Chapter 30
Chapter 30
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 30
Chapter Title: Pre-Dawn Gambit
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"Get out if you don't want to die."
Kallias, drawing his sword, sharply ordered the villagers to evacuate with piercing eyes.
"Sir Kallias! We've evacuated the villagers on this side too!"
"Ours are all heading to Jaybarshu..."
"We're done here as well!"
Having evacuated the villagers from the border village, Kallias gazed toward the horizon.
They had already passed several villages, and the orcs were occupying them or setting them ablaze as they pressed toward the heart of the North.
Jaybarshu.
One step, one step closer to the fortress known as Jerban Castle.
The greenskins were approaching slowly.
‘Should have killed a few more in the forest.’
There were more orcs than expected.
Moreover, once they emerged from the forest, their numerical disadvantage made a reckless assault impossible.
He had considered seizing a village and turning it into street fighting, but abandoned the idea.
Knights' stamina was not infinite.
Besides, street fighting amid buildings would favor the orcs over knights.
‘I'm only B-rank so far. Can't have trouble already.’
He didn't aim for the S+ reward, but at least A+ was necessary.
If the reward was a sword—or something sword-related—that single rank difference could make overcoming future crises far easier.
Survival in crisis was like being sliced by a falling leaf, after all.
It was too early to be satisfied here.
This was a quest that wouldn't come again.
"Sir Kallias! We need to evacuate quickly too."
"Come on, Lord Kallias."
It was Allen and Aron.
The youthful-faced Allen called him "sir," seeing him as a knight, while Aron, noting his silver hair and eyes, took him for Jerban nobility and called him "lord."
Kallias glanced at them briefly and pondered, then let it go. It didn't matter what they called him.
A plan came first.
Saving knights was over.
Out of the forest now, unless they properly engaged the orcs, rescue missions would be difficult for a while.
‘For the quest at least, I need to thin their numbers more before reaching Jaybarshu. That way, key figures won't die.’
Though not detailed, this quest's reward grade dropped with each death of potential major North figures.
‘The orcs will try to breach the castle.’
A siege was inevitable.
That battlefield danced between life and death, decided in split seconds.
So now.
‘I need to kill as many as possible.’
Their numbers still slightly exceeded a hundred.
Manageable for now.
Once they linked with the slowly advancing rear guard, it would surpass a thousand. So he had to kill some...
Kallias surveyed the knights awaiting him.
Clad in battered, chipped armor, gripping notched swords, they had run and fought without proper sleep for days.
Most were in wretched shape.
Worse, covered in wounds large and small, they looked pathetic.
"What are you doing, wastrel? We have to go!"
"Quiet."
Even with overflowing energy, their numbers were borderline. And their condition was poor.
Yet he needed to kill some orcs... Was there a way?
"My lord! Have some water here! It's ice-cold and delicious!"
Water?
Where did that come from suddenly?
"Is there a well here?"
"Yes! Right there, see?"
Gazing at the large well in the village center, he suddenly noticed the stigmata etched on the back of his hand.
Heh.
Right, this.
"Well done, Brans."
"Y-Yes?!"
Brans, hearing praise from Kallias for the first time, froze with a dazed look.
Ignoring him, Kallias promptly pulled a pouch from the stigmata and dumped it into the well.
* * *
Crack, crack.
In the forest near Jaybarshu.
There, Killaban anxiously bit his nails, waiting for someone.
"Brother! Are you here?"
"Luteon!"
Killaban seized the newcomer by the collar, glaring murderously with bloodshot eyes.
"Why didn't you tell me the orc horde would be this massive!"
"Calm down, Brother Killaban. Why scream? What's the problem?"
"Isn't it obvious! The northern border! Karpe's pillar is being ravaged by those barbarians!"
The ever-smiling, leisurely Killaban was gone.
He looked like a gambler who had lost his fortune at the tables.
The man called Luteon easily shook off Killaban's hands.
The strength in his hands effortlessly cast aside Killaban's callused grip, honed by long training.
"Brother, everything is going according to our plan. Only this way can you inherit the North's legacy intact. Then we get our due reward."
"...You're certain."
"Yes. A flightless dragon in its nest is just prey, isn't it?"
A wounded dragon in the nest was mere game for beasts.
