Ogre Tyrant

Ogre Tyrant: Chapter 06 – Master of disguise – Part One {Rewrite}

Ogre Tyrant: Chapter 06 - Master of disguise - Part One {Rewrite}

Toofy was still napping peacefully when I noticed that Clarice and Nadine’s basic status information had suddenly appeared in the group status in my lower peripheral vision.

[ Clarice - HP: 14/29 - Normal ], [ Nadine - HP: 8/18 - Bloodied ]

I was pretty surprised. I wouldn't have blamed either of them for opting out as Jacque had done.

Becoming someone's Slave was a big deal. Even if I promised not to use the Command ability and used the advanced status options to disable it, they had no guarantees that I wouldn’t re-enable it again later. There is a difference between trusting someone and placing your entire future in their hands.

The plan was beginning to feel like a very very bad idea. I wasn’t sure I was ready for such a significant degree of responsibility. I began to try and think of any other ways we could accomplish the same effect while also hoping that the others might be doing the same.

Feeling a little less stressed, I relaxed and tried to think of what else I could do to keep myself productive. Restitching the tears in Toofy’s clothes was one possibility, but she was still wearing them. My thick fingers were not dextrous enough to avoid accidentally hurting her, and I didn’t want to wake Toofy up, so I decided against it.

I glanced at the adventurer's pack filled with copper and silver coins. I reluctantly decided that counting the coins was better than doing nothing. Emptying Jacque’s pack onto the bedroll, I began counting off the copper coins in groups of ten, dropping them into Jacques pack and marking each group off with a line in the dirt floor. It was pretty slow going, but I figured I had plenty of time.

The pack of coins was less valuable than I had expected but was still rather substantial. There were three thousand two hundred and fifty-seven copper coins and fifty-two silver coins. It wasn’t quite as much as that Byron guy had attempted to bribe his entourage with, but it was still a large amount of money.

Converted to its highest denomination, Toofy would have about eighty-four silver coins. It made me smile to think of some poor bank clerk counting out the copper coins as I had just done, even if the copper coins in this world had significantly more buying power compared to coins from my own country.

<Tim, is everything alright?>

I was surprised to hear the voice again and couldn’t help but look around the bunker before remembering that it had to have been Jacque. I tried clearing my mind as much as possible and thinking the words <WE ARE FINE.>.

<Loud!>

I flinched guiltily, <Sorry.>

<We will arrive soon.>

<We?> I became worried that Jacque had brought along Clarice and Nadine. Neither had seemed to be in fighting condition when we last met.

<She insisted.>

Glancing at the group status panes, I had to assume it was Clarice. Nadine’s Bloodied Condition would make the trip pretty much impossible since the Vrabbits would just swarm her.

<There is a lot of blood up here...Are you sure you are both okay?>

<Toofy was hurt, resting now.> I glanced guiltily down at Toofy. If I had been more proactive in that fight, she probably would not have been hurt.

<We are coming down, no head-bashing!>

A few moments later I felt a brief draft and heard two people hopping down into the tunnel.

“How did they even find this place?!” Clarice exclaimed incredulously.

<Tim, would you please unwedge the door?>

There was a knocking against my shield, currently wedged into the mouth of the tunnel.

Carefully cradling Toofy to my chest, I moved over to my shield and dislodged it from the tunnel.

Clarice and Jacque were waiting for me as I expected.

Walking back over to the bedroll, I sat back down again, carefully replacing Toofy in my lap.

“Quite a lot of blood up there,” Jacque observed, repeating her earlier observation, most likely for Clarice’s benefit.

I nodded, “We had left the bunker for a couple of minutes and five Orcs were snooping around when we came back.”

Jacque nodded and was about to say something when Clarice interjected, “Five Orcs?! Really?!” She sounded very impressed.

I shrugged, “Toofy did most of the fighting,” I admitted freely. Protecting Toofy and being proud of killing intelligent sentient beings were two very different things in my opinion.

“How many did you bring down before they ran away?” Clarice asked insistently.

“We killed all of them,” I replied awkwardly, “There was a rank four Orc with them, I don’t think they even considered running away. They certainly didn’t attempt it anyway.”

Now that had caught Jacque’s interest.

“Bloody hell! Just how strong are you Tim?” Clarice demanded, obviously impressed, “I mean, I know Nadine said Og-uh you were high tier, but still!”

I shrugged. “How am I supposed to know?”

“Around tier ten,” Jacque interjected, “The tenth floor is when you start encountering giant-kin. At least according to what I have heard anyway.”

Clarice’s eyes widened in surprise, “No way...” She breathed, “What the hell was Tim doing on the first floor then?”

Jacque shrugged, “Nadine’s theory is the most likely,” she lied, “It happens more often than you think.”

Clarice just shook her head, “This is insane...this whole time we had a tier ten monster in the party...”

“Maybe you appreciate just how special he is now?” Jacque asked pointedly, “And why the manager’s actions were so incredibly dangerous.”

