Missing
"Stop focusing so much on how to piss me off, and start thinking about what you can actually gain. Keep using me, and if I really do become useless, then you can decide whether to let me live or die. Just stop being so petty."
Ratel's expression grew strange as he listened to whatever this was—advice or just pure irritation. What are you looking at, punk? I'd lose in a physical fight, but if I'm going down, I'm more than willing to take one of your arms or legs with me to the grave.
"You..." He finally opened his mouth, but our conversation went no further. He suddenly snapped his head up, staring intently in one direction. In novels, this was usually the moment where the protagonist heard something others couldn't, or saw something invisible to the rest.
"Squeeeeeeak!"
It seemed to be the former. At the skin-crawling shriek, I looked up at the sky. The sun was still high. Lia had said the Orc packs didn't come out during the day.
"How many do you think there are?"
"A lot. More than ten," Ratel replied, straining his ears toward the forest.
"Get on your horse. We need to head to where Jing is... Oh, of course you're already mounted, you obnoxious bastard."
Without waiting for me, he had already leaped onto his horse. Feeling thoroughly cheated, I quickly scrambled onto mine. The downhill path we had just ridden down was now a steep uphill climb waiting for us.
"Squeeeak!"
This time, the sound was close enough for even me to hear. The problem was that it wasn't coming from the direction we had fled from, but from our left.
"Damn it, there must have been others nearby. Can we find Jing and Lia before we run into them?" My sweaty hands kept slipping on the reins, forcing me to tighten my grip.
Clop, clop.
A sound completely contrary to my desperate urge to escape echoed from ahead. I looked up and saw Ratel pulling his horse to a stop.
"What are you doing? Are you crazy? Get back on!" I raised my voice, but he remained perfectly calm.
"Why should I?"
"What?"
"The sun is high in the sky, yet Orcs are roaming around. No matter what they did, it can't be as comfortable for them as moving in the dark. The fact that they're active like this means they have a purpose."
"And you think that purpose is us?"
"What's certain is that if we keep going like this, we'll end up fighting them unprepared. Even if we're lucky enough to escape now, an even larger number will search this area tonight." He gripped the hilt of his sword, staring in the direction of the noise. "You said Orc settlements have dozens, if not hundreds, living together. With numbers like that, it's better to kill them right here."
He was planning to face them head-on.
"No, the sound of battle might draw even more of them. Don't you think it'd be smarter to at least get Jing to fight with us? Stop being stubborn and just ride!"
Despite my urging, he didn't budge. Right, the protagonist never listens to anyone else until he actually grows up.
"Damn it!"
I hurriedly rummaged through my bag. In my haste, a few items seemed to slip out, but I didn't care. "Hey! Take this, at least." I threw a small pouch I had finally managed to fish out of my bag toward him.
"What's this?" Frowning, he caught the worn pouch.
"It's an herb that repels small monsters. It has a foul stench, so it should work on Orcs since they have sensitive noses. It'll buy you some time. If you get overwhelmed, throw it immediately."
Having kindly explained how to use it, I immediately turned my horse around. I hadn't been able to touch any large animals in the Imperial Forest. To survive a fight against Orcs with the forms I currently had, I would need to transform into at least a bear, but there was no way I could do that in front of Ratel. Besides, he should be able to handle dozens of Orcs on his own.
"I'm going to get Jing, so hold out for a bit!"
Without a second thought, I spurred my horse forward.
Ratel stared for a moment at the back of the black head retreating without a single backward glance—especially after making such a fuss about being worried—before turning back toward the approaching noise.
Orcs were strong and moved in packs, but they were stupid. Though their numbers were high, as long as he wasn't ambushed from behind, it was a winnable fight. A smirk played on Ratel's lips as he drew his sword. A sense of danger meant a perfect opportunity for training. He hadn't had a proper workout lately.
Ever since his defeat by Dito in the Capital, Ratel had been waiting for an opportunity like this. Training always required risking one's life. That was the only way to grow stronger. He had been too soft lately. Still, would twenty of them be a bit too much? No, it didn't matter; he would heal quickly anyway. He couldn't let his guard down, especially since Jing might not even show up. The bastard who went to fetch him was entirely untrustworthy. He might have just run away. Of course, if he did, Ratel would hunt him to the ends of the earth to make him pay.
"Squeeeak! Squeee—!"
While he was busy imagining a betrayal that hadn't even happened yet, the pack approaching from the left arrived first.
With his back against a tree, Ratel surveyed the green faces surrounding him. Holding crude, worn weapons, they were massive. Perhaps due to their protruding jaws, they couldn't speak proper words, instead emitting unpleasant, grating shrieks as they closed in.
"Squeeeak!"
