Proofreader: Xemul
Loren was worried that the magic circle would go out of control if they destroyed it, but they couldn’t just leave it alone.
Even if something happened, there was still Lapis, a demon, who was skilled in manipulating magic, and Gula, who was indeed called ‘God’ even though there was a lot to say about her title. Then there was also Loren, who had Shayna, the King of Death – the highest ranked undead, dwelling inside him. Not to mention Dia, the Elder. Thinking that a group like theirs could handle a few things, Loren swung his greatsword and slashed at the female statue in the centre of the magic circle, which was glowing with a mysterious light.
Loren had expected the statue to be made from some kind of very hard material, but his blade passed through it with almost no resistance. As a result, he pitched forward a little after putting too much force into the swing while the statue, having been cut off at an angle, fell to the floor.
At that moment, the magic circle on the floor immediately lost its light, and the unbearably sweet smell that had been wafting through the air vanished as if it had never been there in the first place.
“How’s it?”
“It seems to be alright.”
Loren wondered what would happen, but Lapis, after looking around and seeing that nothing seemed to have changed, walked up to Loren’s side and lightly poked the female statue that had fallen at his feet with her toes. The statue made a sound like something solid being tapped would, but nothing happened. After confirming this, Lapis turned to Loren, who had returned his greatsword to his back, and nodded to say that it was okay.
“With this, I guess the orcs problem is also solved now.”
“The golem cleaned up the mess.”
Gula said this in a voice that could be considered either sarcastic or joking, and when Dia glared at her. Just then, IT came out of nowhere.
Loren reflexively put his hand on the hilt of the greatsword he had just put away, and Lapis got into a fighting stance. The smile on Gula’s face disappeared, and Dia’s eyes, which had been glaring at Gula, turned away from her to the back of the cave. Nim was the only one who was surprised by the suddenly ready-for-battle atmosphere and looked around without understanding what had happened.
“Did you feel it?”
“Yes, but only subtle and not very clearly.”
“Just for a brief moment, then it’s suddenly gone.”
“But it definitely focused on us.”
“Loren, explanation please.”
Nim tugged at Loren’s sleeves, and Loren wondered what to say as he removed his hand from the hilt of his sword.
It was probably the presence momentarily directed at them that made Loren and the other three enter a state of alertness at once. As Lapis said, they reflexively went into fighting stances after sensing the presence, but it was too subtle for Nim to perceive.
Although it was not surprising that Lapis, Gula and Dia could sense the presence, they were all astonished that Loren was able to sense something that even a silver ranked adventurer like Nim couldn’t. They didn’t show it on their faces though.
“You mean something turned its attention to us for a moment?”
“It didn’t seem to mean us any harm, but I sensed something very powerful.”
“It must have come from somewhere deeper in the cave.”
“The passageway seems to still continue. Shall we go on?”
Dia pointed to the end of the passage and Loren nodded.
“Yes. We’re here to investigate, so we have no choice but to go on.”
If they turned back here, there was very little to report to the Adventurers’ Guild. The fact that nearby villages had been destroyed was a matter that should have been reported to the government rather than the Adventurers’ Guild, and the report of an unusual orc infestation had nothing to support it now that they had defeated the orcs and cleaned out the cave where they dwelled with the flesh golem.
“Then we should proceed with utmost care.”
“I guess so. If something happens, I’ll leave it to you, Elder-sensei.”
“Very well. I’m confident that I can handle most things, but since this is your job in the first place, it is a little wrong to leave everything to me, don’t you think?”
As they walked deeper into the cave, Dia admonished Lapis’ words, but Lapis took no offense and plainly said.
“I think it’s part of being an adventurer to use whatever you have available to you to get out of a tight spot.”
Behind them, Gula nodded her head repeatedly as if to say ‘That’s right’. Loren thought that if Dia was not enough, surely the next to be pushed to the frontline should be Gula, the Evil God.
“Hey, Nim. You could give up at some point and go back anytime. We kinda have our own terms, you know.”
Loren would feel sorry for Nim and Chuck if the elf got too deep into this, so he told Nim, who was walking behind him. It would be a bit dangerous for Nim to go back on her own, but with her ability as a silver ranked adventurer, he thought she should be able to make it back to Kapha by herself. But Nim shook her head.