Clarice paled and nodded. “Ah, how is Toofy doing by the way?” She asked a little nervously.

“A little banged up, but seems to be alright now,” I replied, glancing briefly at Toofy before returning my attention to Clarice.

“We, uh, brought some more bandages and food,” Clarice explained awkwardly, shrugging off her pack and offering it to me.

I gratefully accepted it and set it down by the others, “Thanks.”

“We talked a lot about the slavery thing,” Clarice blurted suddenly, “Nadine and I, Y’know?...” Her cheeks flushed in embarrassment, “I, erm, that is, we, know what the whole slavery thing means and why we need it for the disguise...” Clarice’s cheeks grew redder as she became more flustered, “I, uh, Nadine said, but, uh, I volunteered...”

Jacque smirked.

“So yeah...” Clarice mumbled, adamantly avoiding eye contact.

I couldn’t help but stare for a minute while trying to make sense of what she said, “Just so I don’t misunderstand. You want to become my Slave?” I asked Clarice.

Clarice gulped, “It’s not that big a deal!” She insisted, still avoiding looking at me, “It-it’s just for a disguise right?! You aren't going to make me do stuff using commands right?! So it’s no big deal! Stop Making a thing out of it!” Clarice’s voice had begun to crack and her ears were brighter than tomatoes.

Please don’t tell me this is her secret fetish...I mean, come on, first Toofy, now this?!

Jacque nodded slightly and smirked.

Damnit...

“I-I’m ready,” Clarice breathed heavily.

“Enslave!” I felt a faint chill pass through my body and felt a mild sense of absence in its wake. As best I could tell, it was how it felt to spend mana.

Clarice stiffened for a moment, “Ah-accept!”

[Bond Successful: Applying Enslaved Status and Effects]

[Clarice - Human ] [HP: 14/29] [MP: -/- ]

[Tim’s Slave*] [Class: Swordsman 1. +2 Strength, +5 HP. ] [Exp: 1252/2000 ]

[ Strength: 13* (15*) ]

[ Agility: 10 ]

[ Toughness: 12 ]

[ Intelligence: 10 ]

[ Willpower: 10 ]

[ Presence: 7 ]

[(Class Ability: Blade Proficiency {Rank 0}): Improves damage with bladed weapons. {Strength} increases the amount of bonus damage.]

[Group Synergy: {Vicious: 1 }, {Underfoot: 0 }, {Thick Hide: - }, {Brute Strength: - }, {Irongut: - }.]

[(Enslaved Status Effects: {Hide/Expand})]

Wait a minute...Why does Clarice have my Racial Abilities in her synergy list? I thought only monsters share Racial Ability synergy?

*Gurgle!*

Clarice stiffened in embarrassment, “Could have sworn I ate before we left...” She muttered quietly.

I decided to disable the command Ability first and indulge my curiosity later, “Status, disable Class Ability, Command, target Clarice.”

[Class Ability: {Command} - {Clarice (Inactive)}]

I had tried doing this for Toofy already, but it didn’t work until I removed her collar and enslaved her through my own Ability first. I had to assume that the collar had its own prompts for triggering the same result, but I had no idea what they were. I also had the impression that Advanced classes were a fair bit more accommodating than the basic ones. Or at least, that is what it seemed like to me.

“Make sure you read through the enslavement effects so you understand them,” Jacque encouraged Clarice, “

Hang on...That reminds me of something. How have I been understanding Clarice this whole time? Without the slave bond to a native human, I shouldn’t have been able to understand Clarice at all, let alone her being able to understanding me.

Jacque subtly shook her head at me and pointed to herself with her thumb. <One of my Racial Abilities. You just think you have been speaking the language while my ability facilitates the actual communication.>.

That made a sort of sense, but it still left me with other questions. <Why don't I see your Racial Abilities on the synergy list?>.

<Because that is another one of my Racial Abilities.> Jacque smirked.

I recalled that Jacque had referred to herself as an infiltration type. A monster's master wouldn't know that Jacque’s group status information was visible because they would already see the party status. However, they would almost definitely notice unexplained synergies in their own monster's status.

“H-Hey!” Clarice exclaimed urgently, “Where did these synergies come from?!”

Jacque appeared to be in no rush to explain, so decided I would take a crack at it. “I think it is because you are a Slave. So you share Racial Synergies with monsters and Slaves in the party.”

Clarice just stared at me in shock for a few moments, ”WHAT?!”

Toofy stirred and blinked blearily up at me, “Bwekfast?” She yawned hopefully.

Clarice flinched, “Sorry...” She mumbled apologetically.

“Okay Toofy, but it is closer to lunchtime now,” I untied a parcel of sausages for her and set it down on the bedroll.

Toofy rolled off my lap and hungrily set upon the poor defenceless sausages.

“I guess you should probably eat too,” I told Clarice, offering her three of the food parcels.

Clarice looked like she was going to refuse, but another audible gurgle from her stomach made Clarice change her mind, “Maybe just a couple,” she conceded. However, after opening the first parcel, Clarice began wolfing down her food as quickly as Toofy.

