Re:Monster - Volume 2 - Chapter 10

Chapter 10: Day 91 ~ Day 95

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Day 91

Yesterday afternoon, we had begun our journey from the forest. Since our horses are merely my Skeletons Centipedes, they don't require any rest, so we could have probably gone in a single go without stopping. Though our wagon train still calls far too much attention to us. Several dozen undead horses literally running down the road makes it an extremely noticeable convoy. I suppose as long as we keep moving in earnest, we won't greatly disturb the communities within the grasslands beyond the forest. Our mission, this time, was to leave the forest, the hills, the mountain, and trek into the unknown to discover the fortress city of Trient. There should probably be enough time today for us to arrive there before night fall.

We might have even managed to make it there already, but we decided to spend the night in a nearby village on the prairie, so we're currently stopped in the grasslands.

The name of the village we stayed in was Clute, its population is roughly three hundred people. I'd have to say it's a little plain, with just the minimum level of agriculture to sustain it. Hmm, actually, it looks a lot like the village I was born in during my life as a human. The forest that we were born in was apparently called Kuuderun Great Forest where it is famed for the high-quality wood. Even the administrator of Velvet's dungeon had informed me that due to the high density of magic in the area, some wooden products made from the trees of the forest could have magical properties and were famous for making musical instruments. It appears this town also has a shop that makes their livelihood from selling these pieces.

I decided that it was worth sating my curiosity on the matter and headed over to the shop. In all honesty, these items were actually stunning; they were imbued with the power of the spirits of the forest. No wonder they are such a popular commodity with the rich and nobility of this nation. If anyone ever wanted to become a famous [Job-Bard], they would certainly have an easy time of it if they had something like this.

Originally, it seems that there was nothing but grassland in this area until several years ago. The story apparently goes that several craftsmen following a rumor of high quality lumber settled and built several houses around each other to begin practicing their trade. They were so successful that soon, others followed them here, and in time, this so-called craftsmen's village was formed. I'd say, given the growth, this town might actually be nearly twice its size in several years.

Because the craftsmen masters reap such high levels of business from the aristocracy of this kingdom, it seems that if you are skilled enough, you could actually rise through the ranks of nobility, given enough time. One such individual is apparently so skilled, that he created man-made creatures called [Golems] that are in charge of protecting the village.

In short, these guardians are Iron Golems, though they don't have much more offensive power than a Hobgoblin, they have massive bodies with high endurance values. From what I have seen so far from walking around, there are about five or so of these creatures. As added defenses, they have installed trenches, ditches, and a man named Kikabe installed a watchtower.

According to Redhead, she had met several well privileged merchants that had made their starts in this town. It's safe to say that these people have quite a large sense of safety in the world, it almost annoys me how ignorant some people can be.

Soon enough, I found myself wandering full circle around the exterior of the village. After seeing the black bodies of the Skeleton horses I had created, I decided to use one of the items from my box to change them into normal looking brown horses. It was a ring that I had gained from Velvet's dungeon. It allowed me to change how certain objects or people appear for a certain period of time.

After that, I made my way into the inner parts of the city after seeing that everyone had not yet made ready to depart. Part of my reasoning to do this was because, during my stroll, I had heard several persons discussing some form of trouble that is causing strife for the villagers. Seeing the possibility for a job I made my way inward.

This village has apparently been having issues for several months now where the Orc clans have been causing trouble and growing aggressive. These Orcs had apparently not caused much in the way of trouble in the past and mostly keep to themselves in the forest. When I heard that these were monsters of the forest, that suddenly grabbed my attention. This may have something to do with me and my attack on the main Orc compound a while back.

According to a villager, around 10 years ago, a deal had been struck with the Orc tribes of the forest to cease their raids on the village in return for the transfer of some female slaves once every six months. Apparently, it was more convenient to do so, due to the high income of the village rather than risking lives to fight the Orcs and their constant raids up till now.

However, the Orcs have recently begun to break their contract, and on the contrary, have begun attacking the groups that have gone logging. In doing so this time, they have supposedly captured the daughter of an influential member of the community. I was told that this was the seventh large attack in recent months, with the Orc's attacks growing more rapid each time.

