Chapter 140 - Chapter 14: The Fourth Night Battle of the Northern Fortress
The bandits led by Lewis-san are nervous.
It's no wonder. Henry-sama and Eleanor-sama are personally inspecting them.
"Ah— Gentlemen. Today, all the way from the Royal Capital, the Seven Heroes and the former King..."
Lewis-san's exhortation was unusually long. Before it started, he was muttering with a scrap of parchment. Surely, he had made a version for formal occasions and memorized it desperately.
As outsiders, we didn't need to watch, but Paul-san told us to hear the command of a hero, so we decided to listen from the eaves of the residential area, out of the sun.
"Now, gentlemen. We will have the command to start the operation from Henry-sama. Listen with all your heart."
Finishing the exhortation and stepping back to look at Henry-sama, Henry-sama, clad in the crested Green Marble gear, stepped forward.
"Umu. You all have good expressions. Your daily diligence is heard even in the Royal Capital."
The bandits also looked happy.
"Then, shall we begin? The start of this operation!"
"Yeah!"
As expected of a hero. He really put some spirit into them. The bandits' faces also tightened.
I was worried because Beatrix had been talking to the two of them about something, but it was fine.
Here, Eleanor-sama also stepped forward.
She looked dashing in her crested Green Marble gear.
"Everyone! Tonight, we also have Jeanne, the eighth-place Nakanohara Madonna! The goddess of victory is on our side! Let's win the 'Jeanne Glows and Gunpowder Explodes Big Operation' and raise a victory toast!"
"YEAAAAAH!"
They got me with a time delay...
The bandits are shouting with exceptionally loud voices...
Eleanor-sama, hearing the war cries of the bandits who looked triumphant, made a fist pump. Lewis-san, Paul-san, and the others were all smirking. Apparently, they were in on it. If I'd known this, I would have stayed inside the residential area.
"Jeanne. I'm counting on you for first place this year."
Henry-sama, please stop. I feel like I'm going to collapse...
Amidst the loud chirping of insects, we set out in a state of being completely deflated. Henry-sama and the others seemed to be sticking to spectating this time and were even higher up than us.
"Lewis-san said Jeanne might be under the curse of eighth place, so Henry-sama and the others got carried away."
Tonight, Beatrix is also on board. Since Lyudmila and Mary participated, she ended up being squeezed out of the stay-at-home group.
"I wish they'd stop that kind of thing."
"I tried to stop them."
Is that so? Thank you, Beatrix.
"Because, if it were first place, that would be one thing, but eighth place just doesn't sound cool, does it?"
There? That was the reason you tried to stop them?
"Paul-san, you knew too, didn't you?"
"I only explained that to break the curse of eighth place, Jeanne needs to make a name for herself in battles against monsters. Then Henry-sama and the others said a curse is no good."
"If I become popular here, Angelica-san's votes will disappear."
"No, that should be fine. The taming has been done thoroughly. I explained that point too."
"Then, what did you do it for?"
"It's obvious—because it's exciting and fun."
Delinquent old man. You're just using me as a gag!
While I was muttering complaints, the Goblins and Flora reacted. As usual, they're fast. To me, it just looked like darkness.
"There are few. Only two small shadows."
Apparently, two Goblins are walking.
"Aren't they scouts?"
"I think so. They're walking while checking the surroundings here and there."
If they're scouts, there's the option of letting them go and hitting the main force when it shows up.
"Are they carrying weapons?"
"No. One wooden stick each. Like a staff."
Wooden sticks are useful in the mountains. They can be used to push aside thickets, clear spider webs, or check the ground.
"Director, what shall we do? If it's just Goblins, shall we capture them with Subordination first?"
"Before that, let's confirm if there are Orcs around."
We've already confirmed that a pack is nearby. After that, it's just a matter of where they are...
Robinson-san released the owl perched on his shoulder, and Paul-san increased the bowl's speed.
Judging by the moon's position, it's already midnight. Based on previous reconnaissance, if the Orcs are coming, they have to come within the next two hours, or they won't come tonight. I didn't think the Orcs, who had become aggressive, would take their time and come while carefully observing. If they're going to attack, they should be nearby.
