The heavy rain from yesterday continued, so we spent the day inside the cave.
The day went as usual. After the morning practice was over, I equipped the black wolf armor that I made yesterday and the halberd, which I still haven't tried using in a real battle, before facing a fully equipped Gobukichi-kun in a somewhat serious practice battle.
My new armor consisted of flexible black leather pants and a long black leather coat. On my left hand I was equipped with a solid iron-wrought gauntlet, and on my right hand I used the carapace reinforced, and in lots of different ways improved, round shield. I didn't have anything covering my head, and on my feet I had a pair of sturdy looking boots that the older goblins brought back from the adventurers.
Since my skin was also black, this equipment made me almost invisible during the night.
Gobukichi-kun's equipment was replaced with various items we got during the orc raid.
His main weapon was a [Crescent Axe] that burned from having a [Flame Blade] made by embedding a battle axe, that I discovered, with fire spirit stones, his buckler was a black iron tower shield made from a carapace-reinforced round shield, which had high defensive strength because of how heavy it was, that was strengthened through magic.
His armor was based on what the Orc Leader was using. Using my thread to bind it together, it was now reinforced by pieces of carapace and black wolf leather, which raised the defensive power and mobility.
Looking almost like a moving fortress, his armor coupled with his body that was amplified by his vanguard specialization, resulted in combat ability that was not something to joke about.
Truly, Gobukichi-kun had become strong.
I can sense it during his normal training as well, but facing him fully armed truly makes me understand how much he has improved.
Basically, I, who had strengthened myself by having a variety of abilities, confusing my opponents through the use of various techniques, and winning using methods of striking my opponents from behind, was bad in a situation like this where I had to fight head-to-head without an ability against a genuinely strong opponent like Gobukichi-kun.
He's still an opponent I can win against with my abilities, but having my halberd with the force of my whole body behind it being almost perfectly blocked by his tower shield is, as expected, still kind of shocking. Each and every one of his blows is also extremely heavy, but above all his dexterous handling of his axe is worthy of admiration.
It seems like he knew from experience how to swing an axe sharper, faster, and heavier.
Well, the weapons he has used from the first hunt till now have always been similar, from cudgel → axe → axe which was probably the reason.
In our goblin village the one who handles axes the best is without question Gobukichi-kun.
Also, his burning [Crescent Axe] was more trouble than I thought it would be. I've got the ability [Fire Resistance], so I didn't get injured by his [Crescent Axe]'s [Flame Blades]. However, resistance is resistance and hot things are hot. Because of the blazing flame my vision was impaired and when the handle of my halberd got searingly hot from the long exposure to his flame, I excused myself.
Continuing like this, we spent quite a long time staging mock battles.
I spent some time manufacturing clothes, picked up the mined "spirit stones", ate the food the sisters prepared then went to sleep.
And then when everyone had gone to sleep, that event happened.
Eight bodies were moving towards the place where the five human women were sleeping, and my [Presence Sensor] ability caught that movement.
When I looked at what woke me up, I saw the retreating figures of goblins who were exchanging words in whispers between one another, speaking enthusiastically about assaulting the women.
The moment I saw that, I gripped the halberd that I kept near my bedside in one-hand and chased after them. I made sure to do this stealthily in order to get firm proof that they intended to assault the womens sleeping place. Conclusive proof that they couldn't refute was extremely important.
After they have done it they can't excuse themselves by saying that I made an error.
Once I was sure, I swung my halberd at the closest goblin and moved down his neck region.
His head flew, charmed by gravity it fell to the ground and begun to tumble, which I then trampled over and crushed flat in one breath. After squashing the head, my boots became soiled, but at that moment, I didn't care.
I made sure to cauterize the goblin's severed throat as I decapitated him; it helped save myself from the annoyance of cleaning up afterwards.
The smell of burning flesh sparked my battle instincts.
I dare say I was laughing while I was doing this.
The sudden cold-blooded murder instantly caused the atmosphere to turn serious.
Everyone's gaze that were locked to me were having this dumbfounded and confused state, ignoring their situation, I began to apprehend the rest of the goblins using my thread. Looking at the captured goblins, I realized they were all subordinates of the former hobgoblin leader.