If the rate of healing was at all similar, then Clarice would need to eat roughly thirteen meals before making a full recovery. I began to curiously watch Clarice’s HP displayed by the group status. At first, it didn’t change, but by the time Clarice tucked into her fourth parcel of food, her HP began to steadily increase.

“Ooof, so full,” Clarice moaned, lying down on the dirt floor.

Clarice had just finished eating eight whole parcels of food. A monstrous amount for someone of her size. Clarice was by no means a shrimp, but she wasn't a herculean bodybuilder either.

“How can I eat that much and still be hungry?!” Clarice complained, “Ooof-status!” She burped unapologetically.

“It’s the Iron Gut ability,” I explained, “It is what makes Toofy so ravenously hungry as well. It seems to shut off once you finish recovering though.”

Clarice was quiet for a moment, her eyes drifting upwards, “WHAT?!” She cried, most likely having just noticed her current HP.

[ Clarice - HP: 20/29 - Normal ]

It was still slowly rising and would reach around twenty-two if my observations on Toofy were correct. Toofy herself had just set aside the remaining half of her second parcel of food, apparently no longer hungry.

“This ability is overpowered...” Clarice declared reverently, “It would have taken me more than a week to recover...Hey! This is our secret right?!” Her mood shifted suddenly and became quite possessive.

“I would prefer it,” I agreed. Besides Nadine, who should be told for practical reasons, I didn’t want anyone else finding out.

“Wait a minute...I get all of these Synergies...” It seemed like Clarice just noticed the exploit.

“Hahaha, HaHaha, HAHAHA!” Clarice began laughing maniacally.

I glanced at Clarice who was now excitedly pumping her fists in the air. I was fairly certain that Clarice hadn’t fully considered the ramifications of being a Slave.

<I‘m pretty sure she considers the whole slavery thing a bonus.> Jacque snickered.

<...> I had no words.

<Don’t kink shame. It’s unhealthy.> Jacque was holding her hand over her mouth to stop from laughing. She apparently found my discomfort funny.

After a while, Jacque settled down, “Toofy must be close to evolving by now right?” She asked curiously.

I nodded, “Seven more points to go.”

“Should we hunt down some Orcs and Goblins then?” Jacque asked, stretching a little to prepare for a fight.

“Actually, I have those mana stones from the Orcs earlier. But I still had questions about the evolution tiers, so I was putting it off,” I explained.

Jacque nodded, understanding my reluctance, “Goblins are pretty predictable. Since she was a named monster, Toofy might get a rare evolution, but most likely you will have to choose between Hobgoblin or Bugbear,” she explained casually, “You don’t have to choose immediately either, so there isn’t actually any downside to feeding Toofy the mana stones now.”

“You're sure?” I asked hesitantly.

Jacque nodded, “I have never done this myself, but I have run with Monster Tamers before and witnessed it a couple of times.”

I supposed it was something I needed to do for Toofy at some point anyway. The stronger she became, the less I would have to worry.

I removed the largest mana stone from the pack and handed it to Toofy, “Here you go Toofy,”

Toofy greedily snatched the mana stone, shoved it in her mouth and swallowed, licking her lips greedily. She grew another half inch right before my eyes in a matter of seconds.

Alright, let’s see what upgraded, “Status.”

[Toofy - Goblin: 5 ] [HP: 19/19] [MP: 19/22 ]

[Tim’s Slave*] [Class: Scavenger 2. +2 Intelligence, +1 Toughness, +5 HP. ] [Exp: 1860/3000 ]

[Strength: 8 ]

[Agility: 15* ]

[Toughness: 6 (7) ]

[Intelligence: 6* (8*) ]

[Willpower: 7* ]

[Presence: 5 ]

[(Class Ability: Treasure Sense): Detects and highlights items of value within a predetermined range. {Intelligence} increases range.]

[(Racial Ability: Vicious {Rank 2}): Deals additional damage to fallen enemies and those with {Negative Status Conditions}. {Willpower} increases the amount of bonus damage.]

[(Racial Ability: Underfoot {Rank 2}): Takes less damage from Larger enemies. {Agility} increases the level of damage resistance.]

[Group Synergy: {Thick Hide: - }, {Brute Strength: - }, {Irongut: - }.]

[(Enslaved Status Effects: {Hide/Expand})]

It looked like Toofy gained one point of Willpower and increased the Underfoot Racial Ability one rank as well.

“Jacque? Do monsters gain stats with every rank increase?” I asked curiously.

Jacque shook her head, “Only tier one monsters. Beginning at tier two progression radically slows down. Monster’s get a stat bonus and Racial Ability increase at rank three, but nothing else.”

At Toofy’s rate of progression, her stats would have been higher than mine in no time otherwise. But I still found it a little disappointing though.

After waiting at least a few minutes, I took out one of the next largest mana stones. Assuming I remembered correctly, it was a rank 3 mana stone and should trigger Toofy’s Evolution. “Toofy, are you sure about this?” I asked nervously, “I won't force you to evolve if you don’t want to.”

