Reincarnated into a Game As the Hero’s Friend - Chapter 111

Chapter 111

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The tree surrounding us rustled and monsters came out from there. They were Pigman holding a huge club, several small-sized demons holding knives, and lastly moving mud.

“Orc, Gnoll, and Mudman, huh.” (Goretzka)

“I will explain the details afterward, but we had fought them before. I think that there is someone else who has been pulling the string without us knowing.” (Welner)

I readied my spear while telling this to Goretzka-san. The one problem I was talking about was this. I came here before Rafed arrived so that I could take care of the Rafed’s allies. However, when I arrived, I found those soldiers had all been exterminated by these demons.

Making Rafed bring Lily here must be part of the mastermind’s plan. The question was, did Lestlatga know about these demons, or not?

I could ponder over that later, for now, let’s focus on defeating these demons. Goretzka-san and the female knight took a position where they could protect each other, while the rest moved into a position where they could fight together while protecting the carriage.

“We already predicted this will happen, and I had already warned all of you about it, so stay calm.”

“Understood!”

The one who took the command was Gekke-san, who I’ve been indebted to in the demon outbreak incident and in the refugees’ escort mission. As for the rest of our allies, they were mercenaries. They looked calm. As expected, veteran mercenaries were used to fighting demons.

The Gnoll’s saliva was dripping out of his mouth while he was looking at us as if we were only delicious prey for him. This looked kind of similar to a scene of bandits drooling when they saw the riches and women of a caravan which they were about to rob in the movie.

As for the orc, he had a pig head. He was short and ugly, exactly like the Orc commonly seen in any video games. Here, the orcs were famous for being tough demons.

I wondered if they also loved to attack women, like the setting of orcs in many video games in my previous life. Well, I never heard about orcs only attacking women or anything like that in this life. They did attack humans like all demons in this world, though.

As for Mudman, in the game, they were usually known as a type of zombie, but in this world, they were completely different from zombies. They were classified as humanoid demons made of mud. Despite their looks, physical attacks could harm them. I was thankful that it was at least the same as in the game.

Also, apparently, both Orcs and Gnolls weren’t classified as Lycanthrope here. Honestly, I didn’t understand how this world’s demon classification worked since Kobolds also weren’t considered as Lycanthrope here.

In the game, Orcs and Gnolls were the subordinates of one of the 4 Heavenly Kings, Egibigor. Mazell and his party would probably face him right now. Both Orcs and Gnolls were among the nobles who would attack the hero party when they were resting in an inn, and they were also Random Encounter monsters in the dungeon where Egibigor was the boss monster.

The inn attack event and the dungeon where Orcs and Gnolls existed were both located in the Lestlatga. This Rafed guy was also from Lestlatga. Putting the two together, most likely Egibigor was the real mastermind in this kidnapping, although I didn’t have any evidence to prove this. Well, Egibigor would be killed by Mazell in the future anyway, so it didn’t really matter.

“Hi…Hieeeek!!! Demons!!!”

Ah, the coachman had woken up. Seriously, I wouldn’t be responsible if you got attacked by the demons because you made that kind of scream.

The Orc and Gnolls started to rush toward us. It looked like they didn’t even bother to create any plan. They sure looked down on humans.

We were prepared to fight them, so rushing to us blindly like that was a stupid idea. The Mudman also moved, but he was way too slow. I think I could easily separate the 2 demons from him and kill them one by one. Let’s take care of the Orc and Gnolls first.

Rather than escaping, I chose to face off with the fast Gnolls first. The Gnolls held rusty weapons that were bigger than a knife but shorter than a sword. It looked like their weapons were also coated with something, so I avoided getting too close to them. This was where the longer reach of a spear was most useful.

While confirming the position of my allies, I swung my spear to the side to prevent the Gnolls from getting too close. I swung my spear wide to intentionally create an opening. One of the Gnolls took the bait and attacked the opening I just created. I avoided it by backing off to gain more distance and then stabbed that Gnoll. Seeing that, another one tried to attack me but he failed since the female knight came from the side and killed him.

