Chapter 29: Securing Orc Meat, and Helping People Along the Way
I woke up in the attic of a dilapidated house in the slums of the Royal Capital, stretched my back, and then went outside.
Well then, today I’ll go take a look at the area outside the Royal Capital. I need to figure out what kind of monsters are where, and find something I can give to the people who have been kind enough to give me food.
That being said, sneaking in the back of a wagon every single time is too risky. I need to figure out a way to go back and forth between the city and the outside…
I came to the defensive wall facing the slums. The wall, probably made by hardening earth, was about 10 meters high.
(I guess I’ll try running up it for now.)
I used Life Detection to make sure there was no one nearby, and then ran up the wall in one go.
(Yeah, I was able to climb it easily.)
It was early in the morning, so there weren’t many people around, but it might be noticeable if I did this during the day. In that case, it might be better to start moving after dark.
Anyway, since I was able to get over the wall today, I’ll just head outside.
According to the information I’ve gathered, there’s the town of “Weber” to the north of the Royal Capital of the Verdelin Kingdom, the town of “Maurice” to the east, and the town of “Gargandi” to the south. And of course, to the west, there’s the Underground Labyrinth, “Heaven’s Door.”
I’m planning to stay in the Royal Capital for a while to observe how the people of this world live, so I don’t intend to hole up in the Underground Labyrinth for the time being. Therefore, I need to hunt monsters around this Royal Capital to earn my meals. For now, it would be good if there were Orcs, so I could give some to Ochcho-san at the Orc Tavern…
I passed through the north and west when I was moving, so this time I’ll try going east.
The area around the road leading to the town of Maurice was a grassland with short grass. I could detect rabbit-type monsters and wolf-type monsters here, but no Orcs. It seems to be a good hunting ground for novice Adventurers, as there were several young Adventurer Parties hunting.
They weren’t very appealing prey for me, but since I was here, I hunted about a dozen Horned Rabbits to donate to the orphanage I saw yesterday.
Horned Rabbits are rabbits with a single horn on their forehead, and they’re F-Rank monsters. Even a cat could probably defeat one.
I explored the east side for the entire morning, but I only found some Medicinal Herbs and nothing else. I returned to the Royal Capital, ate the dried fish I received yesterday for lunch, and then decided to investigate the south side.
As I walked along the road towards Gargandi, a large forest appeared to the west. I didn’t know its name, but with this size, there might be Orcs. I quickly sped up and entered the forest.
The first thing I encountered in this forest was a Goblin. They were small, humanoid monsters with pale green skin, and their strength as a single E-Rank monster wasn’t that great. However, these Goblins always acted in groups, and many novice parties were defeated by their numbers.
Well, once you reach a certain level of skill, it probably doesn’t matter how many Goblins come at you.
This time, there were no higher-ranking species like the ones I defeated in the Underground Labyrinth, so I just decapitated them with Air Cutter.
Then, I encountered my old friend, the Worm, and found a tree that bore fruit like the apples I got from the greengrocer, so I put a large amount of the fruit into my Item Box. This should prevent me from starving for a while.
After wandering around the forest for about an hour, I finally found the Orcs I was looking for. D-Rank Orcs are larger and stronger than Goblins, but they were no match for me. I was about to defeat them right away, but they were walking straight towards a certain direction, so I wondered if they were building a village and decided to follow them.
I think I heard at the Adventurer Guild yesterday that there had been an increase in Orc sightings. Orcs are said to kidnap and eat humans, and do terrible things to women to make them bear children. It seems to be common sense for the people of this world to exterminate them immediately if they are found.
As a former human, I cannot allow such actions.
I followed the Orcs for a little over an hour. As expected, the Orcs were using an abandoned village to build a settlement. There were about 100 of them. This was quite a large settlement. My Life Detection picked up higher-ranking Orcs, Orc Knights and Orc Mages. And the strongest reaction at the very back seemed to be the Orc King.
To think that there was such a large settlement near the Royal Capital, perhaps the combat abilities of the people in this world were lower than I thought.
That being said, for me, who is D-Rank but has almost the same stats as an A-Rank monster, these Orcs were not a difficult opponent. I boldly charged into the Orc settlement from the front.
“BumoOOOOOO!”
Although they were humanoid monsters, they didn’t seem to be able to speak. Well, maybe some of them can communicate if they rank up.
One of the Orcs who found me let out a roar. In response to that voice, the Orcs around gathered. However, upon seeing me, their tense expressions changed to sloppy smiles. It was as if they didn’t recognize me as an enemy at all.
“Nyaa~”
I was annoyed by their attitude, so I tried meowing, but the unexpectedly cute meow seemed to have the opposite effect. Some of the Orcs went back to their original places, looking uninterested.
(Well, shall I start the Orc extermination… Shining Rain!)
The Light Magic, 3rd Tier “Shining Rain,” that I released poured down on the Orcs, who were dumbfounded by the sudden appearance of the light beams.
“Gugyaaaaaa!”
A dozen or so Orcs nearby fell down, their bodies riddled with holes. Hearing their screams, other Orcs came rushing out with whatever weapons they had in their hands.
However, the Orcs couldn’t find me because my figure was hidden in the shadows of the fallen Orcs. They looked around, searching for the intruder, which was quite comical.
