by Ao Jyumonji
“Achoo!”
A few dozen glares stabbed into Ranta over his inability to hold in a sneeze.
Yet, Ranta, when he looked to the other volunteer soldiers around them, gave a gesture that was less an apology and more an “Oh, just calm down.”
He doesn’t feel guilty in the least. What’s wrong with him?
Haruhiro poked his head out from behind a pile of scrap wood, looking at the camps here and there.
The camps generally had one tower and one, two, sometimes three tents. On top of some towers there was an orc, but not always.
It didn’t look like there was any movement. The sound of that sneeze must not have reached them. They were safe.
The sun wasn’t up yet, but it was already pretty bright.
The Green Storm Force led by Britney, or Bri-chan, was to the east of Deadhead Watching Keep. They were laying low in what seemed to be the remains of a camp, at least judging by the lumber, cloth, and stones lying around.
Orc camps were attacked by volunteer soldiers, destroyed, and then rebuilt. It was something that had happened time and again, so there were plenty of places like this one to hide in. Even so, Haruhiro was beside himself with worry that the orcs might find them any moment now.
He was feeling restless and impatient, too. Having to wait like this, it was tough. He wished it would just start already. He would feel better that way.
He could see the keep in the distance, the three towers rising from it ominously, like horns. The walls were made of stone, with some black substance having been used to fill the gaps. Red paint had been used to write letters, or to draw symbols of some sort on it. The towers were covered in jagged metal and wood, but that didn’t seem to be decorative. They might have been aiming to make it a more effective defense that way.
The east and west walls were four meters high, right? Haruhiro thought. That’s not crazy high, but we won’t be able to climb over them if they’re like that. Yeah, looks like the ladders are going to be necessary after all.
The camp towers were decorated with animal skulls, as well as dried severed heads on pikes that hadn’t rotted away to become skulls yet.
Looks like there are human skulls and heads in the mix, too. That’s where the name Deadhead comes from, huh? I don’t want to end up like that, he thought, suddenly. Nah, I’m not going to, okay?
Haruhiro checked how the ladder he was carrying felt. It had been pretty heavy to carry. Not so much the weight, as how bulky it had been. The shield he was carrying to block arrows was tied to his back with a string. It was getting in the way, too.
—Then, Bri-chan stood up.
Bri-chan was looking at his golden pocket watch. He nodded. He raised one hand.
It was finally time. Haruhiro waited with bated breath.
Bri-chan swung his hand down. “Begin the attack!”
At the same time, they heard cheering. From the main force, maybe? Or was it Wild Eagle Force?
“Charge! Destroy the camps!” Bri-chan shouted.
As soon as Bri-chan shouted the order, volunteer soldiers emerged from the mountain of scrap one after another, quickly attacking the orc camps.
“L-Let’s go! We need to go, too!” Haruhiro cried, his voice shrill. He lifted up the ladder, advancing along with the very rear of Green Storm Force.
“O Light, may Lumiaris’ divine protection be upon you... Protection!” Merry cast a spell. A shining hexagram appeared on his left wrist, making his body feel lighter.
What about the others? They had them, too.
Haruhiro was trying to run, but he was slow. He blamed the ladder. Man, it was hard to run with this thing.
Ahh. You know, maybe I’m feeling pretty tense? For a moment, he forgot what he was doing. Is Choco all right? Where is she? I don’t have time to worry about that, huh?
Still, everyone sure was amazing. The orcs were dropping like flies. Was that Arve magic?
The tents were on fire. There were even volunteer soldiers knocking the towers down. The camps were being captured right before his eyes.
How far had the guys at the very front gotten? He couldn’t see them, so he didn’t really know. He doubted they could’ve made it to the wall yet, though.
Just maybe, we ought to be hurrying a bit more? Though, we can’t do what we can’t do.
“There’re smoke signals going up!” he heard Merry shout. When he turned to look, Merry was pointing towards the fortress.
There were thin trails of thick grey smoke rising from the three towers. A call for reinforcements. However, Riverside Iron Fortress should have been under attack now, too. Reinforcements wouldn’t be coming.
