Re:Monster - Day 11

Day 11

Although the results of today's hunting was only one kind of species, the Seven Colored Bat, we caught quite a few of them, numbering thirty.

Today we entered one of the caves we discovered while exploring as we were curious if there was anything in it. The cave opened up into a large and gloomy room that had bats crowded together on its ceilings, when…

…Yeah, we were really saved by both of the 【Sense Presence】 and 【Evil Eye】 abilities that I had obtained from eating the Night Vipers.

If I hadn't anticipated the movements of the Seven Colored Bats with 【Sense Presence】 and limited their mobility with 【Evil Eye】, I'm certain that we would have died, as I wouldn't have had time to give instructions to Gobumi-chan or Gobukichi-kun.

The unpleasant truth is that even though they were weaker than us, I was prepared for death because their numbers were at least ten times more than ours. This battle made me realize that numbers are important, after all.

However, it looks like the three of us managed to survive without suffering any major injuries, such as losing a limb.

Despite the numerous minor injuries that we had received, we survived because of the new armor that Gobumi-chan and I were wearing, as well as the solid shield which Gobukichi-kun was carrying.

Well, I think that it's important that we upgrade our arms, after all.

Putting the talk about such hardships aside, while the majority were able to run away, I dismantled the Seven Colored Bats that we were able to kill, and secured their wings and fangs. Once that was done, we ate the meat that was left over.

The meat was delicious, and it seemed to melt in my mouth as I ate it.

Each goblin received ten Seven Colored Bats, and the amount of meat caused our stomachs to swell as we ate them.

Ability learned: 【Echolocation】

Ability learned: 【Pump Up】

Ability learned: 【Vampirephilia】

As a result, I was able to obtain three abilities. Well, I guess I would obtain something if I consumed so many of them.

With this, I've acquired all the abilities that I can get from the Seven Colored Bats. Since I can't reinforce my body and abilities anymore by eating them, it looks like they can only be used to help fill my stomach from now on.

Given that the growth rate was bad because the Seven Colored Bats are weak, I figure that it's not necessary to force myself to hunt them in the future. That being said, I will eat them when I want to since they're delicious.

Anyway, it's great that we discovered their nest at the level we're at. It looks like all of their abilities will be useful.

【Echolocation】 is a suitable ability for understanding the surrounding terrain and moving my body through it, in addition to using my sense of sight. It looks like it'll be a good way to prevent surprise attacks, as well.

In nature, the struggle for survival is intense, so I expect that it will be a very useful ability.

=============

Day 12

As usual, we went hunting in order to obtain food to eat.

Today we hunted Night Vipers and Horn Rabbits, and we successfully hunted some Armored Tanuki as well. Afterwards, since the sun had started to set, we returned to the cave the same way that we always do.

Unlike Humans, Goblins are born with 【Night Vision】, so the darkness itself isn't a threat.

For that reason, I think if we could, we would continue to hunt since we can more or less see, even at night. However, there are many species that are stronger and more ferocious than Goblins that are active at night, so it's pretty dangerous.

Well, Goblins are basically a weak species.

These include the following:

"Red Bear" which resembles a brown bear with red fur.

"Triple Horned Horse" which is a monster that's similar to a horse. Its entire body is covered in light brown scales and it has three horns lined up on its forehead.

"Demon Spider" which is a spider that's approximately sixty centimeters in size. It has a characteristic yellow line carved into its black carapace, which appears to be stronger than steel.

"Green Slime" which is a small-fry monster like the Goblin, but it appears to possess a 【Nullify Physical Attacks】-like ability for some reason.

And so on…

I don't have any motivation to kill them though, since the probability of them killing me is higher than usual.

As it stands right now, I'd probably be incapacitated in no time if I was hit with a high enough level poison.

Well, that's why we return home and don't go out at night.

Having said that, we returned to the cave, which appears to be in a safe location.

After that, I was attacked in my sleep.

However, I was able to avoid the attack at the last moment while laying in my bed, so I wasn't injured. This was due to my 【Sense Presence】 ability, which is always active.

The main offenders were Goblins from my generation.

There were six of them, and they had some intelligence, since they had recently copied my group and started using tree branches as weapons.

There's a corner that I habitually sleep in, which I claim whenever I go to do so. Nature won't go easy on someone even if they're attacked by their own family with tree branches, though. While they were surprised that their surprise attack on me had failed, I didn't miss my chance to launch a counterattack.

The outcome of this was that I turned the tables on them.

I ended up killing one of the Goblins because I made a mistake in the creation and use of the venom that was dripping from my weapon thanks to my 【Venom】 ability, but that couldn't be helped. Since they were the cause of the situation, they couldn't do anything about it.

For the rest of the attackers, I successfully created and applied a muscle relaxant poison and used it to simply stop their movements. Just like that time with Gobukichi-kun, I beat them from top to bottom with a tree branch, but I didn't kill them. In the end, they were rolling around the area.

