Chapter 45: First conversation

So that’s [Lord’s Blessing Lv. 2].

Anyone who had spent even a little time as a gamer would immediately recognize how broken this skill could be. These weren’t minor stat increases. Every single blessing offered a powerful boost that could potentially change the outcome of a battle.

The only real drawback was the massive amount of Points required to maintain them. I definitely wouldn’t be able to keep a blessing active on my citizens all the time. Doing that would probably drain my entire fortune before I even realized what had happened.

But... that wasn’t really the point of this skill anyway.

Most likely, it was designed to be used during critical, life-or-death moments.

For example, if one of my citizens was seriously injured and their HP was rapidly dropping toward zero, a well-timed [Blessing of Life] could give them just enough extra HP and regeneration to survive until the danger passed or help arrived.

Or, if they suddenly encountered a powerful enemy far beyond their level, [Blessing of Haste] could provide the burst of speed they needed to escape with their lives.

Even [Blessing of Protection] could potentially save someone from a devastating status effect at a critical moment.

In other words, I didn’t need to keep these blessings active constantly.

I just needed to use the right blessing at the right time.

And that made the skill incredibly valuable.

I immediately placed [Lord’s Blessing Lv. 2] near the very top of my "must-have" list.

For now, though, I didn’t have any immediate use for a blessing. Furthermore, I couldn’t afford it yet. 1,000 Points was no small amount. Buying this skill right now would drain my wallet almost completely dry.

After all, I still had other upgrades to go through and some items to purchase.

Still...

At least I knew exactly what I wanted to purchase next.

*****

The next morning...

"Hnnnngghh!!!"

Gopuran woke up first, stretching her arms wide with a huge yawn.

Meanwhile, Gopuro was still fast asleep, snoring loudly like a horse. He was wearing nothing but a simple loincloth, completely oblivious to the world around him.

Gopuran stared at her dear brother for a moment, her eyes slowly narrowing with a mischievous glint.

Then...

PLAP!

She slapped his fat butt cheeks so hard it made a loud, explosive sound that echoed through the hall and scared the shit out of the sleeping birds!

"AAAA!"

Gopuro jolted awake, flailing around like a fish out of water before frantically rubbing his stinging ass with both hands. A bright red handprint was clearly visible against his green skin.

He sat up and stared at Gopuran in complete confusion, while she simply giggled innocently.

"P-Puran? Why?! WHY?!" the dude cried in disbelief, his eyes already watering dramatically.

"Come on, Puro! Time for a quest! Big Boss is waiting!" Gopuran grinned widely.

Haha, seems like things are already getting lively this early in the morning!

I couldn’t help but smile as well.

These two were so silly and entertaining that they had already made me laugh more times than I could count.

Anyway, now was the time.

Time to flex my new skills and my upgraded Goblish!

"Ahem! Good morning, guys," I began, using [Ruler’s Voice] to send my words directly into both of their minds in fluent Goblish. "Mic test, 1 2 1 2... How was your sleep? Did you sleep well?"

The moment they heard my voice, both goblins froze on the spot.

Their faces twisted into expressions of pure shock, as if they had just seen a ghost.

"Come on! It’s me!"

"B-B-Big Boss...?" Gopuro muttered, his lips trembling.

"What? You... you can speak?!" Gopuran’s eyes widened in disbelief.

"Of course I can speak!" I replied.

"UWOOOOHHHH!"

Gopuro suddenly shouted, pumping his fist wildly into the air with unrestrained excitement.

"Big Boss can speak Goblish now! And Big Boss is speaking with such a MANLY VOICE!"

"YEAH!" Gopuran cheered right along with him, her eyes sparkling. "And Big Boss’s voice is so cool!"

And just like that, my first real conversation with my citizens got off to an unexpectedly intense start.

For the next few moments, these two silly goblins kept worshiping me with exaggerated enthusiasm, showering me with a nonstop stream of praise.

"Big Boss is so strong!"

"Big Boss is the smartest!"

"Big Boss’s voice is so manly and powerful!"

Though, regarding my voice...

It wasn’t actually my original voice.

It was the voice I had carefully configured when I first set up the [Ruler’s Voice] skill.

While they were still fast asleep last night, I had spent some time messing around with the settings. The skill let me change my voice however I wanted. Whether it was a super deep, rumbling demonic voice, a high-pitched kawaii anime loli girl voice, or even a sultry, sexy hot-mommy voice, everything was possible through the power of the System.

But of course, I would cringe myself into another dimension if I actually used one of those exaggerated voices in a real conversation.

So I had settled on something more... restrained, yet still carrying enough natural authority and gravitas to make it sound like the voice of a proper ruler.

That was when I suddenly remembered a certain God of Rock from the gacha game Fantasy Impact that I used to play.

But... for some reason, I seemed to have underestimated just how ridiculously manly his voice actually was. Apparently, I had accidentally given myself the kind of deep, raspy, manly ASMR voice that could make even the straightest man question his own sexuality for a second.

Either way, it felt incredibly nice to finally be able to talk to someone after so long. A warm wave of joy washed over me as I listened to their excited voices.

After spending so many days trapped inside my own castle, being able to actually have a real conversation with someone felt surprisingly wonderful.

It was also pretty interesting how naturally they referred to me as "Big Boss."

Compared to something more formal like "My Lord" or "My God," it felt much closer, friendlier, and honestly... a lot more fun.

Maybe "Big Boss" wasn’t such a bad title after all!

****

As the initial greeting died down, I was once again showered with a barrage of eager questions.

"Big Boss, where are you?" Gopuro asked, turning his head left and right, scanning the hall with wide, curious eyes as if trying to spot a hidden figure somewhere in the shadows.

"Big Boss, did you build this place?" Gopuran followed up.

"Are you... a god?" Gopuro added.

Well, I was a castle. I had no flesh-and-blood body to show them.

And as for who I truly was...

Hmmm... a god, huh?