Chapter 72

Summary of the previous chapter ------------------------------------------------------

Further in other areas, we searched for Magic Mushrooms but found very few.

To seek out Orcs for better profits, we ventured deeper into the forest.

The first thing we found was a Hobgoblin. We easily defeated it, but it only yielded a mere 600 rare magic stones.

Just a few minutes after slaying the Hobgoblin, something caught my [Detection] skill.

Two slightly larger reactions than a Vibe Bear were heading our way.

"Whether they're Orcs or not, there are two reactions. They seem a bit stronger than Vibe Bears."

"Then they're almost certainly Orcs. Around here, anything stronger than a Vibe Bear is rarely reported except for Ogres."

Ogres are overwhelmingly strong, so 'a bit stronger' wouldn't be enough to describe them.

"What do we do? We don't have much time."

The reactions were approaching almost straight towards us, and we had only a few dozen seconds to prepare.

"This time, Natsumi and I will handle it. If it gets dangerous, please provide support."

"Understood. Be careful."

Natsumi and Toya stepped forward, weapons at the ready, while Haruka stood back with her bow. Yuki and I also readied our weapons but were mainly prepared to cast spells. 'Fire Arrow' has a short activation time, so we could use it as a deterrent if needed.

Then, the Orcs came into view... but they were different from what I imagined!

I had expected them to be plump, like bipedal pigs, but the creatures that appeared had fur.

Their bodies were more muscular than I imagined, standing over three meters tall, similar in size to a Vibe Bear. They looked like pigs that had evolved to walk on two legs. They had short tusks, which made them resemble pigs even more.

One of them held a thick branch as a club, but it was unprocessed and they wore no clothing. As a result, their private parts were visible, but unlike humans, they seemed to be somewhat retractable, so they weren't particularly noticeable.

Good. If we had to fight in a more intense battle, the women and even we would have been reluctant to get close.

I hoped they wouldn't get excited by the fight.

"They seem to have noticed us."

"Yeah. Maybe by smell?"

The Orcs approached cautiously with their clubs, showing no signs of carelessness. They must have detected us before we were in their line of sight.

Pigs have a keen sense of smell, capable of finding truffles underground. Depending on the wind direction, they might have detected us from a distance beyond my exploration range.

As the distance between us closed, Natsumi was the first to move.

She crouched low, spear at the ready, and closed the distance quickly. Toya followed closely behind.

The Orcs reacted, but a bit too late.

By the time they raised their clubs, Natsumi was already within range, her spear thrust forward.

The tip of her spear pierced under the Orc's jaw and emerged from the top of its head, bloodied. The Orc's club fell to the ground as it lost its grip.

Toya, perhaps because he didn't have a long weapon, jumped in front of the other Orc and swung his sword. However, the Orc managed to block it with its club.

The club was deeply embedded but didn't break, likely due to its sturdy wood.

The Orc tried to swing the club to knock Toya away, but Toya landed safely on the ground by timing his jump perfectly.

"Support!"

"No need!"

Toya shouted, took a step back, crouched, and then lunged forward with his shield in front of him.

He targeted the Orc's left leg, and with a loud 'thud' and a 'snap' like a breaking branch, the Orc's femur shattered, and it fell to the ground. Toya then circled around and thrust his sword into the back of the Orc's neck, finishing it off instantly.

"Nice job."

I clapped, and Toya responded with a slightly regretful expression.

"No, I lost to Natsumi."

"No, that's because of the weapon's characteristics. I can't do a charge like Toya's."

"By the way, this is the first time I've seen Toya's proper [Charge]."

"It seems to affect his sword swings, but in a pure sense, it's a body slam. ... It was more powerful than I imagined."

The femur supporting the Orc's massive body was broken in one hit. It wasn't a side attack on a joint but a direct hit on the femur, which is incredible.

"Still, Toya, how was that charge? It was lucky it broke, but the timing and the target were off. You should aim for the joints."

"Yeah, if you get pushed back, you'll take a club to the back."

Toya scratched his head and smiled awkwardly at Haruka and Yuki's critiques.

"Yeah, I can't deny that. I need more experience fighting enemies of different sizes."

"Probably, you could have won without the [Charge]. Considering the size difference, there was a chance it would block you, and safety-wise, it wasn't the best choice."

"True, but this was Toya's first fight with an Orc, and with three of us backing him up, it was a different approach. Without that, he would have been more cautious, right?"

"That's... yeah, probably."

It was good to test things with a safety margin.

"Honestly, they were weaker than expected. Natsumi took one down in one hit."

