These three really do get along well with each other, don’t they?
“Anyway, should I start chopping some trees down?” I asked.
“Hold your horses. Hm... Yep, looks like this was where those lumberjacks were attacked. Some of these trees have only been cut into once or twice.”
“Well, should we make a big noise on purpose and draw the monsters here, then?”
“Are you an idiot, Karina? Then we’d be surrounded by orcs! Wait—no, I guess you’d manage, huh?”
“Most likely! I’ve never gone hunting before, but orcs die if you lop off their heads, right? Wait, or is an orc’s neck several times as thick and sturdy as a log?”
“No, a log would be sturdier. In the first place, I’ve never heard of a monster that didn’t die after losing its head, so just imagining a monster like that freaks me out. Er... Just be sure to protect us too, okay?”
C’mon, Blade, don’t be such a coward.
I quickly finished felling the trees in the area, and I deliberately did so as loudly as possible, neither reducing the noise nor breaking the fall of the trees with spatial magic. The birds in the area got spooked by the ruckus and flew away.
“What do people normally do to mask all this commotion when they log?” I asked.
“Nothing. They just watch the area and stay on guard in case a monster attacks.”
“So basically what we’re doing right now, then. Oh, look, goblins.”
Three goblins appeared, coming from deeper into the forest. They looked wary of us. Should I take them out?
“That’s strange. They’ve noticed us, yet they’re not attacking.”
“Meaning normally goblins are the type to attack on sight?” I asked.
“They’re more likely to attack when they’re in groups. In other words, this could be bad.” Blade replied, looking anxious.
Oh, the goblins seem to be keeping their distance too. “Are goblins even intelligent enough to realize the benefit of attacking in groups?” I asked. “They’re monsters, right?”
“Well, about that. When goblins settle and build their own villages and such, there’s a chance that superior goblin races will be born. And when they come into the picture, all the goblins in the village become smarter.”
Apparently, they could learn to overwhelm tougher enemies with numbers, learn what it means when humans say “wait,” or learn to run from foes they had no chance of winning against. That made them all the more dangerous. And this forest was the goblins’ turf. If they escaped into territory they were familiar with, they wouldn’t be as easy to defeat.
“In other words, there’s a chance they’ve built a village somewhere here, and one of these superior goblins is around.”
“Then the reason they haven’t attacked is because they’re waiting for something that can win against us,” I finished.
“You got it. Which means... You gotta be kidding me. The goblins brought an orc here to do the job?” Blade groaned.
As he spoke, two orcs joined up with the group of goblins. They were both huge, green, bipedal, and piglike creatures.
“Huh, would you look at that. Goblins and orcs, forming an alliance. Well, they do look similar, I guess.”
“No, no, they’re completely different! Normally they’d never join forces! This is even worse than I imagined. Time to retreat. We’ll back away veeery slowly...”
“Huh? Can we not just kill ’em?” I asked.
“Right...you’re here. I almost forgot. If you think you can take them, then sure, go nuts.”
“Roger that. Air Cutter!”
Swoosh! I decapitated all of the goblins and orcs in one fell swoop. Easy peasy.
“I-I just kind of said it not really expecting anything, but you really did take them out! Now let’s get out of here, before their blood attracts more of them. As for the quest, I think we’ve gathered plenty of information for one day.”
“Huh? We’re not gonna collect their remains? I’ve been dabbling in alchemy lately, so I’d like some more magic stones. And are we just gonna leave the logs behind?”
“All right, fine. You’ve got ten minutes, then we’re leaving. Staying any longer than that would be far too risky.”
“Then I’ll finish this up in ten minutes, no problem. The logging too.”
“Oh, right! With your logging ability, we’ll probably make it with time to spare. Man, you’re so skilled that it messes my judgment up big-time...”
Er, you should already know what I’m capable of, right? Otherwise you wouldn’t have asked me to go logging with you in the first place. Did you forget? Well, I guess the fact that he hadn’t planned to rely on me proves his own reliability, in a way.
