CH 60

“So you went over there to take down the orcs?”

“Yes. I did.”

“I see. Well done.

I pat her head and Hikari’s expression turns happy as she squints. It’s still kind of awkward though.

“No hugging. More importantly, tell us more about this.”

Asks Leila as she pulls us apart.

“Orcs attacked the village. They’ve been eliminated.”

Hikari declares while puffing out her chest.

“Are there any orcs around?”

“No.”

“Then let’s go to the village. We can talk more once we meet with the others.”

Those two women are going to have to keep walking without resting, but they’re just going to have to bear with us a little longer.

They should be fine, as the others are helping them.

We walk as a group with Leila and her party in front, and Hikari and I on the back.

Hikari walks beside me with kind of a happy look on her face. I feel like she has a lot to say, but is keeping quiet out of consideration. She’s growing.

We reach the village before sundown, and there are still marks of all the destruction.

As we head to the inn, I see the wall surrounding it is damaged, but held firm.

The front entrance is what looks worse, with many scars carved into it.

It’s infused with magic energy to be able to open and close it, but it’s still just wood.

“Big sister, are you all right?”

“Talia! I’m fine. I’m sorry for worrying you.”

“I’m just glad you’re safe. Hold on, I’ll open the door.”

The door opens, and we see the inn we’re familiar with. There are two people bound on the ground, but I guess I shouldn’t worry about that.

“Mister Locke, we are back. I’m glad to see you are all safe too.”

“Yes, and it looks like it went well on your side too. Tell me more about it later.”

The villagers reunite inside the inn and happily hug each other. Lovers, husbands and wives, brothers and sisters… They are happy, but also shed tears of grief. Still, their tears also carry the happiness and gratitude for being alive.

The women are taken to rooms to rest, and we go outside to talk.

“We’ll go first. We were attacked by five orcs, but managed to defeat them with the help of the two young ladies that came to assist us.”

The blood has been expertly drained from the orcs’ bodies. That should mitigate our food supply issues.

“About fifteen people came running from them. The two on the ground there serve as an example, and they’re idiots who don’t understand the situation they’re in.”

Yelling for help while acting arrogant. There’s no helping them.

“What do you want to do? If they’re in the way, we could dispose of them.”

He says loudly on purpose so they can hear it. Their faces turn pale.

“I object.”

Hikari voices her disapproval, and their faces are injected with a little hope.

“We should use them as bait.”

“Like a decoy in case something happens?”

“Yes.”

The despair is back.

“But now we have a problem. It’s good that we saved all the ladies, but it will be a little cramped with so many people.”

Says Leila.

“I agree. We can all eat orc meat as far as food goes, but it would be a long way if we were to go back to the previous town. Should we wait and join the next group that passes by…”

This town’s inn isn’t big to begin with. It’s bigger than a regular village’s, since it’s the connection point between two towns, but it’s not fit to hold over fifty people.

“How about we simplify things? Let’s have the people that came back running camp outside. We should have all we need in the wagon, and if they have a problem with that, they can just leave.”

“Maybe that would be the better option. We should also stop them from coming into the inn because they could be a source of strife.”

“Second, should we take down the remaining orcs? Do you know what they might do now that their dwelling is gone?”

“I believe that since they secured food over there, they should return to their lair. There is a chance that they might go out looking for their missing brethren, if their leader is so inclined.”

“Big sister, about that. I saw an orc general.”

“Really? Then there is a good chance they will create another settlement.”

“Their course of action becomes hard to read when there’s a superior species involved. They could be on high alert too since their base was destroyed. Should we wait and see what happens for a few days?”

“I think that is a good idea. We will just have to explain it to everyone and get them to understand.”

We all gather in the dining hall, except the women who are resting. We talk about what to do next, and tell everyone our idea.

The people who ran back complain, as we expected, but we ignore them. Locke and the others step forward and intimidate them, and the cold stares of the other passengers and the villagers also help silencing them.

But when it’s time to eat, we provide them with orc meat for free. You never know what a hungry person might do.

“Don’t go getting any ideas. If any of you screws up, we’ll blame all of you.”

Locke threatens them as they are led out of the inn.

“We should close the door too. In a way, they’re more trouble than the orcs.”

Locke says with a sigh as he comes back.

“Now let’s talk about our plans from now on.”

The orcs lost their cave, but what will they do when they go back there?

We decide to talk about what to do once we see how the orcs react, and we are done for today.

It would be great if other wagons passed by. We could explain the situation, and ask them to call for reinforcements.

The second best scenario would be if the orcs attacked and we destroyed them. Then we could make our way to the next town with no worries. But I’m told we’d have to be prepared to suffer damage too. They have an orc general with them.

The worst case scenario would be if the orcs did nothing. We will definitely be at a disadvantage in a war of attrition.

We could send someone to run to ask for help, but the road would be dangerous for a single person.

Then Locke and the other two could go, but that would put us at an even bigger risk if the orcs attack the village.

We’re stuck because we rescued more people than we expected, but there’s no use in complaining about that, so no one touches that subject.