Re:Monster

Day 101

We departed this morning as planned, though baby-sitting the Tomboy Princess has become troublesome in various ways. A large, gray chicken-type monster called the "Big Cocco" has made its lair in the general vicinity of the highway. It's likely that it's not even able to harm the Skeleton horse that is pulling the carriage, let alone most of the party.

The Princess has been causing some issues with the Sisters and Blacksmith-san recently. So far it has only been annoyances such as "You should bow down to me" to either Blacksmith-san or myself though. Naturally, this would end up being the case for someone raised in a manner such as a member of royalty. The fact that she is our client, however, prevents me from punishing her outright.

Getting back to the monster.

The Big Cocco, better known as a Misutenddo, is a small-fry monster that newbie adventurers tend to hunt for early level experience. However, a monster is a monster. If a young unarmed girl were to encounter it, they would not be able to beat it and remain unharmed.

I usually threatened the Princess by spreading one of the Misutenddo's wings in an attempt to rid myself of her constant attention, but I still find myself challenged by her tenacity.

In the end, I started to contemplate throwing her into some form of training to distract her from her constant attempts to trouble me. If I use some of my invisible abilities, I can probably ensure that she remains without any injuries if it's only a Misutenddo. Though, it still isn't without risks, and her losing an eye would not be an impossibility, which again would be less than desired.

I then thought of possibly putting her up against a Skeleton animal I could create; it's at a weak level, but with my current strength, there is always the risk that she would receive injuries. In the worst case scenario, she could die.

Then, an incident where she tried to take on a Misutenddo with a kitchen knife occurred, where I had to intervene.

The behavior of the Princess is troublesome, even if it doesn't truly affect me personally.

But, it is the responsibility of an adult to scold children after they do something dangerous.

She tried to use her status as a member of the Royal family to avoid being scolded. I quickly squashed that plan by stating that her status had no effect on me. After making that clear, I began lecturing her about how, since she is a member of Royalty, she should have a refined level of discipline.

That said, bad behavior would be punished with a spanking for children, and good behavior rewarded with a pat on the head.

The only other person I'd possibly consider using this manner of treatment on would be Redhead, though the idea of a spanking for her might not be seen as a punishment...

At any rate, the information that I have received from the Boy Knight in regards to the Princess is quite lacking. That said, I find it safe to assume that she probably has some form of mysterious power or an important secret.

It is almost inconceivable, as one would never think that a royal family would have raised a child to have so little knowledge about this world. The Princess had a vague understanding of people, though her common sense was lacking. She was obviously not familiar with the risks involved with fighting monsters and would commonly approach them. It's similar to a child looking at a dog that they have only seen in books, thinking that it is safe to pet it because no one said it is dangerous.

While debating the subject of whether or not to shelter her until we get to the castle, I decided that it would be best if she could enjoy the outside world to the fullest. It might be something that she would no longer be able to do in her future, due to her status as a princess.

As the thought briefly passed through my mind, I immediately tossed away the more vile of my thoughts in an instant. Even if she would technically be far older than myself, she is something that is best not touched until she becomes a girl of age.

Though when she smiles, it is almost as if she is commanding me to smile back, and often, I will humor her, endearing her further to me.

Whenever she gets tired, she will come to my place, climb onto my back, and wait until I place her onto my shoulder. I've given up, at least to this extent. My shoulder seems to have become the special seat for this princess. It's not something that I really mind, she just keeps quiet mostly, fiddling with my hair and trying to act cute. I'll, at the very least, admit that she can be a nice child when she isn't out to cause trouble.

Now that I think about it, most of these outbursts are when I attempt to ignore her...

Good grief, I have to be careful, little girls often imprint on strong men... Dangerous...

I'll allow her to ride on my shoulder for now though. This despite the image of us two is perhaps a bit too noticeable. Various adventurers and merchants of various tribes who pass by our convoy on the highway always stare at me, or rather us, with surprised looks. Since the Princess is quite young, the need to provide some entertainment such as singing a traveling song is necessary to prevent her from growing bored and wandering off on her own. Like it or not, the amount of trouble she can get into on my shoulder is far less than if she was by herself...

Anyway. As for the location of the Boy Knight, Alchemist-san and Dhammi-chan have been teasing the poor boy with a multitude of various gestures. Given that neither of the girls are wearing their glasses, the poor boy has been their toy for more or less the entire day. They were having their fun with the innocent boy, not that I'd become jealous over something trivial like that.

Today we made camp off of the side of the highway.

Day 102

Well, trouble started early this morning.

The Tomboy Princess and the Boy Knight attempted to participate in today's morning training. I wouldn't have much of an issue with just the Boy Knight attempting to participate, but the princess was also demanding to participate. What a pain. Their demands were such as "We also want to learn how to fight" or "Just try to fight us." I did my best to ignore this, but there is a limit.

Because there was no avoiding it, I had to think of something that the Princess could do without putting her, the client, in harms way. I mean, with a single finger I could cause her instant death, though I have no intention to do so.

Like it or not, I had already predicted this might happen and had made a request to the sisters to make some female training clothing for the Tomboy Princess.

I made sure to heavily imbue her clothing with heavy physical resistances. Even if I were to slap her lightly, there shouldn't be any injuries, even with her weak body. With that, I pitted the Boy Knight and the Tomboy Princess against each other. I already knew that the Boy Knight would hold himself back as much as possible for the Princess, so the risk against him is lower than anything else possible. Though the Princess may be getting the hang of using a wooden sword, she has a total lack of discipline. It really is a major issue that she probably isn't even aware of.

After the sparing started, it may have taken a while, but the Boy Knight began to fight back slightly. After watching his moves, it's obvious that there is too much of a reliance on his [Job] corrections.

Certainly, following a [Job]'s path will increase your abilities. Increasing the level by killing monsters and growing stronger is commonplace. Even so, based on his movements, this boy is a vanguard type, capable of a multitude of different actions. He certainly has the capability to fight evenly with a normal Ogre, though none of those exist here. Finally, it comes down to one's ability to use the sword abilities that pertain to one's [Arts] and one's [Profession].

Naturally, one could easily become selfish if you only think about becoming stronger through experience, and in that way, many people have. But this boy seems too young to be affected by it and seems to be mentoring the Tomboy Princess, as well as going easy on his swings to make them easily defendable.

Even so, one could see that the Boy Knight was taking his job seriously. I was surprised at how hard he was drilling the Princess, she was covered with sweat and panting. It looked like she was enjoying it though, so I think it's probably a good thing in the long run.

The thought had dawned on me that the reasoning for his efforts were to ensure the Princess's safety in the future.

Well, the morning training is at an end. Dhammi-chan, Redhead, Wind Lord-chan and the Princess went to swim and wash off in a river nearby. For the moment, the men can simply wipe the sweat off until it's their turn, though the Princess seemed to want me to escort her to the river and keep watch. Sigh, can't be helped. At the very least, none of the other girls had an issue with my presence.

The river was clear and reflected the sky as an image upon the water's surface. The scenery of the entire location was quite nice as well, though the roads and plains of the Sternbild Kingdom were far more dangerous than the Forest. Still, there haven't been any monsters that are stronger than Hind Bears during our entire trip, so there was no need to worry.

We have already agreed that since the highway is the shortest route to take, it was obvious to travel down it to the Royal Capital.

According to the detailed map that the Boy Knight possessed, our forest was rather small, the tags for it on the map were Shirisuka Forest "Inhabited by a variety of monsters; it is famous for its large waterfall and hot springs". The map details locations such as the location of the Fomor tribes, a species of Giants, details on the craftsmen village we passed through on our way to the Fortress City Trient, and multiple mountain clusters. A multitude of dungeons were also listed on the map. These dungeons also apparently caused a great deal of trouble for the surrounding areas, though it really isn't my problem unless someone wants to hire me, of course.

I start categorizing the map's locations as we progressed. There were several Boruforu, though as there weren't enough for the whole group, I didn't bother and let the familiars eat their fill. While looking at the map, I realized that we had taken Route 13 to get to the Fortress City Trient and are currently on Route 7, the shortest path towards the Royal Capital Osvel.

Ever since I accepted this mission, I had begun making plans for escaping the Royal Capital should anything go wrong. The worst case scenario would be that only myself and Ogakichi-kun would be able to survive. Dhammi and the Lord-classed members would have a chance, but with the full force of the [Royal Army], we might lose several key members in the escape. As such, I needed to keep vigilant and prepare for anything.

But for now, we are the escort team hired by the Princess to escort her to the Royal Capital. As long as we hold this title, there should be no risk to further attacks from would-be adventurers. I'm sure my imagination is going wild on the risks, but one can never be too cautious when approaching unknowns.

At any rate, I attempted to speak with the Boy Knight for awhile, but he wasn't too keen on speaking with me. It probably had something to do with the Princess currently having climbed back onto my shoulder again.

Anyway, we were making good progress towards our destination. Though the roads up ahead were pretty worn and showed signs of age. It really wasn't a problem in particular.

--

Day 103

We arrived at the Shirisuka Forest this morning. In this place, there are animals that I haven't eaten yet. This prospect got me quite excited.