Toofy considered it for a moment and then nodded, “Toofy do!”

I doubted Toofy fully understood what was going on, but I also doubted whether I was capable of explaining it all to her anyway. With a somewhat regretful sigh, I handed Toofy the mana stone.

Toofy plopped the mana stone in her mouth and swallowed. Unlike earlier, Toofy did not begin growing, instead, a trio of green status panes appeared in front of my eyes.

[Bugbear Runt: +1 Strength, +1 Toughness, +1 Agility. (Common)]

[(Racial Ability: Vicious): Deals additional damage to fallen enemies and those with {Negative Status Conditions}. {Willpower} increases the amount of bonus damage.]

[(Racial Ability: Underfoot): Takes less damage from Larger enemies. {Agility} increases the level of damage resistance.]

[(Racial Ability: Brute Strength): Deals more damage with {Primitive} and {Heavy} weapons. {Strength} increases the amount of bonus damage.]

[Confirm Evolution: {Bugbear Runt} (Accept/decline}]

[HobGoblin Runt: +1 Strength, +1 Agility, +1 Presence. (Common)]

[(Racial Ability: Vicious): Deals additional damage to fallen enemies and those with {Negative Status Conditions}. {Willpower} increases the amount of bonus damage.]

[(Racial Ability: Underfoot): Takes less damage from Larger enemies. {Agility} increases the level of damage resistance.]

[(Racial Ability: Coordination): Deals more damage while near allies. {Presence} increases the range of effect.]

[Confirm Evolution: {HobGoblin Runt} (Accept/decline}]

[Primaeval Goblin Runt: +2 Agility, +1 Toughness, +1Willpower. (Rare)]

[(Racial Ability: Vicious): Deals additional damage to fallen enemies and those with {Negative Status Conditions}. {Willpower} increases the amount of bonus damage.]

[(Racial Ability: Underfoot): Takes less damage from Larger enemies. {Agility} increases the level of damage resistance.]

[(Racial Ability: Agile Reflexes): Increases reaction speed against incoming attacks. {Agility} increases the effect.]

[Confirm Evolution: {Primaeval Goblin Runt} (Accept/decline}]

They all have the Underfoot and Vicious racial Abilities and a third Ability that was unique to each of them. It looked like the Bugbear would make Toofy more like me. But I wasn’t sure that would be a good thing. HobGoblin seemed to be a more cooperative type of Goblin. The Coordination ability and increased Intelligence could be quite good for Toofy as well.

However, the Primaeval Goblin had something the other two didn't, another defensive Ability. Agile Reflexes would be an important step in minimising any harm done to Toofy. The evolution even came with two more points of Agility, which would make Agile Reflexes even more effective.

That pretty much clinched it for me, but I wanted to know what Jacque thought before confirming it.

Jacque looked surprised.<You want my opinion?>.

I nodded.

<As far as I am aware, rare evolution paths are always the best choice. They have the most raw stats, but they also have Racial Abilities not available in the monster's other evolution paths.>.

From a pure potential gains perspective, it came out slightly ahead. “Alright, Toofy what do you think about becoming a Primaeval Goblin?” I asked.

Toofy shrugged, “Toofy do.”

That didn’t seem overly enthusiastic. “Toofy. Can you read the status notifications?” I blinked to dismiss the status screen.

Toofy looked blankly at me for a moment before answering, “No?”

Redoubling my resolve to teach Tooofy to read, I made the choice. “Confirm evolution, Primaeval Goblin Runt.”

The status panels disappeared and Toofy grew stiff as she was covered in a faint green light. After a few seconds, the light abated and she looked almost exactly as she had before, maybe an inch taller.

“Status,” I wanted to make sure Toofy’s evolution had actually happened.

[Toofy - Primaeval Goblin: 1 ] [HP: 21/21] [MP: 0/0 ]

[Tim’s Slave*] [Class: Scavenger 2. +2 Intelligence, +1 Toughness, +5 HP. ] [Exp: 1860/3000 ]

[Strength: 8 ]

[Agility: 17* ]

[Toughness: 7 (8) ]

[Intelligence: 6* (8*) ]

[Willpower: 8* ]

[Presence: 5 ]

[(Class Ability: Treasure Sense): Detects and highlights items of value within a predetermined range. {Intelligence} increases range.]

[(Racial Ability: Vicious {Rank 2}): Deals additional damage to fallen enemies and those with {Negative Status Conditions}. {Willpower} increases the amount of bonus damage.]

[(Racial Ability: Underfoot {Rank 2}): Takes less damage from Larger enemies. {Agility} increases the level of damage resistance.]

[(Racial Ability: Agile Reflexes {Rank 0): Increases reaction speed against incoming attacks. {Agility} increases the effect.]

[Group Synergy: {Thick Hide: - }, {Brute Strength: - }, {Irongut: - }.]

