CH 49

“But that was so very reckless, leaving now.”

“This place is actually safer.”

“Oh my, you sure know your stuff.”

“I think anyone could figure this out.”

Leila and Locke look at me with sly smiles.

“Master, what do you mean?”

“This is only a matter of possibility, but it’s unlikely that they’ll attack a place that they just destroyed. It would be different if they didn’t conquer it, but they took pretty much all the resources they were after, so they have no reason to come back.”

“And if prey should happen to walk into territory they control in droves, the greedy orcs are likely going to attack.”

Adds Leila.

“They should have waited a little longer.”

Says Locke, and all the people who have been quiet look at each other.

“T-then they’re in danger. Shouldn’t we go help?”

“Who is going?”

“They’re the ones who decided to leave.”

The person who expressed concern backs down.

“Master, what does that mean?”

“They’re telling him to go help them himself if that’s what he wants.”

“But we talked about exterminating the orcs.”

“If we’re in danger. If they keep being unreasonable, we should just abandon them and leave on our own. It’s not like we accepted an escorting quest in the first place.”

“That’s true. It would be easier to escape if it was just me and master.”

These people should start thinking about what they’re saying. Patience has its limits. It’s nice to act all heroic, but they should keep that to themselves.

“Then let us talk among ourselves. Is it all right if I take the lead?”

Asks Leila.

“Sure, I don’t mind.”

“Me neither, but I’ll say what I think.”

“…All right. I want to hear your opinions about hitting the orcs’ base.”

“We’re leaving that to you. The three of us specialize in defense.”

“I think we can do it if we get moving right away. Of course, assuming the orcs are baited into splitting up.”

“I see. Luilui, go out and gather what information you can.”

“Leave it to me.”

Luilui nods and leaves. I guess they have some sort of trick up their sleeve.

I say nothing and track the orcs’ movements with Map.

“And if we were to attack the orcs’ base, hum…”

“Sora and Hikari.”

“What do you think, Mister Sora and Hikari?”

“We can attack their base. We don’t have a lot of experience fighting while protecting others, so we would probably get in the way.”

“So if we were to attack their base, it would be me, Casey, Luilui, Talia, Hikari, and Mister Sora.”

“What about the other two members of your party?”

“They are a sorcerer and a priest, so I think their talents are best put to use on the defensive side. Splitting our forces is risky, but leaving this side with too few people is also dangerous.”

“I see, thank you. The three of us aren’t good with magic.”

“Take good care of my poor frail party members. Oh, what did you find, Luilui?”

“Big sister, I checked the movements of the orcs.”

“Oh my. So when do you think they will attack?”

“They will probably make contact at night at the earliest, and tomorrow morning at the latest.”

“I see. I think Talia can check more or less where their base is… We should make a defensive base for ourselves and rest.”

“All right, but not here. We should build a base around the inn.”

“Very well. I will tell the others.”

“I can use earth magic to make simple walls. Just tell me where you want them.”

I don’t know how effective they will be, but it’s better than nothing.

I tell Locke I can use earth magic, and so Yor and I will be making a barricade. She can use earth magic too.

Isaac and Drake are using scrap wood to reinforce the inn, and the others are moving luggage and working to fortify the inn.

“I’m picturing a wall around the inn with a hole around it on the other side. Can you do it?”

“Got it. How deep and how tall?”

“About deep enough that I would fall into it, and about one story high.”

I follow Locke’s instructions, and start digging with earth magic. Then I use the dirt I dig up to make the wall.

“Hum, Yor, was it? Can you use magic to reinforce the wall?”

She’s looking at me, completely dumbfounded.

She trembles when I talk to her, and looks at me like she’s seeing a strange being.

“H-hum… What kind of magic is this?”

“Earth magic…?”

She looks surprised.

But the clock is ticking, so I leave her and continue working. The hole’s, or rather, the ditch’s width is one meter.

The wall around the inn has a gap in the entrance, that’s just about wide enough for a wagon to go through. Isaac and the others then make a simple gate there.

We are more than halfway done, when Yor nervously asks me something.

“I can’t use magic like that. How do you do it?”

At first, I have no idea what she means.

But then she explains it to me, and I see that there really is a clear difference between my magic and hers. The magic Yor knows is activated by chanting and then saying the name of the spell. She says she can’t just move earth around like I do.

Does that mean what I use isn’t actually magic?

Locke talked to me like he assumed I could do this.

I ask Locke about it, and he tells me he doesn’t know a lot about magic, and it’s more like he was hoping I could do it.

“Can you fill this hole with water?”

I can purify and pour water with Basic Daily Life Magic, although it’s inefficient in terms of magic energy.

I drink a mana potion, and finish the rest.

After the wall is done, I infuse it with magic energy to strengthen it. I picture it hardening, and the magic energy flows through the entire wall.

Once that’s done, my MP is empty again.

“…I’m done too.”

She looks exhausted, and her complexion doesn’t look too good. She probably spent a lot of MP.

“Good job. Do you want a mana potion?”

“No, it’s fine. I’ll recover if I just rest. M-more importantly, how do you use magic like that? You hardened this wall just by touching it too. How did you do that?”

At first I felt like she was a quiet girl, but that impression is now completely gone, as she talks to me really fast.

Is she just excited? She’s breathing heavily too…

I promise I’ll tell her all about this when we have the time, and she lets me go.