Orc Hunt
Ryude woke up feeling surprisingly refreshed that morning. He slipped a dagger into his inner pocket and tightened the straps of his leather armor. Then he gripped the expensive sword he'd bought with a small fortune and stepped out of the cave.
"Alright, let's go."
His target was a magical beast known as an orc. If the bofal bunny was a mutated rabbit, then the orc was a mutated pig. An ugly creature with a pig's head, carrying a club and walking on two legs. He'd never seen one in person, but he figured it would look just like the common ones from games.
"They say it's pretty strong, but... it'll be fine, right? Whatever."
He had no intention of dying easily, but he still needed to challenge himself. He couldn't keep living off hunting ten-copper rabbits forever. From hanging around the guild, he'd heard that orcs weren't exactly high-ranking magical beasts. Their speed was lacking, but their raw power was considerable. Let your guard down and even veteran hunters could end up with broken bones.
One piece of good news was that orcs didn't live in packs. If he took them down one by one, he should be able to manage somehow.
"Hoo..."
He walked through the forest for about thirty minutes, constantly scanning his surroundings. A landscape he'd never seen before unfolded before his eyes. This was the first time he'd set foot in this area.
Thud. Thud.
Just as expected, heavy footsteps that shook the ground reached his ears. He could already sense the orc's presence.
"Tsk, it looks exactly like I imagined."
Ryude held his breath and observed the orc. There was only one. He'd gained plenty of experience hunting rabbits so far. It seemed entirely doable. Still, a surprise attack would be better than a head-on fight.
He pulled the dagger from his pocket and threw it, aiming for the orc's leg.
Shwoooosh—!
Thwack!
His plan had been to hinder its movement. Unfortunately, his accuracy wasn't that great. The dagger sank into the orc's side instead. The orc turned toward where the blade had come from, its face twisted in pain.
"Too late, you bastard!"
Slaaaash!
Ryude dashed forward and leaped, swinging his sword at the orc's eye. The right eye was sliced clean through, spraying a fountain of blood.
"GUOOOOOOH!!!!!"
The orc began roaring in agony. It clutched its eye with its left hand while wildly swinging the club in its right. It had fallen into a complete panic.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Wherever the club struck, the dirt exploded and formed deep craters. Even the rocks beneath were shattered and sent flying into the air.
"That's some serious strength."
If that club hit him square on, it probably wouldn't end with just broken bones. But that didn't matter. Just as the stories said, its movements were slow and sluggish. As long as he watched carefully and stayed focused, he wouldn't get hit.
Ryude circled around to the orc's back. Still reeling from the pain, the orc had completely lost track of him.
"Goodbye."
He dodged the club and drove his sword straight into its neck.
"GUOO—"
Before it could roar again, he sliced the embedded sword horizontally. The orc's head rolled across the dirt floor as a geyser of blood erupted. Ryude leaped back to avoid the spray.
"Hmm."
He had definitely completed his objective. He should have felt proud of his accomplishment. But strangely, he felt nothing at all. The orc hunt had been far too easy.
"Am I... actually pretty strong?"
Was this the power he'd built up from a month of rabbit hunting?
In summer, nothing beats staying home and doing absolutely nothing. But when you need to make money in this scorching heat, you have no choice but to go outside. That's why the guild during summer has a much noisier, livelier atmosphere than usual.
Most monster hunters lived nomadic lives. For them, the guild—with its magical air conditioning—was the perfect sanctuary.
"What kind of work are we supposed to do in this weather! Uwaaaaah, I want to live somewhere cool forever~"
Lyla, who was considered a fairly veteran hunter, had her face planted on the table right in front of the air conditioner, savoring the cool breeze.
"Oh, you were already here."
The man calling out to her was Arnold, another veteran. With his gentle, family-man appearance, Arnold easily soothed his wife and partner.
"Here, I got you some iced tea. You like this, right?"
"Whoa!? My husband is the best!!"
Lyla took the drink he offered and quickly took a big sip.
"So sweet~!"
Once her mood had improved, Arnold pulled out a piece of paper he'd prepared from his pocket.
"So, about that... It seems the monsters are also suffering from the heat and moving slower lately. There aren't any requests around here at all?"
"Yeah, yeah. And?"
"Which means our income has dropped. A lot. Like, a whole lot!"
"Gasp!"
Lyla took another sip of her iced tea.
"So what's the job?"
Arnold showed her the paper he'd just taken out.
"Hmm, isn't this a regular patrol request?"
"Yeah. It's pretty much the only request left in the area. Unless we leave this place entirely... but you don't want to do that, right?"
"Well, that's true~"
Lyla examined the request form closely. Her expression quickly turned serious.
