"Hmm, it's hard to explain, but when I met him, there was just this feeling. Part of it came from his strength, part of it came from his scent, and part of it came from the confidence and determination to kill me if I made a single untoward move.
But, what made me trust him was how safe and warm I felt in his embrace. I had come to seduce him, but instead, we wound up cuddling beneath the stars. He held me tight for half the night before his transformation undid itself. Then I just laid on his chest and listened to the sound of his breathing till I fell asleep for the first time in ages…"
"Wow… have you imprinted on him then?" Mia asked curiously.
Imprinting for demi-humans and monsters was a lot more meaningful than when humans fall in love with another. It was like finding your soul-mate, an intimate connection that bonds two peoples souls together.
It was also supposed to be a scarce phenomenon. But now, Treyni was stuck wondering if she had genuinely imprinted on this strange otherworlder.
"I-I don't know about that, Mia. You should know that imprinting rarely happens in real life." Treyni was somewhat nervous. Finding the person she would imprint on was one of her life's dreams. But, could this philanderer truly be her destined partner?
She had concerns, but she couldn't deny the safety and warmth his presence brought her, nor could she deny her curiosity that demanded she learned more about this mysterious slime.
"Hmm, I guess so. I thought I would have imprinted on hobu-Rou, but…" Mia seemed to look into the difference while enjoying Treyni's embrace. She couldn't help but agree that this dryad would make a wonderful hug pillow.
It was then that she saw them for the first time. Several ogres stepped out from the trees into the clearing.
The ogres were different from what she saw when Kishin evolved. Perhaps because they were born that way. Mia could only see five of them, but from communicating with Treyni, she knew there was one more hiding in the trees behind them.
At the front stood a tall red-haired ogre with two oni-like horns protruding from his forehead. He appeared to be the leader of the group while the others stood behind him, seemingly protecting the pink-haired smaller ogre in an ornate kimono.
The leader had well-worn armor and a katana like blade that appeared to be a higher grade than those used by the random kobolds the group had slain.
As the group of ogres took a few steps into the clearing, both Treyni and Mia moved towards Orion's sides, where he was still meditating.
The ogres where non-plussed as they saw this and took their time to approach them. They stopped when they were about 5-meters apart.
The small, pink-haired ogre peeked out from behind to more clearly examine the party that had been weeding out their enemies. The neatly dressed girl was stunned for a moment when she saw Treyni.
She came forward and whispered into the ear of the leader. The leader looked at the elder ogre, who nodded, and then seriously examined us. He considered his options for a moment before stepping aside and allowing the young ogress to step forward and speak.
Despite being around the same stature as Mia, she carried a kind and confident air about her as she introduced herself to our group.
"Greetings, respected Dryad and companions," she spoke with a graceful bow. "I am the princess of The Great Forest of Jura's Ogre Tribe, and these are my brother and our companions."
Treyni nodded and was about to introduce us, but a sinister was suddenly being produced from Orion's sword. Receiving a message from him, Mia and her quickly prepared to evacuate as she warned the ogres.
"We need to leave this area immediately. Something big is about to happen!" As she spoke, the spiritual and magical energy in the surroundings rapidly began to elevate. Visible tendrils of energy began to be pulled into the sword lying in Orion's lap.
Unfortunately, his clothing was made entirely of spiritual energy, so they were the very first thing absorbed by the sword.
Of course, this left the female ogres facing Orion both surprised and slightly flushed, while the male ogres were either impressed or dejected.
Still, hearing Treyni's warning, they all followed the dryad and her hobgoblin companion. Even 2-kilometers out, they could all still feel the energy absorption's effects. It seemed as though it were gathering from all across the energy-rich forest and being directed towards the area they had just left.
Then something changed. The focal point seemed to be moving away from them, so they stopped moving.
Treyni focused on her connection to Orion before understanding what was going on. Orion was heading to the caves where Veldora was sealed to try and reduce the effects of what was going on.
She was still slightly concerned, but at least going there, she wouldn't need to be worried about the rest of the forest.
Slowly things seemed to return to normal as Orion headed deeper and deeper into the caves. Luckily there communication network wasn't reliant on any form of energy they were aware of and had no problems staying open.
As everything seemingly returned to normal, Treyni released a sigh and began communicating with her people through the trees. She informed them that everything was alright and that she would explain everything later after she was sure it was safe.
She led everyone back to the clearing that had an even higher level of ambient energy than before. Thanks to Orion's naming and her increased parameters, Mia had no issue staying here.
Likewise, the current location was quite pleasant for Treyni and the ogres. Luckily for Orion, he quickly left before he could significantly affect Treyni's cooking. She only needed to add a few finishing touches, and then it would be ready to serve.
While she was chopping a few magical herbs she had collected and adding them to the curry, Mia took this opportunity to introduce their group.
"Um, I guess we should introduce ourselves now? My name is Mia, and the dryad preparing the food over there is lady Treyni. The guy you saw before was lord Orion, a high-rank Majinn. It's a pleasure to finally meet you guys."
"Hmm? What do you mean by 'finally'? Were you expecting us?" Asked the armored, red-head ogre.
