Day 12
This morning I managed to beg Minerva to let me go out of the cave with her. You would expect that a NEET would prefer to be in the dark quiet cave away from all the monsters, but no! The cave would be too boring!
This NEET would rather plunge into the face of death than waste around in a cave.
Ok, the honest truth was that, it was simply because Minerva was an absolute beast, so I would have nothing to fear in the forest. Especially if she had the [Overlord] skill. She was practically a goddess.
My other priority was finding the remaining twigs. Not because I cared about them or anything. I just felt weird since I lost my connection with them. Apparently they were too far away from me and wouldn't receive any orders from me. That meant they would go crazy in the forest and probably get killed instantly. I couldn't sit by and just let them get killed. It might affect them seeing that two of their brothers were dead. Even if I accidentally killed the first.
Minerva and I had set out from the cave to go hunting for breakfast. Seemed like one Timber Wolf King wasn't enough to last even a night. To be honest I was happy she ate it all. I didn't want the meat to rot away in the cave. The cave was already creepy enough. She must have had a huge metabolism to consume all of that so quickly and still get hungry.
'Minerva-san, how do you go hunting?' I asked her.
Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that Minerva had the [Telepathy] skill, meaning she could read my mind. That meant communication between us was not going to be one sided with only me understanding. She could understand me as well. To think the first being I would have a proper conversation in my reincarnation was a hob-goblina.
"Huh? What kind of stupid question is Tori-kun asking Minerva?"
She snorted at me then looked at me from the corner of her eye. I was currently resting on her shoulder as she walked. Ah! It was nice having a friend at the top of the food ladder once again!
'It's not a stupid question! Minerva is so strong monsters run away when they just sense you! So how do you even get food?'
"Oh? Minerva just targets the monsters that stand there for Minerva. Some monsters run away from Minerva and some monsters just stand there for Minerva to kill them."
'Eh? That's… so they were just petrified with fear and you eat them? That's scary. Anyway, so you eat fanged bunnies and stuff?'
"Bunnies? Minerva hasn't eaten one of those in a long, long time! Minerva just eats wolves and giant lizards and other big creatures."
She put her pinky in her nose and dug out a booger. That was gross, but it wouldn't stray my attention.
'Oi, oi. Did you just admit to being so strong that all the predators in the forest freeze up when you get in close proximity to them?'
Minerva shrugged and her eyes went searching about for food.
'Don't just shrug it off!'
I hit her head with my wing and she giggled.
"Haha, Tori-kun is cute~"
I looked away, hiding my blushing face. Wait! Why was I blushing?! No, wait! How was I blushing? Birds shouldn't have been able to blush, right?
We kept on walking for a while, and I decided that hunting with Minerva was way more tedious than I had assumed it would be. Everything was running away from her. And she would just look on with a smile. We even got to a tree which she smacked and asked if it was faring well.
I assumed it was a Dryad, but it was a regular tree according to [Analyst]. I was getting convinced that surveying a forest on the shoulder of a six year old with power to crumble high rise buildings easily was not really the brightest or safest idea out there.
Ok, maybe I was exaggerating with the power to destroy high rise buildings. There was no way she possessed such power.
'Ne, ne, Minerva-san. You said you were the queen of goblins? So can't you just order them to go fetch food for ya?'
"Hmm, Minerva can. But Minerva will not do that."
'Eh? Why?'
"Minerva does not like other goblins. Goblins are bad."
Her tone was low and I could feel a sort of tension in it.
'You sure it's not because they just don't listen to you?'
"Haha! Tori-kun is funny! No goblin can ever disrespect Minerva! That is because Minerva is the most powerful! Hahaha!"
She started boasting loudly, her laughter echoing in the surprisingly quiet forest.
'Hmm, I'm starting to doubt that. Normally in manga, the strongest goblin stays behind and forces the others to go find food for him. Well, I guess that's just how it works in any society that has the monarchical system working.'
"Tori-kun likes to spout a lot of bullshit."
'It's not bullshit!'
She grinned widely till her mouth met her ears, giggling cutely.
'Still, why haven't we found any monsters yet?'
I looked around, but with all my skills, I couldn't see any monsters nearby. Anyway I looked at it, Minerva was too terrifying for this. How did she ever catch breakfast?
"Uwaa… Minerva is too tired for this. Minerva will come back when the sky is black."
Just like that, she had given up for the day. She turned around, walking back to the cave while yawning.
'Looks like we couldn't get any breakfast. What kind of monsters are out here that they are too scared to come out when their queen walks?'
No, no. I just asked the wrong question. I should have asked what kind of queen they have to be scared of her.
I looked at Minerva who was picking her nose with her index finger. Honestly she was quite cute, but that was gross.
"Do not worry! Most monsters on west side are weak."
She stated something that stunned me.
'Most are weak? The number of times I've almost died to their hands is frightening.'
"Hahaha! Tori-kun is weak! Hahaha!"
She started laughing at me even harder in a mocking tone.
'Tch. The west side, huh? That's right, Larm was divided, huh.'
I just thought and she picked up on that.
"Hmmm. Five."
She said.
"Five? Five divisions?"
