and copper, reddish-yellow but can be treated to form an indigo patina.]

I also had increased my body's abilities using [Absorption] and on top of that, I was a rare variant, so I didn't think I would lose to Gobukichi-kun who was a subspecies, but yeah, it seemed I lost because of build allocation.

Putting it in simple terms, If I was an all-rounder type with my points divided equally between my physical strength, endurance, and intelligence, then Gobukichi-kun was an aggression specialist-type who concentrated his points on battle-related stats.

It's also obvious if you look at his muscles.

That said, I still surpass him in terms of hand to hand combat techniques. It was a close match, but Gobukichi-kun is unmistakably a worthy rival.

Concluding the spar, we gave each other a firm handshake and had a face-to-face talk.

Gobukichi-kun who I had initially roped in as a disposable pawn had grown this much, this is frankly speaking far beyond my expectations.

Right now he had the monopoly of being my right hand and a close companion, he was someone I couldn't do without.

To congratulate him for his rank-up, I put some equipment in order for Gobukichi-kun.

His main weapon didn't change from the huge battleaxe-type magic item [Decapitating Axe of Demonic Heat], but compared to when he was a hobgoblin, where it was too heavy if he didn't hold it with both hands, by becoming an Ogre he could wield the [Decapitating Axe of Demonic Heat] that weighed several dozen kilograms with one hand, so I once again equipped him with a shield.

The shield I gave him was an unrefined massive black iron wall-like tower shield known as the [Black Ogre's Chopping Board].

One of the magic items from Velvet's inheritance like the battle axe, its rank is likewise [Ancient].

Its abilities are [Weight Reduction], [Durable] and [Impact Reflection] and it's thus extremely sturdy. If Gobukichi-kun is equipped with these items, breaking through his defenses would be quite difficult even for me.

His armor was made from my thread, the hind bears' furs and some other stuff that Gobukichi-kun had hunted himself, these are again replaced with a portion of [Unique]-class metal armor from Velvet's inheritance, customized to suit Gobukichi-kun.

Yeah, he has a great strength. Actually, he has an absurd strength.

Despite holding the huge double-edged two-handed battle axe lightly in one hand as if it were a tree branch, he still had the appearance of an experienced soldier handling it skillfully.

It's easy to imagine a black, huge and sturdy tower shield that covers three quarters of a gigantic body blocking enemy attacks, with magical items as support, long coat that I made by combining the durable fur of a Hind Bear with the armor of magical items that doesn't lose to the Red Bear's, with an Ogre, yeah, he had become an existence I very much wouldn't want to fight nor encounter, if I were human.

The intensity of the fully-armed Gobukichi-kun was unmistakably higher than me when I just became an Ogre. Equipment notwithstanding, it was something fierce. Well, there's also the fact that it's hard to compare to myself.

But nevertheless, after examining him for an hour, it's as if he's a machine soldier from somewhere, hm. Even I had to look upwards to meet his gaze, so if it's a normal human, how are they supposed to do that. It's easy to guess.

I spent the rest of the day inside doing various odd jobs.

The Elves have not yet succumbed to the lust, so they're still in jail. It might be because of their sense of pride that's suppressing their desire, or perhaps it's their racial biology having a resistance to the desire itself, or maybe both?

"That's why Gobujii, stop coming here every hour…"

* * *

Day 50

I had a dream.

It was quite the strange dream.

An old man that looks familiar was there saying something along these lines, "Sorr— my thanks—" "—a favor" "This is —— Please"

When I woke up it felt like I have forgotten something, I cannot help but think this is something very important. Isn't this something that usually happens on some flag-like scene?

I tilted my head trying to remember what was that in full detail, but to no avail, I couldn't. It feels like my memories have been hazy.

Since I couldn't recall it I decided to focus on other things. In the morning I had a spar with Gobukichi-kun, and in the afternoon I paired up with Gobumi-chan and we went out hunting for a couple of hours, flirting as soon as we got outside.

After that I checked up on the goblins from the logistical support corps «Patri» who were studying about things like smithing and cooking.

That day I had fun with everyone and soundly went to sleep.

Goburou obtain [■ ■ ■ of Kin]!

Huh? It seemed like something popped up before I went to sleep…

My consciousness faded as I went back to sleep.

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