Chapter 11: The Recapture of Ona Village

Chapter 11: The Recapture of Ona Village

The plaza located in the city of Est was jammed with people who had escaped with nothing but the clothes on their backs.

Thats right, theres no way a city wouldnt become noisy because of that.

Was there some kind of disaster?

As soon as we entered the Sawatari Trading Company, we were welcomed by Louise, who had a sour face, and her disciples, Suzanne & Claudia.

It was rare for our team of female warriors to not be out on a monster hunt.

What happened?

The village of Ona has been attacked by a large group of monsters. We were able to fight them back together with this citys garrison and other adventurers, but eventually, our side was outnumbered and forced to retreat.

The village of Ona is located in the northern direction, not too far away from Est.

Apparently, its a settlement built on a spacious, tranquil meadow that houses as many as 200 villagers.

Does this mean that the remaining monsters from the large wave that spawned near the royal capital has, in the end, managed to surge into Ests vicinity?

Did you sustain any injuries?

Yeah, but were fine. Thats because we carried plenty recovery potions with us. Still, even though we were there, we barely managed to evacuate all the villagers..

Even though they recovered themselves with potions, I could tell how fierce their battle must have been, judging from their shredded leather armors.

Still, to think that someone as strong as Louise was forced to give up.

Even our company has been doing business with Ona, as their village, which thrives on stock-farming, has been supplying us with the soil necessary for niter production.

There were familiar faces among the villagers who had been huddling together in front of our shop, so I decided to go and check if there were any injured people.

Louise, is it fine for me to use recovery potions on the injured people?

Why are you asking me that every single time? Theyre your items, so you can use them as you want.

I knew Louise would answer that way.

Her response was cold, but theres no doubt Louise wouldve done the same and used her own potions on the injured people.

The villagers of Ona were people under protection of the Earl, Est, so even the healers from the citys church arrived to help, however, they were short-handed, as there were too many injured people.

The city is probably running short on recovery potions, so maybe I could take this opportunity and resell them at a high price? Is what I thought.

However, I subdued this wicked thought of mine and proceeded with the distribution of my potions.

Thank you very much! Thank you very much!

Ah, no no, were on the same boat in these troublesome times, so.

(This young villager who threw these words of gratitude at me, he must be thinking Im a fine person. Kukuku..)

You must lose a fly to catch a trout, or so they say.

These villagers here live nearby, so if I demand gratitude from them, I can easily yield big profits afterwards.

(Despite saying so)

Even though I went through the trouble of establishing this company in Est

Nevertheless, I dont intend to look on passively as the monsters take over their village.

Now that it has come to this, what we need is the strength of firearms, rather than swords. Is what I thought.

I alone, made this resolution silently.

Scene Change

What? You plan to retake the village of Ona from the monsters?

Yes. If possible, Ill show you, later, how to push the monsters back and get rid of them entirely.

I decided to visit the Earl, Ests, castle and declare this in an impressive way.

As expected, was I boasting too much? The Earl looked at me doubtfully.

Certainly, youll become a big help to me if you can do it, but.

If our allies are this surprised, then it should be just the right weapon to scare the enemy.

Apart from me, who was used to this gun, Sharon seemed to be the one who had accustomed to the weapon the fastest.

The recoil isnt that strong, so in order to avoid the gunpoint trembling, all you need to do when pulling the trigger is-

Like this?

bang As a noisy sound was produced, the guns lead ball struck its target.

Thats a skillful shot indeed.

The other girls, too, became able to shoot at their targets accurately once they got used to it.

As one would expect, young people tend to get accustomed to new skills much quicker.

I know its effective, but, perhaps a bow would suit me better.

Well, I think its better for Louise to fight using other weapons.

Louise made a bitter face as she tested out the gun.

Naturally, she too could handle the gun quite decently.

Still, judging from the fact that Louise was already experienced with throwing knives and shortbows, it didnt look like she would be able to master the gun that fast.

One could say that one of the guns advantages against the bow is that a novice can handle it, more or less, as long as it shoots.

We decided we would try out the big cannon by moving it on the covered wagon up to the hill, where Ona village could be fully seen, and use it for a surprise attack.

Everyone, once I light the cannon, cover your ears.

The cannon wasnt that much different from the arquebus in terms of both being big, but, because the gunpowder we used was the black one, which has a powerful explosion, its sound would become way too severe.

Dokkaaaan A terrific roar generated and the large cannonball quickly launched toward the other side.

As soon as the cannonball reached its target it sunk into a fixed stone pedestal, making the ground tremble.

It looks like the cannon will have quite an impact if it hits precisely. Despite the cannonball not hitting its target accurately at all, the group of monsters that were stationed inside the village fell in utter chaos.

Should we try and give one more shot?

Lower the angle of the cannon and move it slightly to the left.

As Laura was cleaning its gunpoint with a mop, Sharon and the rest desperately moved the big cannon while wearing leather gloves, just like I had instructed them.

Excellent, thats enough. Load the cannonballs, were going to make 2 more shots.

Doneee!

Once I made sure Laura had loaded the gunpowder with a stick and stepped aside, we launched two more shots.

Ohhh, straight to the target.

We did ittttt!

The cannonball bursted right in the middle of where the orcs were exiting from a building in a bustling manner.

It looks like the chaos has settled down quite a bit, which is probably due to the orcs forgetting to escape and falling into a stupor.

And for some reason, they also havent noticed this side attacking them.

Perhaps, to them it looked as though their allies had suddenly disappeared following the sound of an explosion, as they had no concept of cannons.

Fine, lets continue to shoot them steadily with this angle.

Aye aye, Sirrr. [TN: Said in English]

Laura, who had become accustomed to the cannon, loaded the balls in it steadily and fearlessly. Because of that, the cannon kept firing rapidly towards the village, making the stone pedestal split open, and even the cannons barrel began to turn red from the excessive firing.

As a result.. the group of orcs became frightened at the deadly cannonballs that came flying from an unnoticeable direction. They scattered away and fled from the village.

I guess this makes our gun practice meaningless, right?

I was told like that by Lyle-sensei, who was a bit dumbfounded.

Perhaps, Ive gone a bit overboard.