NBAA Vol. 6 Chapter 1 Part 5
After returning home, Reito takes a nap until the afternoon, then rides on top of Ullr and heads to the adventurer’s guild to take on a suitable request and confirms how much his strength has grown by facing monsters.
“Hey, everyone! How are you doing?”
“Oh, Reito-san!”
“Welcome back, Reito-san!”
When Reito enters the guild, the adventurers greet him one after another. Feeling like he has become a popular celebrity, Reito returns their greetings while checking the bulletin board where request papers are posted. He finds a request paper with the name of a nostalgic place, “Ymir Mine.”
He checks the contents of the request paper.
“Recently, a group of Great Horned Orcs has settled in the Ymir Mine. They are destroying wildlife and plants, treating the mine as their habitat, and if left unchecked, nearby villages and towns under reconstruction could suffer damage. Please help us exterminate them.”
“Is this okay?” Reito was about to tear up the request form when someone spoke from behind.
“Hey, are you really going to take on such a simple request? You can handle something with a higher difficulty, can’t you?”
“What… Ogre!?”
“Who are you calling an Ogre!?”
As Reito turned around, he saw Bal standing there. It had been a while since they last met. Recently, Bal had been going out a lot, and the receptionist often complained that “the Guild Master has a pile of documents that need to be done,” but she didn’t seem to care at all.
“Anyway, have you properly looked at the reward section?”
“Reward…? Oh, this is not money but an item?”
“The reward is a Wind Magic Stone, a magic stone that enhances the power of wind-based magic.”
That’s what was written on the reward section of the request form. It was a rare magic stone with the same effect as Reito’s possessed Crimson Magic Stone and Crystal Stone, and a valuable item. Although it was rare for a request to offer a magic stone as a reward, it was generally not a loss for non-magicians to obtain one. If deemed unnecessary, they could simply sell it, so adventurers who complained about receiving magic stones as rewards were basically nonexistent. In fact, rare magic stones were popular as negotiation materials with magicians.
Bal warned Reito, “If you take on that request, you should be careful. Actually, a while ago, a group of adventurers who took on that request discovered that there were far more Great Horned Orcs than anticipated and barely escaped with their lives.”
“But isn’t it dangerous to leave them be?”
“Don’t you know about Great Horned Orcs? They’re a higher breed of orcs, but they eat anything. They’re dangerous because they’ll even resort to cannibalism when their food supply is depleted, even if it’s their own comrades. Most likely, a monster tamer brought them in for a hunting festival but couldn’t control them and let them escape outside.”
“How irresponsible… pets should be taken care of until the end!”
“Well, I don’t think they’re exactly pets… Anyway, you don’t have to take on that request if you don’t want to. If they run out of food, they’ll destroy themselves. Plus, warnings have been given to nearby village and town residents, and adventurers are escorting them.”
“But isn’t it better to defeat them rather than leave them alone?”
“That’s true, but… I don’t want you to attract too much attention.”
As someone who was entrusted with watching over Reito by Maria, Bal didn’t want him to draw any more attention to himself. Although Reito understood her feelings to some extent, the problem needed to be resolved as soon as possible from the perspective of the person who made the request.
Reito peeled off the request form and said, “I’ll take this on.”
“Are you sure?” asked Bal.
“It’s fine. Besides, if we complete this request, it should cover the cost of feeding Ullr nicely.”
“Are you going to eat it!?” exclaimed Bal.
Reito had decided to take on the request as a good opponent to test his abilities.
◆◆◆
After making some preparations, Reito and Ullr headed to the Ymir Mine. Thanks to the fast-moving white wolf, they arrived at their destination in about an hour.
Reito recalled his battle with the vampire Gain at the Ymir Mine.
“Have I grown since then…?” he wondered.
“Woof!”
“I know, let’s go.”
There was no time to waste in reminiscing.
Reito and Ullr climbed the nostalgic mountain path of the mine. Along the way, they found many bones of monsters, including some skulls that seemed human. There was no doubt that the Great Horned Orcs lived in this area.
Reito activated spatial magic and took out his Extermination Blade, which he carried on his back.
“Ullr, let me know if something comes close.”
“Woof…”
“Huh? You can’t smell anything because of a strange odor? … You’re right. There’s a weird smell.”
Normally, Reito could sense approaching monsters relying on Ullr’s sense of smell, but for some reason, a strange smell was spreading throughout the mine, and Ullr’s nose wasn’t functioning properly. Although Reito didn’t notice at first, when he concentrated on his sense of smell, he realized that there was a sweet smell like flower nectar.
