Day 14 Morning - The Cave

BREAKFAST! Bountiful fish! A festival of fish! Fish forever!

I would've loved a morsel of meat, but rabbits were impossible to

find when there were so many people around. We hadn't seen any deer or

boars either.

We also hadn't seen any orcs. They were like oversized goblins that

were stronger, meaner, and even smarter.

That's a low threshold to cross—even fish are smarter than goblins!

But we—the girls and I—had to try fighting an orc at least once. An

unknown enemy was frightening and dangerous. We needed to get familiar

with fighting them.

I wasn't always going to accompany the girls. Eventually they would

make it to town and take jobs as adventurers. For now, fighting together and

building up experience was safer for all of us.

We traveled upriver after breakfast. There was a risk of running into

the guys, but we weren't going near the original campsite, and there were

high-level orcs in the area. I doubted that the guys would go anywhere near

here.

We were getting close. I stayed vigilant by using Clairvoyance,

Presence Detection, and Enemy Tracking. I also took the opportunity to

secretly use Appraisal in search of new food. Naturally, I not only kept my

eyes open for wandering monsters and animals but for humans as well.

The delinquents were cowardly, and the other guys who'd attacked

the girls weren't high level, so no one was likely to come here. The Class

Rep was here, anyway. She would take care of them no problem.

The meathead jocks were another matter entirely. According to the

nerds and the Class Rep, they had kept curiously quiet. Maybe they had

achieved a new level of brainlessness and could only act out of instinct and

involuntary reflex.

Did they isolate themselves from the rest of the group? Or were they

part of the group that attacked the nerds? I had my doubts. They were the

kind of guys who blundered ahead without a thought. Whether they ran into

monsters or off a cliff, they would just have kept going, forgetting that

they'd encountered anything at all. In that way, they always seemed to end

up involved in conflicts, even when it didn't have much to do with them.

The way things went in the camp, I could've imagined them helping the

nerds out.

Or this world might have changed them. In life-or-death scenarios,

they might have learned to be cautious and paranoid. But they were

probably way too dumb to change. Way too dumb.

I'd never seen an orc before, but if an orc was smarter than a goblin,

then it'd also be smarter than the jocks. A meathead had barely any more

intelligence than a goblin. Even that might have been too generous an

assessment. Could they have changed? Become less gullible? Become

skeptical of their surroundings? That was utterly unimaginable.

Perhaps, by some miracle, the meatheads had managed to rub their

few neurons together and spark some thoughts. That was only speculation,

but I knew that they didn't help the nerds or the girls before, so I should be

wary of them.

At last, we found a solitary orc. The nerds' intel was accurate—orcs

didn't travel in groups. There were no signs of other monsters or meatheads

in the surrounding area.

"Stay hidden and keep an eye out, I'm going to try fighting it." I said.

I went forth alone. I needed to see it in action to learn how it fought

and reacted. Practical experience was essential if I wanted to develop a

strategy against orcs.

"Thanks, Haruka-kun," said Class Rep. "Be careful."

"Watch me closely," I said. "And no complaining."

I activated Presence Concealment and Stealth, and approached the

orc.

The nerds had told me that while orcs were physically powerful, the

nerds had managed to defeat one with magical attacks. I used Appraisal.

Orc A RACE: Orc LV: 11

HP: 66

MP: 10

VIT: 59

POW: 63

SPE: 21

DEX: 16

RES: 10

INT: 8

LUK: 19

COMBAT: Hammer Mastery Lv4, Great Strike Lv4, Body Slam

Lv3, Herculean Strength Lv3, Adamantine Lv2

SKILLS: Intimidate Lv2, Alpha Male Lv3

EQUIPMENT: Club

They weren't kidding about the strength. Its vitality and power far

surpassed that of any goblin, and it had decent speed and dexterity, too.

Eight intelligence, huh? It was stupid but still way smarter than a

goblin. Probably smarter than the meatheads, too. At the very least, my

stats were higher, if not my level. No point in dithering; I had to attack.

I ambushed the orc, charging full tilt and swinging with all my might.

I bashed it over and over with my staff. Hyaaaaah! Oh, did I kill it? This

thing was supposed to be strong? The nerds told me orcs had high physical

resistance! I couldn't have known this monster was a total pushover.

The girls clambered out of their hiding spots and immediately started

complaining.

"What was the point of that?! We didn't learn a thing watching you!

Sneaking up from behind and beating it till it dies—you think that's a viable

strategy? The orc keeled over without even doing anything!"

