by Fuse
I was hoping Shion would step in, always eager to have her say on anything, but she just sat there and stared at all the weapons lined against the wall, enrapt. Weaponry was a hobby for her, I guess, as it was for all the ogre mages. They carefully studied every inch of what they were given, grasping it in hand as they took in every word of Kurobe’s guidance.
Benimaru had an elegant, flowing longsword, Hakuro a large staff with a sword hidden inside, Soei a pair of ninja-style blades. They all looked happy with them, and I could see why—each one was a perfect fit for their owner.
One thing did bother me, though. Shion’s war blade… It’s kind of too big, isn’t it?
“Oh, it’s fine,” Shion said with a laugh. “The scabbard’s covered in magical power, so I can make it disappear with a moment’s thought.”
That’s great, but it wasn’t what I asked. Isn’t it kind of impractically large? But Shion’s smile informed me that further protest was useless. If she could handle it, fine, but it was far too large for a regular person to pick up. I doubted even Kaijin could’ve made that—dwarves were pretty strong, but they would need two hands just to move it. Shion, meanwhile, could unsheathe this massive hunk of iron with a single arm. I realized, at that moment, that angering her would never be a good idea.
“This is probably the largest weapon I’ve ever built,” Kurobe said, smiling confidently as he watched Shion. “I figured she could take advantage of it.”
And he was right. Shion couldn’t have looked happier.
Finally, it was time for my own weapon.
“For you, Sir Rimuru, I got this. It ain’t complete yet; this is just the beginning. You talked about a sword with magic ore in it, and that’s what I’m aimin’ for. Kaijin and I are doin’ some research, but we’re gonna need a mite more time for it. Until then, if you could get used to this sword…”
I was handed a long, straight sword. So he was actually going through with that idea? Sweet. It made me excited—and glad I offered the suggestion in the first place. Sitting through two hours of esoteric blacksmith discussion paid off after all.
“All right,” I nodded, storing the sword in my stomach. I could bend it to my will more easily in there.
Kurobe, with a nod, handed me another blade. “This is just a test run,” he explained, “something we were experimenting with. Feel free to use it for now, though.”
It looked like a plain old Japanese-style katana, but since it was made by Kurobe, I was sure it was a masterful piece of work. I’d want to take care of it. And besides, Hakuro was currently beating all his swordsmanship knowledge into me. It’d be nice to have one to carry around, I thought, and in a moment, I had it around my waist. That alone made me feel a little stronger, for some reason. Weird.
Finally, I asked Kurobe to make a shortsword for me. He looked a tad confused momentarily, but he smiled and nodded at the request. I didn’t know what he thought about it, but I didn’t really care, either. This would be Gobta’s weapon, after all. I could hand him a plastic fast-food knife and he’d worship me for it.
So he ventured back to the forge. We were all armed now.
On our way out, Garm stopped us. Apparently, Benimaru’s armor was done. Without much ore at hand, iron was in very short supply, so he couldn’t provide him with a full-plate package. Ogres weren’t really into that sort of thing anyway, though. It didn’t go too well with kimono, besides.
Instead, Kurobe brought over a set of scale mail crafted from monster-harvested materials. The completed version of what he had given Kabal the adventurer before, and an outfit that melded with the wearer’s aura as well. Glad to see my magisteel was being put to such good use. It was much more sturdily built than the test run, designed exclusively for Benimaru and matching remarkably well with his red kimono. There were pieces for his chest and thighs, as well as gauntlets and shin guards. Benimaru instructed him not to bother with a helmet, as that wasn’t his style. It was flashy, but again, it worked perfectly with his good looks.
I asked him about armor for the rest of us. “Oh, I’ll have Shuna handle that for you all,” he replied—apparently, he’d deliver each piece to her once it was done. He really liked having an excuse to see her, I suppose. For now, though, he provided three sets of chainmail for Hakuro, Soei, and Shion. They would wear it directly over their base layers, so it would be well hidden. Garm and Shion had worked closely together on these, too, and they were designed not to distort the look of their outfits at all. Plus, Garm got to hang out with Shion more, which I’m sure was all the inspiration he needed to do such a great job. I kind of wished his work ethic wasn’t inspired by getting to hang with beautiful women, but I couldn’t complain.
