Heading to the Shinana Forest
While Father and Raziel were talking with the village chief, Brother Gerald and I decided to go hunting in the forest.
Father was paying for our lodging, but I wanted to help the villagers secure some food if possible.
So, I asked Atre if he knew where orcs might be, and he said he did.
We also couldn’t afford to let the village be attacked again, so we decided to hunt with two of the knights accompanying us.
“Oh, Meyer, were you coming along too?”
It was Knight Meyer, who always rode with me when we went to the Great Forest.
“Wilson and I have been officially assigned as your personal guards. When you go out, we are automatically added to your escort team.”
I glanced at Wilson beside him, and he nodded. Wilson was also always near me when we went into the Great Forest.
“I didn’t know… Sorry.” I apologized.
Brother Gerald just smiled.
With Atre leading the way, we moved through the forest toward the orcs.
Brother Gerald said, “Normally, no one would willingly go where orcs are. We can’t let too many knights find out about how freely you think, Hardt. If word got out, your reputation would have spread even more. So, be grateful to Meyer, Wilson, and the others.”
Ah, so that’s why. Even before the World Tree incident, whenever I went into the Great Forest, it was always Captain Kyle’s unit accompanying me.
I really need to properly thank everyone.
Atre suddenly stopped. Wilson went ahead to scout and soon returned.
Just ahead was a cave that seemed to be an orc dwelling. There were three of them at the entrance, but he couldn’t tell how many were inside.
Could there be quite a few orcs living here?
“Hey, do we have any Sleep Grass right now? If we burn it and fill the cave with smoke, wouldn’t the orcs fall asleep?”
“It’s worth a try. Even if it doesn’t work on the ones deeper inside, the ones near the entrance should either fall asleep or at least move slower than usual. If we lure them out with the smoke, they’ll also be easier to handle.”
“First, let’s take care of the orcs in front of the cave.” Said Meyer and Brother Gerald.
Brother Gerald, Meyer, and Wilson each took down one orc with magic effortlessly.
While Wilson stored the three orcs in a magic bag, Brother Gerald and Meyer burned the Sleep Grass at the cave entrance.
Meyer then used wind magic to send the smoke deep inside the cave, and we moved back a little, waiting for the orcs to emerge.
Soon, loud thudding footsteps echoed from within.
“They’re coming!” Meyer shouted.
This time, I joined in using water magic.
I had learned Waterball, but its power wasn’t great when thrown from a distance.
Maybe I could try a different approach… like suffocating an orc by covering its head with a sphere of water? Let’s give it a shot.
Six orcs emerged from the cave. One of them was larger than the others.
“There’s an Orc General!” Brother Gerald said as he cut down an orc in front of him.
The big one at the very back must be the Orc General.
I aimed a water sphere at its head, but I missed. I fired another one, and this time, it hit, completely covering its face.
The Orc General, unable to breathe, rolled around wildly, then gradually stopped moving.
I did it! It worked!
When I looked around to check the situation, the other five orcs had already been defeated as well.
“Hardt, I want to hear how you took it down, but we might still have orcs in the cave. Tell me later.” Brother Gerald said.
“Agreed. We need to finish off the orcs inside first.” Meyer added.
Wilson and Brother Gerald took the front line, while Meyer covered me from behind as we entered the cave.
Inside, we found orcs either sleeping or groaning weakly, unable to move properly.
We took them down and stored their remains in the magic bag as we went.
The cave wasn’t very deep, and we soon reached a dead end.
“We need to hurry back to the village. Some orcs that were out might return. We should also submit a request to the Adventurers’ Guild for further action.” Meyer suggested.
Brother Gerald agreed, and we quickly made our way back to the village.
Twelve orcs and one Orc General—a total of thirteen. That was quite a lot.
What do you think about this chapter?
