Chapter 5: Searching the Fort
While I am busy wracking my brain, the bandits have started to catch up with the situation. Starting with the 3 men group, all of them begin to inch away from me.
“It really must have been this guy who turned Jyagul-sama to stone, right……?”
“But wasn’t this guy not a magician……”
“The one who said that was Jyagul-sama, but look at him now!”
“Even if he’s a magician, he’s not holding a staff!”
On one side, there are still some of them with weapons up, trying to pressure me. They are teetering on a fine line between attacking me or running away, and the amount of tension in the air is such that a small push could send them over on either side.
Oh, whatever.
Rather than having thought it through, I use another spell sheerly out of the desire to be free of this tension.
“By means of this spell, may a platoon of 6 ogres be created from naught and be under my control for 3 full days. [Create Ogre Platoon].”
I chant a spell from the [Spell Archive of the Spritual Power Holder] on the 7th floor. The air distorts like the surface of a pond that has been disturbed by a rock.
“What is it this time?!”
As the bandits begin clamoring, buff demons with reddish-brown skin—ogres—emerge from the ripples in midair one after the other.
They are exactly 6 in number, and all sport gigantic bodies 3m in height and very mean-looking faces. They take a formation around me as if to protect me.
The bandits’ responses are truly dramatic.
“Hii……”
“A-, a-, anki……”
“This guy went and called up anki! He’s an ally of the anki!!”
(T/N: 暗鬼 is read as ‘anki’ in this series (I think) and means ‘shadow demons.’ I am opting to call them ‘anki’ from here on, cus typing ‘shadow demon’ every time is a pain.)
With axes and clubs and spears in hand, every one of the ogres are level 6. Matching their appearance, they are the type to fight using their enormous strength. The max level of monsters in D&B is 36, so these guys are by no means strong. However, a single one of them is already more than enough to take care of any average soldier or party of level 1 adventurers. I am still ignorant of this world’s fighting strength, but I think having 6 of them should be sufficient for 10 or 20 bandits.
Possibly having come to that conclusion themselves (well I mean, it’s pretty self-obvious), the bandits all turn to flee. The few who were next to the fort gates immediately wrestle open the side door built into the gate and disappear through it.
I wonder if ‘anki’ is what they call ogres in this world. I’m supposed to understand their words, but what ‘anki’ is specifically referring to is not clear to me. Along with the ‘Afalusal’ that Jyagul had mentioned, these words that I don’t understand are bothering me, so I would like to confirm them as soon as possible.
By the way, the way to spell ‘ogre’ (with the alphabet) is ‘ogre,’ but it is normally p.r.o.nounced closer to ‘orc.’ Most games released recently also go with ‘orc,’ but for some unknown reason, D&B had decided to stick with the French p.r.o.nunciation of ‘ogre’ instead. There were weird points like this in a lot of the older games, weren’t there~
“U-, UWAHHH!”
One member of the 3 men group takes his axe to the ogres in what can only be described as self-abandonment. Even if it lands properly, all it would do is cause a small wound, but an ogre speedily slaps the axe down with its own club.
“YOU…… WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!”
“f.u.c.k YOU! WATCH ME TAKE YOU ON!”
“UWA, UWAHHHHH!”
The stand-off was broken in the blink of an eye. A few of the bandits are haphazardly attacking the ogres, while the rest are scrambling to get away. Due to the ogres being in formation around me, none of the attacks are aimed at me, but well……
“Please don’t kill any of them! Just chase them off!”
“Guruoo!”
The ogres respond to my command with a roar. There is absolutely no need at all for me to say ‘please,’ but the habits of a salaryman are not that easy to break.
“GAH!”
“GYAAHH?!”
“Gufuoh!?”
With every swing of an ogre’s club or spear or rock-like fist, bandits get blown into the air. The reason why there are no casualties yet is due in full to the ogres faithfully following my command. In contrast, the bandits’ attacks are dealing almost no damage at all to the ogres. Judging by how overwhelming the ogres are, these bandits must really be level 1 or 2 at best.
“THIS IS HOPELESS!!”
“I’M GETTING OUT OF HERE!”
“AH, WAIT FOR MEEEE~!”
As for the bandits, a single kick was enough to completely break their morale. While dragging their battered bodies, they rush towards the side door that their buddies had earlier escaped through. There doesn’t appear to be anyone who can’t move, so I am slightly relieved.
While watching them push and shove for their lives in front of the narrow side door, I muse over whether I should capture them or not. Of course, capturing them and handing them over to the peacekeeping authorities that be would be the proper thing to do. If I liberally use all of the spells that I have on hand, I should be capable of doing so, but I have yet to find my spellbook. If I use up all the spells that I have charged, and I still can’t find the spellbook…… The sense of danger from just now is still all too fresh in my mind.
