Chapter 6: A ‘Normal’ Adventure

We were now in the middle of the forest. After taking a carriage from the town, it took us three hours to reach here. I could do it in minutes with my horse. 

Kyak!

As I pierced the fallen goblin on the ground, I saw Ethan, the tank being healed by the nun.

"You are really strong mr. WIlliam. You really can't judge someone from their rank" Sara made a comment as she crouched down and kept poking the dead goblin. Does she have some kind of fetish?

"Check your gears! From this point on, it's the territory of the ogres." Vinier gave orders as he started to clean his sword. 

To be honest, I had nothing to check. Since you can't do maintenance all the time, you grow a habit of not damaging your weapon no matter what the situation is on the battlefield. I also had not yet used any potions nor taken any heals. Are adventurers supposed to be this weak? It was just some horde of goblins.

As the party proceeded forward, the jungle kept getting denser. I also started to feel more mana than before indicating the rise in numbers of monsters.

"I sense two, no FIVE ogres ahead!" The archer, Andrew exclaimed as he got off the tree.

Vinier's face darkened as he heard that. "How far?"

"They are–"

Roar

The trees fell as the ogres came from within. They trampled on the fallen trees, completely crushing it into the ground. Their target was them.

"I-In formation!" Vinier shouted loudly as he could

Ethan raised his shield at the front and provoked the ogres who came at him. Andrew and Sara used their explosive arrows and magic aimed at the ogres eyes to blind them while Vinier and I ran at the ogres.

I could see the nun praying from behind. I simply don't understand yet how this divine energy thing works.

As Vinier chose to jump at one, I decided to jump at another. As their eyes were already blinded I jumped at them while rotating in the midair to increase the speed of my sword. My sword landed at the ogres neck, cutting it very smoothly. 

The execution went smoothly if you ask me. Without wasting time, I went after another one. Using the same usual strategy, I slid down it to reach its back. It works most of the time when fighting a single monster.

As I slid down the ogre and went behind it, another ogre landed a punch which I dodge by rolling to the side. Both of the ogres started to come at me.

???

As if they suddenly lost all interest in me, they changed their direction. As I looked at where they were going, I found out that Ethan again provoked them. Using this chance I managed to cut both of their napes from behind, killing them each with a single cut.

As I killed three ogres, I looked at Vinier to see how he was doing.

'...' Just how many cuts are on that ogre by now. Ogre, though not as much as trolls, also have healing capabilities. It means any small cuts can be healed by them if given enough time.

Seeing the situation I ran over to help them. But it was soon not needed anymore as Vinier finally managed to stab the ogre through the neck as Andrew and Sara launched some continuous ranged attacks.

I looked at the corpses I killed and compared it with the other ones. Mine were all done with just a single smooth cut at the neck while others had who knows how many defects on the skin. No wonder these people get tired this quickly.

"You really are amazing Mr. William" This time Vinier was the one who spoke up.

"I don't understand why you are still a copper rank"

"Maybe because he just started this adventuring"

Others joined in the gossip as well. Getting praised was nice. In the army where each and every higher up was like a wolf, forget about praise, it was heavenly if we got rations in time.

As everyone was resting up I filled up some vials with the ogre blood, which was our initial goal. After filling up the vials completely, we decided to return back.

…

Well that was what we hoped to do. We were now all inside a cave, sitting around a fireplace as raging thunders could be heard outside. Few minutes after we decided to leave, black clouds started to darken the skies.

Another few minutes later, rain started to fall along with crackling thunder. We ran to a cave nearby, half wet. The party set up a fireplace with a portable campfire. Yes, a portable campfire. 

I didn't think things like this existed. It was a strange box-like device called a magic stove that would spew fire on top of it like a campfire when put magic crystals in it. They said they could even cook on it, which they were doing now.

Aroma of seasoned meat filled the cave as the nun, Natasha, cooked on the stove. Everyone started to dig in their food as they were given a plate full of it.

In the midst of eating, Vinier started to tell the story of their party. Apparently all of them were childhood friends except Natasha, who joined them later on. 

I guess they are having the fun of their life. They have each other to rely on. They also fight regularly, but they have fun while doing that.

"So, what did you do before coming here?"

Vinier's question surprised me. "I… was in the army for a while"

"The army??? No wonder you are so strong" Sora exclaimed in surprise.

"So why did you leave the army? You surely could have gotten a good position with your power" Andrew asked me back

"Well… I was just tired with how things were…"

"..."

No one said anything else.

"Well, then since the night shift is divided, others should go to sleep."

I went to one side and lay down as Andrew decided to be the first night guard. Is this how adventure is supposed to be? It is slow but… I never did something like this before. I slept in the jungle but not like this.

The next day, we were back at the guild submitting the vials filled with ogre's blood. We got our promised payment and decided to part ways. Though I did get the offer to join the Silver wings, But I declined as I never liked to team up with anyone. Maybe that is why I don't have many people I could trust.

It was still around noon. I decided to roam around the city instead of taking another quest. I heard that the market was quite huge in the town square. As I made my way in the town square, I found it brimming with people. There were stalls on the side of the road that selled things of many varieties. The more I looked through these stalls, the more I realized how backdated I was. There were new inventions that I didn't even know of. Just how easy it could have made our expeditions if we had these.

As I walked through the street a certain smell caught my nose. The smell was quite intriguing. As I followed it, there was a small store that was selling what it said on the board, sweet honey cakes. Made with local honey and aromatic spices, these moist and sticky cakes were being served in small portions.

I decided to get in line and get one for myself. It was hot but tasty. As I took a bite out of it, my mouth was filled with sweet honey. 

!!!

As I was busy savoring the sweet taste, I sensed something that shouldn't be inside a town like this.