30 End

"But I like spending my time with you, we are only enemies when we meet on the battlefield. So, I hope you can spend this time with me because…. I want to know more about you." Ashber said with a flat tone as she set up the table and placed the cupcakes she baked.

"You know, it would sound really good if it wasn't for your flat tone," I said as I ate the cupcake she placed on the table.

"Ash you know, you are the last person I want to hear that from," Ashber said as she smiled slightly.

"I guess you are right I am the last person that should teach someone about these things, it is delicious as always," I spoke while eating the cupcakes and looked at Ashber who was pouting.

"What happened?" I asked.

"Don't act like you don't know," Ashber said as she looked away.

I looked at her and felt a bit complicated but I can't say anything to her.

'I don't want you to be left behind alone in the end, I don't want you to live alone after I am gone, it might be cruel but that is all I can do for you as someone who knows how it feels, this is the only thing I can give you. I don't want you to suffer as I did....' I thought as I ate the cupcakes and savored every bite of it as I heard a clock ticking in my head with every second passing I can feel my end was closing in on me.

'I'm sorry Ashber, but this is all I can do. This is the cost for what I have done and I have to pay my dues.' I thought as I looked at the pouting Ashber.

"Do you want to eat special fried rice from before?" I asked her with a small smile.

"W-what don't think you can win me over with that," Ashber said as she looked at me as she drooled a bit.

"Too bad, Looks like you don-." I was about to say but.

"10 servings," Ashber grabbed me by the shoulders and said with fire in her red eyes.

"Yes?" I was a bit confused.

"I want 10 servings, NO 50 servings," Ashber said as she shook me.

"Ok 50 normal servi-," I was about to say but she looked at me with eyes that were speaking.

'Don't you dare,'

"I guess those Star Dragons are going to go extinct after all they are already low in numbers, but alright 50 Ashber servings it is," I said in my flat tone.

After I said that Ashber was jumping around happily.

"…Why are you being generous all of a sudden? You didn't cook for me when I asked before" Ashber asked me.

"Just felt like it, yeah........just felt like it," I said as I looked at the sky that was filled with stars and felt Ashber looking at me.

"Let's finish these then. you can eat as promised" I told her with a smile and she nodded.

'Even after I stopped being a human I still can't escape my death. There are many things I wish to change and many regrets in this life I lived. but it doesn't look like I can do anything about this.' I thought in my head.

But unknown to me something in the depths of my soul shined brightly...

--------End-------

"….SIGH*, It is funny how it all works, isn't it?" After the expected silence, I sighed heavily while walking back home.

"Welcome back Master," I walked in to see the smiling Grayfia.

"I'm back," I said as I removed my shoes.

I went to sleep after Grayfia gave me a massage.

And like that 6 days passed...….

------

'This forest is huge.' I have been exploring this forest sometimes to see what type of place it is. I need more information about this world even though I will be going to meet them tomorrow I still need to know about magical beasts and the surrounding of where I live.

"Although it is troublesome, it is necessary and this place has a lot of untouched material," I muttered as I walked through the forest killing the goblin elites, Hell slime, and bloody orge I saw.

In the past six days, nothing much has changed in my daily routine. It is the same with Marin coming over sometimes to hang out at the house. She got closer to Grayfia during this week and they often talk when I am looking at how the novel is doing or making more chapters.

I also got my bank card and I have deposited money in it not too much but just enough to not get under suspicion. I will steadily increase the amount because I have got offers from many publishing houses as Re: Zero has been in 1st position on the website for the past 6 days and by a huge margin at that.

The response from the readers is also positive, the support for the novel is big enough for the publishing house to come running. So I don't have to worry about that front, the main thing is about which publication I should choose for this….

'I'll think about it later..' I pushed these thoughts to the back of my head as I looked to my right where I felt two monsters fighting,

As I was curious, I approached the direction.

And then…

"Fugooooo!"

"Kyain!"