I already had my dark jacket in hand, so I didn’t need anything else. I made sure to thank Garm while I had the chance.
The next day, the goblin riders were by and large ready to roll, lined in a perfect row with a week’s worth of provisions strapped to their backs. We needed to be quick and decisive in this fight, so I gave them only the bare minimum of food. If I had to provide a full supply, it’d slow us down too much. Speed would be everything, and if it was called for, we’d need the ability to zoom outta there on short notice. Each rider carried enough food for themselves, and that’d be sufficient.
I figured we might as well get going so we could scope out the geography in advance.
“We’ve got an orc lord to take down!” I shouted at them. “Let’s make this quick!” I deliberately kept the pep talk short. No point getting too eager. We need to keep our eyes focused on the situation around us, and the simpler the objectives, the better. The riders, nonetheless, gave their war cries of approval in response, the deafening roar echoing across town.
Most of these hobgoblin soldiers were survivors of our first (and last) battle against the pack of direwolves. There were a few newbies, but all were elite troops, each entrusted with a tempest wolf of their own. Morale was high, and watching them prepare to ride helped relieve some of my own anxiety as well.
Maybe we could win this. Or at least escape unhurt if we couldn’t. It wouldn’t pay to be too optimistic, but there’s no need to assume the worst in this battle, either. So off we went, spirits lifted as we made tracks for the marshes.
Three days had passed since we left town. The trees were thinning out, indicating we were near the marshlands. We were ahead of schedule, thanks to keeping our luggage to a minimum. There were no watering holes on the way, so I supplied the force’s water from my Stomach stores instead, and that apparently gave the liquid a strength-boosting, fatigue-reducing effect. It let the wolves run longer with fewer breaks in between.
I should have thought about that, actually. The water in my stomach must’ve been packed with magicules, which can affect monsters in all manner of ways. Maybe that morphed the water into some sort of healing elixir.
For now, though, we were resting here. I figured we would chill a bit, checking out the area before we contacted the lizardmen. We weren’t due to meet with the chief for three days, and if we were this far along, there was no need to hurry. I ordered everyone to stand by, make camp, and rest up.
Time for a little recon work.
“I will scope out the area, Sir Rimuru,” Soei quickly offered. He was definitely the man for it.
“All right, Soei. Let me know what you find. And try to figure out where the boss of the pigs is, if you can.”
I’m sure he could, what with his consummate scouting skills. Once I saw him off, Benimaru approached me. “Sir Rimuru,” he asked, “is it all right if we go all-out in this battle?”
I wasn’t sure what he meant. Even if I did, I still didn’t know what kind of “battle” we’d be facing.
“Huh? Well, sure, but if I give the signal to retreat, you better follow it, okay?”
Benimaru flashed a fearless smile. “Oh, I doubt you’ll need to, my lord! We’ve made it this far, and we’re ready to annihilate them all! Right?”
He certainly sounded
confident, at least. It was a good match for his naturally rugged looks. Hopefully we’d have a victory to back that up. It wouldn’t look cool if he gave me all that bravado and lost. I was sure he’d be bursting with shame, but I wondered if the thought of losing had even occurred to him. I doubted they ever worried much about such things. But ah well.
Shion, meanwhile, was still marveling at her sword, smiling as she whispered “I’ll let you crack as many skulls as you want soon” and other creepy reassurances to it. At times, she acted mega-ditzy, and other times she exhibited this serial-killer streak. The more I knew about her, the more danger I sensed from her. Let’s just pretend I didn’t see that, actually.
Hakuro, for his part, was as cool as always. As serene as a mountain pond, you could say, the sign of a well-seasoned veteran of battle.
