Re:Monster Day 71-80 (1/2)
Day 71 ~ Day 80
Day 71
Today, eight goblins ranked up into hobgoblins. Three goblins became mages, one became a cleric, and for the first time a shaman goblin was born; the other three became regular hobgoblins.
I was honestly happy at the significant increase in the number of our mage-types, due to the ambush the other day; the increase of Shamans who could lengthen the lifespan of undead units during the day was an extremely useful asset for us.
In addition to that, today three kobolds ranked up to Ashigaru Kobolds.
When they rank up into Ashigaru, kobolds are furnished with a weapon called “Bio-Spear”—organic weapons which are made from the cells of the original body, so it seems that as the original body grows, the weapons grow with them—, the ones who became Ashigaru reported to me this morning, holding their spears.
Even though the three of them should be holding spears for the very first time in their lives, the Bio-Spears that came from their own bodies can be said to be an extension of themselves. Their spear handling was quite something.
However, since they were a far cry from mastery, the three Ashigaru kobolds planned to focus on training the handling of the spear together with the kobold leader, who was the first to rank up into an Ashigaru.
Even so, many ranked up because of the amount of experience points we gained in our battle against the human army. The increase of slaves in our labor and fighting forces is a boon for us.
It seems we are about to clear our first goal. Because we got our hands on some females from our enemy that we can use to breed, we should try to increase our numbers. But if our group becomes too large, the amount of food we need and other difficulties will increase too, so we will have to coordinate the increase.
We have yet to find out how long it will take for a child who surpasses the rank of a hobgoblin to be born. As expected, even Gobujii doesn’t know the answer. But it seems that when a human female is pregnant with a goblin child it takes about 20 days and if a goblin is pregnant it takes about 25 days. Then, if a human is pregnant with a hobgoblin child it takes about 40 days, while a hobgoblin is pregnant for about 50 days.
Although the birthing period varies, I can’t hide my surprise about the speed. Now I understand why humans hunt down goblins regularly.
Just in case, I checked if anyone of them acquired a subspecies that matches one of the magic items they’ve used. However, apart from Ogakichi-kun, Dhammi-chan and myself, no one else has gained a subspecies; as expected, the others don’t meet the requirements to obtain a [Divine Protection].
I’ll deal with this problem later.
After today’s morning training, I questioned Rusty Iron Knight and the others that looked like commanding officers about the human army’s purpose, whom I put [slave] collars on and threw into prison. I did this so as to gain information from multiple sources to supplement what I obtained from Female Knight and the others.
As a result, I understood the general idea behind this war.
What sparked this war was the ‘Strenbelt Kingdom’―because other countries haven’t been mentioned yet, I’ll call it ‘Kingdom’ for now until others appear―it started when their princess caught a terrible disease.
After infection, your internal organs would slowly rot away as the days passed by. More than 99% of the people who caught the disease would die within one year. There were a few cases where the patient survived for about 2 years, but as they also eventually died without being cured, there seem to be no survivors as of now.
Luckily, the disease can’t spread by air or water vapor. The fact that there are few cases seems to be the only salvation. However, the lack of cases also means there were few chances to find a cure.
Naturally, the Kingdom was determined to try anything to heal the princess.
She was ill, but still renowned as “Masako”, she was even engaged –It was for political reasons, but as the two appeared to love each other, it may as well be a love marriage–, so she needed to be cured all the more.
By the king’s command, all doctors and the medical experts in the Kingdom were frantically searching for a remedy.
However, the results were not very rewarding.
Although they found a way to slow down the advance of the illness a little, almost half of each of the princess’ internal organs had already rotted away.
They then decided to forcefully put her to sleep in order to release her from the constant pain that could drive her crazy, while using magic to regenerate the rotten inner organs to prolong her life.
But as the organs were decaying faster than they could be regenerated, they could not cure her.
For a long time they thought she would die without anyone ever finding a cure.
However, a former citizen of the Kingdom; a certain woman, received a [Divine Revelation] from the [Demigod of Healing]. She had once worked for the one who held the [Job – Female Saint], who prayed everyday.
