The sun was slowly starting to set.
Shane had finished his scouting duties during the day and continued investigating with Shasha separately.
Shane who had received the reports written by the others scouting teams from Mimir, roamed around based on the points where unprecedented phenomena had occurred, just like what he witnessed at the owlbear’s habitat last time.
-What are you trying to verify?
Around the time this work had been going on for about a week,
Shasha asked Shane this question through a note.
“We are checking the anomalies of the orcs.”
Much time had passed already, and many traces had disappeared.
Nevertheless, Shane tirelessly visited every related area. He scanned the surroundings before making his return.
This time, just when Shane who had been checking out the surrounding geography and interacting with the nearby magical powers for a while was about to leave, Shasha handed him another note.
-If it’s like this, wouldn’t it be better to go deeper?
“That might be true. But doing so would only heighten their vigilance. Instead, we need to …”
“……?”
“We need to make them come to us on their own out of curiosity.”
“…!”
At that moment, Shasha saw Shane’s magic projectile which he had shown multiple times before, and he immediately placed his hand on the sword strapped to his back.
“Kwiieek─!”
But once again, Shane’s magic projectile flew toward something hiding behind a tree before Shasha could react.
“…An orc?”
What appeared from behind the tree was none other than a blue orc.
It was so astonishing that the usually mute Shasha opened his mouth in surprise!
“…!”
When he realized that he had spoken, Shasha looked cautiously at Shane but the latter was still staring at the orc who was lying on the ground.
“Is it unconscious? Hmm.”
Since it was a layered magic projectile, the orc lay on the ground bleeding and its face was caved in.
“…?”
However, Shane didn’t dispel the magic projectile; instead, he increased the number of them.
Before Shasha could express his confusion, he pulled out his sword.
Although he hadn’t known the boy in front of him for long, their time spent together on the scouting team had been intense.
Arunvida was a place where one could never let their guard down.
If it was Shane’s instinct, reacting first with his body was the right thing to do.
“Grrrrr!”
Then the fallen orc started convulsing, suddenly jumped up as if it hadn’t been unconscious moments ago, and glared at them with bloodshot eyes.
“Krabiita! Wonahu!”
The orc spat out words in its own unintelligible language, and a reddish aura flowed from its body. As if it were drenched in madness.
It had such an intense bloody aura that it was hard to believe it had followed them so quietly until now.
Then Shasha spoke once again.
“Magical power…? How can an orc use it?”
He looked visibly shocked.
“You should save your thoughts for later.” (TN: Shane spoke in formal tone here)
“…!”
Before Shasha could react to Shane’s formal tone, the magic projectile flew toward the orc.
But this time, the orc dodged the projectile with agile movements and charged forward instead.
Its charge was powerful enough to leave footprints on the solidly frozen ground in this frigid weather.
“Wonahu!!”
At the same time, the orc that was clutching two hand axes at its waist charged forward. But Shasha who had been on guard didn’t miss it.
Without hesitation, his long greatsword blocked the orc’s axes, overwhelmed them with sheer force, and lifted his sword upwards.
The orc’s arms naturally flew high into the air, and at that moment, Shasha swiftly severed the orc’s arms with a speed that was almost unbelievable for a greatsword.
“Kuooooo─!”
The orc let out a horrifying scream from the sharp yet burning sensation in its severed arms, but Shane’s magic projectile soon struck the orc’s head.
“Kwoek, Kwabita! Wo, Wonahu!!”
Even so, the orc’s determination didn’t waver, and it lunged at Shasha with its bloodied mouth.
Shasha stepped back, and another magic projectile flew in, hitting the orc’s head hard.
Having endured several layered magic projectiles, the orc finally collapsed to the ground with its face caved in.
“…It’s over.”
Only when the reddish aura flowing from the orc’s body dissipated did Shane stop summoning his magic projectiles.
“…An orc that can use magical power?”
“It seems so.”
Shasha turned to Shane at those words.
“Did you expect this?”
“In the past few days, monsters too powerful for a small number of orcs to handle have continued to disappear. Whether they were using magic or not, it wasn’t hard to imagine they had obtained some special means.”
“Interesting.”
When Shasha said this, he removed his helmet and spoke again.
“You are… very interesting.”
