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"I can't believe I am going there again so soon," thought Cloude as he killed the last gecko. He was leading a group of people fleeing from the wrath of the new Baron Mirfield. After Grendel left, the deceased Baron's son claimed the peerage for himself and a few days later enacted vengeance for his father's death. Since the killer was already gone, he went for the people that had contact with him. After all, if the adventurers that were supposed to kill monsters were talking and laughing with his father's murderer, they would at least serve to vent his anger and show the other peasants who are in charge.

Alvus, Rowdy, and Mercy were expecting such measures, and they had an escape plan already in motion. They gathered around two dozen townsfolk including the families of several children that earned the 'Friend of Monsters' title and fled east, hoping the promise of shelter made by the troll was true. There was a rope ladder hung at the outer wall that the guard patrol 'failed' to find, and they went out of town during the night. But the trip was already challenging for adventurers with a few years of training, but this time they were having to lead and escort a group of civilians. At least all they had to do was to follow the tracks the orc horde left in the forest.

Without an active guild crystal, they could not form a party. Being in a party brought several benefits, the most important the sharing of Exp between party members and another the ability to monitor the HP gauge and abnormal status of party members. Some abilities also had effects on nearby party members or some offensive abilities excluded party members, like Grendel's 'Intimidating Shout'.

Bringing children to the forest was the same as hanging a soft piece of fresh meat on a stick and waving it in front of the ever-hungry monsters. Wolves, spiky geckos and goblins all came to try and steal some juicy kid to chew on. So far they were able to protect the children, but two men were bitten in the arm. They had no spellcasting healer and the wounds didn't justify the use of an expensive healing potion. At least there was no problem with food and water because all the monsters they found so far were edible and several crystal clear creeks run from the mountains into the valley.

The trip that took a day and half last time were already dragging for three days. They had reached the foot of the hills and on the other side, they would find the death willow meadow. The hills were rocky and had far fewer trees than the plains of the dragon valley. It was a tiresome climb, but not too hard.

"I think we should camp here at the foot of the hills. It is getting late and the hike will be hard," Commented Alvus the apothecary. "There might be bears in these hills."

"We are already inside Grendel's territory. Look up there," pointed Mercy the midwife.

On top of the hill, there was a monkey, an animal Earthlings would have trouble classifying as either a chimpanzee or a gorilla. It was too lean to be a gorilla but too big to be a chimp. The monkey was wearing a leather loincloth and holding a manufactured spear. A tuft of hair was bound by a crude ribbon tied into a bow and the presence of developed mammary glands made evident to anyone that it was a female. Probably one that had already given birth.

The devil monkey just stood there, looking at the group of humans. It showed no signs of hostility and made no sudden movement. It turned its back to the humans and grunted something. After a while, two other monkeys with younger outlooks appeared at her side. The female monkey pointed at the humans with her off-hand and pushed the other monkeys away. They left to the other side of the hill. Then the female sat on a rock and stood there keeping watch beyond the group of humans.

"What is that monster doing?" Asked Rowdy with a puzzled look. Devil monkeys were intelligent monsters, but they were not considered intelligent. They fought with claws and bites, not with tools. And they never before were seen using clothes.

"Keeping watch over their territory. I think it would be bad if we intruded. They don't consider the forest down below as part of it, so we are not yet intruders. She probably sent the other two to gather reinforcements," Alvus gave his opinion. If any of them were capable of understanding the monster language, they would know that the female monkey had told the other two, 'The humans arrived. Go warn Lord Grendel.'.

Around half an hour later the troll appeared on the top of the hill. "Fear not, you are welcome here!" he shouted. "Let me help you with your luggage.

Grendel went down the hill and picked up their bags and backpacks. Several devil monkeys came and the troll shouted them some orders in the monster language. The monkeys picked the children up and placed them on their shoulders and they went over the hills like that. It was already night when they reached the top of the tallest hill, and from there one could see the entire death willow meadow bathed by the light of the full moon.

"This place is safe. You can camp here. The heavy poisonous fumes from the willows don't come up here if nobody burns the trees. Hey, Cloude, this is being called 'Shout Hill' by some of the monkeys."

