by Funa
They called out to the party of young women. They hadn’t been able to convince the girls to camp with them, but at least they had managed to change from “total strangers” to “passing acquaintances.”
The wagons were empty and the horses were lashed to trees, so the orcs would attack the humans first before they ran away. All they had to do was draw the orcs toward the girls’ campsite. After that, they’d probably be drawn into the fight.
Veteran hunters asked for payment afterward, but if you charmed a bunch of young ladies, you could probably get by without giving them a single coin. Sure, if the girls lived, there was a chance you might run into them again, but they could cross that bridge when they came to it.
For now, the young women would fight desperately, and the merchant’s party would cry out something valiant like, “We’ll attack from the rear!” Then make a detour back to their campsite, escaping with the wagons. They would make their getaway, leaving the hunters to deal with the orcs.
Indeed, it was fortuitous that the hunters were all young girls and that the enemies were orcs. Given the proclivities of those creatures, the orcs were much more likely to be interested in the young women.
But then again, thought the guards, why have the orcs attacked us first, instead of heading towards girls and the smell of cooking meat? Don’t tell me the orcs already ransacked the other camp? That’s not possible… even if they’re only C-ranks, they couldn’t have been annihilated without a sound…
Yet as the guards arrived at the spot where the hunters had camped, all they found were marks of a dismantled campsite and the ash of an extinguished fire.
“They…got away…?”
Orcs preyed on women. Four girls should have easily attracted them. The merchant’s party should be running back to the wagons to make their escape, but now…
The guards stood there, dumbfounded. The distant cries of the approaching orcs rang in their ears.
***
The Crimson Vow walked the night road, starlight their only guide.
Yet, as long as they stuck to the main highway, they were relatively unhindered.
“Reina, orcs and goblins are carnivores, right?”
“They’re omnivores. Didn’t they teach us that in school?”
“Huh. Did they…?” Mile asked, sounding concerned.
Reina poked her in the head. “Why are you asking about this all of a sudden?”
“Well, we were cooking a lot of meat over there, weren’t we? I figured the smell would reach pretty far, but we didn’t seem to attract any monsters, did we?”
“What are you saying?”
Reina looked stunned. Mile shrank back timidly.
“Of course we did.”
“Wh…” Mile’s face twitched.
“Huh?” said Pauline, surprised, “You didn’t realize, Miley? From the moment we started cooking meat we…”
“Huh?”
“Huh?”
“…………”
“We have to be realistic about this. If monsters follow the smell of burning meat, they’re sure to notice the smell of horses, people’s voices, and other noises, too. But without that smell, the chance of them noticing is much slimmer. When you’re cooking meat, if you’re attacked then you’re attacked, and if you aren’t then you aren’t. It just depends on your luck.
“Of course, in our case, luck wasn’t much of a factor. Those guys should have known this better than us. In spite of the fact that we had cooked meat, they chose not to relocate their campsite. They prioritized leeching off of us over their basic safety. So really, it’s none of our business. We simply took a nice break to eat our meal, then packed up and started moving again. That’s all,” Reina explained, seeing Mile’s strained expression.
This put Mile a little more at ease.
“You really do know a lot of things, Reina,” Mile teased. “I can’t believe you were only an E-rank when you started at the prep school!”
“And you don’t know a lot of things?” Reina asked flatly, her expression suddenly blank.
Oops. I feel like I just stepped on a landmine…
Even Mile could see that Reina was clearly in a bad mood.
Things didn’t look up until they had traveled far enough from the merchant to settle on a new campsite and set up for the night.
***
The next morning, the Crimson Vow woke up bright and early so that the merchant party, whom they had long outstripped, couldn’t find them.
They didn’t know if the other party had set out late or if they were looking for the girls. But when noon came and there was still no sign, the girls finally breathed a sigh of relief. They came off the main road, onto a small path that led to the rocky mountains. During the night, Reina’s foul mood resolved itself, and she was back to her usual self.
To pass the time as they walked, Mile told another of her Altered Japanese Fables, “Gon, the Little Kobold,” and Reina asked again, “Why would you tell us a story like that right before we go monster hunting?”
They trundled along, eventually reaching the foothills. With sunset already fast approaching, they made camp as they’d planned. It would have been nice to track down some smaller animals for dinner, but hunting at sunset in an unfamiliar place could prove dangerous—plus, they could hardly risk the smell of cooking meat again. And so the girls resigned themselves to a quiet meal of preserved food. Another part of life as a hunter.
Preserved meals could be quickly prepared—especially for the Crimson Vow, who could summon hot water in an instant.
They had already talked through tomorrow’s hunting plans at length along the road, so there was no need to go over them again. Now it was too early for sleep, but there was nothing else to do.
At times like this, a particular scene often unfolded:
“How about another from my World Tales series: ‘The Three Little Orcs’! Followed by ‘Kobold in Breeches’!”
“Stop iiiiiit!!!” Reina screamed, a vein protruding from her forehead.
Mile tilted her head, wondering if Reina’s mood had righted itself after all.
