Chapter 6 The G.o.d Slayer and Orc

By the time we reached the next village, the sun had already begun to set. I think we took even more time than I had originally thought.

By the original plan, we were supposed to reach here by today morning but it’s almost night already.

Miss Francesca beside me looked towards me with an apologetic face.

She isn’t saying anything probably because she knows it was her fault that we’re late. She might be blaming herself more than normal actually.

Even though we men would be unable to say anything if she just looked at me with sad upturned eyes.

Well, I wasn’t really going to scold her in the first place.

While thinking such things, I looked towards the village.

The population is probably only 50 people. There are around 10 wooden houses that can be seen.

Since the sun was setting, the men seemed to be returning back from the fields and were glancing towards us travellers.

It sure looks like a calm and peaceful village. It really has an atmosphere that calms you down.

As we moved towards the inn, we asked for two rooms. The receptionist asked to confirm whether I really wanted 2 rooms but I decided to ignore that.

“Please prepare two rooms and meals for tonight and tomorrow morning as well.”(renji)

Saying that, I placed one gold coin on the counter.

He seemed surprised since a rural village inn like this one might not see gold coins too often but he soon brought out the copper coin change.

Normally I would negotiate here but since Miss Francesca is also here now, I’m wondering what to do.

Thinking for a moment, I lost the chance to negotiate in that moment.

[That’s because you try to act cool in front of women. If you are going to sigh in grief now, it would have been better to have just bargained as usual.]

As you say.

I gave a sigh and the innkeeper also gave a wry smile towards me.

Well, considering that he opened an inn in such a remote village, he’ll try to earn as much as possible in such situations.

I decided to give up and hope for good food.

‘This is why you’re always out of money.’ I felt I heard a voice like that from somewhere.

For the time being, let’s just smack that medal inside my pocket a bit.

“We’ll rest the whole day tomorrow so be sure to rest properly.”(renji)

“……is that fine?”(fran)

Unlike before, she looked at me with upturned eyes and a happy expression and my cheeks loosened a bit. If I had a daughter, it’ll probably be like this.

[You sound like a deviant.]

Did you not have anything better to say?

I’ll really get hurt you know?

As my cheeks cramped, she looked towards me while raising her head confused.

“n, yeah, with those legs, your pace would fall after all.”(Renji)

“Sorry.”(fran)

“No need to apologise. In fact, I think it’s amazing that you didn’t say you want to return.”(renji)

This inn had two floors. The first floor was the diner and the second floor had the private rooms.

There were no things like keys and the rooms had an internal lock only so we needed to take care of our own valuables.

Well magicians had it easy since they could conveniently imagine a key and a lock.

“Umm.”(fran)

While I was thinking such things and was about to go and leave the luggage on the second floor, I was called for.

“Thank you very much.”(fran)

“Like I said, no need to worry. Journey’s are meant to be enjoyed.”(renji)

At least for me, journeys are such things.

Without any objective, roaming around this world leisurely, it broadened my perspective.

In that sense, I’m lucky that I met this girl who gave me a temporary objective for a journey.

Not to mention that I’ll get a reward for completing that objective as well.

The request was the subjugation of an Orc. Considering our pace, there’s still a long way to go.

We have a lot of time, and there’s no need to hurry either. I, for once, am really thinking of fully enjoy this journey.

Bringing out the medal Ermenhilde from my pocket, I flicked it with my finger.

With a dry sound, it twirled and rotated and I caught it with my right hand.

“I like going on journeys. That’s why, I am in fact thankful towards Miss Francesca for coming to me with this request.”(renji)

[For someone who likes journeying, I feel that you were lazing around in that village for way too long though.]

I really like journeying but I also like Sake and lazing around as well.

While giving such an excuse within my mind, I began climbing the stairs.

We had slept outside for only one night but as expected, one doesn’t recover as much while sleeping outside.

After visiting the bar later, I should quickly go to sleep I think.

“Well, Miss Francesca should go by her own pace. I’ll match myself according to that.”(renji)

“..….Yes.”(fran)

Maybe she was thinking of something, her response was a little late.

But, if she had something to say she’d probably do so. Thinking that, I headed towards the room.

She doesn’t complain, doesn’t act on her own, and listens to what I say.

Frankly, there’s nothing more I need in a companion.

After gaining some experience in killing monsters, she should be able to become a good adventurer.

Since she’s a student of the Magic Academy, she’d probably become a scholar or something like that in the future though.

But that’s not something I need to care about.

To help her achieve the objective of successfully killing a monster. That’s my objective.

The village’s bar was one size smaller than the bar in the previous village.

Well, this village barely has any travellers. I should be glad that they have a bar at all.

While thinking such things, I sat by the counter.

There were a few men inside the bar.

The gazes of the bartender and the men turned towards me.

Outsiders must be really rare here. While ignoring the gazes, I put three copper coins on the counter.

Normally, I should have first gone to the guild to confirm the request but since we’re resting tomorrow, might as well leave that for tomorrow as well.