It wasn't my fault the intel was misleading, I thought. Next time, I'll

try magic. I doubted that anyone could object to that strategy.

The next orc was level 12, with similar stats to the previous one. The

girls watched me from a safe distance as I snuck up behind it. I could feel

their eyes on me. I had to stay focused; if I paid any attention to them, I

would lose the fight.

I'd sprayed countless tiny fire bullets in previous fights, so I thought

I'd try combining them to create a single blast.

I snuck up behind it and aimed at its back. I formed a single, giant

fire bullet and infused it with magical power. As the magic poured in, it

became denser, harder, stronger…fire!

The moment I shot the bullet, I immediately created another one.

Again and again, I formed and shot flame bullets—an endless fiery

onslaught. Fire echoed in my mind like a mantra. Damn, did it die already?

I felt the girls staring daggers at me.

Didn't the nerds claim that they barely managed to kill an orc with

magic? I was assured that it was crazy tough. Can it really be dead?

"It's dead!" the girls screamed. "It died after your first spell, and you

blew its head off with the second!"

"I killed it?"

"You obliterated it!"

Can't we just move on? I'm trying to be helpful!

We looked for more orcs in silence. Come out, come out, wherever

you are! I could feel the withering gaze of twenty irritated high school girls.

Alone with a giant group of girls in the woods, yet I only desired

orcs. Err, just forget I said that. We found one before long. Oh, how I have

longed for you!

"Okay, everyone, let's show some hustle! We'll give it our all and get

this over with…I guess?"

Before I could finish inspiring them with my speech, the girls went

flying through the sky. But not by using a skill—the orc sent them flying

with mighty swings. It broke through their shield wall easily. Swords,

spears, and arrows did no damage. Magical attacks slowly chipped away at

its HP, but the orc had too much HP to care. The healing corps had to rush

all over, trying to keep everyone alive.

If I don't do anything, I'll get scolded again. I knocked its club out of

its hands with a single flame bullet.

That wasn't enough. It was pawing at the girls with its bare hands.

This looks bad. It has Alpha Male Lv3! Is it looking at the girls with eyes of

rage…or lust?!

Before it did anything awful, I leapt at it, stabbing through the neck.

Well, if you consider poking something with a staff "stabbing."

The orc was still on its feet, even as it clutched at its neck. I stepped

aside so that the girls could finish it off. It was disarmed and heavily

wounded, but they still struggled. After a little while, when they still hadn't

killed the monster, I decided to leave them to it and work on lunch.

The weather was fair, and we were in the middle of the woods. That's

it! I thought. It's the perfect day for a barbecue! We only have fish and

mushrooms, but barbecue would really hit the spot!

"We're in the middle of a fight to the death with an orc, so why the

hell can I smell something delicious?" someone yelled from the melee.

"What makes you think now is a good time to grill some fish? Is that a

table? Did you make a table and chairs?! Where did all those flowers come

from?!"

At long last, they killed the orc. It was only level 9, but it took them

so long! I'm so hungry!

"Uhm, fighting that orc must have made you all hungry, right? Aren't

these flowers pretty?"

"Yes, the flowers are pretty!" the girls yelled at me. "That's not the

point!"

Were they mad at me? They were being totally illogical. We needed

to eat, so I made lunch. They were happily eating the food I made even as

they scolded me.

On the way back, they leveled up by fighting goblins and kobolds.

They decided to get their revenge against orcs tomorrow.

The girls all discussed the battle after they finished lecturing me.

"So there really isn't any special technique to fighting them."

"I could try to cut off its arm…"

"We need magic bullets! Those are strong!"

"We should still come up with a more conventional strategy…"

They kept on having their girl huddles and strategy meetings all the

way home. I showed them how to beat the orcs twice! Some girls were

staring daggers at me—did I say that out loud?

"If we all try to attack at the same time, we just end up getting in

each other's way."

"It's hard to cast magic when we're trying to retreat."

"We need to chop off its limbs first!"

"We can't afford to get too close. It has Alpha Male! Close-quarters

combat is out of the question!"

They couldn't decide on a strategy. Sometimes the simple strategy is

best: just beat the crap out of it. Uh…I didn't say anything! I'll stay quiet!

The girls split up into four groups of five. They raised their levels by

hunting goblins and kobolds until late at night.

The fights were so one-sided they weren't even fights anymore, more

like massacres. Okay, I'll quit criticizing.

I was as quiet and timid as a rabbit. Speaking of which, I would love

to eat rabbit. Where are you, deer and boar?