I hear there are quite a number of them, but they haven't taken the risk of attacking the village directly as of yet, even though Orcs are a type of monster that, if there were several of them, would be able to kill an Iron Golem. Though the Iron Golems are strong, with the size of this village, you can't protect everything with only five Iron Golems. It would be up to the villagers to fight should they come under full-assault from the Orc tribe. As it is, the villagers are no longer able to safely obtain the high-quality wood material.

The Orcs have been pretty friendly to the village over the past decade, so this level of brutality has left the village in a state of confusion. Though Orcs have some humanoid characteristics, in the end, they are still just monsters. That's where the general consensus is heading - Typical human mentality.

The history of this village is short, and not many have spent much of their lives in this village. Though they are pleased with their lives here, especially the skilled craftsmen that have invested so much into the town over the past decade, there is risk that the village may have to be abandoned if the Orc raids continue.

These humans have no fighting mentality whatsoever and would prefer to cut their losses rather than die. To leave their village and all of their hard work without even putting up a fight. Hmph, I suppose this also qualifies as human behavior.

Though I would normally not care too much about the sufferings of the humans, there could be business to be made through trading with this village since they use the spirits of the forest in their crafts.

Since the only place that would be able to dispatch a punitive request to deal with the Orcs would be the governing town Guild, I went there to offer our services, for a just reward suited to saving their entire village of course. I don't like charity unless it benefits me.

Ah, right. I think I may have figured the root of the crisis that this village is facing. It seems that I truly am at the center of this incident. It was myself and the rest that had robbed the Orcs of their base of operations and slew their leader. Given that probably most Orcs don't have that much intelligence to begin with, cutting off the head of their clan probably sent the survivors into a tribal civil war. There was probably several divisions over the next leader, with each out to secure their own survival. So far, survivors from their raids pin that there are probably between thirty and forty surviving Orcs from the dozens that were slain at the mine.

It may have been that all of the Orcs with even the slightest bit of wisdom had been present at the mine during our attack. As such, all of their supplies, leaders, Mages, and organizational hierarchy were all wiped out. The survivors are probably no more than mere beasts that rely on pure instinct. A better way to picture what is going on is to imagine all of the survivors are like Ogakichi-kun without my influence. With their food running short, they are attacking the closest source of food possible, meaning the town and those that went out to collect the lumber.

Orcs were never really that weak, but as we are now there would be no trouble in removing the threat. For normal untrained human civilians however, an Orc is a frightening proposition when you bring up the discussion of fighting back. It would be extremely difficult to subdue the Orcs to ensure the safety of their lumberjacks.

Recent sightings of the Orcs portray them as far more skinny than they had been previously, an obvious sign that they are struggling to secure proper sources of food.

The Orcs probably held off on attacking the humans until hunger got the better of them, and they came looting the humans even though they remembered the warnings that their superior's had told them before we slaughtered them all. Since the crop fields were almost totally undefended, the Orcs also struck there.

Sigh, since this is a problem that I have caused, I suppose I can't just leave it as it is. Especially if, for some reason, it comes to light that it was me who caused the Orcs to attack the human settlement, who knows what the results would be. Most likely, my relations with the humans would be tarnished for a very long time. Not that I feel sorry for kicking the Orcs out of the mines. The spirit stones that were extracted from the Orc mines were far worth the cost to the humans. The experience at the time was also nice.

Spirit stones are precious to the humans and many other races for their magical properties. If I were able to clear out the remaining Orcs, selling them here would bring an enormous pile of gold in. Since this place has such a high demand for high-quality magical materials, I see this place almost as if it were filled with trees that grew money. Its not something that my greedy heart could just pass up. Well, for now I'll keep the information I've discovered concealed while I discuss the matter of a contract to deal with the Orcs. For me, what I have done to the Orcs is a thing in the past.

Its not like I have anything against the Orcs, but, with the idea of gathering a reward, I pushed any possible morals aside. Though as a consolation, I suppose I'll throw in the treatment for all the injured people created from the constant Orc raids. There is even benefit in doing this. It makes me appear as a benevolent soul in their eyes. I may even be given special prices for my goods once this is all over.

