CH 26

Five days before the Net Leaving Ceremony, I went into the mountains where the lingering snow from the previous day still remained.

The village chief had asked me to accompany him to the Nest Leaving Ceremony and to ask Miguel if he had passed or failed, so I came to check on the prone mushrooms, hoping to earn a little extra money this time.

Last time, there were three large ones growing, but this time there was only one mushroom of saleable size, and it was still small.

I don’t know how big they will be by the time I leave in four days, but I don’t think I can count on it.

“This is below two large silver coins…” (Nyango)

The last time I went out to the city of Ibouro, I tried the food in the cafes and tavern s and realized that the food in this world is better than I had expected.

In the village of Atsuka, they only cook simple dishes like boiling or baking, so the variation in flavors is limited, but in the city, there seems to be a wide variety of dishes to choose from.

If I am going to go to the city, I want to enjoy various cuisines, and to do so, I need to have something in advance.

I’ve been saving money, and I still have some left over from last year’s prone mushroom sales, but it will be enough to get me started as an adventurer in the city.

“I should have asked at the tavern… about ow much it would cost to live in the city.” (Nyango)

The last time I was in town, I thought I could go to the tavern for a second night, but for some reason, Olivier took a liking to me, and I had to stay with him for dinner and after-dinner tea.

Perhaps she wanted to fluff a big cat, but Miguel was really getting involved and it was a real hassle.

Miguel will be going to school in Ibouro this spring, so Atsuka village will be quiet.

I would like to train with Mr. Zeol for another year or so, participate in the fall raids again to hone my skills, and then go to town next spring to start my adventurous life.

“To do that, I’ll need to increase my funds, and I’ll also have to improve my staff arts and my magic skills.” (Nyango)

After checking on the growth of the prone mushrooms, I descend the mountain, doing some practice in the forest to prepare for real battles.

Recently, I’ve been trying to be aware of my surroundings so that I can grasp the situation from a distance while assuming a close encounter with the enemy.

In my case, I have lost vision in my left eye, so I try to use my remaining right eye to widen my field of vision as much as possible, but it doesn’t work out as well as I would like.

After all, it is Mr. Zeol who is supposed to be my opponent in close combat, so I can’t let my guard down at all, even if it is hypothetically possible.

After I learned to stand firm, Mr. Zeol’s strength was so much more than what it had been before that it was almost unparalleled.

The ever-changing and free-moving staff makes me wonder how many arms and how many staffs he has.

Even if I push my sight, energy, physical strength, intelligence, and all the power I have into the fight, my staff won’t even graze Mr. Zeol.

“Seriously, that man is a monster… Oops.” (Nyango)

The fact that I was able to notice this guy’s presence while I was absorbed in swinging must be a result of my daily training.

The height of the body is well over two meters. Sharp fangs peeked out from the corners of its mouth.

The monster orc was far more dangerous than a goblin or a kobold.

I instantly stopped swinging and hid behind a tree trunk.

Fortunately, I was downwind of the orc, and it turned its back to me and did not seem to notice me.

I was about three hundred meters away from the orc, and I gradually approached it, hiding behind a tree trunk.

At the same time, I kept my eye peeled for other orcs.

As I approached, I found that the orc seemed to be engrossed in scavenging for food.

It was gorging itself on newly sprouted tree shoots and young wild vegetables and does not seem to be on the lookout for anything around it.

It is no wonder that the orcs are not on the lookout for them; there are no orc-eating monsters living in the mountains near here.

They see wild bears from time to time, but they know that if they fight, they will just hurt each other, so they seldom fight directly.

“Do they think they are the masters of this forest…?” (Nyango)

Goblins and Kobolds do not gather where orcs are.

If only there were no other orcs, the only dangerous presence in this place would be the orc in front of me.

While I’m watching the direction of the wind and closing the distance between me and the orc.

I am already set on killing the orc.

“[Death Choker].” (Nyango)

When I was about 30 meters away, I placed the doughnut-shaped collar of death that had killed the goblin around the orc’s thick neck and threw a stone I had picked up.

The stone made a clacking sound and hit a tree near the orc.

“Bugiii!” (Orc)

“Did it work?” (Nyango)

Surprised by the sound of the stone, the moment the orc moved, the Death Choker’s blade sliced into its neck.

The neck was cut, but the thick skin and fat of the orc got in the way, and the Death Choker’s blade didn’t reach its carotid artery.

