CH 185

Words : 1068 Updated : Sep 21st, 2025

I Fought for the First Time “You don’t mean!? Mr. Takumi, you must run away with us!” “The orcs will chase after any humans they see. Someone must lure them away from the others!” But the village was filled with elderly people like Mr. Hannes. And there were many children. They would not be able to run away with much speed. If we all traveled together, the orcs would catch up immediately. Someone had to be bait… “GYUOOOO!” “Damn it. They’re here!” One of the orcs was running towards us from the wagons. It seemed that some had been behind the wagon, and were not affected much by the light. “Mr. Takumi!” “Hurry, Mr. Hannes! I’ll take care of this one!” “Gyuooo!” The orc shouted as it charged towards me with its spear! I dodged it and then swung my sword and cut off the arm that was stretched out! Compared to Mr. Ekenhart or Leo’s movements, I was very slow, but somehow managed to dodge him. Perhaps it was due to the herbs that sharpened my senses. And while this was my first real fight against a monster, unlike with the merchant, I was able to attack without any hesitation. “Gyua!” After having its arm cleaved off, the orc glared at me with bloodshot eyes. From behind, I could hear Mr. Hannes running away, as well as the sounds of a bell ringing in the village. It was probably a bell that warned the others of danger. They used to ring similar bells in Japan whenever there was a fire. “Guooo!!” The orc in front of me began to attack with his spear once again! He was slower, now that he only had one arm, and his movements seemed more random. And so it was even easier to dodge him this time. “Damn it. So this will be my first fight!” I shouted as my sword came down over the head of the orc, right after he swung down. Blood sprayed from the orc’s head, but as I wasn’t used to it, it was not enough to cleave the head in two. The orc stumbled around, but was not dead. “I can’t spend so much time on just one orc…Damn it!” And so I swung my sword again while it was still off balance. I had meant to slash at its neck, but the orc moved, and I ended up cutting the stomach instead. …This was bad. The other orcs were moving now, and could surround me in no time… Damn it. If I was surrounded by that many orcs, I would surely die. “Stay down!” “Gyu! Gyuooo!” This time I just swung at it randomly. And then again and again! It was bleeding so much that it must be close to death… That’s what I thought as I cut and cut. After swinging many times, the orc finally fell to the ground and stopped moving. “Ha…ha… Finally…” I was out of breath from swinging so many times. In the meantime, I could see that the other orcs were no longer affected by the light, and were ready to attack me. Damn it. I was supposed to lead them away from the village in order to buy time. But that wouldn’t be possible now… “I’ll use the light one more time then… Light Elemental…” “Gyuoooo!” But just as I was about to use the light magic towards the orcs, a blade shot out of nowhere and pierced one of them. The orc fell down with the blade in its chest. And the other orcs looked around uncomprehendingly. “What the…?” “Mr. Takumi!” As I looked at the orc, a voice rang from behind. When I turned to look, it was Mr. Hannes. And behind him, there were other villagers as well. “Mr. Hannes. Why are you here?” “We owe you a debt for saving this village Mr. Takumi. And so we will not leave you here and run away.” “Exactly, Mr. Pharmacist!” “We will fight too!” “We can’t abandon you!” They all shouted together. And in their hands, were short swords, knives, axes and even hoes. They had been gathering weapons while I fought the orc. It had not been that long, but they had come together to help me. “But there are so many orcs.” “That doesn’t matter. We may be humble villagers, but we’ve fought monsters before in order to protect this place.” “Indeed. Besides…didn’t you see that throw just now? Well, I wasn’t actually aiming at that one, but…” “We can fight mere orcs!” Mr. Hannes and the villagers fully intended to fight as well. We had encountered a troll on the way here…so I suppose there really were orcs and other monsters in the forest. And since they cut down the trees to make the wine barrels, it made sense that they would sometimes have to fight monsters. That was comforting, but… Even as they talked, more and more villagers gathered. And all of them were wielding a weapon of some kind. “But people might be hurt…” “As the person who saved us, your death would be a bigger loss to this village.” “Yes! We don’t care about some injuries. But we cannot allow you to be hurt or killed by the monsters.” “It would be a great disservice to the duke who sent you…and of course, to you as well!” “Everyone…” “Mr. Takumi, now is not the time to talk.” They all wanted to fight against the orcs. I was grateful to hear their words of gratitude towards me… But even as I thought this, the orcs had regained their wits and swung their spears as they moved towards us. And so I made up my mind. “Very well. I understand. Let’s fight them together! But please, don’t be too bold and reckless!” “Aye!” I shouted at them after making up my mind. Battle wounds could be treated with Loe. But nothing could be done if they died. …Surely there was no herb that brought people back to life… In any case, it was not good to think about people dying right now… While we were up against dozens of orcs, I prayed that we would make it through without any casualties.

CH 185

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