On the Road
“Ogre, huh….”
Journey gathered her thoughts.
It was almost a kind of trope. Along with goblins and orcs, ogres were monsters that showed up constantly in fantasy novels, games, movies, and the like.
However they were portrayed, whether as brutish giants or something worse, there weren’t many works that made ogres look weak.
Tough hide, enormous bulk, and the kind of strength that let them lift logs as if they weighed nothing….
Perhaps Silia Online had simply followed the trend, because it too had monsters called ogres.
They weren’t as common as goblins or orcs, but they weren’t rare enough to be unheard of either, and Journey had hunted them a few times before.
With a party, not alone.
“Do ogres usually travel in groups?”
“Not usually, no.”
“I saw four together last time.”
“Sounds like they live in family groups?”
When Journey tossed out the question, various people who looked less like ogre scholars and more like graduate students offered up whatever they knew.
“At worst, there’d be three or four, right?”
“Lol, they’re freaking out way too much.”
“The silvers are cute lol.”
“I hope so….”
For monsters, the native NPCs of this world would know more than the players did, but if those people truly knew so much, would they really have described the situation as an ogre pack?
And even if there were only three or four, the village’s current forces still wouldn’t be able to handle them.
“Did you know there was an ogre habitat nearby?”
“No… not at all. I lived in these mountains for years, and I never saw so much as a hair from an ogre, let alone the creature itself.”
“…Who is he?”
“He’s a hunter who lives in the nearby mountains. Apparently, his job is to warn people if he spots dangerous creatures like demons or monsters while living up there. He was the one who reported the ogres approaching.”
Even as Journey and Catherine whispered to each other, the hunter kept talking.
“There’s no reason for ogres to live in a tiny mountain like this, especially one so short on food. If they came here from somewhere else, that’s another matter.”
“From somewhere else? Why would they do that?”
“How should I know? Maybe they fought among themselves, maybe they were driven out of a territorial dispute….”
“That’s not the important part right now. We need to decide what to do.”
“Hmm….”
“Ahem….”
At someone’s words, an awkward look spread across the faces gathered in the square.
No one wanted to speak first, and everyone kept shoving the problem onto someone else.
The first to step up was a young man.
“If we hold out behind the palisade until reinforcements arrive…!”
“Against ogres? Come on. Unless you want to be blown away along with the palisade.”
That opened the floodgates, and the villagers began talking all at once.
“Are we sure they’re coming this way? They might change direction. Wouldn’t it be fine to just leave them alone?”
“And if we sit here thinking that way and they attack us? What, we just die?”
“Let’s just run!”
“No! We haven’t even packed yet, and if we run away and the houses collapse…!”
“Are houses really more important than lives?!”
“The younger folks might be able to run, but the elderly….”
“When are reinforcements supposed to get here?”
“They only just left, so even at the fastest it’ll take a few hours.”
While the villagers argued over what to do, the caravan merchants and mercenaries gathered together as well to discuss their own response.
From Journey’s point of view, though, the atmosphere among the villagers and the caravan felt completely different.
“Even if ogres are fast, if we run now, they won’t catch us.”
“If we push a little, we could make it to the next village and rest there.”
There were almost no voices calling for a fight—no, none at all. Most of them wanted to flee.
The rest, like Journey, were simply keeping their mouths shut and watching the situation unfold. They weren’t exactly offering any other opinion.
Still… this isn’t their home, and they don’t really have anything here they need to defend. There’s no reason for them to risk their lives fighting.
Just as Journey had thought, the caravan members wanted to run at once.
What kept them from doing it was the sliver of pity that still remained in their hearts.
It was never easy to abandon the people they’d been laughing and chatting with only moments ago.
If they ran, they’d feel guilty. But they didn’t want to fight, either.
Those sneaking glances around came up with a compromise.
“How about we let the people ride in the empty cargo space, and put the villagers in the gaps between the wagons?”
“That’s a good idea! We won’t be able to take everyone, but if we prioritize the elderly, children, and women, evacuation should go smoothly!”
“If there isn’t enough room, we can sort out the less valuable cargo and throw it away. It’ll reduce our profit, but people’s lives matter more than money.”
A way to keep their honor without fighting.
Besides, they’d be throwing away goods that were as good as a merchant’s lifeblood, so no one could really criticize them for it.
What had been self-preservation was transformed into rescue work in the blink of an eye.
Did that make them bad people?
…No, not really.
Journey shook her head.
Unlike her, who could die and resurrect, the people of this world only had one life. Putting their own survival first was only natural.
Besides, even if their motive was escape, weren’t they still helping?
While Journey was lost in thought, one of the merchants went to the villagers and relayed the caravan’s decision.
“So, that’s how it is, and we’ll take those people to safety by wagon.”
“…”
“Hmm.”
The somewhat overheated mood cooled a little.
