Amid the forest screams of pain could be heard like a hymn spewing the end of those who sang it. The smell of blood was prevalent and more bodies were added to the pile of corpses that reeked with death. There was a mysterious thick fog that covered the place making it hard to see or know what's going more than 2 meters away from you.
*Howl!*
A giant shadow standing at almost 4 meters hid in the fog, its howls resounding throughout the forest, each of its footsteps could make the earth around it tremble, but it was nimble and didn't make any noise with its steps. The greenish glowy fur's outline could be seen if close enough, its mouth as full of teeth as a shark's, with teeth that would make one question if daggers have any utility, claws that stand ready to rip and tear any being it deemed unholy bring the divine judgment upon them with each scratch.
Such a being is the Fog dire wolf, one of the possible 2nd phase evolutions of the wolf. While a normal dire wolf would be a 1st phase and a normal wolf a Phase 0. There are many paths when it comes to evolution and it isn't always like.
The Fog dire wolf moved undisturbed and undetected as it moved its claws to tear tens of goblins apart with ease, then moving to the next area.
All over in this area dire wolves and goblins were fighting with one another, the wolves were slowly but surely gaining an advantage despite being much less than the goblins in numbers. With one wolf having to deal with 2 or 3 of them.
The battle was arduous, but the numbers of the goblins just keep decreasing at an alarming pace, and even though some dire wolves would fall from time to time, it wasn't nearly enough for the goblins to gain an advantage.
Far behind the front line that was slowly getting annihilated, there were the ranged fighters and their commander a hobgoblin behind them surrounded by ten male hobgoblins. These are all the male hobgoblins of their village while of the five female hobgoblins, 3 of them stayed at the village because they didn't want to risk them dying as they weren't hunters, they wouldn't be of much help in battle despite being stronger than goblins while the other 2 female hobgoblins who were actually warriors unluckily weren't in the village when this war between the dire wolf and goblins started, they were sent in an expedition to conquer more goblin villages under their name since those two were the strongest in this village and could win even against the village chief.
The village chief who was working as the commander for his village couldn't help but frown looking at his men fall at a rapid pace to a being he couldn't even see, he knew that whatever the leader of the wolves was, it was leagues above him and even hated himself for not having chosen to run away rather than fighting cursing at his arrogance.
"All ten of you, you are currently the strongest we have in the village aside from myself, obviously I'm not counting the two absent little monsters. As the strongest of the village, we must protect our people! We may fall today but we fall as honorable warriors, on the battlefield!!" The village chief gave simple words as a kind of speech and even though it wasn't much, it was enough for the hobgoblin with him as they cheered.
"YEAHH!!" In unison, they all cheered.
"Charge!" The village chief ordered as he grabbed the shoulder of one of the hobgoblins, the closest one to him.
The others didn't look behind or think too much as they followed orders and charged forward to what they knew would most likely be their end.
"Don't go, you are going back to the village and you're going to guide everyone into safety! You're the new Village chief! Don't even dare try to refute my orders, this is for the future of our people! Now go!" The village chief gave what he believes is his last order to one hobgoblin before running into the battlefield without waiting for an answer.
The hobgoblin just stood there dazed before tears started going down his face and with an unwilling expression on his face, he left his companions to die as he went back to guide his people into safety.
The Village chief soon joined the other 9 in their charge to the battlefield and they soon got there. By now the goblins were barely hanging in there and their numbers were already inferior to the Dire Wolf's. The hobgoblin took the chance to attack wolves that were already focused on other targets to weaken them and make things even but they were not enough in number to get the desired effect.
It was then that the village chief noticed something, the occasional attack of the ranged hunters completely stopped. He stabbed his sword in a dire wolf's head then turned to see the situation only to notice the fog got thicker and he could no longer see them, and his instincts told him they are all dead.
His face turned sour as he regretted having driven things to end this way, even though he told everyone that he sent the two strong female hobgoblins out to conquer other villages, the reality was that he was scared of getting overthrown by them, so he sent them out so he could make himself stronger and the only idea he got was to hunt dire wolves in secret. Even though some might say he caused the war with his stupid actions caused by fear and arrogance, in reality, all he did was speed up the process, their war was bound to happen because they were both neighbor factions that are currently in expansion, sooner or later they would have to fight unless they came to terms, which was unlikely since dire wolves view goblins as inferior lifeforms and wouldn't 'lower' themselves to make an agreement with them. Even so, in the end, the fact that he sped up the process and send out their best fighters contributed to their defeat, and maybe if he hadn't acted out of fear, things would have gone differently, but life doesn't care about your regrets and just keeps moving on.
