Martel gingerly awoke to consciousness in the very early morning. It was earlier than Martel intended to wake up, but he did not awaken for no reason. He was currently experiencing a rather pleasant sensation in his lower half. However, he did not think it strange given his present company, even though it was most likely unintentional.

*Ding*

A System notification got his attention. Once he began to read it, he suddenly sat straight up and looked down. There, he found that Midori, the slime, had perfectly ‘censored’ him. His eyebrow violently twitched when he could swear that Midori was acting bashful.

At his side, the two girls began to stir.

“Onii-sama, no more.” Yutsuki weakly said, half-conscious, before immediately falling back asleep.

“Anata, what’s wrong?” Kuromi asked as she was in an alert state. She followed Martel’s eyesight before she saw Midori. The sight even brought a slight smile to her cold face. “Anata, did you marry a slime?”

Martel’s face was full of black lines, not at her teasing, but by the fact that his ability had triggered, which meant he couldn’t deny it.

A miracle has occurred!

Good Kar 894 (-164)

The results of the Talent ‘Harem King’ have been enhanced.

The slime, Midori, has received a stat increase.

The slime, Midori, has obtained the Talent ‘Adapt and Survive.’

The slime, Midori, has revived the Talent ‘Split Consciousness.’

Martel has received the Talent ‘Split Consciousness.’

*Because of incompatibility, Martel did not receive the Talent ‘Adapt and Survive,’ but it has enhanced the Talent ‘Devour.’

Adapt and Survive LVL 0.00

Adapt and Survive is the pinnacle of the unique branch of Talent only available to slimes. It allows for the absorption of different materials to create different forms with different relative abilities (retroactively) that can be switched freely once unlocked. This includes biological forms, their memories, Expertise, etc. However, some biological forms and other abilities may not be available until the user reaches a certain level of strength. The requirements are lessened with higher Skill Levels.

Split Consciousness LVL 0.00

It allows the user to split their consciousness into two (more with LVL) to multitask easily. It does not increase the brain’s processing power, but it is possible to split that processing power as desired. This ability should be used with discretion, as it is possible to create multiple personalities.

Devour Update

It is now possible to Devour a creature’s memories and Expertise.

Martel’s eyebrow twitched again when he read this. The fact that Harem King had triggered meant that, somehow, ‘that’ counted. Martel glanced at Midori’s stats and was a little surprised to find that two things had changed. Instead of ‘none,’ the System had now identified Midori as female. Additionally, Midori’s intelligence and wisdom had increased and seemed to go up as he was looking. That being said, it was still extremely low.

Martel rubbed his eyes as he got out of bed. Yutsuki made a motion as if she was trying to find where he went in her sleep, and Kuromi scooted in to take his place.

“She has become quite attached to you,” Kuromi said softly.

“You cuddled up next to me, too,” Martel replied.

Kuromi said nothing but visibly rolled her eyes.

Martel made a slight frown. “My only regret is that there are not a dozen of me, so none of you would have to sleep alone.” He said softly and earnestly.

“Just go play with your new harem,” Kuromi said as she shooed him away.

“You make me feel so loved.” Martel sarcastically replied.

“Really? Even after what I let you do to me?”

Martel smiled and went up and kissed her gently. “Kuromi, I love you.”

“… I know.”

Martel made a slight pout at her response but didn’t comment on it before he went over and kissed Yutsuki on the forehead before he disappeared in a flash of purple.

The place Martel appeared was the inn where he and his party were staying. Given that it was still extremely early, he went back to bed.

…

The girls all glared at the patrolling soldiers as the carriage made its way down the path towards Hastings. Even after he revealed his identity, the soldiers were still against allowing the party through.

“I cannot believe the soldiers,” Hestia said with a cold huff.

Martel shrugged. “They were ordered to let no one through.”

“I don’t understand what humans are doing,” Arachne added. “The invaders should be wiped out immediately as they are nothing but a scourge. I know that humans have some powerful adventures around. Why don’t they take care of them?”

