Chapter 19 /// Orc Forest /// Part 2
The dying orc came to the flock, and made gestures as if he wants to convey something. It seems that the situation was able to get transmitted to his fellow orc whether it was a cry or a regular language, and the situation immediately became tense to the orc group.
First, Shion looks over to measure their strength. There are 20 orcs, and each one of them has a huge body and strong physique.
Normal orc’s color usually pale, but there’s one that are black-reddish. It also have black eyes, which made the person who sees them feel fear and an ominous impression towards them.
Beside the strong-looking orc, there are 5 people. Judging from their muscles, they must be adventurers or mercenary.
They’re half naked, and their feet seems swollen. It seems to prevent them from escaping.
In the center of the square, a fire is lit, so you can expect them to burn and eat the captured human beings.
“What is this, a festival?”
Flocks of orcs sometimes do this once in a while. Capture a few people, burn them alive, enjoy their screams, and then eat their meat happily with their friends.
Shion should be prioritizing of saving those 5 people, but [Black Swimming] can only transport 1, 2 at most, people at once. He’s going to take his time, and avoid getting them killed.
As if to help Shion’s situation, a swift stepping sound approached, so he went into it’s shadow.
“Can you hear me, Haku? It’s me”
‘Wow, you’re in my shadow, right?’
“There’s a group of orc, prisoners, and a strong individual in the square ahead. Can you disturb the others so I can save the prisoners?”
‘Roger that. They’re just orcs, so I can just become a green fox with wind attribute’
The snow white hair of Haku slowly turned into green, and the wind coils around his body. Not only his appearance, his ability also changed and Shion realized that Haku became much faster.
“Ahh, so that’s what you mean earlier. I’ll leave them to you then”
‘Fufufu, I’ve been entrusted. WOOOOOOO’
Haku charges into the flock with a roar to attract the orcs. Because he gathered their attention and hostility, Shion can quietly emerged from the shadows of the prisoners.
However, > Orc was quite sensitive, and as soon as he discovered where Shion was, he signaled to nearby subordinate and order him to attack. It’s just a small fry. Utter Shion while he jump lightly and slash the orc’s forehead.
“Is Edvan among you guys?”
“Tha—that’s me”
“Thank god. Now, please stay there until the battle is over”
Edvan is a man of about 40 years old with a deep-carved face, and a wound on his leg. Both hands that can be said to be the life of the cook are safe, so he feels relieved.
“Please be careful! His weapon is powerful!”
Shion stretched his vision after being alerted, and his weapon does seems different than normal orcs. Made of iron, have 10 cm width and sharp protrusions.
Shion knew this weapon.
“Double Iron Rod……? Did he stole it from an adventurer?”
Magic Weapons are ranked by alphabets from D, C, B, A, S. That one is C rank.
It’s not that uncommon of a weapon so it fits in C rank, but the destructive power is considerable. The stronger the arm strength of the owner, the higher the power.
“Kill…KILLL”
Shon lower his head to avoid the Iron Rod that swings right above it. Once the Iron Rod hit the ground, it gouged the ground spewing sand all over.
Meaning that this weapon is a perfect fit for an orc.
Orcs are powerful yet slow. But that doesn’t apply to the >. A person who fights it thinking it’s just an orc is killed immediately because he moves around agilely with a huge body over three meters.
Shion touched his fingers on the sword blade and applied [Black Coating]. The dull glow disappeared and it quickly turned into .
Every time the orc hits the ground like a mole-tap game while screaming KILL KILL, Shion moves swiftly to dodge it and slash it’s arm lightly while at it.
“WHY NO HIT…? WHY NO HIT!”
“it’s because you’re so easy to read. It’s rough and there’s no trace of martial arts there”
Pointing that out, Shion slash the orc easily one more time and the orc can’t move anymore. Because every time he received damage, instead of slashing damage his magic power was sucked by the .
“Strong orc > can be sold at high price, right? Especially to the Monster Researchers”
The purchase price is higher if managed to not damage it as much as possible. No longer able to hold his prideful Double Iron Rod anymore, Shion hits the orc’s forehead, finishing the battle.
“Wow, the opponent that all of us can’t defeat was ended just like that”
“Who are you…?”
“It was so overwhelming!”
To the prisoners who are astonished by his overwhelming strength, Shion asks who is the owner of the Iron Rod. Because it seems nobody knows, he put it inside . Speaking of overwhelming, Haku is no different. Most of the orcs have already died after their bodies were cut in half.
It’s like a slash by the wind. I addition, there’s a High-Level wind magic called > , but because Haku always uses them, the orcs literally can’t get close.
Monsters who can only attack at close range is pushed back by the wind when attacking and falls on their butts, and another wind appeared there and defeat them.
“It’s so strong… Isn’t it above the evil wind dragon that I once defeated?”
Shion decides that Haku is the strongest monster that he have encountered so far. He knows that he’s strong, but not to that extent. Moreover, there’s still plenty of energy to spare.
‘It seems that you’ve already finished’
“As expected. It’s Haku’s thing to not turn down the enemy”
‘Nonono, that would be you Shion. By the way, those people…’
“They’re safe. Mr. Edvan is also there too”
‘Oooh~ Mr. Edvan, I would like to ask you a favor. Please grill our meat’
It’s a little interesting to see Haku asking for it even if he doesn’t know who is Edvan yet, and the atmosphere at the place softens.
“Oi oi, you can eat, but you’re gonna carry them”
‘Ah, I see. Please get on my back, everyone’
Fortunately, all the injuries are only legs, so he have them straddle Haku’s back side by side. Some of them are amazed by the fluffiness of Haku’s hair.
It’s really better to recover the wound on their leg, but now there are no items.
“I can’t use recovery magic…”
‘Me too…’
“No problem. Once we get back in town, we can do something about it. Please take care of us for now. When I’ve gotten better, I will grill that meat”
‘I will get you there safely, even if it costs me my life!’
Responding excitedly to Edvan, Haku starts moving.
There were injured people, but Shion and his people arrived at Organ without any problems. They parted with others, and immediately go to treat Edvan’s injuries.
Shion had an expensive potion back at the inn. When he was injured, it took about 30 minutes to heal to the point where the wound closes and he could move.
Shion heard that preparation is necessary, so he decided to have the food served the next day.
The next day, Shion and Haku waited excitedly for the food. By the way, it’s free. Because Edvan said [How could I take payments from you?].
“Here you go! Steamed Boar Meat and Botan Nabe!”
“’Gulp……”’
The aromatic smoke drifting from the pot made them can’t hold their mouth any longer, and they start to eat before saying ‘Itadakimasu’. And it seems that Haku can eat hot food just fine.
They start with eating hot pot filled with shiitake mushroom, carrots, and chinese cabbage. The thinly sliced boar meat has no foul smell at all, and Shion is impressed by its tenderness.
“Even though the meat usually smell and hard to eat…”
“I can take the smell, but the tenderness… wow. The steamed meat is also delicious, it’s so tasty it feels like a food from another world. This one is also good”
Nodding, Shion take another piece of the steamed boar meat. He was so excited he takes another 4 thick slices.
“Whew! This one is also really tasty. It’s the best!”
“Hahaha, I’ve made enough for you! Especially for your familiar!”
‘Haaa fuuuuu’
The appearance of Haku who blew away reason and was absorbed in the food was wild itself.
Looking so happy, Shion decided to just watch with a smile, didn’t speak out until he had finished eating.