Vol 2 Chapter 1 (1/2)
LEVEL 2: Everything is Precious, Nothing is Replaceable
Chapter 1: A Different Level
It happened as Haruhiro and the others loitered, having finished selling their day’s loot and divided their earnings, perfunctorily discussing what they should do next
A loud, frantic clanging echoed through Altana’s marketplace
“Is that…” Haruhiro’s eyebrows narrowed “The six o’clock bell? But it sounded seven times, and all crazy, too…”
“What?! What?! What’s going on?!” Ranta’s messy hair flopped back and forth as he snapped his head around
“M on her twin-tail braided hair “What’s happening?”
shi+horu edged closer to Yuency?”
Mogzo rubbed the back of his hel, expression anxious
“It can’t be…” Mary leaned forward slightly, her eyes narrowing to slits “An enemy attack?”
“Huh?” Haruhiro tilted his head He had understood the definitions of the words, but had no idea what she meant “Enemy attack?”
A shout pierced through the air from somewhere It sounded distant
Ranta’s nostrils flared “Oy! Oy! Oy!” he shouted “Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!”
Why was he acting so intensely? Because he was an idiot?
“Mary, what do you mean by ‘enemy’?” Haruhiro asked
The reply was terse “Probably orcs”
Orcs? he wondered, unfamiliar with the word
“Run!” someone cried
“Orcs!” another shouted
“It’s orcs!”
“Orcs are here!”
“We’ve been invaded!”
“Oh?” Yuer on her chin “I didn’t know okras could invade”
Straight-man Haruhiro shot back, “No, not okras, ORCS!”
All the people scattered about the ed into a solid stream of bodies, and it sed up Haruhiro and the others in an instant The tide of panicked shoppers swept hiainst the tre at his back
“What the—!” Ranta was atteainst the crowd, but he too found resistance impossible “What the hell!”
“Whoa!” Mogzo’s eyes seezo had a rough ti flurry of elbows and knees
“M-e’s hat flew off her head
Haruhiro snapped his hand out and caught hold of it rather neatly Then everything went downhill after that Shoved along by the people behind him, he was quickly separated from everyone else
“Haru!” Yume called
“HARU!!” Mary’s voice
The top of Mogzo’s head was the only thing he could see now, and that only barely Buthis way back over there was impossible
“G-guys!” Haruhiro waved his hand frantically, but it was no good He had lost sight of even Mogzo “Watch yourselves, everyone!”
But though he told them that, Haruhiro realized that he had to be the most careful of everyone If he tried to carelessly force his way against the sta crowd, he would be trampled He could even die To die like that… no, just no So for now, he had no choice but to sub
An attack… or so Mary had said Enemy attack? Orcs What were orcs? Haruhiro felt like he had heard the word somewhere before
Whatever orcs were, this was definitely not a nor attacked? Altana was being attacked by orcs or whatever? And everyone was just running away? But to where?
This was a town; everyone had their hoh, thick defensive wall, which meant that nowhere around was as safe Probably Most likely Or so Haruhiro thought The supposedly safest place around, under attack Did that mean… could it possibly be…
…that this was really bad?
The merchant tables that lined the streets were overturned, their goods scattered about and lost beneath the tide of feet What a waste, Haruhiro thought Some of the vendor stalls had had their frames broken apart, and others were completely flattened Their owners must be so pissed off…
Wait, noasn’t the tis like that!
A wailing cry rose fro “They’re here! The enemy’s here! Run! RUN! The other way! Run!”
Suddenly, the tide of people began to surge in the opposite direction But an abrupt reverse was impossible; the people at the front ht ahead And Haruhiro was unfortunate enough to be caught right at the center of the switch He found himself smashed in, unable to move at all
“Can’t—can’t breathe! Quit pushi+ng!” he gasped
He was going to be crushed to death To die like this… you’ve gotta be kidding! Soh the mass of people, until he reached a still erect h the black curtain that served as the entrance
“Ugh, gross…” His nose rebelled at the stench
And it wasn’t just the smell that eird; the objects that lined the counter and shelves were odd as well, filled with s, feathers, and even accessories made from the aforementioned
“Over here…”
The suddenness of the voiceWhen he looked, a crinkled old wo to him from behind a counter It was evident to Haruhiro that she was totally shady
“Coly when Haruhiro failed to answer straight away
Timidly, Haruhiro sauntered over “Err, this your store, ma’am?”
“How rude! I ain’t no oldmiss!”