The largest of them, seemingly the leader of the pack, swung its sword without any warning. Ratel intentionally clashed his blade against it. The force was immense, sending a sharp tingle through his fingers.
"This is doable."
Using the recoil of a kick to the beast's stomach, Ratel launched himself upward and plunged his sword straight into its neck.
"Gurgle..."
Bubbling blood escaping its throat, the massive Orc stumbled back a few paces. But there was no time to breathe. Even with a blade through its neck, the creature didn't die, and the rest of its lackeys weren't about to wait around.
Next, a massive shield came crashing down, threatening to crush Ratel's skull. It wasn't too fast to dodge, but Ratel chose to block the blow with his forearm. His bone cracked instantly under the impact, but the fracture mended in a flash. Pushing the shield aside with sheer brute force, Ratel thrust his sword into the opening.
One, two, three. He suffered three fractures while taking down eleven Orcs, but each injury healed in seconds. Throughout it all, neither Ran nor Jing arrived. Not even by the time he had slaughtered the first pack and the second pack, which had been tracking them from deep within the forest, finally caught up.
Seeing their brethren collapsed in pools of blood, the newly arrived Orcs flew into a frenzy and rushed Ratel all at once. By the time four more had fallen, Jing finally arrived.
"Ratel! What are you doing? Why are you recklessly throwing yourself into a brawl?!" accompanied by his usual squawking nagging.
With an extra pair of hands, clearing out the remaining eight Orcs didn't take long. But even after the last of the eight fell, Ran was nowhere to be seen.
"Jing, where is he?" Ratel asked, casually wiping the blood from his hands.
"Him? Do you mean Lord Ran? I've actually been looking for him this whole time. I can't find him anywhere. Where did he go? Could he have run into danger in the forest?" Jing, who had already been scanning the surroundings before Ratel even asked, questioned with wide eyes.
So he wasn't the one who brought Jing here either. "He really did run away..." At Ratel's murmur, a flustered Jing shook his head.
"There is no way. He is not that kind of person."
Hearing the absolute certainty in Jing's voice, Ratel narrowed his eyes.
"From what I can tell, you aren't particularly close to him either, Jing. How can you be so sure?"
"Because it makes no sense! He saved my life, and he saved yours. Why on earth would he suddenly abandon us and run?"
"And what reason would he have to vanish right at this moment? Listen closely. There are no hoofbeats, no footsteps nearby. He's already long gone."
Though he had no idea what had happened to Ran Abaran, Jing still refused to believe he had fled.
"I know he is a man shrouded in mystery. But the fact remains that we owe him our lives for saving us in a crisis. You are no exception." Jing spoke firmly, pointing at Ratel's stomach. "He is the one who came to save you when you were on the verge of death in that tower. Never forget that. He might be in danger right now, so it is our turn to help him."
Despite Jing's sharp rebuke, Ratel had no intention of backing down. "It's also a fact that he used that opportunity to escape the castle himself. He might have just grabbed a convenient chance."
"Enough!" Jing's voice finally cracked with anger. "He is the savior who spared my son's life. Do not speak of him that way."
Ratel's eyes narrowed as he stared at Jing. Soon, a sharp, mocking sneer curled his lips. "Why? Is that ingrained loyalty from your days as an Abaran dog still tormenting you? I guess all your talk of regret was just a facade. Seeing how you can't even bear to drop his honorifics, as if the guilt of betraying them is eating you alive."
"What did you say?" Jing demanded, his face hardening.
"It's painfully obvious that you're just satisfying your leftover loyalty on Ran because you couldn't give it to them. It's disgusting."
Ratel's words occasionally—no, most of the time—had a way of striking people right where it hurt. This time, he had pierced Jing's deepest wound. Suppressing the urge to strike back, Jing reached out and gripped Ratel's shoulder tightly. He took a deep breath, consciously trying not to squeeze any harder.
"It is... not like that. I meant that I trust him as a person."
Ratel stared down at the hand on his shoulder before slapping it away with a sharp smack. Their conversation ended, and a heavy, suffocating silence settled between them.
"Um... everyone, I truly appreciate this bizarrely uncomfortable and tense show you're putting on, but..."
Fortunately, they had one companion left to break up the fight. Thanks to her joke, which was about seventy percent serious, the two men managed to take a step back from each other.
"For now, though, I think Jing's point makes more sense."
As she spoke, Lia rummaged through her clothes and pulled something out. Jing and Ratel stared at the object dangling from her fingers, held gently by the scruff of its neck. It was a squirrel. The very squirrel Ran carried around every single day. The one called El. Lia gave the somewhat exhausted-looking El a gentle wiggle and said, "He seemed to cherish this little guy quite a lot. I don't think he would have just abandoned him and run."