I'll hear the circumstances behind their attack tomorrow. Since they were injected with a non-fatal poison, they should be better by then, so I'll have to find out why they attacked me at that time.

As for goblins, our self-healing abilities are high because we grew up in the wild.

It's already too late for one of them, though. I'll say this again, but that couldn't be helped.

However, because there was such a commotion, goblins that were sleeping soundly had started waking up. It's only natural that the entire cave started to get noisy as a result.

I thought that they would say something, but Gobujii, the leader of the older Goblins, simply thought that it was survival of the fittest at work, so nothing in particular was said. They simply turned towards the body with a slightly pitiful look in their eyes.

Since I thought that I would be punished for killing a member of the same species, I was thankful that they didn't blame me for the death.

However, Gobumi-chan didn't understand the situation and was the scariest of them all.

Even though I pacified her as I restrained her from behind, I couldn't laugh at the situation because I had the most trouble saving the Goblins that attacked me. At the same time, I was thinking things like "No! A Goblin's skeletal structure won't let their arm turn that way! It'll break!" and "Their neck won't turn around anymore! You'll tear their head off!"

Oh, by the way, Gobukichi-kun was sleeping soundly the entire time. Well, it's said that sleep helps a child grow. In fact, he's physically bigger than most of the other Goblins from our generation. Is he ten centimeters taller than I am?

Because I can rely on him as our vanguard, I think I'll ignore the fact that he shamelessly continued to sleep during the commotion this time. On top of that, I wouldn't welcome it if the number of rampaging Goblins increased because he woke up.

Anyway, in this way, I calmed down the agitated Gobumi-chan.

I created and spread a weak sleeping poison which I released from my toes. After she lost consciousness, I carried her back to her bed.

After that, I took the corpse outside since it was unpleasant to leave a corpse of the same species near my bedroom in a pool of its own blood…or maybe it was because it had started to smell.

Thanks to my normal strength being twice what it should be at my current level as well as it being enhanced by the 【Pump Up】 ability that I obtained from the Seven Colored Bats yesterday, it was unexpectedly easy for me to finish moving a corpse that had almost the same physique that I have.

Gobujii said to place the corpse in a slightly remote location so that other monsters would come and eat it, and then told me to run away right after I did so.

However, once I had carried the corpse a certain distance, I hid myself and ate it. I did this because I was interested.

My thoughts? Yeah…it wasn't delicious, but it didn't taste unpleasant either.

This was the first time I didn't think something was delicious. I cocked my head to the side and thought about this for a moment. Since I thought that one arm was already enough, I left the rest as planned.

Well, that being said, today wore me out, so I went to sleep.

======================

Day 13

We were exploring a mountain located a little deeper in the forest today when we discovered a pig-faced demihuman walking through the mountains with a pickaxe on its shoulder. The color of its skin was brown and its stomach was sticking out, but I could tell from its slightly muscular appearance that it had trained its body to some extent. In addition, the clothes it was wearing were just a little bit better than what a Goblin would wear. It wore this clothing on both the upper and lower portion of its body.

I felt just a little bit irritated by this fact. The initial clothing that a Goblin has is just a loincloth, after all.

The superb item that was hanging at its waist was too large, and I want to take the item which can be seen slightly protruding from its clothes by any means necessary.

Yeah, I want to chop it up.

It's likely that I've discovered an 【Orc】, a monster whose fame is equal that of a Goblin.

Unlike the Goblin, which has the physique of an early primary school child, its height is a hundred and seventy centimeters… or maybe even more than that? Man, looking at it with my current body, that Orc is huge!

If one's unlucky, there'll be approximately a forty to fifty centimeter difference in height.

After observing it for awhile, I determined that the Orc we found is something we have a good chance of defeating, even if we launch a frontal attack and fight it alone. However, the problem is their numbers.

Orcs appear to be a stronger species than Goblins, and there's a big difference in their physiques. As for my current self, aside from going one-on-one with it, I may not be able to protect Gobukichi-kun and Gobumi-chan if we're exposed to several attackers.

If there's too much of a difference in our numbers, even I don't know what will happen. I can't get rid of the possibility that we won't be able to escape, either.

Having said that, when we discovered it, it looked like it was a stray Orc.

Just in case, I used 【Thermography】 to check our surroundings, but I have to be careful doing so because my eyes will become useless if I look at the sun. It's troublesome that it's so difficult to use during the day, so I used 【Echolocation】 to carefully search the area as well.

As a result, I found that there were no other Orcs around, so we decided to launch a fierce attack on it.

At first, we closed the distance with it as we remained hidden in the thick bush. Gobumi-chan then used her Staff Sling to fire a stone that was completely soaked in venom at the Orc's eye. Her talent with it has recently blossomed and the stone hit its target with the poison successfully invading its body after crushing its eye.

I was worried about her handling stones that had been coated in deadly poisons similar to instant death poisons. In the first place, it's impossible for the fight to end with this, since I can't refine the poison to the Orc's ability level, yet. However, since it felt acute pain in addition to losing its eyesight, it couldn't keep its composure.