Paul-san must think so too; he lowered the altitude slightly and was moving faster accordingly. Flora and the Goblins were also staring down. Since it would be bad if our voices were heard, everyone fell silent.
Looking back toward the camp, it seemed we had moved quite a distance, and the pass where the camp was located looked like a dip. From there, it gradually got higher to the east and west, becoming the mountain peaks. Although they were called peaks, they were like long ridges, and the same height continued for a while, but the pass was formed where the ridges coming from those two mountain ranges connected.
The south of the pass was like being sandwiched between ridges extending from the foot of the mountains to the east and west. To come up from the south, one had to come up from the ridge directly in front of the pass; if one crossed the valley, they would end up toward the tops of the mountains on either side.
Since the ridge extends almost north to south, if you look from the bottom of the mountain, you'll be climbing toward the moon. Monsters apparently become fierce when they see the full moon. While they're climbing toward the fortress, they become increasingly aggressive.
"Director. It's about time."
"Yeah. Is it? We'll have to land somewhere once."
Robinson-san looked at the candle in the lantern and spoke to Paul-san.
"How about it, Flora? We're going to land and take a break, is there a suitable place?"
"Let's see... that area over there is a bit wide, so I think it's just right. There are no monsters around, so it's fine."
Paul-san slowly lowered the bowl toward the direction Flora pointed.
"A break?"
Henry-sama and the others brought their bowl close.
"Yes. There's no doubt the Orcs have reached the foot of the mountain, but there's no sign of them climbing, so we'll take a break and regroup."
"In that case, shall we take a breather too?" Henry-sama and the others decided to deactivate their bowl and rest together.
We shared diluted mead, and I gave sun-warmed water to Flora, who had returned to her main body.
"Are you okay? Not tired?"
She had been in human form for an hour. There must be fatigue.
"Thank you. I'm fine. But if I do it one more time, I might fall asleep."
It had never taken this long before. According to the Goblins' reconnaissance, there are about five Orc packs in this area. Three packs were repelled, so they might have become cautious. It's fine if they don't come, but I'm curious about where the pack the owl found went.
"Is tonight a bust?"
Henry-sama looked bored. He came specifically to see it. It would be a shame if it were a bust.
At that moment, a war cry was heard from near the foot of the mountain.
"What happened?"
The Goblins were looking toward the sound, but they didn't seem to know for sure. It sounded like many Orcs were shouting at each other.
"Could it be that packs have clashed?"
Paul-san stood up. Everyone else stood up at once, but it was nighttime. Nothing could be seen.
After staying like that for a while, the owl returned. The reconnaissance result was, as expected, a fight between Orcs. It seemed to be in the same position as where they were found before departure.
Intermittent war cries from the Orcs could be heard.
"While they were sending Goblins out on reconnaissance, they must have been attacked by another pack."
"Then Director, shall we leave the Orcs alone?"
"Umu. Let's go catch the Goblins."
We went back to catch the Goblins.
Since we had moved quite far away, searching was difficult. They would surely be climbing toward the fortress, so we decided to climb while slightly deviating from the valley. We took some altitude so we wouldn't be found from below when we overtook them, but with the Goblins and Flora, it should be fine.
As for what the scout Goblins would think hearing the Orcs' shouts, the Goblins here said they probably wouldn't go to help. They would have been told to participate in the battle with the fortress, but they shouldn't have been told to fight Orcs. There's no need to actively participate in an unwanted battle.
As expected, they seemed to be observing the situation from the shade of a tree near the fortress. We went back to the fortress once without being found and went to search for them again, but once found, it was easy. Robinson-san was there. He activated Subordination and caught them easily.
We decided to send the captured Goblins to the fortress and have Robinson-san and the two Nakanohara Goblins talk to them and persuade them, while we went back to reconnaissance.
"Will they be okay?"
"We have no choice but to leave it to Robinson and the others. More importantly, we're going to attack the Orcs from our side tonight. Stay sharp."
If Eleanor-sama fired one super-high-level magic, she could probably annihilate them, but our earnings would disappear. This time, we had her watch over us.
