Chapter 28

Upon returning to town, I immediately went looking for Nagi, but instead, I overheard some concerning news.

Apparently, a field had been ransacked sometime between last night and early this morning.

For some reason, the damage was centered specifically on the potatoes.

Intrigued, I pressed for more details. Perhaps word had already spread that I’d shared drinks with the militia at the pub, because they shared the information quite readily.

The variety of produce in this neighborhood was limited since the area of improved soil was still small. They mostly grew nutrient-dense grains and beans that could survive harsh conditions. Yet, this time, the beans had barely been touched; the potatoes were the primary target.

Judging by the tracks at the scene, there was no doubt the culprit was an Orc. Orcs tend to choose larger items when foraging to carry back, so they likely only nibbled on the beans as a snack.

Hearing that the Knights had already headed out to inspect the site, I asked for directions and hurried over. I had a bad feeling that the Knights and the militia were going to butt heads, and my intuition is annoyingly accurate at times like these.

“—That’s why I said outsiders can’t be trusted! Look at this! The Orcs attacked even though you lot are here! ‘Knights who protect the lives of the citizens’? Don’t make me laugh!!”

By the time I arrived, the anger at the scene had reached a boiling point.

To make matters worse, when I saw which Knight was handling the situation, I wanted to curse the gods.

It was the one man in the entire Order most likely to rub people the wrong way—yes, Chronicler Yagara. I hadn’t expected him to come out here with the others while I was in the shower.

“You fancy Knights probably don’t get it, but we spent years just getting this soil to the point where grass would grow! We’ve sweat and bled every day to grow food here!! Do you have any idea how much damage it does to lose a harvest like this!?”

“…Regarding Orc damage, appropriate compensation will be paid in accordance with the Foreign Hazardous Species Countermeasures Law. That should cover your losses, shouldn’t it? In any case, this town relies on other regions for most of its fruit, vegetables, and grain. Your self-sufficiency rate is thirty percent at best. Losing a few crops shouldn’t cause significant hardship.”

“W-Why you…!!”

The person arguing—a group that included members of the militia—was flushed red with rage, while Yagara maintained a purely businesslike expression rather than his usual condescending smirk. Either way, his knack for getting under people’s skin was infuriating.

Exterminating Orcs and disposing of carcasses is the Knights’ job, but compensating for financial loss based on the law is the Kingdom’s responsibility. However, that usually happens all at once after the Knights have finished their mission.

The only reason Yagara had bothered to come out here wasn’t because he’d suddenly discovered a work ethic… it was, of course, to harass the Knights. He had sniffed out a “moderate conflict”—the kind where things look tense but his own life isn’t in danger—and was intentionally worsening the situation to tank the Knights’ reputation. I honestly felt Senior Rock should have made him drink another two liters of centipede liquor.

Sure enough, the opposition exploded.

“Thirty percent or whatever, I don’t care! This is precious food we raised from zero! It’s the fruit of our labor that can’t be replaced by just buying food with money!! You think paying us later makes everything okay!?”

“We are simply doing our job. No matter how much you complain after the fact, we cannot turn back time. If you want this resolved, I suggest you stay out of our way…”

“Scum!! So that’s what the Knights are really like!!”

Yagara’s words were technically correct, but people have feelings that logic alone can’t satisfy. Of course, Yagara knew that perfectly well. Before the stress levels of the seniors standing behind him reached critical mass, I decided to do what I could.

“That guy isn’t a Knight; he’s a government official. Anyway, excuse me, coming through—”

“Oh, if it isn’t Varna! Good work today! You’re free to pass, unlike the others! We’ve got orders from the Captain!”

“Thanks. I think I’ll have a look around.”

“He just slipped through like he’s a regular at a tavern!?”

“Hey, heeeeeeeey!? You’ve blended into the local community way too much in a single night, Varna!?”

Honestly, Senior, I’m a bit baffled by how smoothly it went myself.

Still, this was convenient. If I could enter the scene easily, there was no need for a crowd of Knights to trample the field, which would force Yagara back to the Motive Carriage. With the nuisance gone and the scene open for investigation, it was a win-win.

