Day 30

15 days passed without a hitch. We spent the days, as usual, hunting a few monsters a day, before laying down for well-deserved rests. It was quick, and efficient, but also terribly painful for me.

Fortunately, that was all made up with every increase in strength I felt after every day. Whether that be my ever-growing assortment of skills that kept piling up until I couldn’t keep track of them anymore or the gradual increase in magicules through the consumption of the monsters.

Thanks to the new Shadow Motion skill I’d gotten, traveling had become much easier, and as we gained more experience in defeating monsters, the rate at which we hunted increased drastically as well. I’d gotten a few more Extra Skills, Ranged Barrier, Shadow Clone, and Substitute Body.

Ranged Barrier’s usage was basic, allowing me to form a barrier anywhere around my body. The strength of the barrier weakened as it got further from me, however. I could even link my “Fire Attack Resistance” skill to it!

Shadow Clone, on the other hand, was a little more complex. It allowed me to conjure a body double that had the weakened version of all my skills, abilities, and experience. However, the strength of the skill was proportional to the amount of magicules I pumped into the clone. A little similar to “Shadow Clone Jutsu”.

Substitute Body was the weirdest. It gave me the ability to condense my magicules into a physical form - a Substitute Body. This was similar to Shadow Clone, but it would permanently decrease my magicules, making the Body’s strength proportional to the amount of magicules used, at a much steeper pace than Shadow Clone.

I hadn’t tried out the Substitute Body skill yet, as I didn’t want to lose my magicules over a mere experiment. Maybe in the future, when I’ve become stronger.

Today was like any other day, the sun was shining, birds were chirping, and the low rumble of growls that my two direwolves released as they napped. “A splendid morning,” I’d grown to appreciate the rising sun, for it would be the only moment where I wouldn’t be racked with abdominal pain.

“Whoom”

“Oh, COME ON,” I groaned, as I sensed as presence rise from my shadow.

“Rimuru-sama wants to speak with you,” Souei said, his face completely blank.

“Yea, yea…” I’d somewhat anticipated this. Over my adventures over these past days, I’d occasionally encountered orcs, clad in plate armor; this could only mean the Orc Lord war was coming up.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

Waking the two direwolves, we readied ourselves to once again be transported by Souei into the Shadow Dimension.

“What are you waiting for?” He questioned us, “You can do it yourself.”

“Sigh” This Kijin, he’d been watching us for a while. “Just how fast do these monsters grow?” I complained, before huddling with my wolves, allowing us to sink into the shadows.

Following close behind, Souei appeared next to us. “Follow me,” Saying that, he darted forward, not checking if we were keeping up.

“Show off,” I grumbled, leading my two direwolves to follow the blue-haired Kijin.

“Come fight the Orc Lord with us!”Rimuru said, a bright smile tugging at his lips.

“Okay.”

“Now, now I know you may n- sorry, say what?” He frowned, his mouth agape.

“I said sure, I’ll help you,” I replied.

“Oh, well, welcome aboard!” He soon recovered, his bright demeanor returning, “We leave tomorrow, you don’t have to bring anything.”

“Tomorrow, seriously? What is this time management,” I thought, “It’s hard to believe he was an office worker.” I didn’t really have a choice in the matter, I wanted to at least maintain a decent relationship with Rimuru, since he’d be the protagonist and all, so I’d have to agree to this either way.

Meanwhile, I decided to have a little look around town. Shiro was lazy, so she stayed at the lavish lodgings they’d provided us. Kumo and I waltzed through the streets, admiring the scenery of the soon-to-be Tempest.

Okay, “scenery” might be stretching it. The majority of the town was desolate dirt that was marked for construction, and the rest were boorish wooden houses that lined each side of the road. Kumo, on the other hand, found the experience to be wonderful, his tongue out and tail wagging every time the scenery changed.

In contrast with the dull landscape, was the numerous food stalls and stores. They were the pride of the town, with each stall giving birth to an aroma that tantalized us. After a month of living off raw monster meat, freshly cooked food smelled heavenly.

Even Kumo was attracted to the multitude of aromas that filled the air, as he constantly sniffed, seemingly trying to identify a single one out of the myriad of smells. As he seemed to catch the smell, he seemingly floated to a certain stall, drifting to it almost elegantly.

“What can I do for ya?” A smiley goblin turned to us, in his hands was a wooden hamburger flipper, no doubt one of Rimuru’s many ‘inventions’. The goblin’s eyes widened in surprise as he saw a towering wolf looking down at him. Then, his eyes seemed to light up.

“You must be Rimuru-sama’s guests!” He exclaimed, the glint in his eyes almost fanatical.

“Yea?” I replied.

“Oh, how rude of me! Please wait, I’ll whip up something for you to eat!” Getting to work, the goblin sprayed oil onto a metal board, which seemed to somehow make it sizzle. Seeing my curious look, the goblin smiled, “It’s one of Rimuru-sama’s inventions.”

As I nodded my head, a mouth-watering smell wafted into my nostrils. Saliva dripped from my mouth, I could barely hold myself from snatching the hamburg and placing them straight into my mouth.

*Notice. Cooked food minimizes the chances of attaining sk-*

“Shut up,” I shut Source down, “Let me enjoy this.”

*…*

Soon, the dish was ready. The goblin handed me a small bag, in it were 4 juicy hamburgs that made my mouth water. A stack of meaty delicacies had been stacked upon each other, forming something like a tower; this was for Kumo.

Without hesitation, I dug in. My taste buds welcomed this heavenly taste with glee, it felt like they were dancing in joy. As I savored every bite I took, I unconsciously let out a soft moan, in the heat of the moment, I wasn’t even embarrassed.

Kumo wasn’t much better, his body shivered as he chomped down on the fluffy stack of hamburgs, relishing in the unfamiliar taste. It felt like he’d just opened his eyes like he’d been wasting his entire life.

The goblin just stared at us contentedly, appreciating our expressions of pure joy. And when we’d finished our food, he said, “It’s a delight seeing Rimuru-sama’s guests enjoy my food.”

Somehow, the entire street seemed to hear what he just said. “Rimuru-sama’s guest!?” “Where?” “There!” “That guy~!” “Hey!” “You want some Rimuru-sama-shaped pancakes?” “How about some Rimuru-sama-shaped dolls?”

A crowd instantly materialized, surrounding the two of us without space for breathing. “Wait, wait, wait!” I shouted, but none of the fanatical residents heard me, and I was buried underneath a sea of green…