Anyway, with the contract with Clute Village made, I had a few small conversations with some of the head Guild members before I made my way out. If I play my cards right, I could turn this short-term contract into a formal long-term contract to protect the village from future attacks. Even this would be in my benefit. If I'm going to be doing business with these people by selling them our spirit stones, I may as well makes sure it doesn't get pillaged or razed to the ground. With myself being sure of the future of this deal, I made my way back.

After the contract was made, it wasn't even evening before all of the Orcs were being fried up as roasted pork. The village's Orc problem has been all wrapped up. With a delicious meal thrown in, I can accept that price of one day's worth of travels.

While we were wiping out the Orcs, we made sure to not harm the human women in their possession. By taking this caution, we managed to recover the three women that had been kidnapped during the Orc raids. When we returned, a deal was signed for the future protection of the settlement. With the deal struck, I sent for ten Goblins and ten Hobgoblins led by a Hobgoblin Mage to garrison the village. They should arrive within a day or so and would be greeted with great kindness upon arriving at the village.

The trust I gained from this was great.

While keeping the slave women would be nice, I decided to free them and leave them in the village. I gave the Guild Master a request to treat them as equals, to which he agreed to.

I think the environment of this village is better than before.

That's good. The better the relations with a village, the better the business.

As we were back on the road, the effects of the ring wore off.

I decided to eat the ring for the chance of picking up the ability for myself

Ability learned: 【Shapeshift】

For now, I changed the color of my body to be more human like, though I left my tattoos as is.

With that, we continue to proceed onward to our destination.

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Day 92

We stopped several times on our way to the city. I took the time to examine the surrounding terrain carefully. My reason being that there could be plenty of tasty creatures that I haven't eaten yet. If there are, I want their abilities, simple as that.

The first creature we came across was a Boruforu, a mixed creature that seemed to be the love child of a Rhino, Buffalo and a Wild Boar. The next creature was a Turtle Snake, a roughly two meter long snake with thirty centimeter long red plates along its body. There was also the Blade Rabbit, a simple Horned Rabbit that had a beard of sharp blades and a blade on its forehead. The last creature was called a Harpy, it was a quite human-like, but with bird features and a large set of wings.

While all those encountered yielded no abilities, hunting them still was enjoyable to break up the drawl of the trip.

This trip has so far been pretty peaceful. Unlike the forest, where enemies who hide their presence could strike out of nowhere, there are no blind spots for enemies to approach us in these wide open plains. I spotted a Blade Rabbit in the corner of my eye and instantly launched an attack at it. At Redhead's current level, she still has a bit of trouble with these, so I gave the motion for Dhammi-chan to distract it with magic while Redhead went in for the kill. Since both of my familiars have Ranked-up, they are both very daunting for most opponents.

Since we left Dhammi-chan's triple horn horse <<Familiar>> back at the base due to various circumstances, she was riding on Kurosaburou who had ranked-up into a "Black Dire Wolf"(Orthoros). Redhead was mounted on Kumajirou because of the strength difference between Dhammi-chan and Redhead. However, despite the logic involved in this, Dhammi-chan seemed to be envious of Redhead, I wonder why...

When we came across a herd of a few dozen Boruforu I decided to stop the convoy for a hunt. I threw some camouflage on the Skeleton Horses using one of my abilities. I've practiced with my camouflage abilities a little bit since the village. I want to avoid the same surprise that resulted when we pulled in with a convoy pulled by Skeleton Horses. For the hunt I let Kumajirou and Kurosaburou take care of most of the work, they had been quite idle since departing from our settlement. Because both of them are natural hunters the hunt was done in a quick and effective fashion. After that was the collecting and processing of the materials.

Long story short, Redhead informed me that Boruforu materials are actually an expensive commodity that is used for tools and medicine.

Even though I heard that, I still ate five of them myself. It was about the same as I would normally eat for breakfast anyway.

Ability [Rhinoceros Bone Body Armor] learned

Ability [Desensitizing] learned

Damn. I ate quite a large amount, but I still only gained two abilities from them because of our power difference. Oh well, I shouldn't let it bother me that much, it's not like the two abilities I got were inadequate or anything. Though I don't think I'll be needing either of them anytime soon.

Well, even if I hadn't gotten any abilities from them, the meat was still some of the best I've had to date. We roasted it. The meat instantaneously melted in my mouth, the texture was so amazing and the taste of the meat was incredible. Comparing the taste to the appearance would be the same as fraud. Needless to say, Boruforu meat is now one of my favorite meals.