“To cure the “Chrysindo Disease”, you need the secret medicine of the elves that live under the protection of the 【Demigod of Deep Green].”
According to this【Divine Revelation], the forests that we were born in fit the conditions, they had to buy the secret medicine of the elves that lived in the “Big Kuudrun Forest”. The young emperor-to-be (who was 24 years old) of the “Kilika Empire” —which will be called the ‘Empire’, for the same reason as the ‘Kingdom’—to whom the princess was betrothed to, negotiated with the elves.
But the elves didn’t have much of the secret medicine left, and because of some ancient law –the elves have many annoying and troublesome laws– they refused to give any of it to the “humans”.
He tried to negotiate over and over, but it was all in vain.
The elves have always been a prideful race and looked down on humans. I personally think they would not have given it, even if that law didn’t exist.
Anyway, as a fact, they would not give the secret medicine to the Kingdom or the Empire.
There was no doubt about it, the failed negotiations were the cause of the war.
But, listening to this story, there seems to be more humane circumstances that are involved.
Well, I could keep going on about the little details, but it would be too troublesome and just lead to this conclusion:
“Humans are Greedy”
I think that says enough.
But if I was to give four reasons why elves are better, it would be these:
One, practically all elves are beautiful. They make ideal sex slaves.
Two, elves are superior, as a race, to humans. They have excellent defense, as well as battle prowess.
Three, their mithril; the forest, packed with raw materials and magic items, is extremely delicious from an economical point of view.
‘Four, compared to other countries, they live in a place that’s much more convenient in times of war. It makes an excellent relay point.’
Listening to the story, I thought those were awfully practical reasons.
The original trigger was certainly the refusal to sell the secret medicine to cure the princess, but combined with the human’s great greed and expectations, the original goal was twisted which, in the end, resulted in the current war.
I cannot help but think that humans, as a race, would be a nuisance even in a parallel world.
Because I am in a good position this time to just disappear if need be, it doesn’t bother me that much.
I also asked many other things. I was especially careful to ask about the formation of the Human Army; because, I may not be able to defeat my enemy this time, in my current condition.
Because the Rusty Iron Knight belongs to the Empire, he didn’t know much about the Kingdom’s army―the Kingdom and Empire appear to have an Allied Force―, but the Female Knight who belongs to the Kingdom told me all about that, so it’s not an issue.
As expected, the huge Empire has a good amount of soldiers who are superior in quality. The demon squad attached to the “Allied Magical Beast Chimeras” made up of ogres, dragonewts and numerous monsters seems to be very strong.
As expected, the huge Empire has a good amount of soldiers which are also superior in quality. The army had ogres, a dragon-man species called dragonnewts, and the demon troops from the “Allied Magical Beast Chimeras”, which was made by cross-breeding various monsters. It seems to be very strong.
Most of the squad members appear to be slaves. It seems they are forced to fight with their lives on the line by their master. A troublesome and difficult story.
But as troublesome as it is, it will be easy to bring them down if you do it right.
Anyway, we picked up the human in charge of commanding the slaves.
After I got the information I wanted, I had the male prisoners join the goblins and play a game to improve their commanding power.
It was an actual warfare strategy game where the players with the title of captain had to keep their pawns, that were equally distributed amongst them, under their thumb and crush the pawns of the opponent by giving orders to their own.
The pawns were equipped with wooden swords and shields, a bow, an axe, a spear or with just a shield by itself. The point was to give commands that suited the equipment of the grunts.
Because I acted as umpire, I didn’t join the game myself. Dhammi-chan and Supesei-san are both great commanders, so they won a lot. On the other hand, Ogakichi-kun and Burasato-san are good at taking the lead and opening up the front line, but they were too weak. Asue-chan is somewhere in between.
This is the difference between brain and muscles. It’s not hard to understand.
Because we took a lot of provisions from the human army, we didn’t go hunting today, we only did combat training in a cave. No, it wasn’t really training, it was more like playing a game with everyone instead.
Through training, we started to become friends to no small extent, so I wanted to strengthen that feeling.
