Morning. The birds celebrate the sunlight. And I am nearing 24 hours without sleep.
- Skill [Sleep Resistance] level 1 acquired.
You are welcome too, skill system! Thank you very much!
“Good morning…” - The girl halts her speech, and ponders over something with her hand on her chin. Then she approaches me
“Name?” - She asks pointing to me.
Do I have a name? The field in the status screen is blank. Did I have a name in my past live on Earth? I can’t remember, and every time I try I get a severe headache. The flashback chapter is on hold until second notice.
“Nooo Naaaaneee” (I don’t have a name) I tell her in my troll-speak. 7R00L5p34k. Or whatever. Lulz. Yay. #Exited...Not
“Helen” - she points at herself. Ok, this is important. Let’s make a real effort.
“Heelen” - I point at herself while beaming my best gory monster smile. She almost flinched.
“Yes, Helen!!!” - She is happy and jumps up and down several times. If it were a princess motion picture, she would burst into song right now, and the birds would come down to talk to her. But there is no such thing, he must bore herself with this blood-soaked monster.
“Name?” - she points at me again.
“none” (I don’t remember if I ever had one)
Maybe we can do something about it.
“Naaaaneee meee” - I take her hand and point at me.
“You want name? I give name?” - I cringe inside, thinking how little I can understand of her speech. There is no way she is speaking like a troglodyte.
“Yeshhh.” - I nod.
“You name you?” - she asks.
Should I give myself a name? Heck, in christian mythology a troll could be killed if his true name was spoken aloud from a true believer of Christ. This is scary. Because I am a troll.
- Skill [Superstition] level 1 acquired.
Skill system is my straight men. Fist bump skill system bro. Keep the retorts coming.
Ok, let’s borrow the name of a famous troll.
“Grendel.” - I say while pointing at myself. Let’s hope I never meet the hero or any guy named Beowulf. I’m going to run to the ends of the world if it happens.
“Grendel, pleased to meet you!” - she makes a polite bow.
- Skill [Language rudimentary comprehension] level 2 acquired.
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“Helen, pleased to meet you.” - I nod with my head.
I point at some fruits I gathered while patrolling around the campsite. Don’t worry, they are safe to eat. I checked them myself, and I even gained [Poison Resistance] level 1 for my efforts.
“Eat.” - I take a berry and toss it into my mouth.
We eat fruits and the remaining black bread with some cheese for breakfast, and then she begins to pack her things. I stop her.
“Wait.”
After I grab her attention, I point at the tanned hides, then at her wool robe, then at myself and finally I make a sewing motion.
“Do you want my clothes?” - She asks, failing to hide her slight disgust.
“No.” - I repeat the motion, but do not point at her robe this time. I add some hammering motion and repeat the sewing mimicry.
“Do you want to make clothes?”
“Yes. Help me.”
“Yes, I want to help you.” - I don’t get what she said in its entirety. Language skill, please work harder.
I then go pick up the hides, and to my surprise they are fully tanned. It usually takes two days, but due to some unknown factor it only took half a night. I got the [Tanning] skill at level 2 too. Is it a skill correction?
When I return, Helen is sitting with a sewing kit on her lap next to the extinguished campfire. She takes a long leather tape rolled up from the box, and approaches me.
“Let me measure you.”
I lift my arms, and she uses the tape to measure my waist and my chest. But not my hips. Don’t guys have three sizes as well? She also measures my height. It is then that I realize I am almost more than twice her height if I straighten my back. I think she could sit on my flexed arm and rest her head on my palm. I’m some big monster. Maybe if I repeat this some more I will get less depressed.
Then we begin cutting the most torn wolf pelt, the very first I skinned, and make leather underwear. It is a thong or fundoshi like thing. But at least it is not a skirt. That was too breezy. Thanks goodness no wolf ripped the straps during the fight. It would be catastrophic for me to go commando while castling over Helen. I go behind a tree, and tie the the thong, then tie back my bedroll skirt.
Next we make trousers. They only go above the knees, like some other superhero monster from the comic books that could never find pants his size. I finally graduate from the bedroll skirt.
- Skill [Leather-working] level 1 acquired.
We decided to use the spare clothing of the three deserters, as well as their rucksacks. The straps and metal buckles were very useful. Unfortunately for me, they seem to be planning on returning today, because they packed very little supplies. I couldn’t find another repellent potion, so they wouldn’t try to spend another night out.
It would not be possible to make good clothes without some precrafted materials.
And now with the skill correction, it is time to make a shirt. When Helen sees me drawing a shirt on the dirt, she gets up and fetches her wool robe. When she picks up the scissors, I put my hand in front, and get a minor cut.
“No. No destroy robes.” - I convey my intent after a few tries.
“It is good. You can have robes. I washed it. Make shirt from robes for Grendel!” - she attempts to convince me using her best salesperson smile. Sold. Shut up and take my money. I can swear she whispered "It is not soiled anymore" between her teeth.
Then we make a shirt using the robes as padding and soft wolf fur above the robes. It came out OK, but took a lot of time. She takes a brown ribbon made with a smooth fabric and uses this for tying the shirt front. Stylish villager clothes.
And finally we get the Red Streak fur, and make a jacket with it. If Helen has around 1.50m ~1.60m, then I am 3 meters tall, and Red Streak was almost the size of a horse. Helen makes me sit down, and stands up to make the finishing touches on the jacket. Only when she stands up on my leg her eyes are on the same level as mine.
She catches me staring at her dumbfounded, and giggles. We are going to look for your missing danger sense next, girl. It must’ve ran away somewhere during the fight with the wolves. Every appendage of mine is a killing implement. Run away, please.
When the jacket is finished, I stand up and check the seams. I make some bodybuilder poses while at that, and she claps happily. Then she looks down to my feet.
- Skill [Tailoring] level 1 acquired.
“Shoes, want some?”
“No. I have claws on feet. Fight with them.” - Took me some tries growling and roaring, but I was able to speak this much. I refused the offer for shoes. My foot soles are very thick. I pick the knife, sit down and poke the foot with the knife. It digs a bit into it, but no blood comes out. Then I take a deep breath, and stab the sole with all my strength. The knife breaks. It hurts, but lets train my pain resistance skill.
Civilian kitchen utensils are not crafted for warfare use. This is your friendly monster PSA.
Helen is startled. I take out the knife fragment, it dug some 5cm into my foot soles. Some blood seeps out, but soon it closes. In a couple minutes, the wound is gone.
“Strong feet, see?” - I ask her.
“Idiot.” - she says while pouting and turning her face away. And I know she said idiot, even if I didn’t understand the words. No way she would say anything different here.
“Hehe, idiot. Idiot.” I laugh and point at myself, in a desperate attempt to lighten the mood. I’m a monster, I won’t die from a knife stab on the foot. Hey, look at me.
Helen turns around, and leans forward with her eyes closed and her tongue sticking out.
With the familiar feeling of clothes on my body, my mood lightens a bit. I am now helping Helen pack up her things. I took out the tails from the wolves I defeated, and bundled them with the ones that were already there when I arrived. The Red Streak tail too. Helen also packs some herb bunches that were in a sack. Is this an adventurer gathering request?
“Are these medicinal herbs?” - I manage to ask after a few tries.
“Yes, we were asked to gather them.”
It is good to know. I will pick up these herbs if I come across them too.
At this time, I hear a sharp whistle, and instinctively move my arm to cover Helen. An arrow is stuck to my forearm.
- Skill [Bodyguard] level 1 acquired.
“Grendel” - Helen shouts, terrorized.