If they go and do bad things somewhere else, I would become partly to blame. I sigh at this thought, but at the moment, that is all my conscience is going to get out of me.
Either way, within a few minutes, all of the bandits have already disappeared from my sight.
“Fuu……”
I decide that a change in mood is in order.
“3 of you, please keep an eye on the fort’s perimeter and make sure that those mountain bandits do not come back. 2 of you, please comb the tower for any dangers and, if you find any, deal with them appropriately. The last one, please come along with me as a bodyguard.”
Having received my orders, the ogres scatter throughout the fort, with one of them staying behind.
“Ah—…… this hurts……”
Inside the courtyard that has gone quiet, I suppress my shoulder. The ice arrow has disappeared before I noticed, but now there is a deep, gaping hole in the top part of my shoulder. Probably a direct result of the ice arrow, the flesh around the wound is hard like frozen meat, so there isn’t much bleeding.
…… I still haven’t found my spellbook, but if I leave this be, it is definitely going to be a hindrance. Above all, it hurts and is uncomfortable.
I chant the level 9 spell [Complete Recovery]. This being the fourth time, I no longer feel any unease with using spells. As expected of a level 9 spell—the deep wound goes away without leaving a trace. However, with this, I am all out of recovery spells.
“...... Alright, shall we get going?”
I slap my own cheeks as if to dispel the worry in my mind.
After I have my bodyguard ogre break my handcuffs, it’s time for some exploring.
D&B is a game with four well-defined basic professions of Warrior, Priest, Thief, and Wizard. In other words, all cla.s.ses have clear strengths and weaknesses.
As ill.u.s.trated by my disgraceful behavior earlier, Wizards are absolutely useless in close combat, no matter how high their level (well it’s not to the degree where a level 36 would lose against a level 1 Warrior or a few goblins).
When fighting with spells, 1 round (10 seconds) is absolutely needed for chanting. During that time frame, the Wizard is basically vulnerable.
Recovery magic is the Priest’s domain. To recover hitpoints, all Wizards have is the [Complete Recovery] that I just used.
Wizards do have some spells to open locks and disable traps, but those spells are a pale replacement for a Thief, who can repeatedly perform such acts with no limit.
Now that I’ve given it some deep thought, my profession is quite weak…… actually no, it’s more that there are a lot of weak points. It really would be prudent to remain cautious every step I take.
Because of this, I was originally quite worried about how things would turn out, but by having the ogres made with [Create Ogre Platoon] stand in front, the search of the fort ended uneventfully. Turns out there were no traps, and all the doors with a lock were easily smashed open by the ogres. Then again, the ogres’ main tasks were to look for any bandits who are still hiding and other dangerous objects, so there is a high chance that they overlooked something. Oh well, it’s not like I plan to live here long term anyways.
The fort turns out to be truly simple in design, with only a main tower and a single residential building within elliptical walls. Of course, there are a few defensive towers along the wall, but that’s it. I get the strong feeling that this place was built for practicality rather than anything else. The jail where I had been held in stands right next to the residence.
The main tower is divided into four floors. Speaking broadly, the underground floor is the storeroom, then the aboveground floors are, from the bottom up, hall, command room, then private quarters. The private quarters’ most recent occupant was, of course, Jyagul. The interior decorations are more decent than expected, but what surprised me most is the mountain of gold coins, jewels, and items piled up on the floor. With that said, I recognize most of the stuff there as having come from my own sling bag, so I quickly enlist the help of my ogre bodyguard and retrieve it all.
Most importantly, finding my spellbook lying on the floor filled me with relief to the bottom of my heart. With this, the breadth of what I can do has gone up by leaps and bounds.
I also find a large number of books and scrolls that must have belonged to Jyagul. I put them away for later reading—even the smallest bit of information that I can gather on this world would be of great help.
After finding my robe and boots and putting them on, I finally start to feel like myself. Incidentally, my Wizardry Staff has been turned to stone along with Jyagul, so I’m going to have to retrieve that later on. Of course, the Jyagul statue is still where I’d left it.
In addition, when I look around through the windows in the private quarters, I finally realize that this fort was built on the side of a really steep mountain. The surroundings are all forest, but there is a narrow mountain trail stretching from the fort gates, so it stands to reason that following that trail would eventually lead me to a human settlement.
As I sweep my gaze once more over the entire courtyard, my eyes fall on the jail constructed beside the residential building, and an important matter comes to mind.
“Ah, I forgot to save that person.”