The plaza located in the city of Est was jammed with people who had escaped with nothing but the clothes on their backs.
That's right, there's no way a city wouldn't become noisy because of that.
Was there some kind of disaster?
As soon as we entered the Sawatari Trading Company, we were welcomed by Louise, who had a sour face, and her disciples, Suzanne & Claudia.
It was rare for our team of female warriors to not be out on a monster hunt.
"What happened?"
"The village of Ona has been attacked by a large group of monsters. We were able to fight them back together with this city's garrison and other adventurers, but eventually, our side was outnumbered and forced to retreat."
The village of Ona is located in the northern direction, not too far away from Est.
Apparently, it's a settlement built on a spacious, tranquil meadow that houses as many as 200 villagers.
Does this mean that the remaining monsters from the large wave that spawned near the royal capital has, in the end, managed to surge into Est's vicinity?
"Did you sustain any injuries?"
"Yeah, but we're fine. That's because we carried plenty recovery potions with us. Still, even though we were there, we barely managed to evacuate all the villagers….."
Even though they recovered themselves with potions, I could tell how fierce their battle must have been, judging from their shredded leather armors.
Still, to think that someone as strong as Louise was forced to give up.
Even our company has been doing business with Ona, as their village, which thrives on stock-farming, has been supplying us with the soil necessary for niter production.
There were familiar faces among the villagers who had been huddling together in front of our shop, so I decided to go and check if there were any injured people.
"Louise, is it fine for me to use recovery potions on the injured people?"
"Why are you asking me that every single time? They're your items, so you can use them as you want."
I knew Louise would answer that way.
Her response was cold, but there's no doubt Louise would've done the same and used her own potions on the injured people.
The villagers of Ona were people under protection of the Earl, Est, so even the healers from the city's church arrived to help, however, they were short-handed, as there were too many injured people.
'The city is probably running short on recovery potions, so maybe I could take this opportunity and resell them at a high price?' – Is what I thought.
However, I subdued this wicked thought of mine and proceeded with the distribution of my potions.
"Thank you very much! Thank you very much!"
"Ah, no no, we're on the same boat in these troublesome times, so…."
(This young villager who threw these words of gratitude at me, he must be thinking I'm a fine person. Kukuku…..)
You must lose a fly to catch a trout, or so they say.
These villagers here live nearby, so if I demand gratitude from them, I can easily yield big profits afterwards.
(Despite saying so...)
Even though I went through the trouble of establishing this company in Est…
Nevertheless, I don't intend to look on passively as the monsters take over their village.
'Now that it has come to this, what we need is the strength of firearms, rather than swords.' – Is what I thought.
I alone, made this resolution silently.
—Scene Change—
"What? You plan to retake the village of Ona from the monsters?"
"Yes. If possible, I'll show you, later, how to push the monsters back and get rid of them entirely."
I decided to visit the Earl, Est's, castle and declare this in an impressive way.
As expected, was I boasting too much? The Earl looked at me doubtfully.
"Certainly, you'll become a big help to me if you can do it, but…."
"We'll be using the new weapons, so there's a chance for success."
I received a message from Dacole about the prototypes of the gun and cannon being made, and therefore, had Lyle-sensei go pick them up at the moment.
In the meantime, Louise and the rest are scouting for the location and scope of the monsters.
Originally, the soldiers in the standing army of Est were scarce.
And then, there was that epicenter placed near the royal capital that spawned large numbers of monsters.
Both the royal capital's chivalric order and its army corps were occupied with defending the main road and territories that fell under its direct jurisdiction. Because of that, they couldn't afford to send reinforcements to the territory of Est, which was located at their back.
"Oh, that's right, there are supposed to be those strange, new weapons which Takeru-dono has. Fine, I shall issue a special request for extermination. I'll give you these 10 platinum coins if you manage to retrieve the village of Ona. How about that?"
"Ohh, so these are platinum coins. I've heard about them, but, this is my first time seeing them."
Platinum coins were special coinage made from rare platinum. A single piece was worth 10 gold coins.
In other words, 10 platinum coins would be the equivalent of 100 gold coins.
The coins are reserved to only be used by nobilities during their trade with distinguished traders, so they can barely be found in money circulation. If I were to compare, they're similar to those 100,000 yen worth gold coins.
Looking at these glittering coins placed on top of the red table, I reached out my hands without thinking ahead. As I did so, they were pulled in.
"I won't give you them yet. Only after you get rid of the monsters and manage to get the village back."
"Yes, I understand."
'If the Earl has this much money, shouldn't he invest more in soldiers for his army, or hire mercenaries?" – I wondered about this, but….
To begin with, the territory of Est was a peaceful area far away and free from border disputes. Perhaps, this was the reason why he couldn't make any recruitment during an emergency.
It would be just the right time if there was anyone who could lend their military power.
"Furthermore, if you can eliminate the nearby monsters once and for all, and restore peace to this place, I'll give you additional 300…. no, 500 gold coins!"
"Well then, please do as you as say."
I drank dry my cup of coffee, after which I left the castle behind.
10 platinum coins for releasing Ona village, and an additional 500 gold coins for exterminating the monsters?