At first, the humans who were taken as slaves couldn’t hide their surprise about our training; but, it was funny to see how their expressions gradually became serious as time went by.
Because the human army barely moved today, we could focus on practicing. This is a good thing.
Later that night, the human women delightedly flirted (with the men( I guess)).
And at night, the female humans happily joined the merriness.
Perhaps because they had greater lust than than the elves, or because they simply fell so quickly, they adapted fast.
Only the Blacksmith-san and the others had expressions that showed their mixed feelings; however, compared to when they had just arrived, their ways of thinking changed quite a lot, so they didn’t seem to have any real complaints.
Or rather, because it is war, this kind of thing can not be helped.
Besides, it is not like the situation will go haywire whenever it is pushed to the limit; because, it’s something you’re free to look for. Well, I suppose it’s that; everyone has different things that make them happy.
They were smart, nice women.
They were almost too good for me.
They seemed pretty happy.
Once you snap an elf’s pride, it’s easy to get them to obey. Well, even so I don’t intend to hit on them myself.
I am pretty satisfied with the current situation; there’s no need to create enemies for no reason.
Day 72
While training together with Ogakichi-kun in the morning as usual, Rusty Iron Knight, who was set to fight against the Black Skeleton knights――even though he wasn’t wearing his iron-colored armor――requested a bout with me.
Just like the other humans, his pride was smashed to smithereens and he was in denial――as a lower nobility of the Empire, he seemed to think that goblins and ogres were on the same level as livestock. And yet, he was being treated like a slave by livestock; it seems to be breaking him.――yet, he was not hitting his head against the wall to kill himself, and silently did the training I imposed on him, even after becoming a slave> I liked that he looked at me straight in the eye, so I decided to agree to the bout.
And so, I felt that Rusty Iron Knight was indeed strong.
If it was just about combat techniques, I was definitely superior; but of all the humans I had fought until now, he possessed the most skill. In addition to this, he seemed to win in basic physical abilities.
Although I wasn’t using any abilities, surpassing an ogre 【rare species]in physical strength is frightening.
The adventurer, whom I killed in Velvet’s labyrinth some time ago, was about this strong as well; I had been wanting to fight someone of that level.
While fighting, I asked about his abilities. It seems that Rusty Iron Knight held four combat jobs: level 100+ 【Job-Warrior ], level 100+ 【Job-Knight], level 62 【Job-Monk]and level 25 【Job-Templar]. These skills seemed to be the result of all his training thus far.
Rusty Iron Knight’s fists were fast and heavy, his body flexible, yet hard; and, without any waste in his movements, he aimed for my vitals.
As well as freely throwing all sorts of skills at me with flashes of pale light――techniques that can only be used by those weak humans, also called Combat Arts in this world――, he was a difficult enemy.
But, he was still not as strong as the wild, naked, Red Bear that attacked me.
In the end, I won.
Because the various kinds of Combat Arts rapidly fired at me were nothing more than abilities that gave various effects , they were relatively easy to counter.
But since it was such a close win, similar to when I had fought Ogakichi-kun, it was offensive to let the opponent think that he might have won depending if he had just fought differently. That’s why I’ll confront him and use my abilities this time.
But for that to happen, preparations are needed.
Using 【Job-Enchanter], I strengthened Rusty Iron Knight’s physical defense, recuperative power and defense strengthening, as he was only wearing hempen short pants.
Note: hemp = a material used for clothing, created from the fibre of the cannabis plant
With a surprised face, Rusty Iron Knight looked at me, but I greatly improved my defensive power by using 【Job-Guardian] and 【Lord of the Mountain’s Stout Hide]. Because I improved my offensive power with【Job-Monk] and 【Lord of the Mountain’s Strong, Supple Muscle ], it wouldn’t be a problem.
Or rather, to use abilities of this level, at least this much preparation is necessary to make sure I don’t have to fear them dying from my attacks. If I didn’t suppress my abilities at least this much, I would pierce right through the enhancements I gave them. It really is a pain.
Then, an account of the result. Rusty Iron Knight’s ragged form was rolling on the floor.
