Chapter 161: Knight Og and the Orc Empire

“Og is… a knight!?”

I was surprised that the Adventurer’s Guild in the town of Togai, which I returned to after a long time, was in a crazy state, but now Og is a knight!?

“W-What happened for you to become a knight!?”

“Hahaha, well a lot of things happened, but to summarize, my competence caught the Lord’s eye.”

Og speaks as if it were nothing.

“B-But Og, you’re a commoner, right? Isn’t it incredibly difficult for a commoner to become a knight!?”

It’s true that even commoners can belong to a knight order, but basically, chores and being a regular soldier are normal.

Even if you get promoted, being a squire is the most you can hope for.

Knight positions are mostly filled by the children of nobles.

Under such circumstances, it should require considerable achievements for a commoner to become a knight.

“Well yeah. Honestly, I hesitated whether to continue as an adventurer. Because I’m an A-rank adventurer, I have confidence that I earn more than a clumsy low-ranking noble. But when the Lord earnestly asked me, it would be boorish to refuse.”

Certainly, A-rank adventurers are capable individuals who can subjugate powerful monsters.

Even the Evil Boar I subjugated before fetched 1,000 gold coins, so Og, a veteran adventurer, must be earning quite a lot.

Honestly, I can’t even understand why Og, who has enough ability to easily subjugate an Evil Boar cub which is troublesome to subjugate, is still stuck at A-rank.

…No, perhaps Og is also hiding his true ability for some reason like me.

So he’s intentionally staying at A-rank!?

I see, thinking about it that way makes everything make sense!

Hiding his ability by daring not to raise his rank.

As expected of Og!

It makes sense that the Lord would want him!

“But well, being an adventurer isn’t a job you can continue forever, and it’s also a job where you never know when you’ll die. Ever since my previous party disbanded, I had been thinking about what to do with myself.”

Come to think of it, I don’t know Og‘s past.

I’ve only heard that he’s an A-rank adventurer.

Between hiding his ability and this, perhaps he’s hiding some deep circumstances.

Yeah, it would be boorish to ask about that. Let’s refrain from asking about his circumstances in detail!

“Is that enough for a reunion chat? I’d like to talk about work soon.”

Oops, I unintentionally got engrossed in chatting with Og.

“Sorry, Guild Master!”

“Hahaha, I don’t mind you warming up old friendships a bit. Because I’m going to have you work together from now on.”

“Together?”

What does that mean? Og is a knight now, so he has nothing to do with the Adventurer’s Guild, right?

“Yeah. I want you guys… no, more accurately, I want you to investigate an incident occurring around this town of Togai.”

“Investigate?”

The Guild Master nods silently and begins to talk about the contents of the request.

“Recently, an abnormal number of orcs have been sighted in the vicinity of the town of Togai. At first, I thought orcs who lost a battle with another herd and were driven from their land had fled here, but apparently, that wasn’t it.”

Saying that much, the Guild Master lets out a sigh.

“Rookies who went out gathering and folks doing escort jobs were attacked one after another. Thinking we couldn’t get any work done unless we did a large-scale subjugation once, we conducted an orc subjugation jointly with the Knight Order.”

Huh? But we fought quite a number of orcs before arriving at this town, right?

“Could it be you couldn’t defeat them all?”

However, the Guild Master shakes his head.

“No, we exterminated the orc herd hiding in the forest near the town. In fact, there were no orc appearances for a while after that, but…”

“They appeared again after a while?”

With a face like he bit a bitter bug, the Guild Master nods.

“Exactly. After a while, a herd of orcs began to show themselves again.”

If that story is true, it means a considerable number of orcs are in a place not too far from this town.

“Could it be… an Orc Empire?”

I voiced the words that crossed my mind and checked the Guild Master’s reaction.

“…As I thought, you’d think so too, huh.”

An Orc Empire, that refers to a country created by higher species of orcs born through mutation who unified other orcs.

Furthermore, an “empire” in this case doesn’t mean building towns and cities and governing the land like we do. It refers to orcs who hid from humans and higher monsters, gradually increasing their numbers, and then moving to pillage all at once in search of the food they lack.