"Yeah, they were slow and not very strong, but it makes sense."

"What do you mean?"

"My [Spear Technique] is level 4, and Toya's [Sword Technique] is level 3. If the maximum skill level in this world is 10, we're at a relatively high level. In comparison, Orcs and Ogres, which we haven't encountered yet, are considered weak enemies in this area. If we struggled, we wouldn't be able to defeat stronger monsters."

"True, with character levels, it's not just about skill levels. But if we can fully utilize our skills, Natsumi's point is valid."

"I've also improved my spear skills, even without a level up."

Skill levels don't increase easily. We've been training seriously, but it's only been about two months, so it's natural. If they increased in a few months, the maximum level of 10 wouldn't be possible.

"By the way, I've reached level 3 in archery."

"Really? I practiced more than you, didn't I?"

Huh? It's that easy to level up?

Haruka has learned more magic, so she probably spent more time on that than on archery.

"No, I've been training with swords all the time. Even when I was practicing [Staff Technique], I spent more time than Haruka. But I'm still at level 3!"

"That makes sense. But Haruka and I are both at level 2. We have the same talent..."

Maybe there's a difference in the same 'talent'?

In sports, being able to enter a professional league means you have talent, but Olympic-level talent is a different level.

"Don't compare. Toya got [Staff Technique] and reached level 2 without much talent."

"Yeah, you're right."

Yeah. It's pointless to compare and feel inferior, just like in our original world.

If I thought, "I spent more time studying, but my grades are worse! Why?" I wouldn't be able to get along with Haruka and the others.

It's more productive to receive advice and work hard.

"Hey, let's stop talking and start butchering and head back. We don't have much time."

"Right, sorry."

We apologized to Yuki, who seemed impatient, and started butchering the Orcs.

With two Orcs larger than Vibe Bears, we had a lot of meat. We carefully removed the ribs to reduce the weight.

Fortunately, Toya and I had also acquired the [Butchering] skill, and Haruka had reached level 2, so the work was more efficient. Natsumi hasn't acquired it yet, but she's helping, so she'll get it soon.

Her knife skills are better than ours, probably because she's good at cooking.

We collected the organs, but discarded the heads and extremities, which felt creepy because they had fingers.

"Why do they have fingers if they look like pigs?"

"Well, pigs are even-toed ungulates, but they do have fingers."

"Really?"

"Yes, they have fingers, but they're degenerated. The third and fourth fingers form the hooves, so the other fingers could still be present if they didn't degenerate. Or they might have evolved back. We don't know."

So, hooves are actually fingers.

Whether the Orcs evolved from pigs or through a different process, or if it's just a monster thing, fingers aren't that strange.

"Come to think of it, dogs and cats have fingers too."

"You don't really notice them. They're more like paw pads."

According to Yuki, dogs and cats have five fingers on their front paws and four on their back paws.

"These Orcs have four fingers on their feet and five on their hands, like dogs and cats."

"Interesting, but Toya, you don't need to show us."

Toya held up a severed foot, showing us the sole, which looked more like an ape's than a dog's or cat's.

"Interesting from a biological perspective."

"Leave that to the scientists. Let's focus on butchering."

"Right. ...But we're almost done."

The meat was divided by part and packed into backpacks, with the excess in separate bags. We had five bags in total.

The sizes varied, but each contained enough meat for one person to carry. The ground was left with the limbs, bones, head, and organs. ...It looked like a crime scene.

"Ugh, the bones are a waste. We could make pork bone soup..."

"Is that what you're thinking about now? I'm not hungry in this situation."

Toya's mental toughness is impressive. He used to turn pale during pig butchering, just like me.

"Natsumi, that's not good."

Yeah, Haruka, tell him!

"Pork bone soup is smelly and time-consuming. We can't use it until we buy a house."

"Exactly! Besides, pork bone soup is only useful for making ramen."

"True, it's not something you make at home unless you have a lot of free time. It's not cost-effective."

Boiling, cleaning, and crushing the bones, then cooking them with vegetables and broth... the fuel, time, and materials required make it impractical for a small group.

It can't be stored long-term, so you can't make a lot. ...But maybe now it's possible? We can make 'Time Delay' magic bags.

"Let's head back. We don't have much time."

"Right. We need to hurry before it gets dark. Naoto and Toya, try to avoid enemies on the way back."

"Don't be unreasonable. We'll follow the path we came. We'll scout, but hope we don't encounter any Orcs."

The Hobgoblin didn't notice us, but the Orcs' movements suggest they might have detected us from outside my detection range.

We each picked up a bag of meat and started walking back out of the forest.