With the villagers themselves already arguing over whether to leave or stay, no one criticized the merchant who had stepped forward to help with the evacuation.
“If we can scrape together the money somehow, could the mercenaries help us?” someone asked, summoning their courage.
“We’d have a hard time handling an ogre pack….”
“Ah….”
The merchant’s answer crushed them.
All of the mercenaries hired by the caravan, except for Journey, were silver-rank.
They could wrap weapons in mana, but with their unpolished skill, cutting through an ogre’s tough hide would be no easy task.
“I’m not going.”
“Grandma!”
Then an old woman pushed through the crowd and came forward.
It was the same woman who had given Journey directions earlier.
Journey’s eyes widened as she recognized the wrinkled face.
“I’m old enough that I won’t live much longer anyway. If I’m going to suffer, I’d rather stay here.”
“B-but….”
“Don’t worry about this old woman. Just leave already.”
Whether he was her grandson, her son, or just an acquaintance, a young man tried to persuade her, but the old woman remained stubborn.
Journey’s Granic was still shaky, and the others didn’t know the language at all, but even so, they could guess the shape of the exchange from the mood between the woman and the man.
“Then we’ll just take the others….”
“What are you talking about! I-I’ll convince her, so just wait a little!”
“But there’s no time—”
“Just a little, really just a little!”
At the man’s desperate cry, the merchant looked troubled.
As he stood there, unable to move forward or back, Catherine approached Journey.
“Lady Journey.”
“…Yes?”
“You’re a gold-rank mercenary, aren’t you? Could you help them?”
Journey caught Catherine’s gaze without meaning to and held her breath.
There was so much emotion swirling in those brown eyes.
Pity, compassion, guilt, sorrow.
And kinship.
“A gold-rank mercenary?!”
Before Journey could even answer Catherine, the man who had been speaking to the old woman suddenly cut between them.
“P-please, help us! If we keep going like this, Grandma will be left behind in this village…!”
“Hey now, young man! Even if she’s a gold-rank mercenary, how is she supposed to handle an ogre pack? I understand how you feel, but don’t force the issue.”
Journey made a complicated face.
Just as he said, she couldn’t take on an ogre pack.
Ogres were generally around the late thirties to early forties in level, and Journey was level 43.
In terms of realm, she had only just set foot in Expert. There was no way she could handle a pack of ogres, or even one ogre on her own.
More than anything, I’ve never fought an ogre alone before.
When hunting monsters by yourself, one mistake could mean death. But in a party, there were allies who could cover those mistakes.
That was why hunting in groups was faster, and why most players did it that way.
Unless they had no choice, or they were a weird exception like Yuki.
Isn’t there any way to help…?
Just then, a chat window appeared in her vision as she wrestled with the problem.
“If anyone nearby can help, could you please? I’ll absolutely repay you.”
“…Fast.”
Still, that was a relief.
If the channel was full, there had to be at least dozens of people. An ogre pack should be easy enough for them to kill.
Journey, looking much brighter, said, “I’ve contacted the apostles nearby. They all said they’d be happy to help.”
“Oh…!”
“T-thank you!”
With Journey’s words, not only the man but the villagers around him also lit up.
They hadn’t wanted to evacuate. They were only doing it because they had no way to stop the ogres. It wasn’t as though they wanted to abandon the lives they had worked so hard to build and leave.
If Kana stepped in, we wouldn’t need this….
It wasn’t exactly her place to say this, considering how much she’d already relied on Kana, but Journey didn’t want to depend on her too much.
That would have gone completely against what she had wanted for a long time.
And the mercenaries hadn’t asked Kana for help either.
Even though Kana had saved their lives and they knew she was stronger than they were, their common sense simply couldn’t accept the image of a little girl facing ogres.
Maybe their pride wouldn’t allow them to ask a small girl for help.
The caravan, the villagers, and Journey.
They all waited together, hoping the players would gather.
Fortunately, there was still no sign of the ogres.
Before long, players began appearing in Blum one by one.
Ten players gathered in all, welcomed by the villagers as if they were heroes.
Journey stood with her arms crossed, nervously waiting for the reinforcements to arrive.
But even as time passed, there was still no sign of an eleventh player.
“...What’s going on? Why aren’t they coming?”
There was no way the channel’s capacity was only this much, so there should have been more people….
Feeling uneasy, Journey checked again.
“Still can’t get into the channel?”
Could they be hiding somewhere just to toy with her?
Or maybe the people who usually hated her had occupied the channel….
Journey bit her nails as she thought that over, only to lift her head when a bad feeling suddenly struck her.
“No way…!”
As if to confirm her suspicion, a system window appeared before her eyes, and before the players gathered there as well.
World Alteration Event….
After checking the sentence written in the system window, a hollow, breathless mutter slipped from Journey’s lips.