Gobukichi-kun had then matched his timing with the attack by smashing his very thick club into the front of the Orc's knee with all of his strength, causing a dull sound to resound as the knee twisted at an angle that shouldn't be possible.

The Orc rolled around on the ground and screamed as its ugly pig face became even uglier.

Because Gobukichi-kun has completely disregarded wisdom and intellect since we began hunting, he was probably able to crush the Orc's body to this extent because his current body build stresses his offensive and defensive capabilities. This incident confirmed that it's possible for him to break bones as well.

Gobukichi-kun. This guy, he's producing results beyond my expectations.

However, he's an idiot (this is a compliment).

Having said that, I enhanced my leg strength with 【Pump Up】 and stomped on the back of the Orc that was rolling around on the ground before pinning it down and keeping it from struggling. I then used the two horns I have to stab it in an area that I think would be near the kidneys if this was the back of a Human.

The Orc inhaled a breath as it prepared to call for help.

However, Gobukichi-kun swung his club down on its head before it could scream, and an unpleasant sound could be heard despite the fact that he hadn't crushed its skull. After that, the Orc's blood soaked into the club as he repeatedly swung it down.

In the end, it wasn't able to scream.

As for me, after sloppily churning its internal organs with my horn and simultaneously releasing a muscle relaxant poison from the pointed end that I stabbed it with, I removed the horn and continued to stab the Orc with it until it died.

In this way, we successfully hunted our first Orc.

Of course, we ate it after that.

Gobumi-chan had both arms and the left leg, Gobukichi-kun had everything else below the lower back, and I ate everything else that remained.

As for the taste, it was like a pig after all. Rather, it was more like high quality pork.

First off, Orcs are delicious. Pork is delicious!

Ability learned: 【Libido】

Ability learned: 【Orc Language】

Ability learned: 【Detect Analysis】

These are the abilities that I was able to learn from it.

It was good luck that I learned 【Orc Language】 and 【Detect Analysis】. However, as for 【Libido】, although it would allow me to perform outstandingly if I used it, since I'd have to choose a time and a partner in order to do so, I'll leave it alone for now.

It looks like I'll be able to talk to Orcs from now on with 【Orc Language】. Since there's this sort of ability, if I were to acquire one from this system for the Human language, then I would be able to deal with them.

Now we come to 【Detect Analysis】, which appears to let me understand the abilities of an object I've examined (restricted to goods), though this depends on the ability's level as well. When I used it on a nearby fruit, I was quite surprised that it even displayed whether or not something was poisonous.

Yeah, it looks like I was able to obtain a very useful ability.

Man, it was really good luck that I was able to eat an Orc here. However, why it possessed an ability as convenient as 【Detect Analysis】 is a mystery.

Oh, that's right. I didn't mention it before, but I also collected the pickaxe that the Orc had. It's likely that we'll be able to use it for something.

After that, we hunted more Night Vipers, Armored Tanuki, and Horn Rabbits as usual. Because the sun had started to set, we returned to the cave.

We've gotten so used to dismantling that I could do it with my eyes closed, and we were able to finish the preparations without putting too much time into it. The results of today's hunt wasn't just split between Gobukichi-kun, Gobumi-chan and myself. I also let the Goblins in the cave that couldn't move well because they've been starving for a few days eat as well.

It's unpleasant, but the reason for yesterday's attack appears to be mostly due to the food situation of the Goblins from my generation.

Anyway, as for the attack's direct perpetrators, it looks like they wanted to help the Goblins from my generation that hadn't eaten anything decent in several days because they lacked the strength or wisdom to find food even if they moved around in search of it. There were more females than males among these members.

However, the attackers were barely able to obtain enough food for themselves, so it wasn't possible for them to support the others.

Therefore, since I was able to enjoy the most substantial meals, they wanted to beat me up and make me surrender. Then, they planned to have me gather food for the others. A number of them had gathered, and they thought that it might go well if it was me. It was simple, really.

Although I was able to laugh and ignore such a thing, it would be troublesome if it happened again in the future. Since they were depending on us to eat, it couldn't hurt to sell favors for the time being.

Man, I want to say that I don't care about those who can't obtain food on their own, but from what Gobujii told me afterwards, it appears that there are inept Goblins like them in every generation. It looks like most of them died, but as one would expect, they're too pathetic as the same species as myself.

This will be the first and last act of compassion that I'll do.

Having said that, they expressed their gratitude to me. They were crying as they said thank you.

Because I don't need their thanks, I told them to pay me back by catching their own share of prey to eat.

For now, I gave the pitiable guys a lecture on how to hunt Horned Rabbits.

I had some of them form parties, and advised them to put all their weight on their foot and crush its backbone after they block its horn by deliberately thrusting it into a tree branch. It's simple, but I judged that it would be plenty.

Anyway, this method will be tested in actual combat tomorrow. In exchange for this, I told them to bring their share of the food they ate from today's spoils to my place when they can.

This was probably the first time they've had meat for food since they were born.

