Chapter 1: Life in the Mountains is Tough

A little more time has passed since then, but I’m still at Ragnir’s castle.

Meal is still on my head, and although she occasionally spends time with Mel-san, she’s with me for almost everything I do. We even sleep together in the room I was provided, and honestly, hugging her while sleeping is just the best. I don’t think I can ever let her go now.

According to what Mel-san told me later, it seems Meal can use a special magic called “Space-Time Magic,” which allows her to store and take out items.

Figuring I’d give it a try, I asked her to store a monster I had hunted. With a single chirp from Meal, the monster in front of me vanished; with another chirp, it reappeared right before my eyes. It seems you can even specify what to take in and out. What the heck… this is way too convenient.

I went back to the cave that used to be my base and asked Meal to store the little bit of money and other things I had left there. Between her cuteness, how great she feels to hug, and how convenient she is, I really might never be able to leave Meal.

As for my clothes, I ended up making them myself. The clothes Ragnir brought me that day were all over the place in terms of size, and there was a mix of men’s and women’s clothing, so I figured it would feel better to just make them from scratch.

At first, I thought maybe I could just wear some of the armor in the castle, but after thinking about it, I realized it wouldn’t be a problem at all if I didn’t wear armor. Concluding that something easy to move around in would be better, I decided to make normal clothes. However, since they might burn or get slashed again, I planned to make several sets of the same design and started stitching them together. I was scolded that my method wouldn’t do, and the one who guided me was Mel. As expected of the lady of the house, she made a perfect prototype for me, and from there, I crafted the rest under her instruction. Based on a suggestion from Ragnir and Mel-san, the materials I used for the clothes were from the monsters living on this mountain.

Apparently, doing so would result in clothing with excellent resistance to slashing, heat, and cold. And so, under Mel’s guidance, I made several sets of normal clothes with the same design. It seems that no matter how high my DEX is, it can’t improve the creator’s design sense. …Not that I mind, though.

One day, as those daily routines repeated themselves. Meal was apparently being taught various things by Mel-san, so after finishing my morning wash, I was padding through the castle with only a towel wrapped around my waist.

“Ragni~r-kun~, let’s pla~y!”

I heard several voices overlapping. Since the voices came from the direction of the castle gates and sounded close, I went to check it out and found four individuals of various races standing there.

Instead of Ragnir, they were met with my sudden appearance, and the four of them wore expressions of shock. I didn’t think my presence was something to look at with such surprised faces, but… oh, right, I’m only wearing a towel right now. Is that why they were surprised? Still, there were only guys on their side, so I wasn’t really embarrassed.

The four were lined up in a row. From right to left: a beastman, a skeleton, an elf, and another beastman. The beastman on the far right had a radiant golden coat, lion-like ears, a mane, and a tail. He had a stern face with a large, single scar running down his cheek. His body was wonderfully muscular, and he wore simply made armor on his elbows and knees. The skeleton was exactly that—a skeleton—but its body was completely covered in a black robe, with only its skeletal face visible. However, he held a luxuriously jeweled staff, and the bony fingers gripping it were adorned with numerous rings embedded with sparkling gems. The elf was taller than me, with magnificent blonde hair slicked all the way back down to his waist. He possessed the long ears unique to elves and a fearless face with a sharp gaze, looking as though he had survived countless battles. He wore practical, movement-friendly clothes with a green motif and had a rapier slung at his waist. The beastman on the far left had a coat as blood-red as crimson and wore tattered clothes. However, his face was that of a ferocious wolf, flashing sharply pointed fangs, and the claws on his hands were equally sharp. Since the tattered clothes looked like something a human would wear, maybe he was a werewolf?

All four of them glared at me, radiating pure anger. Well, the skeleton was just a skull, so I wasn’t entirely sure if he was actually glaring, but…

“You bastard! What are you doing here?! What have you done with Ragnir?!” The golden lion raised his voice and demanded an answer.

“Even if you ask what I’m doing… I was just taking a normal bath… Ah, are you here to see Ragnir? He’s probably still upstairs—Chomp! …”

…Chomp? The moment I moved my left arm to point in the direction where Ragnir likely was, my arm ended up inside the werewolf’s mouth.

…Huh? Am I being bitten? That’s what I thought, but it didn’t hurt at all. Looking closely at my bitten arm, the werewolf’s fangs had stopped right at the skin; he couldn’t bite through it.