Then I heard him whisper, “I do hope some of them will provide a challenge.”
Oh great. Him too? I was at a loss. Where did all this ogre self-confidence come from? They’re about to fight an army they’ve already lost to once—I’d figure a little more caution would be in order, I thought as I sighed.
About an hour into our camping prep, I received a message.
Is now a good time, sir?
My Thought Communication sprang into action as I rested, watching everyone at work.
What is it? Did you find something?
Well, I found a group engaged in battle.
What?! Gabil?
No, not him. There’s only one lizardman, someone I believe to be a close aide to the chief. Here against a group of orcs—one high-level orc, plus more under his command. Around fifty in all.
A close aide? All alone?
Yes, my lord. The battle has only just begun, but I feel the outcome is already clear. It would appear one of the higher-level orcs is seeking to torment the lizardman in order to show off his strength. What should we do?
Could you defeat this higher-level orc and his men?
It should be simple, sir.
More of that confidence. I figured I could trust Soei on that. But what about that lizardman? I couldn’t just let him die, but if the orc wanted a fight, now would be a good time to scope out their abilities.
Thought Communication allowed me to see the world through Soei’s eyes—a pretty handy feature, in my opinion—but unlike myself, Soei couldn’t keep the link going indefinitely. He needed to rest that muscle, so to speak, on regular occasions. This applied to everyone else, too; they could receive all the thoughts they wanted, but sending them was subject to certain restrictions. If anything, the fact I could send all I wanted made me a freak of nature. We could’ve linked together more closely if Soei weren’t so far away, but no point complaining to him about that.
All right. Try to observe them for as long as you can and relay what happens afterward. I feel bad for that lizardman, but keep your distance for the time being. Step in if you think the battle’s gonna turn fatal.
Yes, my lord!
The connection expired. Sounds like something’s up, then. No way a lizardman would be alone in the outer regions of the forest otherwise. I was hoping to rest and take my time gauging things, but I guess that wasn’t going to happen.
I gathered everyone together. “Listen, people,” I said, “we’re not camping. It sounds like something’s going down.”
I saw the faces of the goblin riders tense up. “So we’re fighting?” one asked.
“Likely, yeah. Our enemy numbers approximately fifty, so I want to see two of you tackle each one. Remember, the orc lord’s capable of absorbing the abilities of dead enemies. So don’t push it. If you think you’re in trouble, get out of there. Are we clear on that?”
““Yessir!”” they cheered, Gobta leading them on.
“Right. I’ll get their position from Soei. Once we’re there, I want you to surround them, then rub them out as quickly as possible. And remember, don’t push yourselves.”
“Aren’t you worrying a little too much about this, Sir Rimuru?” Benimaru interjected. “Because I think we have an extremely capable crew of riders here, to say nothing of us.”
“You think? Well, I suppose it’s up to you guys, then. Get moving.”
“Yes, my lord!”
I watched as Benimaru and Hakuro led the riders off. Shion was staying with me. The riders could handle the infantry-level orcs, but I wanted to see this “high-level” officer for myself. The more I knew about our enemy, the more I’d have to work with in the upcoming battle. I had Soei and Shion working on my side—I doubted it’d be too dangerous for me.
Thus, we mounted Ranga and made a beeline for Soei.
We reached Soei as he deflected a sword slash from an orc that had just jumped off a tree limb. The orc bore a pair of heavy scimitars, curved to look like enormous meat-cutting knives but thick enough to slice through bone.
The long arms on the orcish races made it hard to estimate their offensive range. Soei engaged in a little back-and-forth with him, his constant array of leaps and dodges bringing him precariously close to defeat at times, to an outside observer.
I wasn’t worried, though. This orc was, in my eyes, pretty weak. Unlike Hakuro, whose strikes seemed impossible to avoid even with the instincts of a born hunter, I could still predict this orc’s moves just by looking at him. It was cute, in a way.