There are several beast species and insect species around a huge lake and river system deep within the forest. From this, many of the species of this forest are amphibian.

Of the species that I heard were within this forest, there were:

Red Lizard that had red claws and scales that burned with a high heat.

Guriforundo A cheetah-like creature that shoots red flames from both its tail and claws.

Kelpie A slimy frog-like horse with light-blue scales that had both hind legs and a thick tail - quite the interesting creature.

Crystal Crocodile A creature about eight meters in length with skin and fangs made of quartz crystals.

Ness Frog A yellow frog species with poisonous patterns that had shades of purple.

Rock-turtle Frog A creature that possesses a head with a lightweight turtle shell similar to rock on it.

Silent Mosquito A silent mosquito type that sucks blood, about ten centimeters in size.

Shell Grasshopper A high speed insect that randomly attacks without much reason.

This time, I plan to scour for them directly. I wanted this to be quick, so I released Kumajirou and Kurosaburou while sending several others out as well. While we progressed, there were several times where we captured the new creatures, though eating them did not give me any new abilities.

Next were a Silent Mosquito and several Shell Grasshoppers, followed by a Ness Frog all in succession to attack us. It was a flock of several animal species, because of that, I was able to kill them all and eat them. I have to admit, I was slightly greedy and ate the entire body, not saving any materials.

It may just be icing on the cake, but the most troublesome of all of the monsters was, surprisingly, the small Shell Grasshoppers.

To clarify, the only real way to capture them was to receive them head on by reinforcing my body with several abilities, or to avoid them and allow individuals with keen eyes to catch them mid flight such as Dhammi-chan. There were several instances where these type of attacks grew near the non-combatants such as Blacksmith-san and the Tomboy Princess, though since the speed of the attack is nothing if I get serious, there have yet to be problems. Yet, even saying that, it is still quite troublesome.

This time around, the Shell Grasshoppers were quite small in size and few in number. They also started attacking the Skeleton horses, though the hardness of these specific Skeletons is of a level that these Grasshoppers could not damage them. That said, even upon collision, the hardness of the Grasshoppers themselves to withstand the impact at such high speeds is quite something. I suppose one might even be able to use these creatures as some sort of ammunition.

In fact, they are pretty useful things to use. If you were to have a large amount of these grasshoppers as ammunition, you could fire them at the walls, and in most instances, the walls would be destroyed. With the walls destroyed, the city could be ravaged and turned into a city of flames quite easily. Though for now, my interests lie with raising the new generation and gaining ties to the Royal Family of the Sternbild Kingdom.

The monsters we caught made a delicious lunch. We also caught a Ness Frog, but since the level of poison was probably high, only I would be able to eat it. Though there is the possibility that Redhead could have a little due to [Job - Noir Soldier].

Though, it isn't impossible to detoxify the poison of the Ness Frog, so I let Redhead have a little.

With that, I ate a large amount of materials that we had collected over the past few hours.

Ability unlocked [Epidemic Scatter]

Ability unlocked [Disease Carrier]

Ability unlocked [Burning Claw]

Ability unlocked [Refractory Mucus Secretion]

Ability unlocked [Plague Infection]

Ability unlocked [Hard-Head]

Ability unlocked [Head-Butt]

Ability unlocked [Silent Flight]

Ability unlocked [Weak Intimidation]

Ability unlocked [Variable Temperature Weakness]

The Ness frog meat was so tender that it practically melted with softness in my mouth. Even the taste of the Shell Grasshopper's was unexpectedly delicious, and their crunchiness was enjoyable.

Although human beings like Blacksmith-san claimed that it is pretty difficult to eat certain creatures, especially insects, Looking at me eating pretty much anything no matter the hardness was simply not something they could do. Thinking that, I had a little grin slip out, but that was all.

Delicious things are delicious. Mixing some of these items with rice would have been amazing. The vitality of these creatures simply oozed from the meat, making it all the more enjoyable.

The Kelpie meat was quite similar to horse meat, but there were subtle differences in taste. Though somewhat different, the subtle changes in taste weren't bad, simply delicious.

During the meal, several topics had risen and fallen.

In the middle of our discussions, suddenly a Crystal Crocodile shot out from the river behind me.

It is no foolish animal and understands the danger of the prey, thus it was waiting for the moment where it believed we were most vulnerable. It is certainly the king of the water within this forest.

The mouth boasts such enormity that not even an Ogre could compete with it. A Crystal Crocodile is ranked higher in strength than a normal Ogre, and there are several instances where a Crystal Crocodile has managed to kill several Ogres at once.

However, this surprise attack failed since I was aware of its presence the entire time.

Without even the slightest bit of panic, with 【Sense Presence】, I did not even have to look behind me to gauge my opponent. I grabbed my halberd. In an instant, it was thrust in to the mouth of the beast, and the ability [Triple Strike] was activated. Faster than lightning, as if I had used an invisible blade, the monster was drilled with holes and instantly killed. At that point, I set out to collect its materials and began to slowly smoke its meat; the smell of the meat was enough to water the mouth. With the meat already semi cooked from the lightning from my halberd, it was quick to finish cooking.

Since the Crystal Crocodile's materials can sell for a fairly expensive price, I decided I would keep a large amount of it for sales later. Though, recently, I have let Dhammi-chan and Redhead manage it so that they could improve their dissembling skills. After I gathered some materials for myself, I left the rest to them. The meat I took was from the tail, as many reptile's most valuable meat is in the tail.

Yeah, it was amazing. Gravy from the juicy meat filled my mouth, with that, my appetite grew several times greater, my body also feels amazing from the energy gained from such meat.

Ability learned: [Crystal Crocodile's Armored Hide]

Ability learned: [Crystal Crocodile's Sharp Fangs]

Ability learned: [Predator of the Water]

Body and abilities enhanced at once, this is something that I was most pleased about.

I was satisfied and gave off a smile.

In this state, the Princess stared at me with a perplexed face.

It was something due to why I was so interested in hunting down so many different species, and why most of them target me specifically.

My answer was simply because I wanted to kill them, they wanted to kill me. Or something like that.

To kill and be killed, the stronger surviving and growing stronger. If there is a strong enemy, fight and kill that enemy to grow stronger. I eat them because I grow hungry, and that by eating them, I grow stronger. This is the law of nature, to which I comply with fully.

I avoid mentioning the fact that I eat everything to gain new abilities. In a sense, it is my responsibility having killed them to take their abilities. It almost seems like a ritual of mine at this point, no one of the group pays it any mind by now. Though thinking about it, my eating of the shells of my prey does appear weird to a normal eye.

After my explanations, the Princess became silent as if she was thinking about something; she even doned an amazed facial expression. I had mentioned that we all change as we grow stronger. It seemed that she was lost in thought around that point.

Well, it's probably not something along the lines of her growing suspicious of me, because she still happily rides on my shoulder.

For now, we kill any monsters that approach us and proceed through the forest.

Today's synthesis results:

【Dissonance】 + 【Panic Voice】 = 【Death Voice】

【Shell Defense】 + 【Shell Retreat】 + 【Adamantine Spider's Strong Carapace】 = 【Indestructible Castle Shell】

【Conceal Presence】 + 【Recognition Obstruction】 + 【Sneaking】 = 【Recognition Difficulty】

【Surging Combat Instinct】 + 【Survival Instinct】 = 【Berserker Mode】

--

Day 103 Sidestory: Kumajirou's POV

Kumajirou.

Kuma~ went food hunting with the master.

Kuma~ was so excited. Like going to the forest for the first time.

It's Kuma~'s first time to catch so many preys.

Kuma~ returned home carrying the red lizards on my back like a horse, and then master gave compliments to Kuma~.

Kurosaburou and Kuma~ hunts more when we are together, Kurosaburou and Kuma~ got more compliments.

Kurosaburou and Kuma~ did our best today.

Master gave Kuma~ a lot compliments.

Kuma~ is stuffed with delicious foods.

Since Kuma~ became sleepy, Kuma~ sleep in the bone house.

When I was sleeping, it became warm. Kuma~ felt hot.

Kuma~

[ Kumajirou level Increased ]

[ Kumajirou's collaboration with Kurosaburou became better ]

[ Kumajirou firmly grew larger and stronger ]

--

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'm an Ogre, there will normally be a large level of disgust and resentment because this village is mainly consists 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 whom 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.

It was then that I found myself invited to the Village Chief's house within the village where I decided to spend the night. The Chief and his wife still had fearful expressions from 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.

At any rate, it took some time, but I managed to ease the tension and began discussing minor matters of the village with him.

Conversations like this are important for developing a public image, after all.

After doing this for around two hours, they have finally relaxed to my presence. I was invited by the Chief to allow him to be my guide to the waterfall, which is the specialty of the village.

To be honest, that was my original plan, so I was pleased to have him guide me there.

Since I'm in no rush to bathe in the hot spring, I'll 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 that poured down from the top nearly two hundred meters above in the sky. 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 I had seen were some form of guardian, a boss species of the Big Coccos. It was generally friendly if you don't attack it. There also seems to be a dragon-class monster within there as well, but it is usually sleeping quietly.