The next demon that came to me was the Orc brandishing his huge club. As I watched his movement, I ducked and swung my spear to cut his foot. A spear had a longer reach than a club, though it would be perfect if I had a glaive instead of the spear.

The Orc fell backward after being hit on the foot. Talking about attacking the feet, I wondered if the Orc also had some kind of Achilles heel? Well, I didn’t think the word ‘Achilles heel’ existed in this world.

As I was thinking about a completely unrelated thing, the two mercenaries around me rushed to the Orc that had lost his stance and then quickly retreated after attacking him. The hit-and-run strategy was used for this kind of tough opponent. After all, if you carelessly continued to fight close-quarter combat with tough demons like Orc, you might get hurt by the Orc’s counterattack.

When the angry orc tried to regain his stance, I swung my spear and stabbed his other leg. The Orc once again lost his stance, so together with the two mercenaries that used swords, I pierced the Orc’s torso. Fighting with these guys was so comfortable since their movement pattern was very rigid.

Also, this might not be the best time to mention it but the Orc’s body odor and breath stink.

Then I quickly checked my surroundings. Goretzka-san and the female knight slaughtered one demon after another. The combination of those two was way too OP. Then, there was another group composed of 2 swordsmen and a spearman, just like our group, that killed a demon. Lastly, there was one person who managed to kill a demon all by himself.

That one person was Gekke-san. Since Gekke-san was the friend of one of the members of the hero party, Luguentz, I knew he must be strong, but seeing it myself once again was surely different. The members of the mercenaries group under Gekke-san’s command were also skilled, so I could rely on them.

In any case, since I didn’t think we could lose in this kind of situation, I would just focus on killing the demon in front of me. As for the Mudman, he was the easiest opponent to use the hit-and-run strategy on, so I would ignore him for the time being.

Just as I was thinking that, I felt another presence coming from the forest. I immediately backed off in order to protect the carriage. The next moment, something came flying in my direction with tremendous speed. 

I didn’t know if the target was me or the carriage, but for now, I chose to cleave it rather than thrust it so I could see what exactly was this thing. When the tip of my spear was about to hit the thing, it rose at a sharp angle to avoid it. This thing was very nimble.

I looked up and finally found that this thing was a winged demon. The winged demon stopped in midair, then launched himself in the direction of the carriage. I was guessing that he wanted to destroy the carriage or steal it, but what he did was a foolish move.

The carriage shook and Lily let out a small scream while the winged demon let out a loud pained yelp. Damn, the people from Lestlatga might find us, so could you tone down your scream!?

The winged demon wouldn’t be able to do anything to the carriage since I had the anti-demon medicine thrown on the carriage earlier. I did that just in case Rafed and the coachman were devils. For a human, what the winged demon felt might be like slamming your hand into a pot of boiling water.

I approached the fallen winged demon and pierced him from behind with my spear but he didn’t die. I guess killing him with a single blow was impossible. The winged demon jumped and tried to fly away, but you know, the length of the spear could also be used to drag down my opponent.

I made a half-spin to use my body weight to drag the winged demon down and succeeded. As the winged demon that hit the top of the carriage rolled down, Goretzka-san and the female knight attacked him. Did Goretzka-san’s sword… just pulverize the demon’s head…

As expected, the winged demon was a Gargoyle. In Egibigor’s dungeon, he was a demon that would move first among other demons. He was nimble and could fly, so he was a pretty troublesome opponent.

“Welner-sama, there’s another one up there!”

Lily’s warning made me look up. There was another Gargoyle who rushed to me fast and soundlessly. At the same time, I had a bad feeling, so I jumped backward.

A hand appeared in the palace where I was before. So, the Mudman camouflaged as the ground. Phew… That was dangerous. Since the carriage was right behind him, the Gargoyle suddenly changed the direction of his attack toward me. With that speed and distance, I couldn’t dodge.

So, I chose to thrust my spear toward the incoming Gargoyle instead. Since the Gargoyle didn’t decrease his speed at all, the spear directly pierced his mouth and came out through the back of his head, after that, Goretzka-san stabbed the Gargoyle from behind. As for the Mudman, the female knight had already taken care of him.

