On the Road
Let’s take a moment to talk about how to kill an orc....
Strictly speaking, an orc was still a living creature, even if it was classified as a monster, so strike a vital point like the heart or brain, and it would die.
Beyond that, there were plenty of other ways to kill one: excessive bleeding, shock, electrocution, being burned alive, and so on.
But the only methods available to Journey, that pathetic excuse for a swordsman, were the simple ones.
“Hrrraah!”
Stab it.
“Haah!”
Or slash it.
Setting aside the fact that I hated mages, this was exactly why mages were welcomed wherever they went.
They could handle all kinds of situations, not just combat, and unlike people who relied on weapons and armor, they had far more ways to attack.
They could burn enemies with fire, or make the ground slick and send them sprawling.
Of course, just because someone used weapons didn’t mean they couldn’t imbue them with attributes.
Once a person reached the level of skill where they could handle mana properly, they might not be able to manage multiple attributes, but they could at least imbue a single one.
Or, if they were rich enough, they could always buy a weapon already carrying an attribute.... Though either way, for someone who had only just started using weapons, that was impossible.
It wasn’t for nothing that mages were so expensive.
There were already fewer of them to begin with, since anyone without talent couldn’t even enter the path of magic, and if you compared a novice mage to a novice swordsman, the mage was overwhelmingly more useful.
So if you asked why I was suddenly going on about this....
Why on earth....
Watching Journey furiously swing her sword at the orc, I clutched my head.
An orc’s hide was pretty tough, so it was indeed a difficult opponent for normal weapons, but not to the point where an Expert-ranked swordsman should struggle this much.
With an Expert’s mana and swordsmanship, an orc’s hide should be sliced open as easily as a steak at breakfast.
And yet, watching Journey fight, I had to admit that, much as it pained me to say it, a novice mage might actually have been more helpful.
...No, wait. Why would I feel bad?
The one at fault wasn’t me. It was Journey, with her Beginner-level skills.
“J-just die... already!”
With a furious cry, Journey drove her sword into the orc’s neck.
“Yaaah—!”
It snagged against the tough hide and bone for a moment, then finally bit through with a brutal twist, severing the orc’s throat completely.
They say even bad meat can be good in a pinch, and she was still doing better than the silver-ranked mercenaries—but honestly, I still couldn’t call it satisfying.
“Kruuik!”
A mercenary who had been focused on fighting the orcs let out a belated scream when he noticed another one had come up beside him.
He was in no position to block or dodge.
“N-nngh, Aaaah!”
Slash!
“Ah...?”
“...Is it really that hard?”
I muttered as I cleanly separated the orc’s head from its neck and saved the mercenary.
For something like this, there was no need to coat the sword in mana; simple body reinforcement was enough.
And for someone with good physical ability, even that wouldn’t be necessary.
Leaving the dazed mercenary behind, I kicked off the ground lightly.
“Th-thank you....”
“I’m alive...!”
“H-heh....”
Every mercenary I saved from danger reacted a little differently.
After I took care of an orc that was bringing an axe down on a mercenary’s head, the man who had barely escaped death sank to the ground with a thud.
For the sake of his dignity, I pretended not to notice the way his pants had changed color from a certain damp liquid.
Well, if you’d just crossed half the River Styx and come back, that was only natural.
“Hup!”
Thud!
While I was rescuing the other mercenaries, Journey finished off the last remaining orc.
Dashing forward at high speed, she pierced the orc’s neck.
When the gurgling stopped and she saw the light go out in the orc’s eyes, Journey withdrew the sword she had driven home.
“Ugh, disgusting....”
I walked over to Journey as she frowned and shook the fat and blood off her blade.
“Journey.”
“Ah, Kana. You’re back!”
“...Back?”
I hadn’t gone anywhere.
Even while I was helping the mercenaries, I’d been keeping an eye on Journey’s fight the whole time.
“How was I? I did pretty well, right?”
There, there.
Journey mimed swinging a sword as she asked me.
Apparently, she was proud of having killed several orcs without any help.
She had handled the most orcs of anyone there, so if you looked at it objectively, the MVP of the fight was unquestionably her.
Obviously, I excluded myself.
Adults shouldn’t butt into kids’ games. Let the kids play among themselves.
I could help a little when things got dangerous, like earlier.
“Sweet lies or bitter truth. Which do you want?”
“....”
Journey’s eyes rolled back and forth.
At last, she answered.
“P-please give me the sweet lie....”
“You’re much better than you were before.”
That much was undeniably true.
Sweet lie, and yet it was the truth. A contradictory statement, really.
“...Sweet!”