“Because it’s inefficient and unrewarding,” Kogane replied. “If the strong people came in and killed all the monsters, they wouldn’t get any XP or worthwhile monetary rewards. It might work out well in the short term, but it is harmful in the long term. People with low levels will not have enough combatants to raise their levels, and it will result in an overall loss of strength, which we cannot afford.”

Hestia frowned. “While that is true, why has no military action been taken? They seemed to have minimal low-ranking soldiers patrolling the border to ensure that none of the monsters spread beyond the Duchy. However, they seem to be doing nothing to stop what is happening in the Duchy.”

“That’s the work of the King,” Martel replied. He noticed Kogane couldn’t come up with an answer. “Every other year, starting around the time that the waves are expected to appear, the human’s ruling monarchs will come together to discuss the current situation. This is done to help promote unity as well as increase an individual kingdom’s strength. Given that the kingdoms are not harmonious, it isn’t a perfect system but is better than doing nothing.

“The Queen left not two days before the Wave and left the decision-making power to the King, as would be expected. However, the King decided to do nothing more than secure the Duchy of Hastings’ border.”

“Why would he do that?” Kogane asked, clearly unhappy.

“The King doesn’t want you to be Duchess. He is hoping that you would die because of the Wave, along with the others in power. This would leave a power vacuum that he could fill with his people, strengthening his power.”

“Can he get away with doing that?” Laelynn asked with curiosity.

“His justification, at least originally, was to give the heroes a practical training ground. Because of the argument that they are not yet ready, he can delay for a couple of weeks before sending them out.”

“Hestia frowned. “Well, even if that is true, are reinforcements on the way now that the Queen is back?”

“Yes and no. Because of the King’s military background, he has many acquaintances and friends amongst the military. Because he is currently locked up, many royal military leaders and nobility are delaying reinforcement with whatever excuses they can come up with in silent protest. The Queen cannot let the King out so easily because she needs to show that she has adequately punished him. If she doesn’t, other kingdoms may find further fault and use that as leverage as blackmail, etc.”

“That sounds complicated,” Laelynn replied.

Martel sighed as his thoughts flashed back to his early time in Camelot. “It is complicated, and the only way to make it simple is to have overwhelming power. However, because it is complicated, it creates an opportunity for us.”

“What opportunity?” Crystal asked.

“You see, a couple of days ago, Kogane’s title changed, and she is no longer the Duchess of Hastings.”

“How is that possible?” Cynthia asked, somewhat reserved as she was currently carrying Martel.

“It means that the System no longer recognizes the territory as controlled,” Hestia replied. “The System designates territory based on facts, like rulers. Whoever has control over the territory can partition it as they please. Once the conditions are met, then it can be acknowledged by the System, which creates the corresponding title. The System has designated Hastings as ‘uncontrolled’ which means that Kogane has lost her title as Duchess. Her title should have become something similar to ‘Claimant to the Duchy of Hastings.’”

Martel nodded. “That’s exactly right.”

“The System will recognize anyone who controls the area as its new rulers, regardless of who they may be. The King was most likely attempting this to justify replacing Kogane and others who may have a claim. Kogane’s current title is because she has a justifiable reason for taking back the territory as it originally belonged to her.”

“Isn’t it disadvantageous that anyone can take the territory?” Crystal asked.

“Yes and no. This situation only occurs if caused by the Wave as the System recognizes it as land lost due to the invasion, or a successful coup. It is seen as a reward to anyone who takes the land. However, just because the System acknowledges it doesn’t mean the surrounding kingdoms acknowledge it. There are records of past occurrences, but they are almost always reabsorbed or conquered by the kingdoms they originally belonged to. One of the few rare examples of peaceful reabsorption occurred during the last invasion when the previous Shield Hero, Jonathan, cleared out this very Duchy.” Hestia continued before she suddenly glanced at Martel. “Say, by opportunity, you wouldn’t mean…?”

Martel smiled as he suddenly said a window to everyone.

Quest – Retake the Duchy of Hastings.

The Duchy of Hastings has fallen to the invasion, and almost no native civilization exists within. Wipe out the invading creatures and work towards re-establishing civilization.

