Day 41:

Gobukichi led the training today.

He’s not at Ogarou’s level but we can still spar with him and not get too hurt. He still beat me easily but it’s all experience I need to pile up.

After that was over we were all gifted with a set of simple clothes and a sleeping bag made from Ogarou’s thread. The sleeping bags were reinforced with shell in the head area. For the first time I am not wearing my ragged loin cloth.

I washed it thoroughly and added it to the pile of cloth for the sisters to use. They gave me sceptic looks but said nothing. Gobue seemed pleased with the progress I’m making, my swing has gone better and I’m getting the hang of repetitively striking solid stone. Today I even managed to fill my bag with actual ores and spirit stones.

Blacksmith let me keep a few of the smaller shards; I can now light fires myself, there’s any easily transported source of fresh clean water and I have a decent taser should I find myself in a pinch.

She’s nice like that.

Tonight we all dined on some high grade beef. My bowl may have been mostly stock but it was rich and delicious so I had no complaints.

Day 42:

Two of the newest Hobgoblins can use magic.

They’ve been ushered into Hobusei’s room, which houses the largest collection of books I’ve seen since coming to this world, and are transferred to her Agony unit.

I’d have loved nothing more than to join in and read those books but it’s another day of training, mining, skinning and more training for me. It’s all showing results though; my mining proficiency has increased, I can now disassemble most creatures with relative ease and I can also hold my sword up for a little longer.

Most of morning spars end in either a draw or a very hard fought victory for my opponent.

So far I’ve mostly just been made their sparring partner till early afternoon when the individual squads go out to train. The combat divisions are becoming tighter and more cohesive as a unit. We won’t be left behind either. Each one of us in the logistics corps can carry out all the necessary grunt work that goes into making sure this place keeps running smoothly.

We aren’t too shabby in combat either; personally I'd never like to face a pick wielding Gobue.

After a successful haul I managed to get a wind stone and an earth stone to myself, Blacksmith says they are too small for practical use.

That suits me fine thought. I even managed to get a small pouch for them from the Sisters. They made it from my old loin cloth and now I wear it round my neck.

There was a strange atmosphere in there today so I left as soon as I had what I needed.

When I was in the Training hall trying to swing my sword I messed up and the momentum knocked me off my feet. Hobusato came over and gave me a few pointers but in her hands it’s just a normal sized sword.

Her movements were fluid and surprisingly graceful and when she finished a large crowd had gathered. She encouraged me to keep practicing.

Ogarou or Gobukichi as a goal is to high but lowering it to her feels about right.

I practiced long into the night before I fell sleep.

Day 43:

The strange atmosphere continued today, most of the women are pouting.

I don’t get it, maybe it’s just that time of the month?

Today during the morning spar I manged to overcome my opponent. It was Goblin from Hatred and my victory condition was to let me train with them in the afternoon.

I got through my quota for the day in record time, its amazing what you can achieve when properly motivated. When I joined their squad in the afternoon Hobusato was surprised to see me but the other Goblin explained. She just laughed and told me to try to keep up.

It was intense.

We left the mine after a few warm up laps of the Training Hall and headed out over the mountain trails they’ve been using recently before cutting through the forest.

I never did like cross country at school. At several points they would break into a sprint, dashing uphill or slaloming through the treeline. Their stamina was bottomless and I found myself lagging further and further behind. I persevered and finished the course with a slap on the back for effort from Hobusato.

While they went on to a group hunt, I stayed in the grass staring at the sky recuperating. After contemplating the vastness of the sky and looking at cloud animals I got my sword and went hunting myself.

I headed back through the forest toward the area around our old home.

I didn’t go to near but it was a good place to start looking for Horned Rabbit. I was going back to hunting the lowest thing in the forest until I got the hang of my sword. It was a risky strategy.

I crawled back home empty handed.

I couldn’t find the Sisters anywhere, I wanted to see if there was anything to eat and they oversee all the food preparation and the larder, none of the human girls were around.

I found Gobukichi staring perplexed at a thick string wall erected in front of Ogarou’s room. There was no sound but every so often the wall shuddered. Gobue ended up dragging him away while shaking her head.

One of the others shared some meat with me, I’ll repay him later though.

Day 44:

It was a nice day so Gobukichi had us sparing outside when three figures appeared from out of the undergrowth.

Everyone was on edge because of them but I was wide eyed. Elves goodness to gracious tree hugging long eared elves. They were as pretty as all the fantasy books described. The one in the middle however lost some appeal when it opened its mouth.

[“We demand an audience.”]