“Waaaay off in the distance, there’s smoke goin’ up, too!” Yume said.
It was true.
There were a few smoke trails to the west, too.
What could it mean? Was it one of those things? A relay? There might have been places other than Deadhead Watching Keep to raise smoke signals.
It was around 40 kilometers from here to Riverside, so they might not be able to see them from there otherwise. But, wait, the smoke trails, didn’t it seem like they were going up two at a time?
That was it. He understood. It wasn’t just Deadhead. Riverside also raised a signal when they were attacked. That had to be it: both sides were trying to communicate to the other that they were under attack.
Still, if that were the case, it would mean the orcs at Deadhead now knew they couldn’t count on reinforcements from Riverside. If they’d thought reinforcements were coming, the orcs would have been likely to try to keep their losses to a minimum and bide their time until they arrived.
If not, then what would they do? Wouldn’t they desperately resist, mad with the fear of death?
Well, the higher-ups had no doubt thought about all of this. It was nothing for the rank and file to worry about. Haruhiro and the others just had to do their own jobs properly.
In other words, ladder duty.
Once their allies crushed the camps, they had to get the ladders up on the walls. It looked like the camps around them had been destroyed already.
Choco’s party was behind them. They were going slower than Haruhiro’s.
We can go now, he thought.
He was quickly proven wrong. It wasn’t going to be so easy. And, hold on...
Who let these guys get by? There are orcs. Two of them. Coming our way.
Well, not so much our way.
They were heading in the direction of Choco’s party.
“O-Orcs!” he shouted. “T-Two, incoming...!”
When Haruhiro raised his voice to warn them, Choco’s party stopped—
Wait, what? What’re you stopping for?
It seemed they didn’t know themselves.
“Ah!”
“Oh, crap!”
“Whoa, the ladder...!”
Not good. This is pretty bad. They’re hopeless.
Choco’s party was confused and panicking. There was no way they could either run or put up a proper fight like that.
“We can’t afford to lose half the ladders!” Haruhiro called. “We have to help them! Let’s take on the orcs ourselves! We’ll set down our ladders and shields for now!”
“Y-Yeah!” Moguzo shouted, letting his ladder drop to the ground and taking the shield off his back.
“Sure thing!” Ranta was always quick at times like this. “It’s finally time! To graduate! I’m losing my virginity!”
“Umph!” Shihoru picked up the shield Yume had discarded and put it together with her own.
Merry laid the ladder down at her feet, nodding to Haruhiro.
“Conserve your magic for now!” Haruhiro shouted as he ran forward.
First, he needed to get a feel for the orcs’ strength. They had a long fight ahead of them—possibly, after all.
Slipping in between Choco’s confused party, Moguzo slashed at Orc A and Ranta charged towards Orc B. For equipment, the orcs had some sort of scaled armor, a helmet that co
vered everything but their faces, and some hefty swords. The hair poured out from their helmets. Yellow for Orc A, red for Orc B. Their skin was green.
Haruhiro signaled to Yume with his eyes, then they tried to flank or get behind Orc B.
Man, orcs sure are big.
Their height wasn’t all that impressive. They were taller than Haruhiro, but still shorter than Moguzo. Still, they were much thicker and wider. To use a little hyperbole, they looked like they were twice as big as a human.
Taking their whole body into consideration, they were a full size larger than Moguzo. Moguzo was a big guy, standing 186 centimeters tall, and they were a full size bigger than him. What was more, these were probably average orcs.
They said that orcs were the largest faction in the frontier of Grimgar, and Haruhiro could believe it. They looked tough, and it wasn’t all show; they actually were strong.
Ranta was, of course, being pushed back by Orc B, so he used Exhaust to go straight backwards and run like crazy. When he did that, naturally, Orc B chased after Ranta.
Haruhiro and Yume would have to chase Orc B, so there was no way they had time to be getting beside or behind him.
It was hard to say that Moguzo was winning, either. He was taking a lot of slash attacks, but somehow managing to block them with his armor. Though, that was still defending against them, so in some ways you could have called it an even fight. From the looks of things, Orc A was at a slight advantage.