When we went to where the Orcs were fighting, they were going at it quite flashy. One side was mostly wearing armor, while the other side wasn't even wearing clothes. From the position, it seemed the ones without clothes had attacked the armored ones from behind.
"I see. I thought it was strange they were sending out scouts, but one side is the remnants of the Demon Lord's army."
Wild ones versus former regulars, so to speak. Emotionally, I wanted to cheer for the wild ones.
"What are you going to do?"
"We'll attack the winner. Until then, we'll watch."
Well, I guess so.
Since we were going to attack with magic, Lyudmila and Mary also participated. Since we were aiming from the sky toward the forest, Lyudmila's fire and earth magic couldn't be used, but it was decided she would use the method she learned from Eleanor-sama to hit the opponent with water to pin them down, while Bonnie's arrows and Beatrix's magic finished them off.
As expected, the former regular army seemed to have won, and they were raising a victory cry with spears held high against the fleeing wild army. Some were scavenging the corpses, but there probably wasn't anything significant anyway.
"Can you tell where the main camp is?"
"Probably that guy is the general. The one wearing a helmet. Shall we finish him off all at once?"
Flora was looking into the pitch darkness. She could tell.
"Beatrix, Bonnie. First, we'll defeat the enemy general. Both of you, finish it in one go. Lyudmila and Mary, aim for the heads of the Orcs to the left and right after that."
After defeating the enemy general, it was decided that Beatrix and Lyudmila would attack the right, and Bonnie and Mary would attack the left.
"Jeanne. Now. Straight ahead."
At Flora's signal, I illuminated them with a maximum-power Light using both hands. I spread it over a reasonably wide range; if done suddenly, the opponent would stop moving.
"Energy Bolt!"
Lightning magic flew, and Bonnie also fired an arrow. Beatrix fired two maximum-power shots, and Bonnie also fired two shots.
"A hit! We did it!"
"Alright, Jeanne. Illuminate the left and right!"
"Yes!"
While they were flinching from being illuminated by the Light, Lyudmila and Mary fired Water repeatedly to hit them, and Beatrix and Bonnie finished them off. Beatrix was firing two maximum-power shots at a time, but as expected of an intermediate mage, she was finishing off the Orcs precisely.
Where the boss had been, a scramble for the helmet was occurring. Soon, the next boss would be decided.
We ascended once, caught our breath, and descended again. Wary of the Ogre's magic defense, we circled around to the opposite side of the pack... the side farther from the pass. Following Flora's instructions, this time we illuminated a wide area with Light and attacked with magic and arrows.
"It's about time, I think."
When we had defeated over fifteen Orcs in total from the two rounds, Paul-san spoke up.
We threw two sticks of lit gunpowder into the middle of the pack and ascended. When the roar echoed below, the Orcs seemed to flee all at once.
"They're retreating."
At Flora's voice, we all cheered.
Now, after that is the pursuit. We must expand the results of the battle. We chased the fleeing Orcs while illuminating them, attacking unilaterally from the rear and above. Lyudmila and Mary were out of breath from the applied use of Water, so Beatrix and Bonnie continued the attack by themselves. Beatrix stopped using maximum power and fired magic with one hand to trip the opponent, and Bonnie finished them off.
"As expected of an intermediate mage. You've become able to handle Orcs lightly."
"It would be even better if I could defeat them in one shot."
"You're not Eleanor-sama; you can't defeat an Orc with beginner magic. You've even defeated a snake, so why don't you have an Oracle examine you soon?"
Come to think of it, I haven't been able to go. I'll have to take Mary with me once.
Tonight's earnings were twenty-one Orcs. That's forty-two silver coins. Since there are five of us, even after deducting the fee, it'll be eight silver coins per person. The Goblins are empty-handed, but since they might be able to increase their kin, let's be generous.
As for Flora's share, since she herself won't accept it, we decided on no monetary exchange. Instead, we agreed to ensure her safety as much as possible, prepare everything she needs, always move together when we buy land or move, and have her live with a male flower if she ever encounters one.
Eventually, an Alraune colony might form, but since pollination is once a year and one female flower only makes one seed, it should be fine for a while.