Both the quantity and quality of the experience we gained from yesterday’s battle led to a significant number of Existence Evolutions.
Hobji, who was previously a hobgoblin cleric, evolved into a species known as a half saint lord. He now stands about 170 centimeters tall, which is slightly shorter for a species in the demon lord lineage. His limbs are not particularly muscular but rather slim and delicate, while his notably pale skin makes the black tattoos on the backs of his hands stand out. His shoulder-length hair now has a silver tint, and his eyes are golden.
Like Spellsei, he has a white Demon Orb embedded in the center of his forehead, flanked by two small horns about five centimeters long. This species isn’t particularly suited for combat, so his physical capabilities are lower than those of other demonic species like Spellsei’s, but he excels in defense and healing.
To test Hobji’s new abilities, I had him heal an injury on a slave, and the speed of his healing was unmatched. As soon as his palm glowed where he held it over the wound, the injury healed almost instantly. Next, I had him use one of his unique abilities, Shell Field—a thin, circular light membrane that surrounded him. I punched it, although I wasn’t using any abilities, and it withstood twenty strikes. Eventually, it shattered, but he could re-deploy it in about a minute, proving its remarkable durability. Honestly, I was a bit annoyed that it could withstand twenty hits from me. We decided to change Hobji’s name to Seiji.
Hobfu, a hobgoblin mage with a penchant for eating rotten meat, evolved into a ghoul. Lately, she had been eagerly consuming the zombie flesh I generated, so I had anticipated this transformation. As a ghoul, unlike zombies, her body doesn’t show signs of decay. In fact, with her black hair and lifeless, pale blue skin, she could almost pass for a normal human woman at first glance. However, she exudes an aura of danger, likely generated by her habit of eating rotten flesh… and even spirits. As expected, she also has the black tattoos.
One thing that I didn’t expect was that she kept alternating between looking at Ogrekichi and me, or at Seiji and me, with a blissful expression, letting out a low, sinister laugh, and sometimes even drooling. Every time it happened, it sent chills down my spine, but it seemed pointless to address it. We changed her name from Hobfu to Ghulfu. Yeah, swapping the character for “floating” (浮, fu) with the one for “rot” (腐, fu) was intentional.
Hobme, one of the hobgoblins, evolved into a Hundred-Eyed Demon. She now possessed countless eyes all over her body, though they usually stayed closed. She had long black hair and a woman’s figure, standing about 160 centimeters tall. Whether she was beautiful or not was definitely in the eye of the beholder, given her unique appearance. Interestingly, she came into her new form clad in a kimono-like garment, which turned out to be a form of “Living Armor” akin to the Living Spears used by foot soldier kobolds. This Living Armor was lightweight, durable, and capable of self-repair.
She could also now wield sorcery, though her physical abilities were quite low, making her overall combat capabilities relatively limited. However, she was quite capable of gathering information due to abilities such as Remote Viewing and Introscopy. It seemed she would be a very promising addition to our intelligence operations. We renamed her Dodome.
Seven additional hobgoblins, including the infamous five who were once slaves, evolved into ogres. Two of these were female, and their new appearance was quite striking, exuding a certain commanding presence. They’re about the same size as me, with muscular bodies and brown skin adorned with black tattoos. Their hearty laughter and open-mouthed grins radiate an aura reminiscent of a military commander. Anyone seeing them would likely imagine them clad in camouflage, wielding large firearms, and rampaging across the battlefield, leaving a trail of corpses in their wake.
In reality, of course, their weapons of choice are large swords and other massive armaments. We renamed them as well, to names like Ogasen and Ogamitsu.
Next, the number of foot soldier kobolds increased by six, and the head kobold, who had been a foot soldier, evolved into a Samurai Kobold. He now appears to be a stern-looking Asian man in his late thirties, but with dog ears and a tail. He wears a black kimono with vermilion armor and gauntlets, and carries a black-sheathed katana and a white-sheathed wakizashi1 at his waist.
His face and physique had become noticeably more human-like compared to his foot soldier days, but the image of a gruff middle-aged man with dog ears and a tail was, frankly, the worst. From my perspective, he looked like a man cosplaying a gangster—it’s only natural that I would instinctively want to avert my eyes. While his enthusiastic “my lord, my lord” behavior when he was a foot soldier was somewhat endearing, now that he looks like a cosplay yakuza, it’s a bit unsettling.