[(Enslaved Status Effects: {Hide/Expand})]

Toofy had definitely evolved. As best I could figure, the Primaeval Goblins were just very similar to regular Goblins. I supposed that made sense, especially considering it was only the first step of her evolution. “How do you feel, Toofy?”

Toofy shrugged with a confused expression on her face.

“Another Ability!” Clarice pumped her fists and sat up, “You need to tell me what all these Abilities do Tim!” She insisted.

It was a fair request, so I spent a couple of minutes reading them all out for her. Judging by the interest on Toofy’s face, it confirmed that she couldn’t read her own status information and didn’t know about her racial advantages.

“Uh, Jacque? You wanna head topside with me for a couple of minutes?” Clarice asked with a somewhat uncomfortable expression on her face and holding one hand over her abdomen.

Jacque nodded with a knowing expression and smirked a little.

I wondered if Clarice was feeling ill after eating so much food all at once.

A few minutes later the pair of them returned and Clarice looked like she was feeling much better.

“Tim?” Clarice had a determined look in her eyes, “You think maybe we could go hunting for a bit?” She asked, opening a fresh parcel of food and ripping into the roasted meat with gusto.

Ravenous hunger aside, it wasn't an altogether unexpected request. There was a problem though, even assuming Clarice was now strong enough to fight an Orc, she only had light armour. “Are you sure?” I asked cautiously, “Didn’t you say that you shouldn’t be fighting Orcs until level five?”

Clarice flinched, grinning awkwardly and scratching at her ear, “Well yeah...but with the raid and all, I kinda figured that levelling now is better than later,” she explained hopefully.

Jacque nodded in agreement, “She has a point. Better to improve now, while it is relatively safe. Every little bit could make a difference when fighting the Goblin horde.”

We had a reasonably large group right now with the four of us, so the risks should be lower. Every Orc and Goblin we eliminate now would also be one less member of the Goblin’s horde.

I still wasn’t comfortable with the idea of deliberately hunting down sentient humanoids with the explicit purpose of killing them. Objectively, I undersood that the Orcs and Goblins were going to attack the foothold and kill the residents and adventurers if they could. But it just made me more conflicted.

The raid announcement had complicated things further. The humans had been declared invaders. So the Orcs and Goblins were presumably just defending their home. Only, that didn’t feel quite right either.

The Orcs we had encountered so far had no reservations in attacking Toofy and theoretically, she belonged here as much as they did.

The Orcs in particular seemed to be going out of their way to attack me over anyone else present, including humans. The Orcs seemed excited by the prospect of killing me in particular. Which didn’t make any real sense to me at all.

I would have thought that it was because I was actually a human trapped inside a monster body, but they had pretty much ignored Jacque.

<Monsters are aware of rank and tier progression on an instinctive level. If they think they can kill you and take your mana stone, they will.> Jacque gave me a cautionary look.

A chill ran down my spine. Jacque knew more about this world than I did and so far as I could tell, she had no reason to lie about this. So basically, it would be safe to assume going forward, that the moment a monster saw me that they would be thinking of how to kill me.

“So?” Clarice insisted, eating another parcel of food.

Even though I still felt conflicted, I nodded. Jacque would steer us clear of anything we couldn’t handle, so I figured it shouldn't be too dangerous.

“Yes!” Clarice pumped her fist and headed towards the trapdoor.

To my surprise, Toofy seemed to have understood the conversation and was eagerly chasing after Clarice. Or maybe she was just a little stir crazy after being cooped up inside for so long.

I carefully began shifting all the remaining food parcels to the largest pack along with my sewing kit and the bandages. I would rather be prepared if something were to happen, so I made sure to store some of the bandages in a belt pouch as well. First-Aid was another thing I had to teach Toofy, Nadine and Clarice.

Despite having such a dangerous profession, almost none of the adventurers seemed to know the first thing about treating injuries.

Adventurers would drag themselves and their wounded companions back to the town, pay for treatment if it was absolutely necessary, but otherwise just eat and rest until they got better. The whole problem with that method was not only high rates of infection but relying on returning to the town in time to be saved. Which I found mind-boggling, it was insane. Basic First-Aid was easy to learn and would save so many lives.

After leaving the bunker, Toofy climbed up onto my shoulders and began gently rocking back and forth, obviously eager to get going. Jacque had returned Toofy’s sling and ammunition pouch, so hopefully, Toofy would be satisfied to fight from afar.

Once I had strapped my shield to my arm and Clarice had donned her helmet, Jacque chose a direction seemingly at random and we began walking through the forest. It took less than five minutes before Jacque stopped and pointed off into the forest to our right. “It’s another Orc camp, but I don’t think this one has any prisoners.”

“How many are there?” Clarice asked. It was somewhat reassuring that despite the synergy bonuses, she still seemed to maintain a certain level of caution.

“Only three Orcs,” Jacque replied, somewhat puzzled.

“How many Goblins then?” Clarice asked.

“None...” Jaque’s brow furrowed, “This is worth looking into. Tim, were there any Goblins amongst the Orcs that attacked you earlier?”

