35 – 8 – Overflow – 2

An Orc was in sight.

It happened the moment he emerged from the forest and reached the plains, having run joyfully after obtaining a Unique-grade half-mask that could disguise him as a race he had decided to call Flame Human (meaning flame human) for convenience.

Just as he was thinking that he would reach the city if he traversed the distance for about half a day, he spotted them.

“Hm?”

A muscular monster with rough brown hide, a menacing snub nose, slitted eyes, and impressive fangs protruding like those of a wild boar… and on average more than twice the size of a human.

During the tutorial, if one spotted an Orc, they had to assume there were thirty others nearby, so unless they ran away with their tails tucked the moment they saw it, or conversely, hunted down every single one of them without leaving any behind, three hundred of them would swarm the next day.

However, during the early days of the tutorial when obtaining meat was extremely difficult, simply because turning a blind eye to the fact that they walked on two legs like humans and butchering them yielded meat that was structurally almost no different from pork.

Furthermore, since that meat boasted an overwhelming taste and aroma that could trample any pork they had ever known, even the people who whimpered until the end, asking how they could eat Orc meat, would, once they took a single bite, take care of the Orcs themselves without any need for persuasion…

‘Thinking about it now, that was also something we shouldn’t have done. Setting aside ordinary wild Orcs, the ones like the High Orc Legion Commander of the Demon King’s Army spoke normally later on.’

By the time they encountered those creatures, it was already the latter half of the tutorial.

The heroes’ minds must have already gone out of whack to some degree.

That was probably why, even though they clearly knew the creatures could communicate with humans, they only worried about how to distribute the meat after raiding them.

It was the same context for other monsters, including Minotaurs.

Usually, in low-level zones, even if they walked on two legs like humans, they could not speak properly and lacked reason, so once they got used to it, they could feast to their heart’s content, thinking they were just eating wild animals; however, when it came to high-level zones…

—It seems like a ‘civilization,’ Contractor.

Lucy’s words woke Gi-jun, who had been lost in thought.

Indeed, not only were they all properly dressed, but they even wore earrings engraved with patterns of unique shamanistic meaning on both ears.

The clothing of the five Orcs, who seemed to have formed a party, was different for each of them, and crucially, they were firmly civilized beings in that their roles were clearly divided by the weapons they carried, such as bows and shields.

“It’s a race I’ve never seen before.”

Meanwhile, the Orcs were also wearing slightly tense expressions upon seeing Gi-jun.

After all, judging only by his external appearance, Gi-jun must have been exuding the vibe of a mysterious powerhouse!

Moreover, even though his face was hidden by the half-mask, the effect of his Legendary-grade Charm did not disappear, so even a meaningless hand gesture of his now radiated enough charisma to instantly draw the attention of those around him.

Considering that such a person was emitting a heat haze from his entire body, how could they possibly not be on guard!

“Who are you?”

“You speak first.”

As long as the opponent belonged to a civilization and did not show hostility first, no matter how much Gi-jun used to beat and kill Orcs like catching cockroaches whenever he saw them, he could not bring himself to butcher them rashly.

While Gi-jun, feeling a great deal of awkwardness, restrained himself from pulling out his kitchen knife, one of the Orcs who instinctively felt that their side was weaker—an Orc carrying a greatsword who seemed to be the leader of the group—stepped forward and spoke.

“Fifth year. As you can see, an Orc. I am an official mercenary affiliated with the Continental Mercenary Guild.”

He seemed extremely proud as he said he was an official mercenary; perhaps this world was a tougher place to become a mercenary than he had thought.

Indeed, a mercenary guild would probably be something like a troubleshooter group.

Since it would be troublesome if they accepted just anyone as a troubleshooter only for them to go around causing trouble, it was only natural that the verification process was strict.

“Second year, Flame Human.”

“Flame Human? With that appearance, it’s a race name I’ve never heard of… Could you be a solo participant?”

“S-solo participant? Then that means this guy is a civilization representative! If a fight breaks out and we kill him…”

“Cut the crap! Every single solo participant possesses terrifying power. We are in no position to dare cross him!”

The Orcs began to stir.

At that moment, Gi-jun also realized.

