DAY 44
My Search ability has been gradually improving,
and at this point, I'm able to identify races I've seen before
and get a general idea of their strength.
Something's coming.
G-Gobrou!
I know! I'm coming!
We've been waiting.
You pitiful goblins dare to keep noble elves like us waiting.
What is the meaning of this?
I see. I guess these are elves, then.
I've got a gut feeling this is gonna be a real pain.
You savages should be grateful.
We're offering you...
- We're offering you... - He's putting on a very pompous face...
He's putting on a very pompous face...
But what it boils down to is that humans are about to attack
in an attempt to snatch the elves' treasure, - This isn't extortion. You
will, of course, be suitably rewarded.
In other words: "We'll pay you what you're worth, so come help us."
This is couple of months of food for the village!
It's a good offer.
Maybe it is.
It's settled, then.
I'll have to refuse!
I couldn't give a rat's ass about your situation.
If you want someone's help, you need to be sincere about it!
You wretch!
Okay.
If you want to keep your head attached to your shoulders,
have your hidden archers lower their bows.
A-All of you, lower your weapons!
I'm turning down your offer because I'm not in the mood for it,
but I live in these woods, too.
If humans are headed this way to mess things up, I'm not against teaming up.
What the?!
Tzenpes.
I don't know how it works, but it seems that when I stab something with Kaziklu Bey,
I can produce a limitless amount of spears
that can extend as far out as a hundred meters.
Retreat!
What a waste...
They won't be back for a while after a scare like that.
...At least, I hope.
DAY 45
The next day, I hunted gray slimes deep in the woods
About twenty of them.
The abilities I got from eating their cores...
Physical Attack Resistance. Auto Replication. Fluid Regeneration.
I see...
So this is Auto Replication?
I can see myself!
It looks like we've got linked senses.
I just had a great idea.
DAY 46
I had Gobmi and the others whip up some traveling clothes
that have my blood in the lining.
It'll serve as a transmitter in case of an emergency.
DAY 47
My bad feeling turned out to be right.
Here they come again, having not learned a damn thing.
Alright, all of you...
I can't move! What's happening?!
Now, what are you doing back here?
Y-Your barbarism the other day has wounded my pride!
Y-Your lack of respect h-has earned you more than one death!
We're sorry.
We tried to stop him, but he wouldn't listen.
Here's what we're gonna do. First, consider this idiot boss of yours dead.
The rest of you will face my people in mock battles. Anyone who wins gets to live.
If you elves want to live, then fight and win!
To skip to the end of the story, out of the 23 elves who fought, six were defeated.
The six who lost were all men, incidentally.
Nobody tell them I tweaked the match-ups because I didn't like the idea of dead beauties.
Now that was a meal!
Now that was a meal! - Resident of Evergreen. Elementaler.
YOU HAVE LEARNED THE ABILITY [ELEMENTALER] - Now that was a meal! - Resident of
YOU HAVE LEARNED THE ABILITY [ELEMENTALER] - Resident of Evergreen. Elementaler.
Evergreen. Elementaler.
Resident of Evergreen. Elementaler.
Knowledge of Archery. Tracking. Hiding.
YOU HAVE LEARNED THE ABILITY [TRACKING] - Knowledge of Archery. Tracking. Hiding.
YOU HAVE LEARNED THE ABILITY [HIDING] - Knowledge of Archery. Tracking. Hiding.
YOU HAVE LEARNED THE ABILITY [HIDING]
Alright, those of you won need to surrender your weapons and magic items.
You're prisoners now.
What?! I thought you would let us go if we won!
Seriously? You came here to kill us.
Did you think you were gonna get off that lightly?
Elves have so many babes! Tonight is gonna be fun!
No touching without permission, got it?!
I mean, you're the boss in the village...
I'll do as you say. Gotta set a good example for the young'uns.
Gobjii...
Could I get at least a little action, though?
I'm so pent up, I'm about to burst.
All things in moderation.
Now, if you were wondering how I was gonna execute you...
D-Don't do it!
Don't... p-please stop!
I'm begging you!
DAY 48
[GOBKICHI]
DAY 49
H-Hey, is that...
No way...
But his face...
Are you... Is that...
Gobkichi!
Wow, you look like a different goblin!
What the hell, man? If you had ranked up, you could've just told me!
Gobkichi apparently has evolved into a special variant.
The dark red skin is the result of a blessing from the Demigod of Flame.
And the glossy, iron-hard skin he has is supposedly a blessing from the Demigod of War.
Gobrou, since you became an ogre, you haven't had anyone to spar with...
and I was worried I couldn't catch up to you.
But now I can say this:
I want you to fight me again!
All right. Let's do it!
Not bad, Gobkichi!
I'm not done yet!
I still had the edge in combat skills, which let me come out on top.
But this proved something to me...
Gobkichi really is my rival!
It was that night, when I was exhausted from some serious sparring.
Forgive me. I must apologize.
That's not Gobjii... so who is it?
Please. This gift is the least I can provide you.
GOBROU OBTAINED [KIN OF ■■■]
What was that, just now?
DAY 51
Seriously, what is this big deal, Gobe?
You gotta see it, trust me!
I think Gobkichi might've been good inspiration,
because we've got four new hobgoblins.
You're late. I've already tested them for aptitude.
One of them has the potential to be a Mage...
And another...
This one is suited to being a Cleric.
H-Hello there. I'm Gobji.
I'll do my best to heal as many people as possible, big brother Gobrou.
Big brother? Something about that sounds funny...
Well, we've all been siblings from the day we were born, after all.
So, Hobsei, are you ever going to explain what happened with you?
I was simply waiting for you to bring it up.
Hobsei said she had evolved when she woke up in the morning.