“No...” I was beginning to see where Jacque was going with this. It seemed like the power dynamic of the Orcs and Goblins had shifted with the approaching raid. I hoped that this was the case. The prospect of the Orcs backing out of the raid was an unexpected but very welcome surprise.

“We should probably talk about this later,” Jacque insisted quietly, “I am pretty sure the Orcs heard us talking and are preparing to attack us.”

Clarice nodded, adjusting her grip on her sword.

It only just occurred to me that Clarice is the first person I had seen in this world to use a sword quite so large. It was perhaps only a half-foot longer than the swords most of the other adventurers were using, but the wider blade and larger crossguard had to add to the weapon's weight.

“Here they come,” Jacque warned, readying her wooden spear and moving further to the left flank.

Toofy growled and loaded her sling.

I could hear the Orcs moving quickly through the undergrowth towards us, apparently not even trying to hide their presence.

“Oh Hell! COVER!” Jacque shouted as she leapt to take cover behind a tree,

Three Orcs rushed out from behind a particularly large tree and prepared to hurl spears at us.

*Thwack*

Toofy was quicker, catching one of the Orcs in the groyne and sending him to his knees with an expression of indescribable anguish.

*Tak, Tak*

The two Orcs still standing had thrown their spears but they bounced harmlessly off of my door-shield. I was profoundly glad that the Orcs didn’t have higher-quality weapons.

“Coward Ogre!” One of the Orcs screamed, charging forwards.

Peeking over my shield, I could see that he was coming at me with nothing but his bare hands.

*Shink*

Clarice stepped out of cover and sliced across the back of the Orc’s right thigh as it passed her.

“URK!” The Orc lost his balance and crashed to the ground. Quickly trying to scramble to his feet, the Orc only managed to struggle into a kneeling position before Clarice brought her sword down on the Orc’s head.

*Crack*

[ Clarice has slain {Orc: 1 } +100 Exp ]

Clarice momentarily let go of her blade and hastily stepped back, just in time to dodge another spear thrown by the last Orc left standing. “Oh! You wanna go huh?!” Clarice growled angrily. She grabbed hold of her sword again and kicked the Orc’s dead body to dislodge the blade from its head.

“Human weak!” The Orc cried back at Clarice, charging at her with reckless abandon.

Just as the Orc was about to enter Clarice’s reach, Jacque lashed out with the blunt end of her spear, catching the Orc’s left shin.

*Crack*

The Orc stumbled and despite the pain managed to stagger forwards.

*Chunk*

Clarice stepped to the side of the Orc’s staggered charge and cut into the Orc’s neck, very nearly decapitating him but not quite able to cleave through the Orc’s spine. Yanking her sword free of the Orc, Clarice performed a sweeping backhanded blow and finished the job, freeing the Orc’s head from his body.

[ Clarice has slain {Orc: 1 } +100 Exp ]

Far from finished, Clarice stalked towards the incapacitated Orc that was still retching and coughing in the foetal position. She was ruthless, Clarice didn’t even hesitate as she drove the tip of her sword into the Orc’s chest.

[ Clarice has slain {Orc: 1 } +100 Exp ]

“Haa...haaa...haaa. Did you see that?! These synergies are insane!” Clarice cried after catching her breath.

I was already regretting taking Clarice as a Slave.

Jacque took out her cleaver and large sack, “Should we collect the heads for the bounty? Or just the mana stones?” She asked no one in particular.

“Well..we shouldn’t leave found coin to go to waste right?” Clarice asked somewhat hesitantly.

Both women turned to me, making it clear that I needed to make a decision.

We still needed money for better equipment, so even though I found it distasteful, it was something of a necessity. “Do it,” I agreed.

Jacque nodded and quickly set about removing the two remaining Orcs heads since Clarice had so conveniently beheaded one Orc already. After stowing the Orc heads in the sack, Jacque led us off into the woods again.

“No wonder Toofy is so strong,” Clarice observed conversationally.

“Toofy strong!” Toofy agreed emphatically, misunderstanding Clarice's intent.

Clarice didn’t seem to mind, grinning instead, “Toofy strong,” she agreed, “Just a shame humans don’t have any Racial Abilities. Makes me feel like a leech hehe,” Clarice scratched the back of her neck awkwardly, “Thanks for letting me join your group Tim. I know that this is for a disguise or whatever, but I really appreciate it.”

“No, thank you, Clarice, for helping free Toofy,” even though I wasn’t sure of Clarice and Nadine's exact involvement beyond bringing me that basket, but I still felt like I owed them. Jacque too, but she was already clear on what she wanted in exchange.

Clarice blushed and glanced away awkwardly, “Don’t mention it,” she muttered awkwardly, “You already saved my life, so this was nothing.”

I wasn’t quite so certain. I supposed my presence might have scared off the Orcs and Goblins at the time, but it was Emelia who I had carried back to the town, not Clarice. Or at least that was how I remembered it.

