Looking at the herd of goats in front of him, Norm was starting to regret his request to Victor this morning.
It was a good idea at the time, but…
“Why did you bring me twenty goats?”
“This is all I could find.”
There were twelve kids, and eight goats that he could see.
Their fur was white with splotches of green. Their horns were green, blunt, and thick. Their teeth were flat, and their eyes were almost entirely green, with a strip of blue.
One of them stood out from the rest; it was bigger, had thicker muscle, and most of its body was green.
“How do you even manage to make them all follow you?”
Victor grinned, and pulled out a white piece of grass from his pocket.
“With this.”
“They followed you because of the grass?”
His grin faltered, and he looked away, avoiding Norm’s eyes.
“Well, they did start to follow me after I gave them the grass, but I also beat them up and then healed them by giving them your milk. For the record, they attacked me first when I tried to strike up a conversation with them.”
Norm just sighed, but he didn’t comment on Victor’s method of making friends.
If it worked for him, then good for him.
Getting closer to one of the goats that he suspected was a doe, he reached out to pat her head.
At first, the doe backed away, but Norm didn’t chase after her. He just waited until the doe got close to him on her own.
A breeze suddenly hit his skin; then the doe slowly approached him.
Norm patted the doe’s head, and after a second, she even rubbed her head against his hand.
“Are they magical beasts?”
“Nope. Semi-magical beast. That meant their magical abilities were weaker and they could only do simple things with them.”
Victor tried to approach one of the does, but they all backed away from him.
“How did you make them like you that easily?”
“I don’t know, maybe because I don’t hit them?”
Victor just shrugged at that, and walked away, leaving Norm to take care of all of this mess.
It was his fault for not specifying to Victor how much he should bring, but any normal person would know that twenty goats was a bit much.
Thankfully the barn was big enough to accommodate all of these goats, but he didn’t know if it would be comfortable for them.
I could ask my dad, hopefully he knows about how to take care of goats.
It would be a tiring day, but as he saw one of the kids nibbling at his pants, a smile appeared on his face.
Petting the cute little thing, Norm started to work.
He wanted to die.
The following weeks were the busiest Norm had ever been in his entire life.
His dad knew a thing or two about normal goats, but these goats were clearly not normal!
First, Norm had to make sure Jeb the bull didn’t fight any of the goats.
He solved that by having Victor stand between them.
The goats didn’t have a problem with the cows, and vice versa, so taking them out to graze was easy. Especially because cows and goats liked different things.
Then Norm discovered his second problem, these goats liked to move around after they were full, and they were fast.
As with the first problem, Norm used Victor to solve it.
Norm couldn’t catch up with the goat, so he made Victor monitor them in case something bad happened.
The youngest of the kids stayed with Norm, which made him breathe a sigh of relief.
The third problem was something that Norm couldn’t make Victor handle. The goats didn’t like to enter the barn; they liked to sleep outside.
Jeb the bull was also the same, but Jeb was Jeb, he was strong.
While the goats were stronger than Norm, he didn’t like them to be so vulnerable at night. So, he built fences around them to keep them safe.
It really didn’t do much for them if he was being honest, but at least it made them easier to milk.
Norm also had to increase his stockpile of hay by a lot. Because he realized that the goats eat and drink a lot more than the cows. That meant he also had to haul more water from the river.
At least there was some good news.
The area where everything inside had turned white was getting bigger. It now had a diameter of around fifteen meters, and he’d found out that manure still helped the plants there grow faster.
It was still a limited resource, but it was better than nothing.
The second piece of good news was that he’d leveled up only five minutes ago.
When he was lying on the grass, surrounded by all the kids who’d made themselves comfortable sleeping on him, Norm received a level up notification.
[Milk Saint Level 15!]
[Cow Friend Removed!]
[Animal Friend Obtained!]
He didn’t even need Victor to tell him what the Skill did.
Norm was heading towards the river, with one of the kids, Bap, trailing after him.
He was carrying an empty bucket that could hold more water than its size would suggest. It wasn’t that much extra water, and the bucket didn’t reduce the weight of it, but it was still useful.
I could probably get a better one. Victor gave Mom some gold for 'rent', and for selling all that meat and stuff from his hunts.
When he was close to the river, he heard someone shouting, then there was a big burst of wind.
“Wind Burst.”
“Wind Burst.”
“Wind Burst.”
Elpis was casting spells at the river, sending the water splashing everywhere.
Bap was hiding behind his leg, seemingly scared, so Norm went elsewhere to fetch water.
However, just as he was about to leave, Elpis spotted him.
“Wait. What is that?”
She was pointing at Bap, who immediately tried to run away.
However, Norm stopped him by picking him up, and then patted his head to calm him down.
“I don’t think he likes strangers, so could you please not get closer?”
“Oh, I’m sorry.”
Nobody said anything for a few seconds, and before the mood could turn awkward, Norm turned to leave.