She's apparently grown into the lord family as a half-spell lord.
However, lords usually don't have makings like these...
They look like the ones on my body.
What are you just standing around for, Gobrou?
I'm overflowing with mana at the moment.
Let's go and see just how much more powerful I am now.
And I've still got plenty more where that came from.
I think I could cast that one another 20 times.
Actually, let me just show you!
Uh, no, I'm convinced already! Thank you so much.
When you've got a half in front of your race name,
you're not quite as powerful as you would be otherwise.
In the case of Hobsei, she's likely to evolve all the way into a spell lord next time.
That being the case, here's some new equipment to celebrate your rank-up!
I'm jealous! You left me behind.
I'm sure you'll catch up soon, Sato.
Thanks.
Evolutions in this village seem to be happening rather frequently...
I'm pretty sure that's because of me.
I'm speculating at this point,
but I think the environment in the first month of a goblin's life
can have a major effect on their rate of growth.
In any case, having our people get stronger is a good thing.
But there are those who weren't so lucky...
DAY 52
We're going to be eating good tonight.
Where are you guys headed at this hour?
W-We can't do this anymore!
We've been trying to hang in there, hoping to turn things around,
but the youngsters are all leaving us behind!
We haven't even been able to get any action.
So we're leaving the village!
G-Go ahead and kill us if you want.
But we've had enough of living like this!
Okay, understood. Take care of yourselves!
You're not gonna stop us?
That looks like your own gear, so why would I?
But if you're going, I dunno, take this as a last offering, or maybe a parting gift.
This knife is made with a magical metal called mythril.
It's got a really good edge.
Let's go.
Dammit.
DAY 53
We were searching the woods
when we discovered a human who had been killed by an orc.
He was already out of luck...
But he seems to have had an interesting ability.
Being able to use it well might be a way of paying him some respect.
YOU HAVE LEARNED THE ABILITY [MONSTER TAMER]
YOU HAVE LEARNED THE ABILITY [MONSTER TAMER] - Monster Tamer.
YOU HAVE LEARNED THE ABILITY [MONSTER TAMER]
And that night...
Now, don't be too shocked...
I've finally produced something you've been wanting for a long time.
Is that what I think it is?!
It's booze!
Thank you! Thank you so much!
DAY 54
That being the case...
The goblins from the generation before ours have left the village.
If anyone wants to join them, raise your hand.
I won't stop you, and I'll provide parting gifts, too.
All right.
Forget I mentioned it then! Now, let's have a toast!
DAY 55
Things were peaceful for the next few days.
I worked on producing earrings with my own blood in them.
They would act as communications devices.
DAY 56
We've got cloudy weather today, I repeat, cloudy weather.
Wow! I really can hear you!
After testing, I got to work making enough for all of us.
DAY 57
Nice, Gobe!
It was great seeing how much stronger Gobe had gotten,
but after seeing the tri-horn horse she had brought in was basically unharmed,
I had an idea.
It was time to test the ability I got from that human: Monster Tamer.
This should work perfectly as our first familiar!
DAY 58
Like the tri-horn horse,
a gray bear proved to be a really useful familiar.
The head of the black wolf pack became my pet
and serves as a bodyguard for the human girls.
DAY 59
I experienced a real shock on the 59th day...
The short-haired redhead,
who as a rookie warrior had never really come into her own...
really seems to grow when she's on the ropes.
Even if I had to arrange for her to fight one-on-one,
she was able to beat three kobolds.
Can I have some of that, too?
Sure. It's not poisonous, so it should be fine.
What is it?
Well... I think...
I just got a new job.
Look, Gobrou! I can even hunt like this now!
Her new job is Noir Soldat.
She needs to periodically eat monsters or she'll die.
But it results in some astonishing growth.
A few goblins were attacked by humans and had to run home again today.
I see. It's nearly time, then...
Time for what?
The war between humans and elves.
DAY 60
Kobolds are fleeing, being chased by...
It's too dark. I can't identify them, even with Search.
We'll figure something out with the kobolds once they're in here.
Leave them be for now!
And behind them...
Magically-animated skeletons, huh?
Gobmi! Shoot them down!
Got it!
No good! It's not working!
There are too many!
This is gonna get bad, Gobrou!
There's one big signal behind the ever-increasing horde of skeletons.
Most likely the one creating them...
Here they come!
There are so many...
Take that!
That settles it!
Everybody, weapons down! Don't try to cut them...
Smash them apart!
Right!
This'll be a nice chance to earn some experience!
Keep smashing skeletons for as long as you can!
But then what?
Leave that to me!
Time to wrap this up. Everyone, get clear.
This should take about ten seconds.
One...
Two...
Three...
Four...
Five...
Six...
Seven...
Huh. Guess I finished three seconds early.
Quit that.
Summon Lower Undead. High-Tier Equipment Materialization.
Mana Absorption. Low Damage Reduction.
YOU HAVE LEARNED THE ABILITY [MANA ABSORPTION] - Mana Absorption. Low Damage Reduction.
Mana Absorption. Low Damage Reduction.
Low Magic Reduction.
My lord!
What... What is this?
The kobolds accidentally dug their way into Velvet's treasury,
which we had visited earlier.
And that awakened its guardian, a greater skeleton.
To escape the swarm of skeletons,
they made a last-ditch run for the cave of the terrifying black ogre...
This "lord" thing... you realize we've killed plenty of your kind, right?
We're fully aware! The strong devouring the weak is natural law!
Yet our survival here, in this moment, is at your discretion!
Okay, fine! Let's get your wounded looked at.
We can talk more after.
Yes, sir!
I have no idea how this happened...
But I've gathered quite an interesting crowd.
NEXT TIME: