The Dream (6)
On the mid-mountain slope that overlooked the village below, Rozo stood scanning the horizon with narrowed eyes.
“Chief, look over there…”
“It’s even bigger than the last one I saw. The scale has grown.”
He muttered, voice tight with tension, then let out a heavy sigh.
“The population has increased, hasn’t it? The orcs’ breeding ability is truly monstrous. If we’d been just a little later, we would have been unable to do anything about them.”
With those words he turned toward the group.
“We’re here! Once we descend the mountain we’ll reach the orc village. Everyone, just like we planned—go take care of the orcs!”
The adventurers weren’t soldiers. They fought in their own parties, using whatever methods suited them.
“We’ve been waiting!”
As soon as the client Rozo declared the start of the extermination, the adventurers gripped their weapons and began sprinting downhill as fast as they could.
Whoever arrived first would pick up the most magic stones.
Adventurers raced down, weapons flashing, but the orcs spotted them almost immediately.
-Kwaaaaaah!!
One orc roared, and the battle exploded across the slopes in an instant.
While adventurers fought in their own ways, lengthening the orcs’ screams of pain, a few kept their eyes on the village interior.
“The warriors are in there! I’ll lead—follow me!”
Just as they had planned earlier, the Bronze-rank adventurers charged straight toward the orcs they had designated as priority targets.
They advanced with minimal fighting, only cutting down anything blocking their path, until their gaze fell on a massive hut.
Everyone present knew that, among the rough tents scattered around, the largest one belonged to the orc warrior.
“I’ll fire my fire arrows—watch for anything that comes charging out.”
Rozo said that, then loosened the string on the longbow he carried on his back and gripped it firmly.
Just like the Silver-rank adventurer he once had been, his movements were clean and economical as he drew the bowstring to its full length.
On the arrowhead he had attached a small charge of explosives, then set it alight.
A carefully aimed shot sailed through the dawn mist, aimed straight at the orc warrior sleeping inside the tent.
Fwoom!
With a thunderous boom, flames erupted.
One moment the tent, woven from dried grass and wood, was burning.
-Kwaaah!!
Amid the roar of rage, a colossal figure burst from the flames, smashing through the burning shelter.
It was half again as tall as an ordinary orc.
Unlike the other orcs who were nothing more than walking pigs, this one wore metal armor and bore a pig-like head with no fat on its body—its fur waving as it shook off the flames, letting out a furious howl.
-Kwaaaaaah!!
“What a cry for a pig.”
“So what? Just kill it!”
Adventurers surged forward the moment the flames gave them cover, swinging blades and spears at the orc’s vital points.
Their skill was unmistakable.
-Kwaaah!
One orc roared in rage and swung a fist.
The slow but heavy punch struck the spear shaft the lead adventurer had been using, shattering it with a crack.
Ujiik!
“Damn it!”
The broken spear sent its owner tumbling to the ground.
The adventurer who dodged the next punch shouted over his shoulder, voice rough.
“Jane—backup spear!”
“Yes, here!”
Following his call, Jane pulled the spare spear from the backpack strapped to her back.
As someone missing an arm, even lifting the heavy spear was a struggle for her.
“Ugh… ugh…”
“Throw it already! You don’t want to take a hit, do you?”
“N-no! I’ll throw it right now—!”
She had said that, but in her condition it was impossible to throw the spear.
At that exact moment the male adventurer who had been about to berate her again was interrupted.
“Move aside! I’ll fill your place!”
Saying that, a blonde woman stepped forward.
Clutching her sword so tightly her hand was numb, she bit her lip until it bled and swung her shield with all her strength.
Kwaaang!
The orc’s fist bounced off the steel shield, and before the rebound could fade she struck with her blade.
The orc’s thick, tough hide made a one-handed sword useless, but she had no choice—she could only add more power.
A trail of bright blue mana left a glowing arc in the air at the sword’s tip.
The orc’s arm flew off in a single stroke.
She sidestepped the spurting blood from the severed elbow and, at the same time, the surrounding adventurers began hammering the orc’s body.
-Kwaaaah, kwaaaaaah!
The wounded orc screamed in agony, flailing its arms while blood sprayed, until it finally collapsed to the ground with a heavy thud.
Er let out a sigh, wiping the blood from her sword.
“Ha… at least that’s over.”
By taking down the most dangerous warrior, there was no longer any major problem left.
Her hands, which had trembled since she first faced the orc village, slowly stopped shaking—apparently because she now knew she had killed an orc.
For a moment she could hide her fear and speak.
“Mr. Rozo, does that mean we can kill the other orcs now?”
“That’s right! We took out the warrior, so now we just need to handle the regular ones…”
“Damn it! If I’d known it would turn out this boring I wouldn’t have joined the party. My spear broke and now I’m at a disadvantage!”
At that moment a male adventurer shouted while kicking a pebble on the ground, glaring at someone.
“You’re just slow! What are you going to do about it?”
“Y-yes? That’s not it! The spear broke because the party leader—”
“The problem isn’t that it broke—it’s that you were late to replace it! Hah, damn it. I should never have taken someone missing an arm.”
Taking the backpack Jane carried with an irritated expression, he continued.
“You’re fired. Eat this and get lost.”
Saying that, he took a few silver coins from his pocket and tossed them to the ground.
Instead of protesting, Jane lowered her head toward the scattered coins, picked them all up, and only then realized what had become of her.
The battle still raged in the mountains.
What could a one-armed adventurer with no weapon of her own do in a place like this?
Her choice was quick and simple.
“Er, Er, Er? Can you help me?”
Her old companion had been watching the entire scene from a short distance away.
Er watched Jane being treated with pity in her eyes, guilt and pain mixed together, and could not refuse.
“…Just until the extermination ends. Don’t fall behind.”
“U-um! Thanks! I’ll do the odd jobs! You focus on hunting—give me the knife and the pocket!”
Er narrowed her eyes while watching Jane speak, then handed her the knife and the empty pocket.
The empty pocket and knife were heavy in Jane’s hands.
“Um… excuse me. Isn’t it troublesome to carry magic stones while fighting? That, um, I’ll take care of…”
Her plan was slightly different from Er’s.
The magic-stone pouch hanging at Er’s waist was large enough to hold several sizable stones.
Jane knew that fact, but Er spoke calmly.
“It’s fine. I only have two. Just pick up whatever comes out from now on.”
“U-um… if you say so, there’s nothing I can do. Anyway, since there are only two…”
At that exact moment someone’s scream mixed with a shout echoed around them.
“Run! Run aaaaaay!!!!”
“What’s suddenly—?!”
Er caught the scream and saw it clearly.
A massive axe, larger than a tree trunk, had just split a human in half from neck to abdomen.
The severed body spurted blood, painting the surroundings red, and the panicked adventurers froze.
-Krrruuuh…
A cold, eerie sound came from the bushes.
At the same time, red eyes appeared from the forest shadows as the sun began to rise.
When the creature lumbered forward with a heavy thump and its form became clear, everyone swallowed hard and stared.
It was an orc.
Twice the size of an ordinary one.
A giant pig-headed monster with solid muscle and no excess fat.
The adventurers had just killed an ordinary orc, but this one’s red eyes blazed with fury.
-Kwaaaaaah!
“W-what is that?!”
“Wasn’t the warrior supposed to be taken down?”
Adventurers spoke in confused voices.
One of them suddenly remembered something while looking in the same direction and muttered to the corpse of the orc warrior, “It’s a female…”
“What?”
“We killed an orc… a female.”
“…So the reason the village suddenly grew so fast was that there was a pair of warriors.”
Rozo began to say something urgently, but at that moment a voice shouted in triumph.
“Hey! Hey! Hey! You trying to give me a bonus because I feel bad?!”
Having broken his own spear at the start, this adventurer who was supposed to miss out on the female warrior’s share launched himself forward with a boastful voice.
“We only promised one! So this one belongs to whoever catches it!!”
He charged the massive orc.
-Kwaaaah!!
Thwack!
One angry swing from the orc’s axe split him neatly in two.
The human body split cleanly down the middle and spilled its contents everywhere.
“U-uuuaaaaaah!!!”
Seeing a person split open and sprayed with blood and guts, even experienced adventurers had no choice but to scream.
“Crazy… how are we supposed to fight something like that…!”
“Wait, we have way more people—let’s surround it…!”
“It’s one Bronze-rank splitting wood like kindling—what are you doing?! Stop talking nonsense and run!!”
Petrified by the horrific sight, the adventurers scattered in every direction.
It wasn’t a contract violation.
“Retreat! Retreat! Facing something like that monster means certain death!!”
Even Rozo, who had brought them, thought facing that orc was impossible.
They had already killed many orcs, and one of the warrior pair was gone.
Their breeding ability would be slowed.
It would be wise to withdraw temporarily, regroup, and attack again.
Before he could even finish calculating, his instincts screamed at him.
This was not something they could fight right now.
It was different from an ordinary orc warrior.
It radiated an unmistakably dangerous aura.
Orc eyes were never red.
Occasionally there were orcs with red irises, but none with that eerie glare.
This was not an ordinary orc warrior.
It was a monster wearing the shape of an orc—created with clear intent.
Rozo’s shout reached the ears of other adventurers still killing the ordinary orcs that had burst from the tents.
“Retreat! Retreat!”
“…Ahin.”
“Huh? I heard.”
Jina, who had just pierced an orc’s chest, and Ahin, who pocketed the magic stone, looked at each other.
“Ahin, what should we do? Retreat?”
“The client said to retreat—why fight? I’m not an idiot.”
“I thought the same thing…”
With those words Jina lifted a finger wrapped in her gauntlet and pointed somewhere.
“There seems to be someone else.”
“…What?”
Ahin turned his head sharply at Jina’s words.
At the edge of his vision he saw the back of an adventurer standing his ground against an orc twice the size of a normal one.
He clutched sword and shield, trembling uncontrollably, and the moment Ahin saw the person, his eyes widened.
“That crazy woman…!”
Without hesitation he sprinted forward.
Jina watched him go with a complicated sigh.
A sigh full of every emotion—admiration, helplessness, a little envy.
She wondered whether the others noticed how heavy the helplessness was.
“Pretending to be indifferent, huh. I knew you’d do that.”
She let out the sigh, then followed his back.
“Huh?”
Some face that looked strangely familiar passed in front of her.
Not so much the face itself as the thing that caught her eye: the fluttering left sleeve of a ragged coat.
Jina’s eyes narrowed at the familiar pouch in that hand.
“Haa…”
Her role must have been different.