| Credits | |
| Translator | WhiteSamurai (Pacem Method), Obarou |
| Editor | Miraclegrass, Obarou |
Day 81
The amount of Experience Values we gained in yesterday's battle was unprecedented, and many Ranked Up today as a result.
Hobuji-kun, a hobgoblin cleric became a [
He's 170cm tall and has thin limbs, lacking in overall muscle mass. His skin is white, with black tattoos visible on the backs of his hands. He has silvery colored hair reaching past his shoulders, and golden eyes.
Lastly, just like Supesei-san, he has a [
As for his specs, it seems like his species lacked in physical prowess compared to most other lord species just like Supesei-san's. On the other hand, it excelled in protection and healing.
As a test, I injured a slave and had him try healing him. The healing rate was leaps and bounds beyond what it had been before the Rank Up.
He also gained an innate ability called [
Its defense was quite sturdy, and I have to admit I felt a little frustrated that it took me so long to break it.
It was decided that he would be called Seiji-kun instead of Hobuji-kun from now on.
Secondly, Hobufu-chan who was a hobgoblin mage previously, Ranked Up into a [
Recently, she had been savoring the rotten flesh of the zombies that I summoned, so I kind of expected she would become a ghoul. It wasn't that much of a surprise.
Although they eat rotten flesh, it's not like the flesh of ghouls themselves is rotten. Except for her pale skin and the black tattoo on it, she looked just like a black-haired female human. That is, if you could ignore the very dangerous feeling that she was giving off. She could eat ghosts and other creatures of ethereal nature now too.
Recently, she had been looking at me and Ogakichi-kun or alternately at me and Seiji-kun with an ecstatic expression, sometimes while drooling. I wonder what was she doing? Because each time she did that a slight chill runs down my spine, I wanted to do something about it, but for some reason I don't think that she'd listen even if I asked her to stop.
[Note: She is most likely imagining gay stuff. Her name and the fact she eats rotten corpses are wordplay on Fujoshi — literally "rotten woman", a term for female otaku who enjoy yaoi]
Hobufu-chan's new name would be Gurufu-chan.
Next, Hobume-chan, one of the regular hobgoblins became a [
She stood at around 160cm tall with a feminine body and long black hair, and to be honest, with the many eyes covering her body — which she could of course close, effectively hiding them — it depends on the opinion of the observer whatever she could be called a beauty or not.
When she woke up there were already white kimono-styled clothes covering her body, so she didn't need new ones.
By the way, the white kimono-styled clothing is a biological armament similar to the [Bio-Swords] and [Bio-Spears]. It is called [Bio-Armor].
As for her abilities, apparently her species was specialized in wielding [Sorcery] with the trade off of very low physical capabilities. That made her effective combat ability very low.
The main specialization of this species seems to be information collection. She may become very useful in informational warfare in the future, so I'll be looking forward to her growth.
As for her name, it was decided that it would change from Hobume-chan to Dodome-chan.
Next, including my five former subordinates, seven hobgoblins Ranked Up into ogres.
Two of them were female. Their appearances were, what can I say... they looked amazing in various ways. They gave off a strange feeling of intimidation and power. All the seven ogres had large muscular bodies with black tattoos, and stood roughly the same height as me.
But the appearances of the two females and the way they heartily laughed "Wahahahaha" in a masculine manner made them look like nothing but battlefield macho nee-sans. The instant you laid you eyes on them, you can imagine them holding large firearms and wearing military camouflage, running on the battlefield while mass-producing corpses.
They were renamed accordingly.
As for the kobolds, six of them Ranked Up into kobold footmen, and their leader — who was a kobold footman to begin with — became a [ Kobold Samurai ].
He was equipped with a black kimono and a vermilion colored armor, in addition to a katana-type sword with a black sheath around his waist. His features were those of an eastern man in his late thirties, with dog ears and a tail.
He clearly became much more human-like than before which could be helpful outside the forest, but as expected it's hard to look at an old man with dog ears and a tail. I can't help myself turning my face away when looking at him, because the only thing that comes to mind is that he's a middle-aged cosplayer.
When he was still a kobold footman, I thought that it looked a little cute when he came to report something to me while saying "Lord" with his dog head. Now that he was saying it with an appearance that I couldn't imagine as anything other than a dog-samurai middle-aged cosplayer, I could only groan hearing him.
Well, appearances aside.
I was going to simply call him samurai leader from now on, but it seems like in this world, after an existence grows to a certain extent, they receive a [True Name] from the world.
According to him, the samurai leader's [True Name] was [
By the way, it's a very stupid idea to give your [True Name] away. The strength of curses and the effects of various arts and techniques can greatly increase if an opponent knows it.
The reason why he revealed it to me was because he had already swore to serve me with his life.
With that in mind, it wasn't a very good idea to use his [True Name], so I decided to call him Akitainu from now on. His previously looked similar to an akita dog and he has 'Aki' at the beginning of his [True Name], so I just decided to call him that. He's happy with it, so it was good enough.