By the time I pulled out my spear from the Gargoyle with difficulty, the battle around me had already finished. I had to do maintenance on my spear later. Although I didn’t manage to do anything much in this battle, Lily was fine. That was all that mattered to me. I guess I didn’t have to use my insurance.

“Viscount, how did you feel?”

“I do not feel that good.”

I answered Goretzka-san’s question. It would be bad if people from Letratga found us here because of Gargoyle’s earlier scream. Plus, I didn’t think we could handle the rest of the Four Heavenly Kings’s subordinates since some of them could use magic. Honestly, the group of demons we had defeated could be considered the small-fry among the Four Heavenly Kings’s subordinates.

In the game, Gargoyle was a monster that the player would encounter in the dungeon, not in an open field like this. Ah, well, demons that shouldn’t have appeared in Alea Village also appeared, so I should get used to this kind of difference from the game.

It would be troublesome if an even stronger enemy, especially like the Minor Demon appeared here. That guy could fly and even used magic. Our casualties would increase if that guy kept firing off area magic while flying. We didn’t prepare any projectile weapons, so fighting the Minor Demon here would be a huge problem. That was why I thought we should return now.

In the game, only opponents that could be reached by the sword would appear in an open field like this. I was somehow jealous of that. But I felt like I missed something… Well, let’s think about that later.

“We will withdraw. Prepare the Skywalk.”

“The demons’ body parts and the magic stones would be wasted…”

“I’ll compensate for the reward later, so bear with it for now.”

After I responded to one of the mercenaries, Gekke-san nodded. The body parts of the demons we defeated during the day would be enough for the evidence. Lily was also safe, so this was the time for us to retreat.

“Then, To the capital.”

As for asking for Goretzka-san thoughts? That wouldn’t be needed. This guy would probably just agree with my word, anyway. Since we had decided, we used the Skywalk to go to the capital.

Outside of the wall, we met up with the Iron Hammer, who had been waiting for us just in case something happened. It was already late, so I asked the female knight and Iron Hammer to escort Lily back to Zeavert mansion.

In the capital, we parted ways with Gekke-san and the mercenaries. I gave them the money for drinks after promising that I would give them the rest of the payment later.

Then, I and Goretzka-san went to the palace to report. I had deployed people to various places, so if I didn’t withdraw them quickly now that everything had finished, it might cause unwanted trouble. As for Rafed and the others, I handed them all to the palace’s guards.

In the palace, I and Goretzka-san were invited into a meeting room. Father and His Highness were already inside. We then proceed to give our report. My report mostly contained something like ‘everything went according to our plan’ then I also asked His Highness to withdraw his people from various places.

I had also received a rough explanation about what had happened in the capital from His Highness’s subordinate and I was told that the details would be shared with me at a later date. After that, I was finally able to leave the room with Father. Phew…

When we were in the hallway, I bowed to Father.

“I apologize for the trouble.”

“No need. Good work.”

The reason why I apologized to Father was all related to politics. The country wanted to make sure that after I saved Lily, we wouldn’t run off to another country.

To do that, under the guise of having to complete many tasks in the palace, Father was taken as a hostage in the palace. Of course, the Hearthing couple, along with the people in the Zeavert mansion, were also hostages. The main mission of two people that acted as a stand-in for Lily’s parents was to protect us, but they were also there to monitor us.

Because I knew the kingdom’s intention, I purposely asked people from outside of the Zeavert mansion to be the stand-in for Lily’s parents. I never expected the royal guard lieutenant Goretzka to volunteer, although I was pretty sure that his words of ‘wanting to go to a battle’ were somewhat true. I wondered if Goretzka-san was currently giving a detailed report in the palace.

If not because of those bastards doing this kind of thing, I wouldn’t have to think about this sort of headache inducing political stuff.

My schedule for tomorrow afternoon would be visiting various people to offer my gratitude. I would tell Frenssen to make the list. After all, the order of visits would be important.

I learned later that not long after we left, the soldiers from Letlatga and the demons ended up meeting each other in that place and they had a huge fight resulting in casualties. Fyuuh… Good thing we left that place early.