“Say, Mile, this has been bothering me for a while,” Mavis asked. “Where exactly did you hear all of those stories?”
“I’ve been curious about that, too,” said Pauline. “I’ve never heard
any of these tales before, but they’re all so interesting! I bet they’d fetch a pretty good price if you sold them to a minstrel troupe.”
“It’s a family secret!” Mile replied smugly.
Before the sun had fully risen, and after a simple breakfast of hardtack and soup (or rather, ingredients for soup boiled in hot water), the girls set out again. They planned to get an early start and hunt all the way until lunchtime.
Depending how well things went, they’d either start back tomorrow or the day after. During daylight, they wouldn’t waste their time on cooking. If they wanted, they could take a leisurely meal late in the evening, when it was too dark to hunt.
The rock lizards lived a bit higher up, so the girls ascended the mountains, keeping a close watch on their surroundings.
They hunted rock rabbits and any other creatures they came across, which doubled as practice for Pauline and Reina. Mile stored their prey in her loot box, pretending to use storage magic.
They reserved most of their strength for the real deal. To avoid sapping their magical power, they used only the weakest spells and quickly recovered their energy.
“Mavis, ahead to your left! There’s a rock wolf!”
“On it!”
Rock wolves rarely hunted in packs. When the solitary figure appeared, Mavis heard Mile’s cry and leapt out, cleaving the wolf in half with one stroke of her sword.
“Uh…”
“Mavis! Didn’t I tell you that rock wolf pelts sell for good money?! If you cut ’em up like that the price goes way down!” wailed Pauline, whose forcefulness always emerged when talking about their finances.
“S-sorry. Th-the edge
on this sword really is something… it reminds me of when I used to watch my big brother practicing…” Mavis muttered, feeling blood rush to her face.
There was a strange sort of sultriness to her voice, the sort of tone a young woman would take when she’d fallen head over heels…
“M-Mavis, stop that! The sharpness is only there to compensate for your current lack of strength! If you rely on the blade’s power, you’ll fool yourself into thinking that it’s your own!” Mile said in a flustered voice. She had also been bewitched by the blade’s motion.
“I know, I know. And if I’m weak without this sword, then I have no value as a knight. Power is meaningless if I don’t possess it myself. I know that. Don’t worry.”
Mile breathed a sigh of relief. Mavis was still Mavis, after all.
“Reina, can I ask you something?”
“What’s that?”
“Rock rabbits, and rock wolves, and rock snakes, et cetera—why do they have such uncreative names?”
“How should I know?!?!”
Reina always seems to be shouting these days, thought Mile.
“There it is.”
Mavis, both tallest and walking at the front of the party, was first to spot their prey.
Everyone followed her gaze to see the massive lump of a single rock lizard. It looked as though it was sleeping peacefully—perhaps sunning itself, as it was early in the morning and the air was not yet warm.
“About three meters long… that’s small, but a lizard’s a lizard. If we can get it, then we don’t have to go back empty-handed. Let’s do it.”
The other three nodded.
Even though it was small for a lizard, three meters was about twice as long as Mile was tall. It probably weighed ten times as much as she did and would be impossible to carry without a cart. Even with storage magic, you’d be lucky to accommodate just one such creature.
But one lizard still wouldn’t earn enough when you took account of their numbers, the time they’d spent, and the distance that they’d traveled. Without Mile’s absurd storage abilities, this job wouldn’t be worth the time. No surprise that the job was still there when the Crimson Vow found it.
Calling a rock lizard a “lizard” didn’t give a particular impression of strength, but it was basically a land crocodile.
It had a thick hide and a huge mouth full of sharp teeth. It could easily be outpaced by a human running at full speed, but proved quite agile when it came to battle—with its quick bites and the snappy whip of its tail.
Even the strongest adult hunter couldn’t withstand a lizard’s crushing jaws, and if you took a whack from that tail, not even leather armor would protect you from shattered bones.
Particularly troubling was the phrasing of the job request.
Harvesting Parts
As the name suggested, rock lizards lived in stony places, so extermination requests were slim to none. The bulk of the jobs—like this one—were for harvesting.
Rock lizard meat was edible, and their livers could be used medicinally. Their claws and teeth were used to make weapons and craft tools. Their hide could be used for armor, boots, and more. It was essential to avoid damaging the lizard in the hunt, so hanging back and blasting magic was out of the question.
“Mavis, you got this?”
“Yep! Leave it to me!”
Though Mavis tried to act normal, her heart was already whipped into a frenzy. With her beloved sword—which would not break, bend, or chip no matter how hard she swung it—her time to shine finally at hand, how could she not feel the adrenaline?
“…Maximum Freeze!”
Pauline had started her incantation ahead of time and released her spell with these final words.
Because it wasn’t the flashy sort of spell that sent a projectile flying toward the enemy, the rock lizard failed to realize it was under attack. But it did shift its weight, uncomfortable at the sudden drop in temperature.
“Icicle Javelin!”
Reina let off her attack. It wasn’t her specialty, but that couldn’t be helped. Burning the lizard would cause the price to plummet.