The young warrior grimaced. It felt far away that day when they tracked the Shining Blades and were made to flee by some angry troll's shouts. Some of the monkeys were even wearing his traveling clothes, but he wouldn't ask them to return it.

Morning came and they were up before the sun showed his glory from behind the dragonclaw mountains. On the north side, the peaks of the dragonspine were already illuminated by the star, but the valley was slowly waking up. The bright happy yellow of the autumn willows betrayed the dangers of the dread floodlands below. During Spring most of the meadow would be under half a foot of water. The monkeys brought some wild fruit and berries to the humans and the children made some of the youngest ones into their playmates. The lovely sight made Rowdy and Cloude doubt everything they learned at the Guild during all these years. The D-rank veteran adventurer had himself killed over fifty of these very monkey's during his career. After eating breakfast Grendel came from the meadow and he sat with the refugees to talk about what happened in town and what would they do.

"I will build a settlement on these very hills here, one where people and monsters can live together. I am teaching the human language to the monsters, and I will also teach you the monster language when I return with the girls. Some of the monkeys already understand a little of it, and I ordered them to obey any orders from you three," He told Alvus, Mercy, and Rowdy. "I am taking Shraaizar and a few monkeys and orcs north to find Helen and Marcy. I want to return before winter. I have to leave soon, but I'll spare a few days to help you make a few cabins. And with my new ability, we can make tools. Do you have any monster cores with you?"

"Yes, we do have the cores of the monsters we defeated on the way. You can have them, there is no use for us." Rowdy handed him a bag with monster cores.

The color of the cores had relation to the elements of the monsters. Fire monsters' cores would be red, orange or yellow, Water monsters blue, light green or turquoise, and so on. Monsters of the same species could have different elements and this was a heated discussion among scholars if it had or not influence in their evolution paths. Grendel cared nothing for that. He just emptied the bag in his mouth and chewed the cores. He asked for rowdy's greatsword and created two copies of the weapon.

"Like this. One of the new skills I got was the one to convert the energy of monster cores into duplicates of items. I have several axes and shovels and pickaxes ready, all I need is strong arms to wield them. Let's make a settlement."

"Grendel, can I ask one question? Do you still have the job-changing crystal?" A timid Cloude asked.

"Nope. I ate it. Was worth a lot of points."

"What was I expecting?" Cloude muttered with his head hung low. "It wouldn't work without a guildmaster anyway."

"Yeah, it doesn't work without a guildmaster. But do you need to change jobs or party up? I can do that even without the crystal. Here, let me invite all of you. Party setup, Invite!" He invited them to his own party to their jaw-dropping surprise. Parties were limited to eight members, so he made several parties matching the other refugees with their own children. At least this way the parents would know if their children were hurt or struck with an abnormal status like 'poisoned' for playing too close to the willows. He detached himself from the party created by humans afterward.

Grendel had ninety-nine SP to spend, and he raised eleven of his new skills to level four: Eat Anything, Immovable, Size-shifting, telekinesis, x-ray vision, control animals, assassinate, Item duplication, shadow clones, detachable limbs, and ultra-acute smell.

They spent five days cutting logs and making log cottages. They built on the east face of the hills to hide the dwellings from sight, after all, if they could see the forest to the west someone there could see the houses. Grendel put his new skills of woodworking and architecture to the test and got nice results. The cottages were rustic but sturdy and well-built. He prioritized efficiency over looks. The monkeys and orcs kept hunting other monsters inside the meadow and in the woods around the hills and Grendel would make more tools, clothes and other sundries that were impossible to obtain without going back to town.

After finishing the last cottage, they held a party.

"Hey, Cloude. Come with me for a while, will you?" Grendel called the boy and they went to the death willow meadow. The last time aspiring magic swordsman was there, the Shining Blades had set fire to part of the meadow during their fight and both Marcy and he inhaled the vapors from the tree's slow acting sap. They reached the town in time and received treatment but Cloude had gained the poison resistance skill since then.

"What is up?" The young man asked, wary of being led deep inside a monster's lair.

"I have something for you. This bag belonged to your hero. His clothes and personal items are still inside, minus what little I took for myself. His clothes were too fancy for me to dismantle to use for myself and I think they will fit you." Actually, he had certainty due to his A-rank tailoring skill. And even if it didn't fit he would need mere minutes to adjust each piece. "I want you to have it."