[That doesn’t mean that the first place you have to come is the bar you know?……]

I ended up giving a wry smile on the voice of my partner Ermenhilde.

It’s the same as always, it can’t be helped. Just give up.

“Give me something light.”(renji)

Without looking at the menu, I randomly ordered.

Normally I can drink all, whether it be wine, ale or whisky so I’m good with almost everything.

……..though I become unable to even move the next day if I drink a too strong one in high quant.i.ty.

Well, alcohol worth 3 copper coins won’t be enough to get me that drunk I think.

Sometimes, the bartender would bring out a strong one intentionally to hara.s.s me but, that also feels nice in its own way.

It’s what you could call the true pleasures of journeying.

“Are you a traveller?”

The bartender, who brought out my alcohol in a wooden cup, asked me so.

As a snack, he also brought out some fresh vegetables and some kind of grilled meat together with the drinks.

Probably its orc meat or some other one from the fields.

Orc meat can be obtained cheaply in the market. It is high in nutritional value so unlike goblin meat, orc meat can be turned into money.

The elementary and intermediate level adventurers hunt them in groups so there’s no lack of such meat in the market.

With just some slight seasoning, it’s delicious to be eaten after grilled.

Some people tend to not eat it saying that its monster meat but I don’t really mind that.

I did mind it long back ago though.

……..Humans will always grow. If one were to be so picky in such things, he won’t be able to go on journeys.

While thinking about Orc meat, I took the plate which had the salad and the meat.

I did have dinner with Miss Francesca but alcohol needs snacks to go along with it. Yup. (T/N: True Dat XD)

Miss Francesca was now already asleep back at the inn, probably because she was too tired.

Tomorrow she’ll be having muscular pains, definitely. It should heal by the day after tomorrow.

“Yeah, we came today. We’ll leave by the day after tomorrow.”(renji)

Answering that to the bartender, I took the cup.

By the smell, I think its Apple Ale.

It really has a nice smell. It seems coming to this village was a good decision.

As I took one sip, the perfect level of bitterness and a refreshing smell spread inside my mouth.

“Are you specialised in killing monsters?”(bartender)

“Does it look that way?”(Renji)

I answered his question with another question.

The bartender’s expression became sharp for a second as if a.s.sessing me, then quickly turned to a gentle smile.

“Not at all.”(bartender)

“You have good eyes.”(renji)

I shrugged my shoulders.

It’s not that I can’t fight even weak monsters but I can brag that I’m good at staying out of too much trouble at least.

Well, I doubt there’d be any problematic monsters near such a rural village anyway.

[No no, you’re supposed to deny his a.s.sessment there…….]

I refuse. Don’t want any unnecessary trouble.

I don’t want to deal with any danger either.

Well, even though I say that, I am still going to subjugate an Orc. Even I think that I’m being painfully contradictory.

While listening to Ermenhilde’s sad voice, I took another sip of the apple ale.

“Did something happen?”(renji)

“Nowadays, Orcs seem to be gathering inside the nearby forest it seems.”(bartender)

“……….fuun.”

It seems, our journey might end sooner than I expected.

Thinking that, I drained my apple ale.

“Tell me more, in detail.”(renji)

Saying that, I gave him the cup.

“Recently, Orcs seem to have settled down in the forest. And have been damaging the fields as well.”

“Well, does sound like what an Orc would do.”

As he refilled my Ale, I answered to the bartender’s words.

An Orcs eating habits are famous and the first thing that comes under damage is the fields of a village.

If the Orcs were met with resistance there, they’d go back to their dwellings and live inside the forests only but I doubt such a village would have any warrior that could face an Orc in battle.

And it doesn’t look like many Adventurers stop by here.

Probably only some travellers and peddlers would occasionally make a stop here.

Even if they send a damage report to the capital, G.o.d knows how long it’ll take for a knight squad to arrive here.

Although helping and aiding even such rural villages was also a part of the job of the knight squads but it usually takes months before they’d be able to move out here.

The number of knights isn’t very big either and not to mention there is a lack of funds.

To do anything, it costs money. It’s one thing that was same in our previous world as well.

Though there are knights who move even without money but they usually end up hated by their superiors even if they get the love of the citizens.

Basically, there’s still a long time before knights begin to move.

[Our luck is being surprisingly good for some reason.]

“It’s because we act as good people every day.”(renji)

Taking the cup from him, I gulped down half at once.

“How much can you pay?”(renji)

“You don’t really seem very strong to take a job like this. By looks at least.”(bartender)

Oh shaddup.

[That’s why I said to shave properly.]

Is it just me or are your complaints really getting more and more like as if you’re my mother?

I really want to think that I’m just imagining this.

“I have a magician comrade.”(renji)

“That young girl is a magician?”

The bartender’s face became a bit surprised.

As expected of a small village, the info about us soon travels fast to everyone.

It seems they already know that I and Miss Francesca are working in a party.

Well, it’s not really surprising though.

Villagers in a rural village are all friendly with each other. Info like this gets spread around really fast.

“She’s a student at the Magic Academy. She’s apparently top of her cla.s.s.”(renji)

“Hou, that’s pretty amazing.”

