"Sofie? That pi—… that woman?" Julian repeated, as if he had heard wrong.
"Yes, master." Sofie nodded with a large smile. Her cute eyes kept blinking at him, as if she wanted to let him know how cute she was.
"Alright…" Julian nodded slightly, already accepting it because he knew the reason for her evolution was because of him, or rather, because of his Innate Authority: King of Monsters.
King of Monsters was the authority he gained when he was summoned into this world. This authority could evolve monsters by naming them. Naturally, this King of Monsters would consume mana from the user to unlock the evolution of monsters, allowing them to break their racial limitations.
That was all Julian knew, but he was certain there was more to this Innate Authority that he needed to unlock… a secret hidden within it. He was one hundred percent sure that this Innate Authority was not simply about unlocking monster evolution. It was just a feeling, but for now, he needed to understand his situation.
"So what happened? Did you kill that monster?"
"That's right!" Sofie stood up and then let out a pink flame in her palm. "After you named me, master, I evolved from Ogre to High-Orc, making me stronger than ever. And my Unique Skill also got stronger, thanks to your grace of naming me, master!"
Sofie's strength improved after her evolution. She had been an ogre and then evolved into a High-Orc, the strongest evolution of the Orc race, with her Unique Skill also strengthened. She said she could fight the Nocturne Child equally now.
"Wait, you were an ogre, and then you evolved into a High-Orc. Isn't orc and ogre a different race?" Julian was confused.
"Ah, that's right, I forgot to tell you, master. I'm half orc and ogre. Even though my appearance before made me look like an ogre, my mana was comparable to that of an orc, and when I evolved, it probably evolved the strongest bloodline in my body, which is orc!"
Julian nodded as he listened to her words and didn't say more. He was ignorant about this world, and that lack of information was his weakness. Even though back on Earth there were many fantasy stories like web novels, which he sometimes read to pass the time, fiction and reality were different after all. It was better to know things personally rather than rely on fictional knowledge.
"Is the young master finally awake?!"
From outside, a loud voice reverberated through the air, and then the door slammed open as a large ogre appeared.
"Father! Shut the hell up and watch your behavior! You look like a fucking barbarian!" A vein popped on Sofie's face as her expression darkened.
"Ah—I-I'm sorry…" The large ogre realized his mistake, quickly calmed down, and rubbed his head as he apologized. "I'm just excited the young master finally woke up."
"Hmph!" Sofie harrumphed.
Julian watched all of this with a serious face. The sudden turn in her personality left him speechless. She became more like a true orc. Fortunately, she seemed gentle in front of him, but that only made him raise his guard.
'In the future, I need to be careful about what I say in front of her, in case I end up getting yelled at.'
With that in mind, he looked at Sofie's father one more time.
Sofie's father was a muscular ogre, larger than most of his own people. Even entering the door made the wall crack in response. He was quite terrifying, and Julian couldn't help but gulp nervously, but when it came to Sofie, he became like a soft man, washing away the terrifying aura around him.
"Young master, I'm glad you are awake!" Sofie's father kneeled on the ground and then stood up after greeting him. "My name is Don. Even though you already know, let me say it again — I'm Dia— no, Sofie's proud father. And Sofie is my precious daughter, whom I will not allow any man to touch or even glance at her, but you are different, young master!"
Judging by Sofie's personality, she should be stopping her father right now, but when Julian glanced at her, she was playing with her fingers with a blush on her face and occasionally avoiding his gaze. He sighed.
"Father, stop it already. And besides, my master is a human, it's impossible for us to marry, but it's fine for me to follow my master with my life!"
'By the way, if you want to follow me, shouldn't you be asking me? Besides, when did they start calling me master and young master?'
He couldn't help but feel speechless at their antics. It seemed like these people would just follow anyone as long as you saved their lives.
Thinking about it, he suddenly became curious. He raised his hand to gather their attention and said, "Why do you keep calling me master? You know I prefer it if you call me by my name. Oh, I forgot to introduce myself. I'm Julian.
Hearing his words, Sofie's face became panicked as she quickly kneeled and lowered her head to the ground, followed by her father.
