| Author: Sasaki Ichiro | Original Source: Syosetu |
| Translator: Mab | English Source: Re:Library |
| Editor(s): Silva | |
With that, the whole area was ravaged with the dazzling glow of flames, blazing like the surface of the sun, so hot your skin felt like it was boiling just by standing nearby.
Seeing the obvious threat of the flames, the hordes of orcs naturally became too wary to step forward, as they stalled on their feet to avoid the danger, but—oh, you naive! Naive little piggies! I can easily double the output and range if I ever get serious!
As far as my Search Art picked up, there was nothing but these pigs in the 100-odd mertes radius. Being the only people in the area, there was nowhere for us to run, but that also meant that nothing was holding me back from turning the entire horizon into a sea of flames. Of course, I wasn’t bluffing. I’m confident I can vaporize every single one of these hideous pigs so that not a single atom of them would be left behind!
“…kukukuku, you pigs, you ugly lump of fat. You nightmare incarnate, you hideous fat monster. Disappear, begone, you pigs are creatures not welcome in this world… I will certainly bring every last one of you to certain death! Exterminate! Every! Single! One!”1
On the verge of madness, I was rambling on and on. Behind me was Priest Cestlavie, palm on his face as he sighed before he started chanting something.
“O’ Saintess the ever compassionate. Extend your helping hand upon this trembling lamb, give peace upon her heart — 「Common Cure」.”
Immediately afterward, my whole body was enveloped in a blue phosphorescence like a cool breeze, and the light of reason quickly returned to me, as if cold water had been poured over my confused mind.
“…oh dear.”
At the same time, the flames that were spewing out at full blast went from being as ferocious as water being sprayed from a fire hose to dropping to the level of a household hose as if reflecting the state of my mind.
“Have you calmed down? Do you recognize where we are, who I am, and what situation you are in?”
Looking at the languid face of the priest in front of me, waving his hand before my eyes, I answered honestly.
“I do. You are the frivolous priest who’s hitting on a girl you just met, we are deep in the woods, and I am in critical danger.”
If someone were to hear that sentence out of context, they would think that some fishy priest tricked a dumb damsel into a deserted place, and was on the verge of doing something inexcusable that would cause flowers to fall —well, I intentionally phrased it that way though— but the situation was pretty much like so.
After all, while Priest Cestlavie and I were having lunch, we were suddenly jumped by 10-odd orcs. We fled, trying to shake them off, only to realize we had fallen into their trap. The next thing I knew, we were surrounded by a ridiculous amount of orcs, almost becoming mincemeat.
Well…I know that this is a bit unbecoming. I don’t understand why, but whenever I see this man acting in a defenseless manner to hide his attitude of rejecting others, I feel so irritated, or perhaps meddlesome, that I just end up messing with him.
“…yeah, well, I have a lot to say about that, but for now, put out the flame already. Are you trying to start a forest fire?”
“Ngh — But, if the fire is put out, those pigs will come attacking us. Those orcs have been eyeing my breasts and your butt for a while now.”
And the look in those eyes wasn’t that of appetite, but of lust. Out of 100, 95 of them were salivating at me —I know this is the first time ever I got fawned over since I was reborn as a woman, but it can’t be any more disgusting than this— while the other 5 were looking at Priest Cestlavie.
Incidentally, since the orcs are basically males only, they usually attack females of other races and have them give birth to their children. Since 100% of the babies born are orcs, they might be reproducing mono-genetically, similar to cloning, using the uterus of a female (I have ZERO desire to experiment with this, however).
“I will go and create an escape route for now, please be on the lookout.”
The crisis of his chastity had him clench up his face in displeasure, and yet Priest Cestlavie continued on with his plan without panicking as he scratched his scruffy hair, making me expect good things from him. I nodded at his words and turned my gaze to Vier, who was barking at the surroundings.
“Vier, you can turn any pig that comes our way into mincemeat. Make them regret ever being born as a pig!”
“WOOF!!”
We nodded, emotions blazing, when Priest Cestlavie asked me, looking slightly withdrawn.
“D-, do you really hate orcs that much? Do you have a trauma about them?”
“…would you like to hear it?”
As I answered his question with my own question, even I wondered where that eerie, deadpan voice was coming from. When he heard it, Priest Cestlavie pondered for a moment, then raised his talisman to the air as if nothing had happened.
“I am going to use Earth Magic Art to create a moat, please take care of anyone that crosses over. —Can I leave it to you?”
“Of course. However, that would put us into a war of attrition here. Would it not be hard to fight a war of attrition with no ally or reinforcement?”
“Even so, we can’t possibly go back to town and bring the lot of them there. The better option is for us to shave down as much as we can and lure out the monster who’s been sending out their orders. If their mastermind gets tired of waiting and shows its ugly rear, my Lightning and your Fire Magic Art can make short work of it. And the rest would fall apart naturally…hopefully. If it doesn’t pan out, we get out of here.”
That was hardly a tactic — similar to the mysterious Nagoya Attack tactic in an ancient book of military tactics that I was shown in Regina’s library. However, his candid mannerism intrigued me, so I decided to get on his idea.
“Understood. Personally, I wish not to show mercy against them, but…I would rather not be the cause of a bushfire.”
Immediately, I turned the flames into a stream of water, severing the orcs that were coming towards us with the water jet. Not expecting me to be able to master two different kinds of Magic Art,
“…some Prodigy I am. The world’s a big place, after all.”
Priest Cestlavie muttered something to himself in self-mockery. However, he seemed to regain his composure immediately and scattered the talisman in his hand like confetti on the ground around us.
“Great Mother Earth, open your bosom and transform your shape as I wish — 「Stone Kasbah」.”
Right then, his Mana Wave spread out from his palm that he pressed against the ground, reacting with the talismans. In response, the ground shifted, creating gutters about 2 mertes wide all around us, and the earth that was shifted inward stood tall and transformed into earth walls, encircling us in layers.
Even though the walls were made of clay, they seemed to be strong enough to withstand the hit and the body blows of the orcs.
Perhaps the orcs realized they made no progress hitting the walls, so they began to climb up as they squealed, or squeezed their fat bodies through the tiny gaps, in order to reach us.
I shot them with Ice Bullets, and Cestlavie did it with his Lightning magic, Riot. With that, the orcs fell in droves. We were basically shooting down a fish in a barrel, so this tactic might be more manageable than I initially thought…by this point, I had grown optimistic.
