28 – Winter and the Pursuers (4)
Dorothy and I urgently headed towards the central plaza of the village. There, we found some men engaged in a serious discussion.
“Hey, what do you mean by ‘orcs all of a sudden’? There’s never been such an incident even in my father’s generation.”
“I don’t know either. But we can’t just sit here and do nothing. Any idea how many there are?”
“Approximately 60.”
“There’s only 30 of us. The situation is hopeless.”
The men swallowed their saliva and sighed.
I understood why they were sighing, considering the armament level of this village…
Philip, the village chief standing among the men, spoke to them with his head down.
“The situation may not be that desperate. Have you already forgotten who is staying in our village?”
The chief opened his mouth and gave them hope.
“We have Baekgolgyeong, who defeated the Manticore, and his assistant in our village. If we get their help, we can surely get good results.”
At the chief’s words, the men responded with skepticism.
“Do you really think that boy is Baekgolgyeong from the rumors? At most he looks like my son’s age.”
“Even if he is Baekgolgyeong, the rumors must be exaggerated. The boy looks similar to the one in the rumors, but how much can such a small boy do…”
The men spit out words of doubt and disbelief.
Their reaction was reasonable.
The village chief looked at me without being bothered by these doubts.
“Welcome. Baekgolgyeong. Have you heard that a group of orcs is attacking our village?”
“Yes.”
“We are not enough to stop them with our own power. I don’t know what their purpose is, but they are certainly not friends of humans. We need you, sir.”
The chief looked at me with serious eyes.
“Can you save our Keult village?”
Looking into the village chief’s eyes, I fell into thought.
Orcs have the physical ability to kill at least two adult men.
The sharp eyes of the green-skinned orcs, who live in tribes, may regard such a village asHunting was hardly a matter of concern.
If they had come for a fight, the men of the Celtic village wouldn’t stand a chance against the orcs.
However, it was a different story with my undead army. Those who do not die are stronger than orcs and above all, they had no fear of death. Even without their help, I alone could fight them and win.
I needed a place to stay for the winter and I certainly didn’t want the inhabitants of the Celtic village to be slaughtered by the orcs.
When I opened my mouth to speak to them, Dorothy blocked my path and spoke instead to the men.
“Master is extraordinary. He is calmly doing something that ordinary people can’t do. And it will be the same this time. This truth won’t change whether you believe it or not.”
The men shifted their gaze to Dorothy.
“But at least those who had some hope in the words of the village chief in this room, please assume the attitude of a requestor. After all, it’s impossible to defend this village with your strength.”
Dorothy spoke to the men in a sharp voice. Upon hearing this, the men all apologized with faces as if they had been hit by a hard truth.
“I’m sorry.”
“I didn’t mean to say anything bad about you…”
“The situation is what it is…”
There was no solution to the current situation for them. They apologized to me with the desperation of clutching at straws.
Then Dorothy, having let go of her sharp expression, smiled confidently at me.
It’s amazing how well Dorothy spoke… Her charisma and eloquence, which quickly seized control of the scene in that moment, were extraordinary.
I suppressed my surprise and patted her on the head.
Dorothy, who mastered the imperial language during our travels, was clearly different from before.
“There’s no problem. I’ve decided to help already. Don’t we have more important things to worry about than this? Let’s move on to the main issue immediately.”
“First of all, it’s important to find out what the orcs want. Perhaps we should step outside the village and try to speak with them before their army arrives?”
The men responded, bowing their heads.
“They’re monsters who don’t understand law and ethics. It’s clear they’ll kill anyone who comes out to speak with them. And we can’t all leave the village.”
“You’re right. We should just set up a defensive line and prepare to fight them…”
I didn’t know much about monsters in this world. Yet, I knew one absolute rule that worked even in this universe.
“It’s okay. They won’t approach easily. Not unless there’s something in this village worth their lives. But just in case, you all stay in the village. Dorothy and I, and the village chief who represents the village, we’ll be the ones to go engage them in dialogue.”
Upon hearing this, the atmosphere began to flurry. They probably thought that it was too dangerous.
But in the midst of all that, the village chief heartily accepted the proposal. Dorothy, too, nodded bravely.
“Don’t worry too much. We’ll return unscathed. Let’s leave right away.”
Dorothy suited up in her armor, the chief did so too.
Having prepared, Dorothy, the chief and I, started walking towards where the orc hoard was approaching.
From beyond the village, I could see a faint cloud of dust rising. Perhaps, the orc hoard was present there.
By the way, Celtic village should be geographically near the capital city, but seeing the reaction of the villagers it seemed like they were experiencing an orc invasion for the first time.
What could be the motive of their attack on the village?
I used the magical artifact of the elder, the telescope in my possession, to view the area where the enemy might be.
A race with a large build and green skin. They were intelligent beings like humans with large tusks as their characteristic feature, but their appearances were different…Monster Orcs.
They were marching toward a Celtic village, each holding a giant warhammer and a giant axe that were comparable to their sizes.
Approximately 60 in number. Whether a dialogue would be possible was uncertain…
“Hurry up.”
We approached promptly.
Soon on the plains distant from the village, the orcs seemed to have noticed our presence and stopped their advance.
From a large distance, what seemed to be their leader stepped forward and bellowed in a thunderous voice.
“I am Znul! Who are you!”
The leader who called himself Znul was the biggest among the orc warriors. He was wearing a huge iron armor and was puffed up with fierce bravado, brandishing a large axe that matched his over 3m size.
I yelled back to him.
“We are residents of the Celtic village you are trying to invade. We came here because we have something to ask you. Why are you leading an army and trying to invade the village?”
And then he replied.
“I have nothing to say to you but that I want to chop your neck with my axe right now!”
He proudly smirked with a sullen look. His followers burst into laughter.
Before the laughing Orcs, the village headman looked at the Orcs with a fearful face, and Dorothy grabbed the handle of a knife on her waist.
Lifting my hand, I spoke quietly.
“You’ll need to answer my questions here and now.”
“Ha, why! You weaklings, you can never defeat us…”
The moment Znul scoffed, I slammed my staff on the ground. Thud- the clear and serene sound of the staff shooting through the battlefield.
Then, the ground started to vibrate and began to split apart with a screech.
The dead began to rise from the cracks. From the tear, a pale-white skeletal hand emerged. The skeletal hand supported itself on the ground and began to crawl up.
The scale was different from the previous summoning. Waking from death, the skeleton warriors radiated a sinister glow from their eyes while looking at their enemies, brandishing shields, armors, and swords.
Twenty-five skeleton warriors sprang up rapidly.
This was a hastily formed army, faster than any organized army in the world.
Yet, their perfect alignment showed that they were the elites.
The so-called immortal army that never runs from death and fights until their arms and legs cannot move.
But that wasn’t all. Behind the Skeleton Warriors, there were 15 newly risen Skeleton Archers, pulling the bowstrings tight and targeting the orcs.
And the thing that captivated the attention of the Orcs, more than any other undead in this battlefield was…
The undead bear, which was twice as big as Znul, the largest orc.
Four gigantic undead bears were marching forward, causing small vibrations on the ground, heading towards the line of skeleton warriors.
Dorothy was calm, having already seen this army.
However, Philip and the Orcs were gaping in awe at the spectacle.
The world’s bravest immortal army was ready to fight the enemy. I took off the black eyepatch that was covering my spectacles and started to speak.
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“So, shall we continue our conversation?”
The only universal law in this world is survival of the fittest. As soon as I showed them the power that could rival them, the Orcs’ attitude changed.
They hesitated to advance and their leader, Znul, let out a low moan, looking at the undead army.
Sheeeesh