The ice spell flew towards the creature’s neck where, even if it damaged the body, it would not greatly affect their returns. The conjured icicle bounced right off of the lizard’s thick hide.
“What the…?”
Even if it was not her strength, Reina had a decent command of ice magic. Coupled with her usual power and accuracy, the attack should do considerable damage. She was taken aback. But, as she considered the matter, she realized it was to be expected. It would be unthinkable for a hide used to make armor to be pierced so easily. Reina prepared her next spell. Pauline was in the middle of her second incantation.
“Now!” shouted Mavis.
“On it!” Mile shouted back, leaping toward the lizard.
This time, Mile would fight as a swordswoman as well.
If she used her magic, the lizard would probably end up worthless. That was the majority opinion—and given that this had been the “majority” of a four-person group, it meant that everyone except Mile had agreed.
The lizard, lazing in the sun, was aware of its opponents the moment the icicle struck. It assumed a battle stance. Seeing Mile and Mavis advancing with swords drawn, the lizard began to move, but its progress was slow and awkward.
Rock lizards were not speedy outside their attacks, but this one seemed especially sluggish.
Is Mile’s plan working? Mavis wondered as she dashed forward.
“Rather than launching a direct attack, we should chill it in order to cripple its movements.” Honestly, how did Mile come up with these things?
Reina and Pauline kept their focus on their spell casting, but surely the thought flashed through the back of their minds.
Mavis aimed for the neck to avoid damaging the body as much as possible. As long as they focused on the neck, legs, or tail, that wouldn’t be much of an issue. However, striking anywhere but the neck would only make it struggle more violently. Its neck was the only viable target.
Mavis lifted her sword to strike, when suddenly she was caught by the lizard’s tail, moving much more quickly than she’d anticipated.
“Argh!!”
In a panic, Mavis tried to block it with her sword, but it wasn’t enough. The powerful blow sent her flying.
The others couldn’t worry about Mavis yet. That would have to wait until the final blow was struck.
“You jerk!!!”
Mile aimed for the lizard’s neck, and the tail came flying at her, too.
This should be no big—
If she truly had half the strength of an elder dragon, Mile should have been able to stop the rock lizard’s tail with one hand—but when she tried to do just that, she went flying spectacularly into the air. Just as Mavis had.
“…Huh?”
“MIIILE!!!”
Reina screamed. Mile was thrown into a cliff face nearly ten meters away. Unlike Mavis, who was just tossed onto the ground, Mile seemed to have taken a lot of damage.
Reina dashed forward—not toward Mile, but the rock lizard.
The moment that Mavis was thrown to the ground, Pauline moved to offer her healing magic. Now, she ran toward Mile.
No!! I can’t lose a friend already! No no no no no no no no nooooo!!!
Reina recited a spell, tears streaming down her face.
“O raging flames of the deep! Consume my enemy and burn them to the ground!”
A deep crimson flame whipped up, enveloping the lizard.
“Mile!!!”
Ignoring the lizard thrashing in the flames, Reina rushed to Mile’s side, only to find her grinning bashfully and Pauline standing beside her, gaping.
“H-how…?”
Reina was utterly stunned. Mile seemed to be completely unharmed.
Mavis hobbled over, rubbing her side where the lizard struck her. Somehow, by deflecting the tail with her sword, she’d avoided being killed. And, because she flew back the moment s
he was struck, she hadn’t broken any bones, either. Thanks to Pauline’s healing spell, it appeared that she was already recovering.
“…Family secret?”
“YOU LIAAAAAAAAR!!!”
Naturally, not one of them bought Mile’s explanation.
Behind them, the rock lizard burned to a crisp.
***
“All right, emergency meeting!”
As usual, it was Reina who kicked things off. She had already wiped the tears from her face.
Initially, they’d thought not to cook anything until dinner. However, they needed rest after the battle, and right in front of them sat a great big lizard, roasted to perfection.
“First off, we need to discuss the failings of Mile’s plan,” said Reina. “The ‘lizards move slower when they’re cold’ plan. While it certainly appeared to have some sort of effect, the explosive force of the tail wasn’t affected.”
Mile shrank back. “I-I’m sorry. That’s supposed to be how reptiles work…”
“There’s no need to apologize,” Reina continued. “We knew from the start that if that plan did work, it would be a godsend. It’s possible that maybe we just didn’t chill it enough. Anyway, let’s skip that bit next time. Pauline, you should use a different spell.”
“Sure thing!” Pauline agreed, nodding.
“The problem is how to take one of those things down without damaging the body, but also while dodging the tail attacks—which are a lot faster and stronger than we thought.”
Simply defeating the creature would be a small feat for the Crimson Vow, but the issue was how to kill it without damaging the hide or meat.
Thanks to the previous lizard’s fiery end, its value was now almost nothing, so the girls made the decision not to even try to sell it. Instead, they’d eat it themselves.
Reina, who had cast the decisive spell, couldn’t be blamed for this. And there were still plenty of lizards to hunt, so no one worried over it.
“Um… So, wouldn’t it be best for us to just cut the tail off first?”