Although I find myself heavily tempted to fight these monsters, I restrain these feelings in the back of my mind. Furthermore, even if I utilize all of my current skills, it still seems highly likely that it is impossible to overcome these creatures at present.

While still thinking of returning to fight these creatures 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) 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 reserve. 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 to the whole village to eat. 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 village.

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Villagers sat and ate meat with travelers, sharing and drinking the local liquor without hesitation. Soon, everyone became excited and began to dance and sing.

Redhead, Dhammi-chan and Blacksmith-san all decided to stir up the atmosphere by inviting a male villager 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 elf wine, but delicious none the less.

I gave the Village Chief a small sample of Elf wine and he gasped with a sound of amazement. It simply cannot be helped; Elf 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 villager's 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 left him to a certain extent 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, so I really need to calm her down. I gave her a hug to calm her down. 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 is not wise to allow such.

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 has been dissolved.

Suddenly, I realized that the entire venue of villagers had been filled with silence. Redhead had a hand on her forhead and had since then dropped to her knees with a "Fuee".

In order to change this tense atmosphere that has developed, I pulled out several barrels of liquor and challenged the villagers to a drinking contest. 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 suddenly changed in its entirety, 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, for a village of this size, it could sustain the lives of every member of the village 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 already had seen me drinking with the Village Chief, thinking that they could push me into becoming drunk.

All the while, the Princess sat on my shoulder the entire time, silently and 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 only 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 haven't blacked out since I'm still an Ogre. I'm quite the profiteering individual if I do say so myself, this level of excitement is always nice though.

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...

--

Day 105

We left the Mason Village in the morning.

I wanted to proceed towards the den of the Fomor clan as soon as possible.

The Fomors are a giant class monster.

Nothing that special happened on our travels. We just traveled, and after some light training in the afternoon, we slept.

We'll be setting foot on Fomor Mountain tomorrow morning.

Hopefully...

--

Day 106

This morning, the Sisters started to show the signs of their pregnancy.

Unlike human children, children born with the blood of an Ogre have a much faster growth rate than humans. The chance of the baby being a human, however, is quite unlikely, but it has happened before.

Both of their stomachs had suddenly swollen this morning. That much was clear.

I contacted Gobujii directly at the settlement.

When I asked what should be done, he said, "When the mother with an Ogre child in her belly has her belly swell, it means that, in a short while, the baby will have grown big'n ready for birth. In the case of an Ogre child, it's most likely born the same way a human child would be, but an Ogre child is twice the size of a human child. If the human body is too small, the child might force its way out through the belly"

Hearing this, my face quickly turned pale. I quickly sent several Skeletons in a hurry to search for an ideal place for the Sisters to rest. Since this is an emergency. I refuse to be bothered about the Princess and left her with the Boy Knight. Though the Princess is young, she seemed to understand the gravity of the situation and was very quiet.

Dhammi-chan, Redhead, Alchemist-san and Blacksmith-san were quite hard to encourage when they were seeing the Sisters suffering like this. During the move, the Sisters quickly became visibly skinny and frail from having their nutrients sucked by the children in the womb. I quickly gave them my Blood Elixir to drink and gave them parts of my flesh. While they were reluctant to eat my flesh, I forced them to eat it regardless. It had an outstanding effect and certainly bought us some time.

After roughly thirty minutes, a Skeleton returned with the location we required. While providing emergency treatment, we followed the Skeleton into a cave within a Cluster of Mountains. We quickly rushed inside.

In an instant, I vaporized the creatures of the cave, killing without a single thought on my mind.

Due to the scent of fresh blood in the air, the Fire and Illusion Lords guarded the entrance while Wind Lord-chan investigated the cave to ensure nothing lurked beneath.

Everyone was very quiet due to this situation. Not even Kumajiro or Kurosaburo made a single sound.

I laid the Sisters, who were in great pain from their pregnancy, in a bed I built. I then focused on replenishing the energy that is being directly absorbed by the children in their abdomens.

Redhead and the other girls could do nothing but watch. They were speechless.

The two girls quickly began to grow very heavy due to the children growing within them.

The pain is caused by the rapid changes in their bodies, their abdomens have grown to be so swollen that their skin seemed as if it would tear if it got any bigger.

I try to cure them with every skill I have, I was fully committed to prevent their stomachs from exploding.

The pain these two are feeling is suppressed to some extent by infusing my Elixir blood with an anesthesia, even though it can only do so much. The two are still in substantial pain.

Since this is my first time dealing with a situation like this, especially since these are my own children, sweat beads on my forehead and flows endlessly.

Time slows down all around me; I have no idea how much time could have passed. An hour? Ten hours or more might pass and I would not know. How long will their pregnancy last? I have no idea and all I want is to help them survive.

I managed to finish developing the fetuses, soon, our children begin to struggle to be born and both of the Sisters are tormented beyond reason.

Their screams become very loud, causing the rest of the girls to grow very pale.

I subjected the Eldest Sister with an incredibly powerful anesthesia. I then cut her belly open with a scalpel covered with a bactericidal effect that was created with [Top Brace Embodied] and activated [Soul Fixture].

Seeing what I was doing, they let out a very short scream "Hiii-" but quickly covered their mouths to avoid distracting me.

A Cesarean Section.

I demanded Dhammi-chan come next to me and prepare to pull out the little girl covered in blood from the belly. As this process continues, I pour immense amounts of my blood into the sister while using healing abilities to repair all of the damage. A large pool of blood forms on the ground. Recovery skills being issued one after another, soon the wound was healed without leaving a single scar on the abdomen of the Eldest sister.

My child... Dhammi-chan handed her to me and I quickly bathed her. Cheerful cries echo through the cave. Just as I took my first sigh of relief, the Younger Sister began to suffer greatly. I repeat the same process again, and safely remove a boy from the Younger Sister.

The echoing cries of a young boy and little girl rang throughout the cave, and my vision suddenly started to blur.

Everyone was greatly relieved that both of the Sisters survived. Both my and Dhammi-chan's hands were shaking violently after such an experience.

I barely had the physical strength left to hold my new born children in my arms. After a moment, I hand them both over to each of the sisters. After several minutes, the children already began to desire breast milk.

I felt sky high. I, Ogarou, after living for one hundred and six days, have just become a father of two children. It was probably too early, given how young I am, even for a Ogre. Oh, I sometimes forget, 107 days ago I was twenty-five years old and a human. That actually puts me at a suitable age for a father.

Although for children, both of them were half Ogre half Human, or [Ogre Mix-blood].

If the human parent is genetically strong, there is the chance of a [High-Ogre] or a child born with human characteristics. They will be slightly weaker than an Ogre child and seem like a human, but the genes for the child are divided equally, and merely falls in favor of the human characteristics. They are quite powerful on their own, and have greater intelligence than most Ogres.

However, there is the rare case of one in a million that a rare tribe is born. This race is called [Chaos species].

For me, I inherited the Ogre strength and my human mind, so I'm an Ogre, but not quite an Ogre, that is how I should probably think.

To summarize the information from Gobujii and the others, this child can obtain both [Jobs] and [Rank-up] as I can. Meaning they have access to nearly all of my benefits. They will truly become powerful when they grow up.

According to Gobujii, they also have access to [Evolution Rank Up], this is apparently a very powerful and rare occurrence that will give them access to extinct branches of the Goblin Rank up tree.

It is a very powerful thing if you ever access it. Hearing this I grow quite excited myself.

But, since they are not human and not quite Ogre, there is a great risk that they could be killed if they were to be discovered. According to Gobujii, in the past, whenever the birth of a Human-Ogre child was discovered, parties were raised to slay the creature before it could develop..

Half breeds with monster races are taboo, it would seem.

There is also the risk that the human part is consumed by the Ogre half, but that only happens in rare cases.

In the worst case scenario and I were to be killed, these children could survive in human society due to them being half human. Once they are born and able to defend themselves, as well as proving to not be of the Chaos breed, there won't be high risk of being attacked.

There have been kings and warlords in the past who, in human society, could easily have been half breeds. Powerful beings of the past that used their power to carve out realms of their own, and their pasts swept up by time. These kings could be the product of an Evolution-up.

Something that very few could even hope to achieve in their entire lifetime.

This gets my thoughts rolling as to the strength and power generated from such a rank-up.

What wondrously frightening power.

By the way, all of us had started out as Goblins and then became as we are through multiple Rank-ups. The idea that these children are as they are is quite abnormal.

It was something that was beyond our common sense, so I inquired Gobujii about it.

While returning to the conversation, it would appear that Gobujii is also not too sure as to why this is the reason, making the joke that we should kill them before disaster struck, or something of that nature. It would seem that his previous knowledge was from Goblins born from humans having such abilities, such a thing as a child being ranked up from birth was never seen before, at least during his time.

There wasn't even a speck of thought within me that would consider killing my children. They are amazing creatures that have been born to me. I fully plan to raise them to the best of my abilities. I don't plan to coddle them a single bit though. They will be given full Spartan training beyond anything that I would even put Ogakichi-kun through once they grow up in a few days. They are my children, as such, they will be treated as such, with the harshest struggles for survival imaginable.