Muscle strength, huh?
It was the way they were built. Orcs had stronger muscles than humans. Muscle didn’t just affect their arm strength; it affected their leg strength, too. The more muscle they had, even if it made them heavier, the faster they could run and the higher they could jump. Being big didn’t necessarily mean being slow. Even agility was affected by the muscles, after all.
The orcs had smushed noses, large mouths, and boar-like tusks. From Haruhiro’s human perspective, they weren’t pretty. Though, hideous as they might have been, they didn’t look especially unintelligent. From the assembly of the towers and designs of the tents, it was more than apparent that they were intelligent.
Haruhiro thought displaying skulls and severed heads on the towers like that was barbaric, but the humans and orcs were in conflict. If the orcs were doing that to intimidate humans, it wasn’t like he couldn’t understand why.
The orcs were superior to humans physically, and it was hard to say which side was more intelligent. In that case, when it came to simple combat potential, weren’t orcs stronger than humans?
“Don’t be intimidated!” Merry shouted. “Once you get used to it, you can fight them!”
She’s right, he thought. At the very least, we have to think that way. If we lose in spirit, even fights we should be able to win will become unwinnable.
“Merry’s right!” he shouted. “We aren’t used to how orcs move yet, that’s all! Moguzo, you can do it! There’s no way you can’t!”
“Muh...!” Moguzo went on the attack. Or rather, he had used a skill. A heavy armor combat skill, Steel Guard.
Moguzo deliberately used his armor to knock back Orc A’s sword. Then, while Orc A was off balance, he slammed The Chopper into him. Even when the orc defended, he pounded it into him.
Seeing Orc A faltering, Orc B’s footwork became more cautious.
Haruhiro’s eyes met Ranta’s.
“—You don’t have to tell me!” Ranta shouted.
Even when Orc B closed in, Ranta didn’t run away with Exhaust. Orc B had closed in less intensely than before.
“There!”
It was Reject.
Ranta pushed Orc B back, immediately stepping in after him.
“Anger...!”
I thought it was a good thrust, too.
Orc B twisted and avoided it.
But he only barely dodged it. It was close. Ranta almost had him.
“I know! I’m unbeatable!” Ranta called.
“Since when?!” Haruhiro shouted.
His back.
Orc B had its back to Haruhiro. He couldn’t see that line.
He went for a Spider, but the orc noticed him at the last moment and avoided it. But Haruhiro wasn’t alone.
“There! Ha!” Yume attacked with a combo of Brush Clearer and Diagonal Cross.
Orc B knocked Yume’s machete aside with a loud clang and tried to go for a counterattack.
“Hanyaa!” Yume rolled away like a pit rat.
Orc B tried to go after her immediately, but, again, Yume wasn’t alone.
“Hey, hey, hey!” Ranta swung his longsword around wildly. He was practically throwing himself at Orc B.
Meanwhile, Yume got back into a fighting posture. Haruhiro was looking to get behind the orc, too. Orc B had less and less leeway to work with. He was definitely feeling pressed. They just needed one more push.
That push came.
“Thanks...!” Moguzo slammed a Thanks Slash into Orc A’s shoulder.
Orc A didn’t go down, but he was unsteady. He couldn’t wield his sword properly. It was only a matter of time.
Orc B was confused and panicking.
Haruhiro was right behind Orc B, so he couldn’t see his expression. Still, it was readily apparent how flustered he was.
Backstab.
Silently closing the distance, Haruhiro slid the dagger in smoothly. Considering that he couldn’t see the line, the dagger’s blade broke through Orc B’s scale armor easily and struck flesh.
That wasn’t a fatal strike, he thought to himself.
Still, it was good enough.
When Haruhiro leapt back, Yume struck Orc B twice, three times with her machete. The machete was shorter than a longsword, but it still had a good amount of weight to it. It didn’t manage to cut through, but the blunt force should have done a decent amount of damage.
Orc B reeled.
“Hatred!” When Ranta leapt in from outside Orc B’s reach, the orc couldn’t avoid it.