“Once I’ve taken a job, I will carry it out properly. When it’s time to come back, we’ll all go together.”
“You’re going to be a great wife, Nim, no lie.”
When Loren sincerely put into words what he felt, Nim, who normally did not show much emotions, quietly looked away as a slight blush tinted her cheeks.
Seeing the elf like that, Gula and Dia smiled wickedly. Loren, guessing that they were about to tease Nim, glared at them a bit hard before they could and the two, realizing that they were easily found out, gave up teasing the elf.
“Loren, can you tell me the same thing too?”
Loren opened his mouth to say the same thing to Lapis, whose eyes were shining with anticipation, but he stopped himself mid-sentence and closed his mouth.
As Lapis was about to puff out her cheeks, being unhappy about not being able to hear those words for herself, Loren patted her head.
“Words don’t have any weight unless you really mean it, don’t you think? I’ll say it here casually if you want to, but do you want something like that?”
“Mm-hmm. Let’s save it for the right time then.”
Loren’s words put Lapis back in a good mood, and she easily backed off, which caused Gula and Dia to start smirking again. But this time, they took one look at Lapis and immediately dropped the smiles from their faces and began to slink away. Loren reckoned that she must have stared at them with a very scary face, but fortunately for him, Lapis’ face was turned toward Gula and Dia at an angle that was not visible to him, and Loren never had to see it.
And like that, the group proceeded deeper into the cave where the orcs used to live.
After some time, Loren noticed that the orcs had not set foot in the back of this cave. To be more specific, the orcs did not seem to have come beyond the area where the magic circle was located.
One of the reasons why they knew this was that the remains of the flesh golem, which had self-destructed and turned into dust, had stopped appearing beyond the place where the magic circle was located.
Even though the flesh golem had retreated in response to something, they didn’t know how far it had been able to advance at all. but considering the fact that Dia had ordered it to self-destruct before it could retreat too far, this cave had no traces of its passage. However, Loren thought that it was safe to assume that the deeper part of the cave was untouched, since there was no sign of the filth and smell of orcs living there.
And the only reason he could think of was that presence, which had momentarily focused on them was in the back of the cave.
“If you really think about it, the Ancient Dragon is a strong possibility, isn’t it?”
“You mean the thing in the back of the cave? That may be so, but if so, doesn’t that raise another question?”
“What’s so strange about it?”
“Would an Ancient Dragon allow orcs to live in the cave that leads to its lair?”
Orcs were a filthy race. They hoarded a variety of things, which made the area around their dwelling very smelly and unbearably dirty. It must be quite unpleasant just to have such monsters living near you, and if you think about, it seemed very unlikely that a being like an Ancient Dragon would really allow them to live close to its dwelling.
“If any orcs settled anywhere near where I live, I would certainly incinerate them on the same day.”
“I don’t think the dragons would tolerate something that even the humans can’t seem to tolerate.”
“I think us elves would do everything in our power to get rid of the orcs if they were anywhere near the forest.”
“I am sure that dragons will not allow that either. But then, what else could be ahead?”
“Could it be a dragon that is tolerant of orcs?”
There are many different types of people among the human race. It would be the same for elves and demons. Loren thought that if there were so many people with different ways of thinking, it would not be surprising if there were some individuals who showed some kind of tolerance toward a race that was abhorred like orcs. However, this idea seemed to be unacceptable to Gura and Dia, and they snickered at him, saying what a foolish thing to say. They snorted as if he had just said something nonsensical.
“Loren is such an unusual child. Not many people think like that.”
Loren was unsure whether that was a compliment or not, but he decided to take it as one judging from the expression on Nim’s face.
“I don’t dislike that kind of thinking.”
Even though she also couldn’t tolerate orcs, Lapis didn’t seem to negate Loren’s thought.
Although Nim couldn’t be told about this, Lapis was from the demon race, a race that should be abhorred by the human race. But Loren still treated her normally, so she might think that it was not strange for him to think in this way.
“Well, it’s not very likely, is it? I said it myself, but I can’t imagine a dragon being friendly with orcs either.”
If the Ancient Dragon that seemed to live here was that eccentric, then Emery, the Ancient Dragon living in the demon realm, who told them about this one, should have said something to them, or so Loren thought.