“What is this smell?”
“Woof…”
“Is it not a bad smell? If that’s the case, it’s fine… Oh, maybe I should ask Airis at times like this.”
To determine the source of the strange odor, Reito attempted to communicate with Airis. At that moment, his “Detect Presence” skill was activated, and he immediately drew his Extermination Blade and looked toward the path they were about to take.
Then, gradually, the figure of a monster became visible.
“Pyuiiiii…”
A monster that looked like an orc appeared while yawning. However, it was taller than a normal orc by a head, and its fangs growing from its nose were abnormally long. Reito determined that this was the “Great Horned Orc” written in the request form.
The Great Horned Orc hasn’t noticed them yet.
Reito activated Composite Magic to draw its attention, but just before doing so, he stopped and looked around. He found a rock of just the right size. It was about the size of the Great Horned Orc’s head.
He placed his palm on the rock and activated Space Magic.
“Now, let’s see how it works.”
A black vortex like a black hole was created right above the rock, and it lowered, completely swallowing the rock. Reito confirmed that he had successfully stored the rock in another dimension, then turned his attention to the Great Horned Orc, activating his “Far Sight” and “Observing Eye” skills to aim at it.
“Here it comes!”
“Gaahhh!?’
“Woof!?”
A space magic vortex appeared above the Great Horned Orc, and the rock that was stored earlier fell from it, hitting the Great Horned Orc squarely.
The Great Horned Orc couldn’t react to the rock that suddenly fell on its head and was hit perfectly.
The Great Horned Orc fell unconscious with foam coming out of its mouth. Reito clenched his fist in satisfaction that his plan had worked and approached the unconscious Great Horned Orc with his Extermination Blade.
“Take this!”
“Gugyaaa!?”
Reito mercilessly thrust his great sword into the head of the fallen Great Horned Orc.
He confirmed the Great Horned Orc’s death, then sheathed his Extermination Blade. He checked to see if the Great Horned Orc had anything in its possession and then hurried on.
“Oh, by the way, there was a stream around here… Let’s make a quick stop, Ullr.”
Ullr whimpered.
Ullr tilted his head at Reito’s words about stopping at the stream. They had prepared drinking water before they left, but Reito’s purpose this time was not just to get water.
“I thought of a way to use Space Magic.”
Ten minutes later, after taking care of business at the creek, Reito climbed the mountain path with Ullr and eventually reached the mining site at the top of the mountain. The contract for the quest stated that the number of Great Horned Orcs was estimated to be around 20 to 30, but, in fact, there were many more Great Horned Orcs than that.
“Skree!”
“Kreee!”
“Skree!”
The sound of the Great Horned Orc could be heard from all over the mining area.
Reito and Ullr looked around while lying on the ground. There were fifty of them as far as the eye could see.
The Great Horned Orcs were making a lot of noise and were feeding on the carcasses of the monsters they had presumably collected from around the mine.
“There are a lot more than I expected. Stay sharp, Ullr.”
Ullr whimpered.
While activating his “Stealth” and “Soundless Walk” skills, Reito observed the Great Horned Orcs. Ullr also followed his lead and stayed flat on the ground.
Fortunately, the horned orcs seemed to be having a human-like feast and showed no sign of noticing them. There were also a large number of wooden crates scattered around the Great Horned Orcs that were probably taken from the wagons of the merchants. Some of them were using desks and chairs that may have been inside the crates.
Dismayed by the unexpectedly large number, Reito continued observing them and noticed some rail cars near the mine. Several were left with broken wheels, and although it would be possible to hide inside, there was no way to get to them. It would not have been impossible to break through the mine head-on, but if the horned orc escaped from the mine in the middle of a battle, he would find himself in a troublesome situation.
“Hmm? Is that what that smell was?”
Ullr sniffed.
A large number of flowers with distinctive blue petals were stacked up in a pile of crates in the mining area. Their fragrance filled the mining area.
“I believe that’s Magic Power Herb… It was a plant that Aria used to grow.”
Reito remembered that Aria had grown medicinal herbs to promote magic power recovery when Reito was still living in the forest mansion. The flowers were slightly darker in hue than the ones she had grown, so it is possible that they were a different species, but for the time being, there was no doubt that the flowers were the source of the sweet fragrance that enveloped the mine.
Reito saw eight Great Horned Orcs that were relatively close to him. They were sleeping, perhaps full from eating a lot.