“One more time, [Death Choker].” (Nyango)

“Bugiii, bufu!” (Orc)

It was broken again in the same way, and blood flowed from the orc’s neck, but from a distance, it was a shallow cut, far from a fatal wound.

Luckily, it doesn’t seem to have noticed my presence yet hiding behind the trunk of a tall tree.

“Well, I wonder what happened…” (Nyango)

The reason I can’t hurt the orc is probably because the death choker is not strong enough and the momentum is not enough to make it move.

If it were to come at the tip of the spear with great momentum, I would be able to inflict a much deeper wound.

The question is how to make it gain momentum.

“Well, should I become the bait?” (Nyango)

I used [Step] to descend to a height of about two meters so that the orc would notice my presence, and shook a tree branch to make a noise.

“Buhi?” (Orc)

The distance to the orc is about 20 meters.

When the orc noticed the sound and turned around, I made a long spear and stab it in the neck to provoke it.

“Hey, come on, you pig bastard.” (Nyango)

“Buhiiii!” (Nyango)

The orc, discovering who had been harassing it, came charging forward with a roar.

I waited for the orc, activating body enhancement magic, ready to evade at any moment.

“Bumoooooo!” (Orc)

The orc rushes forward on all four legs and leaps at me with both arms raised.

“[Spear]!” (Nyango)

“Bugii…” (Orc)

I pulled away from the orc at the last minute and fixed the tip of the spear hardened with all my strength in front of the throat for a counterattack.

The orc’s gigantic body with its throat pierced fell down while passing by me who sidestepped.

I moved up, keeping my distance while retreating further to keep an eye on the orc.

The right half of the orc’s neck had been severed, and blood was gushing out.

Still, the orc rises from all fours on its hind legs to find me watching over it.

The orc’s gaze, filled with burning anger, shot through me, sending chills down my spine.

“This still won’t kill you huh…” (Nyango)

“Buu… Fuu…” (Orc)

One step, two steps, when it started to take a step towards me, the orc’s eyes began to lose their vitality rapidly.

As the fire of frightening anger faded and the unfocused eyes became like glass balls, the orc’s huge body wobbled, and he clattered to the ground on his back.

“Phew… you scared the hell out of me.” (Nyango)

I was in a place where the orc’s attack could not reach me at all, yet I was sweating cold bullets on my back.

I waited until the blood that was gushing out of the orc’s neck in time pulsing out stopped before approaching him.

Orc meat is used for food and can be sold at a high price if brought back, but my body cannot carry it.

The purpose of dismantling is the magic stone and the heart.

Since the goblin’s heart was so effective, eating an orc’s heart should increase my magical power even more.

Unlike when I killed the goblin, there is a lot of blood, and the smell of blood is in the air.

Let’s finish dismantling it quickly before other monsters come close.

“Well, unlike goblins, the fat seems to be thicker… fugya!” (Nyango)

As soon as I put my foot on it to dismantle it, the orc’s body convulsed, and I jumped up on the spot.

“Eh… you’re dead, right? You’re not going to come back to life, are you?” (Nyango)

The goblin’s body had moved a little, but never to the point where his arms leaped nearly straight up, and the orc was so large that it scared me even more than usual.

When I thrust my knife to dismantle it, the limb jumped up again.

I had no choice but to hold down the orc’s limbs with my shield and proceeded to dismantle it.

“Wow… an amazing layer of fat, fat, more fat…” (Nyango)

The sticky fat clings to the knife that sliced through the orc’s belly.

With an ordinary knife, it would have been dulled immediately, but since the knife was made with void magic, it could be remade as many times as necessary and work with a brand-new blade.

Anyway, since the orc’s body was large, I cut it open so wide that it sliced the belly into a circle, plunged both arms in with such force that they seemed to enter the body as a whole, and finally took out the part that contained the heart and the magic stone.

The magic stone, which was taken out by cutting through the flesh, was covered with the remaining snow nearby to wash off the blood.

Come to think of it, there were people using water magical tools when they were subjugating goblins in the village.

There will be more opportunities to subjugate monsters in the future, and I might as well buy one when I go to town.

I put the magic stone in my backpack and the heart in a container made of void attribute magic.

The orc blood clinging to my body is removed with residual snow, and then I make my protective suit disappear.

Now there should be no smell of blood from myself