Chapter 88 Her

I wore tattered rags. The grass wore its beautiful green, shiny coat. The soldier-wall was adorned by a metallic-gray metal, so dense and heavy. And the commander in charge, armed with surprise, looked at me, also annoyed. My feet, bare, steadily walked the earth toward him. The warchief's cold and heavy dangling head hung by my side.

Soon enough, a frown of anger appeared on the commander's complexion. Why get angry? As if it would calm the man down, I held out the "Warlord Orc Head" quest item to him, hoping the gesture taught him what I'd do with his head if he started pestering me, too. But no, the man wouldn't have it—his eyes, from behind the visor of his helm, doubled with an exhausted flame of both embarrassment and loathing.

My orc head wasn't supposed to be a ticket for safe travel through the human settlement, so I expected it couldn't solve anything on its own. "Monster-hunters…" he mumbled to himself, "...again?" Adventurers and monster-hunters were about the same job. The man placed his palm on his forehead and cursed under his breath.

Behind his helm, he heavily scowled. What should be so hard for them to understand, eh, he asked himself. After the fire signal, the adventurers weren't granted access to the battlefield any longer, yet here I was on the other side of the battlefield. To my defense, I didn't know that yet.

The commander's reproachful gaze fell down on me, and now the soldiers' eyes, too. No need to panic. I was a human, too, you know. Or that wasn't exactly true, but that's what the human team would think anyway. Right, because I looked just like one of theirs… as far as outer appearances were concerned.

That's how I was a human boy, and that's how I came back from the battlefield to home. A long distance was placed between myself and my sweet home, but now, the only obstacle left was the "wall." Between myself and the wall, there was a general of some sort. A man of the army. Cladded in his metallic gear, he noticed me at last.

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Twenty feet separated me from the commander, and he called out to me. His voice was loud and sharp. "Adventurer!" he said. The ridiculous massiveness of his armor became more evident to me as I passed by him… and that was it. That was absolutely it—the only remark I could make. That's correct; I was a simple passerby, here. That's why I didn't intend to respond to the commander, lest it got me in more trouble, and simply work my way to the soldier-wall. I hoped to jump it once I faced it.

Well, in the meantime, I hoped the commander wouldn't take offense at my not answering him. I was hesitant to do so, as I had just planned on passing by this place without raising even one problem, but I let my eyes meet with the commander's.

Heaving a deep sigh, he shook his head as his whole armor clanked. "Adventurer! Boy! What's the meaning of this?!" In the end, frantically gesturing at me to stop and also expressing his discontentment, he spoke quite madly. Rather than a furiously angry person scolding a stranger, however, he sounded more like an uncle rebuking his sonny, thankfully. What was the meaning of my presence here, he asked. Couldn't the good boy I was heed the instructions?

The fire signal had been given out already. Not once, not twice, but thrice, no less. Was I just a kid lost on the battlefield? The man could obviously tell, he let me know, that I wasn't any fighter (which made me freeze a little, thinking I could be found out as a monster at any moment, with sharp fighters surrounding me) so what the hell did a strong kid like me get wrong? Showering me with so many questions, the commander in his chunky armor asked me where my Party was. Lastly, he asked me whether I had an identification plate on me. Pointing an index finger at me, he jabbed at me repeatedly while he talked. Now, his frantic movements calmed down, and I knew I needed to speak now.

So I simply said "Okay?" with a tone of interrogation. I figured that'd work as an answer, and simply decided to continue my stroll to the soldier-wall, then to the Guild Bureau. Unable to understand why he, in the first place, decided to do so much as stop me, I shook my head at his rebuking. I'm sure he had his reasons. Sure, that had to do with some instructions and rules I didn't abide by. Once the fireball was given out, the signal meant that no adventurer should be found on the battlefield. But then again, what could I do about it? I was only a passerby. Surely, to passersby, the rules ought not to be the same.

Now, the commander really grew furious, seeing how shameless the "brat" was, and how I plainly ignored him. Addressing some words to the soldier-wall, he urged them not to be disturbed or break the formation, to be stilled and disciplined, and the wall let out a sharp "Yes, sir!" at once. Was I having that kind of effect?

The monster really was just that—a passerby. Let them not be disturbed in any way at all. The commander then went on saying that, lost kid adventurer or not, the rules had to be enforced. That didn't smell good to me, but I ignored them, simply walking on. It was then that "it" happened.

A soldier, who was part of the wall but stood out in his own way, called out to the commander. "What now?!" The soldier seemed to have some report to make. Something happened, and he had some information to relay. Maybe. Hesitatingly mumbling, he was obviously annoyed and distressed by whatever report he had to give his commander. No, the report wasn't about anything drastic or bearing big consequences, but the soldier seemed reluctant to speak directly. After he was yelled at and told to make sense, the report was given at once.

The nature of the report, which wasn't an actual report coming from the State, from the rear, or from the daughter of the King that was in charge of managing the warfare and its logistics, that probably was why the soldier hesitated so much—it was about an unidentified female adventurer trying to pass through the formation. "A woman… sir! A woman of the Guild's force seems to demand we let her pass, sir!"

Seriously? Another adventurer causing problems? The big soldier was about to get seriously annoyed about this. He was, as furious as he could be, thinking the adventurers were a real pain to deal with as they so lacked proper training, discipline, and organization, asked what the adventurer individual was about. So far, he'd just seen some adventurer kid that didn't answer to the rules very well—or not well at all, actually—and decided that needed a little correction, but now what, another adventurer came to reap seeds of troubles?

They were an army, right here, did they seriously have to deal with the Guild Bureau's lack of organizing and disciplining, eh? "Can't they simply follow the goddamn regulations set beforehand, eh?! That's why these people're— Argh, let them in!" It wasn't like the general could execute the troublemakers on the spot, anyway, so as there already was some adventurer boy causing troubles, he might as well hear the woman.

"Yes, sir! See for yourself, sir!"

With that, the soldier-wall opened, and I was given a chance to escape my predicament. When the reporting soldier finished presenting the problem, the wall of soldiers opened up. It was so smooth that was scary. As if by magic, a hole was formed, and someone was produced. The commander harrumphed, waving his irritated mood away, then laid his eyes on me and shrugged.

…And that's how I met "her," how I became a monster-hunter, and how I learned more about the Outside World. The girl's entrance was kind of the shiny one: forcing and straining her shoulders forward as she tried to get through the wall, finally, when the soldiers opened up, with all the force she put in her back, trying to go through and help the "adventurer boy" person who seemed to be in a bit of trouble, she fell onward with a funny "Ouchie!" Seeing her for the first time, I scoffed. That was what the "See for yourself, sir" meant.

It was just then that… Ring! ❮ An Voluntary Quest has been found!— ❯ By now, I got used to the System's (important or not) comments that came up every once in a while, so I didn't react to the surprising AR display, briefly read through the text it displayed— "Head over to the rear and wander there for a time." —but discarded it right away.

All I was concerned with was the woman adventurer, at the present moment. Be serious! I inwardly scolded her. What kind of goofy entrance was that? Not that I minded her being funny and goofy, but the commander was already pretty pissed because of me, apparently. Now, she was pissing him more.

"Ow, ow, ow… owie!" With that, the goofy lady appeared, rubbing her behind with a hand, and left her goofy entrance at that for now. The girl's butt fell flat on the earth, pressed between her two folded legs, the pain made her furrow her brow.