Episode 26
“The Holy Order?”
“I’m referring to the priests there. They don’t like the Nod people. So perhaps… you will need money.”
Money? Why money all of a sudden…?
When Loki looked puzzled, the soldier provided an answer.
“Please be careful not to clash with the priests. And if you do, pay them and ask for baptism. If you receive proof, even as a formality, they won’t touch Lord Hoon without reason.”
“…I don’t understand what you mean. Is this some religious meaning?”
“Yes, they call our Nod tribe ‘heretics’ because we worship a different constellation. If you take on only the outward appearance of receiving baptism and ‘converting,’ and give them money… you should be able to get through it safely from then on.”
Is it something complicated?
Loki watched the soldiers’ subtle expressions and thought deeply.
Come to think of it, conflicts and wars caused by religion had occurred frequently throughout history.
In the Middle Ages alone, those who didn’t believe in God were called heathens and subjected to terrible punishment.
“I see. Thank you. Then….”
“Please be careful.”
Just as the soldiers bowed their heads again, Loki spoke to them.
“Ah! And one more request.”
“……?”
“Don’t tell anyone you saw me.”
“That is….”
The soldiers were perplexed. Everything that happened at this frozen lake, no matter how trivial, had to be reported to command.
“Even if Aum Linia asks, say you didn’t see me. You know my position is higher than Aum’s, right?”
At Loki’s words, the soldiers flinched in surprise and bowed their heads.
“…Understood.”
“Good.”
Loki nodded and waved his hand in the air.
He took out one of the potions stored in his inventory and tossed it to the soldiers. The soldiers caught it reflexively and stood blankly.
“It’s a bribe. Don’t take it and then sing a different tune.”
“…Yes.”
The soldiers, witnessing a figure who should set an example committing corruption, sighed deeply, unsure whether to be happy or sad.
***
“Ahh! I can’t go any farther! Yes! I can’t!”
The knight, Lapilta, collapsed right onto the ground, exhausted.
The splendid full plate armor he wore was covered in dust.
Lapilta, who was about to enter his thirties, had been through all kinds of hardships and experiences, but after moving for several days without washing or eating, he had reached his limit.
He had spent a week in the Celt Mountains, swarming with monsters.
From the first day, he had lost his supplies fleeing monsters; on the second day, he had lost his way; and from the next day, the suffering began.
Without water or food, he had cut and eaten tree bark or even roasted the larvae inside them.
When he needed water, he had drunk stagnant or rotten water regardless, enduring the pain in his stomach.
Though he had a strong stomach, eating only tree bark, larvae, and rotten water all day long made him desperate to eat something resembling real food.
In this place, once a sacred land of the Red Orcs, the Celt Mountains, he sighed deeply and threw the longsword he was holding onto the ground.
His legs seemingly devoid of strength, he lay flat on his back.
“Damn it! Why do I have to suffer like this?!”
“Hah! You rascal! Lapilta! A knight sprawled out like that is useless!”
Beside him was an old man who appeared to be in his seventies.
He had a wrinkled face and a shabby appearance, but contrary to his face, he wore flawless full plate armor.
The armor looked even heavier and bulkier than Lapilta, who was a sizable man himself.
Lapilta shouted at the old man.
“Sir Albert! Say something sensible! Where’s the knight now? I’m a mercenary now. Ahh! I shouldn’t have followed you! At this rate, I’ll starve to death or get eaten by monsters!”
Lapilta clutched his head and groaned.
“Please endure a little longer. If we look at the map, we definitely need to go this way… uh… uhh? No? Could it be that way…?”
Leaning on a crude wooden staff, wearing a tattered, wide-brimmed conical hat like something out of a fairy tale, a boy who looked about sixteen, clad in a long cloak, was flusteredly looking at a map.
“Paul, do you know that’s the third time you’ve said that today? You said the exact same thing just an hour ago! We’re stranded!”
Lapilta grabbed his head.
“Ugh! What’s that rumored all-purpose potion! That’s all just superstition!”
Lapilta, Albert, and Paul were currently working as mercenaries who had accepted a certain request.
Namely, to find the “all-purpose potion” said to be somewhere in the Celt Mountains.
To be exact, it was said to have come from around the Celt Mountains, so surely a legendary alchemist lived here as well.