It seems they he knew about the magic academy so he seems to realize that the top of the cla.s.s is a trustable t.i.tle.

Of course, it’s a complete lie though.

I think it’s fine to lie that much. Probably. It might even turn out to be true.

[You really get carried away with the flow and lie very normally sometimes, you know…..]

“So, how about it? Did that increase your trust in us?”(renji)

Ignoring those words, I talked with the bartender.

I told myself inside my heart that it was a necessary lie to gain more info.

Adults really are too dirty.

“I guess so. It’s not like we’d lose anything either so I might as well make a request.”(bartender)

“That really is cruel way of putting it.”(renji)

As I laughed, another Apple ale was prepared for me.

Since he gave it to me even though I didn’t ask for it, it seems it’s his treat to me.

“There seem to be three Orcs inside the forest.”(bartender)

“3 eh?”(renji)

That’s quite a lot, I thought so inside my mind.

Well, since they are very slow, there are many ways to deal with them.

We can separate them, or burn them with Miss Francesca’s magic from long range as well.

Even if we mess up, we could quickly run away and try again later as well.

I thought up various plans inside my head.

“Also, one of them is excessively strong. The young ones of the village were unable to even touch it.”(bartender)

“Strong?”(renji)

“Yeah, it’s a black Orc apparently.”

Black?

I thought of the High Orcs but they aren’t the type that appear in a place like this.

They usually live only on the continent of demons.

They don’t live on the Imnesia continent. In the first place, a monster like that would have obliterated a village like this in the very first attack.

But then, what else could it be?

A black Orc. Is it a new mutated species? Or is it simply a normal Orc that just happened to be black in colour?

“Did you think of something?”(bartender)

“Now then, for the time being, I’m considering whether to take up the request or not.”(renji)

If it’s a simple Orc then there’s no problem.

Even with three of them, worst case scenario, we’ll simply have to run away.

I am perfectly aware of its slow speed.

But, that black Orc.

It’s bothering me a bit.

“For the time being, we’ll go and check up on the forest the day after tomorrow. We’ll decide after that whether to accept the request or not.”(renji)

“Yes, that would be fine.”

Although he talked but it didn’t seem like he was expecting much of us.

But that’s pretty normal. After all we’re just adventurers pa.s.sing through. It’d be weird if they were expecting too much of us.

And not to mention, that I look no better than a normal villager.

He wouldn’t think that I could take on a strong Orc.

I’m just a humble G.o.d Slaying traveller from a different world after all.

[Here you’re supposed to use me, the G.o.d slaying weapon, upfront and deal with it—]

“Well, I’ll work just hard enough to not die.”(renji)

In the first place, it bothers me that the village is still safe even though such a strong Orc is living nearby.

If it really was that strong, rather than attack just the fields, it could have simply attacked the village directly and taken whatever it wanted.

Although I want to avoid fighting an unknown enemy, since our objective is also to defeat Orcs, I’ll have to look for them.

Since those Orcs are attacking the village means that I can also expect a reward as well.

Combining it with the reward I’ll get from Miss Francesca, I should be able to earn quite a sum this time.

With that much, I won’t have to be worried about my travel expenses for some time as well.

After all’s said and done, travelling around does require money as well.

Since I had been lazing around for the whole past month, I’m in need of money all the more.

Also, if I don’t get a bit serious now, I’ll probably be scolded by my partner, Ermenhilde as well.

[fumu—-it seems like I’ll finally have an opponent worth fighting against.]

The G.o.d slaying weapon, Ermenhilde said that with a delighted voice.

But, I’ll be using only the iron knife though.

………..It really sounds too impossible, I really think so.

Well, I could even try and put some traps in the forest.

For that, I’ll have to decide while scouting the forest.

“We’ll run away if we feel like we can’t win so don’t resent us for that, alright?”(renji)

“Don’t worry. The reward will be given only if you succeed after all.”(bartender)

“Well that’s good to hear.”(renji)

That means, we’ll have to kill those Orcs if we want any kind of reward.

And if we are unable to, we get absolutely nothing.

Since it was pretty understandable, I laughed a bit.

“Then, one more drink to at least congratulate us in advance.”(renji)

As I said that, the bartender gave a wry smile as he filled my cup again.

He’s a good guy, I think.

[You are, as usual…….I don’t care even if you become late tomorrow, alright?]

“Tomorrow’s a rest day, I can drink as much as I want.”(renji)

As I said that, my wodden cup was filled once again.

As I looked at that, my cheeks slackened.

This really is one of the many pleasures of travelling around, I think.

I can get to taste the delicious things of different villages.

While eating the Orc meat and salad, I drank the Ale. Such luxury.

[…….haa, how deplorable. You should moderate your eating habits really—-]

While hearing the usual catch phrase of my partner Ermenhilde, I drank my alcohol.

The journey with Miss Francesca might end pretty quickly. I’ll feel a bit lonely then.

I’ll have to separate from that healing chest of hers as well.

While thinking of things that would get me yelled at by Ermenhilde, I stayed late in the night.