EP.27 Ogre Subjugation
I had a dream.
I can’t remember what the dream was, but while I was dreaming, I miss you very much and my heart aches.
Maybe it wasn’t a good dream.
Little by little.
The sound of horseshoes hitting the floor.
His body shook slightly with him.
Is this why I woke up?
Who is supporting my body leaning forward?
When you feel the hard metal on your cheeks, it looks like you’re wearing armor.
I opened my eyes softly.
She has silky red hair and a pure white nape.
When I raised my eyes a little, I could see a familiar beauty with a cold impression.
“Frillite?”
“Huh?!”
Perhaps she was surprised when her name was suddenly called, Frillite pulled the reins toward her body.
The horse, whose head was pulled, raised its upper body and squealed. In order not to fall from the leaning horse’s body, he gave strength to his legs and grabbed Frillite’s waist.
No, I think I’ve been holding her tight since I was sleeping in the first place.
When I woke up, my arms were wrapped around her waist.
The horse he was talking about calmed down and lowered its forelegs. At that moment, Frilite sighed in relief. She narrowed her brow and looked at me.
“What if you suddenly startle me? Otherwise, you would have been knocked out.”
“You made a surprise. I just opened my eyes and saw you, so I called your name. You were quite surprised.”
“Imagine that someone you thought was sleeping suddenly whispers in your ear. How can I not be surprised? And when you wake up, you pretend to be popular as if you woke up. If you did that, I wouldn’t have been surprised.”
“I don’t know what’s going on, but what’s good about waking up? It’s ok, Let’s just pretend I’m wrong.”
“Haha… I guess yoy didn’t vomit at that age, right?”
“Who is squeamish? Rather, explain what the situation is now. Where are we going now, and why am I sitting behind you?”
“Frilite-sama! One o’clock is urgent!”
“Why is that guy urging you?”
“I’ll tell you the details as we move.”
Frilite slammed the reins and made the horse that was standing still running.
She opened her mouth when the horse, which had been slowly gaining speed, began to speed up again.
“It is said that an ogre has appeared.”
“Ogre? Why is it all of a sudden?”
Ogres are level 60 mid-boss monsters.
As it is a mid-boss level, the specs are so high that it cannot be compared with normal monsters of the same level.
In addition, the ogre has a troublesome characteristic of 50% immunity to physical damage, so it is difficult to catch it unless you are a wizard.
It’s not even a good monster in the first place.
“I don’t know why it appeared. However, according to the horseman, the forest where the ogres appeared is an environment that ogres cannot live in in the first place. So I’m guessing that someone with ill will intentionally released the ogres into the forest.”
“Huh… If that guess is correct, they’re pretty crazy. So, what does that have to do with the way I was hugging you? You don’t want a weak person like me to fight an ogre, are you?”
“You really don’t remember anything?”
“What?”
“You really don’t seem to remember…”
She took a deep breath and shook her head.
“When I heard that the ogres had appeared, I was planning to leave you at the inn. It’s a risk you can’t afford. But I couldn’t. Do you know why?”
“Why?”
“Because by the end of the cavalry’s story, you staggered to your feet and insisted on going with us.”
“Did I?”
“Yes. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t hear it at all. Time is running out, but I can’t keep eating there, so I had no choice but to bring you.”
“Um… yes?”
I made a choice after listening to the story while I was drunk.
It could be.
I met an assassin while drunk and survived, can’t you hear a story about that?
I can’t remember, but maybe I heard the word ogre at that time and thought of the tatto.
The reason I insisted on following her must have been to absorb the ogre’s soul and acquire the ogre’s tatto.
Well, it was a reasonable enough choice.
But.
‘After all, it was all my fault, wasn’t it?’
I glanced at Frilite’s eyes gently.
Again, it was the eyes that wanted to nag.
‘If you start nagging right now, it seems like it will last until you arrive…’
That’s terrible.
I quickly realized the need to change the subject.
What would be…
What kind of conversation can I have to make Frilite forget nagging me?