I gave each of them a celebration gift.
Now then, it's time for me to go and check up on the former demi-human slaves.
More than half of them decided to return to their respective hometowns, but because they didn't have any travel expenses for the journey, it was decided that they'd work for me to renovate the base for some time. In exchange for their work they'd receive some utensils, food, gold and other goods we looted from the human army. By the way, because all of them were deserters, they were already armed, so weapons aren't included in the rewards.
All of them were quite strong, so their hourly pay was very high. They'd probably be able to collect enough funds for their journeys in five or six days. There's nothing else to be said about them.
As for the other group, the ones who decided to stay and join my mercenary corps « Parabellum » — their reasons varied. Some had already lost their hometowns, some were born into slavery so after becoming free they didn't know how they live and joining us seemed to be their best option, some wanted to continue living in the battlefield and bathing in blood, some wanted to repay me, and so on.
Roughly fifty of them decided to join us. Their numbers and general species:
Three
Five
Four [
Six [
Ten
One [
Five
Five [ Dwarves ]
One [
Three [
One [
Three [ Redcaps ]
Two [
One [ Centaur ]
Many of them are species stronger than the hobgoblins who make up the majority of our group. That's especially true for the lords, and the dragonewts who rival them in power.
Although I don't have any particular problems in allowing them to join us, accepting this large number of strong individuals at the same time may cause problems later on. The others simply wouldn't be convinced.
Why? That's because our policy on that is "The strong are law/justice". For us, your strength corresponds to your status.
One of the reasons why no one was complaining about me being at the top of the hierarchy was because we were of the same family. Everyone would naturally feel dissatisfied if some random people suddenly appeared and stole their positions. I wouldn't be able to endure it too.
Most of our hobgoblins could win against the redcaps, lizardmen, the centaur or dwarves. But if it was against the other species, they'd be able to defeat only some of their weaker individuals at best.
That's why I couldn't admit all of them at the same time now without thinking. The upper ranks would get completely restructured and dissatisfaction would grow, leading to the possibility of a worst-case scenario — internal division — to skyrocket.
Even if the former's slaves' strength combined could easily outclass the hobgoblins in our group, it would've been a pity if many of the hobgoblins, who I worked hard to train, were to leave. Looking at it from a long-term point of view, I should prioritize the hobgoblins who have better potential for growth.
Not to mention that although I can use many ways to force my subordinates to follow my orders in emergencies, having them to follow me willingly is much better.
Considering all of that, I decided to admit them as experimental-phase troops. Their positions would be that of chore workers, and they'd stay in those positions until they earned my trust. Their positions were in fact lower than even the lowest ranked goblin — in other words, trainees.
When I gave out my decision, dissatisfaction arose from the former slaves. Well, it was to be expected. A lot of them complained but if I omit everything except the conclusion, they said something like "We'll become this place's leaders".
The ones complaining were two combat-oriented lords out of the three, the dragonewts, the half-dragonewts, the dhampir and a boss-type orrorin with a hairy and rugged body, for a total of fourteen.
When I looked at the war tigers and the dullahan questioningly, they said "To return the kindness of giving us freedom with malice would be dishonorable." It would seem they held the mentality of warriors.
I'll give them some preferential treatment for their good manners. Well, I called it preferential treatment, but it was just a promotion from trainees to second-class soldiers.
As for the fourteen who were spouting the "We'll become this place's leaders" nonsense, for now, I decided to thrash them around a little to make them realize their positions.
First, I took on the two lords at the same time.
Lords far surpass normal ogres in terms of specs, so I didn't hold back against them. And unlike when I fought Rusty Iron Knight, I didn't give them any enchants.
One of them was a [
Truth be told, the real reason why I didn't hold back was because they were the most annoying among the fourteen.
Seeing as I was an ogre, a lower-ranked species from the same [
Although this is something that I heard about later, it seems like I was displaying a frightening smile full of bloodlust at the time.
Jumping forward to the fight's results, the two were rolling on the ground, barely alive. It took me five minutes.
About two minutes after the start of the fight, they activated the powers of their [
In response, I used my threads and poison which I hadn't used lately to stop their movements, then I destroyed their armaments using my silver arm's ability [Arm Blast]. The battle ended without me suffering any major injuries.
By the way, when the arms produced by the [
The injuries to their [
Next in line were the four dragonewts.
The half-dragonewts changed their minds about fighting me after they saw the two lords who were much stronger than them getting effortlessly defeated by me.
By the way, the difference between lizardmen and dragonewts is that dragonewts are more human-like while lizardmen have more reptilian features. Putting that aside, it seems like the specific species of these four was [
They can cover their bodies with lightning which allows them to move at very high speeds. They could also use it with conjunction to the draconic species' [Breath] ability to produce [Lightning Breath].
I took on all four of them at once.
They were much easier to deal with than the two lords. Since I already had [Thunder/Lightning Attack Nullification], all of their attacks that utilized this element were ineffective against me. Be it [Lightning Breath] or their lightning spears — produced by [Dragon Spheres], similar to [Demon Orbs] in nature — all of them disappeared just before hitting my body.
