Coming back home i wasn't surprised to see the others already getting here before me and hobusaku since we stayed at the forest for a about 30 minutes plus hobusaku's reward...so to speak,but when we entered the camp the girls seeing both me and hobusaku quickly started running towards us for some reason making me afraid for a unknown cause as i shielded my nether regions with my hands...embarrassingly...they weren't after "That" no looking closer at them i could see that most of them had wet eyes and a horrible expression on their beautiful faces...even hoboku was at tears,but seeing me now made her smile in delight as everyone quickly got to me and hugged me from all sides...wha...

-Lord sorron you came back !

-we were so worried !

-where did you go !

The girls one by one complained to me asking me about my whereabouts and other things even hobusaku was questioned,but in a not so fluffy manner as everyone looked at her a bit angry for some reason asking her what she did and why i was outside the base...this conversation was making me feel like as if i was their puppy that got lost i quickly tried to make sense out of this whole dilemma ending up shouting again.

-EVERYONE SHUT UP !

-...

My voice was loud and because they were so close by everyone flinched at the same time as they stopped arguing or complaining to each other the worry and anger was no more momentarily replaced with slight fear and....excitement ?

I tapped the link between the girls once more just to be sure,but i could see that they were still slightly excited for some reason...are they getting off because i am yelling at them ?

I quickly stopped this particular thought process and looked at the girls once more i searched for hoboku in particular and asked her why they were acting like this.

Hoboku was slightly embarrassed when she was about to answer my question feeling stupid about herself she scratched her head and said awkwardly.

-When we came back from the hunt...lord sorron wasn't at home actually no one was at home we searched everywhere,but we couldn't find anything and at that point everyone started to...panic

Hoboku explained as everyone else who was listening also felt very dumb about themselves looking at the ground shameful...

Hearing the reason i finally was able to understand what was going on they feared that i might have been attacked by some giant beast making both me and hobusaku run for our lives...and probably getting killed and eaten.

Their slight act of panic because of me was something i found very sweet,but also offending because i don't think that i would ever go die so fast...

With that cleared up i started to calm everyone explaining them where i and hobusaku left to,i told them about the dark elfs and the offer i had made to them when they were going to return with their own answer and what we would do after that which in fact gather information about the outside world from the forest...

-hmm can we really trust them ?

Hoboku asked from my side showing a pondering expression,the others were evenly very skeptical about this deal i had made tensing up for a few moments until i spoke up myself.

-We can't always rely on ourselves girls we are only 13 people and 5 pups not enough to challenge the whole world is it ? So why not make allies on the way ? Fighting others isn't a good way to live and it isn't a choice either the answer for that is of course trust and do you trust me ?

Hoboku stopped what she was doing and looked at me seriously her gaze holding full conviction in what she was about to say.

-I will always trust you my lord even if you order me to take my life i will do it without a second thought...

I was slightly startled as i could see that her words were actually true fully meaning what she said making me scared for a few moments as i quickly told her to not ever do that even if i tell her to do so ! The others also had the exact same mind-set as hoboku making me want to actually lower their respect for me which seemed to have already crossed the heavens...

-Promise me you won't ever do that..

I told everyone just to be sure...seeing me panic and flustered like them the girls laughed and smiled pleasantly as i could feel that they were happy about what i said which was odd,but alright,they agreed to my request and also came up to me all together hugging me from all sides almost choking me,but also giving me a very warm fuzzy feeling inside.

With that we ended our conversation and i proceeded to tell everyone about the new improvements that i had made to the cave and also the new bath room,but before i got the chance to show it to them hoboku interrupted me and told me to follow her into the field she had pretty big and sly smile on her face which i couldn't understand until we got into the full field.

-...

As we stepped onto the field the strong smell of iron was held in the air we stopped and i looked at the field with an expression of total horror mixed with astonishment as i saw the pile of corpses building a large hill seeping the blood on the ground giving a disgusting gory imagine to me as i saw every single corpse being opened from the stomach...the magic core from each animal was searched and retrieved by the girls and i knew that some of the animals didn't even have magic cores as they were normal animals,but because the girls didn't know what was a magic beast and was a normal animal they decided to open every animal without discrimination ending up with a total of 68 corpses of different animals there was even a second pile of bug type beasts which did have the magic cores inside of them,but the girls didn't like the stinky bugs mixing with the meat so they made a separate pile for the beetles which were 23 in total.