“Oh, since we already have these wagons, how about we take both orc corpses back with us?” he said. “Orc meat is pretty tasty.”
“Would they sell for more than lumber, you think?”
“Well, a decent bit more, yeah.”
And so, we tied the orc corpses onto the wagon—on top of the logs—and made our way back to the town.
Upon returning, we delivered the lumber we’d gathered and reported the results, then went back to the same spot in the forest to gather more logs.
“We retreated temporarily because it was too risky to continue, right? So was it really okay to come back here so soon?” I asked.
“Well, we’re also here to investigate, right?” Blade said. “Now that some time has passed, we might see some more interesting things. Normally at this point we wouldn’t even be risking logging, you know? We’d check things out as safely as we possibly could, then head back to town.”
“But I’m here now, so today’s an exception. Right?”
“You got it. Therefore, I’m counting on you, my reliable protégé!”
Considering his debt to Harumikazuchi, I’d say he also wanted to do an extra round trip’s worth of logging, which was only possible with me helping out.
“Then while I’m chopping down these trees, you senior adventurers handle the investigating. We’ll play to each of our strengths!”
“Roger that! Leave the scouting to us!”
I cut down more trees and loaded them on the cart. As long as I got them all cut down first, we could just flee if something happened.
“That’s strange, the corpses we left behind are gone. Did the goblins take them?”
“Why would they do that? Some other monster probably ate ’em. Except... It doesn’t feel like a monster’s been here.”
“The goblin settlement’s that way. There’s no sign that they dragged the bodies off, but there are some footprints. A bunch of ’em.”
Ooh, looks as though they really are investigating this seriously. They actually sound like experienced adventurers!
“Hey guys, the logging’s done.” I announced.
“Fast as usual, Karina!” Blade said. “All right, now let’s make ourselves scarce. No reason to stick around here any longer.”
“By the way, I spotted some goblins watching us, so I took ’em out.”
“Tell us that next time! Oh, wait, you just did. Then tell us that first! Honestly, what am I gonna do with you... Wait, those aren’t goblins, they’re orc assassins! Superior orcs!”
Seriously? Come to think of it, they did look a little taller than the average goblin. “Huh? But compared to those orcs we saw before, they’re so skinny. They’ve got no substance. Are they really a superior breed? They don’t even look that tasty.”
“Karina, monsters don’t breed superior versions of themselves just so they can taste better.”
“Oh, right. Guess not!”
Anyway, we decided to gather up the orc assassin corpses and fasten them on top of the logs in the wagon. There was something going on deep in the forest, and at least now we knew there had to be settlements of goblins and orcs farther in. What’s more, there were superior orcs at the orc settlement. While I didn’t have any concrete proof, something told me that the sacred treasure was in that village.
Back at the guild, we received our reward for the lumber and the monsters we’d exterminated. Including the reward for the scouting quest, it was an awfully large sum for an extermination, so we were all smiles.
“Now then, about the goblin and orc settlements...” I muttered to myself. “How should I handle this? Wait, shit—Blade and the others already reported it to the guild, didn’t they?!”
Indeed, the members of Sun Bacchus had already shared the results of their investigation—meaning it had already become public knowledge. Now I couldn’t just carelessly get involved. Curses... If only I’d asked Blade and the others to keep quiet, I could’ve gone in there and taken care of things on the sly, and we could’ve had a swift, happy ending where everyone profited! (Everyone except the goblins, that is.)
“At this point, maybe I should just get them to attack the town,” I mused. “Then the adventurers here would band together to eliminate the threat. Then I could say I got all fired up from the attack and went on to destroy the settlement in revenge.” And among all those adventurers, I doubt anyone would notice me sneak away either. Not a bad plan, Karina!
“On second thought, there’s no telling how much time all that would take. Hmm... I’d better rethink it.” Guess that plan won’t work after all—or so I thought, but unbelievably, the orcs ended up attacking the town on their own the very next day! Seriously?! Talk about a lucky coincidence!