Come to think of it, only then did he recall the obvious fact that there might not be any race looking like him on this continent.

If so, it was not unreasonable for the Orcs to think of him as a representative of a civilization like this.

In the first place, he had tried to disguise his race because he did not want to be caught as a representative while acting as a human, but if the disguised race stood out so much that they thought he was a representative anyway, did it not mean there was no point to it other than hiding the fact that he was human?!

However, while Gi-jun was internally flustered, Lucy whispered into his ear.

—Don’t let them sway you, Contractor. This continent is incredibly vast, and those Orcs are just greenhorns who haven’t even trodden on ten percent of this world yet. What would those guys know? Don’t make a mistake by falling for the fools’ misunderstanding.

‘Right.’

Of course, there was a high probability that the Flame Human race did not actually exist on the continent!

—Besides, your Charm stat is too high, Contractor. No matter how you hide your race, you are bound to attract attention anyway. If you disguise yourself as another major race, it might actually make more people suspicious, so right now is perfect.

Lucy calmed him down, speaking words that made perfect sense in every way.

Hearing those words, Gi-jun was able to renew his resolve once more.

Wouldn’t it be much better to be thought of as a representative of a rare race rather than a representative of humanity?

Above all, the performance of this half-mask was so good that he had no intention of taking it off anyway.

“Have you never met any of my kind?”

“Urgh?! T-that is correct.”

The Orcs, who had been whispering among themselves, flinched at Gi-jun’s words and nodded.

They looked anxious about whether he had heard what they were saying among themselves; of course, he had heard everything, but he decided to pretend otherwise.

“I see. Thanks for the information.”

With simple words, Gi-jun made it seem like he was not a ‘solo participant,’ and as a bonus, gave the impression that he was wandering around looking for his kin.

“He really wasn’t a solo participant!”

“He must be wandering around looking for his kind!”

The Orcs were fooled.

At this rate, there did not seem to be much difference in intelligence between them and pigs, so perhaps there really had been no need to feel guilty about eating Orc meat after all?

Gi-jun gave them a nod and was about to pass them by, but one of the Orcs stopped him with his words.

“Flame Human, do you happen to know what happened inside that forest? Originally, the temperature in this area was extremely high due to the heat held by that forest… but for some reason, the temperature suddenly plummeted last night. We came here to investigate the cause after taking on a request.”

“I did lay a few annoying pests to rest in that forest.”

“I-I see. So even the Flame Human doesn’t know.”

Unlike what Gi-jun thought, the Orcs, who were not that stupid, instinctively felt that Gi-jun was involved in this situation; however, since they did not want to be laid to rest by annoying him, they shut their mouths.

After exchanging glances for a moment, the leader spoke to Gi-jun once more.

“May I know where you are heading? If we are going the same way, we would like to accompany you.”

“What about the request?”

“It seems that it is beyond our ability to solve anyway. We intend to give up and return.”

The Orc leader stated flatly.

In reality, no matter how much they searched that forest, they would not be able to find the spirits and Flame Ghosts that had hidden themselves tightly away, and even if they somehow found the ruins that had been reduced to rubble after Ur left, analyzing the cause would be impossible.

So, giving up on the request early and returning was the best choice he could make, but…

“Why do you want to accompany me?”

“Because a powerhouse who is not arrogant is always a reliable companion.”

Eh?

He was acting incredibly arrogant right now, though?

His tone was extremely stiff, and he was replying so rudely, too…!

—Contractor, an arrogant person doesn’t say thank you so easily.

Gi-jun gained a good realization.

Having learned the truth that to act like an arrogant powerhouse, one must grit their teeth and frame everything as if it were thanks to oneself no matter how grateful they should be to others, Gi-jun nodded and spoke.

“I am going to the small city of Turis.”

“I thought so. Around here, Turis is the only place where a powerhouse like you would operate. We are also going to Turis. May we accompany you?”

“Hm.”

Gi-jun pondered for a moment.

Even to get to know this world well, accompanying the Orcs who had already been active in Leta for several years was not a bad thing.

But there were two things bothering him.

One was the worry that he might expose his personal information in some way while being with them.

He also thought that they might pull some trick on the way to Turis.