Mia smiled innocently at his question before replying. "Of course, we detected you after killing the first squad of orcs. We even bet on when you would show yourselves, though, I guess Orion won that one…"
"Fufufu, I suppose it does." Treyni chuckled. "I guess we will have to pay up, after all, Mia."
Mia sighed dejectedly, "I know… at least we have some time so that I can prepare my heart for whatever he requests… Hey, why don't you have your other buddy over there join us so that we can all eat together?"
If they weren't surprised before, hearing that even their shadow-master companion had been detected startled them.
A moment later, the sixth ogre joined the others from behind. Unlike the princess and her brother, this ogre only had a single horn in the center of his forehead. He sat behind the leader of the group after apologizing.
"Umm…Great now that we are all here, do you guys have names?" Mia asked curiously.
Many monsters could discern one another by their aura or something, but it wasn't nearly as convenient as having a name. In fact, it was almost impossible to have a functioning society without some sort of designation.
In the ogre tribe, the most a person had was a title for their job or position, though.
In this group, there was the princess, the young lord, the princess' guard, the royal smith, and the royal trainer. The last to appear was apparently the prince's closest confidant.
"Umm, if it's not too much to ask," spoke the second, older looking ogress who guarded the princess, "what happened to the handsome, mummy-like guy from earlier? Orion, was it?"
Mia blushed alongside their princess as they recalled the scene of Orion's clothing dissipating into nothing. "Hey, you have to be more polite! You can't just ask questions like that." Chided the princess towards her muscle-brained guard.
Although she loved her dearly, the princess had a hard time dealing with all her shenanigans, time and time again.
"Fufufu, I see our lord's mighty figure has enticed you." Treyni teased. She then shook her head, "I'm honestly unsure of what happened there. I've never seen anything like it."
"Hmm, you should be careful. I believe he carries a piece of Virtue or Sin in that sword. In the right hands, he could become a paragon of justice, and in the wrong hands, he could soak the entire continent in blood and slaughter." For the first time since seeing him, the elderly ogre spoke his bit of wisdom before closing his eyes and relaxing beside his sword.
Hearing him, everyone was startled and silently waited for the meal to finish. Each lost in their own thoughts.
•••Before Orion's Sword Went Berserk•••
While Mia and Treyni were comfortably chatting next to the fire, I secluded myself a bit farther away and started meditating on my sword again.
I enhanced my perception by 1000 fold, effectively isolating myself from anything I wasn't currently focused on. In the span of an hour, I had put in about 5-6 weeks worth of visual training as I steadily fed the sword my mana.
Outside of combat, the sheer amount of practice you can gain through visualization is the number one benefit of a skill like this. With this session, not only had I grown more familiar with my sword, but I had become increasingly familiar with my Zanjutsu skills.
Everything was going smoothly until I felt a rapid increase in the rate of absorption in my spiritual and magical energy.
My sword was emitting a strong sense of hunger as it devoured the energy around us. I could even feel it absorb the energy maintaining my robes.
Sensing the potential danger from the sword, I quickly wanted Treyni and Mia through our party chat. (Quickly, leave here and take the ogres with you. Something is happening with my sword!)
(Are you okay? Is there anything we can do to help you?) Treyni quickly reacted, drawing the ogres and Mia a distance away while still checking in on me.
(I'm fine, but I need to take the sword somewhere else, or this place will likely be desolated.)
The line went silent for several minutes while I tried to take control of my sword. Unfortunately, I had made little progress communicating with it yet, so there was no way that I could stop whatever was happening or even understand what was happening.
'Saul, Mo-san, any idea what is going on?'
『Analyzing… It appears that your Asauchi is awakening.』
『Oh! Does that mean you're finally going to learn its name?』asked Mo-san excitedly. 『Who would have thought that today would get even more exciting? Shi-shi-shi!』
I would honestly be happy if I were to learn the name of my sword, but I was neither in a good place or time for this to happen. Then I received another message through the party chat—this time from Mia.
(Could you go to the Storm Dragon's cave?)
(Oh? Indeed, Veldora's cave should have tons of ambient energy, and it should be deep enough that you don't affect anything here on the surface.) Treyni added.
(Great idea, Mia. I'll give you a full-service massage after this all over!) I spoke happily as I stood up and started to flash step towards the caverns.
(N-No need for that. Instead, give it to Treyni. We should see if your massages will work on her too…)
(Hmm…are you sure about that? I was going to try that on Treyni anyways. Is there something else you would like.)
(…Can I just count it as you owing me a favor in the future?)
(…Alright then. I don't usually give out favors, but I'll make an exception this time. Use it carefully. I'll talk to you guys after I handle this. Stay safe.)
(Be careful, Orion. I'll have dinner waiting for you when you come back.) Treyni said before Mia asked. (Take care, Orion. What should we do with these guys, though?)
(Find out what their goals are and if they have any interest joining us. Feed them some food first though to get them to open up.)
(Understood. I'm looking forward to your care, so don't you dare die, got it, Orion?)
(Got it, Treyni. I'll see you guys soon.)
With that, I ended our conversation and proceeded into the depths of the cave. Using my parallel processing, I devoted a portion of my consciousness to meditating with my sword while the rest was dedicated to reaching Veldora's cave as quickly as possible.