The Good Orc
The Good Orc
I was just surprised because I hadn't expected Yekaterina, whom I'd considered a Perfect Warrior, to have a weakness. I didn't have any intention of teasing her about it, so I was going to let it slide.
"I'm good at climbing high places. In Ravil..."
But Yekaterina herself started fumbling through cute excuses like someone whose worst past sin had just been exposed. I mean, stories about how she'd climbed the tallest tree in the Ravil Dragon Bone Mountains and such definitely sounded extraordinary... but since she was just rattling them off to try to prove she didn't have acrophobia, they somehow felt like achievements built through little childhood adventures, so they didn't leave much of an impression.
After I made proper apologies to Bisquente and we moved to a different spot, Yekaterina kept denying her acrophobia until I finally played along, and only then did she stop talking with satisfaction.
No, wait a moment. Did she really believe that excuse worked and that's why she looked so confident? Had the Civilization Warrior persona she'd occasionally shown me actually been a complete airhead all along? Watching that, I found myself wanting to someday drag Yekaterina into an Eldmia-style wyvern dive once she learned to use aura, just to show her a world of pain.
"So the others are arriving by wyvern later?"
"No. I'm the only one who came this time."
"Huh? Weren't you traveling as a party?"
When I asked back, surprised by the unexpected answer, Yekaterina smacked her lips and explained.
"Rellie always holes up in her room doing research once winter hits, and Mr. Gin said he had some business and was helping out at an acquaintance's workshop. And Gaendal decided to visit his hometown this winter. It's a remote mountain village that doesn't get many visitors, so he goes down in the winter now and then to clear out the area around the village, he said."
Just like cities want to keep adventurers close during the winter, even small villages, if possible, want adventurers who can handle the monsters attacking them throughout the season. Naturally, it costs a lot of money, so they usually can't even afford to hire a blue-rank adventurer. To think he'd look after his hometown to that extent.
"Hah, a village that uses a red-rank adventurer as a winter guard. That's something to brag about anywhere."
"Hahaha! You said it. Anyway, that's why I'm the only one here."
It was disappointing news, but I was truly relieved that at least Yekaterina hadn't gone anywhere. Honestly, in the current situation, she was a more reliable comrade than anyone else.
"I'm really glad nothing came up for you, Yekaterina. I was already looking at defending the village against orcs and thinking it wouldn't be easy. You've taken a weight off my shoulders."
When it came to dealing with bastards like orcs, Yekaterina and Mr. Gin were the optimal candidates from the start. The mage Rellie was essential too, but since orcs were the type to just bull rush with their bodies, protecting a mage wasn't easy either. Because even if you roasted a dozen of them at once, another dozen would just trample the charred corpses and charge in right behind them.
Since I was currently working alongside Bisquente, we agreed to go over the details later during a meal. I told her the location of the hall and headed back to my spot. As I did, Bisquente, who had been studying Yekaterina with deep interest, casually tossed me a question.
"Is that person, by any chance, the famous Siege Ram Yekaterina?"
"Uh... I think there was a nickname like that. How did you know?"
I'd already learned well enough from our short conversations that he was deeply interested in various rumors and stories, but he even knew about Yekaterina? I wondered if he had a huge interest in adventurers too, but the answer that came back was unexpected.
"About three years ago, she briefly displayed her formidable prowess on the western battlefields, where territorial wars are frequent, and her fame spread far and wide. They say that in one territory, her war hammer dented an iron castle gate so badly that a person could walk through without even ducking their head."
What the hell had she been up to? It was an absurd story, but it seemed so impossibly plausible that I couldn't even manage a proper reaction before Bisquente burst into a dry laugh and continued.
"Oh dear, you didn't know. I understand the 'Siege Ram' nickname was born then, too."
"Up until now I just thought she was called that because her war hammer is as huge as a siege ram."
"I suppose that's not wrong either. In any case, she was extremely famous back then—people said a dragon had descended upon Ravil."
"Dragon... Are you referring to those called the Dragon Blood Clan of Ravil?"
"Correct. They are a clan who believe their ancestors inherited the blood of a dragon. The surrounding nations keep quiet about it, but... among Ravil's heroes, people with steel-like skin or those who can walk through fire really do appear from time to time, so the truth of it is highly likely."
And that meant there was a real possibility that Yekaterina had received her monstrous strength from that trait. This was a continuous chain of surprises. Come to think of it, she'd said at our first meeting that she had some level of spirit affinity, too. Maybe that was also part of the bloodline's abilities...
...Huh? Something felt off.
"By any chance, was Yekaterina the only one the rumors spread about back then? Weren't there any rumors about the mage traveling with her?"