The fog got even thicker and now the village chief couldn't see what was going on around him at all. The screams of pain of his soldiers and companions filled the surroundings until it all become silent. Nothing, the village chief couldn't hear a thing, not even his own breathing or his armor creaking. It was painful and absolute silence.
The village chief panicked as he looked around but couldn't see anything, no matter how much he turned it felt like he didn't move at all since there was no noise and he couldn't see anything, it's almost like he was in some kind of limbo, living between states of being as if he's in a state of constant sleep paralysis.
Screams and shouts that were supposed to leave his mouth just didn't make a sound, the more time he spent like the crazier he felt he was going until he simply fell on his knees with tears running down his face with the expression of a broken man asking for a hug.
"Pathetic." That single word was the last sound to enter the village chief's ears before the world went dark and feelings were no more.
With that what was supposed to be a battle ended with a massacre, a massacre that no one except the goblins themselves knew, since not a sound of this battle was leaked outside of the fog.
Then the same fog disappeared leaving behind the mutilated corpses to serve as proof of a battle no one but a single surviving hobgoblin got to see.
____________________________________________
It's been a week since I first came to this world and quite a few things happened. First, with the help of the slimes and the others, we began building a small little village we could call home. It wasn't as hard as I thought since the slimes could dissolve the wood to take the shapes we need and we had the goblins the dire wolf to help. There's also my abnormal strength and the fact I discovered I don't need to sleep. Second, I became level 9 with a lot of effort, and we went hunting without setting up an ambush me and Oppo but we didn't leave this area since there might be dangerous monsters in other areas. Oppo is level 7 now. As for the rest, they didn't get much action but they are about level 3-4. As expected, I've tamed everyone and all the monsters are now my subordinates, the leather armored goblin is level 7, which surprised me, and the dire wolf was on the same level. Third, I got some new subordinates, I have a total of 15 slimes(excluding Oppo), 9 goblins, and 2 dire wolves under me.
I decided to not increase the number of subordinates too much for now, since I don't want to worry about feeding that many mouths, happily we can use the meat of the monsters we killed that the slimes have been storing. Slimes are extremely efficient in cleaning. Monsters don't seem to care about cannibalism, so who am I to care? Even though I don't need to sleep or eat, I can still do those things, and surprisingly after properly cooked monster meat is pretty good. Oh, and slimes taste like sour gummies filled with sugar, some people would not like it, but as a sweet tooth, I absolutely love it, I feel bad for Oppo, even so, I can't stop eating slime as if it was some sort of sweet snack.
Now, back to the small village, we build. It's got 5 wooden shacks, three of which works as houses of sorts for the three different races of subordinates I have. A goblin house, a dire wolf house, and a slime house, I know that a system like this will only temporarily work and that we'll have to build more houses later, but for now this is enough. One of the other two shacks works as a storage and workshop for me since I later want to try things like alchemy, blacksmithing, and so on. Lastly, it's mine and Oppo's house, being the third biggest shack in our small village after the storage and the goblin house. It has two floors. On the ground floor, there's a kitchen, a living room, a dining room, and a bathroom, while on the first floor there are two rooms, an office, and a bathroom. All in all, it's pretty decent.
The bathrooms are still primitive and there's no proper plumbing yet, but it isn't a big deal, we'll eventually figure out how to get that done.
For the last week, I've been focused on building the village and leveling up, so I didn't stop to properly work on my skills and other things yet, I've also been thinking about the biggest problem for my village right now. The wolves and the goblins don't like each other. At first, I couldn't understand them, but after taming them I could talk with them. I nominated the leather armored goblin as the leader of the goblin and the higher level wolf as the leader for the dire wolves, the slimes were never in question as Oppo is the only answer. Anyway, as we worked together to build this place I slowly began to realize there is some kind of amnesty between the wolves and the goblins, as it became clear they would have tried to tear each other and sherds were they not under my command.
I don't know why they hate each other, I've been planning to ask but I don't feel comfortable doing it... But I'll have to if I want to be able to at least get them to reach a middle term.
*Sigh* I let out a sigh while sitting on the couch in the living room, looking at the wooden ceiling of the ground floor with my expression showing my clear worry.
Their discord makes it hard for me to make my plans work, I want to make the slimes work as gatherers getting herbs, berries, and the minerals in the area, for that purpose I want to first find a way to train them in stealth so they won't get killed by monsters roaming the area. As for the wolves and goblins, I wanted them to work together in hunting, guarding, and shouting teams, but as they are currently it's not going to work.
