The Ratmen Encounter
Captain. Discovery of trace of unknown creature. 80 steps ahead in the 1 o'clock direction.
Laurel stopped the advance and sent a signal, then turned to the short brown-haired man beside her and gave orders.
The man sent by Laurel's command disappeared into the forest ahead, and after about five minutes, he reappeared.
“How does it look, Patrick?”
“From the shape, it’s definitely a Ratman. Hmm, I thought there were no natural caves in this area. Maybe they’re digging into the soft soil on the slope to use as a hideout?”
“Tch, troublesome… Gina, can you try tracking it?”
Laurel clicked her tongue lightly after hearing Patrick’s report and pointed to the woman with gray hair standing stiffly behind her.
The woman, who hadn’t expected to be called, was startled when Laurel mentioned her name.
“It might get cut off in the middle after some time… but I’ll try anyway.”
Gina was momentarily taken aback but then seemed to steel herself to fulfill her role.
As she approached the beast’s tracks and chanted the spell, thin yellow glowing lines began to extend from the spot.
The lines moved steadily toward the monster’s hideout at a pace neither too fast nor too slow, and the soldiers gathered in small groups, taking a brief break while waiting for the tracking to complete.
“Tracking isn’t always perfect, you know. There are limitations on who you can cast it on, and if the conditions aren’t met, it often gets cut off in the middle. It also takes quite a bit of time, as you can see.”
Laurel couldn’t hold back and came over to my side, chattering away. Even though it was subjugating a low-rank monster, was it okay to show such a relaxed demeanor? Well, since she was skilled, it should be fine.
Her words seemed like advice too. Maybe she had received a separate warning from my father to help me out in various ways.
“That girl joined the mage order last month. And like you, this is her first mission as well. She’s a bit nervous, but she seems to be doing better than expected.”
The gray-haired woman Gina was probably from the mage order. Including Laurel, the participants in the subjugation were all wearing light armor with leather armor, so from appearance, it was impossible to distinguish between the knight order and the mage order.
Knights’ armor was heavy and made clanking noises, while mages’ robes were cumbersome and would interfere with mountain terrain subjugation, so they unified on light armor.
“Edwin, do you know anything about monsters? This is the first time I’ve personally encountered them, though.”
What I know…
Ratmen and goblins are low-rank monsters set as such even in the original work.
Goblins are the familiar ones we always knew, and Ratmen are bipedal like goblins but with rat faces and tails, covered entirely in fur.
Both have good adaptability to the environment and high reproductive ability, so in games, they’re common sights everywhere.
I asked if there was anything else, but Laurel’s knowledge was mostly the same as what I knew.
As Laurel’s explanation was nearing the end, Gina, who had completed the tracking spell, reported.
“Captain. Tracking complete. The line was seen digging into a dirt pile near the mountain ridge ahead. It seems they’ve disguised an entrance there. And since the mana line splits into five directions, it’s estimated that passages are distributed to other sides as well.”
“Hmm…?”
Laurel pondered for a moment, then called the knights and mages closer to give orders for the operation.
“Gina, Patrick. Bill and Colin, come this way too. You will each take one of the other four passages. And when I send the signal, light a fire and push the heat into the cave to seal the entrance. And the rest will wait at the other one open entrance with me.”
They led their respective soldiers and disappeared beyond the forest, and Laurel loosened the club at her waist and held it in her hand. The other soldiers also pulled out similar blunt weapons and formed up.
“Ratman fur is of good quality and can be sold for a decent price. That’s why we use clubs instead of knives or spears to prevent the fur from being damaged. Here, Edwin. Don’t take risks, just smash the heads. Got it?”
Laurel threw a club to me as well. I thought of my father’s warning not to do dangerous things, but this probably wouldn’t be too dangerous.
And if I can feel the danger of even a Ratman, I must have already given up on surviving in this world.
I took a deep breath, steeled my mind, and joined the line of soldiers surrounding the disguised entrance in a semi-circle.
The first real battle was upon us.
“Tasha, send the signal. Let’s start.”
At Laurel’s signal, one of the mages behind sent a flare with magic.
The flare rose high into the sky and exploded with a bang, and shortly after, unknown sounds followed from beyond the mountain, as if responding to it.
And soon, the scent of charred leaves came into my nose carried by the wind, probably because those who confirmed the signal had lit fires.
Laurel, smelling the scent, shouted to the soldiers.
“Here it comes! Stay alert, and make sure no one panics and runs!”
Shortly after, shouts began to erupt from the dirt pile disguised cave.
Sounds that seemed like bustling and roaring.
Then, the sound of a beast stampede began to echo, and the volume increased rapidly.
“They’re coming!! Get ready!!”
Before Laurel could finish, a shadow shot out from the cave entrance with a pop.
A Ratman, the size of an eight-year-old child, was the first monster I faced in this world.