“So, I’ll take over here. You can head back now, Chronicler Yagara. Seniors, thanks for your hard work!”

“Right on, good luck! Make sure to file a report later, okay?”

“A… a low-ranking Knight giving me instructions…!? Grr, endure it, Yagara! That man is low-born, but he’s a nuisance to have as an enemy…! Hmph, I’m leaving!! If I stay in this dusty place any longer, my noble shoes will be ruined by the sludge!!”

Executing a perfect 180-degree turn, the Chronicler stomped off, his shoulders squared in indignation.

Yagara was fine with throwing insults or provocations my way because he had a weird kind of trust that I wouldn’t just snap. That’s why he backed down surprisingly quickly when he realized he was at a disadvantage. He knew that any chaos caused by me getting into trouble would ultimately reflect poorly on him, too.

The other Knights retreated as well, whispering things like “Serves him right” or “What a pain in the neck.” Seeing the man they had been fiercely clashing with leave so easily, the militia members stared at me with strange looks.

“…The Kingdom’s strongest Knight is something else. What was it? He’s like that ‘Mit-koh-mon’¹ from those foreign books.”

“What’s with that explosive name? I don’t really get it, but you’re probably mistaken. That bearded jerk isn’t one of the Knights, so he’s got his own circumstances.”

In any case, it was a stroke of luck that last night’s efforts were already paying off in such a positive way.

With that thought, I stepped into the field. The sight was miserable; a section of it had been systematically ravaged.

Though there were already many human footprints in the soil, the tracks left by an Orc—which averages about two hundred kilograms—were clearly pressed deep into the earth.

“Oh, here are the tracks. Judging by the size, it hasn’t reached adulthood yet. Not a ‘Soldier’ type, but a lower-ranking one? There are very few tracks, so there aren’t many of them. Two at most.”

People sometimes have the image of Orcs always swinging clubs, but in a pack, only the adult Orcs who live for combat carry weapons. Young Orcs that haven’t fully grown yet don’t carry weapons; they don’t participate in battle and instead spend their time foraging for food.

In other words, the one that appeared in this field was a low-ranking Orc, the type that often acts alone.

The militia man following behind me was surprised by my monologue.

“You can tell all that just from footprints?”

“The Knights haven’t been fighting Orcs for a hundred years for nothing.”

“…Are you offended by what we yelled at that Knight earlier?”

“Not at all. When you’re in the Knights, you get used to endless, baseless slander. You don’t need to apologize; just understand that we aren’t just playing around.”

“…I get it.”

Leaving the man to look away awkwardly, I continued to scan the surroundings.

As I had heard, aside from some being trampled or nibbled on, the beans hadn’t suffered much damage. In contrast, the potato field had been thoroughly dug up, leaving almost no seed potatoes behind. As I circled the field looking for any other traces, I noticed something.

“The fence isn’t broken… there’s no sign of entry from the town’s perimeter. And the footprints enter from the town side and disappear back toward the town…?”

“…What? Hey, what’s that supposed to mean?”

“…The field is practically an extension of the town, and if they came from the cliffs, the lookouts would have noticed. That means the Orcs suddenly appeared in the middle of town and vanished back into it.”

“That’s ridiculous! Look, Varna, I know the Captain acknowledges you, but that’s a joke that goes too far!!”

I knew that without being told.

Unless they used warp magic, using such a route would inevitably lead to them being spotted by humans.

However, the tracks in the field clearly showed the Orcs entering from the town side and exiting the same way.

“…What does this mean? Is there some secret passage just for Orcs in this town?”

I thought I’d find a clue, but instead, I was left with a massive mystery.

The Orc investigation in Kliffia was looking like it would become even more difficult.

Meanwhile, the unlucky Nagi, who had plunged his leg into a waterway earlier that morning, was heading toward the fields while grumbling to himself.

“Seriously, who took the lid off that waterway… It was heavy as hell, and I had a hard time putting it back…”

He already had to go check on the fields ravaged by Orcs, and having wasted physical strength and suffered pointless injuries, Nagi was in a very dark mood. Trudging along, he arrived at the scene. Perhaps because some time had passed since the incident occurred, there were almost no onlookers left.

