Ch 25: Orc Lad, At Attention!
Two people walked into the Adventurer’s Guild. Anda, seeing them, greeted them with a joyful expression.
“Welcome back to our Guild. What would you like to do today?”
“We’d like to look at the Commissions. We’re planning to take on some Extermination Quests today, and want to test the strength of the local Beasts.”
“Ah, I recommend this Commission: the extermination of Halflings. Lately, a group of Halflings have been appearing near the Town. They’ve been harassing Adventurers gathering Herbs, and sometimes they even run into the farms outside of town and cause widespread destruction. Recently, most of the Town’s Adventurers have gone into the Forest to prepare for the upcoming Festival, so no one is dealing with the Halflings. Since you’re here, you can take care of them. The Reward is one Gold Coin and five Silver Coins. What do you think?”
Hearing Anda’s description of the Commission, Bal, as a Hero, showed his true colors. He couldn’t stand the townspeople being harmed, and immediately decided to accept the Commission.
“We’ll take it.”
“Thank you so much! Please be careful. The Heavenly Moon Festival is coming up soon; I hope you both enjoy yourselves.”
After accepting the Commission, Bal left the Guild with Phia.
“You look pale. What’s wrong?”
Phia, noticing Bal’s serious and stern expression, asked him with concern.
“I’m fine. I’m just worried about the Farm Owners who are being harassed by the Halflings. Everyone here seems so kind; I want to do something for them.”
Bal said seriously.
At that moment, Phia snapped her fingers, and a Black-Haired Doll appeared in her hand. She handed the doll to Bal.
“What is this?”
“It’s a doll used to track Monster scents. Put it in the affected farm. As long as it detects the scent of a Monster, it will track it. This is a Scout Tool I use to clean up the Monsters near the Demon King’s Castle.”
Phia proudly explained the doll’s function, forgetting that the doll somewhat resembled a certain black-haired Hero.
“It looks a bit like me. Am I mistaken?”
Bal carefully examined the doll.
“Mistake! It must be a mistake!”
Phia blushed, desperately trying to cover up her mistake. It was actually a Scout Doll she made temporarily with Magic. Subconsciously thinking of Bal, she had made it in his likeness.
Seeing Phia’s embarrassed expression, Bal’s stern face softened. He patted Phia’s head.
Phia awkwardly dodged Bal’s hand and walked ahead of him.
“Let’s go. We still need to exterminate the Halflings.”
Bal followed.
Half an hour later, the two arrived at a damaged farm. The farmland was in ruins, as if ravaged by locusts.
“Excuse me, is this the farm that was damaged by Halflings? We’re here to investigate on behalf of the Adventurer’s Guild.”
Phia asked the person at the entrance. Upon hearing that they were from the Adventurer’s Guild, the person immediately ran into the farm. After a while, they led a farmer-looking person to Phia.
“Hello, I’m the Farm Owner of this farm. Just call me Rea. I heard you’re here to investigate the Halflings. Is that right?”
Rea asked them, his expression serious.
“Yes, Miss Anda sent us.”
Bal replied from the side.
“That’s great! We’re saved! Thank you. May I ask your names…?”
“My name is Buck, and hers is Fei’er. We just arrived in this Town, and when we heard about the Halflings, we came to take care of it.”
“Ah, thank you, Miss Fei’er and Mr. Buck. Please come in.”
Rea led the two to the damaged farmland. Bal placed the Scout Doll in the farmland. After a while, the doll made a sound.
“What’s that?”
“This is the Scout Doll I made. It can detect Monster scents. Ah, it’s moving! Buck, let’s follow. Mr. Rea, please wait here. We’ll go take a look.”
Phia pulled Bal to follow the doll, instructing Rea not to follow.
After running into a forest, the doll stopped.
“Why did it stop? Is it broken?”
Bal shook the doll. The doll didn’t react, only making a sound.
“Bal, I used Magic Detection and found many Monsters nearby. We might be surrounded.”
Hearing Phia’s words, Bal put down the doll and drew the Short Sword from his waist. He infused the sword with Magic, and a faint Light emitted from the blade.
“As expected, a temporary Short Sword isn’t as good as that sword.”
Phia also conjured a Spear. She launched Unchanted Magic towards one direction. A strong gust of wind swept across the ground, also sending several Halflings flying into the air. Seeing the Halflings, Bal immediately enhanced himself and charged forward, using swift Slashes to kill the Halflings.