Seeing the scene in front of me i was very speechless as i couldn't imagine how the girls were able to carry the animals to this place...i took the moment to look at hoboku closer and noticed that her hands and some parts of her robe were stained with blood...it was later explained that the girls had each carrying about 3 to 5 animals while the strength type female hobgoblins carried 8 to 10 which sounded incredibly unbelievable but was true from the scene in front of me...

-I also used the dimensional pouch that you gave me...

She said a bit proud of herself which didn't really match with her sentence since she used magic.I didn't comment on that and just looked at the pile of animals and then back at hoboku seeing her dirty appearance i told her.

-Hoboku go strip yourself..

Hearing me say this hoboku's eyes lighted up as she misunderstood what i meant by that and started putting off her clothing in front of me making me quickly stop her explaining her that she and other should take off their clothing and place it at the entrance of the bath room so i can wash them.

Hearing my real intention hoboku stopped midway and slumped her shoulders very disappointed as she walked towards the other girls muttered quietly.

-you tease..

My body cringed for a moment making me shake my head helplessly as i following her behind and ending up leading everyone towards the bath room...i decided that we would skip todays training and use the bath instead.Arriving at the new room entrance i explaining everyone how it works by getting inside and how to wash themselves properly after i finished explaining the girls were eager to hop into the bath and started stripping in front of me making me quickly leave the bathroom...the sound of disappointed moans could be heard followed by the sound of splashing where everyone was getting in making sounds of delight and relieve as the hot water made them lose some stress.

I didn't stay any further and just paced towards the pile of dead corpses,i let the slimes handle the dirty clothing since they were able to clean the filth on it without eating the fabric making them also perfect nature friendly laundry machines because dirt and filth was something they ate.

I wanted to remove the pile of corpses as fast as possible so no animal would come because of the smell of blood drifting in the wind after that i would let the slimes drink/eat the left over blood and gore maybe even let them eat the bugs since they didn't have much use as food,but held good crafting material such as their shells.

Over the course of time i was finished with the first pile and the slimes were also finished cleaning the clothing setting them back folded neatly which looked cute for some reason.

Currently i was taking the hard shells from the big bugs to use later on as shields or breastplates maybe i also took the horns on the warrior beetles not really sure what to do with them only hoping that they may come to use,but other than the shells and horns i couldn't find anything useful on their body and throughout my work i noticed that one of the beetles was completely different from the rest which was odd.

The warrior beetle had a long horn and short limbs colored red and black there was also the scavenger beetle which was yellow and long limbs these two beetles were numerous,but one particular beetle had caught my attention as i looked at it confused...

The coloration of the beetle was blue and purple it had larger wings than the other beetles and even bigger eyes and longer antenna's i couldn't figure out what kind of beetle it was so i used on it to see what it was.

The overseer beetle also known as the leader beetle,this beetle is under the command of a specific tasked to manage the lesser beetles to collect and fight as it has slightly higher intelligence then the rest fitting the task.It has no fighting capabilities but is quick and perceptive often used as a scout.

When a dies it sprays out a warning hormone that calls the rest of the beetles in the area to come to the location of its death to signal a potential threat to their species and mark it as a elimination point.

-...

As i was thinking about the last sentence of the explanation in confusion i could hear the sound of buzzing coming from the forest i looked up knowing what was about to come i narrowed my eyes and saw 8 beetles flying in the sky towards me...they were a total of 5 warrior and 3 scavenger bugs.

Seeing them my first instinct was to run towards the bath or call the others for help,but then suddenly realization hit me head on...

If i continue relying on them too much then i am really going to turn into a weakling...

The thought alone made me want to spit out disdainfully as i looked at the bugs that were flying at me in full speed...at that moment i had already decided what to do gripping my fists stronger i muttered lightly holding my eyes to them as cold bitter mist enveloped me.

-Come you shitty bugs i show you who is the peak of the food chain...the girls can rest for now...

With that said i raised a giant wall of dark ice in front of me blocking the first few beetles and letting them slam onto the cool surface of the ice wall...

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