“Are you sure it’s really here? Huh?”
“…It’s not exact. Who knows? Maybe not the Celt Mountains, but beyond them in the Frozen Land?”
Albert, who had accepted this request, avoided Lapilta’s gaze.
In truth, they were taking mercenary work to find traces of the “all-purpose potion,” and the request they had accepted now was also taken to gain information.
So they had come to the Celt Mountains looking for even a small hint, but…
All they could see were crimson-steeped rock faces and scarlet-stained maple trees.
“Surely… you’re not thinking of going to the Frozen Land?”
At Lapilta’s despair-filled voice, Paul reacted this time.
The boyish-looking youth jumped in surprise, trembling as he looked at Albert.
Surely he isn’t really going…?
“Nngh! If we must go, then we go!”
“……?”
“If it’s there, we have to find it!”
“…Good heavens! You’ve finally gone senile! No wonder you trained like death itself! You’ve finally gone mad… ugh! Stop swinging your sword, please!”
Lapilta shrieked at the sight of Albert’s sword stuck between his legs.
“Don’t worry. As long as you have both hands and feet, you can hold a sword anytime.”
“But my male dignity would be lost before that!”
“It’s fine. Perhaps it’s best to cut it off this time! Cast aside distracting thoughts and devote yourself only to training!”
“Hey! Are you trying to make me a eunuch?! Is this old senile man picking a fight?!”
Lapilta also drew his sword and faced off against Albert.
“Y-you two are both too sensitive! Now, now, deep breaths… huh? This smell…?”
“……?”
“Doesn’t something smell delicious?”
Paul sniffled and his eyes sparkled.
“The smell of meat?!”
“R-really?!”
“No way!”
At Paul’s shout, Lapilta and Albert asked to confirm.
Then their eyes gleamed at the savory scent stimulating their sense of smell.
“The smell of meat!”
“It seems there are mercenaries nearby who accepted the same request as us!”
“Let’s go find them!”
They used their sense of smell to head toward the scent. And discovering a place where torchlight was visible, they ran with all their might.
And there were the mercenaries they had been looking for.
Except, the problem was that they were all dead and being roasted as chunks of meat.
“…It’s Orcs.”
“It’s Orcs.”
“And the Red Orcs known for capturing and taming Ogres, at that.”
That was the reaction of Lapilta, Paul, and Albert.
Before their eyes, red-skinned Orcs with muscular bodies about 2 meters tall were sitting cozily in a circle before the torch.
Leather clothes, clubs made of monster bones, swords, spears, and shields seemingly obtained from raiding nearby humans.
Human-like bones were scattered around, and above the torch, a flayed human skewered on a crude wooden spit was roasting nicely.
The Orcs opened their eyes wide in surprise at the suddenly appeared humans and smacked their lips.
“…Tasty-looking humans.”
“Catch them!”
The Orcs leisurely rose from their seats.
Bits of blood and raw, half-cooked meat they had been tearing at seemed to pool thickly at the corners of their mouths.
Seeing those Orcs, Lapilta despaired on the spot.
“It wasn’t meat! No, it is meat, but human meat?!”
“…Still, it looks delicious.”
“Paul, don’t tell me you eat human meat? Even if mages are known to be oddballs, enjoying human flesh…”
“I don’t! I’m a normal person…! But… wouldn’t Orc meat be fine?”
“…You’re quite the oddball too.”
“What are we going to do?”
Lapilta shrugged his shoulders at Albert’s question.
“We fight. After all, they’re just Orcs, right? Green Orcs or red Orcs, they’re all the same.”
“Hmm… what about you, Paul?”
“I think the same. Orcs are manageable enough! There are only four of them. However….”
Paul suddenly turned pale and pointed a finger behind the Orcs.
“That is, if there weren’t an Ogre.”
Right behind the Orcs, a massive monster burst out of the bushes as if by magic.
Fangs jutting out, a grotesquely twisted face, muscles like steel all over its body, and a bulging belly—an enormous monster over 4 meters tall.
The King of the Forest, an Ogre.
Moreover, it was equipped with iron plates all over its body that put the Orcs’ gear to shame, and it held an iron mace in its hand.
