Hellmode ~A Hardcore Gamer Becomes Peerless in Another World with Retro Game Settings~

Chapter 83: Camp

The Knight Commander began to talk to me about what I had done. I stopped eating the bird and listened.

I began hunting Albaherons at the age of six in the Nest Kurena; by the time I was seven, I had hunted more than fifty Albaherons.

Only in the past couple of years, a large number of Albaheron feathers from the Kurena Nest have arrived in the city of Grandver.

Then, at the age of seven, I began to lead the way in Boar hunting to the serfs and commoners. As a result, the number of Boar killed has more than doubled from 10 or so a year until now.

(What? Why do you know that? Well, if you ask anyone in the Kurena Nest, you’ll find out, but why?)

As a question mark appeared on my face, the Knight Commander continued his story.

Soon after I arrived at the mansion, strange things began to happen between the city of Grandver and the White Dragon Mountains. The corpses of Goblins with wounds that looked as if they had been torn apart by something began to appear. All of them didn’t have their magic stones intact. The number of such Goblin corpses began to increase rapidly, and it was reported that there were over a thousand of them.

The same situation with the Goblin corpses began to affect the Orcs a year later. Since last year, even Armored Ants were defeated in the same way and their magic stones were taken.

The report coincides with my day off and hunting duty.

And this was after my recent attack and burning of the Goblin Nest where the Knights were headed and where they were going.

(What’s with the report? I’ve never bothered to bury a magical beast in the ground. But why does the Knight Commander get this in his report?)

Then the question arose about the Appraisal Ceremony. It was hard to believe that I am not Talented or capable; for three years, I have been able to fight with Mihai.

He summoned all the Priests who had been in charge of my Appraisal Ceremony and asked them to elaborate on the Appraisal Ceremony.

The Priests all said that I had no Talent. These words raised more questions.

The Appraisal Ceremony started in the Royal Capital and moved to each territorial capital and villages. The Priests did a lot of appraisals, but why did he remember the results of my appraisal when it happened so many years ago?

That being said, it is true that the Priests were contradicting their own statements.

Then the Priests tried to remember the situation. Depending on the Talent, the crystal would glow differently. He remembered that my Appraisal was a light that I couldn’t keep my eyes open. According to him, I was a mysterious child with black eyes and black hair. They all recalled the situation vividly, as if they were trying to match the answers.

The Priest who had been in charge of the Appraisal Ceremony remembered the jet-black metal plate that had been displayed at that time.

Then he replied, “He had a Talent.”

However, he could not read it because it was written in difficult letters. And since my stats were very low, he did not consider it a problem and reported that I had no Talent.

“Those beasts must have been your skill.”

“Well, yes.”

“Hmm.”

My words convinced the Knight Commander. I knew that I had a Talent. He knew I had a Talent, but I had kept it to myself.

(Did they know I had a Talent? I wonder if he’s going to ask me about my summons. I’m not going to answer.)

I am not going to answer my Talent details. If I am asked to elaborate, I will deceive him.

However, he didn’t seem to ask anything more. The Knight Commander was squirreling away some wild birds he had roasted over the campfire.

“…”

The silence lasted so long that I stared at the Knight Commander as if peering into his eyes.

“My Lord knows everything.”

It’s been almost three years since I arrived. Apparently, the Baron knew everything. On top of that, he had allowed me to do as I pleased. Even my early appointment to hunting duty was in accordance with my wish, as I loved to hunt.

“What? Why would you go that far?”

I asked the Knight Commander in the exact words of my question.

“… Well, yes. I’m sure you’re curious, but it’s not for me to say. I’m sure my Lord will tell you about it soon enough, so just listen to him.”

Listen to him? There’s something wrong with your words. It sounds as if the Baron is going to ask me, his manservant, to do something for him.

He doesn’t seem to want to say anything more. He didn’t ask anything about my summons or my daily activities.

As expected, there was no reason to refuse if they were going to give me this much freedom, so I replied that I would listen to him.

Dinner was over and we were sitting by the fire when one of the Knights told us that the bath was ready. Even though he called it a ‘bath’, it was just a matter of filling a tub with hot water and wiping off sweat and dirt.

The Knight Commander began to take off his armor.

I hadn’t thanked him yet for helping me, so I asked, “Shall I wipe your back?”

The half-naked Knight Commander, who was over 50 years old, was covered in scars. I gulped unknowingly. I had thought that there were many scars on his face and arms, but there were scars under his armor as well.

I wonder how many fierce battles he had lived through and went around to wipe his back. The Knight Commander’s back was heavily skinned and the flesh was scored. There were countless near-fatal wounds.

“Hmm? What’s wrong?”

“Oh, I’m sorry, I’ll wipe it down now. But still…”

(Old wound, but still painful.)

“What’s wrong?”

“Is this wound sore? I have a healing medicine, do you want to use it?”

“No, it’s good.”

“No, no, I have plenty of medicine.”

“No, you don’t have to use them. You can keep it.”

“Oh, ok.”

I didn’t expect him to say no. He said “it’s good” in the sense of affirmation, but apparently he wanted the wound to stay that way. I continued to wipe my back in silence.

(Then again, today’s hunt was a total failure. Even if I go in through the gate, they’ll be able to defend themselves. It was also a fatal mistake for me to go inside through the gate.)

As I wiped his back, I thought about what I had learned from today’s hunt.

“Do you enjoy hunting?”

The Knight Commander spoke up. I was thinking about hunting, so I felt as if my mind had been somewhat read.

“Yes, it is. It’s a lot of fun.”

The Knight Commander only said, “I see,” but said nothing more. His back looked somewhat lonely, but I could not see that expression.

The next day, I returned to the mansion a day late and explained the situation of staying out without permission, but there was no particular punishment. I was told that I was lucky to be safe.

With this response, I knew that he had been allowed to hunt quite freely until now. But I don’t even know why.

Two weeks later, at the end of May.

“GUMOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!”

The Orc King bled and yelled and fell to the ground.

“You have defeated one Orc King. You have acquired 25,000 experience points.”

(Hmm, is this okay? I used 120 D-rank magic stones. Or rather, it’s the first time I’ve gotten a B-rank magic stone.)

After much trial and error, I finally succeeded in clearing out an Orc Nest.

In the first place, it was no good to go in slowly from the entrance. If I did this, the Orcs would form a formation and I would be forced to retreat.

Based on that reflection, I changed my strategy.

The first thing to do was to attack the Orc Nest with 40 or so Bears, 10 at a time, from all directions. If each summon kills 2 Orcs, 40 summons will kill 80 Orcs. First of all, reduce the number of Orcs at once and don’t let them form a formation.

Using <Sharing> on four Bears allows me to control the four groups. I then targeted magic-using Orcs. I also told the other summons to give top priority to defeating magic-using Orcs when they appear.

Even if the number of Bears decreased, or if the Orc King appeared, I continued to summon Bears and defeat the Orcs in a battle of attrition. It was a race against time, as long as I, the main body, was positioned so that I wouldn’t be attacked, my victory was assured.

The Orc King was overwhelmed by numbers and collapsed.

(It took a little bit of magic stones, but I figured if I continued spamming, I could win. The first time I failed, I failed, but that’s okay too.)

Taking on something for the first time was called first-time play in my previous life. I consider the failure of the Orc Nest to be a failure of first-time play. If you’re a gamer, it’s important to gain experience and use it next time.

(Well, I think I’ve managed to clean up this Orc Nest for now. Let’s proceed with a more efficient way of defeating them.)

Starting with this Orc Nest, Allen aimed to clean up all the Orc Nests in the foothills of the White Dragon Mountains.