“I-Imposhibul! My fangsh couldn’t piersh you?!” …Sorry, I have absolutely no idea what you’re saying.

However, I could tell he was surprised. And not just the werewolf; the other three also wore expressions of shock.

“Ah~… I see, I see… Right, right…” With my free right hand, I grabbed the werewolf’s head and slowly, steadily applied more pressure, tightening my grip.

“Owowowowowowowowowow—” While the werewolf screamed in pain, I had a realization.

I see. These guys are enemies trying to defeat Ragnir… I instantly shifted into a combat stance.

“Gwahahaha! I see, I see! I heard a sudden string of explosions and wondered what in the world was going on, but it was just you lot having a scuffle!” Ragnir’s booming, cheerful laughter echoed.

We were currently facing each other in a place that looked like a dining hall, with Ragnir seated at the head of the table. By “we,” I meant myself, the Golden Lion, the Skeleton, the Elf, and the Werewolf.

I was properly dressed now, and I gave Ragnir—who was still laughing merrily—a deadpan stare. As if to say there was no time to worry about my gaze, Ragnir cheerfully asked the four of them: “So, how was he? My new best friend, Wazu?”

The four of them answered Ragnir’s question. In their completely battered states.

“He showed me his unguarded belly, but hit me with a merciless counterattack.” “No matter how much magic I fired at him, he stood there completely unfazed. I’ve lost my confidence.” “I trembled in terror at the sight of him fighting completely naked like it was perfectly normal even after his towel dropped.” “My prized fangs and claws broke. I’ll have to survive on soft foods for a while.”

After they each said their piece, they all spoke the exact same words in unison: “””We tried super hard… so why is he completely unscathed? That’s what was scariest.”””

It was true. I had taken a variety of attacks from the four of them. From the two beastmen, mainly their fangs and claws. From the elf, slashes from his rapier and sharp wind magic that acted like sharp blades. From the skeleton, a barrage of various magic spells: fire, water, lightning, and explosions.

I felt the strength of these four firsthand. They were probably among the top-tier fighters on this mountain. Yet, even after taking all of those attacks, I was completely unscathed. I realized once again just how abnormal my stats were. By the way, I made sure to hold back properly while beating the absolute pulp out of them.

“I imagine so, I imagine so… I was also quite surprised to see him standing there entirely unbothered after taking my pride and joy, my Fire Breath…” Remembering what happened back then, Ragnir looked depressed.

“Wazu… Are you truly just a normal human?” “How rude. I’m a full-fledged human.” Well, about 88% anyway… Don’t worry about the missing 12%.

“So, who exactly are these four anyway? I kind of got the vibe that you guys knew each other… which is probably why you stopped our fight.” “Umu. Come to think of it, I haven’t properly introduced you yet. These four, including myself, are what you’d call the highest-ranking beings on this mountain, and they are my friends. The Golden Lion beastman is Gain, the skeleton Necromancer is Neil, the High Erof is Ruto, and the werewolf is Zeal.”

After pointing at each of them and telling me their names, Ragnir pointed at me. “As I mentioned earlier to the four of you, this is my best friend, Wazu.”

“”””To be a friend of Ragnir’s means you are a friend of ours! We look forward to getting along! Feel free to call us by our names!””””

The conversation seemed to be advancing on its own, but there was one part of Ragnir’s introduction that bothered me.

“I appreciate the offer, but wait a second. Before that, I want to ask one thing… What’s a ‘High Erof’? Don’t you mean ‘High Elf’?”

When I asked that, Ragnir, Gain, Neil, and Zeal muttered, “Ah… you just had to ask that?” and looked away in completely different directions. However, the person in question, Ruto, stood up, beaming with joy.

“Well asked… Well asked, indeed! It is true that my species is officially a ‘High Elf’! But my heart belongs to a different species! I am a ‘High Erof’! Let me speak plainly! I absolutely love elf women! I love them to death! My love for them was so overwhelming that I made a pass at every single elf woman in my village and ended up getting kicked out! Yes, and that is precisely why I am a High Erof! I absolutely love erotic things! I want to do nothing but erotic things with every elf woman in this world!” (TL Note: ‘Ero’ = pervert/erotic. Elf = Erufu. High Erof = High Pervert)

…Honestly, I couldn’t comprehend half of what he was saying, but I did understand one thing. This guy named Ruto… is an idiot. An absolute, undeniable idiot. I could only sigh. I fully understood why Ragnir and the others had averted their eyes.