The guy’s got guts, but i think he might have overdid it a little. Well, he passed out with a pretty satisfied look on his face, so I guess he’ll be alright.
As I was treating him, I noticed Ogakichi-kun staring at me.
That gaze said he wanted to fight him too. I see, Ogakichi-kun wanted to fight Rusty Iron Knight barehanded.
Surely, if Ogakichi-kun and Rusty Iron Knight go at each other barehanded, it would make for an even better fight than mine.
When Ogakichi-kun fought him before, he completely overwhelmed Rusty Iron Knight; but then it wasn’t just about abilities or the like, the usage of so many magical items greatly affected the outcome.
The defensive power of his Tower Shield, 【Black Ogre’s Chopping Board], was out of the ordinary; the fact that he could repel all of Rusty Iron Knight’s Arts like it was mere child’s play was proof of that.
That’s why he wanted to fight bare handed, he probably wanted to win this time as well.
He wanted to win with his own power, without depending on any tools.
But, he had to wait just a little longer. While I said that, he was already waiting for time to pass.
In the current situation, his handicap would be too big.
After I had finished healing the now awakened Rusty Iron Knight, I had him fight Ogakichi-kun.
It was a great battle after all. Ogakichi-kun, who has higher specs than me, was about on par with Rusty Iron Knight. But in the end, Ogakichi-kun somehow snatched the win with his inexhaustible stamina.
It was a close fight, but they both looked like they enjoyed it; so, there’s no problem.
Or rather, Rusty Iron Knight did. What was with that seamless adaptability he had? I asked him about it while sharing some Elf-Sake during lunch time.
He said he wanted to quit being a Knight of the Empire and join us.
Listening to his story, I understood that many subspecies lived in the place where he grew up. That’s why there was no racial discrimination like what you’ll see from people of the Empire and Kingdom, so there was no aversion.
In actual fact, because he didn’t understand why the humans around him hated subspecies, he didn’t mingle much with them.
Moreover, in the place he grew up, fighting was a daily occurrence, perhaps because of that Rusty Iron Knight was taught that it was natural to serve those who were stronger than him.
His servitude to the Empire was because he lost to the previous Knight-leader, so he never felt any loyalty in the first place.
And, when the previous Knight-Leader died in battle, he was replaced by some noble named, Bonbon, who he’d never even heard of.
Even so, if Bonbon had the ability, he would have consented to it. But Bonbon lost to Rusty Iron Knight without him having to use his real power; rather, he wasn’t even at a level to give a regular knight a good match.
At least, if he had commanding ability, it still would have been acceptable. But, he didn’t even have that. He only came to be a Knight Leader because of his connections.
For that reason, Rusty Iron Knight felt no loyalty to the current leader whatsoever. Infact, it was the opposite, he hated him.
But if that was all, it would have been alright. He could endure it.
But when the previous leader died, the other knights, who ate rice from the same kettle and had become the only reason for Rusty Iron Knight to stay, had their affiliation changed so that the other nobles, whom the current leaders were close to, could join the same unit.
As a result, for the new men to join as replacements, his comrades went to another knight unit.
Rusty Iron Knight, who had become the sub-leader, was the only one left.
The reason why he was left behind, was apparently for the sake of training the members.
Because he had become an instructor now, he kept on training without scamping his work. This strong unit was the result.
By the way, the current leader died of natural causes, being crushed by a rock. Come to think of it, I have this hunch that a normal soldier wearing splendid armor for no reason was there. But I’m not sure.
Returning to the subject.
Rusty Iron Knight trained all the new recruits. But, because Rusty Iron Knight was a commoner who worked his way up, he was on a different wavelength and had a different mentality than the other members who had noble upbringing; he couldn’t get along with them. He had also gained some real abilities recently, so the quarrels increased.
Everything became annoying and he had no good reason to stay; so, just when he met us, he’d already thought about quitting as a knight.
‘This is fate’, was my immediate reaction.
It seems to be the reason behind everything that happened.
I see, it’s that simple and straightforward.
