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| Group | Pacem Community Translations |
Day 104
By the time the sun first broke over the horizon, we had already arrived at a Mason Village shortly after passing through the forest. Well, since I was an Ogre, there would normally be a large level of disgust and resentment because this village mainly consisted of humans. Though with the Tomboy Princess sitting on my shoulder, the caution subsided by quite a bit. They probably assumed I was a pet or something.
The Princess has a magic ring with an engraved seal that she once told me is the symbol of the Royal Family. It is also impossible to be equipped by anyone outside of the Royal Family. It cannot be removed once equipped, and projects a powerful curse upon the wearer's enemies in the area should a Royal Family member be slain.
Because of this ring, she is able to give orders to the villagers.
To my surprise, it was a magnificent village that had many citizens and tourists. All of them bowed their heads as we walked by in honor of the Princess.
This tradition apparently goes back to a tradition similar to that of Samurai in respects to their masters.
We decided to spend the night in the village, and it was then that I found myself invited to the Village Chief's house. The Chief and his wife still had fearful expressions because of my appearance, so I took out some fruits and mushrooms from <<Shirisuka Forest>> and offered them as gifts.
I tried to talk with them casually as I played with Kumajirou and Kurosaburou.
It took some time, but I managed to ease the tension and began discussing some of the village's minor matters with him.
Conversations like this are important for developing a public image, after all.
After doing this for around two hours, they finally relaxed in my presence. The Chief proposed to be a guide to the waterfall, which was this village's main attraction.
To be honest, that was my original plan, so I was pleased to have him guide us there.
Since I was in no rush to bathe in the hot spring, I'd first visit the waterfall.
It was located down a small path not too far from the village. The waterfall itself is massive, as if the water was falling down from heaven. In front of this scene, we gazed at the sight unconsciously. The large waterfall poured down from nearly two hundred meters above. The Chief informed us of the details. Though for the most part I took my time to enjoy this incredible view of natural beauty.
Even so, with 【Sense Presence】 I detected several massive and mighty creatures lying dormant within the waterfall, but I was not sure of their nature.
I decided it was best to ask the village Chief of what I had seen.
It turns out that the creatures were some form of guardians, a boss species of the Big Coccos. They were generally friendly if you didn't attack them. There also seems to be a dragon-class monster within there as well, but it is usually sleeping quietly.
Although I found myself heavily tempted to fight these monsters, I restrained these feelings in the back of my mind. Furthermore, even if I utilized all of my skills, it still seemed almost impossible to overcome these creatures at that time.
While still thinking of returning to fight them one day, I decided to immerse myself in the famous hot spring.
The party was booked under the name of the Royal Family.
I requested that both Dhammi-chan and Kazeoni-san (Wind Lord-san) were to escort the Princess to the hot spring. Therefore, even if assassins surrounded them, they would either eliminate the threat or hold out long enough for me to close the distance and come to their aid.
With the safety of the Princess taken care of, I was able to enjoy the hot spring without worry. The Mason village's hot spring, just like the ones we have at our settlement, has pleasantly hot water.
Because I missed the hot springs of our settlement, I will absolutely return there once this mission is over.
There are also various changes and improvements to the settlement that I want to make once I return. There are still tons of things that need to be done.
I got out of the hot spring after an hour or so and returned to the Village Chief's house.
While I was out, Kurosaburo and Kumajiro had gathered a large number of Kelpie, Boruforu, Blade Rabbits, and Horn Rabbits. They busily worked to draw the blood from them so the villagers could cook them.
I will certainly be complimenting them and playing with them for their efforts later. They will receive a large amount of meat as well.
Since there was such a large quantity of meat, I told the Village Chief to share the meat with the other villagers. As a result, the whole village gathered at the banquet hall that night to have a feast. The darkness soon faded to the glow of bonfires set up everywhere throughout the festivities.
Villagers sat and ate meat with travelers, sharing and drinking the local liquor without hesitation. Soon, everyone became excited and began to sing and dance.
Redhead, Dhammi-chan, and Blacksmith-san all decided to stir up the atmosphere by inviting male villagers to dance. I watched them dance with pleasure. I'm not one to get jealous that easily though, but a little jealousy was fine for this. It didn't bother me too much since it was more of a form of greeting than anything else.
Even now, at the age of 60, the Village Chief was still participating in a village drinking contest, stating that he refused to lose to any of the youngsters, especially when it came to the liquor of his own village. The Liquor was inferior to elven wine, but delicious nonetheless.
I gave the Village Chief a small sample of Elven wine and he gasped with a sound of amazement. It simply cannot be helped; the wine is just that good. The Chief continued to compete with the younger villagers with a big smile, draining several barrels of liquor in the process.
It was about two hours after the banquet had begun when one of the more drunken villagers who could no longer think straight went up to Dhammi-chan and grabbed her behind thoroughly. I only managed to barely make it in time before the furious Dhammi-chan could finish beating the man to death. I gave him some treatment to make sure he wouldn't die from his injuries, but didn't heal him fully as punishment. The injury to his abdomen was not great enough to burst his organs, but the force was quite intense.
The next time an incident like this occurs, she might very well tear someone's head off. I really needed to calm her down, so I gave her a hug. After all, it's quite the embarrassment for Dhammi-chan to be so thoroughly touched on such a sensitive region by another man. Killing him would sate her anger quickly, but in the present situation, it was not wise to act like that.
I whispered lightly in her ear that she must not kill the man. That said, if this incident happens again from the same man, I might make the request to string his organs out myself, but for now, the situation had been dissolved.
Suddenly, I realized that the entire venue of villagers had been filled with silence. Redhead had a hand on her forehead and had since then dropped to her knees with a "Fuee".
In order to change the tense atmosphere that had developed, I pulled out several barrels of liquor and challenged the villagers to a drinking contest myself. If anyone managed to defeat me I would give the winner four silver plates, roughly forty thousand gold coins if it were to be converted.
All of the male villagers came forth with great confidence after hearing the news about the reward.
The atmosphere of the village thoroughly changed in a blink, with the past incident fully forgotten.
What can I say, when talking about forty thousand gold coins, it is quite the huge amount of wealth for a village of this level. To put it into perspective, it could sustain the lives of everyone here for just over two weeks.
That's probably why their eyes changed. They probably thought I would be defeated through sheer force of numbers. They had already seen me drinking with the Village Chief, thinking that they could push me into becoming drunk.
During all of that, the Princess sat on my shoulder silently, enjoying the festivities. Even with her there, I drank with not only villagers but the tourists and visitors. The Princess ordered everyone to have fun as well as for me not to lose to anyone. Well, even without that, I might have overdone it a bit.
Let's just get to the result. I took on nearly every male and some females of the village and those visiting, and never lost once. I may have grown... Just a bit drunk, but I hadn't blacked out since I was still an Ogre. I'm quite the profiteering individual if I do say so myself. Still, this level of excitement is always nice.
While snacking on some of the food I managed to pick up some new abilities,
Ability unlocked [Water Battle Formation]
Ability unlocked [Blade Bone Generation]
Ability unlocked [Tough Skin]
Ability unlocked [Sharp Horn Generation]
After several more hours of the festivities, things started to die down a bit.
I was able to sleep quite soundly tonight. I also found a great excuse to drink my fill of alcohol for the first time in quite a while.
The girls also took part in the drinking contest, so all of us were buzzed before bed. I doubt anyone minded though...