After a while, we came across another Blade Rabbit. When you think about it, it's small prey for Dhammi-chan and I, but it's still good practice for Redhead. While she fought the rabbit, I gathered two more for her to fight. While this was going on, I brewed up a little of the tea Father Elf had passed onto me during the day before our departure. I pulled out some rice crackers and took a slight break. After all of that roasted meat the tea was a nice touch.

With the blood of the first Blade Rabbit, Redhead's eyes glowed a deeper red, and her power increased. This fact has everything to do with her job [Noir Soldier], which allows her to grow stronger with each monster she consumes. While she fought, I sat down next to Alchemist-san, and we shared a cup of tea. I mentioned that Redhead now requires to consume monsters at regular intervals or else her body would decay. She was still surprised at Redhead's sudden burst of strength and speed.

I offered Redhead some praise after she had finished her kills. I healed her wounds while stroking her deep red hair. After her wounds were taken care of, I provided her a shower with [Hydro Hand]. The reasoning is because she went a little overboard and tore the rabbits apart, drenching herself in blood. After she cleaned up, I quickly did the same for her cloths and she got dressed.

By noon, we had come across a lair of Turtle Snakes. Apparently, Turtle Snakes dig a dense nest of interlocking tunnels like ants. It's pretty bizarre though I didn't get frustrated over it. I used [Echolocation] to find them and gathered them all together in one swoop.

Using my ability [Earth Control], I pushed them all to the surface without actually disturbing them. During the day, they sleep so this hunt should be easy. Since they were asleep, we took our time to carefully slay each one without damaging any materials that could be worth quite a bit of money later. Unfortunately, during the process they began to wake up, and I had to call several members over to help deal with them. Afterwards, a battle ensued as the remaining snakes of the initial eighty-eight snakes woke up in a startled fashion and began attacking. Since they were pretty low level compared to us, we were able to take our time to kill each one without damaging the valuable shells.

I personally killed thirty-eight of them in an instant. Even Redhead managed to slay a dozen of them. Blacksmith-san and the sisters prepared a meal with some of the meat. It was pretty good, better than a Night Viper. With some Elven liquor, the meal was outstanding.

Ability [Shell Retreat] learned

Ability [Dormant] learned

The taste was good, but since it will sell well, I'll hold off on eating anymore.

Although I also wanted to have some more Harpy, there weren't any in the sky, and the constant hunting and bloodshed was playing havoc with Blacksmith-san's health. For these reasons, I cut the hunting short and decided to continue moving towards our destination.

Up ahead, I saw a mountain path. I decided to take it. I wonder if there are any monsters along the mountain path...

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Day 93

We mostly went along via the mountain path, though sometimes the path was too narrow or the road had become overgrown. In total, there were three different paths that others had developed over the years. The one I decided to take us down ended up being the one along the riverside. It seemed to be the most heavily traveled and thus the safest in terms of transportation. The strongest monster in this region is the Hind Bear. Supposedly, there is also a boss-class Hind Bear similar to the Lord of the Forest that I had defeated earlier.

Also, the strength of this boss monster that inhabits the cliffs is apparently far beyond that of the Lord of the Forest. Along with the Hind Bears there is also a species of bird that lives on the mountain. It seems that it's a large eagle with brown feathers and four wings called a "Falaise Eagle". The average size of a Falaise Eagle is about two meters, and the span of its wings is roughly double that. The size is certainly enough to intimidate lesser opponents. It seems that it can also secrete a paralyzing poison from its claws.

Say what you will, but it certainly is a nasty monster to have to fight when you are making the trek on a path overlooking a cliff. I was informed that there weren't too many of them in the mountains, so at the very least, that is a benefit. Oh, and there is also a boss-class subspecies of the Falaise Eagle that leads them called the Jade Eagle. It can generate a small tornado from its mouth, which can force weaker prey off of the cliffs to their demise. The tornado is also said to change form into a torrent of blades that chops up enemies. Luckily, one of the humans I brought with me has extensive knowledge of this area.

He informed me that he used to live nearby and had heard stories about each of the mountain's creatures. The Red Bear here was powerful, but it moved alone. Since we're in a group, even if we encounter it, the bear shouldn't prove to be an issue. Though for now, it's best if we move as a group.

