Chapter 2: The Strategy to Destroy the Orc SettlementWe had come to the Adventurer’s guild in order to accept a quest. Just saying, but I wonder how long it’s been since we took a request that we chose, instead of something the guild handed us?Today was supposed to be our last day in this town, and I had really just wanted to laze around the house, but Fel kept complaining that it was boring...... Dora-chan and Sui both said that they wanted to go outside, and that turned into talk that we might as well accept a quest then. I was an adventurer after all, at least formally.That was why we were staring at the board, but...... there’s not really anything here...Since I was technically A-ranked, the only requests I could take were A or S-ranked requests, but the requests posted on this board only extended up to B-rank in the first place. I guess that means I have to ask at the counter.“Excuse me. I’d like to take a request.”When I led with that and showed my guild card, the receptionist left her seat after saying, “Please wait.”Oh, you’re calling Jöran over? I only came to take on a request, so it’s not like you have to......After a while, Jöran came over. “Ohh, what good timing. Something slightly troubling just happened, and it’s been hard trying to gather good adventurers. I was starting to think that it would just be faster to ask you.”According to Jöran, orcs had started to periodically show up around a village to the north of here and along the road as well, and since their numbers out in the wild were always assumed to be high, it was suspected that they may have established an orc settlement nearby. So Jöran put out a request to investigate the forest around the northern village and the road. The party that took on that request returned early this morning, and from their report, the existence of an orc settlement in the forest bordering the road and village came to light.According to the report made by the investigating party, there were confirmed to be orc leaders and generals. They couldn’t verify the existence of an orc king, but from the size of the settlement, it should only be a matter of time until one appeared, if it hadn’t already. The settlement was close to the village and road too, so it needed to be taken care of as soon as possible, but that kind of request would require adventurers of C-rank or higher. And from their numbers, it would have to be a five or six member party at the very least. However, in a bout of unfortunate timing, almost all the C-rank members and above were currently out on quests.“Thanks to you taking on the requests for the evil plants and the cyclops, the workshops have gone back to normal working order. Up until now, we’ve had some problems exporting our goods, but now that it’s all fixed, we’ve gotten more escort requests to other towns.”Oof, so that’s what happened. So all the C-rank and above parties are out on escort missions, huh? It’s not my fault, but I can’t really say that I’m completely uninvolved, can I?“I somehow managed to scare up a single C-ranked party that hadn’t left, but just one party is......” For Jöran, it seemed like the only options he had were either to wait for some of the parties to return, or ask me.The only problem was, who knew how many days it would take for someone to come back, so Jöran was concerned about leaving the orcs to roam freely. If an orc king were to be born in that time, not only would a five- or six-man party not be enough, there would be a need for at least two B-ranked parties. So, in that case, he started thinking it would just be faster to ask me.“Sorry for asking, Mukohda, but could you take on this quest?”“Please wait a second...... Fel, what do you think? Personally, I think it’s fine, since it’s a good chance to get some meat.”“An orc settlement? They are boring enemies, but, just as you said, it is true that they will be a good source of meat. Okay, let us go.”Looks like Fel’s giving the all green.《Dora-chan, Sui, are both of you fine, too?》 I asked the two of them through telepathy.《I’m fine with it, too.》《Sui is also fine.》Looks like they’re on board as well. “We’ll take it, Jöran.”“Ohh, I see, I see. Thank you. Alrighty then, you will be going with the C-rank party I managed to hire as well; is that fine?”“Yes, that’s fine.”So we’re gonna be taking this orc settlement destruction quest with a C-ranked party... This is our first time taking a request with another party, huh? Well, this will be an experience, too.“Righty-ho, I’ll introduce you, so follow me please.”The room Jöran led us to was a meeting room on the guild’s first floor. There, a group of four male adventurers that were around 30 and looked really tough with scary faces were sitting, waiting.Yeah, can I run now? What the hell is with this lineup that just reeks of dudes? Everyone’s ripped to the max on top of those scary faces...“Heyo — sorry for keeping you waiting.”“So, guildmaster, what’s going on with the request?” The bald one with the scary face who seemed to be their leader spoke.“Yes, I will be talking about that now.” With those words, Jöran moved to introduce me and those rough looking scary adventurers to each other.“It’s an honor to be taking on a request with an A-ranked adventurer. Please treat us well.” With those words, the leader, Alonzo, went to shake my hand.“Pleased to meet you.” Greeting the other members as well, I shook their hands.They were a unique bunch with scary faces, and they reeked like a locker room, but it didn’t seem like they were bad people. Truthfully, I would have liked to have teamed up with some female adventurers, but it wasn’t like I could just say that.Those four tough and scary looking adventurers were all members of the C-ranked party, “Shadow Warrior.”I don’t know why, but all the people here sure do like to use some really cringey names. I’ve been letting it all go up until now, though. It seems like personal taste, so I guess I should just not bother.The scary-faced bald leader, Alonzo, was a swordsman, a user of large swords. Clement was the scary-faced dude with long, wavy, dark brown hair, and he was also a swordsman, though a one-handed sword user. Matthias was the scary-faced guy with short blonde hair, and since he was the scout, he used daggers. Ernest, the scary-faced one with red-brown short hair, was a mage, and was accomplished in Fire and Wind magic, as well as a little Healing magic.