Turned his head taut.
Fortunately, he was able to open hia mouth before she started nagging.
“But are you okay?”
“What?”
“I’m stuck with you like this. No matter how close we are to ride horses together, aren’t we? Wouldn’t your fiance be offended if he found out?”
A joke that would make Frilite annoyed.
If she spit out strange words in embarrassment, she grabs a pod with it and takes the initiative in the conversation.
Frillite, who missed the timing to nag, will eventually give up on nagging.
“Fiance? I have no such thing.”
But in spite of the plan, she did not tremble in the slightest.
No, more than that, just what?
“You don’t have a fiance? Why not? Aren’t you the daughter of a well-known aristocrat?”
“It’s from a family of aristocrats who live well… Well, it’s not wrong… Like I said before, I don’t have a fiancée. I heard that there are many nobles who want to be engaged, but my father said that he refused all. And I have no complaints with that decision. Rather, I am satisfied.”
“You’re satisfied… Does that mean you don’t want to get married?”
“Right now it is. It’s because time is tight just to train myself and save the people. I have no time for things like engagement or marriage.”
“Then what about after defeating the Demon King? Will you change your mind then?”
“It must be so when the Demon King falls and the appearance of monsters decreases and the continent enters a period of stability. As a successor, I have an obligation to inherit the family.”
Frilite said with a bitter smile. An awkward silence followed.
‘What.’
Why is the atmosphere suddenly dull?
Why aren’t you talking again?
…if we go on like this, we’re going to spend hours in this awkward atmosphere.
It didn’t seem like much, so I decided to spit out a little brazen joke.
Before that, I put a plate of iron on my face…
When I was ready, I opened my mouth.
“I don’t like the expression of marriage by arrangement. Okay, then I’ll be very kind and give you the privilege of taking me as your son-in-law.”
“What?”
As if she was genuinely surprised, Frilite widened her eyes.
It’s a look of some kind of bullshit all of a sudden.
It’s the first time I see a face like that.
I decided to go out a little more brazenly.
“Why do you respond when I say I’m giving you a privilege?”
“Privilege? Is that a privilege?”
“Of course it is a privilege. Hey, to be honest, my character is good enough for you, my personality is not that angular, and since I am a hero, I do not bow down to your status. No matter where you look on the continent, you won’t find a groom like me.”
The c*ck is 3cm tall, but I’ll fix it soon, so let’s leave that out of the discussion.
“…if you say things like that with your own mouth, aren’t you usually shy?”
“How are you? It’s true. And it’s not bad for you either. Isn’t it better for me to know who you are than a man who doesn’t even know who you are? And what if I become the son-in-law to pick you up? I’m confident I won’t touch you at all.”
“You don’t touch me… that’s impossible. In order to carry on the family, we have to have children.”
“Let’s adopt.”
“… Are you sane?”
“I’m serious.”
Frilite looked at me with an absurd expression.
In the meantime, I continued to appeal to my strengths like a freshman interviewing for an interview.
“And I may not care what you do. I’m not really interested in power. As long as you give me three delicious meals, I will gladly stay in the corner of the room.”
I folded my arms and nodded confidently. The appeal is over. Now all that remains is to wait for the boss to notify the result.
“…Didn’t you ask me to be your friend a few hours ago?”
“It was.”
“And now you are proposing? Do you have any awareness that you have skipped the intermediate step so much?”
“Aren’t you attracted to it, because it’s rather masculine?”
“Crazy.”
Saying that, Frilite didn’t look bad. Rather, she was smiling as if it was funny.
Yes, it was because she laughed.
It’s the first friend I made in the new world. Wouldn’t it be better to live with a smile if possible?
“Really… when I first saw you, I never thought you would be like this. How the hell did you hide your cleverness?”
I shrugged.
“Try hard. well. So what is the answer?”
“I am grateful, but politely decline. In the first place, marriage is not something I can decide on my own.”
“Oh my, that’s unfortunate. It was a great opportunity to change my status.”