I knew that it was the truth, without a doubt, because he gave me this information when I used 【Command] – which I did, just in case, to ensure he couldn’t lie. I had no complaints and accepted him, as Rusty Iron Knight looked useful. It’s best to use people who can be used, just like the elves.
Rusty Iron Knight’s collar was released and the cuffs were inserted in his ears by his own will. After fastening the cuffs, I returned his full set of armor and his ‘appearance’ of the Rusty Iron Knight was back.
With this, Rusty Iron Knight was no longer a slave, but a comrade. Because no one else but me accepted him yet, I was looking forward to what he would show us next.
For now, he would be under my direct orders.
In the afternoon, I had to go out to do the setup for our hunting-cum-ambush location.
I had Rusty Iron Knight teach Redhead some Combat Arts in the meantime.
At this moment, Redhead only knew 6 Combat Arts in total.
【Slash], to increase her slashing power of a single swing.
【Shield Bash], to hit the enemy with a shield to obstruct movements with a certain probability.
【Stab], to gather energy and increase piercing power to strike at a single point.
【Rush], to raise the power of continuous slashing attacks but has long delays.
【Fall], to strengthen one’s body akin to a monster’s by amplifying magic internally
【Versatile], to freely use the abilities of a monster for a period of time by eating its flesh and blood.
If you are a 【Job-warrior ], you can easily use the first 4 Arts aforementioned. The latter two are Arts that can only be used by someone who knows a specific 【Job] like 【Job-Noire Soldier].
For a fledgling adventurer, knowing 6 Arts is quite a lot, but the number of Arts that Rusty Iron Knight can use is greater than 70. Because, it seems like you can use them as soon as you start practicing Arts with a 【Job], I intend to have him teach me as well when I obtain the prerequisite 【Jobs] to gain the matching abilities.
A monster who can freely use the Arts that can only be used by humans.
Hm, when I use Arts, I should consider limiting the eye-witnesses as much as possible.
Day 73
Asue-chan dug out a hot spring.
Until now, to wash ourselves we either went to the river, or rubbed our bodies using towels which were soaked through by water generated from the water crystals and collected inside earthenware pots. But with this, I thought that we could relax by soaking inside the pseudo-bathtub; and strangely, I could feel that there were various mysteries about the location, geology and other things of this place.
Well, it’s fantasy. Things like that can exist, probably.
That’s why I collaborated with Asue-chan and co to pour our heart and soul in the project for the hot spring today. Fortunately, we had the manpower of some skeletons, and others, who did not need rest. Allowing us to come up with an otherwise unthinkable level of working efficiency.
By using our abilities, and various feats of strength, we got all the work done before night came.
We divided the baths into three, one mixed bath, one bath with a division in the middle where men and women were separated and one where only Ogakichi-kun and the other top brass were allowed to use. It turned into quite a big place.
Despite some parts of the hot spring opening to the mountain’s surface, it was hard to see from outside due to the obscuring boulders. Also, the steep cliff made it difficult for non-flying enemies to enter here.
But, saying it was ‘just in case’, we heavily booby-trapped the place.
Finishing our dinner, naturally the very first people who entered the completed hot springs were us.
The others, who entered the hot spring for the first time in their lives, were healed by it
Just in case, we drank the water and confirmed there’s no harm in drinking it; so there’s no chance for someone to die from poison.
Rather, the hot water had the side effect of improving one’s recovery just like one in a fantasy; so I will continue to use it from now on.
Well well, it was a good find.
DAY 74
Because of the traps set by us and the Elven army, the humans lost a lot of their numbers, and it appears to have slowed down their advance.
Father Elf taught us nasty twofold, threefold, and fourfold combination traps – they seem to have been very effective.
The humans realized that internal intelligence had leaked because their route for advancing had become a trap-laden forest. So, as a countermeasure the human army temporarily withdrew their front to revise their strategy.
While one of my clones infiltrated to gather detailed information, we started to set up a surprise attack for the Supply Unit, which was scheduled to bring supplies to the humans stationed in the forest.
Supplies are a matter of life and death during a campaign. This being a forest, food and water is easier to come by than, say, a desert; but due to the enemy’s large numbers they would need more food than that, and they’re also useful even if morale broke. Besides that, arms and armor are also subject to wear and tear.
