The two of them took off running for the main gate. They had come all the way to the back gate, so even if they sprinted at full speed, it would still take some time to get there. If they arrived out of breath, they wouldn’t be able to fight right away and would only be in the way in a clash, so they moved at a pace that saved a bit of energy.
But they ended up running for only a few seconds.
An awful noise froze them in their tracks.
When they turned around, something was partially visible at the top of the back gate.
The shapes were huge, and strange, and so unlike what a human’s looked like that, for a moment, Enri and Nfirea couldn’t figure out what they were staring at, but they were fingers. A hand had grabbed the top of the thirteen-foot gate.
Shocked like they’d been punched in the head, the pair scrambled into the shadow of a house.
“What is that thing? A giant?”
“I don’t know! B—” Without finishing, Nfirea gasped, mouth agape.
Enri quickly looked to the back gate and made exactly the same expression.
Something was slowly climbing over, and there was no way it was human.
“That’s not a troll, is it?”
At Nfirea’s breathless question, Enri took a hard look at the monster.
“That?”
“It’s the first time I’m seeing one, but it looks just like the stories I’ve heard. If it’s really a troll, we’re in trouble… Adventurers have to be at least gold rank to fight them. Honestly, it might be tough for Jugemu and the goblins.”
So it was stronger than the strongest person in the village. Enri felt all the blood drain out of her face.
The troll began looking around the area, snorting.
Enri was pulled farther into the shadows. Then a hand went over her mouth, and she heard a low voice whispering in her ear.
“Enri, trolls have good noses. Right now, we’re downwind, so I think we’re fine, but it’s too soon to relax. We should try to get away from here…and meet up with the goblins.”
Enri replied into Nfirea’s ear. “No, Nfi! If this thing goes to the front gate now, they’ll be pincered and everyone will die!”
“Ah, you might be right. But what can we—?”
“We’re the only ones here, so we have to stop it.”
From a gap in Nfirea’s bangs, his eyes said he thought she was crazy. And Enri knew what she was saying sounded outrageous, but there was no other way.
“We don’t have to defeat or kill it. We just have to buy some time. Nfi, help me out.”
“How are we going to buy time? You mean we try to keep it here? I could fight it, but…I doubt I would survive even a single hit.” There was a quiet resolve in his voice.
In response, Enri told him her plan to trick the troll. “I have an idea. First, let’s make an ogre.”
The troll looked at the wooden houses for a little while and then began to move.
Every dwelling had the mellow scent of humans, but he knew it was only lingering traces. Confirming there were no other nearby smells, he started walking in the direction of the fighting clamor. The sounds of his brother’s battle made saliva pool in his mouth—because they made him think about the humans who were surely there.
Nice, tender humans were a rare feast.
Even among trolls, he was a bit of a gourmand, and he loved the meaty arms and legs while preferring to pass on the bitter bellies. As a result, it was hard for him to eat his fill without enough prey, but it seemed like there was plenty here.
His stride lengthened as he began to drool.
But then he stopped and looked around—more precisely, he eyed the shadows of the houses.
Ogres.
He smelled ogres.
The troll frowned. There were ogres among his brethren, but these smelled a little bit different; he didn’t recognize them. The scent surrounded him from the shadows of the houses.
Of course, the reason he could distinguish the odor to that degree was not that he had the keen nose of a dog but that since he had ogre comrades, he had learned the scent of their race. So he wasn’t able to figure out how many there were.
And something puzzled him. There was a mysterious scent in the air as well. It was like the green smell of trampled herbs but much stronger.
Are the ogres slathered in mashed-up herbs? With the question still on his mind, he wondered what to do. The smell was so pungent it seemed like his eyes were going to tear up. The ogres must have stuffy noses if they can stand this.
He could take them head-on. Trolls were stronger than ogres. But that didn’t mean he would get through it unscathed, and it didn’t mean it would be a short fight.
Since the troll possessed a racial regeneration ability, his wounds would gradually heal, but it was bad to lose time. His ogre friends would eat up all the humans.
Surely his opponents were spread out so they could all jump him at once if he went straight for a fight.
Satisfied that he had seen through their scheme, the troll started going around them.
His goal was to annihilate them as quickly as possible. So perhaps now, while they were scattered, was his chance. He could just start with one on the edge and pick them off individually.
As he was moving slowly so as not to make any noise, a tiny shadow suddenly darted out from one of the houses.
It wasn’t a goblin or some other creature like that but his favorite food—a human.
As he was frozen in shock, the caped human came and splashed him with something.
“Oograhhhhh!” The sharp stench made him scream. The green liquid he’d been hit with gave off such a violent stink he all but wanted to rip off his nose. It was several times stronger than the herb smell hanging around the ogres.
He may have had regenerative powers, but this wasn’t an injury. With tears in his eyes from the intolerable smell, he tried to kick the human, but it had already raced into a house.
The reason that he, with his keen sense of smell, had let it sneak up on him was that the stench of the herbs had overpowered the human scent.