The starving herd of orcs attacks neighboring villages, towns, and granaries, giving birth to offspring there and further increasing their numbers.

Moreover, since other orc herds from neighboring settlements also join them, the number of orcs continues to grow rapidly.

When it becomes an unmanageable group of orcs like that, it’s called an Orc Empire.

“Just as you say, the Lord is vigilant that an Orc Empire might have appeared.”

“The Lord? Then isn’t the Knight Order making a move?”

If the Lord is making a move, I would think the Lord’s private Knight Order is making a move.

“Yeah, of course, the Knight Order is also making a move. But it seems the orcs are targeting the fields and livestock of neighboring villages, and their hands are tied dealing with that, so they can’t spare the manpower for investigation.”

I see, so that’s why they want to request us adventurers to investigate.

“To confirm the existence of an Orc Empire most simply, confirming the boss at the center of the herd is the best way. But even if you confirm the boss, if by any chance you are found, you’ll be surrounded by orcs and have your retreat cut off. If that happens, escaping will be a supremely difficult feat. The larger the scale of the empire, the higher the danger, so I definitely can’t ask clumsy folks.”

“So that’s why me?”

I understood why I received a nominated request from the Royal Capital’s Guild Master.

No matter how important the documents are, I couldn’t imagine making an S-rank adventurer move just for that errand.

Rather, this was the main objective.

Certainly, if higher species like Orc Emperors or Orc Queens occurred in large numbers, it would be a disaster.

“Yeah, if it’s you, an S-rank, you’ll probably be able to cut your way through on your own even if something happens.”

“Understood. If that’s the case, I’ll accept it!”

The town of Togai is the first place I arrived at, a town that can be called my second hometown, so to speak.

Besides, the people in this town are all good people, and I won’t let them be trampled by the likes of orcs!

“It helps that you say so. While you’re at it, I’d like you to let that inept knight over there accompany you on this occasion.”

“Who’s inept!”

Eh? Og is accompanying us too?

But Og became a knight, so he shouldn’t have any obligation to accept nominated requests or forced summons from the guild anymore, right?

“Ah-, this is what you call a secondment from the Lord’s army. Partly because I’m a former adventurer, if I investigate the Orc Empire together with you, it saves face for the Lord’s Knight Order too.”

I see, since Og is a former adventurer, he knows the ways of us adventurers, and he also understands well how to scout with a small number of people.

Thinking about it that way, he can certainly be said to be suitable as a reinforcement from the Knight Order.

“Well actually, I just got saddled with the role of a watchdog from the Knight Order, though.”

“Don’t say that, Guild Master.”

A watchdog, huh. As expected, things like that exist in every era.

“Well, even if you call it a watchdog, that’s just the circumstances on the regular Knight Order’s side. The Lord seemed to think it would be better since I can move more freely that way, and gave me permission easily.”

Heh, surprisingly the Lord of this town seems to be an understanding person.

Come to think of it, he’s the person who scouted Og, so he might be a noble capable of quite flexible thinking.

“If that’s the case, please take care of me from now on, Og!”

“Yeah, same here.”

Og and I firmly shook each other’s hands.

“Come to think of it, this is the first time adventuring together with Og, isn’t it.”

“Now that you mention it, that’s true.”

“I’ll be studying the work ethic of Og, who was scouted as a knight!”

“…N-No, I don’t think it’s something worth expecting that much from, you know?”

Against me, who was excited to witness Og‘s ability with my own eyes, Og maintained his humble stance, insisting he isn’t that big of a deal.

I see, no matter who the opponent is, he doesn’t break his pace. That must be Og‘s strength!

“Hmm, this seems like it’ll wrap up better if I don’t say anything.”

The Guild Master, who was listening to our conversation, was nodding un un as if he understood something.

◆

Having finished the discussion with the Guild Master, I joined up with everyone together with Og and explained the circumstances.

“And so, we’re going to investigate the Orc Empire together with Og.”

“Nice to meetcha!”

“Ehh~, together with this old man~?”

When Og flashed a smile and greeted them, Jairo raised a displeased voice.

“Jairo, Og is a former veteran A-rank adventurer, and is currently someone who had his active role recognized to the point of becoming a knight. I’m sure Og‘s work ethic will be a learning experience for us.”

