10

With my sword and luggage in one hand, I headed for the river.

Since it wasn’t too far, I arrived without incident, and as soon as I did, I set down my luggage, washed my hands and feet, and at least got rid of the uncomfortable stickiness.

It might just be my imagination, but it still felt like something was clinging to me, so I couldn’t help but describe it that way.

Shaking my hands and feet to flick off the water, I returned to where I’d left my luggage for the long-awaited inspection of my belongings.

Opening my backpack, the first thing I took out was this dried meat.

I couldn’t resist taking a bite, and a sharp saltiness spread through my mouth.

As expected, in the hunter trade, where you put your body through heavy strain, salt is essential.

Perhaps my body was rejoicing at this salt intake after such a long time.

Next, I found small glass bottles.

Three of them contained a blue liquid, and two contained a thick greenish liquid.

(Oh, so these are what they call potions!)

In truth, this was my first time seeing the real thing.

In the Empire, magic-related goods weren’t outright banned, but during the height of the war they were treated almost like contraband.

Because of that, the civilian sector had little to no connection with such items.

The war with the magic nation happened after I was born, but thanks to a leap in scientific technology, the nation’s power far surpassed its neighbors, which led to a serious breakdown in diplomatic relations.

From that point on, magic-related goods became hard to obtain, so even in my parents’ generation, few people had ever seen a potion in person.

Unfortunately, I had no idea what effects these two types had.

I was a bit uneasy about whether they’d even work safely on my now-monster body, but having an ace up my sleeve is vastly better than having none, so I decided to keep them safe.

Aside from that, there was nothing particularly noteworthy.

There were medical supplies such as bandages, and other things I couldn’t quite identify, but since they were carried around, they were likely necessary for outdoor activity.

I decided to check those later, and finally picked up this two-handed sword—or rather, given the length, it was more like a bastard sword.

Once I held it, I could tell it was made for humans, which made it too small for my hands and awkward to use.

I swung it around haphazardly, but the length was completely insufficient.

It honestly felt like I was swinging around a miniature sword.

It was unwieldy enough that I immediately concluded, “Let’s not think of this as a weapon.”

After all, there weren’t many weapons that could surpass these fists.

I rapped my knuckles against the blade of the sword with a clang-clang.

This body of mine—covered in hard, shell-like skin thanks to the Empire’s gene-enhanced soldier program—shouldn’t be damaged by something as simple as a lump of iron… or so I thought, but there was a small cut.

Running my claw over it, I could feel a slight catch—it had actually nicked my fist.

That surprised even me.

Upon closer inspection, I realized this sword was no ordinary sword.

Yes—it was what they called a “magic sword.”

I’d seen them plenty of times in games and fiction, but never expected to encounter a real one.

After a few tests, I figured out it seemed to have an ability that “sharpened its cutting edge” or something along those lines.

I couldn’t be completely certain, but I was pretty sure I was right.

If that was the case, then it would make an extremely useful substitute for a knife.

I had thought about getting rid of it if it was useless, but throwing it away would have been wasteful, and returning it now would’ve been awkward—so this worked out perfectly.

When I was human, magic swords were highly valuable, taking years to make.

The process differed from nation to nation, and I remembered that the Empire collected them for technological research.

I wasn’t sure how things were with modern technology, but at the very least, it was still a rare item.

In other words, that “boob lady” probably tried to stop me because I was taking the most valuable thing they had.

In fact, that was probably the case.

For someone in a profession like a hunter, where your gear was directly tied to your life and earnings, cutting corners was something only third-rate people do.

I didn’t know exactly how much it was worth, but it was undoubtedly a fortune to them.

A wave of regret washed over me—“I really messed up there.”

I might have taken far more than what would have been fair compensation.

It’s not just “possibly”—I definitely saved them from a crisis.

Depending on how it went, I might have been able to form a friendly relationship with them, but now that chance was gone.

I told myself that as a monster now, there was no need to think about human relationships… but I couldn’t help having thoughts about it.

(I mean, come on… even when I was human, I never got to be on good terms with a gorgeous, busty beauty like that!)

I had gotten a generous view of her bare breasts, but even remembering it now, my “partner” down there didn’t so much as twitch.

The sad reality made me let out a deep sigh.

“Gahhhhaaaaaa!”

I was starting to get depressed every time I heard that voice.

(Well, yeah… I used to be human, so becoming a monster means there are plenty of things I’m bewildered by, and plenty of things I can’t quite give up.)

For example—games. I had unfinished ones I still wanted to beat, and I wanted to play sequels to certain series.

The same went for manga and movies.

For popular series and beloved stories, I wanted to see what happened next.

(Ah… so that’s what it is…)

It was nothing complicated.

I simply had no joy left in living.

Well, considering I’d gone from a civilized Imperial life to surviving in this great forest, that was to be expected.

It’s hard for a human to live without any pleasures.

Especially when I still knew the culture of the Empire.

(My current pleasure—)

If I was going to live with this body from now on, I thought maybe I could make use of my telescopic vision for peeping.