{Mummy Ezra, are you stressed about something?} Oppo came in as blobby as ever. Since she evolved, she has been become pink instead of blue and seems to have some sort of tattoo engraved on her body, it resembles a flower.
Oppo got closer and her form began to change as she grew from being a small little cute slime to being a young girl taller than me, by a bit. Her hair is pink, curly, and long almost reaching her feet, her eyes are rose quartz with a mysterious flower pattern in her iris, her nose is small and fits her adorableness, her lips are also small and have a pinkish color, even though she's adorable her face and is sharp rather than round, she has beautiful and smooth dark skin and long pointy ears, which made me realize how much resembles a dark elf which is the non-human race I have a thing for, so it might be my fault she looks like that. Her body is not muscular but it's also not frail, she's quite petite despite being taller than me and she's wearing a sleeveless black cropped top with a collar reaching her neck, and some tight white shorts while her feet are bare. Even though she has a small body, for her kind of physique she has some nice curves. Her waist is wide enough for her body, but her chest and ass are lacking, regardless of that, she's absolutely beautiful.
(AN: I'm starting to think the Author has something for cropped tops, kinda sus)
Oppo sat by my side and leaned on me resting her face on my chest that despite looking flat is very squishy, then she looked me in the eyes waiting for an answer.
I moved my hand and began to gently caress her hair while unconsciously smiling, her body was warm despite the fact she's a slime, probably because of the effect of
"I'm just trying to figure how I'll approach the more wolves and the goblins about their dislike of each other... But I still have to ask them why first... it's going to be an awkward conversation to have and I'm not sure if it's the right time yet." I let my worries out and even if I'm not sure Oppo will get me, I'm happy she's there to at least listen, as it makes me feel better. My voice carried some of my worries while my expression was just stiff.
I felt a hand touch my cheek before seeing Oppo looking at me with a reassuring smile. "If it's that, I'm sure you'll get through it. As for the why, if I'm not wrong the goblins and dire wolf were about to go to war, even though it might've already happened." She explained calmly with her cute voice, even though she sounded a little uncertain about it.
"War? How do you know that?" Even though I was impressed and didn't doubt Oppo, I was still obviously curious about the source of this information.
"First, I saw it in the memories of the goblin I consumed then, I asked that goblin with leather armor about it. Considering what he said, the battle might've already gone down by now." Oppo was telling how she get her information while she was also moving herself and went from laying her face on my chest to sitting on my lap with her head laying on my shoulder and her arms around my neck. Her movements were very natural and surprised me with how quickly she adapted to this new form.
Hearing her say that made me remember that I fed read that she can intake memories from those she devours, this might cause trouble someday...
"Wow, my little beauty's finally acting actively. Makes me want to smooch! Good job." I praise her, then start patting her head, and she seems to like it as she glues her head to my hand but her now pouty expression says something else.
"No! Mommy Ezra, that's not fair! You can't just pat my head after saying I could get a smooch!" She starts complaining and I don't know if it's because she's a slime but she literally becomes a chibi while doing so, only adding to her cuteness. My heart can't handle it! If I was an anime character right now, I would have a nose bleed and a heart attack from this overdose of sweetness.
"Hahaha! Fine, fine." I move my head closer to hers until there's hardly 1 cm separating us, then I move to the side and blow wind on her ear instead.
A shiver goes down her body as she slightly trembles, then hides her face on my chest while blushing, she's adorable.
"Terrible!.... You're horrible!..... How can you tease me like that?!" She seems to be a little mad I teased her, but it's her fault for being this adorable.
"I would love to stay with you, but I have to solve this matter as soon as possible. Otherwise, I'll delay it for too long, I've already let it go for more than I should've." I say putting on a serious expression, we can do that another time, I better take care of this matter sooner than later.
".... Fine, you're right. Can I at least come?" Oppo agreed easier than I expected with another chibi small pout.
"Of course, we are bound to be together... Even if we didn't want it, but since we do let's make the most out of it." I answered as I got up and Oppo turned into her slime form before entering my top to rest in between my breasts. Lately, she seems to really like that spot, well she actually wanted to rest in my pants, but I decided we'll get there with time, and she understood, she's a sweetheart.
Now that I know that they hated each other because of a war, things became both clear and complicated. I can't just go and tell them to forget that they almost killed each other's people just because they are under me now, I might not be a very good leader, but I at least don't want to be a tyrant to those on my side. The best I can do is convince them to not be at each other's throats... Hum... Is there a good way to deal with this?