"Hmhm. West side, ruled by Minerva. North side, ruled by Griffon. South side, ruled by Naga, East side ruled by Ogre and middle, ruled by Dragon."
She named all the sides and their rulers. It would make sense for there to be other tyrants since she was called the |Tyrant of the West|. If what she was saying was right, then she actually was a queen.
'Hmm? There's a goblin, griffon, a naga, an ogre and a dragon. So who is the strongest, I wonder?'
Obviously this wasn't even an actual question. From the names alone you could tell who was the strongest.
"Minerva is the strongest Tyrant."
'Oi, oi. You don't need to impress me. Surely you can't dream of beating the dragon tyrant.'
"It is hard, but Minerva can beat Goliath. Mother said Minerva has more potential than Goliath."
'Hehe, your mother? She was probably another goblin in the forest who wished for you to be the strongest.'
I teased.
"Mother? Tori-kun is funny. Mother disappeared for a while. Mother is the strongest in the forest."
'Is that so?'
After that we walked in silence for a bit. I just kept looking around and finding new stuff I could probably exploit later. It was weird how now I was close to probably the most dangerous creature I would find in my life, I felt safe enough to be reckless. That didn't mean I would act recklessly though.
'Ne, ne, Minerva-san. Maybe I could go out to hunt for us?'
"No."
The reply came swift and hard. It was the kind of rejection you knew wasn't going to be heard out anytime soon. Still, I would want to try it out.
'Eh? Why not?'
"Forest is too dangerous for Tori-kun. Tori-kun is safest with Minerva."
Her eyes looked weird.
'Holy… please tell me I didn't just find a yandere on my first try.'
"Yan-de-re? What is that?"
'Oh um, is that why you don't want to send the goblins to fetch food for you?'
I tried changing the topic quickly. It would be best if she didn't find out the meaning of the word, as I didn't know how she would react to it. She would have probably laughed it off though.
"No. Minerva just does not like goblins."
'Ne, ne! Just because they are weak creatures?'
"No, no! Minerva already told Tori-kun. Other goblins are bad."
'Ugh, what could they possibly do to make them so-'
Before I could finish that thought, we came to a pause in front of the cave. There was an unprecedented sight awaiting us.
Standing in front of the cave were 4 goblins, dressed in dirty rags covering their lower parts like loincloths? They prostrated themselves in front of the cave as if they were waiting for something. No. It was more like they were worshipping something.
'Your servants?'
I looked at Minerva who wore a bored expression on her face.
"No. Tori-kun is Minerva's only friend. No one else."
'Oi! A servant isn't the same thing as a friend!'
When she said that, one of the goblins turned his head towards our direction, finally noticing us. Well, they were staring at me with hungry gazes and that made me cringe a bit. It made me remember the black weaver from earlier.
"What do goblins want?"
Minerva asked in a dangerous tone.
"Queen!"
One of the goblins called. He was probably the leader this rag tag team of uglies.
"Please. Come. Rule."
I guess she wasn't kidding when she said they beg her to rule them.
"No."
She bluntly denied them, walking towards the cave. On her shoulder I could see that the goblins were looking at me, and I could hear them whispering with the agent translating for me.
"Chicken... look... nice."
"Tasty."
Minerva then glared at those 2. For a second there her golden eyes glowed, and those 2 passed out.
'Eeek! What skill was that?'
<<Notice: The skill [Demon Eye of Sleep]. A skill that will cause its target to pass out immediately>>
'That's pretty straight forward.'
"Tori-kun is Minerva's friend! If you want to eat Tori-kun, Minerva will kill you!"
She boldly declared, and the goblins backed away.
"Leave!"
She ordered, but they still stared at her, expecting something. It was actually more like they were confused. I was certain that she could use her [Overlord] skill to get them to leave, no problem. So why didn't she?
"Leave or else Minerva kill you!"
She threatened, then slammed the ground with her club. She caused a slight tremor and the goblins begun to run away, dragging their friends that had passed out. It didn't take long for all of them to disappear.
While I was looking at the forest, I noticed that Minerva was already headed back into the cave.
"Tch. Stupid goblins."
Minerva was in a bad mood. She just went to the back of the cave.
'Hey, why did you kick em out like that? You must really not like em.'
I asked, hoping not to trigger a landmine.
"Minerva doesn't like goblins."
She sounded really pissed when she said that.
"But couldn't you have been a little, you know, less threatening?"
"...."
'In fact, you should have just used your [Overlord] skill to make them leave. That would have been easiest.'
I told her. She looked at me with this cheeky grin of hers.
"Fufu. That would make Minerva lose, you stupid Tori-kun."
'Huh? How can that stupid strong skill make you lose?'
"Tori-kun is too stupid to understand, haha! Maybe one day, Tori-kun will understand."
She broke into laughter again.
What did she mean by that? Were there down sides to her using the skill? If there were wouldn't she simply build resistance to it over time? Also, this hate for the goblins. It was too absurd, especially when I think about the fact that she was an evolved version of the goblins. Well, thinking about it wouldn't get me anywhere and it looks like she has no intention of telling me.. Oh well, I'm sure it'll come up sooner or later.