Putting aside his appearance, I had been calling him “Foot Soldier Leader” until now, so I thought I’d start calling him “Samurai Leader.” However, it seemed that in this world, once one reached a certain level of existence, they were granted a “True Name.”
Accordingly, the Samurai Leader’s True Name was Akikaze no Tsuji.
Incidentally, revealing one’s True Name to others is generally considered foolish, because if someone knows your True Name, the power and effectiveness of curses and various techniques that could be forced upon you is increased. In this world, revealing your True Name is something you’d only do with a knife held to your throat.
The Samurai Leader revealed his endlessly important True Name to me as part of a simple ceremony to show his lifelong loyalty.
I nodded in understanding, but I still needed to come up with a name to call him on a regular basis; after all, one cannot use their True Name casually. So, after some thought, I decided to call him Akita. His previous appearance reminded me of an Akita dog, which may have unconsciously influenced my choice.
Thankfully, he seems to agree, so it shouldn’t be a problem.
As expected, all those who evolved bore tattoos on their bodies. I wonder what they signify. It’s something I’ll need to investigate eventually.
For now, though, I decided to give each of them a congratulatory gift.
Now, let’s talk about the former slave soldiers.
More than half of them decided to return to their respective hometowns or to places where they have relatives, but they were almost entirely without money. Therefore, I had them work odd jobs, such as leveling the grounds around the base or cutting trees for the construction of an external training field. They were paid in food, cooking utensils, and money looted from the human army, proportional to their work. And as it happens, because they’re deserters, they already have their own weapons.
They should be able to save up enough for travel expenses in about five or six days. They’re highly efficient as a labor force, so I want them to leave as soon as possible; their hourly wages are very high. However, we’re working them hard to match those wages.
There’s really not much else to say about those who chose to return home.
The majority of my focus has been on the fifty who decided to stay and join the mercenary group Parabellum. Their reasons for joining varied: having nowhere else to go, having been slaves all their lives and not knowing how to live in freedom, wanting to continue living amid the thrilling, blood-pumping excitement of the battlefield, feeling compelled to repay their debt of gratitude, and so on.
Broadly, the categories and numbers of their species were:
Demon Lord: 3
Half Demon Lord: 5
Dragonewt: 4
Half Dragonewt: 6
Great Ogre: 10
Giant Troll: 1
Lizardmen: 5
Dwarf: 5
Dullahan: 1
Orrorin (ape-person): 3
Dhampir (half-vampire): 1
Redcap: 3
Weretiger: 2
Centaur: 1
Honestly, the new recruits are generally from stronger species compared to the majority of our current members, the hobgoblins. Personally, I don’t have an issue with letting them join, but there are significant drawbacks to adding so many at once. The others likely won’t accept it easily.
Monsters like redcaps, lizardmen, centaurs, and dwarves might be manageable for most of our hobgoblins, but against higher classes, only a few, like Ogrekichi, stand a chance. Demon lords are naturally powerful, and dragonewts, which are on par with demonic monsters, are far stronger than hobgoblins. No matter how much training they’ve had, it’s not enough to bridge that gap.
If we just let them in without considering the consequences, the current hierarchy will be drastically disrupted. When I, a member of the same species, rose to the top, it was one thing. But if a bunch of unfamiliar faces suddenly came in and took over their positions, resentment would be inevitable.
If it were me, I wouldn’t stand for it.
This could easily lead to internal conflict—in fact, it almost certainly would—and that would be a waste after all our training. In fact, for the sake of the future, securing the loyalty of the hobgoblins is crucial. They’re more trustworthy.
There are ways to forcibly prevent defection, like using the ear cuffs, but having the members of our group act of their own accord is much more efficient.
So, for now, I decided to treat the fifty former slave soldiers as provisional members, relegating them to the lowest rank, even below goblins, as a kind of apprenticeship until they earned our trust. Naturally, this led to complaints from the former slave soldiers. Predictably, their leaders, specifically two demons of the direct combat type, all ten dragonewts, including the half-breeds, one boss-like Orrorin who looked like a muscular gorilla, and one flippant dhampir, started demanding to be in charge.