"Adiiii...! You're bullying me…"
The gold-haired girl pouted even more and leaned to the side so far that she ended up with her forehead against the arm of the maid and started nuzzling up to her grumpily.
"Someone has to keep you grounded even a little bit, or else who knows what you will end up doing, my lady~"
The maid couldn't keep up her stoic behavior, so she smiled and responded to the nuzzling by gently patting the gold-haired girl's head.
"Hmhm~ And that's why I love you so much~!"
The gold-haired girl chuckled instead of getting more grumpy and hummed happily, playfully clinging to the maid's arm.
"...hiii…!"
"Hmm?"
The lighthearted atmosphere ended when the echo of a furious squeal carried over from the opposite side where the maid appeared.
It was also the same general area where Ross's favorite herb-harvesting spot was.
"Oh? I believe we found our missing Boarkin Orc cleric. It must have realized its companions are dead."
The gold-haired girl let go of the maid and perked up with a cheeky smile.
"...bu…"
Unexpectedly, Ross trembled and grumbled something under his breath with his head down.
"Bu…?"
The gold-haired girl exchanged surprised glances with the brown-haired maid and inquired, tilting her head toward the Pigkin orc.
"HIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!"
"...!"
The next moment, instead of answering the question, Ross raised his head and unleashed a deafening roar that created an actual shockwave. It washed over the gold-haired girl and the maid, uprooting a few bushes and breaking plenty of branches in its wake.
While the gold-haired girl was shaking her head and scratching her ear, the Pigkin Orc, engulfed in unusual dark red light, charged straight ahead, trampling everything in his path.
"Haaa… and I thought I properly taught him language and self-control… My lady, I'll bring him back."
"No, let's follow him and observe from the side. I'm curious what it is about."
The maid let out a heavy sigh and lowered her head apologetically toward the gold-haired girl, who waved her hand dismissively—this time in response to the maid's words—and stood up.
*****
"HIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!"
"...!?"
An unidentified furious howl made the Borakin orc, about to bring down its spiked mace on the head of the incapacitated black-haired girl, flinch.
"!!!"
But the next moment, as a sudden gust of wind buffeted it, the Boarkin Orc trembled and immediately turned his back on the girl to face whatever was approaching.
"...!"
Its eyes widened as it noticed a movement that turned out to be an exceptionally large one-armed Pigkin orc charging at it, bloody mace in hand, while engulfed in a distinct dark-red glow.
"...R-Ross…?"
"...!"
The black-haired girl muttered, making the Boarkin Orc look at her, thinking that the effects of the fear stopped working, but she was still trembling, with the only difference being that she had turned her head.
The confirmation took only a moment, but that was enough for the glowing Pigkin Orc to arrive, stopping abruptly and channeling all of his strength and momentum into his mace…!
"Bu-hingh…!"
The Boarkin Orc backed off, using its shield to deflect the blow, but the force behind it ended up knocking it off balance.
"BU-HI-fngh..?!"
The monster squealed, opening its mouth and exposing the full length of its tusks, about to counterattack with its spiked club, but just as it thought that the Pigkin orc was showing an opening moving back its mace, it got slammed in the snout with the edge of a kite shield strapped to the little stub of a forearm the other Orc had left.
"HFNNNG…!"
The Boarkin Orc wheezed as its head bounced back and blood spurted out of its nostrils but had no time to recover its footing as the frenzied Pigkin orc slammed his mace into the side of its knee.
"BHIIIIIGH!"
The Boarkin Orc squealed in pain as the joint shattered with a disgusting sound under its opponent's attack.
"BU…! HJUGHRG…?!"
The Boarkin Orc opened its mouth to squeal a gestion to the Pigkin Orc, but a talk was never an option, which was confirmed by the edge of the shield being slammed into its temple in order to ensure its fall.
"!!!"
But even concussed, the monster didn't lose its survival instinct and pushed itself off the ground with both hands, losing its weapon but saving its life as his opponent's weapon slammed into the ground in the very spot its head was just a fraction of a second earlier.
The Boarkin Orc tumbled on the ground a few times, miraculously not hitting any trees or getting stuck in the bushes.
It got up onto all fours and almost subconsciously reached to the satchel on its back, taking a handful of uprooted herbs and throwing them over its head.
"Bu-hi."
The monster squealed an incantation, and the plants swept up by the swirl of the green light dried up while recovering a large portion of their health and curing the concussed status effect.
"Enhanced heal."
"...!"
Directly in front of it, the one-armed Pigkin Orc tucked his weapon under the remains of his arm and reached out to the satchel on his back from where he took out a handful of leaves from herbs that he used together with an incantation spoken in a common tongue.
But to the Boarkin orcs' great surprise, their opponent didn't use the spell on himself but on the incapacitated human girl on his side.
"R-Ross!"
After the leaves turned into dust, recovering the girl's health, she got back on her feet, backing off behind the Pigkin orc and calling out to him.
"Cat-rine, I'll take it from now. Stay back."
The Pigkin Orc took out his weapon again and stepped to the side, completely shielding the human girl from the Boarkin Orc, before saying while his pale-blue eyes were focused on the other monster.
"Eh? B-but… I m-mean... okay… A-at least let me… E-enchant earth!"
Catherine's eyes widened, but she stopped herself from protesting and instead put both hands against Ross's robust back and chanted, causing his mace to grow an additional outer shell that grew thick spikes, transforming it into an element-imbued morningstar.
"Bu-hi! Buhihi! BU! HI!"
At the sight of that, the Boakrin orc squealed with disgust, pouting its finger at Ross before spatting to the side.