Then, I determined first of all that the former hobgoblin leader who attacked Redhead rolling in front of my eyes with a bulging crotch was first to bring it up.
I tried hearing his story before deciding whether I'd allow him his life, it seems like he was unable to suppress his sexual desires. When I asked why he didn't just let it out on a female of his own kind, it seems having known a human woman's body once, a female goblin's body can no longer satisfy him. The pleasure was different by an order of magnitude.
"Don't you understand that!?", was his argument. I hit him once then stopped the discussion halfway because the girls who were assaulted had part of their clothes torn. I've heard enough of what I wanted to hear.
I handed over some fine cardigans crafted from the threads I made yesterday to the shivering girls who were hugging their own bodies.
Because leaving them with torn clothes could make them a temptation for the other goblins.
As I finished handing out the clothes, while rubbing her back I called out to and attempted to calm Redhead who was clinging to me and crying. I kept patiently calling out to her, who seems to be slowly calming down, although she was still bawling. Once Gobukichi-kun, Gobumi-chan, and Gobue-chan hurried over, I gave them the order to put the goblins I bound with thread in the practice hall near the entrance. Also to wake everyone who is still asleep.
I left the corpse and splattered head on the floor.
After making the order, Redhead seemed to have calmed down once I gave her some time; although, she still wouldn't let go of my clothes. Somehow, she would not open her hands regardless of my intention, which was confusing. She was still faintly trembling, so it was unreasonable to try to get an answer. Although I actually thought that I had better not be burdened with having to look after her mental health from now on; but it can't be helped so I took her with me. The other four girls, although trembling, either because they hated to be separated from me, who rescued them as I promised, or because they thought they wanted to see things with their own eyes, or possibly some other reason, followed along at a distance.
Having made sure no one was asleep and that they had gathered in the hall next to the entrance, I pointed at the arrested goblins with the tip of my halberd. I explained that "What the likes of these guys did was this and that~~, what I said was etc. etc.~~", made them understand, then I began the torture.
For starters, I cut off a bit of the tips of their fingers with a bowie knife. Cauterizing the wound with a flame so they didn't bleed to death and using a healing spell to restore both their vitality and body strength. I proceeded bit by bit, taking the utmost care that they wouldn't die.
Their screams were noisy so I stuffed a gag of thread in their mouths. That was also to prevent them from biting their tongues. Well, you wouldn't die quickly even if you bit your tongue to begin with so doing it was probably pointless.
Yep, I was putting everyone off.
Physically and mentally, they were drawing away.
Nevertheless, doing this to prove to the girls that the promise I made was not empty should be easily understandable. In the first place, there was clearly no need to say that there were a number of followers who do not abide by my, the current leader's, words but instead followed the orders of the previous one.
Leaving behind things like this would certainly cause problems later on, so for the sake of the future I do this to nip potential trouble in the bud.
If in the end it's "because I did not do this I was stabbed in the back and died", that would be silly.
The six goblins were dealt with using various unique, colorful methods, and in the end, only one was left.
The last goblin—the former hobgoblin leader begged for his life with his eyes, but even though I was so lovingly turning him into a sandbag this fool could not understand a thing, I could not see any value in his existence.
Within the group he held a position that was commensurate with his strength, but as I thought, it can't be helped that fools will always be fools.
I don't get those guys that could not even abide by the bare minimum number of rules that I established, so simple that even idiots could understand.
The fact that things ended up this way was because of this guy's intentions, you reap what you sow.
Still, even I wouldn't kill his followers just because I didn't like them. Not unless I have a pretext for killing my opponent, like this guy. From the start, cases where it is fine if there were two powers within an organization are exceedingly rare.
Because of that, without hesitation, again and again I burned his arm, tormented him with water, trapped him under a heavy stone while whipping him, keeping him barely alive as I continuously tortured him.
* * *
Day 32
The time when the former leader finally died was the moment sunlight reached the entrance of the cave.
Clearly, I went kinda nuts and overdid it a bit.