In the future, I might even consider dividing the group into mix-blood groups that have special abilities. It might be useful later. Our mercenary group will, one day, be branching out into different fields, so preparation and thought are always necessary. Though, for now, I will put these thoughts in the recesses of my mind.

I'm a father. I simply stand there as my children sit with their mother's suckling.

On their foreheads there were some blackish brown skin where a red tattoo in the exact same pattern as mine is engraved.

On the back of my daughter's right hand is an [Ogre Orb] of gold while on the back of the left hand of my son was a [Ogre Orb] of Silver. As I'm also an ogre of a mix of human and Ogre blood, I wonder if I will ever develop an orb.

This topic, I'll examine later.

My daughters will be lovely and beautiful, full of strength and majesty. My sons will be fearless, powerful and wise. I shall play the role of the mighty yet doting father. Ah, having children will certainly be interesting.

I begin to take measurements of my children. My daughter is roughly seventy centimeters, while my son is clearly greater than eighty centimeters. With this size, the risk of them bursting out of the Sister's bellies was no joke.

If I had not been here, the sisters would have died and been eaten by the children.

Though, such talk is best avoided since they did not die and are still with us.

The girls simply praise the exhausted Sisters while they come to terms with the latest events.

While these children are said to be taboo children, I declared right there that these children will be allowed to grow and grow, to become powerful and follow their father in many adventures and battles for survival.

With that, the Sisters let out a sigh of relief.

Though there is still a little anxiety, the Sisters were still having complex thoughts about willingly having an Ogre's child after all. I make vows with each of them that I will continue to grow stronger and defend my children.

Goodness, I sound like some sort of heroic figure...

After the children finished feeding, I will embrace them again with all of my caring. Next in the holding order, is Dhammi-chan. Normally it is not wise to be hugging the children as soon as they are born, but these children are my own, and my blood flows through them.

Their race is beyond that of just being human.

There was no problem with them being hugged a little when they are first born.

I wrapped them in blankets made out of my yarn and passed them to the girls.

They cried while away from their mothers, but they quickly calmed down.

The final one to hold the children was the Princess, who until now, had been quietly staring at the situation from the wall of the cave.

After I looked over towards her, she came over and climbed onto my shoulder.

The Princess was now holding one of the children with both of her hands. For the first time, the child jitters slowly falls asleep in the Princess' arms.

It was small, but I certainly saw a smile for a moment.

This whole episode might have been a good experience for the Princess.

After all of the excitement, I think all of us could use the rest.

Spending the children's first day sleeping in a cave is just how I spent my first day.

As I thought that, it began to rain outside, so it might be good just to stay.

Today I fell asleep between the Sisters, our children between us.

For the time being, the daughter will be named Auro, and my son will be named Argento.

The mix of their colors was quite interesting to say the least.

I wonder what the cause of that would be.

Just as I thought that, I drifted off to sleep.

--

Day 107

Even after I woke up, the rain was still coming down hard.

Since that was the case, we had no real choice but to spend the day in the cave.

Fortunately for us, the cave was quite wide and spacious. After I spent some time expanding it to suit our needs, there weren't any problems at all.

Since I also had enough food in my item box to feed the entire settlement for a week, food was not going to be an issue.

The rain stopped around mid afternoon, but shortly thereafter, it began to snow. The wind was quite strong, and because of the previous rain, the roads were in poor condition so proceeding would be a bad idea.

That said, it would be better for the sisters to take another day to recover and spend time with their children.

Tomorrow, the weather should be better.

Having made that decision, Blacksmith-san and I decided to kill our spare time in a variety of activities...

Dhammi-chan started reading some of her novels to the Tomboy Princess.

Redhead started to train with Fire Lord-kun and the Boy Knight. Every now and then, the Princess takes a break from her reading sessions to participate as well.

Blacksmith-san took out her blacksmith's tools and started to work with some spirit stones. She passed off a wink over to me, which I thought was very cute.

Alchemist-san took out her own tool set and began to develop some new drugs for use.

The Sisters are with Auro and Argento, still fast asleep, which I wouldn't blame them for either.

As for myself, I headed out of the cave, alone...

I left the two male Lords in charge of watching the cave entrance with the female one to help Dhammi-chan tend to the Sisters if they need anything.

I had decided to hunt, because I really had nothing better to do.

The location I decided to hunt monsters in was the <<Cluster Mountains>>

Since this also doubled-up as scouting the area before we progressed, there wasn't any problem with doing so.

I was progressing in the snow storm without much difficulty.

I wore a rain poncho and trousers made from the Cuckoo's skin purchased from the Fortress City Trient that had a very high water resistance. I combined it with [Null Cold Damage], [Aqua Resistance] and [Complete Wind Resistance].

The weather barely affected me at all. Combined with me being an Ogre, I'd assume it wouldn't be much of an issue anyway.

Normally, finding prey would be difficult in this sort of environment. However, using 【Sense Presence】, I can detect signs and tracks to track them down. I decided to track the animals that hid from me first.

The first set of tracks I found were from the bear that I had destroyed earlier in the cave where everyone is staying at.

The bear wasn't in much shape for eating, though that species wouldn't have any abilities I haven't gained already.

After that, there was a pair of tracks leading to a cave nearby.

In the cave was a pair of bears, one male and one female, the female was obviously pregnant.

The male was bearing its tusks in my direction in an attempt to defend its mate and child. Usually I'd have just killed all of them and eaten them, but since I just became a father myself, I hesitated to kill the pregnant female. The female wouldn't run away if I killed the male either.

Because I really wasn't in the mood, I pretended not to see the cave. Since I can easily track these bears, it wouldn't be hard to find several more. Though I have to admit, I did try to incite the male bear to attack me. It wouldn't be my fault if the male decided to abandon its mate to try and take me. However, when it began to attack me I unconsciously used [Intimidation of the Strong].

The male stopped and retreated to the cave.

Sigh, I suppose you really do have to cherish the life you are given.

After searching in the snow for a while, I found another bear - only a male this time. There would be no mercy. I decided I wouldn't use my abilities and readied my Halberd.

Although it is inferior to the Lord of the Forest, its four arms were quite bothersome and powerful, making it a fitting opponent.

In the end, I cut the arms off one by one, then cut its head off and ate it whole.

Ability unlocked [Bristle Guard]

I wandered further in to the mountains, looking for my next prey. The next thing I encountered was something like a deer, a monster about five meters in stature.

It was pure white with muscles quite developed like that of a leopard. While it looks like a deer, it is obviously a carnivore. It stands tall and gives off the aura of a champion.

As for the rest of its characteristics, it was enormous, similar to that of a giant. It was covered in white hair that gave off a faint glow from the snow and the slight rays of sunlight beating down on it.

It was as if the heavens itself were stating that this beast was divine.

It was as if it was a painting of a majestic spirit.

Without even having to see the front of the beast, I can easily tell this is the boss of the <<Cluster Mountains>>. It's the giant of the giant race [Fomori], the living embodiment of the earth. It has been told to me that the Fomorians are an existence that is stronger than any normal boss monster of a forest or mountain range, and this one stands at the pinnacle of all of them.

Discovering this great beast, I know that I must fight it no matter the cost. Now, I begin to pick from my near three hundred abilities.

My senses and body are greatly enhanced, I clad myself in my [Red Bear Beast King's Prestige]. I wield my halberd and the Shuyari. With these prepared, I turned to face this great beast.

This beast may be killed instantly, but in the case it isn't, I'll need to use everything I have just to survive. This is an opponent that I have almost no chance of winning against. Its sheer presence is of that level.

I put my chances of winning at 30 percent. In other words, I put my chances of being killed at 70 percent.

My chances of winning against the Lord of the Forest when I was a hobgoblin were more than twice the chances now. I'm overflowing with cold sweat, the premonition of death sweeping over my entire body. But this is something that I must do.

The white beast noticed me in the corner of its eye. Shaking it's head side to side, both of its antlers fell to the ground with a thud. The action puzzled me, and in that one moment, my focus had broken, a major mistake.

Then, before I could even realize my mistake, the Great Beast suddenly pummeled the ground, causing the ground to ripple, and I myself fell to the ground. In an instant, the Great Beast was towering over me. My heart sank.

It stares at me for several moments. Then, in an instant, it begins moving rapidly away.

I could not understand why, but I was given a second chance, I need to strengthen my vigilance even more.

I gathered it's antlers for later and began my pursuit.

Proceeding after the White Stag, my senses were heightened to their maximum. I moved as fast as I could, but in a single leap, the earth would shake and the beast would be dozens of meters away.

Such extraordinary speed. This chase continued for some time without an end in sight, but as if growing tired of my chase, the beast seemed to activate an ability.

None of my trap-detection abilities except for my [Intuition] set off, warning me that I was about to die. In that moment, I had no choice.

I fled.

But my end never came, I turned back to see the Great Beast simply staring at me in the distance.

Total defeat. I lost without throwing a single blow.