“I think Big Bro’s work ethic is more amazing, though~.”

Ahaha, I’m happy you say that, but Og is my senior as an adventurer.

Even with the memories of my previous life and the life before that, as an adventurer, I am still practically an amateur.

I’ll take this opportunity to learn veteran techniques from Og!

“I’m Liliera, who is allowed to form a party with Rex. Nice to meet you.”

“Yeah, nice to meetcha!”

Og, who exchanged greetings with Liliera, flashed a broad smile while looking at me for some reason.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nah, I just thought you’re quite something.”

Huh? Did I do something?

“Forming a party with suuuch a cute girlfriend, you did pretty well for yourself, didn’t you.”

“G-Girlfriend!?”

Called a girlfriend by Og, Liliera‘s face turns bright red.

“S-Such a thing as a girlfriend… well, if a man and woman of similar age form a party, it might not not look like that, but Rex and I aren’t in that kind of relationship yet…”

“Og, Liliera is my comrade. We aren’t in that kind of relationship.”

“Eh? Seriously? You guys aren’t dating?”

“Yes! We are not dating! Because we are comrades!”

Liliera is a very reliable comrade who is well-versed in the ABCs of adventurers that I don’t know.

Saying I’m lovers with such an amazing person is truly rude to Liliera.

“…”

“Huh? What’s wrong, Liliera?”

For some reason Liliera is staring jii- at me; what’s wrong?

“…It’s nothing.”

What is really wrong?

Ah, could it be she’s nervous from meeting Og, a veteran adventurer!?

Since it hasn’t been long since Liliera became an A-rank, she might have observed Og‘s behavior and sensed that he’s hiding his true ability.

That’s why she might be intentionally reacting exaggeratedly even to Og‘s joke-like remarks.

To probe his true ability.

“We should probably introduce ourselves too just in case. I’m Mina. I was originally enrolled in this guild, but I’m operating in the Royal Capital’s guild together with Rex.”

“Meguri. Also originally from this guild. Currently acting together with Rex.”

“I am Norb. This is the first time we’re talking like this.”

“Hey, you introduce yourself too.”

When everyone introduced themselves, Mina dragged out Jairo, who hadn’t introduced himself yet.

“Ow ow ow ow, it hurts, don’t pull me forcibly! Geez. I’m Jairo, nice to meetcha, old man.”

“You really…”

It seems Jairo and Og don’t get along.

We’re going to be working together from now on, so I want them to get along…

“Alright. Then since the greetings are done, shall we head out to investigate the surroundings immediately?”

“Wait, we’re going suddenly!? This time is an investigation, right!? Don’t we need to buy food and tools first!?”

Mina widens her eyes at Og, who suddenly suggested heading out for investigation.

“Hey hey old man, get it together. Are you still an A-rank despite that?”

Then Og floats a broad smile.

“You’re naive, girls. This request is a troublesome one where we have to slip through massive herds of orcs and find the enemy’s main force. Moreover, the danger level will increase as time passes. Searching blindly in such a situation is a true waste of time. First, we investigate the immediate vicinity to find out from which direction the orcs are coming; that comes first.”

” ” ” “Direction?” ” ” “

While Jairo and the others are bewildered, Liliera raises a voice saying “I see”.

“If we know the direction the orcs are coming from, we can figure out whether that direction is a place where we can use horses, a rugged mountain that requires equipment other than food, or a difficult-to-move marshland. Depending on that, the required equipment will also change significantly, something like that?”

“Correct. Besides, carrying heavy luggage and moving around here and there will simply slow us down and tire us out. Let’s keep the labor to a minimum.”

At Liliera‘s answer, Og announces it’s correct with a full-face smile.

As expected of Liliera. She immediately noticed Og‘s true intention.

And Og too, isn’t letting his guard down even a little bit even if the opponent is orcs.

This is the true mental attitude of a veteran adventurer!

“Heh, as expected of a former A-rank.”

“…Well, not bad.”

Though sulking a bit, it seems Jairo also understood Og‘s true intention and reluctantly agreed.

“Understood. Then shall we head out to investigate the surroundings!”

” ” ” ” ” “Ooooh!” ” ” ” ” “