“But—”
“Wait! I didn’t order the bitter truth!”
When I tried to point out the problem, Journey caught on instantly and clamped a hand over my mouth.
That was the trouble with kids these days.
They only wanted to hear pleasant things. No wonder they never improved.
“Um....”
While I was looking at her with obvious disapproval, someone approached and spoke up.
Not that I hadn’t already noticed them coming.
Turning my head, I saw the mercenaries around us all bow their heads at once.
“Thank you for helping us!”
“You saved our lives....”
After hearing words that were clearly thanks, I gave a perfunctory nod.
It wasn’t as if I especially liked mercenaries, so this kind of reaction felt just right.
“Heh heh heh.”
Journey laughed happily.
I was the one being thanked, but Journey was the one who looked pleased.
I considered correcting the misunderstanding, then decided it was too much trouble and let it be.
Besides, if I said anything, it might sound like I was fishing for praise.
“I never expected to run into an orc pack out of nowhere in a place like this... but thanks to the two of you, we made it....!”
Once the mercenaries stepped back, the merchants came forward and offered their thanks as well.
It made sense for the mercenaries, since they were in the same business and had taken the request together. And the merchants, well, they were allowed to be grateful too, I supposed....
But weren’t they being a little too thankful for something they had hired us to do in the first place?
Hmm.... I didn’t know.
It was a difficult question for me, especially since I hadn’t received thanks from other people very often to begin with.
So instead of thinking about it, I turned my attention elsewhere.
Namely, to the orc corpses strewn all over the ground.
“...You want to eat them?”
“....”
...If you asked whether I wanted to eat them, the answer was yes, I did. But that wasn’t why I was looking at them now.
It’s not like I was some lunatic obsessed with food. Did they really think all I ever thought about was eating?
When I pouted and said nothing, Journey asked the merchant instead.
“What do you do with the spoils and byproducts?”
“Usually we appraise them and buy them from you, but in the case of an Apostle, that won’t be necessary.”
“Huh? Why not?”
“Apostles have subspace, so you don’t have to worry about your luggage growing heavier. When we buy the goods ourselves, we usually offer a somewhat lower price....”
“Ah.... But is it okay to just say that openly?”
“The mercenaries agreed to it as well, so there’s no issue. Think of it as the price we pay for sparing you the trouble of carrying everything yourself. If you want, we can separate your share and let you carry it on your own, but not many people choose to do that. So, what would you like us to do?”
“Hmm... Please handle it for us. Oh, but could we have a little of the meat?”
“Most of an orc’s byproducts are meat, so that would reduce the value quite a bit. Is that all right?”
“It’s fine. My little brother likes orc meat.”
“Ah....”
The merchant’s eyes turned to me.
“Then we’ll buy the rest as usual, and I’ll treat you to orc meat for dinner tonight.”
“Ah, no... You really don’t have to....!”
“There’s no need to refuse. If not for the two of you, we wouldn’t have been able to handle so many orcs without suffering any losses. Regrettably, I’m a merchant who must think about profit too, so I can’t offer you much, but please allow me to repay you in this way.”
“I’m telling you, you don’t need to repay us at all!”
“Good heavens, and such humility as well...! You truly are a model Apostle.”
“I’m seriously losing my mind.”
Journey said it in a voice thick with tears.
Whether she liked it or not, I studied the scattered orc corpses and sank into thought.
There’s nothing strange about orcs traveling in a pack....
They were highly fertile, so if you had even one male and one female, their numbers could swell in no time.
But for a pack that size to be wandering around was unusual.
Normally, they left some behind to hold their territory and only a few would move out.
The only time so many of them traveled together was when they were invading human territory or the territory of some other monster.
“...Well, whatever.”
Even if their numbers had swelled too much and they’d been trying to expand their territory, it didn’t matter now, because I’d killed them all anyway.
There might still be a few left in the area, but after wiping them out this thoroughly, they wouldn’t be active for a while.
“Huh? What is?”
For some reason, Journey, who had been clutching her head in despair, looked up at my muttering and reacted.
“Is something wrong?”
“No.”
Whatever the reason, free food had fallen right into our laps, and that was a welcome thing.
Just as freshly butchered pork was delicious, orc meat was at its best right after the kill.
It was outdoors, so I couldn’t expect a carefully prepared meal like I’d have in the morning, but this had its own charm.
Camping versus a restaurant, maybe.
I swallowed at the thought that, if needed, I’d gladly pay for the meat.
“So you really did want to eat them.”
“...No, I didn’t.”
I did want to eat them, but that really wasn’t what I’d been thinking about.
...Seriously.