Because he shouted something in gibberish at his, I didn't understand but I knew the tone sounded condescending. Gobukichi told us to watch them as he and a couple others hurried back into the cave to get Ogarou.

The middle one looked like he was getting impatient when Ogarou casually strolled out of the mine.

[“Who do you think you are to keep me waiting!?”]

They talked but it was complete gibberish, should I add language to my ever growing list of things to do, the middle elf made gestures at the armour the Boss was wearing and then indicated the two companions at either side, they looked a little sheepish because of whatever was said.

Ogarou contemplated for a while then dismissed the offer with a casual flick of his silver wrist.

This caused the middle elf to stand there stupefied for a moment, his face slowly grew more scarlet and he furled his brow angrily.

Those around me felt the change in the air. We may not have understood the words but that boiling anger is clear in any language. Too bad for them they decided to approach us when the majority were in the middle of training. We readied our weapons openly while the two elves on either side made subtle movements to their own slender rapiers. Ogarou did nothing but focus his gaze on the middle elf.

Who crumpled to the ground while foaming at the mouth.

I was so stunned by this I missed what happened next but Ogarou held the elf in front of himself before plucking an arrow out of the air with his teeth.

He ate it whole and glared at the elf escorts, they looked like they were suffering under a huge pressure. When he pulled his vermillion spear from somewhere I thought I would have a heart attack. He plunged it into the ground and all around more grew until there was a forest of blood red spears.

All growing by a panicked elf. Seems there were more than three.

He returned the elf, throwing him to the ground in front of the escorts, and watched them all leave in a hurry. We gave a cheer at our OP leader but a few looked disappointed they didn’t get to fight.

So much had happened and it was only late morning. I threw myself into work and training but even in the late afternoon I couldn’t calm down.

Hunting in that state of mind is difficult but I eventually cornered a Horned Rabbit.

We fought for a while before I killed it, by crushing it with the flat of my blade when I messed up an overhead strike. It still counts as my win. I wanted to find more but it was getting dark and the night forest is still extremely dangerous for a lone Goblin.

Day 45:

Training continues.

I lost to another Goblin from Pleasure and was made to mine a double set but I don’t think he quite grasped the concept of making other people do your work as he was right there next to me all day mining merrily.

No one else ranked up today but the Hobgoblins how have recently seem to be comfortable with their new strength and even those under Hobusei are showing improvement.

Since we sealed off the tunnel leading to that Dungeon we have been expanding our mine in the opposite direction under Gobue’s direction. Seems more spirit stones are unearthed nearer the Dungeon so we’ve been using that as a rough guide to skirt the edges.

This evening I was assigned to help Blacksmith in simple weapon maintenance.

Because I don’t have any sort of crafting ability or skill I was given light jobs; tighten the lashing affixing the Horn spears, prepare suitable shells to be used in replacing or repairing damaged shields and armour. It may just be our old [Inferior] equipment but it’s still better than nothing, so keeping it in working order is vital. Its foresight for the next generation I guess.

Sometimes she lets me watch her upgrading weapons with spirit stones or forging new ones.

Spirit stones are also apparently used in the making of magic staffs or other mystic foci.

I wondered if the ones around my neck would allow me to cast magic but when she saw me gripping the pouch she shook her head. Guess these are [Inferior] quality stones.

The Hatred section brought back a Triple Horned Horse and Anger took in three Black Wolves.

So it was all hands on deck for the dismantling.

Day 46:

When I passed by his private cave, Ogarou was spinning some beautiful thread into lengths of woven fabric. Next to him were several glittering golden spools. I knew he could produce thread somehow but to think it could be this pretty.

He’s very dexterous especially with that silver arm.

I couldn’t spend all day admiring though, those rocks won’t mine themselves you know.

When I had my shift in the Workshop today all the human girls seemed in high spirits. The Sisters were humming merrily and even the usual cool beauty Alchemist had a pleasant atmosphere about her. Took me a while to notice they all had new cloths.

Not armour or anything but actual dresses that were elegant in a rustic sense.

Even Gobumi and Redhead were happily toying with the edge of the fabric or smoothing it down lovingly. Some of their movements were a little more animated, just to make the dress swish.

They even had small accessories; broches and bangles, made of a lovely pink gem or polished carapace.

Some of the Goblins have even been going around wearing simple necklaces of fangs or claws, trophies from successful hunts. Especially the females.

It’s the advent of GoBling fashion.

AN: - as he’s using the orc language to cobble together a translation I am going to assume the reverse is true. Using some orc words to communicate till he ea…learns the elf language. Hence our goblin couldn't understand anything that either of them said.