I taught them how to hunt as well, though it was just the basics.

If I do this and they repay my kindness with ingratitude, then I won't hesitate to use them as sacrificial pawns. To be more specific, I can use them as decoys to lure something into a trap if it doesn't look like I can defeat it without being harmed. I'll wait for that moment without expecting too much from them.

Also, the five Goblins that attacked me have already become my subordinates. Naturally, they're completely obedient to my orders, so I assigned them some daily responsibilities.

The goods they presented to me for today's assignment was five Horned Rabbits, which I distributed to the starving goblins.

As for the phrase "survival of the fittest," it's really good when you're one of the fittest, you know.

I grew tired after I finished distributing the food, so I went and shut my eyes as I rolled into my bed, which had been improved a little with Seven Colored Bat wings.

Sleepiness immediately came over me.

【Your level has exceeded the minimum required value.

Since special conditions ≪Overrunning Lively Motion≫ and ≪Unique Behavior≫ have been cleared, it's possible to 【Rank Up】 into a 【Hobgoblin – Variant】.

Would you like to 【Rank Up】?

≪ＹＥＳ≫ ≪ＮＯ≫】

Although I had a feeling that this was being displayed in my mind, since I was very tired, I picked ≪ＹＥＳ≫ right away and went to sleep.

【Goburou has obtained the【Divine Protection】 of the Great God governing ≪Origin and Demise≫】.

=====================

When I woke up, my body had changed so much that it couldn’t compare to how it was before I went to sleep.

The changes to my body shocked me, I thought hard about what I heard yesterday before I went to bed. I see, so this is a Rank Up, huh. The mysteries of this world make me shudder.

No, no, from my own experience I can understand however, the natural laws of this world are so amazing that it’s beyond scary.

After killing and eating the Orc yesterday, in one night I went from the physical body of a 7-9 year old, to the size of a medium-sized human. My physical strength, eyesight, and hearing had increased dramatically, even the abilities I had gained before yesterday had also become more powerful, you see?

This is scary. Even though my body had grown a ridiculous amount, I didn’t feel any sense of discomfort at all from my new form. Even though such a huge change should’ve made me go insane, that didn’t happen in the least.

Even though my body had grown so much, I didn’t feel any muscle pains from it at all, instead, I felt overflowing power that was incomparable to before, like a temporary feeling of omnipotence. Freaky, right? Seriously.

Now, if I was an ordinary guy I would’ve probably be so happy that I would do stupid things until the feeling passed, however, the reality is that I wasn’t even close to being as powerful as I felt, and therein lies a trap.

That’s why the rules of this world are scary.

Now, that aside.

It was interesting to watch Gobukichi, who had grown bigger as well, just stand there with a confused look.

It seems that he also passed over level 100 after the battle with the Orc yesterday, causing him to undergo a Rank Up. However unlike mine, his skin didn’t turn black. In fact, I couldn’t see any difference in his skin colour at all, he was still the same old green.

Well, let’s put that aside as well.

What interested me the most was his face.

He no longer looked like an ugly Goblin like he had used to be. His naive look, in some aspects held some attractiveness. His ears were still pointed, and his nose looked somewhat hooked. Nevertheless he looked a lot like a human. Having green skin might not be very human-like, nonetheless his looks were approaching to that of a one.

Then, what about me? Wondering this, I checked the obsidian knife for my reflection.

What I saw was, with black skin, my face from when I was young before I reincarnated.

…Yeah, as one would expect I was completely stunned until it settled in.

For now, I went to the wall close by our sleeping place, grabbed a caterpillar-like mystery bug, and started munching on it from the head.

After I had calmed down, I grabbed Gobukichi and went to look for the Goblin Elder.

That’s because if I didn’t make use of the Goblin Elder at times like this, his existence wouldn’t have any point at all.

Just in case, because it felt risky, I wouldn’t mention the [End and Origin]-ruling [Divine protection of the Great God] that I also received.

What I learnt was:

Also, to the believers of this god, I’m somewhat like a living idol, an object of worship. If that’s not the case, then parts of my body are thought to be materials used in rituals to communicate with the god, so I have to be careful when it’s late in towns and stuff. Religion is scary no matter what world you’re in.

Oh-. Is that so-?

…Yes, because he was kind of long-winded, I ignored most of what he said by repeating those those words and pretending to listen. Particularly around point 3, and the reason for that is obvious. Like I said before, no matter what world one is in, religion is scary. Even more so now that I’ve obtained the, and [Divine protection of the Great God] characteristics with my Rank Up. It makes me think that it’ll probably turn into more trouble than it’s worth. I thought that this was something I should hide it as long as possible.

As expected, we didn’t even consider going hunting today. I practiced martial arts together with Gobukichi in order for us to accustom ourselves to our new bodies, the sparring was especially intense. Gobukichi’s power was too much for him to know how to utilize it, making him quite warlike.

Though I, who has had an interest in many different forms of martial arts never lost, I could conclude that Gobukichi’s power was at least somewhat stronger than how he was before. As expected, it seems like his abilities are specialized in being the vanguard.