“Don’t be too sad. I’m going to make a suggestion to my father. Don’t you know? Can you really become the son-in-law to pick up?”
“Sadly, by then, I will be out of stock already. It is a body that the precious daughter of the Perdiak family cannot find even if you are looking for it.”
“You don’t have to worry about that. If you can’t find a body, you can make it into a body that can come to you.”
“Yes? how?”
Frilite said with a warm smile that was not like it.
“If you are married, why not just make the marriage a thing that never happened? Fortunately, I have that level of power.”
“Hey, that’s a funny joke.”
“…”
“…Are you kidding me?”
Frillite didn’t answer. She just looked at me with a smile on hee face.
As the chilling sensation was about to climb up my spine, she burst into laughter.
“Of course it’s a joke. Are you really going to say that?”
I nodded my head at her.
“I hope you don’t make jokes in the future.”
“Why?”
“Depending on the listener, I think they might seriously consider suicide.”
She took this as a joke, but unfortunately I was serious.
You really don’t go anywhere and joke.
* * *
Was it because of the fact that we rode a horse all night long? We were able to meet the lord before the lord’s army collided with the ogre.
“Oh oh..! Hero! Thank you for coming like this!”
The old lord, who had been wandering here and there with a dark expression until before, saw Frillite and ran to her with remorse.
“I just fulfilled my duty as a Hero. So where are the ogres?”
Frillite treated the lord as if it was natural. Even though he is first of all the eldest and the Count of the Empire. Even so, the lord did not lose his smile throughout the whole time and how Frillite treated him.
Are you not paying attention she treated you like subordinates, or Are you being patient even though you do care?
He didn’t know what he was going through, but one thing was certain.
‘Between the ordinary count of the empire and Frillite, there is a distant class wall.’
It’s a new thing, but I realized once again that Frillite is a very high person.
…I’m going to make sure she’s not really joking.
While I was thinking about it, the count explained the situation to Frillite.
“Most of the content will be omitted since Alex has already heard it. It’s been about four days since we found the ogre, and we don’t know exactly when it reached the forest. And the scouts report that the ogres are currently lodging in a lake inside the forest.”
“A lake in the forest. I know. Go right away.”
“Yeah, then… Yes? Hero, I’m sorry, but this old man has a bad ear. What did you just say?”
“I said I would go alone. Don’t worry. The ogres will surely dealed by me. I ask Count Reichel to take care of the monsters who might escape from the ogres or run out in the aftermath of the fight.”
Leaving a word close to the notification, Frilite left the barracks.
I walked after her.
“Cloud, there is no need to follow me. To be honest, it’s dangerous for you.”
“Before that, let me ask you one thing. Can you really kill an ogre by yourself? Aren’t you trying to be mean?”
As I said, if she can catch the ogre alone, that’s the best way.
Because it can end without anyone dying.
However, that was only when she was able to catch the ogre by herself.
I looked around the Count’s soldiers. There were elite soldiers and knights wearing good quality armor and weapons, but most of them were conscripts who did not have a proper armament.
Farmers who don’t even know how to fight.
If they collide with the ogres like this, they will take quite a lot of damage. A lot of people will die and get hurt.
Frillite may have been concerned about it and decided to go alone.
To a priest, it might be considered noble behavior, but to me, it was just stupid.
She stopped at my question and looked at me and asked.
“What if I told you to come?”
“What? We should go to the country together.”
When I spoke without hesitation, she gave me a slightly startled expression.
“I thought for sure you would stop, but I was wrong.”
“How do I stop you? And am I the human you will follow when I say dry? Even if I grab hold of your crotch, you’re going to drag me in that state.”
“It is.”
Frillite laughed a little. She said in a serious voice she soon after.
“Don’t worry. ‘Cause I’m not as reckless as you If I can do it, I will go.”
“Can you catch an ogre by yourself? What level are you?”
How old are you saying you can catch an ogre by yourself?
“60.”
“?”
Damn?
I like her.