Glancing around, he spotted a familiar man wearing a sword.

He recognized him as a Knight instantly and felt a surge of anger at him entering the field without permission.

He’d likely heard about the Orc damage and come to investigate.

Nagi strode toward him, intending to pick a fight with the man who had entered the field—which the people of Clifia had worked so hard to plow—as if he owned the place. But as he got closer, he saw it was a man he knew. One of his militia subordinates was standing nearby as well.

“Varna… you came here too.”

“Hm, Nagi-san. Morning. What happened to your leg?”

“I was lost in thought and fell into a waterway. Today is a total jinx day.”

Today was a day where all his motivation was just spinning its wheels.

If he’d known it was Varna, he wouldn’t have wasted energy getting angry.

As Nagi stood there feeling exhausted, his subordinate edged closer with a troubled expression.

“Leader, listen to this! Varna-kun is saying something crazy. He says the Orcs appear from the town and disappear back into the town!”

“Huh? You’re saying Orcs are strolling through the streets? What kind of far-fetched theory is that?”

“It’s not far-fetched. The traces at the scene prove it.”

Perhaps because he’d already been challenged on this by the subordinate, Varna looked fed up. He walked out of the field and began drawing something on the ground with his finger. When Nagi peered over to see what he was doing, he saw a simplified map of the town’s surroundings.

“The cliffs where Orcs have actually been sighted are to the south of town. That side is currently being monitored by a double layer of the militia and the Knights. No matter how dark it is at night, it’s impossible to infiltrate the town without being noticed by those two groups.”

“…That is true.”

“There’s no way in from the river, and the Knights are watching the river too. Since they can’t descend directly from those cliffs and move, we have to consider that the Orcs are using some kind of hidden passage. If so, I can’t deny the possibility that the entrance to that passage is within the town.”

“Don’t be stupid! There are no vertical shafts or horizontal tunnels in this town!! Besides, you think Orcs are digging tunnels!?”

“Well, I don’t think they’ve been methodically digging like it’s a prison break, either… but it’s possible such a place exists by chance.”

“…Are you making fun of us? If something like that existed, those of us living here would have found it long ago!!”

If such a place existed, there was no way the locals would miss it.

There was no way the people living there, working there, and standing right there wouldn’t notice.

Even Nagi couldn’t hide his discomfort at being told “you’re ignorant” by an outsider without any proof. To that attitude, Varna countered without a moment’s hesitation.

“I’ll tell you the opposite. You guys—you’re underestimating the Orcs too much.”

Both Nagi and his subordinate were momentarily intimidated by those words.

It wasn’t “the Knights,” it was “the Orcs.”

Varna’s voice when he spoke those words was startlingly cold.

“Orcs use human tools, and they launch ambushes using the terrain as a matter of course. A colony will always utilize a convenient natural fortress or base, and if there isn’t one, they’ll sometimes build it. Their ability to adapt to the environment is high, and their intelligence and vitality are incomparable to ordinary creatures. The more you study them, the more you find they are a surprisingly efficient group.”

Taking a breath, Varna looked at Nagi with a piercing, direct gaze.

“Listen, ‘Orcs will naturally exceed human imagination.’ They strike through gaps humans can’t find, and it’s cost many lives… that’s the lesson left behind by my great seniors.”

Nagi couldn’t help but feel the weight and wisdom of the Knights in those words.

At the same time, Nagi felt this:

If I cooperate with this guy, maybe we can solve the mystery.

Even if he was a rookie, his knowledge of Orcs was far deeper than the militia’s. He didn’t want to do anything that would give credit to those Knight bastards, but Varna was so sincere about his work that Nagi felt he wouldn’t mind giving him the credit, and the militia members would likely accept it to some extent.

To resolve the situation while allowing the militia to save face, he needed this man in front of him.

Nagi silently weighed Varna’s words, consulted his own heart, and then—made the decision to ask Varna for his cooperation.