Chapter 58: Chapter 58: Raid

Translator: ShiroiKaze/Soyokaze Translations

What suddenly appeared were giants who were nigh on 5 meters tall.

Where were these massive figures lurking around? With their physique, just walking caused the ground to shake, as one let off a surprise blow.

The guy who ate the brunt of that hit was the healer from the quarreling party.

He was blown away several meters at great speed, then hit the ground.

His chest is still moving, so he must still be breathing, but his limbs are twisted in unnatural directions, and he doesn’t appear to be conscious anymore.

The first to react was, of course, Haster. With how long he was a mercenary, he’s able to immediately respond to crises.

“Yuuri, get back!”

The second attack, which should have exacerbated the damage… The same kind of blow that easily blew a person away, was easily stopped with Cleaver.

While taking some distance, I checked our current state.

What stood before us were giant creatures known as trolls.

The blows given from their massive physiques possess power that practically spits in the face of techniques and skill. They’re monsters who have turned countless warriors into chunks of meat.

And there are five of them.

Their rock-like skin could more appropriately be called a shell, it’s so hard and tough. And in that very appearance lies their secret.

In other words, these things… They’ve probably been lurking here in this rocky area all along.

They’re enemies that we normally should have noticed.

But we were too busy keeping each other in check, and shouting.

Instead of our attention being on what was around us, it was turned inward.

We let our guards down completely.

“They’re trolls! Five of them! They’ve already got us surrounded in a close formation!”

Mister Oreas briefly described the situation, and starts giving orders to the others.

“Leave healing the injured for later! Each party can take one of the trolls. Warriors, don’t let them get through!”

For the sake of supporting Haster, who’s holding the enemy back, he molds magic power from behind.

But it would seem he didn’t need to do something like that.

Though the troll swung its club around with strength exceeding that of five people, it was met with even greater strength and weight behind Cleaver’s attack.

On top of that, with [Acceleration] activating in assistance, it demonstrated unbelievable power as it turned the club to sawdust, and subsequently crushed the troll on the other end of that club.

A sound similar to a water bag bursting sounded as a flower of blood bloomed.

“… Urp?!”

That uhh… While I am its developer, that sight is gruesome. It’s truly an appalling sight. I think I might puke.

But that’s the only direction I won’t be able to keep my view towards. Just looking at that gruesome corpse makes me feel sick.

In any case, there’s no way a collection of intermediate level adventurers are going to be able to deal well with four trolls.

I pull Third Eye (Revised) from my waist, nock an arrow, and choose a target.

The most I can use [Body Reinforcement] in a day is three times. If I’m going to use magic, then I should hold on to a little bit more, but… This is no time to conserve energy.

One of the warriors is holding his shield out in front to meet a troll with, and just as that monster is about to bring his club down on the warrior’s head, I shoot my arrow at it!

“GOAAAAGYABUH?!”

As it lets out a war cry, certain of its victory, an iron arrow surpassing the speed of sound slams into its face, and it also is pulverized.

Hmmm… Are the weapons I make a bit overpowered?

“I’ll smash that beautiful face of yours into… Er, it was actually a beastly face, though.”

I tried muttering the signature phrase in a manga I saw somewhere.

Mister Oreas also shoots off a ridiculously powered up [Flame Arrow] from his dragon claw staff, delivering a fatal wound to another one of them.

Now with two remaining, the ones panicking from the surprise attack righted their stances.

“Hum, the ones who didn’t drag their feet to the very end would be those who’ve had plenty of experience I suppose?”

If Haster hadn’t stepped out in front front of me and exposed himself to danger, then even I probably would have lost myself in a panic and been crushed.

The vanguard blocks the enemy attacks, and mister Oreas gets ready to deliver the finishing blows, while I head over toward the healer that was first hit to treat him.

My healing magic is at a novice’s level, but supplementing my lack of skill with magic power should make that no problem.

I have knowledge of skeletal structure, so I roughly return the bones to their original place… Urp.

Connect the nerves… Huueeh…

Then I just promote his natural healing ability, and he’s more-or-less back to his old self.

That umm… I’m a little weak to that grotesque imagery; I did a more-or-less adequate job, but… Well, there shouldn’t be any issues. Probably.

“Uh… Kua….”

It would seem that he’s regaining consciousness now that his wounds are healed.

Having such grave wounds healed is gonna raise all sorts of suspicions, so I’ll quickly move away from where he is. Fortunately, the only one who had a chance to pay attention over here was Haster it would seem.

With an oblivious look on my face, I returned to his side, and he gave me an inconspicuous thumbs up. Ehehe…

“Alright, we can win this!”

“Anyone injured, step back, and switch in once you’re healed!”

“Don’t try to attack with swords! Kill them with magic!”

It would appear that with only two of them left, the prospects are leaning in our favor.

At this point I just need to sit back and watch to make sure they don’t make a comeback.

~*~

“Hey, is Poulson really okay?”

