Chapter 80: Territory of the Orcs
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 80: Territory of the Orcs
Sara led the party back a short distance.
From this range, the orc encampment wasn’t invisible, but it was so far away that the orcs looked like mere dots.
How is she planning to lure them from this far away?
When I looked at Sara, she already had an arrow nocked and was taking aim.
You’re not going to shoot from here, are you? Can you even see them properly?
As if to show me up for my surprise, Sara immediately let the arrow fly.
Whoa… Yeah. I can’t even tell if it hit or missed.
Sara immediately aimed again.
“Did you miss?”
“No. It was a direct hit, but they don’t seem to know where it came from. I’ll have to give them a proper heads-up.”
It seemed that from Sara’s perspective, not only could she see them clearly, but she was also well within range to hit them.
In that case, it’s definitely more efficient for Sara to lure them with her attacks than for Diana to use magic.
Since we were far enough away, it would be easy to see how many came out and react accordingly.
When we were dealing with goblins, Diana did the luring because arrows were too precious to waste, but we weren’t living so poorly that we needed to conserve them anymore.
Of course, we still recovered and reused the ones we could, but it was no big deal if we couldn’t.
After all, I had plenty of spares in my inventory.
For the record, I was in charge of all the party members’ belongings, simply because it was convenient to store them.
Leia had felt bad about it at first, but once I told her there were no restrictions on my inventory and it wasn’t difficult for me to use, she started entrusting her things to me without hesitation.
They even packed their changes of clothes into bags and gave them to me to hold while we were in the dungeon.
Changing clothes every single day inside a dungeon. It was nothing short of a luxury. Thanks to them, I had no choice but to change as well, even though it was a pain.
If everyone else is changing and I’m the only one who doesn’t, I’ll start to stink.
I’d heard that affection can easily fade over trivial things like that.
And this is a different topic, but why did they bother putting their clothes in a bag before giving them to me?
To make it easier for me to put them in my inventory? No, that can’t be it.
I was already holding a ton of their other stuff, so there was no reason for them to hand over just their clothes like this.
I suspected the reason was their underwear.
I couldn’t be certain since they kicked me out of the secret base when it was time to change in the morning, but they were definitely changing their underwear, too. And where would that change of underwear be?
In other words, I was in a position where I could, at any moment, pull out the freshly worn underwear of my beautiful party members.
Haven’t they been worn for a while? The inventory perfectly preserves items in the exact state they were in when stored.
This meant that since I put the bags in my inventory right after they handed them to me, the underwear inside had been worn only moments before.
It was a situation that would make any perverted gentleman with a fetish for women’s underwear weep tears of blood with envy.
Of course, I would never actually do such a thing, since I couldn’t guarantee I’d live to see another day if I did.
“They’re coming now. Everyone, get ready.”
Sara said, having fired a few more arrows while I was lost in thought.
I stepped forward slightly and narrowed my eyes.
They definitely seemed to be getting closer.
The volley of arrows had drawn them out, but they looked bewildered.
They appeared to be glancing around frantically.
It’s not like they’d ever been hit by an arrow from that far away. Especially not creatures living in a dungeon like this.
Sara fired another arrow at the confused creatures, and only then did they finally start charging.
However, given the distance, it took too long for the orcs to reach us at their pace.
“What should we do? I’m going to kill them all before they even get here.”
Sara seemed a little flustered herself.
This was supposed to be a hunt to raise my, Sara’s, and especially Leia’s job levels. At this rate, it would just be a hunt for the sake of hunting.
“Just take them all out for now. It’s not like there are only a few of them. If they have any brains, more will come out on their own,” I said, checking the number of quivers in my inventory.
It looks like we have plenty for now… but we won’t run out, will we?
After she finished off the first wave, Sara attacked the encampment again. Fortunately, a considerable number of them began to swarm out this time.
Pushing forward with sheer numbers, they refused to yield to Sara’s relentless attacks, and a good number of them managed to reach our party.
Heh. Now that’s what I call an orc. I’ll give you that. You guys are true Lok’tar Ogar.
Though since it’s “victory or death,” you’re all really going to die.
I quickly activated Saint’s Touch and charged into their midst, tapping each one of them.
Eleven in total. Didn’t miss any, right?
This was the first time I’d ever faced this many orcs at once.
With this many, I could probably fight with all I had without consciously trying to get hurt for Leia’s level-up.
I punched and kicked, causing a ruckus in the middle of the orc pack.
As expected with these numbers, I got pretty banged up compared to usual, but with Sara’s attacks added to the mix, we were able to take them all down.
That was a piece of cake.
“Guwon-ssi, are you okay?”
But it seemed Leia didn’t think so. She rushed over to me the moment the battle ended.
There was an urgency in her voice that was different from usual, which flustered me even more.
“I-I’m fine. I’m not hurt at all.”
I was so flustered that I blurted out something I immediately regretted.
Not that saying that would stop Leia from healing me, of course.
“Not hurt at all? I can see your wounds so clearly. Why did you push yourself so hard and charge in like that?”
Leia’s concern made me feel unnecessarily guilty.
“Well, their attacks don’t really hurt that much, and I figured getting a little injured would make it easier for you to level up…”
“You should care more about your own body than my level-up! If you fight like that again, you’re going to get a scolding from your big sis!”
Leia looked at me, deliberately putting on a stern expression.
But when someone who’s never been angry tries to force an angry face, it doesn’t look stern at all. It just looks cute.
Even more so since her hands were diligently tending to my wounds.
“Yes. I’m sorry.”