At the very least, I will be able to return to my children. I also decided that I would give these antlers to them as gifts, since I did not earn them in a fight, I had no real right to eat them.

With that, I start walking the mountain to find something else to target.

While I was walking, I found a White Slime lurking in the snow.

The slime was somewhat gray in appearance. The magic system it had seemed to increase its hardness and made it hard to hit. It also had a resistance to physical attacks.

I wonder what sort of resistances this species has.

Thinking that, I take another look.

I didn't even try to kill it. I just bent down and sipped it like jelly.

The only news to me was that it improved the effectiveness of my resistance. What a shame.

It's time to go home.

On my way back, I heard a faint noise mixed in the sound of the snowstorm. I could also detect minor vibrations in the ground. From the distance, these impacts are quite intense.

After sharpening my senses, I decided to head in the direction of the sounds and vibrations.

I'm quite curious after all.

After getting near the origin, the vibrations intensified, and I could distinctly make out the sounds of a battle. Apparently, someone is fighting with something. Taking a higher level of caution I decided to approach closer. I needed to take caution in case I needed to retreat. Since I don't know what form of battle this is, if it's a battlefield between two sides, I cannot get involved, or risk having several dozens of enemies surge upon me from both sides.

With my curiosity building, I proceed down the mountain road. The snow seems to be intensifying, but I proceeded anyway.

I traveled for several minutes. Suddenly, several objects entered my 【Sense Presence】, four small blue points and two yellow points. Near them is one massive red point, four large silver points and one point I could not clearly identify.

It was jumbled and pretty hard to discern.

As I approached the location, there were intense sounds of mortal combat in the air. The thunderous sounds were almost as if the world was constantly under an earthquake, shaking violently.

I continued advancing until I reached a clearing on the edge of a cliff. There, the battle had been unfolding. As I had imagined, a fierce battle has been raging.

As I approached, I saw a group of six, four humans and two demi-humans. On the field were also several giants, one substantially larger than the others and had the aura of a great leader.

That said, the other beasts seemed to be normal Fomorians. Their head's are similar to that of a goat. They have fiery eyes and a stalwart upper body with a tail similar to that of a snake. Their lower body is that of a goat, wrapped in black fur. In each of their hands was a massive club-shaped rock fit for their size and use.

The Fomorians made up the silver points. It appears that the Red point was the leader of the group. I decided to call him the Giant King.

As I had said, the other party were four humans and two beast people. To briefly describe them, the first human was a blonde, blue-eyed swordsman who was quite youthful. There was a heavily armored shield warrior, a beautiful clergywoman with her hand on a Bible, and a beautiful magician chanting spells. There was also a stunning girl with an amazing bust holding a massive spear. For a moment, I was taken in by her looks. She had the ears of a cat and a long tail. The final individual of note was a beautiful girl, with two fuzzy ears and a tail, holding a massive bow.

There were only two males and four women. For the men, their odds were good and well planned. While their battle composition was also good, their choice in team members was excellent, my opinion of them was quite high.

The Swordsman and Spearwoman charge in as the vanguard while being guarded by defensive spells from the clergywoman and the Magician covers their flanks with magical aid and recovery magic while the Archer moves throughout the battlefield giving covering fire.

The entire battle was stunning.

These humans were fully engaged with several beasts, including a unique beast that had a powerful aura.

Looking closer, the humans are forcing the giants back, though however slowly.

Their formation is incredibly advanced and had a sophisticated pattern. These people were obviously elites.

Honestly, it's not hard to admit that these individuals fight very well. On the battlefield, they hardly rely on their levels, [Arts] or their [Job], using their natural fighting abilities to fight. In particular, the movements of the Swordsman were remarkable. Among the party, his agility and bravery stood out as the leader.

To try and put them in order, their leader stands far beyond the rest of the group. Behind him are the two beast people. The other three are quite good, but not nearly the same level of ability.

Just then, the party managed to collapse one of the Fomorians and deal massive damage before support came from two other Fomorians. That Fomorian might not survive that sort of damage, but it will take some time before it dies. If both sides don't wear each other out, I'll just wait until a chance to slay the weakened Formorian and stash it into my item box to eat later.

Just as it seemed that the humans were making progress, the Giant King stepped in and sent a shock-wave that knocked the human party off balance. In that instant, the humans lost quite a bit of ground, but with the swordsman's actions, they were able to recover. Though they were getting forced back now, the Giant King seemed to no longer have any patience for these humans and was trying to finish it.

To share my feelings, if it were only Fomorians, these humans would have had a good chance, but in this situation with the Giant King present, it might very well be a suicide mission.

Since this was the case, I decided to wait and observe the situation.

The battle raged for quite some time. I'd estimate the time I have spent observing the situation would be roughly two hours.

The four main attackers showed obvious signs of exhaustion, though the casualties for the Fomorians were far more severe. The excellent teamwork from the human party had managed to cut down the regular Fomorians, with only the Giant King remaining.

The Young Swordsman had personally defeated two of them, slicing their necks after some ranged support from the Magician and Archer. In another situation, the Spearwoman managed to pierce the skull of another Fomorian after cutting the tendons in its legs. Though in this situation, the Spearwoman was gravely injured in the process. The final Fomorian had been defeated after an extended skirmish. In the end the Magician and Archer had whittled away at it until the Fomorian collapsed.

The ground was stained in a red sea of blood with the cliff overflowing from the large amount of blood from the corpses.

Just then, a mist of poison started to form. The trees in the surrounding area began to wither rapidly. I rather like a strong poison.

It seems that the mist was from the Cleric, so there is a high chance that it wasn't some normal form of poison.

It is expected, given their level, but the human party is certainly not intact.

The Shield Warrior was broken after receiving multiple attacks from the Fomorian's Rock Clubs. He was saved through the Spearwoman's interference, at the expense of her receiving heavy injuries as well. Due to the long engagement, both the Cleric and the Magician will be low on Mana by this point in time. The Magician has already been stunned from Mana exhaustion and had to be rescued by the Archer twice already.

The Archer had to collect her arrows from the corpses around the battlefield to reuse them, due to the length of the engagement. Just then, the Archer was sent flying. Luckily she was caught by the Spearwoman, but her injuries were severe.

With the severe injury of a second member, this had become an impossible battle.

If not treated, at least three of them would probably die.

As it is, both the Archer and Shield warrior are close to death.

After some light fighting, the Spearwoman collapsed from her injuries, leaving the Swordsman the only remaining front-line fighter.

The Cleric desperately tried to heal the injuries of the swordsman. She seemed to be using a massive amount of Mana as she did swift and surgical mends to the Swordsman's body. There were only three left.

Honestly, these few people have fought quite well. Imagine the dwarf figure of a human fighting against a towering Fomorian that is several times larger than your own. The fact is that this entire fight was something out of mythology.

The battle still raged for quite some time, the human Swordsman Youth continued to battle, showing a massive extent of discipline and a well trained body with multiple [Arts] and excellent equipment. However long he struggled, the Giant King resisted with ease, the battle without limits was beautiful in its own way.

But near the end, both parties still stood. While the Giant King was injured to a certain point, the Swordsman Youth was covered with severe wounds that the Cleric could not keep up with.

The winner was certain by this point.

Just then, the air in the area changed.

I could hear the Giant King begin the chanting of magic.

Though the result of this high class magic was only a minor wound, the human's expressions were that of frustration and horror.

The women all had facial expressions of despair as they looked at what they thought was their doom.

The only one that still held determination in their expression was the Youthful Swordsman. When I saw that, I made my decision.

I pull out one of my larger ranged weapons and quickly set to changing it into something that resembled a sniper rifle. An elongated barrel will allow for a much more accurate shot. In the end, the barrel is more than twice the size of my body. I decided to name this new item [Ginude]. I moved quickly, because I knew that the party had less than ten minutes before the Young Swordsmen would collapse and the party would be wiped out.

I embedded several abilities into [Ginude] and then loaded a massive black arrow. This arrow has more than five times the destructive power of a normal bolt. It also has attributes of Origin magic that I added to further increase its power.

Even if this shot was something that could destroy a castle wall, it probably might not be enough to kill the Giant King. This creature had dozens of years of experience and a defense far stronger than my own, I'm not even sure whether or not this attack will be successful.

With that in mind, I went ahead to further overlay my abilities.

I wanted to increase my odds of a certain kill to the highest possible limit. Whether I kill it or not, if I fail, then this story might not be a funny story. It's been almost a minute since the Giant King had started to prepare for some form of attack. All I had to do was wait for the opening when he went in for the kill. At that moment I would strike with everything I had.

And then it came. The Giant King let out a triumphant laughter and let forth a surge of destruction and magic that began destroying the entire landscape.

I became the sniper on the hill, preparing to assassinate the target, and this was my chance.

[Ginude] had been prepped and loaded with highly compressed hydrogen gas. The explosion fired the ammunition out with great speed. The result of combining my abilities with a firearm saw to the manifestation of a weapon that is greater than any siege weapon. This weapon is a rail-gun capable of firing a projectile so fast that the target will be hit before gravity even has the chance to affect the ammunition.

