Chapter 76: Orc head

From that long distance, I couldn't really make great use of Mana Perception. On that tree, if I spotted him rather easily was thanks to his large, clear tunic of a wealthy merchant. The old man watched over me from his distant tree, and I yelled some other words to him. "Yooou! Saaaw! Meeeee?!" I made sure he could hear my words distinctively. Also, I asked him whether Cetha, my elven princess, was all right. All right as in showing any signs of healing.

With the wind blowing past my ears, filling them with its thunderous and flapping roar, going back and forth between me and the top of the little hill and the distant tree. I scratched my Character's nose waiting for his reply. With the wind dishevelling my hair as urgently as it was, I trusted my words would be conveyed to the old attendant. Shall I shout again? No. Delivering my message, at last, the wind made a comeback to me, hissing in my ears again, and making me frown my eyes. "Yooou! Shooowed! Meee! … Nothiiiiing!"

"Oh?" My head gave a start. The winds did deliver my message safely to the old man, but they must have confused the message they just sent me with someone else's. I showed the old man nothing? I did show plenty. Looking back at the prey, behind me—they were as lifeless as could be—I cocked my head thinking maybe it wasn't enough.

After all, didn't the System also say something along the lines of thirty enemies to deal with. I lacked nine-tenths of it. Still, in doubt, I decided to make sure what he said was right. In the wind, I yelled my message. Before long, I received the old man's letter, and it asked me to "Get back to it!"

I did show him something, but if that wasn't enough, I'd just get back to it, wouldn't I? Who would shy away from a little fighting—no, playing around? That wasn't me. The old man was adamant and categorical. I needed to get back to it and show him more of my fighting abilities. Thinking his demands were on par with the quest's instructions, I'd just get back to it, now.

The old man watched over his grandson from afar ever since the senile man sent his poor child to the battlefield. As the grandson wouldn't yet drop his sword and come back home, the grandpa also wouldn't stop watching over him. Spinning on my heels, I turned back to face the battlefield, and—

"Hey, you, young mister…" A voice called to me and a hand was placed on my shoulder. "You collect the head or something? I mean, er, is it yours? You took the bastard down?"

I was the neurotic type. When the man's hand brushed my shoulder, I immediately took it off, turning to him the quickest I could. He surprised me. That was yet another practical example of my lack of experience, by the way. Had I known to make proper use of Mana Perception, this wouldn't have happened. Cursing at myself inwardly, I glared daggers at the human male.

"W-Woah, there…" he stuttered, backing away. "Chill out, dude. Just asking for the loot. The head. You collect the head or what? Already been five minutes, and I ain't seen you make to harvest it. Th-That's a pretty big orc, come to think of it. I'm sure the head'd be worth a silver or some more… Man, it'd be cool if you could lemme have it."

Of course, he wouldn't be alone. They were a group of five. Five more to deal with. They were all humans. A man had placed his hand on my shoulder to catch my attention. And after I had reacted—or rather, overreacted, glaring fiery eyes at him with a quickened heartbeat and a tightened grip on my sword—he was being startled, too.

"L-Look! I'm sorry!" he managed, stuttering again, doing away with his prior overly easygoing demeanor. Slightly hesitating, the young man bowed his head to me.

Soon, some other guy stepped toward me, laughing relaxedly. "Don't mind the kid, please." That other guy briefly explained his comrade was just that, a person who liked contact, and apologized to me. Three males and two females. Looking over at them, scanning their forces and scoffing at their lack of strength (if they wanted to face me), they, too, looked at me, with analytical eyes.

"No problem," I curtly said. By now, I hid my hostility toward the group. I only realized a second after they interacted with me that they confused me for one of their own. At first, I was intent on unleashing my sword again, call myself a butcher, and bring them all down at once.

Seeing how the older guy bowed his head to me, too, now, I only scratched my head awkwardly, slightly embarrassed. Placing one big palm on his junior's head, he pushed it down as he brought down his whole upper body. Now, that was a bit of a stretch. Maybe that was simply to say my overreaction was way over the top, if they had to apologize so strongly.

"Now, that's a proper apology!" the man said, self-motivated and happy with himself. Or maybe he was just some weirdo who got a kick from apologizing to people he just met. As I didn't want to admit I overreacted, I went for this explanation. It made the rest of the conversation easier for me.

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"I just don't like being surprised… Maybe. But… anyway, I forgive you. If you want to be forgiven, that is… But you… As you said you were sorry, I guess that's, er, my forgiveness for you, then. Right…?" Was I speaking properly? Was I not being suspicious? Would they find out I'm a monster right away, admonish my existence, and jump at me for a kill?

These three questions, and many more, might have made me look like some kind of fool. Lest it only made me more foolish-looking, I didn't focus on that. Hopefully, I wasn't being too awkward. It wasn't exactly my first time talking to humans, but well. Maybe it was, actually. I was directly being a monster, at the present moment, and I spoke to humans for the first time, without hiding behind a Receptacle or anything.

And anyway, that was it. Humans had come to me. They wanted to do something with me, it seemed. We had some business together, from what I understood so far. And so I was called out. Not with a word, however. A hand called me and got my attention. Why was that? "Well, we tried talking to you, but you wouldn't reply no matter what. Too distracted by what you were doing… Talking to—cough!—to yourself, yeah… Er… Yelling by yourself to the sky or something… But I don't think you're—cough!—weird or anything, y'know!"

He definitely thought I was a freak. Grimacing, I acted as though I didn't know what he was talking about.

"You got the wrong person."

"We did?"

"You did."

"We did."

Which brings us to their apology. As I didn't reply, the leader of their adventurer pack said they'd approach me. After the younger man came to me, instead of calling out "Adventurer!" to me again, he touched my shoulder to get my attention.

These guys weren't soldiers of the army. They were adventurers. I was so happy to see them this up close. Just to be perfectly sure, I asked the human group whether they were my enemies or not. And, "Enemies?" No, they weren't.

The man who seemed to be the leader thanked me again and said sorry for the trouble. All right, now, what was their business with me? The leader asked me if I would collect the head or not. What 'head' was he even talking about?

"The orc's head, obviously. You took him down? Or… you're going after other people's loot? Just like us, hm? I mean, we—my party isn't that strong, so for our first day out on the battlefield, I thought I'd go easy on my juniors. Also… I'm profusely sorry. I just hope the guys weren't with you, kid…"

For some reason, the leader apologized again, this time wearing a graver expression. It's true there were also the two humans I slayed. Well, no, they weren't with me. "That's a relief," the leader smiled, after telling me not to worry about retrieving their bodies on my own. As a side note, I didn't know what to think about it, but it seemed people had gotten used to call me a 'kid'.

The Guild Bureau—that was some organization some chubby adventurer, who was my hero, mentioned back in the woods—would take care of retrieving them for the deceased's families and stuff. "But anyway. Let's forget about that. Why collect the head, you ask? Well, aren't you an adventurer, too?"

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