I basically believe monsters and animals were the same as long as they didn’t try to harm me. Like with the blue wolves. I only took them down because they were trying to kill me. I wouldn’t kill them if I had developed emotional attachment with them like I did with Ash. Or rather, there was no way I’d kill something as cute as Ash. Ash was really the cutest in this world. 

One morning, I saw a goblin had gotten caught in the ankle snare trap. There was a club near him. He might’ve dropped his weapon. He must be unable to move due to the paralyzing effect from the gleene anesthetic.

Donned on my protective gear, I approached the goblin and removed the ankle snare trap from his leg. 

Perfect. Just when I need to raise the level of ‘fortress’. 

I picked the goblin’s club and placed it near him. Then I waited for the paralyze effect to wear off. 

　◇◇◇

“Gugya? ….Gugya!!”

The paralyze effect finally wore off. The goblin took up his club and started to hit me. 

“Fortress.”

BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM!

His club was repelled by my shield. I didn’t even flinch from the attack. The goblin kept on brandishing his club for another 30 minutes, hitting me mindlessly. 

『Individual Name: Keigo Okuda has acquired Fortress level 4.』

I kept this up while munching the berzin herb that I had stuffed into my mouth. 

“Gugyagya?”

The goblin’s shoulder was heaving, he was breathing heavily. I guess this was the limit of his strength. 

“GIGIGYAAA!!”

The goblin turned on his heel and ran toward the direction of the river. 

I didn’t really do anything to catch him. If he was going to run away then so be it. Judging from his condition, I doubt he’d try to come near here again. But still, if he tried to attack me again, I’d bring him down. 

Which reminded me. I just realized I hadn’t been attacked by any blue wolves recently. 

At this point, I was still completely ignorant that the reason for this was because Ash, a type of high-level Blue Wolf, was already emotionally attached to me.