Though angered, the troll returned to his original target. First, he’d kill the ogres, then he’d have the human for dessert.
The furious troll searched around the houses but couldn’t find any ogres. There was no one; it was as if they had all disappeared.
“Grrrr, where are they?”
Ogres were smaller than him, but they were still huge, yet he scanned the area and saw nothing. If anything that large moved, he should have caught it in his peripheral vision. Are the ogres invisible like my master? Confused by this incomprehensible turn of events, the troll snorted.
Still, the intense herb smell on his body got in his way, so he had no idea where the ogre smell was coming from.
“Grrrrr.” With a groan, the troll used a hand to wipe at the liquid, but that only made his hand smell.
Just then he discovered a piece of cloth on the ground. Figuring he could clean up with that, he grabbed it and brought it to his nose out of curiosity. His nose wasn’t working so well, but up close he could somewhat detect the smell.
It smelled like an ogre. At that point, even the troll could figure out what was going on. I must have thought there was an ogre here because of this fabric covered in ogre scent.
That couldn’t be a coincidence.
“Human!” the troll roared and scanned the area. No humans to be found. So it had to be in the house still.
Clenching his fist with rage, he smashed it into the building. After pounding a few times, the roof caved in.
I’m going to tear it to pieces, thought the troll as he chased the human that flew out of the house in a panic.
The troll chasing her meant the plan was working, so she could only be thankful, but she still wanted to cry. This can’t be good for my heart. What village girl wouldn’t be on the verge of tears if she had to play tag with a huge man-eating monster, where being caught meant ending up in its stomach?
The other thing that made her want to cry was that she didn’t know when this game of tag would end. When she thought about how long she would have to keep at it, the will to continue running to the very end welled up inside her, but every time she worried about when the battle at the front gate would be over and whether everyone knew they were being chased around, her spirit flagged.
Enri regretted taking so long to prep that neither she nor Nfirea had been able to report to the front gate.
She dove desperately into the house where Nfirea was waiting. Then her friend, wearing a matching hooded cape, ran out the back door. As she waited with bated breath to see if their opponent would get caught in her trap, the troll chased after Nfirea without seeming to realize he was a different person.
Panting, Enri happily clasped her hands together.
There was a clear gap between trolls’ and humans’ stamina, stride, and strength, meaning a single person being chased would definitely get caught; her idea was to even up the battle of attrition by trading places and taking turns resting without their opponent realizing. One objective was to buy time, but they also didn’t want to let the troll reach the meeting hall where all the villagers were gathered.
The issue was how to make it seem like there was only one person. How did trolls tell humans apart? If a troll spent a lot of time observing humans, surely they would learn to discern some differences, but what if that wasn’t the case? What she relied on was disguising their appearances, focusing especially on their clothes. That’s why they both wore the same rain cape.
Then they employed herb juice to neutralize the troll’s sensitive nose.
Enri had set two traps for the monster’s sense of smell—stopping the troll in its tracks with the lingering odor of the ogres and then covering up their human scent with the herbs.
Having finally caught her breath, she began moving stealthily toward the next house.
Once she entered the dark interior, she quietly checked on the situation outside. As the heavy thudding approached, Nfirea, looking frantic, dove into the house. At the right timing, Enri leaped out the back door she had just come in.
She set off running but quickly realized the troll wasn’t coming after her.
It was looking between her and the house, snorting. Its ugly face warped further. She could sort of tell it seemed full of suspicion.
Icy sweat ran down her neck. She absentmindedly wiped it away with the back of her hand, but at the wet sensation, it hit her. “…Its nose adapted?”
The troll seemed to have gotten used to the herbs, noticed something off about the sweat it was smelling, and came to the conclusion that there were actually two humans.
It raised its fist and smashed the roof of the house. Nfirea came tumbling out, but he stopped and didn’t seem like he was going to run. “Enri! You escape! I’ll buy you time!”
“You idiot! We should go together!”
“It’ll definitely catch up to us! Using a house as a shield won’t matter!”
Enri’s eyes widened and Nfirea laughed.
“I’m the stronger one, so if I act as the bait, we have a better chance of surviving!” He cast a spell, and a glow enveloped his body.
What he said made sense, so Enri was at a loss for words. Nfirea seemed to laugh.
“Let me protect the lady I love!”
Nfirea turned to the savagely grimacing monster and pointed at himself with a thumb. “If you wanna play, then play with me! C’mon! Acid Arrow!” A green arrow flew at the troll after he shouted some uncharacteristic taunts. The moment it connected, steam rose as the sound of sizzling filled the air. Of course, the troll’s roar of pain was multiple times louder.
The troll fixed its wild eyes on Nfirea. It didn’t seem to be paying any attention to Enri anymore.
“Hurry up and go! Get help!”
It was even more foolish to stand around doing nothing.
“Stay safe!” With those parting words, Enri set off running.
The troll didn’t seem to be coming after her.
Honestly, there was no chance of him surviving. There was an insurmountable gap in their stats. Nfirea didn’t stand a chance against a monster only gold-rank adventurers could fight.