With our group moving in tight proximity to one another, we were quite secure whenever a Falaise Eagle appeared. They flew very fast and were hard to hit with most attacks. They would always strike at your blind spot to initiate the engagement. Being on a cliff, they were generally hard to deal with. However, thanks to my weapons and abilities, I had sufficient range capabilities to deal with them. Coupled with my ability 【Sense Presence】, attacking my blind spot proved a sure death sentence for the birds, and thus, I walked in front alone to draw the majority of them to me.

It was really surprising how easy it was to take them out once I got the hang of how their hunting instincts functioned. We set out to strip the materials off of the eagles as I caught them. In total, we caught eighteen of them. Once we got in to a clearing, we fried and ate them. They were quite large, so the meal was satisfying.

The taste of the meat was quite delicious. I wanted to eat more, but there weren't that many in the mountains to begin with. I should probably avoid killing too many or I'll risk killing the population in the mountains.

Ability unlocked [Panic Voice]

Ability unlocked [Wing Growth]

Ability unlocked [High-Speed Flight]

Ability unlocked [Wind Reading]

Ability unlocked [Paralysis Claw]

Ability unlocked [Paralysis Resistance]

Around two in the afternoon, we reached a point on the road where the path widened greatly. This served to make myself feel far more secure now that the risk of being knocked off the cliff or the ridge collapsing is gone. The only concern is that this area has scattered piles of bones from various animals. There is probably a nest of a strong monster nearby. Eventually, we came across the signs of a fight: the scatterings of human bones and armor and weaponry lie all about. These must be remnants of some humans that had come to subdue the beast that lingers on this path.

Just as I think this, I hear the hum and beating of wings and my Foresight warns me of the danger. In that very instant, my skin is beaten with a burst of wind that hit so hard, it felt like hundreds of razors hitting my flesh all at once. In the sky, I saw five Falaise Eagles. In addition, a substantially larger Jade Eagle subspecies was among them. All together, this group had an intense presence.

This feeling was far greater than the feeling I had when confronting the Lord of the Forest. When our eyes met, an uncomfortable feeling spiked around the nape of my neck. Their intention was certain: They came here for the kill.

The jade feathers of the subspecies sparkled like blades in the sunlight, seeming like they could cut anything. His beak and claws looked as if they were as strong as diamonds. It moved far faster than any of the other Falaise Eagles, striking from all directions rather than just from behind, making this opponent far more difficult to combat than the predictable average Falaise Eagles.

I saw a great deal of intelligence from the pair of big yellow eyes looking down at me. A supreme killer of the mountains with a stunning quality of grace earned through many battles of survival. From a first look, the fact that its color is altered means that it has probably obtained a [Divine Protection] with its own special system of abilities, just like the Lord of the Forest. For me, I desperately wanted to capture and eat this creature.

Leaving the rest of the party to defense, I grew wings like that of an insects using my [Elytron Generation], making an instant burst of speed to lunge at the enemy overlooking me in the sky. My halberd in hand and aimed at the core of the enemy.

An hour passed as I continued to battle my foe in the skies. My opponent was very powerful and had an advantage in the sky. It moved as fast as a bolt of lightning. If it wasn't for my latest ability, [High-Speed Flight], I may not have survived this engagement. Over the course of the fight, I got an understanding of just how much combat this beast has experienced to become what it is now. It used several attacks, including creating a series of mini tornadoes to disrupt my balance. With low experience with my wings, getting adjusted to fighting in the air with such an opponent was quite difficult. I can't even begin to count how many times my body has been ripped apart by its beak or how many times it's huge nails covered with paralysis toxins stung into my flesh and organs.

By this time, my whole body has been stained with blood, and many body fluids have been drained and lost. Even the Eagle's feathers were as sharp as blades, so even a successful dodge would not entail that I escaped without damage. There were no rules in this fight, however. Whenever I wasn't able to dodge an attack, I would use my metal arm as a shield from its claws. If it wasn't for this, I would have taken over another thousand strikes more than I already have. Apparently, there is even an effect from its saliva that inhibits recovery speeds. Whenever I was bitten, I would have to suppress the bleeding by tightening the muscles around the injury until I managed to purge the toxins. The subspecies' escorts were easily dispatched within the first ten minutes of the fight, though I had paid a heavy price for placing special attention to evening the numbers.