Of course, that expression was a direct hit to my heart, so I apologized immediately.
This woman. She knows all too well how to move a person’s heart.
Though I don’t think she does it consciously.
“Are you done?”
“Just a moment. Here, Guwon-ssi. Spread your arms and stay still.”
“I’ll get started first.”
Not wanting to waste a single moment, Sara immediately started firing arrows toward the encampment.
Maybe it was my imagination, but the arrows seemed to carry more force than before.
Even after Sara started her attack, Leia tended to my wounds more meticulously than usual, circling me and checking every spot before she finally seemed satisfied.
“There, all done. Don’t overdo it this time.”
“Okay, sis. I’ll be careful.”
“S-Sis… Really, don’t tease me.”
When I said it playfully, Leia lightly tapped my chest, embarrassed.
She called herself ‘big sis’ just a moment ago, and now she’s getting shy.
Of course, that just makes her all the more adorable.
“Don’t you worry. If it looks like you’re doing that again, I shall step in myself.”
Diana said, her eyes burning as she also put on a stern face.
Did my earlier recklessness look dangerous to Diana, too?
I guess I should refrain from fighting like that again.
So, I decided to change my tactics a bit this time.
Even if I couldn’t fight in the middle of the monsters, the fact that I needed to draw the aggro of all the orcs remained the same. So I decided to put more distance between myself and the party, moving far ahead to meet the orcs.
The area was wide open, so if I stood still to fight, I’d inevitably get surrounded. The plan was to move forward first and then fight while backpedaling.
“Guwon!”
As I stood out front, warming up, I heard Sara shout from behind me.
We’re pretty far apart now. It’s a bit inconvenient that we can’t even talk without shouting.
“Be careful!”
What, is she worried because I’m all by myself out here?
For someone who always acts so cool, she does some surprisingly cute things.
I smiled warmly and raised a hand to signal that I was fine, then turned to face forward again.
“Idiot! That’s not what I—!”
What? Idiot? Did she just call me an idiot?
Okay, I admit it. I do some stupid things from time to time.
But I can’t stand being called an idiot!
Rumble! Rumble!
Huh? That’s not the sound of my rage.
It was only after I looked toward the source of the sound—the orc encampment—that I understood what Sara meant.
H-How many are there? It’s definitely more than ten… twenty? No, is it even more?
As if to personally demonstrate the timeless truth, passed down through ages and across cultures, that “if you can’t win with strength, overwhelm them with numbers,” a countless horde of orcs began charging toward me.
“Wait! Time out! Stop!”
Of course, my shouts did nothing to stop the orcs’ charge.
Agh! Screw it! It’s not like I’ll die with my durability, right?
I activated Saint’s Touch and braced for their charge.
To be honest, I was way too overconfident.
Even if they were individually weak, facing more than twenty of them at once left me dizzy and disoriented.
“Hey! Wait a second! Seriously, stop! I think they broke a bone!”
As I was struggling desperately, I suddenly felt a searing heat from behind me.
KABOOM!
And with a deafening explosion, a third of the orcs charging at me vanished into ash.
As expected, the one I can count on in a crisis is Lady Diana! Truly the Archmage! I love you!
In contrast…
“How dare you heartlessly continue your attack even after a man got his bone broken? Atone with your deaths!”
With an attitude completely opposite to moments before, I charged valiantly at the orc horde.
“Hmph. Are you alright?”
After the battle, as I approached, Diana stepped forward to greet me, a step faster than Leia.
With her nose held high and her chest puffed out, she looked quite proud of herself.
But I had to admit it. I really only survived that battle thanks to Diana.
“Yeah. Thanks. It was all thanks to you.”
“Is that the only way you can express it?”
Huh? She wants me to express it differently?
“Lady Diana is the best! As expected of the Archmage! All hail!”
“Not like that. For, for example, calling me ‘sis’… Ah, no. It’s nothing!”
What do you mean, ‘it’s nothing,’ after saying all that?
She was even cutely sneaking glances at me with an expectant look in her eyes.
Could it be that she was jealous of me teasing Leia earlier?
Just like how men have a fantasy about being called ‘oppa’ by women, maybe women have a fantasy about being called ‘noona’ [big sis].
But…
“At your age, wouldn’t ‘grandma’ be more fitting than ‘sis’?”
I tossed the words out as a light joke.
“G-Grandm…!”
“Sorry!”
And I immediately dropped to my knees as if diving to the floor.
Because the look on Diana’s face was one of genuine shock, the likes of which I had never seen before.
“I’m so sorry, sis! It was just a joke! I was wrong! Please, just let it slide this once!”
“…I will not let it slide.”
What was that saying? Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned?
Diana spoke in a chilling voice that perfectly matched that saying.
“I really don’t think that at all! How could I see someone as pretty as you like that, sis! Even if you told me your real age, I’d never see you as a grandma! You’re so cute and pretty! Please, just this once, sis!”
“I will not let it slide! Stay on your knees… and listen!”
My desperate attempts at being cute were useless.
Diana had completely lost it, forgetting where we even were, and began to shower me not with a lecture, but with condemnation.
Not that her condemnation involved any cursing. It was more along the lines of “I can’t believe you,” “Your entire mindset is rotten,” and “Do you have any common sense at all?”
In any case, the corners of her eyes were welling up with tears, and she seemed truly hurt, so all I could do was keep trying to act cute and beg until my hands were raw.
No matter how old they get, women are always sensitive about their age.
I never imagined she’d be this shocked.
From now on, I’ll be careful never to bring up age in front of Diana.
And so, I learned another lesson on how to survive in life.