บท 137: It was pathetic

Currently, I am sitting on a tree stump. Why a tree stump? They did offer a chair but I said that it's better. The tree stump is at a corner of this village. I have taken my seat on the stump and without any hesitation, Hazel sat on my right thigh.

The villagers were a bit surprised by this. But they didn't react after staring at me for a while. Anyway, I get back to the topic. They were weirded out by Hazel's eccentricity. But I have somehow smoothed things out.

"Can I have your name?"

I ask the elderly person. He seems to be the village elder.

"Yes. My name is Sorvan. I am the current chief of this village." (Sorvan)

"I see. Then I will call you Sorvan."

They are staring at me again. Am I that weird? It won't do amy good if I keep thinking only? I think I should ask the reason for their astonishment.

"I keep noticing that you are getting surprised at everything I do. Is something wrong?"

"You are very perceptive. Normally humans don't pay any attention to us." (Sorvan)

"But the demi humans are also categorized as part of humanity. So why the astonishment?"

"Are you not a local?" (Sorvan)

"No. I moved here a few days ago with my family. So, I take it that demi humans are not treated very well by the humans of this continent."

"Yes. This continent is harsh towards the demi humans. Although other continents have friendly relations with our kind, this continent prioritizes human supremacy. I know that their is a country which is ruled by demi humans but traveling there is hard." (Sorvan)

The human and demi human relations are messed up. But I think I managed to convince them that I am not from here.

"So, what exactly happened and when did it start?"

"It started a week ago. Suddenly a few ogres attacked us. Normally, ogres are monsters that live deep inside the forest but they came suddenly and looted us. After that, they came yesterday and looted us again. It's like they are only targeting our valuables and food. They took away our weapons, money, anything valuable and our food. Now, we have nothing.

If you had not come, we might've had to leave this place and look for a new place." (Sorvan)

A bunch of robbers? Were ogres like that?

"I see. How many were there?"

"5 of them directly attacked us while 3 kept watch. So a total of 8 but I think there were more. It's unusual for this many ogre to move together. They came from east." (Sorvan)

I see. I guess I will help Hazel a bit. I tell Hazel to get up.

"We will go and take a look. Don't leave this place."

I place a barrier around this village. And then we start heading east of the village.

"Hazel, what do you think?"

"I haven't seen any ogres so I can't be sure. But they don't give off the robber vibe from the name." (Hazel)

"Yeah. I think something is up. Either they are being manipulated or they aren't ogres to begin with."

I have a theory but it's a theory in the end. However, we keep walking east and arrive at a cave. The entrance is open. Like a normal cave but I can smell fire from inside.

"Hazel, looks like we have arrived at the den. Now, charge. If anything hostile is inside, neutralize it. If not, investigate the cave."

"You won't come, master?" (Hazel)

"No. Remember, this is training for you. I won't help you with this."

"Fine." (Hazel)

She answered with a monotone. She isn't too enthusiastic about this. But she goes inside.

Hazel walks through the cave. There are torches inside the cave which is lit. The cave is long. And the inside is nicely reinforced. Hazel is thinking what could the ogres be after.

After a short walk, she found a few sleeping ogres.

"They are ogres, I think?"

The creatures sleeping in front of her have green skin and two horns on each sides of their heads. They are wearing pelts. Which animal is that pelt from? But Hazel decided not to make any sudden moves.

"They said that there were 8 of them or more. I can see 5 sleeping here. 3 are missing. But what bothers me is that I can feel mana from them."

Hazel thinks and starts analyzing. But she couldn't make anything out of it. So she resorts to asking help from Fay.

(Fay, are you there?)

(What is it? I am still not used to this telepathy.)

(Do monsters have mana?)

(Some do. But it depends on which monster.)

(Do ogres have mana?)

(No. Ogres don't have mana. Only ogre king has some mana and can use it to augment its physical strength. Normal ogres are just physically strong and sturdy. They don't have any mana.)

(Then why can I feel mana from ogres?)

(Ogres having mana? That's the first time I have heard of this.)

(Then talk to you later. I will first get to the root of this problem. See you at home.)

She cuts off the line and focuses of the ogres.

"Maybe I should kill these ogres before they wake up."

She walks to the ogres. At that moment, she felt another mana signature.

She looks around for the source and finds a shining crystal.

"What could that be?"

She goes to that crystal and touches it. But the crystal shatters and the ogres changed in appearance. The ogres vanished and in their place, humans appeared.

"So, they were not ogres to begin with."

It was an extremely pathetic situation. Humans disguised as ogres and terrorized the demi human village to loot them. Hazel got so angry that she beat up those sleeping humans until they were senseless. Then she tied them up after taking a rope from the cave.

In the meantime, Clive has also taken care of the other members of the group. He was waiting outside.

I found my answer the moment I sensed the mana signature. A few humans appeared and attacked me. But I took care of them and tied them up. Hazel seems to be done as well.

This entire job ended up becoming a very bad detective story. I thought Hazel could get some practice out of this one but seems like that won't be possible. Hazel is dragging a tied bunch as she comes outside.

"My guess was right. I had thought it was humans who were behind this and it was indeed humans. Anyway, let's take them back. Did you take the stuff as well?"

"Yes. I took everything from inside the cave. What should we do with them, master?" (Hazel)

It's a drag, carrying them around. I put a barrier around the tied bunch and throw them inside my singularity. Let's report back to the village and call this job a done deal.

"It was quite pathetic, wasn't it?"

"Yes. I thought I would get to show some skills but that didn't happen." (Hazel)

The date continues but it started with a big hiccup.