Evening is coming as the sun slowly sinks below the horizon.
Looking at the wasp larvae squirming around making sticky sounds disgustingly, I think about what to do.
There’re about 400 babies, and they all stored enough energy from eating Beetle-kun insides. From now on they’ll enter pupa stage and hatch into adult wasps later. As for what they’ll hatch into, they won’t be full blown monster like Ari-chan or Beetle-kun but more of a hybrid between an insect and a monster? To be precise, a normal parasitic wasp with the increased vitality and strength inherited from a monster’s lineage. I’m a bit glad that I didn’t give birth to 400 complete monsters to infest this forest, the eco system will be damaged. As for what to do with them, I’ll issue orders for 300 to migrate somewhere far away in different directions so that there won’t be an outbreak of evolved wasp. 100 I’ll keep with me and employ as personal spy network.
Now then, there’s still a lot of Beetle-kun’s carcass left. He was huge after all, and my babies were tiny even though there are hundreds of them. The shell obviously I can’t eat, but even his muscles are as tough as steel too. My jaws probably will break if I try to bite his muscles.
There’s the opening from his mouth, so I stick my hand through there and scratch out his meat and organs from the inside. The insides are actually also fairly resilient for internal organs, but they’re still organs after all, I have no trouble tearing them apart and pull them out through his throat.
-munch- -munch-
Hmnnn… It’s not very tasty.
It’s not as bad as the other monsters I ate, but still the meat can’t be said to be tasty. It has a strange flavor that doesn’t even resemble meat actually… A strong grassy smell and a bit oily as well. The taste was heavy so it was fairly hard to swallow but I can’t be picky now.
There’s one amazing thing about this meat however.
The energy and nutrient packed into them were on a different level. With every bite I can feel the energy spreads out inside my body, seeping into my muscles and revitalizing them. After eating a few kilograms my broken leg is already starting to recover.
Amazing, Beetle-kun, so this is why you didn’t even need to rest when you were chasing me.
The muscles under his skin are also a little bit easier to chew through, perhaps I was under the impression that they were steel-like because they were protected by the outer skin. Still they’re very tough, it’s taking all of my strength just to tear them apart, I’m afraid my jaws might fall off if I’m not careful.
After eating a full stomach, I lie down on the ground taking a short rest while analyzing the muscles and body structures. This is delicate work since unlike that time with the grasshopper leg I want to carefully reform every muscle in my body with the information acquired.
After I finished with body remodeling, I tried to test the new power by punching the ground but it resulted in me injuring my own arm… The strength was a bit too high. I took a break again and ended up changing it so that there is less power and more softness and flexibility by mixing the traits I gained from various insects to complete the balance.
Finally, I’m able to chew through his skin, though it feels like human chewing through thick processed leather so it wasn’t at all enjoyable. As for the shell, I can’t eat those after all, but I took some effort in breaking off a small piece and swallowed it.
After experimenting with various combination and ratio, my new body is complete. Though it doesn’t look any different, the performance has gone up considerably. I think I can muster up at least twice the physical strength I had before, the body is also more resilient. There’s no improvement in speed but the rest of my body have closed the gap somewhat with my grasshopper legs, there was such a big disparity between my leg and my body but now it finally feels like they’re on the same level.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
I come back to the tree with the face, but didn’t go near right away and carefully observe it from a distance. If something even stronger comes out then I don’t think I can win this time.
Though the newly gained strength that is boiling inside my body give me some sense of confidence, I can’t be careless.
As I approach closer while being vigilant, the face suddenly sink back inside the body and with a rumble the tree’s body open up like a door when I’m 100 meters away.
This damn face, it just pops out and causes me trouble then now it sink back in without a care in the world? Next time I see it I’ll kick it so hard it’ll fly all the way through the other side of this tree!
There’s a cavity inside the tree and looking through the door, I can see some furniture arranged inside… almost like someone lived there.
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Inside the tree there seems to be 2 floors, both are fairly bright even though it’s the evening, the walls seem to be illuminating by their selves. The first one is the living area with a single bed room, a room with a table and chair and a washing basin. There’re various spices and eating tool in here as well…is it a dining room? There’s no toilet or kitchen, but I guess you can just do that outside… cooking inside a tree doesn’t seem to be a good idea. The washing basin pumps water from underground and pump the waste out into the forest, that’s pretty amazing. There’re some strange inscriptions and intertwining symbols drawn inside… is it supported by magic? I have no idea how it works.