He wasn’t very intelligent or quick, but his offensive and defensive power had increased tremendously, making him a powerful tank and damage dealer, a hybrid character.

Once we concluded our martial arts practice, the afternoon was dedicated to replacing our now too small old armor.

Since I’ve grown, the horn and obsidian knife I’ve been using have become too small for me to handle effectively. However I’ll just have to bear with it today, my venom by itself is an adequate weapon, so I can overcome this handicap for now.

That’s why today the plan is to use the stockpiled materials from the Armored Tanukis, Night Vipers and various other monsters to create new armor.

We used the armored shell from the Armored Tanukis, and the snakeskin from the Night Vipers, to create new equipment. I was satisfied with the results, the armor we created was light, flexible, and quite robust.

To put it simply, it was an armor based off of leather. We didn’t make cloaks, but since it looked like light brown leather clothes, with long sleeve arms and full-length pants it should be alright. The metal shells were placed in strategic locations, which further increased its defensive capabilities. We thought about our freedom of movement while creating it, so when we tried it out, it performed far better than expected. It barely obstructed us at all.

We even finished crafting Gobumi-chan’s armor that we couldn’t complete earlier because of insufficient materials.

Since it’s mainly made out of 7-colored bats it looks a bit gaudy though. It somewhat gives the feeling of being a national costume from somewhere.

By the way, the food tonight was prepared from horned rabbits caught by the other Goblins.

It wasn’t filling enough, it was still better than nothing. Since it tasted good I pardoned them.

* * *

Our first hunt since our Rank Up to Hobgoblins.

Since we were displaying the might of our new bodies for the first time, I’m a bit nervous.

Today, the first prey we encountered was a humanoid with the head of a dog and fur all over its body. I don’t know where it got them from but it was wearing rusted armor with a just as rusty longsword. I decided to name this monster, “Kobold”. From observation, it seems the Kobolds are a higher rank than Goblins and about the same rank as Orcs.

If we include the equipment, then compared to the Orc we ate, it’s probably an even higher rank. In physical strength, the Orc would be more powerful, but the Kobold would be superior in terms of speed and agility.

These two traits.are embodied in the Kobold.

If it were the ‘us’ from before, we would’ve retreated immediately, or more likely, used my abilities to avoid the fight altogether. Using Gobumi-chan’s accurate, poison-covered stones as support, Gobukichi and I faced the Kobolds from the front.

Excluding myself, who has evolved into a subspecies, Gobukichi’s combat ability increased significantly thanks to his equipments. His cudgel was reinforced by wounding shells around it while his shield was made of shell. The Kobold only had its rusty armour while Goblin-kichi had various shell armours to help him. Gobukichi attacked the Kobold directly.

Rank Up is scary isn’t it?

Someone who was weak only just yesterday turned into a great warrior in one day.

Goblin Kichi got some minor wounds and had Gobumi-chan treat them using some of our medicinal herbs. The Goblin Elder taught us about medicinal herbs earlier.

While they did that, I took the opportunity to strip the Kobold of its possessions. On his waist hung three stones. Using my [Appraisal] ability, I discovered that they were “Fire Spirit Stones”. Apparently non-sentient low-level fire spirits dwell within the stones. I pocketed them and then started stripping off him of his armor. I hung the slightly rusty longsword together with two books I had on my waist.

From the corpse, I took the brain, the heart and the right arm. Gobu Kichi and Gobumi-chan decided to split the rest evenly.

They left an impression as they had a strange texture. Although the taste is subtle, they were still delicious.

Ability [Predict] learned.

As I thought, Kobolds are stronger than the average Hobgoblin. The reason Gobu Kichi could win was because of the huge difference in gear quality. On the other hand, I could win due to my numerous abilities and combat experience.

Also, after eating the three Fire Spirit Stones,

I gained the ability to produce fire. In the natural world, it’s hard to overcome this difference. With this I can finally make yakiniku, I thought…

And this was the outcome of the battle.

After that, we hunted some horned rabbits, then returned.

Today, the tribute my Goblin subordinates gave me was horned rabbits mixed with Armored Tanukis, which surprised me. “These guys, they’re finally growing up…” I lamented to myself.

I think I’ll give shell shields to the Goblins who are sent to fetch Armored Tanukis in the future.

For the evening meal, I grilled the meat the others brought, and we had a yakiniku party.

* * *

Today, the other Goblins of our generation begged to me something like :”Please teach us the art of killing” while prostrating themselves. The Goblins inside the cave were in a row alongside each other prostrating themselves. It was quite the surreal scene to watch.

You see, the Goblins that brought me food had managed to survive by killing horned rabbits, as expected.. However, they also had Night Vipers to fight as opponents Since we’ve been able to kill them, the Goblins want us, or I should say I, to teach them how to survive against the Night Vipers.

“What do we gain from this?” We asked, and when we told them that they said that they’d give us tribute for it.