“Then, if you’ll excuse me—”
“Did Victor give you the goat?”
“Yeah, how did you know?”
Elpis looked sad for a moment before she turned around and started walking away.
“I guess I never have a chance, huh?”
It was barely audible, but Norm still heard it because everything had suddenly gone quiet.
Norm didn’t know what that was all about, so he just shrugged and finally went to collect some water.
Walking was hard and slow, and she kept running into trees!
There wasn’t anything wrong with her body; she was just depressed.
Elpis had known for a long time that Victor never saw her that way, but she’d always hoped that once she was a grown woman, he’d finally consider giving her a chance.
However, it wasn’t meant to be.
If there weren’t any elf blood in me, I’m sure Victor would have fallen for me.
It was hard to live alongside people with shorter lifespan.
Her crush could suddenly be out of reach because of age difference, and it was hard to make genuine friends that would last long.
She was either too childish or too mature; there was nothing in between.
So, the last couple of years, she had been keeping her distance from people, studying magic for most of her days.
The only one who hadn’t changed their attitude toward her was Victor. And coupled with his good looks, his kind heart, his intelligence…
I guess having a crush on him was inevitable.
Walking to her home, she thought about her reasons for studying magic so much.
Her dreams had been to form an adventurer team with Victor and travel the world, meeting interesting people along the way. Yet she’d already failed before she could even try.
Victor was strong, and that was why she was working so hard so she could stay by his side.
What should I do now?
Elpis stopped.
Thirty minutes passed, and she couldn’t find an answer to that question.
It was hard to even figure out what she wanted.
Most of her life had been spent learning magic to become a good adventurer. But that dream felt hollow without Victor in it.
It was foolish to make him the reason behind my dream when I didn't even know whether he loved me or not.
Being an adventurer was what her parents wanted her to be, and she was fine with it because she knew Victor was also going to be one.
But now, it seemed boring.
What do I do now?
Then she realized she’d been heading the wrong way the whole time.
Life sucks.
“Are you the one who made the wind silent, little guy?”
Bap answered him by baaing and rubbing his head on Norm’s leg.
Even a baby goat is better than me at magic.
Norm wondered if he’d be able to do that in the future. It looked kinda cool.
WAIT!
With his new 200 IQ, he remembered his old capstone Skill, [Herd Blessing (Cow)].
It was a passive Skill that increased his strength, toughness, metabolism, hearing, sense of smell, and vision.
But he remembered an important detail about the Skill: he could choose which herd it drew its power from.
I chose cow because it’s the only option I got at the time, but now? Could I choose the goats, or maybe Jeb the bull?!
“[Herb Blessing (Goat)].”
His body immediately felt light, and Norm immediately put the two buckets he was carrying to the ground, and ran.
HE. WAS. GOING. SO. FAST!!!
Thankfully, he was able to handle moving at that speed. It was as if he’d been doing it his entire life. He could even jump around and do a flip without injuring himself.
The wind also felt like it was helping him run faster. He couldn’t control it, but it was still awesome.
Then, he suddenly remembered that he left Bap behind, and he immediately went back to where he last left the little goat.
Norm found him wailing and running in circles, and the moment Bap spotted him, he bolted straight toward him.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry.”
For around one minute, Norm kept petting Bap until he was satisfied.
It was hard to walk with Bap constantly getting in the way, so the rest of the journey back, Bap was on Norm’s head, nibbling at his hair.
“Hey Vic! I saw Elpis by the river, she seemed to be a training maniac like you.”
“Elpis? She did tell me she really liked magic, so I guess it makes sense.”
Victor's attention was on Norm’s hair, specifically on Bap, who was still nibbling at it.
“You seem different. Got a new Skill?”
Norm grinned, and puffed up his chest.
“With my 250 IQ, I remembered that I have [Herd Blessing (Cow)]. It was now [Herd Blessing (Goat)].”
Rather than praising him, Victor’s eyebrow twitched.
“Can you tell me what the Skill does?”
Victor’s voice was also a bit off.
“I get buffs based on one of the animals that I raise.”
Victor was closing his eyes, while tapping his foot.
“What is the restriction of the Skill? No, never mind. Just tell me everything you know about the Skill.”
“Ehhh, the animal had to produce milk that people consumed, and the larger the herd, the more powerful the buff was. But after twenty, the increase in buff starts to really slow down.”
Opening his eyes, Victor sighed, and flicked Norm’s forehead.
“Norm, I love you. But you could be such an idiot sometimes. Why in the abyss did you not tell me about this Skill?”
“I forgot?”
It was obvious now that Victor was mad at him. He was smiling, but it was an angry smile, not a proud and happy one.
“Tell me all of your Skills and what you know about them.”
So, Norm did.
After he was finished, Victor breathed a sigh of relief.
“Good, good. Well, it’s bad. But it’s good that I didn’t miss any more obvious ways to keep you safe. Now start running at your top speed.”
Victor picked up Bap, who was still on Norm’s head, and set him on the ground.
