chapter 41

After transforming the ox monster into a dreadful state, I returned back to the village and a banquet was held .

Stop! Leave me alone! Unfortunately, my wishes weren’t heard and I was caught up in the banquet . They kept insisting that there would be nothing to talk about if the person with the leading role wasn’t there . But I was sure that they would’ve been fine, regardless . Well, the food was good .

The adventurers from the village kept shooting glances at me, but I ignored them with all my might . If Norn wasn’t there, I probably would have been surrounded already . She’s definitely my goddess . I really love her . Roberto and the adventurers were telling the villagers of how the ox monster was defeated . But every time the cheers rose, gazes would concentrate upon me so I couldn’t really relax . At least let me enjoy the food in peace…… .

I managed to escape back to the inn when the opportunity presented itself, and after a while, a guild staff brought over a letter . The contents were regarding what had happened this time, and when I return back to Harula, I was suppose to show it to the guild master . It seems it was written so that I wouldn’t get punished . So I was really thankful for that .

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Anyways, the next day I decided to return to Harula . Since it had become quite uncomfortable due to yesterday’s incident . After I finished buying the remainder seafood at the market in the morning, I decided to sneak out of the village .

Villager A spotted me on the way, but I ignored the attempts of conversation and promptly ran away . However, after I exited the village and had been walking for a while, Roberto caught up to me and gave me a ride on his carriage . There was a fork on the road to Harula which led to the fief capital, so it seems he wanted to take me up to there as thanks for yesterday . Well, it made things easier so I was grateful for that……

After parting with Roberto at the fork, I slowly continued on foot to Harula . I think I should arrive in 3-4 days on foot? As expected, spending three weeks inside the forest when the trip only took about three day was a bit much . But it couldn’t be helped . Yep, it couldn’t be helped . I had to do my daily routine .

Thus, I continued on like that and I finally saw the southern forest of Halura to my left . I felt nostalgic . I was out for more than a month after all .

As I was thinking over how long it has been since I was last here, two adventurer-looking people came scrambling out of the forest a little ahead . They looked rather flustered, and distressed? But before I could give it any more thought, an ogre came crashing through the trees .

Eh, an ogre? Why? Isn’t this quite bad? Should I help them? Ahh, but this wouldn’t be an emergency situation like helping merchants or ordinary people, it would be considered stealing the prey of other adventurers . Since it’s not something I should interfere with, should I just ignore it? I didn’t want to attract attention for no reason, so I guess I should go with ignoring? But as I was making up my mind, my eyes met with an adventurer that had fallen to the ground .

“H-Help!”

Roger . Aim knife, activate rifling barrel, 400 speed . And fire . It landed right on the head . And penetrated handle-deep . But it didn’t fall . Huh? Was it not strong enough?

The ogre stopped and slowly looked over, then our eyes met . But just as I was thinking this was bad, the ogre suddenly collapsed . I was a little surprised that I managed to beat it .

When I was fighting the ox monster the other day, I forgot and just used 800 speed without activating rifling barrel . So I thought I would test it out now . I thought I had failed, but I guess using 400 speed was okay? Rather, with a knife that size penetrating the head, it would be impossible to stay alive anyways . I walked towards the people I had just saved .

“You all alright?”“Y-Yeah, you saved us . ”“Um, can I keep this ogre?”“……Yeah, no problem . I wasn’t able to do anything . ”

“Hey, but we also fought it too, right? Don’t we also get our share too?”“If that’s what you think, you can try to negotiate for it . I’m not going to complain . She just saved us . So I’m not going to ask for something so shameless . ”“…… . Well, I guess you have a point . I’m also fine then, take my share too . ”

Hmmm, if you can rub it, it’s fine to divide it separately … Well, let’s get it if you can get everything . After storing away the ogre I started questioning them .

“What was an ogre doing in such a place?”“Huh? Oh, you don’t know?About a week ago there were sightings of ogres . Then, soon after, several casualties occurred . But no one died . ”

“That’s why a guild-ordered subjugation party was formed . According to the scouting done beforehand, there was only about 20 ogres, so two C rank parties and five D rank parties were formed . There might have been a few injuries, but the combat force should’ve been more than enough . It was supposed to be fairly manageable . ”

“Right, that’s how it should have been . But when we actually entered the forest, it wasn’t just a group of ogres . It was a group led by an ogre lord . ”

Ogre lord…… .

So aside from ogres, the group was being led by a ruler class so their strength would have jumped quite a bit . Like how the goblin king was for goblins and ogre lord was for ogres . Or like any other higher-ranking individual that would correspond to the type . It seems that a group with such advanced commanding individuals is given a support effect by their skills to the subordinate individuals, and each ability value is corrected .

“Grrrr…… . . ”

Hm? I wasn’t sure why, but Norn had been acting up since a while ago . What’s wrong?

“So what happened?”

“…… . We were fine for a while when we entered the forest . We only encountered one or two ogres, so we could beat them normally when we surrounded them . But after defeating about five of them . We encountered a group led by the lord . And we were overwhelmed . The C ranks fought hard but the D ranks were quickly scattered and had to escape . Us too . ”

“The rest are probably still fighting in the woods . They’re surrounded so they likely can’t escape…… . ”“I see……but where did the ogre lord suddenly appear from?”“Apparently, it came from the forest towards the west . Some villages along the way have been attacked . ”

From the forest towards the west… . . wait, the forest towards the west? So the forest where I was living in? There was such an opponent in that forest……hm? I feel like I’ve thought the same thing before in the past . And for some reason Norn seems agitated, something was off .

…………Ah, maybe .

“Norn, when we first met, weren’t you injured? Was it perhaps because of?”“Grrrrrr!”

Bingo, looks like I was right .

The thing that injured Norn at that time was probably the ogre lord that was in the forest right now . Upon hearing that, I now feel like getting revenge for Norn……