“Um… miss…” Haruhiro started to correct himself as the old woman smiled
“Go on…”
“But you’re not a… I mean, you don’t look…”
“Hey, if you’re going to play the straight-man, then don’t half-ass it!”
That’s because the funny-ht, but didn’t say
The old woed her shoulders “I’m Madam Baaba”
“Ma’am is short for madam!” Haruhiro shot back
The old woht-man”
“…Thanks I guess”
“Don’t you start getting sarcastic with me, boy!” She stopped “Never mind Let’s start over My name is Madaical goods shop Are you a member of the reserve force?”
“Yeah, what about it?” Haruhiro replied, trying his best to steal glances outside and not breathe through his nose
The door curtain prevented any vieas going on However, Haruhiro could still hear a significant cla, or so it seemed
“An invasion? Really?” he whispered to himself
“Orcs? Oh well It happens once in a while,” Madam Baaba remarked off-handedly “You wouldn’t happen to be a rookie, would you?”
“I guess,” Haruhiro said “I haven’t been working for Cri”
“I thought as in?”
“A what?!”
“Silly boy I’irl before! Reserve force soldiers are considered virgins ’til they’ve killed an orc Don’t tell in?!”
“Single, double, triple, WHO CARES?!”
“Not an ounce of aer at hiht? You want to kill orcs and sleep with girls, don’t you? What are you going to do without the drive?!”
“So what? What’s the big deal?!”
“Idiot boy!” Mada
She looked as if she was going to rip into him more, but the door curtain suddenly flew open Haruhiro blinked in surprise as so No hureen skin
It was huge, too Not in height so irth It was barrel-chested, with a nose that looked like it had been s out from the corners of its broad le-edged sword
Just as Haruhiro ondering what the hell it was, Mada like a walking stick in her hands “It’s in inity! Get to it!”
“M-er; he couldn’t quite get a grip on it “N-no way! I’m alone, and my class is Thief!”
“So what?! I’ranny! Grow a backbone, Thief!” Madah shove in the back
“W-whoa!” He alranny
The orc had been drawing closer all the while and Haruhiro found hi and stabbed at hie that he couldn’t understand
“What the—! No way!” He deflected and dodged the attacks but soon found his back pressed against the counter
“What’re you doing?!” Madam Baaba screeched at him
“You’re asking me?!” Haruhiro flipped himself over the top of the counter and tried to make a run for it
“OSHUU BAGDA!!!” the orc cried, leaping up and over in pursuit
There was no way Haruhiro was going to die He was going to be killed He shouted wildly, grabbing any and all objects in reach to throw at the orc But even if it got hit, the orc acted as if he didn’t even feel it
No way! No way, no way, NO WAY! Words failed to express how bad things were Haruhiro dove through the door curtain and was outside the shop once more
“It’s… not following?” he whispered to himself No sooner were the words out of his mouth that Madam Baaba’s came froranny to die?! Oh, the inhumanity!”
“And what exactly do you expect me to do…?” Haruhiro muttered
He could see the outlines of other orcs in the distance After all, he reasoned, this was an invasion, so of course there would be more than one Tons more This was bad Really bad Horribly bad He had to run Hide somewhere, maybe, until people who could deal with the orcs ca She was a total stranger He had no obligation to help her And it wasn’t like he could help even if he wanted to
“I don’t have a choice…”
He took a single, deep breath—and yanked the shop’s door curtain open again da?! Hadn’t he been about to run? He still wanted to His desire to run aas al But if he left her, even if it had been a total stranger, he knew that he would never sleep well again
So he didn’t have a choice It wasn’t just because it would haunt hi a decent hu could possibly do
The orc swung its sword down at Mada as the force brought her alht red with the effort of staying afoot It was a good thing the walking stick was sturdy, but though she had stopped the orc’s attack, it was a close call This was no tis were about as desperate as it got
Haruhiro drew his dagger and set his sights on the orc’s back “[BACKSTAB]!”
The blade, however, slipped off and was turned aside by the orc’s armor It turned towards Haruhiro and bellowed, “GASHUU HA!”
“Soldier Boy!” Mada in love!”
“Seriously, don’t!” Haruhiro snapped, turning his back to the orc “Come over here! Or… never mind!”
Unfortunately, the attention of the orc had now shi+fted from Madam Baaba to Haruhiro Should have stopped ht Should have run while I had the chance… But it was too late for regrets now
“HASHUU HASHUU HASHUU!” The orc chanted as he chased Haruhiro out of the shop
Haruhiro ran until his breathing beca for all he orth, and yet the orc, despite wearing heavy armor, kept up easily He couldn’t put any distance between them at all