They could still damage me with their superior physical specs though. If they had real combat skills I could have been in trouble, but they had probably neglected that aspect. Being born able to crush their opponents easily, they hadn't given any thought to polishing their skills at all. Because of that, they didn't stand a chance against me.
Seeing them rolling on the ground, I was about to tell Seiji-kun to heal them, but decided to have the other clerics heal them as training instead.
Then, the boss orrorin/monkey launched a surprise attack at me from what would normally be my blind spot. I had just finished giving out my instructions to Seiji-kun.
I had of course detected it and was fully capable of dodging, but his surprise attack seemed very promising so I decided to take it on purpose. The way he hid his presence, his attacking path, his footwork, and the way he utilized all of his body's muscles to land the attack — I was able to judge that the boss monkey held some real combat skills through these observations.
Compared to the lords and the dragonewts, he was clearly lacking in physical ability, but for the exact same reason, he was able to refine his combat skills much better than them. It's because he was forced to.
He was able stand at a high position among the former slaves in terms of strength despite his physique.
When the strike that could crush even rocks made contact with my side, my body flew away and crashed into the stone wall. Seeing this, the boss monkey started drumming his chest. As for me, I decided to return the favor with a surprise attack of my own.
As he said "From now on, I'm the boss here", I approached him from the back and punched him. The strike landed on his defenseless side, blowing him away and shattering his bones as he flew away. He crashed into the wall just like I did.
Hmm, he's quite resilient. He was barely alive after taking a punch that I packed all of my strength into. Not bad, he was worth praising.
Healing the boss monkey would've taken some time and effort for the others, so I instructed Seiji-kun to heal him.
The dhampir was flirting with Dhammi-chan while all of this was happening, so I didn't go easy on him when beating him up. Vampiric creatures generally have a very high vitality, so he would survive if I didn't overdo it.
At first he tried brainwashing me using his [Eyes of Bewitchment], but because we're of the same sex, its strength got halved. I won't get charmed by the likes of him even at its full power anyways.
I pinned his limbs to the ground with knives that I created using [Equipment Materialization], then proceeded to beat him until his internal organs burst.
As a dhampir, his injures will heal to some degree if he drinks blood, so I dripped some of my blood into his mouth. However, my main goal was to implant a clone in his body after healing him.
By the way, apparently my blood is extremely delicious. When a few drops entered his mouth, his red eyes shone and he showed an ecstatic expression. Hmm, it was probably the effect of [Blood Elixir].
The amount of blood I gave him was approximately a cup. A few moments after he gulped the blood down, he revived and said something along the lines of "Ahh, my dear beloved one" while trying to kiss the back of my hand.
At that moment, I instinctively pulled my hand away and put some distance between us. He probably just went crazy after all of the beating, yeah, that must be it. It's a perfectly normal reaction after getting beaten up so much after all, surely that was the case. Also, it was probably just my imagination that he looked like he enjoyed the beating.
I don't really want to think about it, so lets just go with that.
After I finished taking care of the complainers, I had them put on the ear-cuffs, then we started the daily morning training. Many of them were quite resilient, so I tried out training patterns that I couldn't try out before.
In the afternoon, I took the five dwarves to the smithy. Dwarven skill in blacksmithing is said to be unrivaled among all other species, so I wanted to have them work here.
Although they could distinguish themselves in battle too, their skill as blacksmiths was much more valuable for me. I'll have them focus on that from now on.
Since Blacksmith-san and the others working under her were on a lower blacksmithing level than them, I appointed the most skilled dwarf as the head smith and had them become his disciples. Although Blacksmith-san and the others looked troubled by the dwarves' rock-headed craftsman personalities, the issue would get resolved with time. I'm looking forward to the kind of articles the dwarves can create using the mithril.
During afternoon training, some newcomers started complaining about the training. So I told them about Ogakichi-kun's training. Being the battle junkie he is, it consisted of fighting black skeletons without rest. The first round is ten black skeletons, the second is twenty, then thirty and so on until he collapses. When they heard that, they suddenly got motivated and wanted to take it, so I told them to at least make sure they didn't die in the process and to not stop until they collapsed.
Then I used the remainder of my time to experiment with [Synthesis]. I didn't want to experiment with abilities from the get-go as I didn't know anything about the nature of the synthesis process, so instead I decided to test it by merging the [
Although I could've looted all of the corpses, I collected only ten in order to lessen the damage to the human army, if only a little. Otherwise, I'd be risking them turning back on our agreement because we looted everything that could be used to make up for their losses.
[
Leaving that aside, I used [Synthesis] to merge two emerald-like orbs with my knees.
The result was a success. They were the gale lords' orbs, and when I activated them, long luxurious-looking boots like the ones the gale lord used this morning appeared on my legs.
There weren't any problems. The orbs merged with my body perfectly, as if they were part of it from the very beginning. I was able to use the boots' abilities without issue.
After this success, I continued experimenting with [Synthesis].