Volume 4 - CH 15

Chapter 15 – The Application of Gem and a New Magic

After Kohaku was released from slavery, Eto’s party went back to their usual routine. Have breakfast, head to the Adventurer’s guild, and receive subjugation or collection requests near the royal capital.

The Goblin Stampede has caused great damage to the eastern side of the royal capital. Many villages have been destroyed and forest resources such as herbs, mushrooms and animals are said to be devastated. Presently, the Royal Army is conducting a large-scale goblin extermination operation to prevent the damage from spreading to other areas. Even the Adventurer’s guild also issued goblin subjugation requests for C-rank or lower adventurers. Their plan is to reduce the number of goblins by offering higher rewards than usual.

At any rate, right now, Eto’s party are heading towards the forest on the west side of the royal capital to collect various herbs. Of course, they’ve encountered a few goblins on the way, but looking at the state of the forest, it didn’t seem to be affected that much, unlike the forest on the east side. The party just extracted the magic stones of those goblins, incinerated their corpses, and continued to finish their objective.

Suddenly, Sorano, who had been scouting ahead, returned and reported that there were three Forest Wolves with two Orcs chasing them ahead. Hearing that, Eto immediately gathered his party members, grabbed the gem that could spread the effect of his support magic, and cast Strength, Haste, Protect buffs for everyone.

Protect is a support magic that Eto recently tried along with Shield. Protect is an anti-physical attack buff, and Shield is an anti-magic attack and a weak physical defense buff that can be deployed around the body of the target.

“Amou and I will stop the Orcs. And you two go chase after the Forest Wolves and kill them. If either one of us finishes first, don’t forget to support the other. Alright, operation start!”

With that, Sorano and Kohaku immediately ran weaving between the sea of trees. Meanwhile, two Orcs with a rugged club in their right hand approached Eto and Amou. Making use of the surrounding trees, Amou then guided the right Orc away to separate them.

Soon after that, Eto jumped out of the shade of a tree in front of the Orc that was left behind, causing it to swing its club in panic. Having judged that it was just a weak blow, Eto decided to try the effect of Protect by deliberately receiving the blow with his body. As a result, the club was deflected by a transparent wall created by Protect, and even erased the impact that should have been created from the clash.

“Yosh, this is pretty useful.”

The Orc seemed to be overwhelmed by the fact that its attack didn’t work at all, but it was only for a moment, as it immediately lifted its club to the top of its head and swung it down powerfully using all its weight. Finding the chance to test the buff again, Eto took a step further to receive the blow with his left shoulder. Once again, the effect of Protect appeared, deflecting the club alongside both hands of the Orc. Thinking the test was enough, Eto promptly cast Dark and Slow on the Orcs. And then, he cut the neck of the Orc, who could only move slowly because of the debuffs, with Enchant – Wind Sword.

Eto then left the corpse of the Orc and headed to Amou, and saw that the Orc who had lost its neck had fallen at the feet of Amou, who was near it. But, Amou didn’t look at the fallen orc, he looked at the top of the tree.

Following him, Eto also looked at the top of the tree and saw the head of the Orc that was caught on a branch three meters above. Apparently, this happened because Amou cut the head of the orc with a powerful swing of his greatsword. It seems it is still difficult for Amou, who can use more magic power than before, to adjust his strength.

The two decided to leave the Orc’s head and corpse for the time being, and headed to support Kohaku and Sorano. But when they arrived, Eto and Amou saw the two came out from the bush with a big bag in their hands. They then reported that they had completed their task. Then, as soon as the party went to their original place, Sorano climbed the tree and dropped the Orc’s head down.

“That’s amazing, Sorano! As expected of an elf!”

“Fufunnn, it’s simple.”

Sorano proudly said while standing on the branch. It made the three once again surprised by her incredible sense of balance. And Eto also thought that Sorano’s tree climbing skills and sense of balance might be useful someday.

After that, Eto and his party skinned the corpses of the monsters and their job was done for the day.

“My whole body feels so sore… Doing a job after a long rest was really tough as expected.”

Kohaku says something that isn’t fit to be said by a thirteen-year-old girl.

“My shoulders are also stiff. As expected, training and actual battles are different.”

Sorano agreed to Kohaku’s statement.

‘Kohaku who is still growing is getting muscle pain while Sorano has chronic fatigue, huh.’ At a moment, Eto thought like that, but he wasn’t stupid enough to talk about age to women.

“What?”

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But suddenly, Sorano, whose intuition was sharp, asked Eto.

“Un? I didn’t say anything, though?”

Of course, Eto feigned ignorance.

At any rate, after reporting the completion of the requests and selling the materials to the guild, Eto’s party returned to the inn and got ready because they have a dinner appointment with Lana tonight. Incidentally, they’re going to eat at a restaurant that is famous for their stewed dishes recommended by Kohaku.