Fun Territory Defense of the Easy-Going Lord - Chapter 147
[Another Viewpoint] Worms in A Lion’s Body
[Ortho]
He dodged the giant boar’s lunge and sliced the back of his knee. Suddenly losing one of its front legs, the boar plunged head first into the ground. It rolled with a ground shudder and swung its tusks. It was an agonizing action, but its figure and large tusks were powerful enough to easily reap trees.
“Mechanical bow!”
“Aiyo!”
He instructed, leaping backward one large step. Xsara responded lightly, firing three arrows in rapid succession from the tree tops. The arrows hit the boar in the head as if sucked in, and the giant body shuddered once or twice then stopped moving.
“Yes! This one’s good!”
“Thank goodness that we can hunt, the portable food doesn’t give us much strength.”
The fellow who was covering him laughed and said something like that. But Pluriel, who had been hiding in the back, was not happy.
“We’ve been eating meat for a week now. It’s time to pick some fruits and wild vegetables.”
Pluriel, tired of meat, suggested, to which Xsara raised his eyebrows and shrugged his shoulders.
“Even so, we can’t leisurely pick wild vegetables with the Magic Beast coming at us so frequently, can we?”
Xsara retorted, but it seemed that Pluriel had run out of patience.
“After all, Ortho is the vanguard and Xsara can hunt them just by shooting arrows at them, right? If you put an escort on me, I’ll at least pick some wild vegetables while I’m at it.”
“No, I don’t think so.”
I couldn’t help but interject at Pluriel’s logic. Then she turned her stern gaze on me. She had a face as if asking me ‘Am I looking for a fight?’. I raised my hands to show that I was not buying it, and spoke.
“One or two of them are no problem, but if another Magic Beast appears succeeding, it will be difficult for two people to handle it. Besides, our mission is to guide the way and assist in the march, and the worst thing we can do is to fail to kill the Magic Beast.”
Pluriel’s brow wrinkled as she looked behind him. There was a group of knights in armor walking along a steep mountain path.
“In the first place, I wonder if the knights can deal with anything other than a few Magic Beasts. Do we have to deal with all of it?”
I understand what she is trying to say. Pluriel mentioned it in a way that made me understand. I sighed in return and waved one hand from side to side.
“No, it’s impossible. If the knights had to fight them one at a time, not only would it affect the march, but there would probably be a fair number of casualties. We don’t want that to happen.”
When Xsara told her this, he laughed and held out his hands. In his hands he held a knife and a mechanical bow made by Van-sama.
“The reason all the wars with Jiernetta were fought on the Scudetto side is because it was ridiculously difficult to get through these mountain roads. It’s simply because Van-sama’s weapons are unusually powerful, but if we had ordinary weapons and armor, we would have been dead long ago.”
“…Especially this mechanical bow. Even without a magician, it can defeat the Magic Beast from a long distance. Also, I know, I understand. I’m sorry. I was just a little irritated.”
“Oh, I’m glad we didn’t have to get into a fight.”
I replied with a laugh, Pluriel was a smart person. I was sure she would come to terms with her feelings just from this exchange and get the job done right again.
“…But we’re not even halfway there yet, and I’m worried about the future.”
I let out a sigh and muttered quietly as I watched everyone’s backs.
Each group of adventurers was helping the long, vertical march of the Kingdom Knights. We were the ones in charge of the front of the group, so we bear the heaviest burden, but the other groups must also be struggling because of the large area they have to cover.
The knights were carrying our luggage in containers on horse-drawn wagons, but there was not much time for rest, so we were very fatigued. During the knights’ rest time, they were supposed to be on the lookout for other people around them. It was not a break.
The group also had daily conversations with other groups to exchange information and confirm schedules, but like Pluriel, the other adventurers were also frustrated. After all, they were usually a small group of adventurers who were free to explore and defeat Magic Beasts at will. Being ordered around by the knights was also a source of frustration.
If possible, they would like to get to their destination as quickly as possible and return home with the mission accomplished. However, because of the large number of people, the march was slow.
Bases were being built as we received instructions, but we did not rest there ourselves.
“…I hope it doesn’t turn out to be a split among ourselves somewhere.”
With that out of my mouth, I headed off to Xsara and the others.
The next day, something I had feared occurred. A party of adventurers who oversaw the middle of the marching column clashed with the knights.
The march was hastily halted, and we headed for the scene of the trouble. When we arrived at the location where the report had come in, we found the knights yelling at us. I checked around and found the adventurers glaring at the angry knights a short-distance away.
“What’s going on?”
I approached and called out, and the adventurer man looked at me. Then he pointed at the knights and answered.
“They destroyed the stronghold we built. We were on the lookout around, cutting off a little rest time to build a base for them…what’s wrong with the way they built it?”
“You really are arrogant, aren’t you?”
Hearing those words, I involuntarily tilted my head.
“Crushing the base… that thing is pretty solid, you know? How did you…?”
I asked, and the man clicked his tongue and glared at the knights.
“They’re saying the stronghold we built collapsed on its own. For those of us who built it, we know that once it’s built, it can’t be easily broken. You have to lift the ceiling from the inside to collapse it, and you can’t even fold it up. If you use it normally, it will never break.”
The man says this as if to throw up.
“…Wait a minute. Does that mean that the knights on our side deliberately made their own base unusable? For what purpose?”
“I don’t know.”
“Are the knights on the same side?”
“…I think it’s more likely that the knights who don’t like adventurers are harassing us.”
When I asked these questions, the men speculated and talked to each other. Either way, we had to resolve this issue or it would surely affect our future.
As I was wondering what to do, Pluriel approached me from behind.
“Hey…is it possible that this is different from harassment between knights or adventurers?”
“Hmm?”
I turned around to see a strange-looking Pluriel standing there. The other adventurers are looking at Pluriel with tilted heads.
After confirming the gazes of those around him, Pluriel spoke.
“If you make this temporary base unusable, it won’t be to the benefit of the Knights to fight with us as guides.”
We looked at each other as she said this.
“Well, that’s right.”
“Well, there are stupid bastards everywhere.”
“That’s too stupid.”
We gathered to discuss with that topic. They speculated about whom, that, and the other, but no satisfactory answers were forthcoming.
Then Pluriel interjected again.
“…I have an idea, but I can’t say anything yet. First, it’s the way that stronghold collapsed.”