I didn’t even know the bathing customs of this era, and I had no idea how I’d sneak into a city, but the first thing I came up with was “peeping,” which probably meant something was wrong with my head.

Maybe I was unconsciously giving up on various things and searching for compromises.

Even so—this was not it.

Besides, with this huge body of mine—

(I’m too big and conspicuous. Stealth missions are impossible unless I become invisible… or an invisible monster…)

No need to say what triggered it, but in that instant, I felt like my body had turned transparent.

By the time I thought, “Could it be…?” I was already checking.

Turns out—I had a mimicry ability.

And it’s extremely high-performance—when I placed my hand on stone and grass and activated the ability, the color of the back of my hand split perfectly between them.

(What the heck is this? This goes beyond amazing—it’s borderline creepy!)

After a half-smiling round of tests, I found that while I didn’t know if there were limits to the colors I could mimic, it was extremely precise, and it took about five seconds to change the color of my whole body.

The tip of my tail was the slowest—excluding the tail, it took about three seconds or less.

It was such high-level mimicry that I wondered if they’d incorporated the abilities of a certain marine creature into me.

Thinking about how that creature had a somewhat grotesque image, I felt slightly uneasy.

In any case, after some reflection, I decided “finding meaning in life through peeking into the women’s bath” was a no-go.

(This is getting me nowhere.)

By now, the boob lady and her companions had probably left the base ruins, so I decided to head back and investigate.

So I began testing my mimicry ability while carrying my luggage and moving stealthily.

Soon after, I heard a noise.

Grateful for my excellent hearing, I lay flat, hid my luggage in the grass, and quietly observed.

Then I saw the boob lady, her clothes bloodstained, and a young girl with her tattered clothes tied together with a belt.

The girl leaned on her for support as they slowly walked, while the boob lady, carrying minimal luggage, held a broken staff and moved forward.

(I see… she took clothes from the deceased members.)

Having been almost naked, she had given up on her own clothes and chosen to strip them from a comrade.

Still, there were few intact garments, and the sizes didn’t match, leaving her poorly dressed—her lower half was simply wrapped in cloth.

Zooming in, I was fairly sure she had no underwear.

(Long boots and no panties. From this angle, I might catch a peek… nope, can’t see.)

It seemed they were about to cross the river. She took off her shoes, placed them on her pack, and entered slowly, checking her footing.

Though the boob lady lending her shoulder was slightly caught by the current, she carefully chose a shallow path, and both made steady progress to the other side.

With the river over ten meters wide, the deeper sections were quite deep, and I couldn’t help but feel a little anxious watching.

Partway through, the cloth around her waist came loose and drifted away, leaving her butt completely exposed in the water. Please hurry across.

Perhaps thanks to my silent prayers for their safety, they reached the far bank without incident.

Apparently exhausted, they got down on all fours to rest for a moment.

For me, the water was only knee-deep, but for human women, it reached above their waists.

And since one was supporting the other, it was no wonder they’d used up their strength. I nodded, watching closely with my telescopic vision.

There might be a time limit on the mimicry ability, so I needed to keep it active for a while to check.

Telling myself “this is unavoidable,” I kept a close eye on—er, watched over—them.

If it seemed like they couldn’t go on, I planned to help, but that didn’t seem necessary.

The girl stood up first, removed the robe tied with a belt, and handed it to the boob lady.

The girl herself had wrapped her relatively intact underwear around her chest like a tube top.

Since it was wet and see-through, I would’ve preferred a front view rather than a side one.

After a short rest, they put their shoes back on, stood up, and started walking east.

I watched their retreating backs for a moment and checked the area for any creatures.

(…They should be fine, right?)

At least within sight and scent range, there were no goblins.

I considered following them for a while, but they were hunters.

Acting out of misplaced sympathy was out of the question.

Besides, as a monster now, that would only hurt their pride.

I saw them off from the opposite bank, then headed for the base ruins as planned.

It wasn’t far, so with my speed, I arrived quickly—and found I could still maintain mimicry.

Maybe it was an ability I could use without restrictions.

Putting that aside, it was time to explore.

Since the place reeked of goblins, I wanted to move quickly and efficiently.

So I searched for about an hour… and found absolutely nothing.

At some point, my mimicry wore off.

I’d been too absorbed to notice the exact moment it deactivated, and when I tried again, there was no response.

Apparently, I’d overused it and needed some cooldown time.

(I see… so it’s not something I can spam.)

Making a mental note, I searched what appeared to be a roofless room.

The desk drawers had already been opened and emptied, and being wooden, the desk itself was rotting.

On the wall were traces of where posters might have been hung.

Then, on the concrete floor, I noticed something odd about the sound it made.

Tapping the area with my claws, I heard a metallic clang—“Jackpot,” I thought with a grin, though maybe I just felt like saying it.

There seemed to be some sort of mechanism, but I simply pried it open with brute force.

Beneath the peeled-up metal plate was a ladder leading into a dark space—an underground room.

It looked like an untouched, unlooted hidden chamber, and my expectations soared.

Now then—time to meet the greatest find of the day.