A big monster, humanoid and pig-faced, was attacking a single black dog. The pig monster's weapon may be inferior to mine, but it still uses a good-quality weapon even to the layman's eye. On the contrary, the black dog has a very small body, which makes it look like a newborn puppy.

'It looks cute.' I thought as I looked at the black puppy that was emanating an aura that you can only feel from a sacred beast.

The puppy was battered and covered in blood, but standing there desperately. Then something like a steamy black thing rose from its body, but it quickly disappeared, and then the dog got dizzy and fell on its knees.

'You had my curiosity, now you have my Attention,' I looked at the puppy with curious eyes, Or it looked more like a Wolf cub and a young one at that.

The pig monster had a wicked grin on its face that even I could clearly see… It is a battle of nature, according to the law of the jungle. The weak die and the strong live it is true in every society no matter where or at which time you look.

However, since I had met a monster I had never seen before, I decided to use my appraisal skills to check its status at the very least.

[Orc King]

Level: 600

Magic: 5000

Attack: 20000

Defense: 15000

Agility: 5000

Intelligence: 5000

Luck: 1000

'His attack is a bit high,' I thought as I looked at the orc that still hasn't detected me because of my presence concealment.

I took out the formless bow and pulled on empty air then an arrow of wind formed on the bow that glowed in a green hue.

I released the arrow and it made its way towards the Orcs head.

SWOOSH*

Just when it was near the Orc moved its body on instinct and the Arrow hit his left shoulder piercing it through and leaving a hole there and his arm limped.

"GHOUUU…." The orc roared as he looked around and didn't find me.

WHOOSH*

A second later I was already behind the orc and swung my spear straight to his neck but…..

CLANG*

He used his sword to block the attack; And tried to overpower me with strength as he stepped in closer. I turned the spear and hit him in his guts with the tail of the spear knocking the orc back by 10m.

After stabilizing himself the Orc lunged at me swinging his sword in a vertical arc although I call it a sword its reach is greater than my spear because of how huge it is.

I moved towards the right slightly dodging the attack and it landed on the ground.

BANG*

And rocks flew in all directions and reached the range to attack the Orc.

SWIPE*

STAB*

I swung my spear cutting off the arm that was holding the sword causing blood to fly around, the orc tried to move back to maintain the space between us but I was faster and stabbed the spear straight through the chest of the Orc impaling him.

'He wasn't that strong,' I thought as I am only using normal attacks and nothing special. I saw the orc king's body turn into particles of light and turned into drops.

[Pig King's Meat]:: Orc King's meat. It's a super high-quality foodstuff that continues to attract many royalty and aristocrats. However, since the Orc King itself is a disaster-class existence and rare even to appear, its meat is said to be a mirage. If you eat it, you will get peerless energy.

[The Pig King's Sword]:: The Orc King's Great Sword. It's a super-heavy sword, and cannot even be lifted by an ordinary strength. It's not sharp, but instead, it crushes the target with its overwhelming weight and sturdiness.

[The Pig King's Armor]:: Armor worn by the Orc King. It's a super-heavy armor, and cannot even be lifted by an ordinary strength. It's made to be worn by the orc king, so humans cannot wear it. It's pretty sturdy and impossible even to get a scratch from an ordinary weapon. It's recommended to melt it down and make it into a new weapon.

[Magic Stone: Rank S]:: A special ore that can be obtained from magical beasts.

[Brush of The Pig King's Hair]:: Rare drop item obtained from the Orc King. It's gentle to any hair, nourishes it, and makes it shiny. It can also be used on the heads of people who have thinning or balding hair to revive dead hair roots and grow the hair. Due to its effects, it's traded at an extremely high price among aristocrats who suffer from hair problems, but it rarely comes out, and it is even said that it's only once every few thousand years that a new one is obtained.

'Hmm, the drops are at least useful, I guess we will have stew for dinner a pig is a pig no matter how big it is,' I thought as I stored these things inside my inventory.