Everyone was now in position; all that was left was to wait. I returned back to town, making sure to remove the purple color off of my [Wolves’ Trench Coat] as I don my Dimir persona. I decided the wait would be a good time to increase my income a bit. Each day I would do some easy quests, from simple herb gathering to small hunting. After two days, with the cost of living and other basic needs I managed to make 30 [Silver Coins]. Not a bad haul at the very least, but it would always help to earn more.

  During that time, whenever I went out of town to fulfill the quests, I would check up on my minions who were on the lookout for the invaders. They haven’t found any, and it was making me question if the rumors of their invasion were true and if I would need to rethink my strategy.

  After the third day, it finally happened. As I met up with my minions one of the goblins came to us fast riding on one of my wolves. He looked frantic and was catching his breath while he tried to relay his message.

  “V has detected the enemy! They’ll be here in one day time!”

  Before processing what he had to say I asked for reassurance “Are V and everyone else safe?”

  The goblin quickly nodded “Yes sir! Everyone is safe and accounted for, they’re keeping watch over them from a safe distance!”

  “Good….” I couldn’t help but crack a smile, a look of excitement filled my eyes as I made my declaration. “Now, let’s begin the conquest! ~”

  Everyone understood my words as they got to position, I adjusted my outfit and put the mask to the side. I was ready to face the town I grew fond of, as Vladimir now. ~

  I marched towards the gates with my loyal followers behind me. The orcs waved their weapons out in excitement meanwhile Mordred was strangely focused on the task at hand.

  As expected, the guards began to panic as they started to yell out at everyone. “Monsters at the front gate! I repeat monsters at the front gate! Everyone evacuates to the shelters and call in all guards here!”

  People scrambled all over the place as the town went into chaos. All able-bodied fighters came into view, armed and ready for a fight. Among them was Damian, just as planned. They would want to send their most capable fighter after all. As the tension grew, I could hear some of them chat amongst themselves.

  “It’s a freakin’ Minotaur! I thought Damian reported that he couldn’t find it!” One of the adventurers started to question.

  “It must have been hiding out just to invade this place now!” Another stated in fear.

  One adventurer I recognized was looking at my direction and squinting his eyes in recognition “Wait…. that kobold…. He’s the one I was telling you all about!!”

  It was the pathetic swordsman that I had dealt with from the goblin invasion. Notably he didn’t have a sword on him since I broke his last one. Must not have gotten it replaced yet.

  “Are you talking about the small monster you said whooped your butt? Does that mean it really has a Minotaur under its command? And here we thought you were making it up.” One of the adventurers questioned.

  The swordsman stomped his foot in anger, uncaring about the powerful force I had at my side. “I’m going to make you pay you tiny lizard!!”

  Ready to charge at us, he was stopped by the black bear who walked up to the center instead. The look of seriousness he was known for never leaving his face. “… What do you want with us?”

  Showing no fear, I walked towards him, a full grin plastered over my red-scaled face as I spread my arms apart for all to see. “Quite simple really, I want everyone in this town to submit to my rule. In exchange me and my minions will protect you all! Good deal, wouldn’t you agree? ~”

  There was a pause of silence as I waited for their answer. The look on their faces full of confusion as they wonder if I was serious, before the silence was broken by the sound of laughter from many of them.

  “HAHAHA you serious, I mean you think we need the help of a weakling. I mean granted; it’d make more sense if the Minotaur was the one making the offer.” One of the adventurers said through their laughter.

  “We won’t even need protection so long as the Quiet Black Beast is here, they’d be scared off by his mere intimidating presence.” Another proudly stated.

  With that comment, Damian couldn’t help but glance at the commenter’s direction, getting him to stop but also proving his point.

  Stolen story; please report.

  I cocked my head as if to ponder what he said, “So you’re saying so long as this bear Beastman is here you won’t need my help. Then why don’t I start and subjugate him first, maybe then you all may change your mind. ~”

  I unsheathed my sword to ready myself, putting all the residents on edge. The combatants seemed ready to intervene only to be stopped by the sound of an axe slamming to the ground.

  “The boss wishes to have a one-on-one fight with your best fighter. I’d advise not to interrupt unless you want to face me instead.” Mordred declared in an intimidating matter.

  That managed to back them off, as I figured they were all a lot more wary of the big imposing Minotaur. It was probably safer for them to just let me fight instead.