Quest Rewards (*These rewards are guaranteed upon completion of wiping out the invading creatures. Further increase rewards and potential chain quests can be received depending upon the degree of completion **Excluding #2, these rewards will be given to all party and sub-party members):

500 XP Deciding the future of the territory (reinstatement, independence, etc.) Receive the Title: Defender of the World

Time Limit: until the next Wave (quest will remain, but the rewards will be heavily reduced)

Everyone looked at the quest with surprise. Quests were almost completely unique to the heroes, though they could be further shared with party members. Additionally, the rewards were very appealing. 500 XP was nothing to scoff at as each level took around 1000 XP. No matter the level, flat XP was very appealing as the XP cost for leveling remained similar. Having an additional title wouldn’t hurt, but neither of these rewards was what caught Martel’s eyes.

Hestia, who seemed to have realized something, turned to Martel but said nothing.

…

Grunts, squeals, and sounds like a broken alien language echoed through the trees as two orcs suddenly came to blows. They stood over 6 feet tall with extremely large bodies of both muscle and fat. They wore basic leather armor that was in terrible condition, and their weapons were clubs that were little more than carved tree trunks. They were mostly human shaped except for their porcine heads. Their faces and pink skin revealed them to be orcs, the strongest race that came in through the First Wave.

While orcs were stronger and more intelligent than goblins, they were still notably stupid; at least, the weaker ones were. Like goblins, they also had higher subspecies, but none of them came through the First Wave. Given their intelligence level, it wasn’t too surprising that they made their camp in such a poor place. While there were sparse trees, a large outcropping of rocks just on the other side of them made their camp ripe for an ambush. As an internal fight brought the other dozen orcs’ attention, none of whom noticed several pairs of eyes looking down on them from above.

All the spell casters in the party were currently looking down at the orcs below. Just as one of the orcs made a fatal blow, something suddenly shot out of the now-deceased orcs body. A fox suddenly leaped towards the slight wound on the victor orc’s neck and tore the wound completely open with fatal results with a flash.

The previously cheering orcs were momentarily stunned before they started shouting at the fox. The little minx gave them a bloodied grin before it took off. Two of the remaining ten orcs dashed after the retreating fox while the others decided not to. The fox didn’t have enough meat to split. It was then that the sound of horse hooves echoed in the distance.

“Come and get me.” Hestia taunted atop Cynthia, successfully aggroing four of them.

All of the orcs, including those that were not taunted, immediately began to chase Hestia and Cynthia. However, the four orcs in the rear who were not taunted suddenly constricted by roots and vines. They shouted to inform their companions, but no sound escaped their mouths.

Martel had cast the Primal Spell, Silence on them, which prevented any sounds from occurring within the effective range. He had obtained the spell from Kuromi, Yutsuki, and Helen. They were visiting various kingdoms to expand their connections and obtain unique resources, like spells.

With their brute force, the orcs began to fight against their constraints. Unfortunately for them, they were not able to completely free themselves before several individuals rushed them.

With the help from the bombardment of spells, Martel, Crystal, Cali, Arachne quickly dispatched the orcs with little problem. Shortly after they finished, Cynthia and Hestia returned with three orcs in tow; one was missing while the remaining two were quickly dispatched.

“We're getting better at this,” Hestia said with a slight smile. She had already fought stronger foes, but everything was relative. She wouldn’t have dreamed of hunting orcs at Level 1 previously, but could now do so with ease.

“Remember, they were limited in number, and we had the advantage of tactics and ambush. If we were ever on the receiving end, it would never go as easily.” Martel replied.

“Why do you have to be such a downer?” Crystal asked.

Martel shrugged. “I’m just stating the facts. There are still several hundred orcs we need to dispatch. If we only kill the hunting parties, we won’t finish them in a sufficient amount of time. The longer we wait, the more complications could arise.”

“Martel, there's something floating down the nearby river,” Asuka said as she flew down from aerial reconnaissance and landed on Martel’s shoulder.

“Do you know what it is?” Martel asked.

“Some creature?” Asuka replied as she tilted her head.