As I was thinking of it, I moved from inside my house to the outside and Oppo was moving a bit aggressively in between my mounds.
"Oppo, can you do me a favor and go call everyone?" I asked as I took a bit of a breath in thinking about what I'm going to say, and while I don't it's the best solution it's what comes to mind right now.
Oppo came out of my chest and went to call the others. It didn't take long for everyone to be standing right in front of me. Oppo now stood on my shoulder, probably because she didn't want to enter my breasts in front of everyone.
"You might be wondering why I suddenly called you here today and my reasons to do so, are 1- I know of the hate between the goblins and dire wolves and we must discuss that, 2- I've decided to give all of you names because it's weird for me if you don't have names." I announce making it a bit more awkward than it had to be.
I could see mixed reactions, but it was mostly confusion and surprise.
"So, to go back to point one, I would like to make an agreement with you. I will give you a wish, within reason, and you won't be at each other's throats. I'm not asking you to forget, I'm instead asking you to let it lay low for now. In the future when things are better for our place, I'll let you resolve this however you feel more comfortable dealing with it, all you have to do is wait it out." I say it knowing full well this isn't a solution and only slows things down at most, but I don't know how else to deal with this.
Silence filled the place for a bit and I was starting to think they won't take it. I could see that they were reflecting on it, after all, it's not an easy decision.
"We the dire wolves have decided to accept Lord Ezra's proposal. We thank the Lord for your mercy." The wolf I made the leader talked with a voice carrying admiration and seemed legitimately thankful, making me wonder what of this could be considered mercy.
Not long after the goblins also gave their answer.
"We the goblins have decided to accept Lord Ezra's offer. We thank the Lord for your mercy." Just like the wolf leader I could see some sort of admiration and thankfulness that I was wondering about.
"Good, later we can discuss your wishes, but for now. I'll be naming you. Starting with the slimes." I day deciding to start naming the side with the most individuals first. "Line up and one by one come here."
Just as I ordered they lined up and the first slime came to me.
"From this day on, you will be Blobone." I say shamelessly. If I have to give names to them with my terrible naming sense, this is the best I can do.
"You will be Blobtwo"
"You will be Blobthree"
"You will be Blobfour"
.....
Just like that I named all the slimes... I felt a little bad, but there's no way I could think of actual names for everyone, got to be real.
"From now on under the command of Oppo Gluttonous Talia, you will be the Talia Slime faction in the Talia Familia's Nitya Village." I declare. I had decided on the village's name not too long ago, at first, I was just going to call it Talia village, but then I wanted to give a more fitting name, so I went with Nitya.
[You have just founded both a Familia and a small Village. You have earned the title and the subclass Village chief. The Talia Familia now has ownership of the Nitya Village and surrounding territory. Please be ready to protect your territory, good luck.] A notification came up and surprised me.
This sounds like trouble... But I guess that will come eventually if I construct a village.
"Moving on, Goblins you're next." I say and just like the slimes, they line up. "From this day on, you will be Eliab, the leader of the Talia Goblin faction in the Talia Familia's Nitya Village." I declare to the leather armored goblin officially making him the leader of his group.
Then I proceeded to name the other goblins.
"You will be Gobone"
"You will be Gobtwo"
"You will be Gobthree"
...
I moved on to the last ones.
"From this day on, you will be Jaeger, the leader of the Talia Wolf faction in the Talia Familia's Nitya Village." I make my last leader proclamation for the day and move on to the last wolf.
"Your will be Wolfson"
Once I was done naming everyone, I gave them the tasks I was thinking of. Slimes will be gatherers but won't be going too far until they learn how to be stealthy. Wolves will work as scouts, while the goblins will be guards and hunters.
After properly giving everyone a role, I asked if they will make their wishes today but they said that later they will come to me about it. So, I just let it be.
Oppo decided to go with the slimes to take care of them as it seems she's taking her role as their leader seriously, so I just ask her to be careful not to wander off too far, even though I know she'll live, since I'm still alive.
With that done, I feel somewhat mentally tired. I wanted to start a training routine since I got to this world, but I was focused on other things and put it off and today that's going to happen again. Tomorrow I'll just start it and not think much about it, I can't laze out or I might ruin my beautiful body!
I get into my house and go to my room. Inside I lay on the bed.
"I should start working things out and looking at distributing my attribute point... And also look at my skill board, and try to understand my skills." I say to myself as I decide to open my skill board.