The air is cut so quickly that the ripples and shock-wave of the bolt are clearly visible.

The great Giant King was mere meters away from the human party when I fired the shot.

The effect of the blow was deafening, the shock-wave launched a tsunami of blood and gore onto of the human party.

The bolt pierced in to the cliff, causing a massive explosion which caused a great portion of the cliff to collapse. Several of the dead Fomorians fell down in the incident. The result of the first test of this weapon was a success.

The Giant King's head had been gouged out and began to fall to the ground.

The Giant King's body began to collapse, falling right on top of the Human party.

I had already considered this situation, and at the very moment that the shot fired, I had already leaped with a burst of speed. Within the fraction of a fraction of a second that the bolt had fired, I had already closed the full distance and was prepared to follow up on my surprise attack to finish the assault. When the Giant King died, I used my speed to keep the humans from being crushed.

Just then, the entire cliff began to collapse. As such, I ensured that the humans wouldn't end up getting crushed from to falling rocks. Since they provided me with an excellent show for such a long period of time, I'll consider that as payment.

I'm a pretty good guy after all.

Though to add further reasoning, they weren't my quarry, so there wasn't a reason to allow substantially weakened humans from being flattened by falling rocks.

Then, I brought my attention to the Giant King, his broken body and separated head had fallen with us. I took the time to crack a smile. Here the Giant King had been about to unleash a great wave of destruction, only to be destroyed himself. He was destroyed in an instant, unable to recognize that his life had been ended, puzzled as to why his own body came into vision as he died.

While basking in triumph, I set out to recover the Giant King's corpse and the other Fomorians. I did not let a single part escape my collection, placing them all in to large spaces in my item box.

I wasn't sure if something that massive would fit in my item box, but sure enough, it went in without a problem.

After I finished that, I had to question whether or not I'd also kill the party to collect their equipment and abilities. It was a difficult choice. The possibility of adding them to my mercenary group would probably be low.

Gee. That was a good hunt, at the beginning, I was certain that I would kill everything here if both parties were worn down enough, though now I'm questioning that decision.

The Cleric wasn't able to understand the situation at all. She's frantic and panicking. Just when they were about to be slain by the Giant King, his neck bursts into a pool of blood, covering them. Then, they were swept away and saved before getting crushed by the falling rocks. This is certainly a situation that would make most people speechless.

In this state, I could kill them all without problems since it's me.

I approached them in a state where my abilities are active, my killing intent was spiking very high.

Just then, the greatly wounded Shield warrior and Spearwoman position themselves in front of the Cleric, though their wounds are very heavy. Their equipment is mostly broken, their clothing is tattered, and they were all covered with blood. The two in front of me sport twisted and distorted bodies, they both have over a dozen broken bones due to their injuries.

Their eyes burned with fire. Seeing that, I snapped out of my blood lust, something that seemed to be detected by the two. Though they didn't let down their guard, their staggered gasps did not get past me.

Then I really started to think. I can't simply state the reason they were defeated by me was because they are weak. I had watched them fight and turn to this sorry state after a great battle against powerful opponents. Suddenly, I show up and interfere with their battle and collect all of the rewards. The thought of also killing them when they were in this state hit a sour note.

Remonstervol3

Then, I turned and faced the Young Swordsman. I walked right up to him and looked him in the eyes. His eyes were tired, but he had a fire in his spirit, something that I really liked. To kill this man who shows no fear to me would be a waste. To eat his flesh and blood when I had not been able to fight him yet would be a waste. To kill him would be a waste.

I decided that I would capture them and bring them with me. I stated that I was not going to kill them, but on the condition that they came with me. Hearing this, the Young Swordsman looked in to my eyes for several minutes, then agreed.

I was able to obtain several Fomorian bodies, as well as the Flesh of the Giant King today. Furthermore, I managed to gather several strong humans as well. A bonus was that there were several beauties mixed in with the group.

After the Young Swordsman agreed to my request, he showed no signs of hostility, though the others were cautious. I proceeded to treat them one by one. First, I set out to work on the Shield warrior, as he could die at any moment. I gave him one of Alchemist-san's life potions to stabilize his condition while I also treated the two Beast people.

The Cleric and Magician would be able to recover naturally, but even so, I forced them to drink mana recovery potions, courtesy of Alchemist-san's work.

During the battle they drained their power greatly. In cases where it is drained too quickly, it can have negative effects on the body, something that I wanted to avoid.

I could have used my [Blood Elixir] to treat them to full health, but I thought better of it. The risks of having that information come into circulation was too great of a risk. All of their wounds were stabilized and would heal naturally if left alone.

They slowly began to lessen their caution around me as I continued healing them. They probably assumed that I was an Ogre Mage, entities known for their great power but almost never attacked humans.

The fact that my killing intent was so powerful also further served to deter thoughts of attacking me.

I was asked what happened to the corpses, and I simply fed them a lie that I had used a magic item to store them.

In the circumstances, there was still a risk towards my own survival, even though the party is still weak, the fact remains that the Youthful Swordsman could still fight me evenly. I wasn't willing to become greedy for several items at the cost of my life, so the next best option was to win them over to my side. Some of them were still not fully convinced, but for the moment, they didn't make any moves on me. The tension slowly fell.

I was also tempted to take the women for myself, but I quickly dismissed that thought due to the risks involved with capturing the beauties. It would certainly put me at odds with the Young Swordsman. After I finished healing them, I was asked why I went out of my way to help them. My response being that I was in the area and was interested in gathering the materials. Since they were about to be wiped out, I made my decision to stop waiting and took my chances.

The group was pretty suspicious of my story, there were quite a few points that I'd have suspicions with if I had been on the receiving end. Though everything I had said was more or less true, I did want the materials, and only acted once they were about to be destroyed. The only one of the party that could accept this was the Youthful Swordsman who bowed his head and gave me his thanks.

The great build up of tension was broken with that sign of good will from the Youthful Swordsman. I hadn't gathered up all of the materials from the Fomorians, so I set out to take care of that as well.

While I was doing that, I decided that since we were on a mission, it wouldn't be best to bring more hands with us, putting the risk on our group. So in the end, we went our separate ways, I passed up on several parts of the Fomorians and that was the end of it.

I quickly made my way from the area since the time was running short on my ability to eat my prizes. My anxiety was still present because when I begin to eat, I would become open to attack and would risk losing my prize in a bad situation.

I spent roughly ten minutes at full speed to find a safe place to begin eating my spoils.

Although the head was gone, the body of the beast was quite large. It would take me far too long to ingest the entire thing, so I decided It would be time to test out one of my theories. With that I turned my body into that of a massive slime using [Metamorphosis]. I wrapped the entire body of the Giant King in a layer of my body to absorb the materials. The body was unreasonably large to begin with, and it would have taken hours to eat normally, but this way proved perfect for experimentation.

In the end, there was no problem and I absorbed the corpses with ease:

Ability Learned: 【Deadly Evil Eye】

Ability Learned: 【Overkill】

Ability Learned: 【Giant King's Supreme Strike】

Ability Learned: 【Giant King's Dignity】

Ability Learned: 【Giant King's Wisdom】

Ability Learned: 【Giant King's Flesh and Blood】

Ability Learned: 【Giant King's Body】

Ability Learned: 【Vitality of the Mysterious Giant】

Ability Learned: 【Giant's Iron Hammer】

Ability Learned: 【Giant Killing】

Ability Learned: 【Aspect of the Giants】

Ability Learned: 【Left Arm of Penetrating Rain (Parjanya)】

Ability Learned: 【Right Arm of Roaring Thunder (Illatici)】

Ability Learned: 【Complete Aqua Resistance】

Ability Learned: 【Complete Lightning Resistance】

Ability Learned: 【Complete Evil Eye Resistance】

Ability Learned: 【Complete Earth Resistance】

Ability Learned: 【Region Ruler】

Ability Learned: 【Tyranny of the King】

Ability Learned: 【Lesser Summoning: Giant】

Ability Learned: 【Language of the Giants】

Never before, have I gained so many abilities from a single species; over twenty abilities were gained in one go.

I can't say that I could have hidden my surprise even if I wanted to.

To imagine that these creatures were so powerful, but for now, I needed to calm myself and return.

I want to spend some time with my children, so it is necessary to call my hunt to a close here.

On my way, I decided to test several of my abilities as I walked. Once, there appeared a snow rabbit and I chose [Giant King's Iron Hammer] to use against it. In a flash, there was an illusion of something massive in my arms. When I swung, the rabbit formed a flower of red blood and disappeared. Quite the scary weapon, but it is quite usable.

After that, nothing else interesting occurred, and I found myself back at the cave. I embraced my children involuntarily.

Just then, I heard "Papa." Apparently, the Sisters had taught some words to the children while I was away. The one who had said this was my son Argento. Ah, it's too good, I want a camera to record this scene. I'll remember these memories for years to come.

At any rate, I contacted the Dwarves and Elves back at the base to report the growth experienced by the children. It was just generally assumed that since I was so greatly abnormal, that my children would be similarly so.