As there was nothing desirable to take from the orcs, the party made their way to the river, where they found a black shell floating down the lake. The shell was about a sizable person, and it was similar to a turtle shell with some notable differences. The typical turtle pattern was numerous tipped scales that made the shell seem more jagged and rough in appearance than a turtle shell would typically have. Additionally, the holes that should’ve been for the head and appendages were sealed off.

Asuka, who was curious, landed upon it. She hopped around curiously before she tapped it a couple of times with her beak. It wasn’t then that the shell began to shake. Asuka got off in a panic and flew away as the shell quickly receded.

*Yawn* “That was a good nap.” A female figure suddenly said, having appeared from the shell. Her appearance was in her late teens and most of her features were human. Like her shell, which had now form-fit and shrunk to act as clothes, her skin was a lighter black. The shell no longer covered her body’s sides and only the front and back, which acted like clothes while not impeding movement. Her hands and feet had a thin layer of webbing that extended to the first knuckle. She had short black hair that was bald at the very top with a slightly flattened skull along with what appeared to be a ball of water held together by water tension.

“Hello, there are people here?” She suddenly said happily as she quickly approached the party, who immediately went on guard. “Hello, my name is Kappa. Who are you?”

Martel’s used his eyes to see her stats. He was quite surprised to find that she had a Talent, and her race had unique magic, similar to Kogane and her Foxfire. He went over the information about the kappa that he had in his mind. He decided to try something on the off chance that the cop had similar traits and mythology. Pushing the girls to stand down, he took a step forward. “My name is Martel. It’s nice to meet you, Kappa.” He said as he made a slight bow.

Kappa seemed slightly flustered before she also bowed. “It’s nice to meet you *plop*,” she replied as the water atop her head spilled. “Oh, no.” She said as her body visibly began to wrinkle up as the skin appeared to lose all hydration, and she seemed as if she had difficulty moving.

Somewhat expecting this, Martel used mana to bring some water from the river to recreate the water cap. “Are you all right?” He asked as he gently helped her up.

Kappa seemed frozen, absent-minded, as she stared up at Marty. Then, she reacted with a start. “Thank you, Master!”

““Master!?”” The girls repeated, dumbfounded by the turn of events.

Martel fought back a smile and feigned a look of surprise. “Master? Why are you calling me Master?”

“It’s the rules of our race. You see, the very first kappa was born from a demihuman turtle and was banished at a young age. Dazed and lost, she ran into some of the monsters from a recent wave. Unfortunately, she tripped and lost her water, so she could not move. It was then that she was saved by a nearby hero who helped to replace the water. In gratitude, she offered her life to the hero who gave her and our race the name kappa. From then on, the first daughter born from her bloodline will always take upon the name kappa in remembrance of the hero who saved and named our race. Additionally, should someone refill our water cap, we are duty-bound to serve that person.”

“Oh, I see. However, you probably shouldn’t tell that to others as some people might try to take advantage of that tradition.” Marty replied with an honest smile.

Several of the party’s wiser women gave him a look as if to express ‘you mean like you?’.

Kappa covered her mouth. “Ah, you’re right, this was to be a secret! Forget I said it.”

Martel smiled as he brought out a piece of Contract Paper. “So, kappa, would you be willing to become my slave?”

“Sure!” She happily said as she grabbed the paper, which she immediately activated before she could read it.

Martel couldn’t help but look a little dumbfounded. This girl was too trusting or a little slow in the head. However, he did not have many complaints. After taking a close look at her stats, she would also make a solid tank, similar to the Hestia-Cynthia combo. This would be important as Martel planned to create his second party. Having an extra tank would not hurt, nor would having someone with aquatic capabilities. He glanced back over status with anticipation.

Name: Kappa

Race: kappa*

Racial Traits

AGL*-50% (excluding in water)

CON +10% (shell is *50%)

Water Affinity and Fire Resistance +50%

Water Cap: without water cap, all stats *-90% (warning: without water, AGL modifier will be passed -100%, which will result in effective parallelization). The water cap allows a kappa to extract oxygen from the water, allowing them to stay submerged for up to 24 hours when completely still (exact time will vary).

Magic - Shell Manipulation: With mana, the caster can freely manipulate their shell (within reason), changing the shape, hardness, and attached location(s).