After Bal charged, the other Halflings hiding in the forest rushed towards Phia. Their small brains thought that all Magicians were weak in close combat. If it were an ordinary Magician or Archmage, they would have been finished. Unfortunately, they were facing the world’s strongest Demon King, Phia. Phia sighed, and Falling Thunder descended from the heavens, instantly incapacitating the Halflings. At this time, Bal returned to Phia’s side, dragging the Halflings he had hunted. Seeing the pile of Halfling corpses at her feet, he also sighed. He thought, “Why did you provoke someone, and not this Demon King? Now you’re finished.”
They began to collect proof of the Halflings’ exterminationโtheir Tusks. While they were working diligently, the Scout Doll continued to make a sound and ran deeper into the forest. Seeing the doll run off, the two immediately put down their work and followed.
Soon, the doll ran to a Cave Entrance. More than ten Halflings outside the cave were watching the doll, preparing to destroy it. Just as the Halflings were about to attack, Bal was the first to strike. He ran while slashing at the approaching Halflings. In the blink of an eye, more than ten Halflings fell into a baby-like sleep, never to wake again.
Just as Bal was about to relax, a roar came from inside the cave, and a giant Halfling, 3 meters tall, emerged.
“I said, with the Halflings’ IQ, how could they possibly do surprise attacks and encirclement tactics? So you’re the one giving orders, Halfling King.”
Phia looked at the towering Halfling King with disdain. The Halfling King was an A-class dangerous Monster, characterized by a certain level of intelligence and strength beyond that of ordinary Halflings. It could command Halflings, and ordinary Adventurers would find it difficult to defeat. However, it was facing the two strongest beings in the world.
“You’ve come bearing ill intentions.”
Seeing the Halfling King’s angry expression, Bal calmly remarked.
“You’re the one who came.”
Phia immediately picked up on Bal’s joke.
“ROAR!!!!!”
The Halfling King roared angrily, raising its stone Battleaxe and hacking at Bal. Bal dodged, using the hilt of his sword to strike the Halfling King’s knee. The Halfling King knelt down in pain, waving its axe incessantly.
“Get up, don’t kneel!”
Bal kicked the Halfling King’s wrist holding the axe, and the Halfling King released its weapon in pain.
“I’m here to do three things! Fairness! Fairness! And damn fairness!”
Bal shouted about fairness while repeatedly punching the Halfling King in the face. The already ugly face was not just bruised but battered from Bal’s punches.
“Bal, stop! Its Tusk is still useful, don’t break it!”
Phia, watching Bal beat the Halfling King, started to feel sorry for the Tusk, not out of compassion, but because if the Tusk was broken, the Guild might not accept it.
Bal stopped. Seeing this, Phia immediately cast Healing Magic on the Halfling King. After seeing that the Tusk had been restored, she enhanced her body, snapped off the Halfling King’s Tusk, and then pierced the Halfling King’s body with her Spear, using Magic to detonate the pitiful and hateful Monster.
Seeing Phia’s brutal methods, Bal was startled. She was far more ruthless than him. So he silently began collecting the Tusks of the other Halflings.
After cleaning up the Battlefield, Phia had Bal gather all the Halfling corpses, then used Fire Magic to cook them.
“Bal, remember to dispose of the Monster corpses after killing them, otherwise it will cause a plague or turn into undead creatures. Then we will have much more work to do, and the Town will also suffer.”
After burning the Halfling corpses, Phia turned to instruct Bal. Bal knew he had to deal with the corpses, but he had previously used his Long Sword to obliterate the slain Monsters, leaving no trace. Now without his Long Sword, he was unaccustomed.
The two returned to the farm with the collected Halfling Tusks and the recovered Scout Doll. Farm Owner Rea went to meet them immediately and began to inquire about the situation.
“It’s alright, we’ve eliminated all the Halflings. You can rest easy now. Remember to repair the hole in the wall over there.”
Phia waved her hand, indicating that they were fine, and then pointed in the direction of the hole.
“Thank you very much! If you don’t mind, please have lunch here.”
“Really?”
“No problem. You saved my farm; a meal is nothing.”
“Yay!”
Seeing Phia excitedly jump in place, Bal smiled and followed Rea into the farmhouse.
At noon, Rea presented many dishes made with fresh Vegetables, and poured them Red Wine. He thanked them again at the dinner table.