The shoulder. Ranta’s longsword hit, but it slid across Orc B’s armor with a screech.
Was that intentional?
Ranta didn’t cut open the tough scale armor, instead aiming for the face with a flick of his wrist.
Still, that result had to have been pure chance. I can’t believe he did it intentionally.
Ranta’s longsword severed the chin strap holding the helmet on Orc B’s head, then got caught on the helmet. The helmet came off.
“Ta-dah!” Ranta was wearing a blackened bascinet. He had the visor lowered, so his face was hidden, but he was probably sticking his tongue out right now.
Ranta used his longsword not so much to cut Orc B as to slug him. He slugged him like crazy.
Orc B wasn’t able to stand for long. Even when he went down, Ranta showed no mercy. He didn’t even try to stop.
Moguzo used a second Thanks Slash to cut down Orc A. Orc B wasn’t moving anymore. Once that happened, Ranta finally stopped.
Choco and her group looked horrified. Even so, Haruhiro didn’t criticize Ranta. It hadn’t been pleasant to watch, but Ranta hadn’t been wrong in what he’d done. Even if it was cruel, he was right to finish off the enemy. And living creatures could be so tenacious. Though they’d die so easily when their time came, sometimes they would launch a fierce counterattack even after taking a deadly blow.
“Heh, heh, heh...” Ranta raised his longsword aloft. “I got my vice! Finally, I graduated from being a virgin! Congratulations, me!”
Yeah, he’s right, isn’t he? Haruhiro thought. And with no casualties, to boot. Merry and Shihoru didn’t even have to use magic.
“Yay!” Yume cried, jumping into the air. “Yume and everyone, we’re kinda amazin’, huh?!”
Ranta let out an obnoxious laugh. “Your tits are so tiny, they don’t shake even when you jump around, huh? —Yow. You didn’t have to punch me!”
“You said somethin’ that deserved a punchin’,” Yume told him.
Moguzo pumped his arm with a “Yeah!” and n
odded to himself.
Shihoru had a hesitant, but still seemingly happy smile on her face.
Merry looked relieved.
It wasn’t that Haruhiro didn’t feel something welling up inside him, too. He did. It started at his fingertips, tickling Haruhiro’s heart and turning it upside down, then rising to his head and intoxicating him. Honestly, for a while, he basked in it.
“...Awesome,” Mr. Pleasant from Choco’s party mumbled.
“Those are our senpais for you,” said Laughing Man. The words could have been read as sarcastic, but it seemed that wasn’t his intent.
“Y-You saved us...” Mr. Priest was sitting on the ground. It looked like he’d been pretty scared.
“Wow...” Ms. Short Hair said, looking a little out of it.
Choco was looking at Haruhiro. Like Mr. Short Hair, she was dazed. Her mouth was slightly agape.
It wasn’t a bad feeling.
Then, Mr. Tall went and ruined it. “Well, there are people killing orcs all over the place, though.”
“Heyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!” Ranta pointed his orc-blood-soaked longsword at Mr. Tall. “Listen, pal! Don’t go killing a guy’s buzz when he’s feeling proud of himself! Who do you think you are? Old Man Buzzkill?”
“...I’m not that old,” the man said. “And who’s that supposed to be? Who’s Old Man Buzzkill?”
“Like I should know!” Ranta flared.
“You’re the one who said it.”
“Shut up! Just shut up! Just because you’re a little tall doesn’t mean...!”
“Ranta! Enough!” Haruhiro barked.
Mr. Tall had Haruhiro annoyed too, but this wasn’t the time to be getting full of themselves. Haruhiro raced back to where they’d dropped the ladders and their shields.
“—We’ve go to go! We’re the ladder team!” he shouted.
Hurriedly strapping the shield to his back, he picked his ladder up once more. There were already a not-insignificant number of volunteer soldiers closing in on the wall.
Haruhiro and the party ran. They ran.
Choco’s party was following them.
The camps they passed were all uninhabited. All that they saw in them were orc corpses.
He thought he heard Yume say, “Ow...!” but that wasn’t it. She had actually said “Arrows...!”