Talent: Can’t Stop Me (5/MAX)

Ignores AGL penalty up to 100% (50% +10% per level)

AGL +100% (50% +10% per level)

Martel was flabbergasted when he saw that her Talent expertise reached Level 5. Given her age, this was incredible. However, given her AGL penalty due to her racial trait, simply moving would increase her Expertise.

“Kappa, what were you doing here? Do you know that you’re in the human kingdom?” Martel asked.

Although Demihumans could freely travel into human kingdoms, they rarely did so due to the general persecution they would face. Though varied by kingdom and further varied by area, it would be rare to find a civilization that would not have some prejudice against them. Aside from adventurers, most Demihumans would never associate with the human kingdoms.

“What? Am I in a human kingdom? Kappa incredulously asked.

“Did you not know where you’re going?”

“I just ran around a bunch, wanted to take a bath, and fell asleep. I guess I flowed down the river.”

“Why aren’t you with your tribe?”

Kappa looked a little embarrassed. “Because they don’t like me.” She said meekly.

“Why don’t they like you?”

“Because I’m black.”

Martel nearly built his tongue as Kappa continued.

“They weren’t mean to me, but they were always talking behind my back. Kappa are normally green, but I’m black. I heard some people saying that was probably due to my father, but no one knows who he is, and my mother passed away shortly after I was born. They never really discriminated against me, but I never really felt like I was one of them. Bah, who needs them anyway? They’re a bunch of slowpokes.”

“Well you know if they did discriminate against you a little, they did raise you, didn’t they? I’m sure some care for you.”

“… Perhaps”

“Well, either way, we got to meet, so it is a mixed blessing.”

“Yep,” Kappa replied with an innocent smile. “I like Master already. You give me a good feeling.”

Martel was a little surprised because he had a ‘good feeling’ from her too.

“So, master, what do you want me to do? I only run fast and have a hard shell.”

“Yes, and they will come in handy. Do you know any magic?”

“I know some simple water offensive magic, but it isn’t very powerful.”

“Do you have any other offensive capabilities?”

Kappa made a bitter smile. “I don’t. The only other magic I know is to manipulate and harden my shell.”

“What are the limitations?”

“Part of the shell has to be attached to me internally, though it doesn’t matter where. When it comes to size, with a squeeze, I could fit two people around your size. It doesn’t have to be round as I can manipulate my shell, similar to armor around my whole body. I can also do other small things like sealing the holes or create simple spikes on the exterior.”

“I see. Have you experienced combat before?”

Her expression turned hesitant. “I’ve never fought before.”

“That’s okay. You have to worry too much about confrontation. Mostly, your job will be kiting enemies, leading them, and protecting allies. I’m sure you will learn in time.”

“Okay,” Kappa replied, a little cheerier.

“Sir, what’s next?” Hestia asked.

“That depends on the reconnaissance,” Marty replied as Asuka, who he sent to scout the area ahead after the battle, returned.

“Martel, there is a run-down town about 30 minutes away with around 30 orcs.”

“Good, that’s the last target for the day. Will clear it out and make it a base of operations.”

“Understood.”

…

The occasional grunts and squeals of confrontation bring out through the war-torn town. A couple of board orcs threw rocks at a passing red bird as it flew over the town. None of the orcs saw tiny spiders that fell from the bird and landed amongst the town.

Arachne had attached six of her eight spiders from her Soul Armament onto Asuka, of which five had descended into town to assess the number of orcs and their positions.

“Patriarch, I’m ready and in position,” Arachne said as her three remaining spiders kept her in contact with Asuka, Kappa, Cynthia, and Hestia.

Martel turned to Kappa. “Are you ready?”

“… I am.” She said with a nod.

“Good, then begin,” Martel replied as he cast Bless on her to increase her speed. He had already checked the orcs’ average speed, so he knew that she would be faster than them so long as he blessed her.

Kappa nodded as Arachne contacted Cynthia and Hestia, who entered and from a different direction.

Most of the orcs heard Cynthia’s gallop before seeing her, which brought her to their attention to her direction.

“Hey, stupid heads, come get me!” Kappa shouted from the opposite direction as she spat a water gun, her water magic, at several of them.