“It is an honor, Second Princess.”
Shasha… no, Zephyr D. Natasha Anastasia.
One of the empire’s two flowers. She looked at Shane with a steadfast presence reminiscent of iron.
The cold wind of Arunvida brushed past her silver-blue hair.
“Are you crazy, Your Highness?”
“Sorry.”
“Have you lost your mind?”
“Sorry.”
“Have you gone completely mad?”
“I said I’m sorry!”
The next morning.
Mimir, who was in the middle of handling some paperwork, kept berating Anastasia with words that sounded like thunderclaps.
Of course, Anastasia was aware of her wrongdoing, so she apologized over and over again, but the words she received in return were far from kind.
Unbelievable.
What kind of princess would hide her identity and wander around in this dangerous region of Arunvida!
Of course, this had happened a few times before.
Back then, it was to understand the atmosphere among the residents here.
And that was strictly within the protection of the Viduron Castle walls. She never wandered outside for over a week.
“Especially at a time when a monster wave could happen at any moment. Do you truly wish to see this Mimir worry himself to death?”
“I didn’t expect things to escalate like this. If I had known, I wouldn’t have gone out.”
“It seems you really have lost your mind. I have no idea how to handle this.”
“Isn’t there something more important right now?”
“What could be more important than the person I serve losing her mind? This is extremely important.”
“Whew.”
In the end, Anastasia wiped her face once and then spoke again.
“The world is crazy, not me. An orc used magical power. If that isn’t madness, what is?”
“Then let’s say both are crazy.”
“……”
The rebuke ended there, but Mimir’s expression was definitely not good.
At that moment, scolding her was the only way he could reduce his frustration even a little.
“Could it be that only that specific orc is special?”
“Do you really think that’s possible? Get a grip.”
At least, judging from recent reports of monsters attacking habitats, this was not a situation caused by one or two monsters.
Mimir looked at Anastasia as if he couldn’t believe it.
“To hear such words from a crazy princess, I’m going to lose my mind.”
“I’m really going to go mad, so stop saying crazy things.”
“Yes, I understand. So, the recent anomalies in the habitats of other monsters were caused by orcs using magical power. Hmm…”
Mimir who was finally facing reality fell into deep thought for a moment.
“This doesn’t feel good. We must assume they are preparing something.”
“We should.”
Just like what Mimir said, it was clear the orcs were plotting something.
Of course, this was not different from the previous reports they had received.
However, the reason Mimir’s expression became more serious was that, in the earlier reports, they believed the orcs could not use magical power, but now that wasn’t the case.
The orcs had started using magical power.
This fact alone started giving rise to several dangerous premonitions.
“The worst we have to consider immediately is…”
“A monster wave.”
“The problem is that it won’t end with just one.”
Until now, monster waves have occurred like natural phenomena.
Even though Arunvida was known for its harsh cold all year round, there were still seasons in this place.
The difference was only in how much less cold or more cold it got, but surprisingly, this led to various territorial battles among the monsters.
Therefore, it was relatively easy to predict the monster waves caused by those displaced from their territories.
It also happened only once or twice a year which made it manageable, but…
“It seems the orcs are using their brains.”
Anastasia nodded her head in agreement with Mimir’s words.
“They might end up controlling the timing of the monster waves.”
Didn’t Anastasia already have first-hand experience of how stronger the orcs had become?
Moreover, the orcs were now moving stealthily in small numbers to avoid detection. It was as if they prepared meticulously for something.
“Hmm…”
However, the real problem was that even though they understood the enemies’ intentions, they had no effective countermeasures for them.
Arunvida could withstand the powerful monster waves only because of its sturdy walls.
If the scouting teams were suddenly ambushed outside the walls, casualties would be inevitable.
Of course, they could go to war with them, but the resulting damage would be too much.
Therefore, they needed the imperial family’s help before things escalated, but Arunvida was a place where those who were forsaken by the empire gathered.
Why would they receive immediate support form the empire?
Without evidence, if they went to the capital and claimed that the orcs were awakening their magical powers and planning to trigger a monster wave, they would be dismissed as a bunch of lunatics.
“We need to gather evidence, no matter what.”
“Yes, that’s the best option we have at the moment.”
“Hmm…”
Their worries continued until the sun set that day.
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