After I play with Auro and Argento for some time, I ground a part of the White Stag's antler into powder form and put it in to their breast milk from the Sisters. Both of Auro and Argento's bodies began to glow slightly and their Ogre orbs began to shine. It's quite possible that they might indeed have capabilities similar to my own, they will indeed become great warriors in the future.

The White Stag must be powerful. With how large these antlers are, it will last for quite some time for supplementing my children's growth. It will suffice in small quantities. Given the power of the beast, doing this should surely increase their power potential as they grow up.

After thinking for a short time, I pass a small piece to Redhead, who after only a small bite her eye's glowed a deep red and her entire body began to shake from the sheer raw power imbued within the antlers.

Seeing this I grew far too tempted and took a small portion for myself:

Ability unlocked [Protection of the ■ Beast]

Ability unlocked [Beloved child of ■■■]

Seeing this, it was clear that I had misjudged this beast entirely. This beast could be on par with ancient gods. His power was so great, that I was conceited to think that I even had a percent of a chance to defeat this creature. In reality, there was a zero percent chance that I would have survived.

The fact that I hadn't been killed was from the White Stag's mercy.

I had been far too immature and hasty. From there, I swore to myself that I would grow more powerful than the White Stag.

Well, if I ever encounter it again, I will exercise a great caution and respect its strength.

The White Stag is probably so delicious, I would never be able to comprehend the taste.

My mind then went back to my children, I wondered if they had gained some of my abilities, or rather if they had gained my ability to absorb abilities. Either would be quite useful in the long run.

On that same thought, I was curious to discover whether or not there were other beings, other than myself, with the ability to absorb the abilities of their prey.

By the way, Redhead got a new profession [Job-Sacred Beast Eater]. Seeing as a similar event happened to my children, they might have picked up the same profession, or they might have also gained the [Protection of the ■ Beast]

Well, the children are still too young to grasp the situation. Besides, I'm exhausted today.

With that, I surrendered to sleep.

[Level has surpassed the specified value]

[Special Conditions fulfilled « Army Massacre »« Pseudo Divinity »« Landlord Killing »« Giant King Killing »« ■■ Declaration» and has unlocked [Apostle Lord Extinct Species] for [Rank-Up] is now possible].

[Do you wish to [Rank-Up]?]

[«YES» «NO»]

I selected «YES» with the last shreds of my consciousness before I pass in to the darkness of sleep.

[Ogarou had Ranked-up to the required rank]

[True name granted by ※※※ is now available]

[Ogarou has received True Name: {Yatendouji}]

[Yatendouji has been granted Unique Skills]

[Yatendouji's Unique Skills:]

[Ability granted {Leader of the Demon's Gathering} ]

[Ability granted {Acceptance of the Demon's Gathering} ]

[Yatendouji has received special conditions in favor of the Gods]

[Specific Conditions Required, as designated from ※※※, Yatendouji will receive five special abilities granted from ※※※ ]

[An error has been detected]

[Among the special abilities to be granted, there are two release conditions that have not been met]

[Releasing abilities for which the conditions have been met]

[Yatendouji will Acquire the following abilities:]

[Wrath of Heaven]

[Fate Stealer]

[Destiny of a great Mythological Figure {Black Eclipse Demon} ]

[Special ability ■■■■] remains locked {Conditions not met} ]

[Special ability ■■■■] remains locked {Conditions not met} ]

--

Day 108

Rou&#039;s 3rd Rank up

When I woke up, there was a variety of changes. I have to admit, I was a bit confused at first due to the sheer level of changes to my body and power, but I think I'll manage.

First, my body.

My Rank-Up turned my body into an Apostle Lord {Extinct Species}

My first response was wondering what this species had been.

More than likely they were a powerful race in the past, though very few in number, that eventually died out.

I had originally been around two and a half meters in height, though now I stand at roughly only two meters. More or less, my body had become that of a tall man.

To compare though, my muscles and hands might be smaller, but are more than a dozen times more dense than they had previously been. I'd have to say that I'm more than a dozen times more powerful than when I was an Ogre, at the very least. My body now makes the power I felt when I was an Ogre feel similar to the gap between when I was a Goblin to when I became an Ogre. The power difference was immense.

It's either because of the Rank-up, or because my body and power had changed significantly, but now, the Silver Arm had changed its shape to fit my body perfectly.

I'm sure that if I manage to Rank-Up in the future, the arm will change with me further.

My skin is still black, but my reddish tattoos have turned into a deep golden color. In addition, I grew an extra horn in the middle of my forehead. It points directly upwards in an arc. My horns are thicker and far sharper than they were previously. I tried head butting the wall to test it out, only to almost cause a cave-in due to my greatly enhanced strength.

My hair had grown down to my waist.

I was about to cut it, mostly because I don't fancy having long hair, when Alchemist-san interfered. It seems that she really liked my new appearance and didn't want me to change it. When she started to pout, that was the end of me trying to shorten my hair. I tied it up with some golden thread into a ponytail. I have a feeling that my hair will become Alchemist-san's toy for quite some time.

My eyes had turned blood red, the same color as Dhammi-chan's. My vision had also become so crisp that I can read from a book from nearly fifteen meters away. It seems Dhammi-chan also has this level of vision and can use it to see great distances. I'll have to experiment with it later.

On the matter of the Ogre Orbs that the Lord species receive, I have five of them. The first is buried in to my chest. Two more are in each elbow, and the other two are in both of my knees. The colors of these were a mix of black, red, and gold. I do not know what sort of powers these Orbs entail, but all I know is that I haven't released all of this body's powers yet. I'll need to take the opportunity to fully test out this body later.

My current form as an Apostle Lord seems to have a sort of biological armor. It's similar to what Dodome-chan can create, a type of demonic energy field embedded in to my flesh. Oddly enough, my body had been equipped with underwear and pants.

The pants were unique, and when I tested the pants out to see the resistance, they were resistant to cutting and everything else. It would seem that the pants are very unique, it appears that these pants have the highest resistance to blades. No matter how much pressure I put straight down my leg, the blade would never go through. I ended up breaking the blade before doing any damage to the fabric, mostly due to my excessive strength.

It seems that because this equipment is armor, I won't be able to change out of it due to it being a part of my body. It can be removed of course, but I have an incompatibility with other clothing for the most part.

The only real thing I'm unhappy about having this biological armor is that it leaves me half naked, leaving me only in pants. My abs are totally exposed.

Redhead found it interesting and had a thorough investigation of my new body... I'm not much for exhibition, though I'm not cold either, nor am I ashamed that I'm exposed.

Since my figure isn't too intimidating, very few people will become frightened from my current form. I probably won't even need to don a cloak in town. Aside from that, those are all of my physical changes.

Then, apparently both of the sisters gained a new profession after they woke today. They gained [Job-Demon Child's Holy Mother], which gives their bodies a slight change to identify them as the child's mother. It is gained by becoming the mother of a child of a demon lineage.

While it has a negative connotation to become the mother of a demon child, it is the symbol of the bond between the two parents and their child. Hearing this, I couldn't help myself and hugged the four of them.

Auro and Argento are wearing some children's clothing that the Sisters and I had made. By now the children are able to form basic sentences. When I heard "Papa, Papa I love," my heart melted just a bit. There truly isn't anything better than this.

Back to the order of events for today. When I had first woke up, the first person to see me was the Princess, who was quite shocked and let out a scream. The Boy Knight quickly came to investigate, followed by everyone else. Though after a few seconds of fear, the fact that my body was the same color hinted to whom they were looking at. Given my hair was the same color, the Tomboy Princess was actually the first person to figure out who I was, climbing onto my shoulder. Her doing that brought everyone else to the realization of my identity.

I can't say that I looked too different, but my getting smaller and having different tattoos, as well as my much more potent aura that my body gives off, I can't say I blame them from being cautious.

Oh right. I forgot to mention; I had been previously hiding my color to prevent the Princess and other humans from discovering my blessings from a greater god. It would have been troublesome if I were to be attacked from this being revealed.

Well, it doesn't really matter if only these two found out, it's not as if they are going to attack me because I have a Greater God's blessing.

I started to attempt to revert my color, but it seems that the base color for this species was black skin to begin with, so I found no reason to change it.

With the other girl's consent, I kept my new appearance as is.

I'm still curious as to why I have received such a powerful blessing from a Greater God, but such questions will be answered with time I'm sure. For now, the Princess has stated that she'll keep the secret of my blessing.

My body turned out to be quite hard to move around in. Since everything was smaller than it had been before, with far more power, not breaking everything and adjusting my grip had become quite the annoyance. I ended up spending an hour or so getting used to moving around in my new form.

One last note would be that I am quite curious as to the last two skills that were locked. I'm quite distressed as to what conditions I still need to complete.

Well. After a while, we had breakfast. I was far more hungry than usual and ate nearly three times as much as I used to eat.

After that, we set out. The Princess continued to ride on my shoulder, and we progressed through the mountains as far as we could today. The view was breathtaking.

--

Day 109

Today, following the Sisters, both Blacksmith-san and Alchemist-san's stomachs began to swell.