Enraged, several of the orcs immediately grabbed their weapons and ran at her.

“Come on, so slow, come and catch me!” Kappa shouted with a laugh. “This is so much fun.” She said, quickly overcoming her fear.

“Come and get me, you filthy animals!” Hestia shouted as she and Cynthia approached the other gate.

Several of the orcs, as if possessed, immediately changed their attention and charged her. At this point, only six of the orcs, who were far enough inside buildings to not get swept up in the commotion, remained as the rest split and chased the diversionary party.

“Now,” Martel said as he and the others charged into the town. Time was of the essence as they had to wipe out the remaining orcs before the diversionary party came back and enough time to build up basic defenses.

The orcs were split up into three parties of one, two, and three. Cali quietly went to the single orcs while the rest went to the party of three. Though the orcs had their weapons, they were not prepared for the sudden attack. Martel immediately blocked two of the orcs while the others quickly dispatched the remaining one, followed soon after by the last two. By this point in time, the remaining pair of orcs had found their way to the fight. One was immediately decapitated by Cali, who was becoming skilled at assassination. The remaining orcs registered what happened before he received several fireballs to the face from Perenelle and Kogane before he quickly joined the rest.

“Arachne, what is the situation?” Martel asked as Arachne currently had an eye in the sky, hitching a ride on Asuka.

“So far, so good. They should meet up in a minute and be here in a couple more.”

“Good, quick, let’s get everything ready.”

The party made their way to the planned entrance. Marty and Laelynn, along with a little help from the others, made a mud pit just deep and thick enough to trip up the orcs. With a flash of Kogane, an allusion covered the mud pit and appeared like normal ground except for the lines drawn into the side.

“They will be here in 30 seconds,” Arachne said as she was monitoring the situation.

“Okay, get in position,” Martel replied as they all quickly hid behind the simple wooden wall, but left the gates open.

Right on time, Cynthia and Hestia appeared, followed shortly by the sound of Kappa’s laughter and two dozen orcs. Because the mud pit was wide and not long, Cynthia easily managed to jump it.

“Yahoo!” Kappa shouted as she jumped over the pit. Her shell expanded and covered her, and she cleanly landed over and skipped across the ground.

The orcs were both engrossed in the chase and not expecting it trapped, much less one hidden my allusion magic, so they rushed right into it. Because the trap was slanted, the first orcs didn’t immediately stop, which allowed nearly half the orcs to pile in before coming to a standstill. The resulting squawks of complaint were quickly replaced with squeals of pain and anger as the sound of broken bottles of alchemist fire.

Thirty seconds later, after a barrage of magic, the smell of fire and overcooked pork filled the air. The initial trap stalled a dozen of the orcs while the remaining orcs behind them tried to go around only to end up in the trap and were quickly finished off.

Martel looked at the slowly smoldering corpses. “Kogane and Arachne, is the town clear?”

“Should be, Papa.” “Yes, Patriarch.”

“Good. Asuka and Arachne will perform reconnaissance on the surroundings. Perenelle and Cali will help Cynthia and Tara with relocating the corpses. Everyone else will work on repairing the defenses and securing the walls.

""Yes."" ""Okay""

After distributing their tasks, Martel took out his black token. It informed him that he now had a letter ready to be transported. “Delivery,” Martel said just before the token began to morph and change to create a magical circle that would do a simultaneous transmission allowing for the sending and receiving of items. As he glanced at the magic circle that appeared, he couldn’t help but smile. The magic circle was a false front. The real magic circle was within the token, the top only being a cover to mislead others who would want to steal the magic, not that that would be easy to do.

With a flash of purple, a letter suddenly appeared upon the token. Martel broke the seal, which revealed the letter to be directly from the Queen of Sussex, and quickly read it. Slightly surprised by the contents, he focused his mind on the massive database of information that his SRIN had been continuously obtaining. There, he found the information about the individual in question. “Well, this does seem worth looking into.” He said before he went to the others.

...

The rest of the day went without incident. After making basic repairs to the town defenses and providing a shelter for all the party members, everyone did some light training for retiring for the evening.

End of Day 86