"...Wait, are you serious about this?"
When she asked with a face full of fear, Arnold nodded.
"It's just a patrol. We've done it plenty of times. This time it's just our turn."
"That's not what I mean. Isn't this area close to where that 'Blood Witch' lives?"
"It is, but it'll be fine. I heard from the guy who took this patrol request last year that he never ran into her."
"...But isn't that exactly why this request has been delayed until now? Do we really have to be the ones to do it?"
Lyla looked deeply worried. The 'Blood Witch' wasn't a monster—she was a person. But her infamous title was known far and wide, enough to make everyone tremble in fear.
Arnold thought for a moment before speaking a cold, realistic truth.
"Lyla."
"Yeah?"
"We're completely out of rent money."
"Y-yeah?"
"Next month, we'll be out on the streets."
"........."
"You still don't want to work?"
"...I'll do it."
After being hit with cold hard facts, Lyla became completely deflated and fully agreed with Arnold's plan.
"Uwaaaaaah!! We have to climb a mountain first thing in the morning!!"
Lyla, leaning on her staff and sweating buckets, let out a loud roar.
"It's better to finish before the sun gets too strong. Just hang in there a little longer, okay?"
Arnold, walking ahead, checked on her complexion and offered her his hand.
"...Yeah, okay. Thanks."
The two of them patrolled the forest with the composure expected of veterans.
"Lyla, how's it looking over there~?"
"Hmm, there are a few orcs, but nothing else unusual~"
"Got it~"
They kept a bit of distance from each other to patrol more efficiently. Although this was a danger zone, the chances of encountering powerful monsters were low. The fact that it was near the Blood Witch's territory probably played a big part in that.
"What do you want to do? Should we take them out?"
"Nah, let's leave them. With that few, they shouldn't cause problems for a while. Besides, our job is just patrol. We just need to go back and report properly."
"Agreed~! I don't want to waste energy in this heat~"
Lyla wiped the sweat from her forehead and let out a big sigh. Then, as if something suddenly occurred to her, she asked Arnold.
"By the way, do we really need to patrol this place?"
"Lyla, we're getting paid for it, so we kind of have to, don't we?"
"No, that's not what I mean. This place doesn't even look that dangerous at first glance. Why does it need to be part of the regular requests?!"
Lyla puffed out her cheeks as she spoke. Regular requests weren't given by individuals but by the nation to the guild. Unless it was a large-scale monster subjugation, most of them were patrol missions meant to prevent damage in advance.
"Oh, is that what you meant? Sorry, sorry. Well... I kind of agree with you, but the fact that even a place like this gets regular patrols might be proof that the higher-ups are actually doing their jobs, right?"
"You think so?"
"There's no guarantee, of course. But preparing for the unexpected isn't a bad thing."
"That's true, I guess."
Lyla nodded in agreement with his words.
"Anyway! Since we're already here, we should at least pretend to work! Arnold, how much farther do we have?"
"Let's see..."
Arnold pulled out a map and pointed to their current location.
"We're about here right now. The area we need to patrol is around this zone, so it should take about one to two hours?"
"Oh! That's not too bad. If we're lucky, we might finish before lunch? Want to eat out after we're done? There's a place I've been wanting to try~"
"Sure, sounds good. If we finish early, let's do that."
"Yay~"
The two of them were filled with excitement at the prospect of an early finish for the first time in a while. Lyla walked ahead with renewed determination.
Shwooooooooosh—!
At that moment, a sound like tearing air reached Lyla's ears.
"Lyla, dodge!!!!!!!!!!"
At the same time, her body was shoved aside.
"Kyaaaaaaaaaah—!!!"
The sickening sound of flesh being crushed. A crude spear that had flown from somewhere smashed through several trees before finally losing momentum and falling to the ground.
"W-what...?"
Her mind couldn't keep up. Lyla turned her creaking neck and looked around. The ground that had been green was now torn up into mounds of dirt, and the trees that had towered over them were so thoroughly destroyed they could barely be called trees anymore. The entire area had been devastated in just a few seconds.
"A-Arnold!!"
Lyla desperately searched for Arnold. Fortunately, he was lying across her lap.
"Arnold!! W-what happened..."
When she placed her hand on him to wake him up, something wet and hot stained her palm. Sensing that something was terribly wrong, Lyla lifted her hand and froze in horror.
"What is this..."
Her hand was soaked in bright red blood. At that moment, a spine-chilling aura made her entire body break out in goosebumps. Reflexively lifting her head, Lyla locked eyes with 'something.' Even though it was over thirty meters away, she couldn't shake the feeling that it was staring directly at her.