Well, it’s no great loss for us, so before the sun had reached it’s zenith, most of the surviving Goblins, together with Gobukchi and Gobumi-chan, had a combined practice session.

It’s a dog eat world, so, from the start, I’m thoroughly going to drill into their bodies that I’m superior to them. No matter if the trainee is male or female. Also, since dealing with insurrections is troublesome, I’m going to make obeying me an instinct, by endless repetition if I have to.

I aim to stop training at the last moment to ensure they don’t have any spare energy, while preventing their bodies and minds from breaking.

The result was that everyone, including Gobumi-chan and Gobukichi, didn’t had the strength left to move.

For the Goblins who trained and worked to the point of collapsing, I planned on using the tribute they’ve gathered to make something for them.

I had the motivation to do something, but its probably better if I didn’t do anything absurd. It’s the end once you die.

…Gobumi-chan lays exhausted and trembling among the other females, with extreme pride showcasing her armor and necklace, but let’s pretend I didn’t see that.

In the afternoon, I went hunting alone for the first time since my reincarnation.

I don’t know how it was in the beginning, but now I can move around this forest like it’s my home turf, and when I somehow managed to procure enough for the ones who couldn’t move, I concluded that days hunting.

That evening, I went into the inner parts of the cave, where the human women were held captive. Since I turned into a Hobgoblin, I’ve become closer in appearance to a human, so I thought having a conversation might be possible.

Well, the outcome was – I couldn’t have a conversation with them. They were completely broken. Their eyes were utterly dead, and they were drooling uncontrollably. There was a faint smell of corpses around them.

[My version (Josh): Compared to how they were the last time I saw them, they were a lot worse this time. Also, since i last saw her, the youngest of the girls had gotten pregnant. It was an inevitable event, but still, I felt a lot of pity for her. I couldn’t help but think that a girl this cute would have married into a nice family, and yet, she ended up, only to be repeatedly violated.]

(Original): Compared to how they were last time I saw them, they were a lot worse this time, also in this short time the youngest of the girls had gotten pregnant. Though it was inevitable, I felt a lot of pity for her. I couldn’t help but think that a girl this cute could’ve married into a family, yet she ended up here only to be continuously violated.

I didn’t want this to continue, and so I asked,

“Do you want to die?”

If it was the me from before, I’d end up pressing my hands together to offer a prayer, but now that I’ve ranked up into a Hobgoblin, I asked. The way I am now, I’d be able to kill or help these girls if they asked me to. Since even if I was found out, my safety was guaranteed.

However, my question was left unanswered. There was some movement; her small, weak lips moved slightly, and as if she just remembered how to, a tear fell from her eye. Having understood the women’s intentions, I took from my pouch a small, liquid filled bottle that I had obtained from hunting the Kobolds, which I left behind. After I handed it to them, I walked back to the cave bedroom. I didn’t look back.

* * *

I woke up early, and went to the interior of the cave. The captured women were all dead. They all laid still, as if they were asleep. From the look of things, the girls had drank poison and died in their sleep. Where they got that poison is, however, a mystery. Truly, a mystery.

After taking the small empty bottle that was laid close to them and storing it inside the bag hanging from my waist, being the one who discovered them, I went to report to the Goblin elder.

The Goblin elder hurriedly rushed over, and in front of the limp pseudo-Goblin that had spilled from the beautiful girls’ womb, he cried bitterly whilst grieving however, I couldn’t care less.

For the girl’s corpses, I took responsibility for their disposal, and because it was a pity to just let wild animals feed on them, I decided to cremate them. As payment for my labour, I took a heart, a stomach, a breast and a uterus.

Since the [Pyrokinesis] ability I got the other day wasn’t enough, I thought about what I usually do, so I collected a bunch of [Oily Grass] to make it burn well and a bunch of twigs were used to ensure the heat was enough.

After using my [Pyrokinesis] to ignite the fire, I prayed for the girls happiness in the next world whilst looking at the pillar of blazing flame.

Namu Amida Butsu. (Buddhist prayer)

Among the girls, there seemed to be those with adventurer skills. Quite a lot of them of actually.

This group of migrant workers, they were perhaps unexpectedly strong. They might only have looked weak because they were captured.

Ability [Continental Letter Deciphering] learned.

Ability [Mental Mapping] learned.

Ability [Job-Magician] learned.

Ability [Job-Light Swordsman] learned.

Ability [Job-Druid] learned.

Ability [Job-Craftsman] learned.

It’s unusual for me, but I didn’t feel the slightest inclination to learn about my new abilities. After morning practice, I sent out Gobu Kichi and Gobumi-chan to go hunting since I wasn’t in the mood, I tried making shell-based shield, armour and sword from the materials accumulated to this day.

Lately, crafting has become somewhat of a hobby of mine…

Ah, it seems my new skill [job craftsman] became immediately.

The goods I crafted came out a lot better than before. The ability, like its name implied, corrected the mistakes.

Speaking of which, the shield and armour came out successfully, the shell-based sword ended up in failure.