At first, Bap protested. But after looking at Victor, Bap immediately ran to Got, the buck.
“Now go, run.”
Norm complied; he really didn’t want Victor to be mad at him.
“As fast as the doe, but much slower than the buck. “
Victor kept testing him, and it was tiring.
Norm had to do the test with the Skill set on the goat, cow, and even turning off the Skill.
In all three states, Victor forced him to lift a rock, do some moves, run, jump, punch him, stand on one leg on an unstable rock, and… and…
“Are we… done… yet?”
He was panting, lying down on the grass, drenched in sweat.
“Yes, I guess we can stop now. My best guess is that if you have twenty of the same animals of the same gender, the boost will be the average of the species of that gender. So I’m guessing for every animal you get a 5% increase. Most of the goats are kids, which make me think that the animal's personal strength didn’t matter. It will be too powerful for a level 10 Skill in a Class that weak to include the animal's personal strength in its calculation…”
Norm felt insulted by what Victor was saying, but he couldn’t really argue with him.
He agreed that [Dairyman] was bad. It was a basic Class that only told you your job, and there weren't even any extra words in it.
Even he knew that [One-Armed Warrior] was still better than [Warrior].
“Hello, are you still listening?”
“Oh yeah, of course.”
“Tell me the last thing I was saying.”
“My Class is weak?”
Victor smiled, pride evident on his face.
“That was not the last thing I said, but good job, your attention span is improving. But I’m asking you if you could set the Skill to bull.”
“[Herd Blessing (Bull)]. Nope, it failed.”
“I expected as much. You can set it to goat and doe, but the buff is still the same, which made me think you could only do the female variant of the species. The males probably didn’t help the Skill at all. The weird thing is, the Skill says goat even though these goats are clearly magical, and yet you got the boost for the magical variant instead of regular goats.”
Victor gave him a glass of milk and a towel.
Norm wiped the sweat from his face and cast [Bless Milk].
However, when he drank it, he was still as tired as before.
“Why is it… not working?”
“Oh? You haven’t realized it yet? [Bless Milk] doesn’t work on you.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?!”
“I thought you knew. You’ve been drinking it every day.”
Well, Victor had a point.
However, Norm was still mad that his best friend hadn’t told him this important fact.
Before he started to give all the [Bless Milk] to his dad, he’d been drinking it every day thinking it would make him stronger.
Now he felt really stupid.
Victor sighed and sat next to him.
“I’m sorry, I really thought you knew.”
Norm didn’t answer him and crossed his arms.
“We can play tag, now that you can run fast. I’d match your speed. Want to play?”
“Wait, you’re right! I can finally play with you!”
His anger was completely forgotten, because even [Greatly Increased Intelligence] couldn’t stop Norm from being easily distracted, which Victor had mixed feelings about.
“Mom! Dad! Guess what I just found out!”
Both of his parents were at the dining table, smiling.
His dad’s condition had been improving rapidly ever since Norm started feeding him all the [Bless Milk] every day.
The goat’s milk also helped.
Ver told him that goat’s milk contained more nutrients than cow’s milk. Not to mention that the does were semi-magical beasts.
Norm felt bad for not giving Victor [Bless Milk] for his training, but he said that if Norm’s dad's condition was improving faster, it would also help him. And the results spoke for themselves.
His dad still looked thin, but he didn’t look malnourished.
If someone saw him, they wouldn’t think he was sick. His dad could even move around without any problem. Though, he got tired easily.
“Is it about your Skill?”
“Y-yeah. How did you know? Did Victor already tell you?”
Norm looked at Victor suspiciously, but Victor just shook his head.
“I’m your dad. Did you think I don’t know you?”
It was a bit of a bummer that his dad had already figured it out, but when Norm started telling them what happened today, his happiness from before came back in full force.
Before dinner, they always told each other how their day had been—even Victor.
It was a new tradition for them, but all of them enjoyed it.
Because all of them truly cared about what the others were saying.
Three days later, after feeding his dad another glass of healthy milk, Norm received a level-up notification that really surprised him.
[Milk Saint Level 26!]
[Healing Properties (Milk) Removed!]
[All-Healing Milk (Weak) Obtained!]
Eleven levels from a single level-up meant he’d achieved something amazing, and there was only one possibility that he could think of.
“Dad! You’re healed!”
“I did? I don’t feel any different, though.”
“But I got eleven levels!”
His dad was silent for a few seconds, then he got out of bed and hugged Norm, tears streaming down his face.
Hearing his dad cry, Norm also started crying.
The noise brought his mom and Victor running to the room to check what was going on.
After explaining it to them, his mom also started crying and hugged them.
Victor didn’t join the hug, and he didn’t cry like the rest of them, but he made a meal that came from a magical beast to celebrate. His mom also used [Secret Ingredient: Mother’s Love] on the meat, making all of them cry tears of joy when they ate breakfast, including Victor.
The meal was just that delicious.
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