Even if the Earl Donovan was grand, it was quite the lavish promise, however, he probably thinks there's no way for me to accomplish such a feat.
I, too, don't know how far I can get, but, I guess it can't be helped if there's someone seeing me that way.
Anyway, I just wanted to seize the opportunity to go on an attack and make the most of my winning streak.
—Scene Change—
Lyle-sensei returned back with a set of big guns and cannons, so we held a strategic meeting inside the company building.
According to Louise and the rest's reconnaissance, the group of monsters that has been staying in the village consists of 100 armored orcs, as the main force, and nearly 100 ogres and kobolds, which makes a total battalion of 200 units, or so it seems.
An orc is a monster well-known in fantasy worlds, with a pig face and human features. It's equipped with more proper weapons (not just weapons, but also protectors) than ogres and kobolds. Besides that, it's highly intelligent, so one should consider it slightly on pair with armed forces.
While we are at it, despite orcs having those ugly pig faces, they are surprisingly sociable and tend to form large groups with other humanoid monsters, however, they're not on good terms with werewolves. Apparently, they would kill each other upon clashing.
Certainly, I'd like to have them kill each other, but, there were no groups of werewolves nearby.
Since orcs prefer livestock raised by humans, one could probably say they attacked Ona village due to its thriving stock-farming.
Against them, our war potential comprised of me; the magic user, Lyle-sensei; Louise; and the 13 slave girls.
In addition to that, it was decided that we would be joined by a group of 20 young villagers capable of combat.
With this, a total of 36 people would be fighting against an enemy of 200 monsters, which was a harsh number.
Obviously, that would be true under normal circumstances.
However, our side possessed modern weapons.
The guns, which we received from the Losgow's blacksmith, were manufactured arquebuses with simple constructions.
Since the ammunition is made from paper cartridges, it's much easier to be inserted than in those real, old fashioned arquebuses.
Once we tested the weapons at the outskirt of the city, the villagers became unable to stand due to surprise.
Well, it can't be helped. After all, they're not used to it yet.
If our allies are this surprised, then it should be just the right weapon to scare the enemy.
Apart from me, who was used to this gun, Sharon seemed to be the one who had accustomed to the weapon the fastest.
"The recoil isn't that strong, so in order to avoid the gunpoint trembling, all you need to do when pulling the trigger is-"
"Like this?"
bang – As a noisy sound was produced, the gun's lead ball struck its target.
That's a skillful shot indeed.
The other girls, too, became able to shoot at their targets accurately once they got used to it.
As one would expect, young people tend to get accustomed to new skills much quicker.
"I know it's effective, but, perhaps a bow would suit me better."
"Well, I think it's better for Louise to fight using other weapons."
Louise made a bitter face as she tested out the gun.
Naturally, she too could handle the gun quite decently.
Still, judging from the fact that Louise was already experienced with throwing knives and shortbows, it didn't look like she would be able to master the gun that fast.
One could say that one of the gun's advantages against the bow is that a novice can handle it, more or less, as long as it shoots.
We decided we would try out the big cannon by moving it on the covered wagon up to the hill, where Ona village could be fully seen, and use it for a surprise attack.
"Everyone, once I light the cannon, cover your ears."
The cannon wasn't that much different from the arquebus in terms of both being big, but, because the gunpowder we used was the black one, which has a powerful explosion, its sound would become way too severe.
Dokkaaaan – A terrific roar generated and the large cannonball quickly launched toward the other side.
As soon as the cannonball reached its target it sunk into a fixed stone pedestal, making the ground tremble.
It looks like the cannon will have quite an impact if it hits precisely. Despite the cannonball not hitting its target accurately at all, the group of monsters that were stationed inside the village fell in utter chaos.
Should we try and give one more shot?
"Lower the angle of the cannon and move it slightly to the left."
As Laura was cleaning its gunpoint with a mop, Sharon and the rest desperately moved the big cannon while wearing leather gloves, just like I had instructed them.
"Excellent, that's enough. Load the cannonballs, we're going to make 2 more shots."
"Doneee!"
Once I made sure Laura had loaded the gunpowder with a stick and stepped aside, we launched two more shots.
"Ohhh, straight to the target."
"We did ittttt!"
The cannonball bursted right in the middle of where the orcs were exiting from a building in a bustling manner.
It looks like the chaos has settled down quite a bit, which is probably due to the orcs forgetting to escape and falling into a stupor.
And for some reason, they also haven't noticed this side attacking them.
Perhaps, to them it looked as though their allies had suddenly disappeared following the sound of an explosion, as they had no concept of cannons.
"Fine, let's continue to shoot them steadily with this angle."
"Aye aye, Sirrr." [TN: Said in English]
Laura, who had become accustomed to the cannon, loaded the balls in it steadily and fearlessly. Because of that, the cannon kept firing rapidly towards the village, making the stone pedestal split open, and even the cannon's barrel began to turn red from the excessive firing.
As a result….. the group of orcs became frightened at the deadly cannonballs that came flying from an unnoticeable direction. They scattered away and fled from the village.
"I guess this makes our gun practice meaningless, right?"
I was told like that by Lyle-sensei, who was a bit dumbfounded.
Perhaps, I've gone a bit overboard.