Starting with one, dozens of monsters quickly spread out in all directions.
Ratmen were equipped with spears with sharpened stones on wooden poles, sickles stolen from villages, or rusty swords, carrying them with loincloths.
These things made me realize that the creatures weren’t just beasts but had the intelligence of humans.
“Here they come!!”
-Thud! Thud!
-Crack! Crack!
The quiet mountain was now filled with the sounds of clubbing heads and the final cries of the monsters.
At first, the sounds came only from the soldiers near the cave, but as dozens poured out at once, the monsters began to push towards my side, which was in the middle of the semi-circle, farthest from the cave.
A desperate Ratman charged at me, who was standing awkwardly.
-Thud!
-Crack!
I steeled my mind and swung my arm with force, and the club hit the Ratman’s forehead exactly.
There was a popping sound, and the Ratman was thrown to the ground and writhed.
“Good, Edwin! Just keep doing that!”
Laurel, who had been clubbing near the entrance, shouted while looking at me.
Under Laurel’s feet, dozens of Ratmen were already rolling around.
Even as her gaze was directed this way, Laurel’s hands swung without rest, and with each swing, more Ratman corpses piled up.
Not a drop of blood on Laurel’s body, and she showed no signs of fatigue. Was this task as easy as a walk in the back mountain for her? Only now could I understand why she had been chatting so casually.
“Edwin, front!!”
Hearing Laurel’s words, I looked front again, and this time three Ratmen were charging in line.
I started swinging the club again.
***
How much time had passed, the clubbing sounds and the monsters’ screams had subsided. And the Ratmen hiding in the cave had all come out.
Near the entrance, in front of Laurel, countless Ratman corpses were piled like small hills, and I had successfully caught a little over ten Ratmen.
I took a moment to catch my breath and looked around.
It was subjugation of a low-rank monster, but the soldiers’ bodies were full of scratches, stabs, or bites.
Some soldiers were bandaging their bleeding eyes with rags or cauterizing severed fingers with fire for hemostasis.
Ratmen were certainly common trash mobs that players couldn’t even scratch in the game. The gap between the knowledge I knew and the reality in front of me felt very real.
“Hah…”
Because I misjudged the direction when catching the last one, its head burst in front of me, and my face was covered in blood and some opaque liquid I couldn’t identify.
Laurel, who saw my appearance while scanning around, laughed “hehe” from afar, then came closer and handed me a cloth.
“You look terrible, Edwin. If someone saw you, they’d think you’re a hero who survived the battlefield.”
“…I know, so stop it. I know you don’t have to say it.”
“Well, surprisingly, it wasn’t bad. You seem to have become more manly than before. After losing some weight, you might look decent?”
“I told you to stop. Go finish the work.”
“Yes~ yes~”
Laurel was teasing me till the end, but it seemed sincere. It’s infuriating. The fact that there’s no way to deal with this woman makes me even sadder.
Seeing the figures sent to block the entrances in other areas from afar, Laurel stood up and straightened her clothes.
High-ranking officers approached and lined up neatly in front of Laurel.
“Report.”
At Laurel’s words, the knight called Patrick answered.
“Report. Subjugation of 127 Ratmen completed. Excluding 10 corpses with damaged fur that need to be discarded, the rest are in very good condition. No deaths among soldiers, but many injured. One with severe wound to left eye, one with severed baby finger. No injured or dead in knight order and mage order.”
The 10 corpses that needed to be discarded were the same number as the Ratmen that had escaped earlier.
In cases where the encirclement was broken, mages had prepared spells in advance from behind. The escaped ones were blackened by the spells.
Even if one escaped, with their amazing reproductive ability, it could ruin the subjugation, so they took thorough measures even if the fur was a bit regrettable.
“Tch. How did 127 of them fit inside? How was your side?”
“Well, Ratmen fear fire, so no shadows here. We pushed the fire into the cave, sealed the passage with rocks, and came back.”
“Good. 117 furs mean good harvest. Then, let’s finish the subjugation. After going down to the village for supplies, we’ll do another subjugation at one place in the afternoon, then head to Macni for the final joining point. Colin. Go block our entrance with rocks too. Gina, Patrick, Bill. You lead the soldiers to skin the Ratman furs. Except for the injured, who will be treated. After the work is done, we’ll have a 20-minute break and then return.”
After Laurel’s words, the officers dispersed to their assigned tasks without hesitation.
I watched the scene, feeling the afterglow of the deeds I had committed just moments ago.
My right hand, which had smashed countless Ratman heads, was trembling, and my heart was pounding as if it would burst out at any moment, so the weight of the lives I had taken remained intact there.
Although they were monsters, the ones I killed were once living, breathing intelligent beings on this land.
And ahead of me, there was still an endless number of such beings’ lives to take.
Getting used to killing is a very natural quality that one must possess as a person living in this world.