What really interests me is the second floor. This here seems to be the study room. A modest wooden chair and table and many shelves are placed here. On the shelves and the table are various books of all sizes. Some shelves also has things that look like dried up plant samples, various kinds of liquid and powder inside glass bottles.
There are also a couple of transparent boxes with things that look like monster specimens floating inside. It looks like the secret room of someone with dangerous fetish, or perhaps a mad doctor’s laboratory.
It’s great that all the books here are written in Japanese, it’s really is a place intended to pass down to people that came from Japan after all?
I choose a couple of books, arrange them on the table and sit down to examine them. They’re the Sage’s Journal, Danaan Language and Elf Language, Ability Theory and Magic Theory.
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I skimped through Nobumasa the Sage’s journal and biography first of all. Since this guy seems to be the kind that likes longwinded talks I just skip through the pages quickly and note down the main points.
He arrived in this world 700 years ago in a fishing village to the west of the continent. Even though he didn’t know the language he used his skills and knowledge to catch fish and animals to get by. He built a shed a little distance away from the village at first but after bringing his catches to the village to trade many times they got closer, and after a few times he saved them from monster attacks he started to live in the village. From then on he would be taught the language by the villagers and take on the job of guarding the village.
“It was a time of turbulence. Even more so than the never-ending battles of warlords in Japan. In this place human don’t wage war against each other but embrace our kin to endure the abuse of forces far greater than our own.
This continent is controlled by various giant clans. They stand at the pinnacle of nature, they flatten the land in their wake and raise up storm by swinging their arms. Monsters and humans alike are just their prey. Having no one to threaten them they wage wars among their selves and bring forth even more destructions to the land.
I didn’t mind at first since this world has no relation to begin with, but my friend from the fishing village, Alfred would always talk about how he’s going to make a peaceful haven for mankind”
Apparently he finally gave in and followed Alfred in a journey to the kingdom of the elves to learn magic and went through countless trials. From then on it’s a rather long story so let’s skip this part.
He really likes to ramble on too much!
Especially when it comes to how lovely the elves were.
I don’t want to hear your stories of love and conquests of romance!
It’s not that I’m jealous or anything!
I’m not! Okay?
“ I was surprised when I first met Balor. My impression was that the giants were generally a blood thirsty and war-mongering race. But when I actually talks to them they unexpectedly have reasons, codes, laws and even a rich culture of their own. Though undoubtedly they are battle-thirsty, they aren’t the mindless beasts the humans made them out to be.
Especially Balor, he has high pride, but at the same time a man of honor. His way of life is somewhat reminiscence of our own way of the samurai. I was deeply impressed”
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Giants is it… that sounds pretty amazing. From what written in the book though, I don’t know how accurate it is but those guys seem to be complete monsters. Even Beetle-kun would probably be flattened by them easily.
I don’t want to meet them, ever.
After many times of confrontation, finally Nobumasa-san and Alfred-san joined hands together with Balor and together they defeated Balor’s father. Afterward Balor conquered other giant clans and created a kingdom in the north of the continent. That Balor-san sounds a lot like the Nobunaga of this world huh? The south was given to the human and they built Brettania, which seems to be the country I’m currently in.
“The kingdom prospered, I used what little knowledge I have of farming and magic to contribute to the country and improve people’s livelihood. I left all the politics and military matters to Alfred since he’s after all the founding king of this country. There wasn’t a day to rest, but our lives were fulfilling.
It was then that the situation turns sour. The brighter the light, the bigger of a shadow it casts. The more the kingdom grows the deeper it rots inside. As Brettania continue to expands, so does the number of nobles, politicians and religious factions.
Repugnant vultures and swine that eat away at this country’s very life”
Well, what do you expect? The bigger an organization is the more corrupts it becomes. It’s inevitable.
“Jealous of my achievements and afraid of my power. Those greedy hounds try whatever they could to reduce my influence, even going as far as sending assassins after me.
But something of that level is of no threat to me. I have long pasted my prime but I didn’t live through the great war of the giants based on my luck. Even as a magic user, few in the elf kingdom could match me”
There might be a few exaggerations but he sure seems like quite a monster in his own right. He was the one who made that Beetle-kun after all.
I’d prefer it if he put his talent into something else other than harassing his own countrymen though.
“However, I was naïve.
I believed in my power, in my peerless magical might.
I underestimated it.
The depth of the malice of human.
One by one, my friends and family fall prey to that limitless, petty and foul malice.
Even if I can protect myself I could not extend my hand to perfectly guard all those who are close to me. Moreover, despite calling myself the strongest magician, I am still a human in the end. The long period of fighting and stress, not knowing when I will be assassinated has taken a toll on my body and mind. As the game of deception and back-stabbing prolongs without end, I slowly lose my grip on those I hold dear and I became afraid that soon enough I’ll lose the grip on my own life.