Fortunately, with [Severe Pain Tolerance] and [Desensitizing] even the most grievous of my wounds did not hurt, however, the fact that these injuries existed at all still needed to be remembered and dealt with. All of the martial arts that I have mastered were almost useless in the air, and all of my magical abilities were too difficult to manage due to a heavy level of my focus being spent on dodging and keeping myself in the air.

However, it is not like I was the only one taking damage. As I had said earlier, all five of the other Falaise Eagles had been taken care of early on in the fight. As for the subspecies, I had managed to cut off one of its legs with my halberd and punctured several holes in its body with the tip of my weapon. The feathers of the Jade Eagle are stained with blood in several places. I certainly am not losing out in my ability to fight regardless of the terrain.

Still, being unfamiliar with the sky had become my shackles and prevented a greater majority of my abilities from being usable. Some of my resistances were useless if I wanted to remain in the air, and others, I couldn't use because I could not keep near the Jade Eagle for longer than a fraction of a second at a time. Even though this battle has raged on for over an hour, neither of us has shown even the slightest drop in speed.

As the battle intensified, my halberd was knocked from my hands towards the cliff. Luckily, it landed and stuck in to the road, so it was easily retrievable. Though in my current situation, recovering it in the middle of the fight was highly unlikely.

Whether the Jade Eagle saw the loss of my weapon as an opportunity or not, it took a deep breath and slightly withdrew, putting a large amount of distance between us. In an instant, my chest had been struck with the Jade Eagle's beak, spinning around like a raging storm.

The Jade Eagle had created a giant gust of wind and had shot straight through my body with an impossible to see level of speed that was almost unreal. Its speed must come from it's [Divine Protection]. Its body was covered with damage and scratches, so this ability must have been a last resort. At that moment, I coughed up a lot of blood, and even with all of my abilities, the pain was severe. With where it went through, my spine has probably been severed, and many of my organs are probably heavily damaged as well. This is really bad. Screams rose out from Redhead, Dhammi-chan and the rest of the party. Even Ogakichi-kun was shouting out with a worried look on his face.

With this, the Jade Eagle was convinced of its victory and went to begin feeding.

In this moment, the abilities that I use will decide who will win the battle. With the Jade Eagle's guard down, this could be my chance to finish this in one go. My body is several times stronger than that of a normal Ogre, so this blow was not enough to kill me, though the damage was severe. In this fraction of a second, I thought of the reward that could be gained by slaying this bird and decided to go at it with every last bit of strength that I had in earnest.

In less than a tenth of a tenth of a second, I activated many abilities that I hadn't used thus far in the previous battles because I had wanted to enjoy the fight on equal grounds.

My right metal arm was dripping with blood, but secretly, I was using it to store and produce more blood with an ability that I had shared with it using [Synthesis] called [Fluid Restoration]. Using the blood I had been producing, I instantly recovered all of the blood lost during the entire fight. Coupling this ability with [High-Speed Playback] and [High Speed Healing], my entire body was recovered in an instant. Using my Metal Arm, I cut off its other leg, fully removing a great level of its danger to myself.

Following up, I used [Exoskeleton Equip], which turned my flesh into something resembling a beetle. To further strengthen my shell, I added [Black Ogre's Strong Body] in addition to [Solid Armored Dragon Scales] to greatly increase my defense. In response, the shell turned black, and scale-like plates developed over the exoskeleton. With this, my body was nearly impossible to penetrate with anything the Jade Eagle was capable of.

In the split second it took to form my armor, I spun a thick version of my Golden Thread around the eagle's wings and used my ability that controls gravity to greatly increase the gravity around the eagle. It put up a great amount of resistance and managed to cut some of my threads, but after I enhanced my golden thread with resistances to physical damage, there was nothing more it could do.

The Jade Eagle plummeted towards the ground. Even at the speed it fell, the crater it left was pretty small. A normal creature would have been splattered on the ground after the impact it received, but it appears it sacrificed two of its wings to lessen the impact. Even with that, it is still pretty amazing it wasn't dead.