As for my meal, Gobu Kichi and Gobumi-chan shared a part of what they hunted, together with the tribute that had increased since yesterday.

Ah, this might be a bit late, but Gobumi-chan had also turned into a Hobgoblin today.

She’d became quite cute, it was intimidating.

The difference from when she was a Goblin is remarkable.

Because her old equipment is now too small for her, I lent her my spares.

She made a subtle expression, happy while unsatisfied, so I decided to make her brand new equipment at a later date.

Truth is, I would have happily made it today, but there was just not enough time.

* * *

After finishing morning practice the three of us gobs came upon some Kobolds while out hunting.

This time there were three of them, two of which were equipped like the earlier ones with armor and long swords, however the last one had a short bow and a quiver.

While thinking “Is this the second day in a row to strengthen Gobumi?”, I checked the surroundings for additional enemies, in order to make a decision.

With it being all clear, I chose to commence the assault.

With the Kobold that could attack from range with the bow and arrows being a higher threat level compared to the others, a sneak attack with a poisoned stone from Gobumi’s staff sling was the decisive action.

With the poisoned stone hitting the Kobold right in the eye, we stole away the bow wielding Kobolds usual composure and vision.

Without letting the time while the other Kobolds got in a panic get wasted, Gobukichi and I went to utterly defeat the two Kobolds who possessed long swords that looked slightly better than the ones we got earlier.

My longsword might be worn-out, but for my current body it’s just the right size, and I’ve gotten used to my body now, so separating the Kobolds head from his body was easy.

Right now, the horn I used earlier is more like a knife now, which might have made me feel the difference all the more.

Gobukichi broke all his opponents bones violently, which was kinda gross to look at.

Gobumi-chan, with the (pseudo-)knife I gave her earlier made of obsidian(-look alike), slit the bow wielding Kobolds throat and then gave it a finishing blow.

Apparently, Gobumi-chan’s evolution direction lay in brains and speed.

To use weapons cleverly, intelligence was needed after all.

After that, we worked hard at disassembling the body. We collected the armor, Gobumi-chan got the short bow and quiver, and I took the slightly better looking longsword for myself.

Because there was no suitable loot for Gobukichi he will have to wait for the next time.

While these Kobolds sadly didn’t have any fire spirit stones, my collection of small bags increased by three.

One I kept for my own use, and the other two I gave to the other Goblins for putting medicinal plants in. Now, if something were to happen, I’m sure they will be of great use. And so, each Goblin got one body to eat.

I didn’t get any new abilities, and while I felt that with just a bit more I’d gain something more, the ability I already got, [Predict], got slightly stronger. [Predict] lets me see my opponents attack trajectories as red threads, so in battle it can be incredibly convenient.

After that we hunted whatever we came across, after which we returned to the cave in order to sleep.

* * *

After completing morning practice, I didn’t go hunting, instead I went to look at the warehouse in the inner parts of the cave. Since some of the captured girls had adventurer-like abilities, it occurred to me that items relating to those abilities might have been captured together with the girls.

From just looking at the stuff, even a genius like me couldn’t decide what’s trash and what’s worth keeping, however thanks to the ability I got from the Orc, [Detect Analysis], I could see the items details.

In addition, since analysing stuff gave the ability experience, even analysing duds wasn’t a waste of time.

With such a carefree mood, it seems I found a treasure trove. And a fairly large one at that.

Goblin-rou has obtained [Weapon-Staff] Blessed Mistletoe stave.

Goblin-rou has obtained [Weapon-Sword] Iron Estocs x3.

Goblin-rou has obtained [Weapon-Dagger] Bowie Knife x4.

Goblin-rou has obtained [Weapon-Axe] Iron Battle-Axe x2.

Goblin-rou has obtained [Weapon-Ranged] Crossbow x2.

Goblin-rou has obtained [Weapon-Consumable] Iron Tipped Arrow x50.

Goblin-rou has obtained [Protection-Armor] Damaged Breastplate.

Goblin-rou has obtained [Protection-hand] Solid Iron-Wrought Gauntlet.

Goblin-rou has obtained [Medicine] Mana Potions that might have gone bad x8.

Goblin-rou has obtained [Medicine] Holy Water Bottles of the Enrique faith x3.

Goblin-rou has obtained [Storage] Field Pack x3

Goblin-rou has obtained [Book] Second Volume (of three) of “Introduction to magic – Basic sorcery”.

Goblin-rou has obtained [Book] “Nature of God’s Prayer: Scenario of Receiving”.

Goblin-rou has obtained [Book] “Recommended guide to Erietta Continent’s Alphabet”.

When going over it, I found treasure after treasure.

At first glance it seems to be composed entirely of unusable scrap, however below the uppermost layer, lots of useful stuff laid sleeping.

Yeah, it seems this place truly is a treasure trove.

While there’s no great difference between the estocs I found and the long sword I’m carrying currently, however since they were in a better condition, I decided to swap.

