Strange Grief Wants to Retire ~ The Weakest Hunter Dreams of a Hero ~

Chapter116，Part1: 1 - A Certain Vacation ③?

Chapter 116 A Certain Vacation ③?

Part 1

Trees were snapped and down on the ground, and as if it had been dug up, the said ground was devastated.

The Hunters, who had come to check out after receiving the report, gasped at the trail that was left as if a stampede had occurred.

The area was opened, but there was still a lingering stench of beasts that was able to hurt your nose. It was the proof that a large number of animals had been nesting here up until just a moment ago.

However, there was no sign of the creatures responsible for the smell.

The roughly assembled and carved forts near the entrance of the forest were empty and there was no one on the watch tower on every corner of the fort. The gate which should have been tightly closed was wide open.

A careful look in the front and you could see on the ground that it had been trampled with countless footprints.

Originally, there was a village at this location.

A long time ago, the village was abandoned due to a decline in the population, but recently, there were Monsters that had settled down and used this space to build a fort.

The name of those Monsters that had made the town, Gula, wary a lot was called ―― Orcs.

They are subhuman Monsters who are wise enough to use tools and have enough communication to form a horde, but they were feared because of their ferocity and the fact that they prefer to attack human settlement.

From the point of view of people who make a living on a battlefield like a Hunter or a Knight, its individual abilities aren’t worth much, but the most troublesome aspect of this Monsters was its high fertility.

The numbers of Orcs will increase. Their speed of procreation is said to only be second after Goblins, which are known to be the most fertile of the subhuman Monsters, and there have been cases where a small horde of only a dozen or so, has expanded into hordes of several hundred within a year.

And when that expanded horde is led by a distinguished individual, the Orcs become a threat to human nation.

The horde that was nesting near the vicinity of Gula was one of those extremely dangerous hordes as it was led by one.

There was no way that a mere group of Orcs would build a fort, even if they used a village that was abandoned.

It was speculated that there was an Orc King with humongous abilities. And a horde of Orcs led by such an individual would be extremely hard to deal with.

It was the kind of pack that could defeat Knights and Hunters if they let their guard down, even if they were equipped with superior equipment.

It takes a lot of power to destroy the Orcs when they have the geographical advantage and have locked themself in a fort.

According to the Hunters investigation beforehand, several Orcs had been seen on the lookout from the top of their watchtowers. They had then come to the conclusion that it was too dangerous to go out and defeat them with only the forces they had in Gula, so they were in the process of calling backup to reinforce their strength.

However, there wasn’t any sign of a single Orc in the fort, which was until a few days ago, predicted to have hundreds of Orcs holed up in there.

“What happened?”

“Seriously, the Orcs are really gone.”

The Hunters who had infiltrated the interior of the fort had a look of confusion and alertness on their faces.

It was only a few hours ago that the Hunters, who were in charge of the lookout, had provided information that the Orcs had left the fort.

The Orcs didn’t react at all to all the attempts they made to fish them out of their fort. The change in their behavior was a bolt out of the blue for the town of Gula, which had been steadily gathering their strength.

At last they were prepared in case of an attack, but there was no sign of any Orcs appearing anywhere near the town and they doubt that a horde that was led by a leader who was wise enough to build a fort attacked without scouting first.

“As it has been reported, there’s no sign of a natural predator appearing making the Orcs flee……”

“From the form of the footprints ―― They had stepped out with considerable strength. It looks like they were pretty agitated……”

The fort was far more crude than anything humans could make, but there was no evidence that it had been attacked from the outside.

The lookout informed us that a particularly strong individual leading a group of Orcs ―― Probably the leader of the group, had rushed out of the fort with rage. When we had first heard the report, we thought that it was a joke but the evidence from the empty fort and surrounding area we checked, confirmed that the information from the lookout was correct.

We don’t know where they are right now, but they were a huge horde with hundreds of them. It won’t be long before we find them.

The Hunters looked at each other as they vigilantly checked the interior of the fort and confirmed that there was no sign of any natural enemy of the Monsters which had threatened the town of Gula.

“They aren’t here…… Yosh, I don’t know what happened ―― But as planned, let’s destroy this disgusting fort before they come back.”

Gula’s strength was steadily gathering. As long as the fort is gone, they would have the upper hand in battle, even if the Orcs return.

While nodding to each other, the Hunters from the town of Gula began to prepare to destroy the fort.

§　§　§

TL notes:

Thanks for reading!

Where could have those Orcs go? Well the answer is pretty obvious!

Looks like the Hunters in Gula (Cry included) just escaped a fight with a bunch of orc! XD

Oh and I started a wikia for Strange Grief, feel free to drop by and add more stuff!

Tchao à plus!