It’ll be especially useful to reduce their expendables, like arrows, from here on. Also, as we can use the weapons we take, we’ll be killing two birds with one stone.
The Supply Unit came along from the plains.
We can’t attack them on the plains; because obviously, we were too few in number. Our numbers, including the 47 prisoners of war, did not even reach 200 people; the number of those who can fight is even less.
In comparison, the Supply Unit consists of more than 600 people. Almost three times as much as us. Due to this difference in numbers, it would be stupid to attack on the open plains.
Well, they’re not an enemy we couldn’t defeat if we played our cards right, but considering the damage our side would take, it might be wiser to stop.
For that reason, we waited for the Supply Unit to arrive in the forest.
According to the information I obtained from Female Knight and Rusty Iron Knight, the supply unit had reached the kill point.
I looked at the slaves lurking behind me.
Although some of the slaves’ faces went pale because of it, I raised my clones’ control power over them using [Parasite]; as a result, there are many among them that couldn’t even move a finger out of their own free will.
It would be better if they would fight for me out of their own volition, like Rusty Iron Knight does, but I realized I didn’t have another choice. To me, they are nothing but disposable pawns anyway.
Because it couldn’t be helped if they’d look gloomy after this, I intended to make good use of them.
My next plan wasn’t anything special.
First of all, since Rusty Iron Knight was a friend now, there were only 17 male slaves left, I had ten simple Noble Knights, who didn’t have any 【Jobs] like 【Magician] or 【Enchanter], go ahead to the Supply Unit.
Then, we pretended to pursue them.
Human Knights running away, followed by screaming, armed Ogres, goblins and kobolds, high on murderous intent.
Watching something like this, it should be enough for the enemy to identify their friends, and usually, one would try to protect those who look like friends without question.
However, because their awareness would be be focused on their enemy, there was a chance they would not help. But, it was a great success.
After it was confirmed they had successfully infiltrated, we hid in a trench that we built a little further away and used our mass-produced Repeating Crossbows to fire arrows that were smeared with poison at our enemy, being careful not to hit the slaves. Those who could use magic used it to weaken them, and the hobgoblin shaman had 6 ghosts use 【Despondent]on our enemy to add to the weirdness of the situation.
Because of the trees and bushes, the accuracy of our arrows and magic wasn’t that high, but our enemy had the same problem. We just had to wait for the preparations to be complete, because all this was to gather them in one place, by stopping their advance, while we lessened their number.
And after a while, the ten Noble Knights, who were mistaken as friends by our enemy, began their assault.
They scattered the magic item 【Burst Seed], which is an original creation made by Alchemist-san and me.
It’s made of materials you can find in the forest, like 【Oil Grass- Yusa]and 【Burst Fruit].
Because it’s quite powerful, even though it’s easy to make, if you scattered it in a crowded place you could get about 50 victims injured or dead. Because it is so easy to mass produce, it’s a very splendid magical weapon.
TL Note: Oil Grass is what it is and Yusa is the name, hence the hyphen.
There is a chance you will kill yourself if you’re too close to the explosion, but as I had the slaves use them, that didn’t matter; because they’re disposable pawns.
I gave the order to keep using the Burst Seeds. If they died, we’d pick up the bones.
The explosions of the 300 scattered Burst Seeds thundered through the forest for a moment.
Despite the fact that the explosions had ended, our enemy was still confused. I instructed Asue-chan’s party to make the ground under the feet of the Supply Unit collapse. Because we’d done something like this before, she completed the task easily.
They only dropped about two meters, but that was enough.
Because of the sudden change in footing, they lost balance and were unable to run away. As before, we sent down a rain of poisoned arrows and a rain of magic from far away.
And the Elves, whom I’d told to climb the trees beforehand and stand by, sprinkled them with bottles of a venom that I had created myself.
As the venom was a quick-acting anesthetic, the soldiers who got hit dropped to the ground immediately. They weren’t dead yet, but they wouldn’t be able to fight anymore.