As I was thinking that, the Golden Lion, Gain, asked me a question. “…Well, leave Ruto aside. Wazu, was it? Why are you in a place like this? Frankly speaking, the very fact that a human is in a place like this is quite rare, you know?” “Ah, yeah, it’s definitely not a place normal people can easily come to.”

I nodded in agreement and briefly explained why I was here. I told the four of them how I came all this way seeking strong opponents, how I fought Ragnir, how we somehow became best friends, and how I was entrusted with Meal.

At that, Gain clapped his hands together. “I see! So in other words, right now, Wazu, you have no clear goal and are basically a freeloader leeching off Ragnir?!”

“…” I moved in a flash and clamped an Iron Claw down on Gain’s face. Grind, grind, grind.

“I just found my goal! For now, I’m going to use my strength to pluck every single hair off your body!” “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry!”

Gain desperately tried to pry my hand off while screaming. Fuhahaha! Useless, useless! You can’t break my grip with that level of strength!

Holding him like that, I glanced around at the others as if to say, Anyone else got something to say? and they all averted their eyes. I’ll take that as a no. That’s right, if you say something unnecessary… you’ll meet the same fate as this golden lion.

After plucking two or three hairs just for good measure, I let him go and addressed everyone again.

“…Well, honestly, Gain is right; right now I’m basically a freeloader. To be honest, I don’t think there’s anything left for me to do on this mountain. But when I think, ‘What will I do if I go down the mountain?’… I can’t really come up with anything…”

When I honestly confessed my current feelings, Ragnir and the others started thinking seriously and threw out whatever came to mind.

“Umu. For now, why don’t you just return Meal to my arms?” “That’s just your personal wish, right?” “Could you go buy me some hair-growth tonic?” “Go yourself.” “Then, could you find some medicine to make bones stronger? Mine have gotten a bit brittle lately.” “Want me to grind them to dust?” “Elf Harem!” “That’s impossible for you for the rest of your life.” “Why don’t you just become a shut-in here?” “Want me to pluck your hair out too?”

These guys are hopeless. They aren’t helpful at all. What should I really do? I guess I could just go on a journey to find a purpose, but that’s a bit too vague; it doesn’t really click. As I was groaning in thought, Neil the Necromancer spoke up again.

“But it truly is a waste… To possess such strength, why are you alone? Do you not have a partner?” “…I’d rather not talk about that.” “Fumu… Sounds like you have some complicated circumstances… Were you perhaps terribly rejected?” “…”

I said nothing in response.

“Hit the bullseye, did I? Kakkakka! It is good to be young. I wonder if I ever had times like that; I cannot even remember now!” Neil laughed, his bones rattling with a clack-clack-clack sound. I wonder just how much time has passed since he became a skeleton…

“Fumu. Then how about this? Although not exactly like that Erof over there, what about building a harem? Pardon my bluntness, but I believe the only thing that can heal a wound inflicted by a woman is another woman. Furthermore, with your strength, even if you were accompanied by a multitude of women, wouldn’t you be able to protect every single one of them?” “That’s it! That’s perfect! However, I will not allow you to include elves! All elves in this world belong to my harem!” “You, be quiet for a moment.”

Despite Ruto’s unnecessary interruption, I closed my eyes and pondered what Neil had said. …A harem… A harem, huh…

It’s an attractive proposal, but could I even pull something like that off? Not to be self-deprecating, but while my stats are undeniably insane, my looks are completely average. Could a guy like me really build a harem? That’s what I couldn’t help but think.

But, if I went down the mountain and unexpectedly bumped into Aria and the Hero while I was all by myself… how should I put it… even though it’s not a competition, I feel like I’d end up feeling like a total loser. However, if I had people by my side at that moment who supported me… people I could be proud of… And if I loved everyone in the harem, and they all loved me back… that sounds like it would be incredibly fun. I couldn’t help but think that way, too.

I slowly opened my eyes.

“Alright, it’s decided! I’m taking you up on that attractive proposal, Neil! Either way, I have to go down the mountain for Meal’s sake. So, I’m going to go down this mountain and do my best to build a harem!”