(Okay, from here on out, I’ll try to defeat them without hurting them as much as possible.)
My primary goal was to secure Orc meat. I didn’t think that Orcs riddled with holes from Shining Rain would be suitable as souvenirs for Ochcho-san.
(Then, I guess it’s this, Thunder Lance!)
Thunder Magic, 4th Tier “Thunder Lance.” A lightning arrow, thinned to the extreme and moving at the speed of sound, pierced the Orc’s head. The Orc, struck by a small lightning bolt in the head, died standing up and fell over.
(Hmm, if I use it well, maybe I can even cook the meat with this!?)
I thought such an inappropriate thing while looking at the Orc falling over with smoke coming out of its face.
After defeating several dozen more Orcs, I realized that I could suffocate them with Water Magic to avoid damaging them further, so I changed Water Bullet to be large and soft to cover their faces, and used Maelstrom to suffocate several Orcs at once. Watching the Orcs die in agony, I reflected a little on how cruel my method of defeating them was, even if it was to avoid damaging them.
After defeating most of the Orcs in the settlement, the Orc King appeared, leading Orc Knights and Orc Mages. He seemed to be extremely enraged by the slaughter of his comrades.
That being said, the Orc Knights and Orc Mages were D+ Rank, and the Orc King was a C-Rank monster. They were not opponents to be feared for me, who could defeat A-Rank monsters. Even so, why didn’t the Orcs choose to flee even after so many of their comrades were killed? Were they loyal or just stupid…
While I was staring at the Orc King and his group, the Orc Mage began chanting, and the Orc Knight swung his sword and approached. The Orc King was closing the distance from behind the Orc Knight. He probably intended to attack me while I was facing the Orc Mage and Orc Knight.
(Well, what should I do?)
I had already annihilated all the other Orcs. If these three higher-ranking species were to flee, I wouldn’t have bothered to chase them. But if they were going to attack me, that was a different story.
I first targeted the Orc Mage and jumped. Their agility was only about 100. There was no way they could keep up with my movements, which exceeded 300. With a “shush” sound, fresh blood spurted from the Orc Mage’s neck. I had slashed it with my claws as I passed by. Actually, my claws are excellent, as they can extend and retract freely.
The Orc King and Orc Knight were surprised by my sudden appearance behind them.
(I don’t think they have time to be surprised.)
I landed on the ground and immediately turned around, this time biting off the Orc Knight’s head.
(Ugh, a little blood got in my mouth…)
I tried using my sharp fangs, but it seems it was a failure.
Anyway, the Orc King, witnessing me defeat two Orcs in the blink of an eye, clearly showed fear on its face.
(This is the end.)
A hole appeared in the Orc King’s brow as it stood frozen in terror. My Shining Arrow had pierced through the Orc’s head.
Having easily defeated the superior Orc, I put the Orc’s corpse into my Item Box and washed away the blood with Water Magic. Using Life Detection to check if there were any Orcs left, I found a reaction a little ways away that was different from Orcs. It was probably a human.
Come to think of it, when the Orcs were being discussed at the guild, they mentioned that some people had been kidnapped. I had listened to it like it was someone else’s problem back then, but since I’m here, I might as well help them.
I broke the lock on the door of a building that seemed relatively sturdy for a ruined village and found three humans crammed inside. Two young women and one little girl. So it was true that Orcs liked women. How outrageous.
All three of them had probably been kidnapped relatively recently, as there were no signs of abuse and they didn’t seem injured. However, they were terribly frightened, huddled together in a corner of the building, trembling.
“Nyaa~”
For now, I tried my best to make a cute meow. The two women flinched at my meow, but the little girl happily ran up to me and started stroking my body. Reassured by that, the two women cautiously reached out and touched my head.
From there, they seemed to be mesmerized by my wonderful fur, forgetting their fear and continuing to stroke my head for a while.
After enjoying my fur for a good while, the three of them realized how strange this situation was. They hurriedly approached the door I had opened and cautiously peeked outside. When they realized that all the Orcs that had been outside the building were gone, they picked me up and fled from the ruined village.
The three, probably just town girls, ran desperately through the forest towards the Royal Capital. They weren’t very physically fit, and they fell many times, but they didn’t stop running. They must have been terrified of being kidnapped by the Orcs, as they didn’t rest even when night fell.
Of course, there were many other Monsters in the forest. Women and a child, running without weapons, were easy prey. In fact, countless Monsters were targeting them, but I defeated them all with magic. They didn’t seem to notice it at all.
After running like this, the three finally made it out of the forest in the morning. After walking a little further, they encountered Adventurers who had come looking for them. These Adventurers were a group that had taken on a quest commissioned by the families of the kidnapped women, who had pooled their money.
There were nine of them, a D-Rank party of four and an E-Rank party of five, but I think they would have been wiped out if they had gone to the Orc village.
I thought this yesterday too, but there might not be that many strong Adventurers.
I would think that the Knights would be dispatched in some cases, but maybe there are some circumstances.
Anyway, I was able to get a lot of Orc meat, so I decided to return to the Royal Capital with these people. I know I would be much faster if I ran myself, but I couldn’t waste the experience of being held by a woman…