Cloude took the backpack and clutched it. "Helmholtz..."

"I don't regret killing them, and eating them was a sad outcome of me going out of control due to the berserk rage skill. They came to attack me. It is natural to defend myself. I held no ill will toward them."

"Yes, I understand. It is a sad nature of this world that we must fight back or die. But I am not worthy of his blade. I can't even unsheath it. The Shining Blade is an ancient artifact, a national treasure that is older than the kingdom. It is said that the blade chooses its wielder, and it didn't choose me."

"Wasn't it just because you don't have the magic swordsman job yet?"

"I don't know. In Helmholtz's hands, the blade would give a faint glow even sheathed. The Shining Blade will always be by its rightful owner in times of need. I am afraid it will abandon me if the true owner needs it. Take it back."

"Nonsense, boy. You just don't have the job." Grendel spoke with knowledge. He knew that ever since he ate Helmholtz and gained the very job the fifteen-year-old man in front of him wanted the blade would shine in his hands. He really didn't want to explain he gained the job the boy is working so hard to achieve with a mere bite so he refused to take the blade back. "Train hard and make yourself worthy of it."

"I guess you are right."

Grendel picked up the other three backpacks that once belonged to the other three members of Helmholtz' party and tapped the boy's shoulder, "C'mon. Let's go back. I adjusted the other clothes to Mercy, Rowdy and Alvus. I bet they can use some fancy clothes once in a while."

The left the meadow behind and climbed the hill. The feast was going on, and ironically the food was mostly meat. Back in the human town meat was an expensive commodity and they mostly survived on grain, vegetables, and fruit. Livestock husbandry was limited because they had to keep the animals inside the town walls or they would be devoured at night so they had very little dairy animals like cows, sheep or goats. Or animals easy to maintain in a small space like chickens and just a few pigs. But here in the magic-rich dragon valley monsters spawned every now and then. Owlbears, wolves, dire boars. Being monsters, they had no agriculture and the only plant food they ate was what could be harvested from the forest.

"Mercy, I have these clothes for you. They belonged to the adventurers that came to attack me. I modified them to fit you."

Mercy receives the clothes and looks at some of them. They belonged to the archer girl, so there is an emphasis on mobility and practicality. Since the weather is colder than otherwise in these parts, there was little skin exposure. "Thank you. You are leaving tomorrow, right?"

"Yes. If I don't go now I won't be back before winter. And Cloude is getting angsty without Marcy."

"That boy. I wish he finds another girl to court. Marcy is not a good fit for him."

"Did you reject him? Do you dislike Cloude?"

"No. It is for his own good. She is too willful, too spirited. Cloude is not a leader type and I'm afraid he will be wrapped around her little finger. Cloude is a good boy but his demeanor is too meek."

"What about Helen?"

"She is full of self-doubt. She believes herself to be inferior to others. She needs someone that can make her feel safe and let her be herself at the same time."

Alvus approaches the two of them with a grilled meat skewer. "What are you two doing there?"

"I'm giving love advice to a monster, can you believe that?"

"I'm sorry but I heard what she told about Helen. It is true she doesn't know her own strength. She escaped from the town stockades on her own. That is something none of us here could do."

"Thank you for taking care of her in prison."

"I was responsible for drugging her, so I can't accept your thanks. I did reduce the dosage to a minimum though. But the way they treated her was too much."

"Anyway, I don't hold any grudge. You did what you could."

At that moment there was a sharp cry from the western woods followed by a blast. And then several sounds of thunder even though the sky had not a wisp of cloud to hide the stars.

"That is the warning cry of the monkey sentries. We are under attack!" Shouted Grendel. "Rowdy, Cloude, you defend the civilians. Let the fighting to me!"

Grendel ran to the west but then a fireball burst and destroyed a cottage behind them. A woman with brown skin and very little clothing holding a crooked staff came out of the woods followed by another woman with long dark hair and oriental features wielding a long rapier.

"Gilgamesh, we blocked their retreat. Let's wipe them out!" Shouted Shamhat.

