By the time the sun first broke over the horizon, we had already arrived at a Mason Village shortly after passing through the forest. Well, since I'm an Ogre, there will normally be a large level of disgust and resentment because this village is mainly consists of humans. Though with the Tomboy Princess sitting on my shoulder, the caution subsided by quite a bit. They probably assumed I was a pet or something.
The Princess has a magic ring with an engraved seal that she once told me is the symbol of the Royal Family. It is also impossible to be equipped by anyone outside of the Royal Family. It cannot be removed once equipped, and projects a powerful curse upon the wearer's enemies in the area should a Royal Family member be slain.
Because of this ring, she is able to give orders to the villagers.
To my surprise, it was a magnificent village that had many citizens and tourists. All of whom bowed their heads as we walked by in honor of the Princess.
This tradition apparently goes back to a tradition similar to that of Samurai in respects to their masters.
It was then that I found myself invited to the Village Chief's house within the village where I decided to spend the night. The Chief and his wife still had fearful expressions from my appearance, so I took out some fruits and mushrooms from <
I tried to talk with them casually as I played with Kumajirou and Kurosaburou.
At any rate, it took some time, but I managed to ease the tension and began discussing minor matters of the village with him.
Conversations like this are important for developing a public image, after all.
After doing this for around two hours, they have finally relaxed to my presence. I was invited by the Chief to allow him to be my guide to the waterfall, which is the specialty of the village.
To be honest, that was my original plan, so I was pleased to have him guide me there.
Since I'm in no rush to bathe in the hot spring, I'll first visit the waterfall.
It was located down a small path not too far from the village. The waterfall itself is massive, as if the water was falling down from heaven. In front of this scene, we gazed at the sight unconsciously. The large waterfall that poured down from the top nearly two hundred meters above in the sky. The Chief informed us of the details. Though for the most part I took my time to enjoy this incredible view of natural beauty.
Even so, with [Sense Presence] I detected several massive and mighty creatures lying dormant within the waterfall, but I was not sure of their nature.
I decided it was best to ask the village Chief of what I had seen.
It turns out that the creatures I had seen were some form of guardian, a boss species of the Big Coccos. It was generally friendly if you don't attack it. There also seems to be a dragon-class monster within there as well, but it is usually sleeping quietly.
Although I find myself heavily tempted to fight these monsters, I restrain these feelings in the back of my mind. Furthermore, even if I utilize all of my current skills, it still seems highly likely that it is impossible to overcome these creatures at present.
While still thinking of returning to fight these creatures one day, I decided to immerse myself in the famous hot spring.
The party was booked under the name of the Royal Family.
I requested that both Dhammi-chan and Kazeoni-san (Wind Lord-san) to escort the Princess to the hot spring. Therefore, even if assassins surrounded them, they would either eliminate the threat or hold out long enough for me to close the distance and come to their aid.
With the safety of the Princess taken care of, I was able to enjoy the hot spring without reserve. The Mason village's hot spring, just like the ones we have at our settlement, has pleasantly hot water.
Because I missed the hot springs of our settlement, I will absolutely return there once this mission is over.
There are also various changes and improvements to the settlement that I want to make once I return. There are still tons of things that need to be done.
I got out of the hot spring after an hour or so and returned to the Village Chief's house.
While I was out, Kurosaburo and Kumajiro had gathered a large number of Kelpie, Boruforu, Blade Rabbits, and Horn Rabbits. They busily worked to draw the blood from them so the villagers could cook them.
I will certainly be complimenting them and playing with them for their efforts later. They will receive a large amount of meat as well.
Since there was such a large quantity of meat, I told the Village Chief to share the meat to the whole village to eat. As a result, the whole village gathered at the banquet hall that night to have a feast. The darkness soon faded to the glow of bonfires set up everywhere throughout the village.
Villagers sat and ate meat with travelers, sharing and drinking the local liquor without hesitation. Soon, everyone became excited and began to dance and sing.
Redhead, Dhammi-chan, and Blacksmith-san all decided to stir up the atmosphere by inviting a male villager to dance. I watched them dance with pleasure. I'm not one to get jealous that easily though, but a little jealousy was fine for this. It didn't bother me too much since it was more of a form of greeting than anything else.
Even now, at the age of 60, the Village Chief was still participating in a village drinking contest, stating that he refused to lose to any of the youngsters, especially when it came to the liquor of his own village. The Liquor was inferior to elf wine, but delicious none the less.
I gave the Village Chief a small sample of Elf wine and he gasped with a sound of amazement. It simply cannot be helped; Elf wine is just that good. The Chief continued to compete with the younger villagers with a big smile, draining several barrels of liquor in the process.
It was about two hours after the banquet had begun when one of the more drunken villager's who could no longer think straight went up to Dhammi-chan and grabbed her behind thoroughly. I only managed to barely make it in time before the furious Dhammi-chan could finish beating the man to death. I gave him some treatment to make sure he wouldn't die from his injuries, but left him to a certain extent as punishment. The injury to his abdomen was not great enough to burst his organs, but the force was quite intense.
The next time an incident like this occurs, she might very well tear someone's head off, so I really need to calm her down. I gave her a hug to calm her down. After all, it's quite the embarrassment for Dhammi-chan to be so thoroughly touched on such a sensitive region by another man. Killing him would sate her anger quickly, but in the present situation, it is not wise to allow such.
I whispered lightly in her ear that she must not kill the man. That said, if this incident happens again from the same man, I might make the request to string his organs out myself, but for now, the situation has been dissolved.
Suddenly, I realized that the entire venue of villagers had been filled with silence. Redhead had a hand on her forehead and had since then dropped to her knees with a "Fuee".
In order to change this tense atmosphere that has developed, I pulled out several barrels of liquor and challenged the villagers to a drinking contest. If anyone managed to defeat me I would give the winner four silver plates, roughly forty thousand gold coins if it were to be converted.
All of the male villagers came forth with great confidence after hearing the news about the reward.
The atmosphere of the village suddenly changed in its entirety, with the past incident fully forgotten.
What can I say, when talking about forty thousand gold coins, it is quite the huge amount of wealth for a village of this level. To put it into perspective, for a village of this size, it could sustain the lives of every member of the village for just over two weeks.
That's probably why their eyes changed. They probably thought I would be defeated through sheer force of numbers. They already had seen me drinking with the Village Chief, thinking that they could push me into becoming drunk.
All the while, the Princess sat on my shoulder the entire time, silently and enjoying the festivities. Even with her there, I drank with not only villagers but the tourists and visitors. The Princess ordered everyone to have fun as well as for me not to lose to anyone. Well, even without that, I might have overdone it a bit.
Let's only get to the result. I took on nearly every male and some females of the village and those visiting and never lost once. I may have grown... Just a bit drunk, but I haven't blacked out since I'm still an Ogre. I'm quite the profiteering individual if I do say so myself, this level of excitement is always nice though.
While snacking on some of the food I managed to pick up some new abilities,
Ability unlocked [Water Battle Formation]
Ability unlocked [Blade Bone Generation]
Ability unlocked [Tough Skin]
Ability unlocked [Sharp Horn Generation]
After several more hours of the festivities, things started to die down a bit.
I was able to sleep quite soundly tonight. I also found a great excuse to drink my fill of alcohol for the first time in quite a while.
The girls also took part in the drinking contest, so all of us were buzzed before bed. I doubt anyone minded though...