After I collected my halberd, I finally ended the Jade Eagle's suffering. I collected a jewel from the center of its head and several vials-full of liquid coming out of its body. After collecting the jewel and the liquid, I began carefully removing all of its parts, slowly stripping the skin as to not damage even the slightest follicle. When I got to the heart, I noticed a jade-colored stone with a cobblestone-like texture.

I used my [Item Appraisal] on it and discovered that the item was called [Lord's Spirit Stone of a Falaise Eagle].

I instantly thought to share this discovery with the others and showed my latest find to everyone, who in an instant, realized that it was the same type of stone on those who Ranked-up into a "Lord" class.

When I looked into it further, it seems that this class of item is indeed from the [Spirit Stone] category where it is [Legendary] level of rarity.

These objects are apparently present within boss-level monsters. Even among powerful monsters, these items are incredibly rare. The more powerful the monster, the larger the stone they carry within them.

Having said that, coupled with the fact that facing a boss that possesses a spirit stone is no easy task in and of itself, many famous monsters throughout this world's history have been said to carry these types of spirit stones called [Lord Stones]. In the past, it has taken entire armies to challenge monsters that had grown powerful enough to obtain a Lord Stone. Sometimes, it has been said that these armies that gathered to fight the monsters were annihilated.

Therefore, something as rare as a Lord Stone could sell for enough money to buy a small country. However, the only people with enough money to purchase such a thing are monarchs of large nations or famous merchants that hold monopolies over the trade of several nations. These stones are used in the fabrication of unmatched magical items of with amazing war potential.

With this discovery, I had decided that I was still going to eat it, but the others thought that it would be best to hold onto it and sell it later. The money gained could be of great benefit. With everyone else adamant on this end I placed the Lord Stone and several other materials from the Jade Eagle into my item box.

While I was still picking off the jade-green feathers to finish skinning the Jade Eagle, my exoskeleton wore off. After eating several feathers, I got the weird desire to activate my exoskeleton again. This time, my shell was more bird-like in appearance. This must be the influence of the bird's feathers. I tried flying as a test and this change made flying far easier than it had been before with even my speed being drastically increased.

With the battle over, I decided that I simply had to partake in eating the Jade Eagle now. I couldn't wait and began and eating it raw. Right after biting in, I cried out involuntarily.

"Delicious!!"

Ability unlocked [Feather Arrow]

Ability unlocked [Predator of the Sky]

Ability unlocked [Divine Protection of the Storm God]

Ability unlocked [Complete Wind Resistance]

Ability unlocked [Adamantine Claw]

Ability unlocked [Sonic Flight]

With these abilities unlocked, I was more than satisfied. Many of these abilities looked very useful. After that, I set out to cook the rest of the meat and share a portion with everyone.

Looking over to the skeletons in the area, I decided that I'd at least give them a proper burial and cremated what was left of their bodies since I wouldn't get any abilities from them anyway. Though as payment, I decided to keep all of the equipment they had left behind. There were several items that seemed to contain potions or chemicals of some kind. On top of that, there was a large amount of gold and equipment, to which I appreciated receiving, even if the collection of the equipment was a bit crude.

{Namu Amida Butsu}

After a short, silent prayer over the pyre, we proceeded on our travels.

Although we were making progress, I started to have mixed feelings, an almost sense of apprehension. For now, I'll just keep my guard up and some of my abilities on high alert. I never know where an attack might come from. All I can say is that I feel a crushing gaze beating upon me.

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Day 94

It started raining pretty heavily today. Because the rain and wind started making our travels pretty difficult, I decided it was best to stop somewhere. Luckily, after only a short while of trudging in the rain, I noticed a 'Rest Station' 30 meters off the side of the road. We pulled up and left the carriages outside as we went in. A group of peddlers who had entered before us and a party of average-looking adventurers appeared frightened the moment they saw me enter. They were emitting quite a bit of blood lust, so I took out two barrels of sake that ended up being passed around to everyone that was there.

That disarmed the situation for the time being. I sold the materials we had gained since we started our journey, such as the Turtle Snake shells and some personal effects that had been looted from the corpses of the adventurers in the mountain. I also took part in a small bit of trading as well.