“Yeah, aside from the bleeding, he didn’t take any serious injuries. We won’t have any trouble continuing our search now.”

“Thank goodness. I thought it might have been fatal.”

It would have been fatal if left alone, though.

After fighting back the trolls, we treated our injured and searched our surroundings.

It would seem the first guy who got hit was called Poulson. He appeared to have no memory of me healing him, giving me a sense of relief.

“Sorry, Poulson. I got in a fight over leadership and neglected to check the area.”

“We got a little carried away too… Sorry about that.”

“Naw, there’s nothing you could have done about that surprise attack.”

Naturally, since someone was injured, they couldn’t very well get into a fight over being the boss, and came to a mutual reconciliation.

“And now, thanks to his noble sacrifice, the discord in the party was resolved, and turned into a beautiful harmony.”

“Uh hey, he’s not dead y’know.”

Haster quips at my silly line. Relaxing in that manner for a while, the party members come over to us.

“Uhh, well… Sorry, for treating you like kids. I never would have thought you would to be able to use such a rigid bow.”

“I guess we should have expected as much if Oreas counts on you. That war hammer’s power just about made me piss myself!”

“And of course, its relieving to know that “Wyvern Slayer” Oreas is just as skilled as they say.”

Their judgment of us made a complete turnaround when we offed four of the trolls, all told.

Mister Oreas defeated the last one after that, so our contribution rating rose dramatically.

“We didn’t have any serious injuries, and we got to see the true strength of the rumored hero. Orcs’ll be easy pickings at this rate!”

“Keep saying that and you’ll let your guard down. Then we’ll just get into another bit of trouble like before.”

“Oh, now that you mention it…”

We decided to take turns getting breaks this time, leaving two parties on watch at any moment.

This way we won’t get surprise attacked.

“Agya—!”

Having just finished our meal, Yig came dancing through the air back down from his high altitude surveillance.

What’s he so excited about?

He’s fluttering his wings around, desperately trying to bring my attention to something. It’s cute.

“You’re so cute, Yig—“

In response to his behavior, I spontaneously tried petting his head and neck.

But he was unusually opposed to it. Could it be something urgent?

“What’s wrong?”

“I think he’s trying to tell me something, but I don’t speak dragon.”

“Could it be that he found the orcs?”

Yig bobs his head in a nod. He has a good grasp on what we’re saying; I’m not sure if I should be glad about that, or frustrated by it…

Let’s study dragon language next.

“Can you understand what Yig is saying, Haster? You figured out what he was saying?”

“I doubt there are many things he would come report to us in a hurry for in this situation. The most likely reason was that he found our objective.”

Anyway, if we found their nest, then we’ll have to communicate it. Let’s go speak with the party leaders.

“That said, mister Oreas, please take care of it.”

“Why do I have to go and explain this?”

“Because I have a communication disorder.”

“Communication disorder?”

“Think of it as a fear of talking to people.”

“Oooh, I see…”

In place of myself, who can’t speak with people I’m meeting for the first time, I asked mister Oreas to handle the explanation.

They questioned Yig’s information because they think he’s a winged lizard, but due to their trust in mister Oreas, we headed toward what was apparently the orc nest.

~*~

In the deepest parts of the forest, in a broken and abandoned hunting lodge, they had gathered.

Not even ten of the orcs could fit in the lodge, leaving the ones with lower standing to stay outside, by the looks of it.

From inside came a dog-like cry… It sounds something like language, so maybe they caught some type of animal race?

Come to think of it, since they need “females from other races” for “breeding” purposes… That’s not limited to “humans” in their options.

“Looks like they managed to catch a kobold or something and breed with it…”

“An abandoned hunting lodge, huh. With trolls taking up residence so close, it’s no wonder it was abandoned.”

We speak with the ones who came back from scouting the place. It’s a breath of relief knowing that it wasn’t a person caught in there.

Right, I have to make my request now, or…

“Excuse me, but I want to use an orc for an experiment, so I would like to let one live and capture it if possible?”

“Huh? How the hell would you use it?”

“Well, I guess that depends on what it’s being used for… I’ve made all the preparations for when we get back, so please grant this request of mine.”

Hiring the homosexuals wasn’t exactly cheap, either.

Moreover, they were giving a “weird look” to Haster. He’s in danger from behind.

As such, I would like to finish this quickly, if we can.

“The guards aren’t gonna look fondly on letting it into the city, but…”

“But for that, look, we’ve got mister Oreas with us. And well, I have another connection too.”

Though that connection is none other than myself. I have to make effective use of my title as sage sometimes.

“Well, in that case we’ll help out, but… Our highest priority is not letting them get away.”

“That makes perfect sense.”

Since we know what they caught isn’t a person, we have no interest in protecting it, so the “burn all the orcs to the ground” opinion is probably going to win out.

“So anyway… About our tactics for catching one…”

For a short while, my various thoughts on how to capture and bring in one of the orcs began.