“I heard the rumors, but you really did tame a Fenrir...” said Alonzo, while looking at Fel.He can tell because he’s C-ranked, huh? Also, it seems that Fel has recently started becoming more known. Well, we did defeat the dungeon in Dolan...“Fel is strong, of course, but the pixie dragon here named Dora-chan, and this slime named Sui are also my familiars. They’re all strong.”“I’ve never heard of a pixie dragon. And the slime is... strong?”“Sui is special, you know? It’s strong. As for how they fight, look forward to when we get to the orc settlement.”All of them are strong, after all. Sui gets underestimated since it’s a slime, but you can’t lump it in with other slimes. Sui is really just that incredible.“Well then, let’s get going. Jöran, about where is the orc settlement?”“Hm... It is in the forest about a day’s walk from here.”What? A day?“A day? But we’re planning on leaving tomorrow...... Ah, no. It’s fine. We can finish it today.” For moving around with large amounts of people, I have the ever reliable Sui with me.“Hm? What do you mean?”I told Jöran and the members of Shadow Warrior about Sui, but none of them believed me.Then all I have to do is show them, I thought, so we all headed for the gates.“Okay then, Sui, can you get big enough to fit these four on? ...Let’s see, about as big as you were the last time?”《Got it.》 With that said, Sui grew to the same size it was when it gave Anton and the others a ride before. Seeing that, both Jöran and the members of Shadow Warrior were dumbstruck.“*Ahem*, what an amazing thing.”“This slime’s a first......”Both Jöran and Alonzo’s statements had the other members of Shadow Warrior nodding in wordless agreement.“We’re planning to leave here tomorrow, so this request needs to be completed today. Now, everyone get on.”I hurried the members of Shadow Warrior along and had them get on top of Sui. I was riding on top of Fel, like always.“Okay then Jöran, we’ll be off now.”“We’re counting on you.”Just like that, we headed off for the orc settlement.◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇“There it is,” I heard one of the Shadow Warrior members whisper.We were hidden behind a tree, peeking over at the orc settlement. Thanks to Sui, it didn’t take that long to get to the forest. And once we entered, thanks to Fel’s guidance, we found the orc settlement easily.The entire Shadow Warrior party was surprised at how fast we moved, but we needed to do this as quickly as possible. I wanted to be finished by the end of today, after all. With the orc settlement in front of us, all that was left was to wipe them out.The settlement was in a small clearing in the forest. I could see the shabby huts that were probably built by the orcs.“Fel, do you know how many there are?” I whispered to Fel, so that we wouldn’t be noticed.“At most, two hundred.”Two hundred? That’s quite a lot... “Is there an orc king?”“No. There are evolved forms, but I do not feel anything as strong as that.”I guess that means that it’s just as I’d heard from Jöran, there’s only orc leaders and generals.“What kind of plan are we going with?” asked Alonzo, and the other members of his party also looked towards me.“Well, it’s not really a plan...... Fel, it’s just gonna be the usual, right?”“Indeed. First strike wins. Attack is the best defense. Dora, Sui, and I will finish them. You all make sure no orcs manage to escape.”Yep, it would be like that, wouldn’t it?“That’s how it is. It’s fine to just leave it up to my familiars. Let’s just watch out for any orcs that try to run.”When I said that, the members of Shadow Warrior all looked sort of confused, as if they were wondering if it would really be all right to just do that.“Well then, let us move. Dora, Sui, on me.”《Yah-hoo! I’ve been waiting!》《Sui will try hard!》And just like that, all three of them merrily flew off. And from then on, how should I describe it...Well, there was no way my children would have any trouble with orcs, right?*Zrrk———*“““““Rrrreeeee!”””””The death cries of a large number of orcs could be heard. Ohhh, that must be Fel’s Earth magic. Needles sprang up from the ground in a wide area like a “spiky frog” used in flower arrangements, skewering the orcs. That spell alone about halved the number of orcs.“W-What the hell......” I heard someone whisper.I looked beside me, and saw the members of Shadow Warrior, all with their mouths open in shock as they watched what was happening in the orc settlement. You can’t afford to use up all of your awe on just this, you know? Since Dora-chan and Sui are both gonna start attacking afterwards, too.*Thdshh* *Thdshh* *Thdshh* *Thdsh-Thdsh-Thdhsh*This time, sharp-pointed pillars of ice appeared and rained down upon the orcs, piercing them through. This has gotta be Dora-chan’s Ice magic.And now there were only a fourth of the orcs there used to be.*Splrrt* *Splrrt* *Splrrt* *Splrrt* *Splrrt*Sui’s Acid Bullets hit the orcs every time and pierced through them. Almost all of the remaining orcs fell victim to that attack.“What the hell... are those things......”“An entire orc settlement... this fast......”“No way......”“Those familiars are way too strong......”The people of Shadow Warrior were quietly muttering amongst themselves while watching Fel and the others fight. Yeah, I know how you feel, but it’s all real. My children are all strong.Hm? I noticed that the orcs that were on the outskirts of the settlement and thus had managed to not get hit by their attacks were running. Not only that, but they were coming this way.“The orcs that are running from the settlement are coming this way!!” I called out, and the members of Shadow Warrior all came to with a start, and readied their weapons.I took out my mithril short sword from my Item Box and readied it as well. I’ve already taken down trolls and minotaurs in the dungeon, and orcs are weaker than that, so I should be fine as long as I calm down and fight.