Because his vitality was stronger than a goblin's, he simply didn't die easily. I did, however, continue to heal him as well which contributed to his prolonged torture.
When I returned to my senses, I looked at my surroundings. Everyone was terrified.
Pleasantly smiling I laughed. "Have I made myself clear enough?", I asked the gathered goblins who all nodded their heads with astonishing vigour. Feeling satisfied with that answer, I disbanded the meeting and ordered everyone to sleep till noon. If everyone managed to sleep it would be nice, considering they'd been forced to watch my torture all morning they must be tired, but somehow I doubted anyone would fall asleep today.
So almost everyone except those who had fainted didn't go to sleep like me.
Thus I ordered everyone to sleep. I also told them that today's training was cancelled.
After creating a water ball with my abilities to wash away the blood from my hands and face,
I had noticed that Redhead, who had watched me work more than anyone, was shivering uncontrollably with vacant eyes.
In order to snap her back to her senses, I created another water ball and threw it at her.
Then I picked her up and carried her like a child to their bedroom. I disregarded it when she began to shiver even more. When I safely dropped her off, I returned to the spacious area again, and because the other four still couldn't move themselves I repeated this four times.
After confirming that the other goblins had returned to the bedroom, I also went to sleep.
I woke up sometime in the middle of the afternoon.
As a replacement for lunch I ate the hearts and stomachs of the goblins I killed, whereafter I buried the rest of their bodies with my [Earth Control] ability.
Around this time the other goblins woke up, and because I had said we would skip practice today, I and the three other goblins went hunting.
I left the Goblin Elders, together with five of the goblin minions, to protect the human girls. Earlier, I asked, "You know what'll happen if they are assaulted, right?". It was when they nodded vigorously that I decided the girls were probably safest with them.
Well, the girls were within a walled off area I had made with my thread, and with the short-sword wielding Redhead there, at the very least, they should be able to buy some time if there was trouble.
In addition, when we subjugated the orcs at the mining camp, we found an emergency horn. I gave them to the girls in case an incident were to occur. If they blow it, we should be able to quickly return and save them.
With that taken care of, we four left with peace of mind. The first thing we encountered on our hunt was a Three-Horned Horse. At a glance it was covered with solid looking scales, and it was twice as large as a normal horse. It was such a big horse that with our current bodies we had to look up to see it. It was a creature that had evolved far above that of a hobgoblin. And there were two of them. They were probably a couple; perhaps one was pregnant.
However, we don't know that for certain, and in order for us to survive we need food, so we performed our usual surprise attack.
Our first attack went by the book. Gobumi-chan and Gobue-chan shot poisoned arrows with their crossbows. One of Gobumi-chan's arrow went right through one of the horses eyes, while Gobue-chan's arrow was slightly off and bounced off the other horse's stiff scales.
"Those scales are tough! Even though the power of the crossbows could easily pierce through a standard plate mail, it easily repelled it!!" I reflexively screamed out loud.
Moreover, I had placed poison on the arrowheads, a wonderfully strong poison, and yet the Three-Horned Horse didn't instantly die, rather it began to act aggressively because of the intense pain. I had never seen such fierce vitality before!
While we were busy being surprised, the horse that wasn't hit noticed us. It turned in our direction, pointing its three horns at us, and entrusting itself to its rage, it charged in an attempt to impale us. Well, with my thread and thunder combo I somehow managed to stop it, my thread was so thinly spread that the thought that it would just brush off the thread, annoyed, made my innards go cold.
Just how much horsepower did that thing have?
There was no question that its physical strength couldn't even be compared to that of a hobgoblin.
While Gobumi-chan and Gobue-chan's sniping kept the riotous horse pinned, Gobukichi and I recklessly attacked it with my halberd and his burning axe. At first our attacks were simply repelled however after repeatedly attacking we found a way to chip off the scales. After that, the rest was quick.
My halberd and his [Crescent Axe] made the scales fly; once our blades reached the thick flesh below it we were successful at severing the head from its body.
The other one was weakened by my poison, and because we had already figured out how to kill it, this was an easier kill.
