Stories Outside the Tower 4
A wolf dropped low and launched itself down the hill. The beast came charging with the moon at its back, an orc cavalryman astride it swinging a long axe-spear meant to take my life.
The orc’s weapon stretched out first, aimed dead at my throat, while the wolf’s gaping jaws packed with razor teeth went for my thigh. A vicious one-two only possible because the mount was a wolf, not a horse. Behind the charge of the big one who looked like their captain came the rest of the wolf-rider pack.
“As I thought. They were the ones that came out of the Tower.”
They came at me in a line and turned into mana stones without even leaving a scream behind.
Even on wolf-back, orcs were still orcs. Captain and comrades dying right in front of them changed nothing; they charged exactly the same way, no different from ordinary orc warriors. Viewers cackled at the sight through the camera floating over my head. I ignored them and looked down at the corpses that had become mana stones.
Not just the orc cavalry— the wolves they rode turned into mana stones too.
That sight brought back the request I’d taken not long ago through James Sullivan. A commission to search the blessed forest because orcs might be inside; the Goddess’s oracle had come with it, yet we’d found no trace of orcs at all.
And now the orcs that should have been in that forest had suddenly appeared on the road leading west from the capital at the kingdom’s center. Anyone looking at this would have to conclude there was a brain at work— a smart commander or staff officer of some kind.
Someone who knew that abandoning the rich forest for the barren west was the only way to avoid annihilation by the knight orders. And that same bastard had kept the orc cavalry unit hidden from adventurers inside the Tower, smuggled them out, then slipped them past the knights’ eyes in the forest all the way to the west.
“Roland? It was wolves?”
“What, you already finished them?”
When I returned to the clearing, the party greeted me with weapons still in hand. The horses stared at me blankly, not even frightened, so no other enemies had circled around. Only the coachman looked at me like I was some kind of savior, still pale with terror.
Running into a wolf pack on a barren road where even wild beasts rarely traveled would scare anyone, but for a coachman in a fantasy world he was a little too jumpy.
“Anyway, the orcs are all handled.”
“Orcs, not wolves?”
“Yeah. Orcs riding wolves came at me. And these are the mana stones. Looks like the ones that came out onto Avergne Forest from the twentieth floor.”
“…Why are those things here?”
Katie, still not fully free of Kayden’s shadow, her speech swinging between casual and formal, finally dropped the honorifics and asked me straight. Of course I couldn’t tell her why they were ambushing and eating people here.
That was something Han Se-ah, with her quest window, would know.
“Huh… a linked quest? Is this main scenario, or just an event that popped up? Is it continuing because we couldn’t find the orcs in the forest back then?”
What blocked the trade road in the western kingdom was not mere bandits, but orc cavalry.
Wolves and orc riders that turn into mana stones upon death, just like Tower monsters.
Could these be the ones from Avergne Forest that once kidnapped the kingdom’s female knights…?
Main scenario, sub-quests, character quests— and now the first appearance of a linked quest. Viewers tossed out their theories one after another. While Han Se-ah read the quest window and bantered with chat, I told the party what I’d already figured out.
“You remember the knight order’s request? The one to find traces of orcs in Avergne Forest.”
“Ah… you think these are…?”
“Yeah. Looks like the ones that slipped past the knights’ watch in Avergne Forest and came this way.”
“But the forest blessed by the Goddess is surrounded by soldiers and knights, isn’t it?”
“There’s probably a shaman or something. And those guys are there to stop outsiders trying to get in, not to watch for something trying to get out.”
Exactly as Irene’s question implied, I had no idea how they’d done it, but they had escaped. Whether luck or sloppy guard duty, they’d made it out and set up shop on the western road of the kingdom.
Dozens of orc cavalry with mobility faster than horses or carriages. Individually they couldn’t project mana, but they were still stronger than intermediate-grade adventurers.
And Lily Depp’s party had left her behind in Adventurer’s City for rest and resupply, so a party missing its frontliner had no chance against dozens of orc riders on open ground. Considering her companions were upper-grade adventurers, they might be recovering from serious injuries in some other territory right now.
“What are you saying, Roland? These things came out of the Tower, went through the forest, and made it all the way here?”
“That’s right, Lily. You wouldn’t have known, but during the twentieth-floor incident last time we took a request from the knight order. We heard the orcs had come outside the Tower like the Full Moon Wolves and settled in Avergne Forest.”