While I gave instructions, I also used 【Job-Minstrel] and 【Red Crystal’s Tone]. The sound that emerged from my singing voice, combined with an instrument that resembles a guitar, strengthened my allies and weakened my foes.
Because the Supply Unit didn’t have any strong soldiers, it wasn’t really necessary, but one cannot be too careful. It was possible enemy reinforcements would be attracted by the noise of the exploding Burst Seeds.
That’s why we couldn’t scamp our work until the end, but we finished the plan without trouble.
Three of the ten Knights who used the Burst Seeds were caught in the blast and died, five were injured by the fragments and the remaining two returned unharmed. Those were all the victims on our side.
I thanked the three who died for their work. Because their bodies were dismembered by the explosion, we all had a bite while we collected the food and prisoners.
By the way, Redhead didn’t come with us. Even though she was no longer opposed to eating monsters, she had to abstain from eating any in front of humans.
Some of the Supply Unit’s members were seriously ill. As it was a pain in the ass to heal them, we killed them right there – so they didn’t have to suffer any longer. I ate all of their hearts and some of their bodies, and changed it into my own flesh and blood.
We ate as many dead enemies as we could. Only those who eat until their death will live. That is an article of my creed.
I also had the other goblins eat their share.
We took those with light injuries as prisoners of war, but they numbered exactly one hundred; all of them males. There were a few women but they died due to the attack.
Well, it couldn’t be helped.
The numbers were sufficient; there’s not much need to capture more needlessly.
As there was an insufficient number of cuffs and collars, I solved the problem by spilling some blood and cloning myself, then inserting 【Parasite] into their bodies.
Note: cuffs and collars – from the previous days; used for enslaving them
Fortunately, there were many miscellaneous raw materials, like blood, in large quantities.
【Ability 【Continuous Thrust] learned]
【Ability 【Helmet Splitter] learned]
【Ability 【Stab] learned]
【Ability 【Sneaking] learned]
【Ability 【Armor Pierce] learned]
【Ability 【Dance of Sword Storm] learned]
【Ability 【Attack Force] learned]
【Ability 【Job-Ranger] learned]
【Ability 【Job-Supply Soldier] learned]
Note: Supply Soldier = tentative name, they’re a soldier in the Supply Unit
I obtained various Combat (Arts) that I had heard about from Rusty Iron Knight.
From 【Continuous Thrust] to 【Dance of Sword Storm], they were all Combat (Arts).
In my case, I was pleasantly surprised when the experiment to activate my abilities and Combat (Arts) concurrently increased their power, compared to using them individually.
The prisoners and loot were brought back.
While we were on our way back, looking at the gloomy faces of our new prisoners, I suddenly thought of something.
We still had some space left in the cave, but it’s honestly complicated as the supply soldiers weren’t that strong as pawns.
For that reason, I decided to distribute half of them to the Elves.
Just a way of paying my debt.
We walked to the village of the Elves and had Father Elf buy them.
Because I have many pawns at my disposal, I have a wider range of options available to me, making this a prompt decision.
As payment I received some useful stuff like magic items.
Incidentally, while we exchanged newly obtained information, I asked him about the secret medicine.
Even though it’s strong, there are no side effects to its use and also has many practical applications. Because the power of the 【Demigod of Deep Green] is subtly mixed within, it’s extremely rare and displays the effect of an all-purpose medicine… This… Wouldn’t I acquire new abilities if I ate it?
Deviating a little from my original thoughts, I came to a sudden realization; I only remembered then that I had already been given the Elf’s secret medicine.
Look, at the start of day 54 when I met Father Elf. He gave it to me as a present, together with some sake, but as I was too impressed with the Elf sake, it had been sitting unused in my item box.
Remembering this, I wondered why he had given me a precious secret medicine like that? When I asked him, he answered that it was against the law to give it to “humans”, but it wasn’t against the law to give it to an “Ogre” who saved his daughter.
That’s pretty twisted. So, if the Empire hadn’t sent a human to get the secret medicine, they could have gotten it. I drank the medicine on the way back.
【Ability 【Rapid Regeneration] learned]
【Ability 【Blood Elixir] learned]