It was quite heavy work, however, we didn't receive any major injuries; it was truly a significant hunt. We carried all the raw materials back, however since it was our first time hunting this prey, we decided to eat all of it ourselves.
Since it's big, all the goblins, except Gobukichi-kun, were set to diligently remove the scales in order to get the meat. Gobukichi-kun was once again stationed to watch the surroundings. We needed the right goblin in the right place. And thus I ate six horns, two hearts and a fair share of the rest of the meat which was generously split four ways. After that I also ate the shells, since I thought I might get something from doing that.
Ability [Scale Armour Charge] learned.
Ability [Scaled Horse's Neigh] learned.
Ability [Rapid Recovery] learned.
Ability [Improved Leg Power] learned.
Ability [Improved Charging Power] learned.
Ability [Triple Stab] learned.
After eating I had obtained six abilities. This was the proof that the three horned horse truly was strong. Because usually as a hobgoblin I had to eat four bodies to gain an ability.
Also, this was the first time since I reincarnated that I obtained a physical attacking skill, which was big. I thought [Triple Stab] would stab three times in a row, when I tested invoking the skill against a tree holding my estoc, the result was that three holes were made in the tree. Yes, I actually only stabbed with my estoc once. Yet I made three holes. In addition to that they were arranged in straight line from top to bottom. After spending such a long time in this world the fact that I didn't get how it worked now didn't surprise me. However, I came to wonder if this from upper to lower attack ignored physical defense. I tried to think about it. However, the answer to this question will have to wait for another time.
After that we walked around for a while, hunting the usual things, bringing them back and finally going to bed. After I fell asleep, Redhead snuck into my bed, so we slept together.
I'll say it to make it clear, but we didn't do anything erotic.
I reaffirmed that a person's warmth was still a good thing.
* * *
Day 33
When I woke up, I tried to move but my body felt heavy and I felt trapped. I was lying with my arms spread wide, and for some reason I couldn't feel them. I decided to figure out what was happening, so I looked to the left and right. When I looked to my right, Gobumi-chan lay on one arm and when looking to my left, I found Redhead sleeping on the other.
Yeah this is the so called 'arm-pillow'. That dull sensation came from two heads disturbing the blood flow in each of my arms.
Why did it turned out this way?
Truthfully I wanted to move my arms that had numb quickly, but I couldn't bring myself to wake those two, who were sleeping soundly and happily. What I'd like to ask is, when did Gobumi-chan enter my bed? When Redhead snuck into my bed I was half asleep, yet I remember her slipping into the bed so I can understand her being there.
Could it be that she possessed such a powerful [Hiding] ability that my [Presence Sensor] ability could not sense her? No, there's no way.
Most likely, if the one being detected has no bloodlust or hostility towards the wielder of [Presence Sensor], then the signal is weak, and because I was sleeping I missed that weak signal.
I was thinking, "For the time being I'd like to do something about this situation…" when Hobusei-san happened to pass by. Hobusei-san was the name of the hobgoblin mage, okay? The mage's name. You probably understand, but I thought it important so its worth repeating.
I pleaded for her help with my eyes. She held back a chuckle, picked up my favorite book from my toolbox, [Introduction to Magic — Basic Sorcery vol 2 of 3], and then went away gracefully.
Crap. She'd better return that.
After that, Gobukichi-kun came over for morning practice carrying the [Crescent Axe].
I pleaded with my eyes just like with Hobusei-san. He was troubled for a little while, but ended up pressing his hands together in prayer and left. I bitterly watched his cheerful smile as he did so.
O~i, we're friends aren't we? Please help, will you?
After Gobukichi-kun, a yawning Gobue-chan followed. Recently she'd gotten into gathering beautiful gem-like "Spirit Stones". She seemed to have formed a spirit stone mining group together with other goblin girls. Considering her habits, it's probably the leisure time before morning practice right now.
I imploringly pleaded with my eyes. Because she smiled wryly as if to say "It can't be helped" I thought "Is she going to go away too?", but just then she saw something and broke into cold sweat. While I was thinking "Huh?"