“Gehh! Who are you?” the long-armed orc shouted at me, his face a mixture of pig, wild boar, and human. “Here to be consumed by an orc general?”
Ah. This was the high-level one, then? The orc general?
“How dare you act so rude around Sir Rimuru!” Shion fired back, staring the general down with her unnervingly cold eyes.
“Oh. You…”
I looked down at this new, faint voice. It belonged to a lizardman, looking up at me. She appeared to be cowering, wounded from head to toe and just barely breathing. She had lost a lot of blood. I doubted she’d last long unaided.
I knew I had asked Soei to remain impartial for as long as possible, and I guess he followed my orders to the letter. He wasn’t at fault for that, but now I wish he had stepped in a bit earlier. I was starting to look like a total villain, and I figured it was time for a good deed to make up for it.
“Drink this,” I said, tossing the lizardman a recovery potion. She hesitated for a moment but quickly drained the bottle. The effect was dramatic—in an instant, all the cuts and bruises were gone.
“What on…?!”
“Impossible…”
The orc general and lizardman both expressed their surprise simultaneously. Nice. That oughta improve my rep a little. Good thing I earned some brownie points with these guys before the big meeting with the chief.
As I patted myself on the back, the lizardman approached me.
“P-please, sir! Please, I need you and your envoy to rescue my father, the lizardman chief…and Gabil, my brother!”
She was on one knee, head bowed down, as if praying to me.
“What—?”
I was about to ask what happened to her when the orc general came rushing in. “Get in my way, and I’ll eat you first!” he bellowed, crossing his scimitars in front of him. He was probably trying to catch me by surprise, but with my Magic Sense, that was never going to happen. I nimbly leaped backward to dodge the incoming strikes, but I didn’t even need to bother with that—in a flash, Shion was in front of me, landing a single slash with her heavy blade.
The orc general instinctively recrossed his swords to block the attack, but Shion’s sheer force knocked them right out of his hands. The extra skill Steel Strength put her power off the charts, even by nonhuman standards, so I should’ve expected as much.
“Worthless beast,” she murmured, angrily staring the orc general down with her well-defined face. “You cannot stand still for a single moment while Sir Rimuru is deigning to speak?”
“Dammit! All of you, seize this wench at—”
None of the orc underlings responded to the order. It was understandable, g
iven how they no longer existed.
“They hardly put up a fight at all,” Benimaru said, riding up to me. “Hardly worth my time!”
“Yeah, Sir Rimuru,” added Gobta, riding alongside him. “Boy, talk about a letdown, huh? Going two on one almost made me feel bad for them.”
They had apparently wrapped up the encirclement and massacre, just as I ordered. The speed with which they had carried out those orders shocked me into silence. Hakuro was just cutting down the few surviving orcs behind them. Maybe I was worrying too much.
“Y-you’re kidding me!” the orc general managed to gasp out. Then things got even worse for him. Just as I was about to order Soei to interrogate him, everything finished.
“Die!”
The voice was accompanied by a single flash of light, backed up by a low rumble. And with it, the orc general ceased to exist in any physical sense.
“What is that idiot doing?” I whispered.
Soei had the same intention as me, approaching the orc general to extract whatever information he could. But Shion had no similar thoughts.
“I have given this impudent fool the divine punishment he deserves, my lord!”
She smiled at me, anticipating the praise that was no doubt coming. I didn’t know whether to compliment her or scream at her.
“Uh, yeah,” I ventured. “Let’s try to capture ’em alive next time, all right?”
“Ah, yes, Sir Rimuru! We need to make them fully understand what happens when they cross the likes of you!”
No, nothing like that. At all. But I didn’t want to bother explaining it to her. She said yes to my request, and that was good enough. The entire squad was now dead, and while I would’ve liked some of the orc general’s intel, I was willing to call this a success. No point dwelling on what’s already done.
I mentally shifted gears as I turned to the lizardman. At least we wouldn’t be interrupted any longer.