This time, I wasn't very panicked and went through the usual process. I supplied them with energy while looking for a location to rest.

Since we left the mountains the other day, no reasonable caves could be located.

After a short period of searching, we had no choice but to stop.

I asked Fire Lord-kun and the Princess to get out of the carriage. I had no choice but to deliver my children inside the carriage.

I accidentally let the Tomboy Princess see me cutting open Blacksmith-san and all of the blood that resulted from the process. At the very least, I used my healing skills right after, so the Princess shouldn't have been able to see the effects of my blood.

Therefore, I decided that I wouldn't need to worry about that issue.

Discussing this topic feels as if I would be stepping on a landmine.

Back to the story. Blacksmith-san gave birth to a boy. He was quite bigger than Argento and Auro, and his species was [High Ogre]. Alchemist-san's daughter was a blue-eyed blonde human child with black tattoos on her body. She was born with several [Jobs] apparently. I'd assume that she would also have my genes as well, so she should grow quickly like the rest.

It was pretty rare for a child to be born as a human as it turns out. Though guessing from the tattoos she was born with, I'm going to hope that she is strong like the rest. It doesn't change the fact that I care deeply for this cute little girl.

Since I was far better prepared in comparison to last time, unlike the situation with both of the Sisters, Blacksmith-san and Alchemist-san suffered only mild pain.

The exhaustion experienced by these two was not to the same terrible extent as last time either.

Even so, all of these children were born in quick succession. I wonder if it was because of their stronger bodies.

Another thought of why they were born within several days of each other also brought up questions about their conception, but that's for another day.

Well, that aside.

I named the boy Ogre Oniwaka after a historical warrior, and Alchemist-san's daughter Nicola.

When I fed some of the [Antler Powder] from the White Stag to my two new precious children, their abilities seemed to improve greatly, like my other children.

With the appreciation of the hardships from all four of these women becoming the mothers of my children, I loaded everyone back into the carriage. I placed my new children in to a special bed that had been prepared before we had departed in case the children would be born.

Around mid-afternoon, we arrived at the Labyrinth City Purgatory.

Unlike when I was an Ogre, I'm now a Lord Species, and as such, things have gone far smoother during our travels.

It was of little effort to gain entrance in to the city.

This city was surrounded by a circular wall made out of some type of special metal material.

There also seems to be a special rule that prohibits the removal of powerful magical items discovered in the Labyrinth outside the walls. This won't apply to me, since I can place whatever I might discover in my Item Box. Though I don't plan to challenge the Labyrinth in the first place.

As if reading my mind, I was informed that I wouldn't be able to access my Item Box in the labyrinth in the first place.

Since only necessities like food are allowed in, backpacks are extensively checked for a long period of time before entry is given.

For now, we searched for a good place to rest.

--

Day 110

This is indeed the Labyrinth City Purgatory; gold and silver treasures everywhere you look; adventurers and rogues seeking fame; there are few cities that have grown so quickly as this. Several parties formed of a majority of Yara Beastmen went back and forth around the town square.

The struggles and riches gained from the Labyrinths within are a great temptation to almost anyone.

It was still early in the morning. The sun had yet to rise. I walked past one of the Guild halls within the city Guild Branch.

The training field there is open to all adventurers, free of charge. There, you can see a mass of different species present, a Yara Beastman with bushy hair equipped with full plate armor, an old woman with a cane wearing a robe, a young boy and cat girl warrior carrying swords, a female human thief practicing her knife throwing.

I'm always for studying different fighting styles. That said, in the Labyrinth city, there are many such combat enthusiasts.

Even if you were to guess just at a glance, there had to be more than sixty people gathered in the training field.

It seems that they all have come to accept a quest from the guild to challenge the Labyrinth. When I had spoken with one of the adventurers on the matter, I received an invitation to participate. Apparently, quite a few of the present adventurers had seen our training session the other day when we arrived in the city, and we received an official invitation to use the training ground.

When thinking about it, I suppose that it would be possible.

After all, seeing our party, since I'm an Extinct species, I'm being grouped in with the Lords. Regardless, the combat strength of our present group is quite high, even if I was simply an Ogre, that fact would remain such.

Currently Dhammi-chan has strength, she has power similar to that of Redhead, and both are able to defend themselves properly. The issue lies within the lack of overall speed that Dhammi-chan currently has.

Well, while I was doing some training in the Training Ground with the group, several adventurers stopped their own training to watch. After several minutes, some of them came over to offer to spar with us. After pondering this for a moment, I thought it would be a good idea to allow some of our members to practice against the adventurers, while building up our reputation as well. Since I'm an Apostle Lord, an extinct species, most of them probably took me as a powerful lord class as even I received several challenges.

After some quick thinking, I thought to make a game out of the unique atmosphere. Though I left Dhammi-chan out of it since there were no individuals willing to go against someone that beautiful, even the other women were intimidated.

Well, I suppose it's fine for now, but Dhammi-chan won't be gaining any experience from this situation. I'll have to manage something later for her.

Since being able to fight against a multitude of different opponents is a rare opportunity, it will be good to gain some experience for the future. I decided to make things more interesting and set up a reward system.

If you managed to defeat Wind Lord-chan or Fire Lord-kun, you would receive a thousand gold coins. If you won against Illusion Lord-kun, you would win a Silver Plate, worth ten thousand gold coins.

As soon as I said that, the gathering started to get lively. The eyes of the adventurers changed, and all of them are fully motivated by money.

Although I do know how easy it is to manipulate some people with money, there is a time when it just feels too easy.

I charged an admission fee for each bout.

I also added a special reward that if someone would be able to defeat all three, they would receive a prize of one hundred thousand gold coins.

Well, to make the long story short, even though the three that I had participate on our side had become exhausted, they never once lost a single bout. Our training methods paid off, no matter who the opponent was, each of them knew exactly how to deal with the attacker's movements and defeated them.

After all of the minor fighting, some of the higher ranked adventurers thought that it would be amusing to challenge me. I charged triple the fee and let them all come at once. It was over in an instant.

This was quite the profitable venture, not only did we get in our morning training, but also managed to earn quite a bit of money too. It's killing two birds with one stone.

By the time training finished, it was close to noon.

After the bouts, I received numerous invitations to various clans and organizations, but since I'm the leader of a mercenary group, I rejected them all.

For now, I decided to stop our advertisements since, for one, we are already on a mission, and two, none of the jobs have any real benefit to us. We went back to the inn and used the bath house there.

After, I went through the several items and counted the money gained from the event earlier.

After counting the money, I gave each of the Lords some spending money, should they head out for their good work.

I wanted to see the town a little more and let everyone do their own thing for the day.

Ah yes. incidentally, I went to go and check out the Labyrinth as well. Although I didn't actually head in, the building was a giant gray tower that towered into the heavens. It's pretty spectacular.

Tourism is also a pretty big thing in this town.

The back alleyways are pretty lawless, just to mention. There are some people that go missing and no one really seems to bother caring about it. Though while most people would avoid the back corners of the city after hearing something like that, I went in to try and lure some fools into attacking me. Since I'm more human-like, there will be far more people who will try to attempt something.

As if on cue, several thugs jumped me, their skills were meager and couldn't even damage my skin.

I grabbed one of them and pulled his head off, leaving the others in a daze. Within seconds, the rest were also dead. I gathered up their items and ate the bodies while on alert.

After that, I used some acidic body fluids to eliminate any evidence that anything happened.

Some of the items that the thugs had were quite nice, but I didn't gain any abilities from the thugs. I obtained a magical ring, a magic potion, some velvet garbs, though the rest was memorabilia.

On the bright side, they had a lot of money on them. Although they tasted bad, I decided to forgive them because of the amount of wealth they brought me. Being able to eat five people though did please me.

After hunting for thugs in the dark depths of the city, I went looking around for some good shops. First, I went to a store that dealt with magic items that came from the Labyrinth.

After that, came several purveyor shops for adventurers, and I purchased several decent items at an affordable price.

While I was doing this, some shops had items that seemed to interfere with my Item Box, though I just needed to take several steps back before I could put things inside again.

With the accessories taken care of, I went to several material shops to purchase magic medicine, materials, and metals.

I managed to purchase several different magical metal ingots other than mithril as a souvenir for the Dwarves back at the settlement.

Incidentally, I ended up gathering quite a large quantity of many different materials for Alchemist-san.

I managed to clear out a good deal of the magical shop's wares, and he had to close for the time being to resupply. Well, once the shopping was done, I just returned to the inn.

Auro and Argento have grown considerably during the time I've been gone. They simply spent time playing around. I gave them a new toy to play around with, but since they're rough, it won't last long.

After that, I went to test some of my abilities in private. I spent some time testing out abilities to see what I would be able to use, and how to secretly use my Item Box if I were to go in to the Labyrinth.

Though, after several minutes, the Tomboy Princess stormed in, and I had to end my tests there.

The evening went by rather fast. That night, it was quite intense, since Dhammi-chan and Redhead weren't pregnant yet, they were quite frustrated and were quite insistent on the matter. Though... I won't say that I put up much resistance. Since I already have four children, I suppose two more won't hurt...