Now that’s the end of the demons that have been bothering Forest’s residents.

But still, there are too many loopholes once again.

At least thanks to Athena, my undead soldiers are a bit obedient, although Kaiser was already obedient from the beginning it was hard to believe Nuzma’h was complying with my commands without any excuses. What the heck did she do them…?

Still, it wasn’t something I was most concerned about… but… I had an idea if she could interact with all the souls within the repository there might be a way to gain more information…

(Athena, can you help me with the souls again? I want you to gain information about the current war that’s about to happen, including the whereabouts of Muza’rn and Gudza’rn from the guy named Gehrwin within the repository.)

( ( “Understood.” ) )

(Hopefully, I can get a gist of what’s happening if Athena does her magic once more.)

…

(Belle still looks troubled.)

I ordered the red orcs to rescue all prisoners who had been locked up and hadn’t been fed. Then, I instructed them to loot anything useful they could find in the hideout, including armor and clothing.

And so, I got some alone time with Belle…

“You must have a lot of questions inside your head by now,” I asked her.

“Kazuma… I thought things would’ve changed by now… but it's still the same in fact it's even worse. Those who betrayed my father still exist… I thought this was the end I could have a new start… I don’t know what is this feeling if it's anger or regret.” She responded.

Hearing her being troubled by these feelings I felt powerless for not knowing the right answers, but I asked her one thing if that’s what she wants.

“Belle… I’ll ask you one thing… do you want vengeance?”

She answered, “I don’t know…”

So I said, “It’s okay…”

“Kazuma, give me an apple,” she said…

So I gave her one, perhaps that’s her way of dealing with stress…

Then she said, after a few bites, “Kazuma, what I want is to do the right thing…”

Then I responded by saying, “Alright.”

The red orcs had started coming back as they gathered all that looked usable, from weapons, armor, and clothing to magic tools and preserved food.

The food wasn’t enough but it could last for a day for every resident in the forest, excluding the dryads.

And so we began teleporting back to the goblin’s village.

[At Goblin Village]

It seems that Nuzma’h’s and Rogu’s team have arrived already.

I guess our team was the last one.

And then Korobing came in and said, “Kazuma-sama you’re back!” and then they all bow down. I wondered if it was etiquette or the fear.

“Hey… Kazuma it seems you were the last one to arrive, that makes me the winner.” Rogu said with a sly smirk.

I replied without showing my annoyance, “Quiet down you pipsqueak, I’m already tired from all the noise you made last night.”

“So were you all able to succeed?” I asked the group leaders.

“Hehe without breaking a sweat it was easy,” Rogu said.

“Yes, Kazuma-sama we killed all the demons and were able to rescue the hostages,” Nuzma’h said.

So I glanced over the female red orcs, and to my surprise, they were quite… different from what I had imagined. They shared the tall stature, horns, and tribal markings of the male red orcs, but there was something undeniably feminine about them. Their long dark brown hair and, well... their remarkable bust had piqued my interest.

While I stood there dazing, a familiar voice cut through my thoughts.

“Ahem.”

It was Isabelle. She stood behind me, smiling sweetly but with a dangerous glint in her eyes.

“Ara~ Kazuma-kun, it seems like you’re a little too tired,” she said, her tone playful but her gaze warning me that she’d caught me staring a bit too long.

So I replied while nervously scratching behind my head, “Yeah… ha… ha… ha…“

(But I guess things have come to an end for now… still, we need to build more shelters and food from now on.)

Stolen story; please report.

(We got some food resources from the demons' hideout and I still have some Infernopaca meat and apples before they get moldy. I guess things can go fine for today but from tomorrow we’ll need to start working on cultivating this forest and turning it into a proper place to live for residents.)

(Of course, it won’t take a day to turn this place into a Kingdom, nor I’m interested in any crown or title, but still I'll lead them as their ruler for now.)

(We’ll need to build farms, water wells, shelters, accessories… – Gah!!!!! There’s so much to think about, I’ll start from tomorrow.

(Athena, you better help me.)

( ( “Understood.” ) )

And so we built temporary camps for both blue lizards and red orcs, so they could enjoy some of their time alone.

But the most important thing was we needed to build Rogu his own house so that he wouldn’t annoy us tonight… I absolutely need sleep.

So I asked Nuzma’h to build a house for Rogu…

And he ended up building a dog house…

As usual, Rogu froze in shock…

But when he got inside he actually liked it and spent his time there.

Then the night came… I actually changed from armor to clothes the red orcs found in the hideout, it took a while to wash and dry them but I was able to wear them without any discomfort as I landed on the bed.

Then Isabelle came.

“Uh…

“Don’t say it!” she interrupted me before I could say anything…

Then she laid down.

“You know… I already knew that you had the power to break the very laws of this world, but still, I never imagined that you could actually bring someone back from the dead. Not just through necromancy, but fully restore their life…”

(I guess she meant how I resurrected the leaders of red orcs and blue lizards.)