After walking for a while longer, Jacque stopped suddenly and frowned. Turning back the way we had come, her brow furrowed in annoyance, “Someone is tracking us,” Jacque said quietly.

Clarice looked surprised, “How can you tell?” She asked curiously.

“Just a feeling,” Jacque lied, “Let’s take cover over there and see who is following us,” she insisted, motioning to a nearby thicket.

Hiding in the thicket as Jacque had instructed, we waited to see who or what had been following us.

After a few minutes of waiting, a large black-furred feline came into view. The large cat resembled a more heavily built panther. It was slowly following our trail and pausing to glance at the surrounding forest every few steps, revealing a studded collar around its neck.

I had the impression that the panther knew we were in the general area, its ears flattened against its head making it clear that it was on alert for danger.

Jacque’s frown deepened. Standing up from her hiding place, Jacque began slowly walking towards the panther, “Come on out Tobi!” She demanded flatly.

The panther lowered itself closer to the ground and growled at Jacque.

“I am not going to ask again,” Jacque warned coldly, “I know you have been following us. Come out or I kill the Shadowcat.”

“Okay! Okay! Sheesh, I didn’t mean any harm,” Called out a young man dressed in green and brown leathers as he quickly walked out of the forest with his arms raised. He was holding a bow in his right hand and had both a sword and a large quiver of arrows hanging off his hips.

“Why are you following us?” Jacque demanded flatly, ignoring the panther, or Shadowcat as she had called it.

The young man, Tobi, shifted uncomfortably, “The Guild put up a job to hunt down the Ogre-”

Jacque glared balefully a Tobi.

“-Ah, not like that! They wanted to know if it had joined the Goblins' raid!” Tobi quickly explained nervously.

“Well it hasn’t,” Jacque replied flatly, “So you can go.”

Tobi gulped and looked around nervously, “Did you manage to capture the Ogre after all?”

“Leave!” Jacque repeated, tightening her grip on the spear, “Now!”

The Shadowcat backed away but didn’t run.

“We could split the reward?” Tobi offered meekly.

Jacque’s eyes narrowed dangerously.

Tobi took an involuntary step backwards, “Ah, okay, I’ll see you back at the foothold later, yeah?” He turned and quickly began to leave, “Shady! Let’s go,” Tobi commanded anxiously.

The Shadowcat hissed at Jacque before quickly slinking away after its master.

“Wait!” Jacque called out suddenly, her expression was now quite worried.

The Shadowcat had shifted its attention from Jacque and was now eyeing the surrounding forest warily, a deep growl rumbling in its throat.

“We are surrounded...” Jacque groaned and quickly backed up towards our group.

“Hey! Wait! Don’t leave me!” Tobi cried, hastily moving to follow Jacque back towards our hiding place.

“We need to leave!” Jacque called out urgently, “Follow me!” She continued running past us without stopping.

*Thwack*

Something hard struck my head and ricocheted into the bushes.

Pulling Toofy off my shoulder, I hugged her close to my chest with my right arm and ran after Jacque.

*Thwack, Thwack*

I was struck twice more, on my back and right shoulder before managing to move, narrowly avoiding who knows how many other projectiles.

“Clarice?!” I called out, unable to see her as I looked over my shoulder and worried that she may have been struck down.

“Here! Just keep running!” Clarice insisted from somewhere behind me.

*Thwack*

A rock came flying at my face and smashed into my right eyebrow, sending a jolt through my head and nearly causing me to trip and fall.

As I continued to run, blood welled from the cut and began trickling into my right eye, making it hard to keep my eye open.

Half-blind, I lost sight of Jacque nearly a dozen times over the next half hour before we suddenly stumbled out of the forest and into what appeared to be the rugged foothills at the base of a very small mountain range.

Clarice had been just behind me, but she was breathing heavily and clutching at her side.

Looking at the group statuses, I could see that everyone but Toofy was at least a little worse for wear.

[ Jacque - HP: 31/35 - Normal ] [ Clarice - HP: 16/29 - Normal ] [ Tim - HP: 41/45 - Normal ] [ Toofy - HP: 21/21 - Normal ]

“Bastards got me in the back!” Clarice groaned, favouring her left side.

Quickly taking a roll of bandage from my pouch, I double wrapped it around my head and tied it off. The bleeding seems to have already stopped, but I didn’t want to risk the wound splitting open again.

“We need to keep moving!” Jacque insisted, “It is only a matter of time before the Goblins catch up to us again!”

It was at that moment that Tobi came tumbling out of the forest, his tamed Shadowcat limping along beside him. Although there were no obvious signs of injury, Tobi’s left arm was hanging limply at his side and seemed to be causing him a great deal of pain.

“Come on!” Jacque insisted urgently, already a short distance ahead of us.

Clarice began a staggered jog after Jacque but stopped when she noticed I wasn’t following.

“Please...” Tobi wheezed, ”Please...don’t...leave...me...” He was terrified and barely able to stand.