Comparing the obsidian knife I’d been using till now with the bowie knives, their blades were longer and their edges sharper.The blade is single edged, and only at the tip is it double-edged, I suspect it’s meant to be used as a hunting knife, so I took the knives as well.

Four knives might be a lot, but since the production of pocket knives already has begun, there’s really no problem.

I looked forward to when at a later time I’d disassemble the knives to learn how they were made.

After that, except for the estoc I picked and the longsword I swapped for it, I ate the rest of the swords.

Ability [Improved Piercing Power] learned.

I learned [Improved Slashing Power] from eating the longsword, and [Improved Piercing Power] from eating the estocs.

In order for the reader to understand this, I’ll tell you about my [Consumption absorption ability].

I learn abilities from more than eating living beings. However, for items above a certain level, the power of the learned abilities depends on the the quality of the item, and for it to enter my mind I must have used the item a certain amount. If I haven’t, then eating the item would be pointless, and in that way I have to keep wondering, “I wonder if this will go well now”, I’ve had to practice that perception quite a bit. Even if I make a mistake I’ll recover, I told myself to give me the bravery to keep trying.

Reaching the top feels really good.

While I was doing that by myself, Gobukichi and Gobumi-chan came by. Apparently they thought it odd that they couldn’t see me, so they went looking for me. They really came at a great time. I’d taken the potions and other stuff that you could hang on the belt and put in the field pack, I crammed as much of the rest as I could into the backpack. That which I couldn’t fit inside my bags, I asked Gobukichi and Gobumi-chan to carry for me.

And then Gobukichi graduated from his shell-wrapped cudgel, to a rustic looking battle-axe and his wooden shield with pieces of carapace sewn on was switched for an iron round shield. Since there was a hole in the middle of the round shield, we didn’t really have a choice and made an impromptu fix by attaching a piece of carapace there.

Then I had him equip the breast plate instead of the shell reinforced leather armor I made for him two days ago. Together with the shell-helmet I made for him two days ago, Gobu Kichi’s defense was the highest by far out of us three.

He totally looked like heavy infantry.

He kept the cudgel he had used till today strapped over his back as a spare.

To Gobumi-chan, I gave the two crossbows and 50 arrows. In addition, I gave her the obsidian knife I had been using till now in addition to one of the bowie knives to use as insurance, but any more than this was, when looking at the weight of the stuff she was carrying, the limit.

Nevertheless, out of us three, the one with the highest ranged offensive power was her and with her deft handling of the two knives, her offensive potential shouldn’t be made light of.

For how she looked, the impression she gave was of either a hunter or an archer.

And at the end, myself. Two long swords were replaced by an estoc, with a small shield reinforced by shells similar to the one Gobukichi has. This shield was made so it could be fixed to the right arm, and still allow me to move my wrist without problems.

To protect my left hand, I equipped the gauntlet wrought from solid iron. The gauntlet had less defensive power than the round shield, however if the aim was just to deflect attacks then it should be enough.

This way I had reasonable defence, whilst not hurting my ease of movement too much.

With the effects of the ability [Job Light Swordsman] added, I feel like it’s risen by another level again.

And also, since today the Goblins collected an earlier unthinkable amount of tribute for us, we returned to them. I couldn’t eat it all; it was far too much.

* * *

The morning was spent with practice. Compared to when we started, the expressions of the Goblins had changed. Yeah, because Goblins mature quickly, startling changes can be seen even in a short time, if training is done in earnest.

This might be because, if they don’t quickly adapt to their surroundings, they’ll simply die.

In the afternoon, we hunted. We caught 10 Night Vipers, 14 Armored Tanukis and 5 Kobolds. This is probably mostly because our equipment had rapidly become a lot better. Or perhaps I should say, the deadly combination of Gobumi-chan’s powerful and accurate shots with the crossbow together with the rapid firing of the short bow was brutal. Because Gobu Kichi and I acted as her shield, it became even more brutal. To bring the battle to an end, Gobu Kichi used his high defense and his battle axe to decapitate the remainders.

Together with my abundant abilities that I used to continuously vary my attack pattern and the direction of the battle, opponents like Kobolds didn’t pose the slightest threat for us. Perhaps with how things stood right now, even if the Kobolds turned up with twice our numbers we’d probably not have any problems.

Only, what I truly wanted to eat was Orcs. This was in order to strengthen the ability I got from the Orc earlier; after that one time, we hadn’t seen even one Orc.

I quickly wanted to find more Orcs; however, today I went back ahead of time to the cave in order to read books.

Well, having the ability [Job Magician] is nice and all, and that my magic power was increased by my subspecies was also nice, but because I hadn’t the foggiest idea what magic was, I couldn’t actually use any magic. That’s why, in this way I was reading “Introduction to magic – basic sorcery” until morning came up the day after.

You might say I had surprising difficulty getting a grasp of it, which made it a rough trial. Or rather, I feel there’s a limit to how much I can understand just from reading books. And what’s more, I started from the second volume of three!

If only, I could see someone use magic at least once!

Time, without listening to my screams, steadily moved forward.