Chapter 155

—–

Okay, maybe I exaggerated a bit back then. Yesterday the goblins did a few stupid things.

One of the ideas the chief had to compensate me was to give me as many men as I wanted.

Is this a custom in their society, or was he just doing this because he thought I liked to collect men as a harem?

What kind of vibes do I have to give for him to assume such a thing?

Also, I am a ghost. Couldn’t he tell I cannot really enjoy the pleasures of the flesh or anything like that?

Though even if I had a physical body, I don’t think I would be desperate to get all that going.

A-Anyways, I shouldn’t be really thinking about this.

After yesterday’s ordeal, the goblins had woken up. Now that it was the next day, around 2 AM, we decided to move over.

Our target? The Duchy of Affnaria—just a few kilometers from here.

We’ll move through the shadow of the night, which is like a sea where I can swim the fastest with ease.

One of my newly awakened skills, Shadow Transportation, even lets me teleport to anywhere within the nearby shadows of around a few meters from my sight.

This means that I can easily warp around the darkness of the night and reach the duchy even faster than before.

I decided to leave Lucifer, Silvio, and Francesco watching over the caravan, alongside my trusty Kuro and Raven, my two cute Undead pets. They had participated in the ganging over of Catarina, and they also got shared EXP from the others, so they were pretty strong as of now, and might evolve overnight, the same as Lucifer, Partner, or Emeraldine.

But for now, that’s not really important as it is mostly a given. What’s important now is reaching there.

“Alright girls, hop in,” I said.

Partner and Emeraldine jumped inside of my Shadow Storage, and I began to warp across the shadows. It felt as if I was jumping through the space of the shadows expanding all across the night.

In the night, I am almost invincible. This is really overpowered.

I could have fought Catarina at night, and I might have won if I had this awakened Skill.

Warping around to evade hits seems easier than ever. And well, I can also become non-material and pass through all physical objects, so I could do the same thing I did before of hiding underground. However, Catarina was so powerful. She was even able to reach me underground…

The problem with this tactic is that it consumes too much mana constantly. Maintaining myself in my non-corporeal form is easy, but when I am staying still in the middle of a corporeal object or area, it begins to consume mana, perhaps because I am defying some sort of laws of physics or something? I don’t know. But I guess the mana consumed is making up for it, or instead… maybe I would die or dissipate by occupying the same physical space as an already established object.

Anyways, we rushed at a fast speed to Affnaria, the Duchy I was “reborn,” and also where I fucking got my head sliced off…

I remember killing the three big fishes here, so it should have been taken over by someone else now. Maybe another Duke? I won’t do anything to him anyway, although it might be worth taking a look at.

“I wonder if there’s a new Duke?” Wondered Partner.

“There should be if it is as you said, and the Duke is dead, someone new should be taking over the place. Or it wouldn’t be as stable as it looks like,” Said Emeraldine.

We were currently standing atop the Duchy’s walls while admiring the whole piece of land.

It was a small duchy, it probably had no more than almost three to four thousand people, but it maintained itself pretty well.

“Alright, let’s go to the nearest food store and steal it all,” I said.

“Eh, I guess we are stealing again,” Said Partner.

“Well, that’s how it is. We must procure the safety of our people,” Said Emeraldine.

“Indeed…” I said.

“Though I wonder if people would starve if we steal too much?” Wondered Partner.

“Hmmm… But we really need the food. I don’t think we could negotiate, seeing how my face is being spread around… Buying food? I guess we got a bunch of unused money… And I got my lackey here, the merchant guy….” I said.

“But it’s 2 AM. Is there anything open?” Asked Emeraldine.

“Actually, yeah, look, all those shops are open. They sell all night too,” Said Partner.

“Well, that’s odd. Let’s go,” I said.

“Also, Maria, your appearance has changed a bit lot after you evolved, so I doubt they would be able to recognize you now….” Said Emeraldine.

“Huh? I did?” I asked as we walked across the streets.

“Yeah! Master, you became even prettier than before! Your hair has now purple tips here and there, and your face is even more flawless…” Said Partner with an enamored look.

“Your body has also become taller, and your chest… has become bigger… your hips too, you look as if you’ve become a woman in her thirties,” Said Emeraldine.

“T-Thirties?! Wait, will I become a grandma in my next evolution? Ugh… Is this how ghosts evolve? We get older until we evolve into Mummies?” I muttered.

“I don’t really know how evolution works, but I doubt that’s the case, Maria…” Sighed Emeraldine.

“Yeah, that would be way too weird…” Said Partner.

“Eh, I guess I’ve changed a bit then… Let’s put on simple clothes… Boots, some pants, a shirt, chainmail… a sword. Like this, I look pretty normal, right? An adventurer!” I said.

“Well, maybe…” Said Emeraldine.

“You look nice!” Said Partner.

“In fact, Maria, if you let me be honest, any clothes you put on won’t matter. You’ll always look absolutely stunning… you’re bound to bring attention to you,” Said Emeraldine.

“Eh…”

And just as she said that, a group of guys noticed us as we sneaked around the streets.

—–