CH 279

Episode 279 – The Way Out

“I apologize. I was late because I was having a hard time determining the enemies’ whereabouts.” (Tobias)

We had waited for a long time, and when the reporter finally showed up, he immediately bowed deeply in apology. I had thought about yelling at him, but I decided to wait for him to stop bowing and listen to what he had to say first.

“Anyway, have you figured out the location of the enemy commander?” (Ahmed)

“Yes. The enemy commander is in the forest to the west of Landaust. There was a skirmish in the Western Forest the other day, but it seemed to have been a maneuver to direct attention away from the main body of troops.” (Tobias)

“The Western Forest, huh? Is it fine for us to head over there now?” (Ahmed)

“Yes. I had called upon the adventurers that I selected beforehand, so I would be grateful if you could cooperate with them during the battle.” (Tobias)

The reporter bowed deeply once again. I didn’t know why a single reporter was going so far, but he was the reporter that was working with Lewin. Lewin was somewhat of a softie, so he probably had some kind of close connection with him.

“I don’t have any intention of working with those guys, but I guess you can leave it to me. I’ll mow them down in a flashy way.” (Ahmed)

“Alright. But please be careful out there. Those were the strongest monsters that I had ever seen.” (Tobias)

“It’ll be fine. I’m the strongest.” (Ahmed)

Waving my hand at the reporter’s serious warning, we began to head towards the forest to the west of Landaust. Now then, where should we exit from to make the most direct path to the Western Forest?

Thinking about it plainly, it would be the western gate, but the fighting going on there was the most intense. Unless the gate was already breached by the monsters, it wouldn’t be possible to leave through there.

“Oi, Dion. What would be the fastest way to get to the Western Forest?” (Ahmed)

“…Ahmed-san, you started walking without even knowing the way? I think it would be faster to just go back and ask the reporter about which route to take.” (Dion)

“I left while acting cool earlier, so I don’t want to go back now. You don’t know the way?” (Ahmed)

“You weren’t as cool as you imagined, ya know. Well, let’s go out the eastern gate and take the long way around.” (Smash)

“Tch, taking the long way around takes too much time.” (Ahmed)

“Then we can only go back and ask. Ah, actually… I think there might be the soldiers’ exclusive gate. If we go through the building where they do inspections, we should be able to get out.” (Smash)

“That’s it! You’re usually just excess baggage, but I guess even you can be useful sometimes, Smash.” (Ahmed)

We decided to take Smash’s suggestion and head for the building near the gate where soldiers were present. When we arrived at the western gate, I could see that the fighting was just as intense as I had imagined. The soldiers were on top of the gates, single-mindedly shooting off volleys of arrows, and the sounds of adventurers fighting outside the gate could be heard.

“The smell back there was bad, but this place is even worse. I don’t even want to breathe in through my nose.” (Ahmed)

“Is it the stench of monsters? A lot of bodies fell over the gate, so even though we can’t see it, there are probably quite a few corpses outside on the other side of the gate as well. It could also be the smell of death.” (Dion)

“It’s not a great thing to imagine, so don’t go analyzing it. Anyway, is that the building over there?” (Ahmed)

“So annoying. I’m going to just break the door.” (Ahmed)

“Don’t! Let’s have a nearby soldier open it up.” (Dion)

“I’ll go negotiate with them. We’ve got grounds to negotiate on, so it should be easy to get ‘em to open it for us.” (Smash)

As I pounded on the door, Smash looked up at the soldiers who were frantically carrying the supplies up the gate and went towards them. I wasn’t expecting anything from him. If he came back empty-handed, I was going to break the door down immediately, but… against my expectations, Smash actually came back with a soldier in tow.

“Thanks for waitin’. Hurry up and open the door please.” (Smash)

“Oi, what conditions did you accept to make them open the door for us?” (Ahmed)

“Nothing, really. I just asked him to open the door for us so we could go out and fight. Isn’t that right, sir captain?” (Smash)

“Ah, yeah. If it means you’ll fight monsters for us, I’ll gladly open the door for you. But once you go in, I’m going to lock the door immediately, so please be aware that you won’t be able to come back through this way.” (Soldier)

Smash gave me a disgusting wink, so I flicked him in the forehead. The soldier opened the door and we went inside.

When we went in, it was completely dark, and the furnishings were simple. I had expected it to be something like a playground for the soldiers, but there were really only work-related things inside.

“It’s pretty much an empty room. The soldiers here must be very serious.” (Ahmed)

“It’s a trapdoor. It seems to be the type that locks upon closing.” (Dion)

“In other words, the outside is past this point. Be ready to fight, you guys. We’re going to slaughter the monsters in our way while heading straight for the Western Forest.” (Ahmed)

“Got it. I’m ready whenever.” (Smash)

“Me too. Go ahead anytime.” (Dion)

After confirming that the two of them were ready, I unlocked the door and pushed it open. The offensive smell from before, which was now even more intense, immediately assailed my nostrils. My face contorted in disgust as I jumped out.

I was met by the scene of a bloody slaughter between monsters and adventurers.

Looking at the battle situation, it seemed like the adventurers were outnumbered, but… the monsters only had numbers. There weren’t any monsters that seemed that strong.

“Hoh, so that Ogre is the main opponent. Hey, if you don’t wanna get killed, get out of the way!” (Ahmed)

I grinned as the excitement for battle overflowed within me and yelled at the Ogre to provoke it, but it didn’t seem to hear me over the cacophony of battle.

Actually, I guess they don’t understand human language anyway, do they?

The Ogre stood in front of me, clutching a metal club tightly in its hands as it eyed me like it had found its new prey.

A big smile spread across my face as I looked at the dumb Ogre. I drew my greatsword and hacked at it in one smooth movement.

The Ogre wasn’t even able to react, and it was bisected from the top of its head down. As its body tumbled to the ground, I noticed the blank look on its face, as if it didn’t even know that it was already dead.

“As expected, a corpse that doesn’t immediately disappear upon defeat is better.” (Ahmed)

“No, no, it’s really not a good thing at all. More importantly, please keep moving forward! The monsters are getting closer.” (Dion)

“Oh, shut it. We’ll just kill them all if they get closer.” (Ahmed)

“It’ll all be meaningless if we don’t preserve our strength! Come on, hurry up!” (Dion)

Dion gave me a push on the back, and I continued to lead the way towards the Western Forest, kicking monsters out of my way as we moved along.