No matter how you looked at it, the equipment was too excellent for something tamed by Orcs.
“They seem to be serving only that one.”
-Kraaaaaaa-!
Lapilta looked up at the Ogre’s majesty, slowly lowered his sword, and opened his mouth.
“…Shall we run?”
“We have to run.”
“Let’s run.”
Albert and Paul looked at each other and nodded.
-Kraaaaack!
At the Ogre’s roar, Lapilta, Paul, and Albert turned and ran with all their might. At the same time, the earth trembled.
The ground shook violently with every movement of the Ogre.
“Damn it! Why do I have to suffer this…!”
“Stop complaining and move! Do you want to become meat?!”
“W-what do we do? The Ogre is too fast!”
“I-it’ll be fine! Ogres are big! There are many obstacles in this forest, so it can’t move fast!”
Then, something fell in front of them.
“……!”
Paul immediately ducked, and Lapilta and Albert jumped over it.
It was a log.
They looked back at the pursuing Ogre.
The Ogre was lumbering after them, smashing trees and throwing them.
“We just gave it throwable weapons to hit us with?!”
As Lapilta shouted, Albert yelled.
“Lapilta! This is a good chance! Show the self-sacrifice befitting a knight!”
“Huh? Is that for you to say? Besides, I’m a mercenary now! I gave up being a knight ages ago! At times like this, the old man who’s lived his life should sacrifice himself for the youth!”
“But more than that… I’m tired! I’m a mage! My stamina isn’t like that of trained knights or mercenaries!”
Just as they were screaming to survive.
Something shadowy appeared before them.
A person wearing a large crow mask was strolling leisurely, looking around.
“What?! A monster?”
“No! It’s human! He’s just wearing a mask…!”
“R-run! An Ogre is coming!”
At the three people’s shouts, the man in the crow mask tilted his head, then spotted the Ogre chasing them. He then pressed his forehead as if troubled.
Seeing that appearance, the three were filled with pity.
Because that gesture seemed close to giving up, as if saying, “Ah, the King of the Forest, an Ogre! I’m done for!”
“Uugh! Lapilta! The first rule of knighthood, a knight is…!”
“…one who helps those in need!”
At Albert’s words, Lapilta chimed in and grabbed the man from both sides, then started running.
The man was suddenly caught by the two knights, left dangling.
“…What’s going on?”
The abruptly abducted man tilted his head.
While being held by Albert and Lapilta, he looked at the pursuing Ogre and straightened his crow mask.
It was an extremely relaxed voice, but Lapilta had no time to care about that, sweating profusely as he shouted,
“Can’t you see?! An Ogre crazy for human flesh is chasing us!”
“…An Ogre… I see. But something like merely an Ogre…?”
“M-merely?! It’s the King of the Forest! Do you know how many novice knights or adventure-hungry adventurers that monster has eaten?!”
“Is it dangerous?”
“Of course! If I were ten years younger, I could take it alone… but I’m no longer young!”
Albert shouted, panting.
Though from the looks of him wearing heavy armor and still talking, he seemed to have some stamina left.
“Ahh! I agree! If only I weren’t so hungry, I could take that thing down in one blow!”
Lapilta’s shout.
“That’s all fine, so do something! I’m tired!”
It was Paul’s shout.
The man in the crow mask tilted his head, then put his hand inside his loose robe. And an object of a size that defied common sense and the laws of spatial mass was pulled out.
“What’s that…?!”
“A crossbow?”
“But there’s no way you can catch it with that… but why is it so big?!”
It was an absurdly enormous crossbow, roughly 2 meters in size.
Lapilta and Albert staggered at the suddenly increased weight but managed to keep their balance and run.
“What?! Where did that come from?!”
“Youngster! It’s heavy! Throw that away!”
“Please stay just as you are.”
The masked man said so and aimed the crossbow at the Ogre.
“Hey! Don’t do anything pointless! It’s an Ogre! That thick hide can’t be pierced by just any…”
The crow-masked man pulled the trigger.
BOOM—!
With a loud sound of splitting air, the recoil sent Lapilta and Albert tumbling forward. But the crow-masked man landed naturally and looked at his target.
Flinch!
…Gone?
It was gone. Half of the Ogre’s head had cleanly vanished.