At first, the humans were still quite frightened of me, but after Blacksmith-san walked in, they gradually calmed down and opened up. Later, a human and a beast who entered the Rest Station were surprised by my existence, but ended up not attacking because they felt the atmosphere was enough to judge that I wasn't dangerous. I could have eaten them if they decided to fight me. It's almost a shame they didn't. Around noon, the Sisters had prepared lunch with some of the other humans of our convoy. We were invited to gamble after we finished eating, and I decided to participate because I had the time. Winning some extra gold never hurt either.

The game they were playing was similar to blackjack. After a brief description of the rules, I decided I would play with the money I looted from back at the mountain. The results ended in a total victory on my part. This is, in part, due to my [Golden Rule] and my [Luck]. The merchants continued to play until I had literally stripped them bare. After I sorted through all of my winnings, I returned some articles and their clothing since I was only interested in some of the items that I had won.

I didn't return their money or the supplies, but it didn't feel right to see a naked man standing in front of me. There was also a sort of guilty feeling there, since using my abilities in a gambling match was kind of like cheating.

I spent most of the day at the rest station because the rain didn't seem like it was going to let up. I probably would have been able to keep going with the Skeleton Horses since the carriage has a roof installed, but I thought it was best to wait until the rain stopped since there wasn't any hurry.

I practiced some combat [Arts] and battle styles with Dhammi-chan and Redhead in a corner of the Rest Station to kill some time. Though they seemed to have found their own unique fighting styles, their attacks are a bit plain, and they tend to rely too much on their natural skills. Therefore, I think they need to train more.

So for the time being, I decided to give a lecture about the necessity of learning how to refine their skills. After that, I decided to practice with some of my own abilities, such as [Wind Demon's Gale] and [Burning Demon's Flame].

Thanks to my knowledge from my previous life, I remember all of the martial arts that I had been taught, and with the [Arts] skill, teaching them should not be too difficult.

During my practice with Dhammi-chan and Redhead, some of the adventurers were watching us and suddenly walked up and wanted to join in on the lesson. Among them, there were several individuals with either [Job-Boxer], [Job-Swordsman], and/or [Job-Warrior]. I pulled out some wooden spears and wooden swords from my item box and handed them over to the new group.

Although I tried my best to hold back to my bare minimum, and even though I was against an entire crowd, I suppose I was just too strong for them. After several minutes, most of them were lying on the ground, unconscious. It was a good exercise, but a bit too short. After that, everyone left and went about their business.

I wonder why...

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Day 95

The rain continued to pour down, and now the road is flooded and muddy. It also seems that the number of members within the rest stop has grown since then.

A deputy branch manager from Trient began discussing matters of making repairs to the rest stop due to the minor flooding caused in the area. He came out of his room with the group of adventurers that played the part of his escort.

To put it bluntly, the man is a plump, bald, middle-aged man who makes no effort to make himself seem modest. To note, he happened to be one of the men who had joined the group I was gambling with. He turned out to be quite an inveterate gambler and ended up using most of his goods as collateral after he lost all of his gold.

Although why such a deputy manager would be wandering around in a place like this, gambling away most of his possessions, is unknown. What I can say is that, aside from his gambling problem, he possessed abilities of an undisputed level of talent. His ability to manage the affairs of repairing the rest stop was fast and efficient.

As for cleaning out most of his possessions, he was more or less reasonable about it. At the very least, he doesn't outright treat me as some form of villain.

Since making any progress in the rain would be slow and risk damaging the carriage, as well as possibly damaging the Skeleton Horses, I decided to make the most of the situation and gain some information on current events.

In short, I discovered that the Sternbild Kingdom's princess had been successfully healed with the elixir that the Kirika Empire's Heir had brought back, according to the deputy manager.

It is the first case of "Undead Disease" that has ever been cured, and apparently, the Sternbild Kingdom kept a few drops of the elixir for analysis to attempt to reproduce it.

Well, it wasn't discussed how they managed to retrieve the elixir without conquering the elves, but I decided to not press the matter further. At the very least, it seems there won't be any further attempts to attack the elves again. Due to the substantial losses incurred during the war, the idea of going back to subdue the elves had become quite unpopular; with a certain group of nobles returning from the war, leading the opposition.

It seems I won't need to return to defend the elves for the time being. Other than the talk and a short stroll around the rest stop, the day passed without much of further note.