"Ah, you must be talking about Rellie, the Star Bearer mage. Don't tell me she's traveling with you as well?"
"Yeah... well, she said personal circumstances kept her from taking this request, but..."
"Ah! Truly a shame. The chance to see people worthy of being called heroes is not a common one..."
Bisquente expressed strong disappointment, but I was too busy chewing over old memories to even properly chime in.
I was certain that on the day I met Rellie in the market after getting out of jail for raiding Envelde's mansion, she'd told me she acquired her knowledge of reagent crafting in Ravil and started traveling with Yekaterina. And when I first asked her about the Dragon Blood Clan that the blowhard Gish had mentioned... she had definitely answered as if it was nothing more than rumor-level hearsay.
As if it had absolutely nothing to do with Yekaterina.
"Still, even one of them coming is worth a thousand troops. It seems I'll have plenty of stories to tell my father when I return."
Even though the polite Bisquente had seen Yekaterina floundering right in front of him trying to refute my claim about her acrophobia, he acted as if none of that had ever happened, earning my admiration once again. But my head was too tangled from the sudden information for that reaction to last long.
I didn't know the details, but Rellie clearly had an unusually close bond with Yekaterina. Enough to call her by the pet name 'Kasha' when she was drunk. There was no way she didn't know the battlefield stories I'd just heard from Bisquente.
Was she hiding it? Why? Because we weren't close yet? Or was there a real reason? If it was the latter, what reason did she have to hide being part of the Dragon Blood Clan?
"Tsk... could she actually be royalty or something...?"
It left a slightly unpleasant aftertaste, but I decided to shake my head once and shove it somewhere deep in my mind. It's not like it had caused me any harm, and they probably had their own circumstances. It didn't seem like she was living on the run from anything either, so it wasn't likely to get me tangled up in anything bad.
Even if something did happen, I wasn't about to turn my back on one of the few competent comrades I had.
After I sorted out my thoughts like that, time passed without any major incidents. Just greeting the steady stream of arriving adventurers and occasionally exchanging opinions on the current situation with Bisquente was enough to make the sun start setting before I knew it.
"So, the theory is that this time it might be caused by a gate that was abandoned, or one that the Demonfolk installed arbitrarily."
"It might sound like a wild tale, but personally, I think that's it. Having experienced it firsthand in the Empire, those bastards have the manpower to construct gates on their own."
Since the story of first discovering the Demonfolk's gate in the abandoned dungeon was strictly confidential and couldn't be mentioned here, I used the Empire as an example instead. Bisquente nodded with a serious face and took my opinion seriously.
"If that's the case, I'd almost rather hope that gate was installed by the Demonfolk. If it's a gate from ancient times, I think that might be a bigger headache."
"May I ask why?"
"As you know, current magical engineering is limited by its regression and has restrictions on gate distance, but that wasn't the case in the gloriously radiant ancient era. Imagine that gate connects all the way from the orcs' Great Grassland. Depending on the location, but if these orcs turn out to be the ones holding the greatest power in the Great Grassland... the orcs Sir Ega discovered would be nothing more than an advance force."
At Bisquente's words, sharply digging into a point I hadn't even considered, I unknowingly grew serious along with him. Honestly, I had absolutely no idea how many of those green monsters actually lived in the place called the Great Grassland beyond the western kingdoms, but Bisquente didn't seem like the type to worry prematurely over nothing.
And sure enough, he swiftly wiped the serious look off his face and spoke cheerfully, as if trying to clear the atmosphere.
"I was taught that while it's right to remain vigilant against unknown factors, worrying about them is a problem. For now, the correct choice is to wait for Asilie to finish her reconnaissance and return."
Truly a wise guy. After wrapping up our brief contemplation, we stayed put until the pilot of the last wyvern—flying in against the sky where the evening glow had begun to spread—informed us that no more adventurers would be coming today. Only then did we leave and head for the hall.
The adventurers who'd arrived just today numbered around fifty. Thirty red-rank and twenty blue-rank, so you could say our forces had been replenished in an instant.
"The adventurers are increasing, and the orcs are quiet for a day..."
It was truly a day fitting to be called the calm before the storm, but if it was fortunate, it was fortunate.
I was thinking positively and figuring it was about time for Asilie to return. I hadn't taken many steps before Asilie materialized like a ghost in the distance.
To be precise, I spotted her a bit late—she seemed to have already noticed me from far off and came running, waving her hand first. At first, a smile naturally rose at the sight, but as the distance closed, I realized her face was quite grim and knew instinctively that something had happened.
"Eldi! The orcs have multiplied!"
No matter where you go in the world, shitty clichés always seem to come true.