  I then addressed the Damian and made my offer. “So, what do you say big guy, want to work for me if I win? ~”

  “…. If you win, I’ll consider it.”

  Damian readied his fists, his face unchanging. Though after being around his ‘embrace’ for the last few days I can tell he was trying his best not to go into all cutesy mode….

  But this was still going as I had planned. Before I began to enact my plan days ago, I had instructed Damian to play along with this fight. After all, if I were to make a big show of making their best adventurer mine, it would better convince them to follow suit. Though it does mean neither of us could hold back in this fight, at least this will give us the opportunity to finish what we started before.

  “That kobold’s going to die.” One of the guards scoffed.

  Oh, how ready I was to prove him wrong. “Now let’s begin! ~”

  At my signal it began. I started off by giving myself a boost of speed by having the ground push me towards Damian as I gripped my blade to attack. No sooner had I started did I felt the pressure of his [Shockwave] push me back. He really wasn’t going to hold back, which was fine by me. As I felt myself land on the ground, I noticed a large shadow looming over me. He had his fist above me, surrounded by the crackle of energy.

  In response I began to hollow out the ground beneath me as I dropped in a hole just before his fist made contact. It followed inside with me before I quickly closed it up, trapping his fist inside the ground as I propelled myself out. With one of his hands trapped, I prepared my counterattack conjuring up a ball of ice and flinging it at Damian as it burst into cold shrapnel.

  Of course, a simple [Shockwave] was enough to stop them from their tracks. Not letting up I charged at him, sword in hand as I slashed towards him before he blocked it with his other fist as he continued to shake his other one out of the ground. The strength of his was definitely overpowering, making it hard for me to keep hold of my weapon. But this was weaker in comparison to Mordred’s strength.

  With all my might I maneuvered my blade to have it slide to the edge of his arm, creating a shallow cut. It wasn’t enough to make him wince as he managed to finally break free his other fist and used it to punch me from the other side.

  I quickly reshaped the ground to block the attack, though it only proved to slow it down just enough for me to jump on top of his arm. Then using it as a springboard I leaped to the air as I pulled out some [Rock] from my [Dimensional Box] and reshaped them into falling stalagmite as they rain down on the Beastman.

  Having used [Shockwave] twice already, Damian wanted to conserve his energy and opted to dodge them instead, the ability of his [Spatial Sense] helping with his reaction time. While he’s distracted dodging, I took the opportunity to aim down at his direction as gravity took hold and my body fell down with the stalagmite, adding to the pressure by conjuring some cracked ice shards.

  With limited opportunity to dodge, it became easier to lead him in my direction. As I drew closer to my target, I took the chance and swung my sword at him. Despite all that, [Spatial Sense] was proving to be still in effect as he countered with his other arm. I knew he would be tough but damn! In comparison to Mordred who could brute force his way to the pain, Damian made it hard to even do any meaningful damage.

  As I thought this, I couldn’t help but crack a smile. After all, I needed strong henchmen by my side if I hoped to conquer this world. But I still need to prove who’s in charge here, in order to add more strength to break through his counter I pulled out some [Iron] from my [Dimensional Box] adding their weight to my sword, causing it to put more pressure towards his arm and forcing him to jump back and take the hit from some of the falling debris.

  It was then I was introduced to a notification from my [Game Screen]

  It was about damn time! After all that time on using the sword, I was hoping to gain this ability in particular. I knew [Kobold Adaptability] is supposed to slow down my progress speed but come on!

  Well at least I have it now. I decided to test it out and continue my advance as I became bolder in slashing my sword, noticing there was a significant fluid motion with each swing and less stamina used. The sudden change in how I handled my weapon seemed to have caught him off guard and forced him on the defensive. He decided instead to go for ranged attacks by sending small bursts of energy through his fists at me.

  I took advantage of my small size as I continued the pressure, never relenting and forcing him to guard with his arms. The small cuts accumulating more and more with each second and just as he’s fully focused on defense, I took advantage of the distraction as I cause the ground right behind him to hollow out as he steps into a newly formed hole, making him lose his balance.

  As he tripped, I jumped on top of his stomach as he dropped to the ground using my feet to pin him in place as I aimed my blade near his neck. A large toothy grin spread across my face, knowing on the outcome of this fight “…. I win, now submit to me Veehahahahaha! ~”