“Shit—”
At my explanation Lily Depp’s brow furrowed hard. This wasn’t some trip into the kingdom’s backwoods; she was heading from the central region to the west, back toward her hometown, and she’d let her guard down. Then suddenly dozens of orc cavalry had appeared out of nowhere.
Losing every carefully saved mana stone was bad enough, but the complete disappearance of comrades she’d fought alongside for years meant Lily Depp had taken a massive step backward as an adventurer. Almost no one among adventurers used a long spear, after all.
Even looking at our own party, it wasn’t really coordinated teamwork so much as me grabbing monsters and shoving them at the others. Or we just trusted our tough shields and went into free-for-all brawls. Our party was a special case, so I understood why Lily Depp was worried about the companions she’d spent years with.
“No more attacks after that.”
“Maybe after we took out dozens their entire fighting force was wiped, so they’re just hiding quietly.”
The coachman bowed his head and drove the carriage with new confidence until we finally reached a small territory. It was a place Lily Depp’s party would have had to stop at for supplies on the way to their destination. Unlike Han Se-ah, they didn’t have inventories, so of course.
Rough-and-ready Lily Depp, warm Irene, and chatty Han Se-ah had clustered together for the stream’s radio segment; before long every woman except Irene had dropped formal speech and they were all huddled whispering. Even Katie the noble young lady seemed to be melting into the group, which put me a little more at ease.
She was the Sword Princess, yet chat kept calling her northern country bumpkin and ice bumpkin, so of course it bothered her. This must be what it felt like watching a kid you’d set down by the water’s edge. Still, for someone who’d run away from her father she was adapting well, which was a relief.
“Let’s secure lodgings first and listen for rumors at the inn.”
“True. If traveling merchants got hit by orcs, word would have to reach here.”
“I’m thinking of visiting the temple once. I should check whether any brothers or sisters traveling for penance met with misfortune.”
Even without me saying a word she was already moving the request forward on her own. Being called the lighting guy or super pack mule must have gotten under her skin; she was trying hard to act properly as party leader. Then again, her competitive spirit as a gamer was the real deal, so it was only natural.
“It’s late, so rooms first. Roland gets a single; the rest of us can split two and three.”
She said that and immediately glued herself to Grace’s side. Han Se-ah and Grace, Irene and Katie and Lily Depp. The arrangement looked like it had a clear ulterior motive.
…Was her libido as overflowing as her competitive streak?
A dirty joke about athletic women’s sex drives floated through my mind, but I didn’t dare say it out loud. We were still live, after all, and I hadn’t said anything blatant. Chat hadn’t caught on either; they were just talking about pajamas and sleepwear.
“That works. Most rooms that can fit five are cheap dumps. When you rest you should rest properly, so spending on lodging is worth it.”
“You know a place?”
“There’s one I used a lot after I hit intermediate-grade. They aim for merchant-caravan guests so the price is high, but the rooms are big and clean and they’ve even got a few magic tools.”
No one seemed to notice Han Se-ah’s sneaky little scheme; Lily Depp naturally took the lead and guided us to the inn she knew. The place was clearly smaller than Adventurer’s City, but as a waypoint to the west it was packed with merchants.
The streets were full of cargo wagons and traders loaded down with packs. The faces of people coming and going showed none of the dark fear you’d expect. Looks like the wolf riders hadn’t really started operating yet.
Whether Lily Depp’s party had just been unlucky first victims or there was some other reason, I didn’t know— but the orcs still had to be hunted down and killed.
“Here we are. The sign’s a bit shabby, but inside it’s clean. The owner’s weird— he stocks magic tools yet never bothers changing the sign.”
“The stew smells good. We could even have breakfast here tomorrow.”
A whole group of beauties who would turn heads anywhere poured in at once; the staff froze mid-greeting, mouths half open. Han Se-ah strode straight to the counter clerk whose jaw had dropped and ordered the rooms.
Expensive enough that middling peddlers wouldn’t even think of booking, she paid for every empty triple, double, and single. She didn’t even try to hide it— just pulled a pouch of gold coins out of thin air. The clerk stopped mid-calculation and bowed so low his head nearly hit the desk; I couldn’t help a little smile.
Looks like he believed a few of the superstitions about mages. Staying here was going to be very comfortable.
“This is the place. Grab rooms, drop your gear, then we split up and walk the city.”
“Yes, Lily unnie.”
“Haha, unnie. Not a word you hear much among us grimy adventurers.”
Lily grinned; Han Se-ah grinned right back and casually linked arms with Grace. I followed the women up to the second floor.