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Skill Growth:

Skill Duke's Architecture level 4.

Skill Woodworking level 5.

Skill Lord's Tailoring level 3.

Skill Dismantling level 7.

Skill Fire Magic level 3 .

Immolation aura learned.

No casting time. Toggleable. Wreathes the caster in flames, dealing fire damage in a radius of x 3 inches. Caster takes half of the spell's damage. Caster does not need to breathe while the spell is active. Drains MP every minute it is active.

Grendel's Status: Basic Info Name: Grendel The Man Eater Age: 1 season (summer child) Race: [3] Troll

Current Job: [4] Magic Swordsman, [1] Villager Level: 53 Unspent Skill Points: 4 Basic Stats: Prowess: 151 (2642 HP) +129/min Agility: 67 (335 ST) +24/h Magic: 67 (502 MP) +245/h Job History Info [1] Villager: 1 [4] Magic Swordsmen: 46 [4] Wizard: 1 [4] Knight: 1 [5] Guild Master: 1 Passive Status Skills Max HP Increase: 6 Max ST Increase: 6 Max MP Increase: 6 HP Restoration: 8 MP Recovery: 6 Guild Field Empowerment: 4 Guild Field Vitality: 4 Resistance Skills Pain Resistance: 7 Damage Resistance: 6 Acid Resistance: 3 Fire Resistance: 5 Poison Resistance: 8 Sleep Resistance: 2 Charm Resistance: 3 Confusion Resistance: 1 Paralysis Resistance: 3 Innate Skills - The (innate) is supressed.

Regeneration: 7 Tough Skin: 6 Fire Weakness: 0 Acid Weakness: 1 Berserk Rage: 4 Eat Anything: 4 Detachable Limbs: 4 Ultra-Acute Smell: 4 General Skills People Language: 5 Basic Math: 4 Mining: 1 Athletics: 5 Hiking: 1 Farming: 1 Dismantling: 7 Complaining: 3 Prospecting: 1 Negotiation: 4 Bartering: 3 Horseback Riding: 1 Court Etiquette: 1 Appraise (people): 1 Lord's Tailoring: 3 Princess' Scrapbooking:1 Immovable: 4 Eidetic Memory: 3 Lord's Weaponsmithing: 1 Lord's Armorsmithing: 1 Duke's Architecture: 4 Woodworking: 5 Magic Skills Staff-Blade: 1 Tandem Casting: 1 Fire Magic: 1 (Basic: Firebolt) Spell Improvisation: 1 Melee Resistance: 7 Magic Conductivity: 1 Spell Research: 1 Signature Spell: 1 Fast Casting: 1 Spell Duration Increase: 1 Spell Power: 1 Melee Dampening: 7 Guild Field Control: 5 Guild Master Authority: 1 Guild Management: 4 Ambient Magic Absorption: 5 Guild Tool Creation: 1 Spider Web: 1 Size-Shifting: 4 X-ray Vision: 4 Telekinesis: 4 Control Animals: 4 Create Snowflake: 1 Combat Skills Punching: 3 Presence Detection: 6 Intimidating Presence: 6 Spear Mastery: 6 Bodyguard: 2 Ferocious Shout: 7 Taunt: 1 Assassinate: 4 Evasion: 8 Spell Parry: 5 Dirty Tricks: 2 Armor Mastery: 1 Sword: 1 Stealth: 5 Combat Awareness: 6 Shield: 1 Elemental Blade: 5 (Fire, Water, Wind) Twin Fang Style: 1 - req. 2 daggers. (Twin Stab) Unique / Special Skills Exp Growth: 10 Skill Growth: 10 Loot Crate Maniac: 4 - Available Points: 12,544 - Lifetime Points: [43,321 / 100,000] Human Consumption: 3 Emperor's Might (SS): 10 Party / Job Management: 4 (Create Party, Change Job, Change Title) Item Duplication: 4 Shadow Clones: 4 Dual Job: 1 - Can set a second job up to tier 1 as active. Titles Defender Merciless Fearsome Mithriadist One Hit Wonder Dragon Bait (curse) Kingslayer Duelist Orc Lord Monkey Count Snake Charmer Man Eater SP Collector