"The current head of House Jerban."
Elberton von Jerban.
"To seize him, you must brace for this much loss. Crasion supports you, Brother Killaban. How can you achieve great things if you lose composure like this? Regain your calm."
"...Right. I got heated. Coming this far was thanks to Crasion—I forgot for a moment."
"Yes, yes. Of course. Now victory is at hand. We'll sacrifice the North's green filth, and a new lord of Jerban shall be born. Stay quiet and wait. The greenskins will handle it."
The man called Luteon soothed Killaban thus, then subtly turned his head.
With a faint nod, the hooded, masked figures behind him straightened.
For a moment, glinting spear blades appeared and vanished in their hands.
* * *
‘Arrive tomorrow, maybe.’
Evading the orc advance, Kallias inhaled the chilly pre-dawn air from a nearby mountain behind the village.
Twilight Cloak warded off cold, but days of fighting and running left his body sweaty and grimy.
"Want a bath."
No time for that.
- Orcs slain: 52
- Beasts slain: 61
- People saved: 41
<Reward> [B+] ???
Kallias's ash-gray eyes calmed. A knight approached him.
"This is insane... Haven't heard of anything like this in a century..."
He was a Jerban knight.
Unprecedented, yes, but never had so many orcs pushed in indiscriminately like this.
Jerban-orc clashes had happened before.
But fights across White Forest never ended easily, their war ongoing still.
"Just timing and scheme."
"...What do you mean?"
"The time has come."
What must happen, happened.
Wheel of Patalite always told such tales.
‘Orcs and Jerban.’
White Forest and beasts at the center.
The ceaseless wheel.
Forces exploiting it to extend toward the beasts.
‘Fallen for their plot.’
Who would rejoice most at Jerban's fall? Obvious.
"The Empire."
Self-proclaimed Holy Empire of the Spear God zealots.
How they swayed the orcs, he didn't know.
But it wouldn't be easy.
‘Can't let Karpe fall.’
The village was already orc-infested.
Kallias's rescued knights had fled around noon.
Now it was pre-dawn.
Orcs would rest there, depart at morning.
At their pace, three days to knock on castle gates—then siege.
More orcs would follow, turning it to ruin.
So before then, Kallias had to thin them.
Swish.
Kallias rose, sheathing Lucen and Roas at his waist. Resting knights stirred awkwardly.
They sensed why their savior moved.
Some rose, some hesitated, some sat with anxious eyes.
Their number: forty-four.
Over three hundred entered White Forest once.
Only this remained.
Bandaged everywhere—heads, shoulders, legs.
Their eyes wavered directionless, trembling in fear.
Sword grips full of hesitation.
Fought in forest, fought exiting, dragged trembling legs here amid terror.
Less than half a day passed, yet moving again shook them.
They needed rest, respite.
Kallias gazed vacantly at the sky.
Darkest before dawn.
He placed hand on hilt.
"They head to Jaybarshu."
Jerban's fortress, North's symbol.
Orcs' destination.
"Soon they'll breach gates, ultimately slaughter all inside to claim the North."
Long-cherished wish.
Rule the North.
Reclaim ancestral lands.
Such was their fate.
"But I won't allow it."
Knights' sword grips tightened.
His calm tone carried power.
Resolve, confidence.
Noble arrogance.
Blended, it emanated Kallias's presence.
"Enemy over a hundred, we barely forty."
Yet still.
"I go to them."
Must thin numbers, even a bit.
Raises reward.
Irreplaceable chance.
Can't end at mere B+.
"Reckless..."
A young knight bit his lip, voice weak, eyes downcast.
Trembling.
‘Allen, was it.’
Boldly followed Kallias shouting in forest.
Now terror-stricken, afraid.
First large-scale battle?
Blond like Leone, same age—eyes drawn.
"Not reckless. That's not their full force. A hundred now, but grows daily."
Hundred now.
Thousands eventually.
No simple overnight quest.
‘Thus rewards scale exponentially.’
Still fine.
Before thousands arrive.
Now. Blind orcs gorging village food—chance.
Time: darkest pre-dawn.
Plan set.
"Reason I evacuated villagers, left food intact."
"What reason, sir...?"
Kallias bought much in Trista.
Including war-useful items.
Holy water ingredients mostly poison bases.