"To be completely honest, it’s not an ability or power, but an item I was provided when I first entered the palace (dungeon). I only had one, and I was at death’s door. Somehow, I was fortunate enough to possess this power that defies the laws of this world.”

“It is this feather, which can restore life.”

Shows her the White Phoenix Feather.

“Is this the…?” She said.

“Yeah, that's the item I’m talking about, which has the power to restore life,” I said to her.

Then she responded, “Not that, I meant this feather… Isn’t that the feather of Emberissia? One of the mythic beasts known as the White Phoenix of life?”

“Huh!? Really? I didn’t know that, (nor was I told… by a particular someone)”

Then she said, “Honestly, my mind would break if I saw that in feather in anyone else’s hand but knowing it's you, it doesn’t feel like a surprise.”

I responded with a bit of worry, “I know right? But Belle I feel like something is missing, like there’s a hole that gets bigger every time I do something law-bending… I remember when you told me I have ‘strength’ but not ‘technique’ it made me realize that I’m still weak and could lose to anyone without any proper fighting skills, unlike you I cannot utilize magic yet.”

“Why don’t you ask Nuzma’h, Garh’uzin, and Uzha’ak to train you? Give you the basics of swordsmanship. I remember you couldn’t even hit me once…” she said.

“But uh…–

“No buts! You have a habit of adding ‘but’ to everything!” she said as she interrupted me to speak.

“But…– Interrupts

“Again! Stop with the ‘but’, Kazuma you need to stop undervaluing yourself you should be grateful.”

Her words felt familiar for someone had also told me this before…

So I replied, “I’m grateful Belle… to too many people for what they’ve done for me…”

“Those who taught me the difference between right and wrong, those who paved the way for me, those who gave me a second chance, even the girl who is standing by my side now. And I don’t know how will I ever repay the kindness provided to me.”

“Thank you for being here, Isabelle. Even though we don’t know each other as deeply as we should, your presence soothes the emotions that once haunted me.”

Hearing those words made her blush as she said, “You don’t have to thank me… baka…”

Then she continued, “Kazuma please be careful of people like Gudza’rn and Muza’rn, they’re like evil entities who would do everything to tear not just his world but also you apart.”

And I answered, “Yes, I’ll be careful Belle…”

There wasn’t much of an atmosphere we had yesterday and so after a while I fell asleep.

[After Kazuma Fell Asleep]

Ara~ he fell asleep?

Looking closer at his face,

He… looks cute… should I…?

(Thinking about giving him a kiss while in his sleep.)

Blushes… I shouldn’t… (Couldn’t have the confidence to kiss).

I wonder what was the sickness he kept trying to tell me about… he’s sleeping normally, in fact like a baby.

I should sleep too then… first time in twenty-one thousand years…

…

[The Next Day - Morning]

… eyes opened

As my eyes opened I saw Isabelle sleeping right next to me…

But how could I’ve forgotten my sickness…

I was spooning over her tightly and… my hands were under her clothes touching her breast…

“Oh God Help me… Please don’t let her wake up she would kill me…”

I wanted to free my hands but… they were l locked as her arms were folded…

I slowly tried to move my hands away…

… eyes opened

“Kazuma!?”

She saw my face… as I was sweating like hell… and then she felt it…

“Kyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah-!?”

“WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU DOING YOU PERVERT!!”

And then she rained me with the barrage of fiery spells but this time… It was much worse…

And so I even after getting some rest… I still got beaten…

[Meanwhile, the Korobing who heard the noises said to himself, “Kazuma-sama!! I’m so inspired by you!! You even start your morning doin’ it so wild!]

…

And so after being beaten I washed my face and got ready… for today was the day we started building and cultivating our forest.

So we divided ourselves into different groups, the first group was Isabelle which carried all the female blue lizards, dryads, goblins, and red orcs and they focused on doing all the farming work.

Belle and I didn’t meet each other eye to eye a lot but when we did she was always flustered and mumbling something under her breath then walked away.

The second group was of male red orcs and legion knights, which Nuzma’h supervised well it was mostly Athena giving him guidelines.

The third was of Rogu who did a scouting job to secure breeds and spices which could be find… his team consisted of male blue lizards, dryads, and blaze foxes.

And so everyone was doing their part… but except me… and goblins…

I wanted to help them… but everyone who took the responsibilities said “I’m the lord of this place, I shouldn’t partake in it.”

So… I took Belle’s advice she gave the last night and summoned Garh’uzin and Uzha’ak.

Those two were confused why I’d ask them a request to train me knowing they both lost to me… but still it was needed.

So I and Goblin chose to train… in mastering swords as well as learning the art of dragon slayer.

I wanted to train myself because I had slayer skills but no way to properly utilize them… goblins were all skinny and inferior compared to all the other races in terms of strength, so they also needed to be trained.

And so our days continued like this…

There was awkward tension between Belle and me… and I did not know what to do with it… so instead of turning everything worse, I chose to build another small bed.

It wasn’t intentional but I would go to sleep early… and wake up early and train.

…

And then a day came when she chose to confront him.