‘No, if my identity were to be exposed by a brief companionship, I would rather give it up early. I am a Flame Human right now.’

And he was also a powerhouse acknowledged by Biche, the Demon King of the tutorial, who had assured him that he would hold his own even in Leta.

Although he should not let his guard down and show gaps to anyone, how could he survive in this world if he were to be wary of even Orcs whose depths were so shallow?

If these guys really tried to harm him, he could just butcher them cleanly when the time came.

“Fine, I shall accompany you for a short time.”

“Thank you. Whew, the road back has become safe now.”

“But I would like us to hurry.”

“Of course. We also came up empty-handed on the request, so we need to return quickly, report it, and receive a new one.”

The greatsword warrior leading the Orcs introduced himself as Chabanvesh.

Judging by the fact that the etymology was completely unrecognizable, it seemed to be a language system unique to the Orc race.

Despite that, it was fascinating that they could communicate with each other, but was this not the mystery of the Other World?

After thinking for a moment, Gi-jun revealed his name as Jun.

To someone who knew him, it might sound complacent, but the name Jun alone was common enough anywhere.

In the unlikely event that rumors of him spread, and someone associated the name Jun with him and came looking for him, it would be an even more joyful thing.

“Are you going to Turis to get information about your kind? If so, that is a very wise judgment. Turis is crowded with people. It is crawling with all kinds of races and civilizations.”

“Correct, I am going to obtain information. I plan to stay for a while.”

“In that case, I think I can be of some help.”

Whether he wanted to curry favor with Gi-jun, Chabanvesh spoke eloquently and rambled about various things.

Among those, there were words that truly caught his attention.

“If it is you, Jun, you might even be able to apply to explore a dungeon that has gone uncleared because it is too difficult. Right now, near Turis, there is a Unique-grade dungeon that has not been conquered for a whopping three years; an expedition team has already been organized several times to clear it, but they were ultimately thwarted.”

Gi-jun’s eyes widened at the mention of a Unique-grade dungeon.

Even though Gi-jun had also cleared a Unique-grade ruin just yesterday, the reward was, as one could see, immense.

He had contracted with the spirit Ur, who possessed absurd potential, and obtained a Unique-grade artifact that could even disguise his race, even if it had been thrown in as a quest reward.

Of course, it was only possible because he possessed the qualities of a Spirit Summoner, but in the first place, wasn’t the ruin itself a place that could not even be opened without Spiritual Power?

“No matter how difficult it is, the rewards should be guaranteed. Why leave it alone? Aren’t the NPCs strong?”

“Puhahaha!”

“Hahaha! No matter how strong you are, it still shows that you haven’t been in Leta for long. I didn’t mean to laugh at you; I just want you to know that not everyone is as brave as you.”

When the Orcs burst into laughter at Gi-jun’s words, Chabanvesh, who had laughed along with them, hastily added to avoid drawing his ire.

As Gi-jun stared at him intently, Chabanvesh explained further.

“NPCs cherish their own lives terribly. They don’t carelessly enter a Unique-grade dungeon when they don’t even know what is inside. Especially not a dungeon where the expedition team has wiped out several times in the past. Instead, they push in personnel who can be replaced at any time. Namely, the summoned.”

“And now, even those summoned refuse to enter the dungeon, so the situation is at a standstill?”

“Exactly. It has been a year since an expedition team was organized. To be precise, they are always recruiting, but no one applies.”

He now understood the reason why the NPCs didn’t step forward.

Even so, it was still hard to understand.

There should be many powerhouses among the summoned as well.

“The summoned would also rather look for other dungeons than clear a Unique dungeon with uncertain rewards and high risks. Especially since this place, Turis, is not the main area of activity for high-level Unique-grade summoned.”

Indeed, it meant this was a region where only beginners to intermediates were active.

Since a high-difficulty Unique-grade dungeon had appeared in such a region, the humans capable of clearing it had already met their end there long ago, and the strong summoned who heard the news did not bother to cross over to Turis while risking the danger.

“I heard that leaving a dungeon alone for a long time… is not good.”

“That is correct. That is why the Lord has his soldiers periodically defeat the monsters leaking from the dungeon… but it will overflow someday. The energy accumulated in a dungeon will inevitably overflow one day.”

