Absentminded, I stayed still as is, sitting on the shoulder of the magician who was on the ground. What the heck is this feeling? When I chewed the magician’s carotid artery to bits, my heart pulsated delightedly.  It’s like my body siphoned off something and sent it to my heart. Is this thing what you call “level up” in other-world novels? The enemy you kill releases something like magic essence and you absorb it……and it gets sucked up in my goblin heart’s magic stone…….or something.

Now that I think about it, from the time I stabbed the swordsman to the time I pulled out the spear, I felt like I had lost my reasoning. This wasn’t as noticeable when I killed the magician without the weapon…….was it because he didn’t survive until the brink of death, or was it because he didn’t use much of his magic……..looks like this needs a deeper investigation.

Still absent minded, I stood up staggeringly. After this incident, there are many things to do. It’s obvious that I will boast the results of my battle, but first of all, I need to strip the bodies of their equipment. I don’t have any obligation to give the others equipment of this quality. I need to hide these before calling the other goblins. Since they are idiots, I’m sure that they won’t notice that I have salvaged the equipment. I feel like I have become a bit stronger from the recent life and death battle……though, I’m sure my level is still in the single digits.  I can’t keep risking my life every time….so, the road to strength is long, huh……(IcedTea: Well, no s.h.i.t? I mean, hardcore LN nowadays take thousands, even tens of thousands of chapters, you know….)

Just while I was thinking of such things, I noticed the big ogre faintly breathing. It’s right at death’s door.

「Hou…..Lucky!」

I stabbed at the ogre’s neck many times with my claws.It perished in a few seconds……..the aftertaste from immersing myself in the magic essence, it was not as much as when I killed the magician. As I thought, is it more delicious if it’s human?

「……..Nn? Looks like there is still the presence of magic essence left…..」

Do your essence sensing abilities get sharper every time you absorb? There is a faint presence around the corpse of the ogre…… This is probably………a magic stone. It’s not an unusual thing…..it’s scattered around the disa.s.sembling hut in the village. Actually, it seems to be something valuable that you have to pay the demonlord army once every year.  Really, I’m amazed at how idiotic they are that they can’t grasp the stones’ value. But, those stones didn’t feel this fresh….

I tried opening the ogre’s hide with the archer’s hatchet and took out the magic stone. What came out was a red magic stone. Wait a minute? Shouldn’t a magic stone be a blue color…..maybe because it’s raw….?

I licked it as if I were trying to clean off a plate, and then I threw the stone inside my mouth.
*gulp*
After a few seconds…….the consequences of my gluttony dramatically appeared.

「!? Ow! Owowowowowowowowowow!」

A sudden pain jolted through my whole body. I was suddenly writhing on the ground. My joints somewhat hurt, my muscles creak–even though goblins are fine with eating bad stuffs…….it really hurts!!!  I tried enduring a bit, but being unable to bear it, I vomited the stone back out. In my vomit, the magic stone had slightly darkened.
I glared at it.
Before long, I picked it out of my vomit and threw it right back into my mouth.

「Owowowowowowoowwowoaoawawawow!!」

Once again, I was writhing in pain on the ground. I couldn’t stand the pain, and I vomited again, This time, I got darker: it’s now a purple-ish color. After hesitating a short while, I threw it in my mouth again.

「Awoawaowaowaowoaowaowaooawow!!」

And once again, I was rolling on the ground in pain. But this time, the pain lessened a bit, so I endured it until the pain stopped. I didn’t want to get constipation, so I vomited it out, What came out was a blue magic stone.

From my investigation, my heart can’t absorb the fresh magic stone’s dense magic essence, so I can’t digest the stone. Instead, the undiluted essence circulates around inside my body and forcefully mutates it.

「U~n….Is this something like a cheat?」

There is still some pain left, but I think that my body might have been strengthened by the mutation. Looking at the situation, I might have become an unknown defect of a monster for the second time……

I really hate the thought of it, but I think goblins originate from humanoids (human type monster). The ability to mate with various creature. A reproductivity which never weakens, no matter the environment. As a living creature, this is part of its innate nature.also.…….they become a monster left with numerous margins for unknown causes of evolution.  Maybe it’s because it is a goblin that they can deal with unexpected mutations, isn’t it.

Summing it up, the goblin stomach for eating bad stuffs was, for some reason, even able to endure the rejection from the magic stone. If it’s not a huge monster (with a huge magic stone), then no holes will be opening up in my stomach.

And to add one more thing: my age. If it’s during my growth period, then my body can mutate more. Yeah, after all, if the status quo is maintained, then I will continue to have the goblin life span of 20 to 30 years.………..the heck, the goblin life is too heart-breaking. If I die quickly from a mistake, then it might not be so bad.

Well, I got a new goal, so I feel like I can see some hope in my goblin life.
(9: the large s.p.a.ce is on purpose)
After that, I covered the adventurers, and then dragged the dead body of the magician back to the village. Bringing along the males, we retrieved the remaining corpses. A festival began in the village, and for a little while, I became a hero in the village. Although I am being pampered by the goblins, I’m not happy at all.

―――――Though I would have boasted about my battle to Raiza if she were still alive. (9: kinda got a bit sad after reading the last line TT_TT)