Lasting even a minute would be praiseworthy—that’s how hopeless the battle was.
“Yeah, I’m definitely gonna die.”
Nfirea smiled wryly at the troll, which was cautiously on the move.
Regeneration didn’t work on wounds from acid or fire. Nfirea had trumped the troll’s greatest ability, so that’s probably why it was on guard, but its worry was misplaced. If the troll just leaped at him like normal, it would surely win, so all Nfirea could do was laugh.
“Well, it works in my favor. Hypnotism!”
There was no change in the troll’s hostile attitude. It seemed to be resistant to the spell.
When it realized its opponent was casting magic, it charged.
The sight of the hulking figure drawing nearer as Nfirea watched was nightmarish.
“I would have been able to last a little longer if it had worked… Am I that unlucky? Too bad…”
Nfirea felt discouraged. He had no chance of winning; he knew he’d gone beyond brave to reckless, but still—
I have to buy more time for Enri.
—that thought moved him.
When he saw the troll before him raise its left arm, he dashed forward and to the left. Inspired to escape his impossible situation, he dove for the safety at the end of the most dangerous path. He felt the whoosh of the fist striking down behind him blow through his hair and a wall-like leg coming at him.
His field of vision spun. From inside his body, he heard noises like snapping branches.
He crashed into the ground and tumbled across it like a piece of trash.
Pain coursed through his body. Rather than an acute pain, it was more pain than he had ever felt in his entire life.
“B-but it’s amazing that I’m alive. I’m so awesome…” It was thanks to the defensive magic he had cast, plus the fact that the troll had kicked at him from an unstable posture. Stabbing pains assailed him when he coughed, but he stood and cast a spell. “Acid Arrow.”
The troll was about to follow up with another attack but stopped in its tracks. It was wary of the acid scorch on the ground at its feet.
Yes, exactly what I wanted.
His objective was to buy time. If his opponent hesitated to attack out of wariness, he would be happy for it to stay wary forever.
Besides, the next attack would surely kill him.
“…It hurts. I don’t wanna die…” He whimpered in spite of himself.
That’s life.
No one wanted to admit it, but there came a time for everyone when they had no other choice. For Nfirea, that time was now.
I’m going to die here. I am, without a doubt, going to die right now.
He wanted to run away. If he ran with all his might, maybe he could get away. But if he did that, how horrible of a tragedy would ensue?
He thought of Enri.
It was because he had her that he could fight like this.
“Well, I told her, so I guess it’s… No. I don’t want to die without hearing her answer…”
He figured he couldn’t get the troll closing in to understand the heart of a boy in love.
Buying time was now impossible.
For some reason, he was able to read exactly what the troll was thinking from its hideous expression. The monster was prepared to sustain damage in order to kill him. In that case—
“Acid Arrow!”
The most he could do was leave it a little worse for wear for whoever came to fight it after him.
The troll’s face twisted up with the burning pain, and it raised a fist. Already in so much pain he could barely stand, Nfirea had no idea how to block it.
“Please hurry!”
Three goblins led by Enri rushed to Nfirea’s aid.
The reason they’d met u
p wasn’t that Enri had reached the front gate. Since Nfirea and Enri hadn’t come back, and mysterious screaming could be heard from the rear, their leader had split his already meager force and dispatched three troops.
If I had sat tight a little longer, they would have arrived regardless. The thought filled her to bursting with guilt.
They had just a little bad luck.
If it weren’t for that—
“Over there!” Enri was pointing at Nfirea. Before him, the troll was raising its fist.
They wouldn’t reach him. The distance was too great.
He would get hit with the troll’s pounding fist, a blow strong enough to break a house. His death was certain.
In the darkness of her closed eyes, Enri heard the goblins gasp. It was an indication of their shock.
The reaction struck her as out of place, so she cautiously opened her eyes and—
“Yeesh, your health bar’s in the red there. Are you okay?”
—saw a beautiful woman holding a huge weapon.
Lupusregina had thrust her huge sigil-shaped weapon out from the side and blocked the troll’s fist. Considering how thick and huge the arm was, it seemed impossible, but it was neither a dream nor an illusion.
“Hokay, I’ll take this guy. You’re hurt pretty badly, huh, Nfi? Heal!”
The troll took a step back as if it couldn’t comprehend what it was seeing. Well, it was only natural, since a mysterious person had appeared out of nowhere and blocked its full-powered blow. Maybe it thought she was some sort of magic being.
With a dazed expression, Nfirea turned his back to the troll and began walking. He was utterly unguarded, but the troll didn’t attack. No, it couldn’t, because that would entail ignoring the one standing in its way.
“Nfi!” Enri squeezed him.
“Ohh, it’s you.”
His hazy response, spoken as if from a dream, alerted her to how critical his condition was. They had managed to snatch him from the jaws of death, but his psychological shock was surely critical.
“I’m glad you’re okay!”
“You too.”
Enri felt something warm returning to her heart, replacing the cold she’d felt when she thought Nfirea would die.
The Two Leaders Page 14