I could tell from a glance, that if I left Tobi, he would die. The Shadowcat was in worse shape than I expected as well, bloody phlegm dribbling from its mouth with each breath.

Damnit...

I glanced up at Toofy, ”Toofy-”

“NO!” Toofy shouted, wrapping her arms tightly around my neck, “Toofy stay!”

I was going to send her ahead with Clarice, but apparently, Toofy had guessed my intentions. Quickly moving over to Tobi, I grabbed Tobi and slung him over my shoulder like a sack of potatoes. I would have preferred to be more gentle, but without abandoning my shield, I had limited options. I stared at the Shadowcat for a moment, half expecting it to attack me. But instead, it just looked up at me with a pitiful expression.

“Fine...” I shifted Tobi to my left shoulder and lifted the Shadowcat up onto my right shoulder, but had to hold onto it to stop it from slipping.

*Riiip*

The Shadowcat anchored its hooked foreclaws into my back over my shoulder and scrambled for footing against the apron covering my front.

It hurt, but not as much as I expected it to, like when I was getting a flu shot at the doctor. Except it was like having ten of them at the same time...every time I took a breath.

With a groan, I awkwardly began running after Jacque, who already has a pretty substantial lead.

Despite her injured state, Clarice easily matched pace with me, gaining a slight lead as we were forced to manoeuvre around a number of obstructions and obstacles.

I would have praised her for the good showing, but I was too preoccupied trying to keep my footing while keeping hold of a panicking panther attempting to secure its own footing in my ribcage.

*****

Gilbert slumped in his chair as he continued to read the reply sent by his superiors. Not only had his request for a team of experienced adventurers been denied, but Gilbert was also expressly forbidden from leaving his post. His earlier report on the Ogre had now quite entirely backfired on him.

If there was one thing that could always be guaranteed, it was that his superiors' greed would win out every time.

Bribing and coercing low levelled and inexperienced adventurers was relatively easy and comparatively cheap. The costs could be offset with a week or two of renewed operations. The higher levelled adventurers were a different story altogether. As motivated by greed as any other men, they had a keen sense of their own worth and weren’t naive enough to be cowed into accepting lower rates by the threat of Guild authority.

In the wake of his superiors’ decision, Gilbert had been tempted to dip into his own savings in order to hedge against potential threats to his life. However, he had ultimately resolved to see how things would pan out.

If his worst fears came to pass, Gilbert already had three adventurers on probation that he could use as his own personal bodyguards. Under normal circumstances, Enslaving adventurers outside of an explicit breach of contract would see Gilbert in serious trouble. However, the raid itself provided a convenient means of concealing foul play.

Byron’s father had some connections, but the boy was already set to be blacklisted.

Gilbert already knew he was already going to suffer some degree of consequence for Byron’s knavery due to paternal vengeance. Gilbert also knew that the level of vengeance Byron’s father could leverage against him would not be worsened all that much if his son were to die in the raid.

It was one of the interesting aspects of human nature Gilbert had observed in his twenty three years working for the Guild. Anyone with power and influence, had a tendency to use the full reach and scope of said influence whenever they were trying to make an example of somebody who crossed them. Of course, this meant that if you were going to make an enemy of them in the first place, there weren’t any further disincentives from going further.

What baffled Gilbert was how few people with that sort of power and influence seemed aware of that glaring weakness. Especially since they proved capable of exercising caution when threatening one another. Taking only small punitive actions in comparison, unwilling to overextend and reveal the extent of their influence.

Convincing Byron to remain in the administration building would be easy. Gilbert reckoned he could probably have charged the brat for the privilege if he wasn’t so keen on avoiding a paper trail. The other two adventurers, Simon and Bret, wouldn’t be any trouble either. No one with half decent sense would pass up the opportunity to wait out the raid in the most defensible building in the foothold.

Getting up from his chair, Gilbert walked over to the window and stared at the distant forest.

Gilbert had posted rewards for anyone who could provide information on the Ogre’s location, but interest had been minimal. There were not many adventurers with the right skillset to begin with, and the increased aggression from the Orcs and Goblins had winnowed that pool down even further.

Locating the Ogre was something of a gambit. Gilbert wanted to attempt to bribe it into defending the foothold, weakening itself in the process. After the raid ended, and assuming it was still alive, Gilbert would send a request for a more qualified Slaver to take the Ogre into custody.

Of course, that was assuming the Ogre could be found in the first place, let alone convinced to return and defend the foothold.

Gilbert winced as he recalled the heated conversation that took place shortly before he had attempted to first take custody of the Ogre. In hindsight, the young adventurer, Nadine, had been correct. Enslaving and imprisoning the Goblin had been a mistake. Gilbert now realised that he should have exercised a greater degree of subtlety and tact while handling the situation.

If Gilbert had managed to handle his fears better, then there was every chance that the Ogre would have defended the foothold of its own volition. Whatever means the three young women had used to keep the Ogre docile and pliable were unlikely to work again. Gilbert cursed himself for a fool, vowing to exercise greater caution and restraint in the future.