Chabanvesh said so as if to emphasize, and added with a nod.

“I only hope we can become strong enough to leave Turis before that.”

Gi-jun let his words slide by as he estimated his chances of clearing the Unique-grade dungeon.

The ruins where Ur had been sleeping were only rated highly due to Ur’s own potential; in reality, the creatures that appeared inside were only Uncommon-grade, or at best, Rare-grade boss monsters.

At this rate, when considering the actual difficulty, it was at best a high Uncommon-grade ruin.

Since there was the fatal disadvantage of a severe environmental penalty, could it at least be considered Rare?

‘What do you think, Lucy? If I join the expedition, will I be able to clear that dungeon?’

—If you intend to hide me, it would be impossible.

Lucy replied immediately.

As Gi-jun was acting as a Flame Human, he had agreed to set aside Lucy’s light power for the time being and only handle Ur’s fire power.

It was a sort of concept to maintain his identity as a Flame Human, but he also wished to focus on raising Ur, who was only Rare-grade.

Of course, he would call upon Lucy in an emergency, but even then, he planned to somehow combine her power with fire to gloss over it.

Since Lucy’s light contained heat, her compatibility with Ur would be the best.

—Why don’t you just enter the dungeon alone and fight with all your strength instead? You endured in a Rare-grade ruin even when you were Common-grade, Contractor.

‘Back then, Biche was supporting me reliably from behind. Now Biche is gone. I have to determine my own safety margin.’

Sighing, he thought to himself once more.

Indeed, he needed companions he could trust to watch his back.

Only Superman could save the world alone.

“Hm?”

It was while he was quietly and quickly making his way forward with those thoughts.

Gi-jun narrowed his eyes as he spotted people approaching them from afar.

It was a crowd consisting of dozens of people, and although their clothes were all different, it was clear enough to recognize that they were moving as a single group.

And above all, they were humans.

Of course, they would not be Earthlings from the same civilization as him, but still, was it an unavoidable instinct to feel a sense of closeness just because they were of the same race?

“Oh, they are…”

“Grrr.”

The moment Gi-jun felt a sense of welcome, Chabanvesh let out a hostile growl beside him.

“Dirty and filthy human bastards! Rumors were circulating recently that they were plundering near Turis!”

“Judging by their movements, it is certain. They knew we came out on a request and followed us. There is a thief in the Turis Mercenary Guild!”

The subordinates chipped in one by one and drew their weapons.

Just as Gi-jun was about to stop them, wondering if they were trying to fight too hastily, an arrow shot from the human group came flying, aiming for Gi-jun’s head.

Dumbfounded, he glared at it, and the arrow burned up in midair and vanished.

Causing the target captured in his sight to burn with flames; this was probably the capability of the Flame Eyes.

“Damn it, burning an arrow imbued with mana without any casting motion? Did we mess with the wrong guy?”

“You said there were only Orcs, but what is that thing!”

“We tried to kill him first because he looked suspicious, so what are you going to do about it!”

As the voices of the humans arguing in the distance were clearly transmitted to his ears, Gi-jun pushed the words he had prepared to persuade the Orcs back down his throat.

Seeing that he was targeted by the arrow, the Orcs, who had raised their weapons with high spirits, cautiously lowered them and watched his reaction.

Gi-jun quietly asked the Orcs.

“If you lie, I will not forgive you. Answer me, do you have a grudge against them?”

“We don’t. They are scavenger bastards who subtly hide their identities and spread across Turis, only to band together and hunt when an easy target appears. They must have followed us after seeing our party leave Turis for a distant expedition.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes…”

Chabanvesh replied while trembling.

Gi-jun nodded.

In his raised hand, the fire mana formed through his spiritual communion with Ur gathered into a sphere of flames, burning far brighter and more fiercely than usual due to being based on his Legendary-grade Light Mana.

“Do not interfere.”

Gi-jun declared to the Orcs.

A golden rule engraved into his bones after experiencing failure due to lenient actions a few times during the tutorial days.

Those who messed with him had to be finished off by him without fail.

He threw the sphere of flames with all his might.

A fireball capable of physically destroying the Major Leagues swept over the human group, burning brightly.