Alfred has also gotten old. He no longer holds the same radiance he once had when he led humanity to battle. With a weak body comes a weak mind. Being fed by lies everyday by his advisors and subjects, he also started to suspect and fear me”
No matter how strong you are I guess there’s nothing you can do when you are constantly threatened to be stabbed from the back. Geez… living like that days and nights, a normal person would probably go crazy.
“It’s not like I can blame Alfred, since I’ve also gotten old and weak.
I decided to abandon everything.
My country, my enemies, my friends and my family.
It’s not a behavior fitting of a samurai.
But the country I serve no longer exists.
I’ve gotten tired of everything, of both fighting and protecting. If they want me gone so much then I’ll be gone from their sight. Let those hounds fight against each other over what’s left of this country by their selves”
And so he secretly came to this place, created a modest house and lived the rest of his life while researching monsters and magic as a hobby.
Although things became rather unpleasant in the middle, it’s a fairly good end for such a twisted story. Even in the end he didn’t seem to have much regrets.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
Anyway, I got the general idea about this world now. About 3000 years ago this continent seems to have been first populated by an ancient giant race called the Tuatha De Danaan, also sometimes known as Sons of the Earth. Despite being giants they seemed to be a bit different from the giant races in the Sage’s story as the Tuatha De Danaan are much more proficient at magic and is considered a mythical race. The various giant clans the Sage met 700 years ago are supposedly descendants of that ancient race. The giants worshipped their ancestors, and due to the good relation with humans after Balor became king, that faith also found itself into Brettania.
In fact, even before the founding of Brettania, the Danaan language was already the main language in this world. It was supposedly a language passed down by that ancient giant race. Therefore it was easy for people to accept the faith of the Tuatha De Danaan.
Brettania is in the south west while there’s an elven kingdom in the north east. Elves rarely concern their selves with the outside world and speak their own language. As for the general level of civilization…is probably around the middle-ages? Though there are some differences as magic is available in this world so they’re more advanced at certain things and at the same time some technology aren’t as developed as Europe in the middle-ages.
________________________________________________________________________________________________
There’re some interesting information about the life forms in this world as well.
Normal animals such as pigs and chickens are the same as Earth. Also they are considered animals because they don’t carry mana in their bodies. Monsters are technically species of animals, however they have mana in their bodies and therefore much more dangerous. Monsters are also the natural enemy of humanity.
However, on the other hand demi-humans aren’t. Beastmen, elf, dwarf and various other races also have mana in their bodies but they’re considered demi-human, not monsters.
Then, how would one separate demi-human from monster?
One simple answer would be that they have reasons and intelligence, as opposed to monsters that only has animal level of intelligence. What about dragons then? They are said to be intelligence but they are monsters and not demi-human. The line that draws these two categories became rather dubious at this point.
Beastmen, dwarf and many other races have actually been considered monsters before. Then at some point in history they became regarded as demi-humans. I think this is the key to the answer.
When the beastmen were considered monsters, they and human waged war against each other, however the losses from both side were simply too great. They had to go on a temporary truce. During that truce, the most important thing for them was to recover their nation strength and economy. At this point, they realized. Humans have technology more advanced than beastmen, but at the same time beastmen also have produces that human cannot match. At some point they started trading and over time little by little the temporary truce became permanent non-agression policies.
Simply put, it was much more beneficial for both sides to engage in trade compared to war. In the end to justify their doctrine human declared the beastmen as demi-human not monsters, telling the public that there’s no problem with forging a friendly relationship since they’re half “human”.
It was not just the beastmen, the same repeated for many other races, including the dwarf.
What to make from this, is very simple. The line to draw between a monster and a demi-human is based on how beneficial they are to mankind.
If they’re too dangerous and better off exterminated, they’re monsters.
If a peaceful relationship is beneficial, then they’re demi-human.
If they’re too strong to beat, then they’re also demi-human.
Take the goblins for example, they’re monsters now. But if they create a country and become a potential trade partner that bear benefit to human countries then they might very well be regarded as demi-human at that point. That same goblin country, however, if they attack human then they will be counted as monsters. If they are too strong and cannot be defeated no matter what, at that time the human might take a few steps back, negotiate a few policies that’ll benefit both and call them demi-human.
In the end, it’s whatever gives the human advantage.
Quite a selfish way of doing things to make it convenience to one’s self.
But it kind of works, so I guess it’s fine either way.