"In fact, master, you have done great things for us that we couldn't repay even with our lives. Not only did you save our lives, but you also made me evolve. Such things couldn't be paid with money."
"Life in the wasteland is harsh and unforgiving to the weak. Our village is the only ogre village in the entire wasteland. When the Nocturne child attacked us, I thought it would be the end of our race. I was angry for being weak and powerless to help my kind. As I lost hope, you appeared, young master. Not only did you save our lives, but you also evolved my daughter. My gratitude cannot be spoken by words alone; that's why, to repay you, please allow us to serve you, young master!"
Julian was surprised. Honestly, he could understand them. Judging by their words, they were probably struggling a lot living in this world. Not only were they living in the wasteland, but they also had to fend off monsters that attacked their village. And when suddenly a person who could evolve their kind appeared, they had no choice but to serve that person, because the temptation was great. Not only would this make them stronger, it would also improve their living conditions.
He could guess that not only these two, but also other villages would have the same thoughts as them.
Honestly, this was the first time someone had offered their loyalty to Julian.
'Now that I think about it, if I don't accept them, I will leave this village… but then what? What is my purpose in this world? I don't like exploring the world. I prefer just to live in peace, with enough money to last my life without working… but…'
He glanced at the sky outside, the sun shining warmly over the world and the beautiful blue sky. Then he looked at the two people before him and sighed.
''Well, there's no harm if I accept it. And besides, my purpose in this world is probably to help them, or other demi-humans, build a nice place. Maybe that is the reason why I have Innate Authority: King of Monsters as a human.''
Julian had already accepted his purpose in this world, and he was actually surprised at his adaptability to accept anything. He glanced one more time at the sky and then stood up.
"Alright, but please call me young master or Julian, not master."
…
Life in the village was harsher than he thought. Not only was it hot during the day, but everyone was starving as well. Their living conditions were poor to the point that even the homeless from his past life lived better than them. Their houses were made of rock and mud with no doors, that it could hardly protect themselves from monsters. Some ogres wandered around like homeless people; he could tell by their eyes that they were tired of their lives.
As he walked past, some gave him curious looks mixed with reverence.
"By the way, where are we going?" Julian asked.
"We are going to celebrate, young master!" Sofie grinned.
Sofie didn't say anything more. It seemed he purposely left out some words, probably because he wanted to surprise him, so Julian just followed silently while scanning the village.
Soon enough, after a few minutes of walking, they reached the middle of the village, where a large bonfire had been set. At its side was the corpse of the monster called the Nocturne Child. It looked like a large dinosaur with three tails and four eyes, oozing a lot of blood. It was terrifying, but now it was nothing more than a corpse surrounded by starving ogres.
"Are you planning to eat that?" Julian couldn't help but ask.
"Yes, young master, it's been a while since we have such large meat."
He noticed saliva flowing out from Sofie's mouth as she spoke.
"Young master, your seat is already prepared." Don arrived, followed by another ogre carrying a large axe. He motioned Julian to follow him, but Julian hesitated when he saw the seat he was supposed to sit on.
"Are you sure that is my seat, not the village chief's or your lord's seat or something?" Julian had already begun to sweat when he saw the place he was supposed to sit. Instead of a seat, it was more like a throne, made of various bones and skulls of monsters. The throne was placed in the middle of the camp at the highest spot.
Beside the throne was a small ogre-like child holding a staff, with a long beard that reached the ground. As if sensing his gaze, the small ogre let out a smile.
'Is that a child or a grandpa?'
"Since we already decided to serve you, young master, naturally, we do it with utmost care and make it grand so everyone here will know your grand presence," Don explained.
'This is too much.' Julian let out a sigh inwardly, but seeing everyone's anticipation, in the end,d there was no point in rejecting them. Besides, he had already accepted their servitude, so he needed to get used to it in case he received another surprise later.
Julian walked toward his throne, everyone's gaze on him. He could feel their curiosity, envy, and reverence. The once loud party became quiet, and he could only hear his own heartbeat as he walked step by step.
When he reached the throne, he gazed at it with a complicated expression before sitting down slowly.
The moment he sat, as if some kind of spell was cast, everyone began to cheer.
"Whoa! We finally have a lord!"
"My king! You're so handsome!"