「Takato, I’m counting on you for support.」
「Understood. Please turn on the radio.」
「Roger.」
After Kainzel-san climbed down from the watchtower, I followed and carried the MINIMI and the box magazine up to the tower.
「Adventurers, defend the gate! Villagers, watch your surroundings! Women and children, hide in the storehouse!」
Kainzel-san shouted as he took command. Wait, there were adventurers here? I did not even notice.
Because the light came from bonfires, I could not see the adventurers clearly, but they seemed young. Maybe this was not such a dangerous place to begin with.
The front gate opened, and with Kainzel-san at the lead, the adventurers went outside.
Eight adventurers, huh. Even if Kainzel-san handles the aberrant species, the human side is at a disadvantage.
Seriously, even goblin extermination is life-threatening, and now there are monsters like Mokudan too. I really understand how incredible someone who survived five years in this world must be. You are amazing.
I told myself I could not fall behind and aimed the LED light at the aberrant species while bracing the MINIMI.
It seemed to shield its eyes with its arm, growling as if to intimidate us.
「Takato. Can you aim for its face?」
A transmission came from Kainzel-san.
「Yes. At this distance, it won’t be a problem.」
The aberrant species was about fifty to sixty meters away. If I fired in bursts, most shots should hit.
「Are there other Mokudan around it?」
I put on my glasses and checked.
「They’re hiding in the darkness behind it. More than ten. The others… seem spread out.」
They appear to be surrounding the village, and once the fight starts, they will probably rush in all at once. Seriously, this is as troublesome as it gets.
「Understood. Sorry, but once you hit the aberrant species in the face, switch to supporting the village.」
It sounded more like a request than an order.
「Right now, Kainzel-san is the boss. If you say do it, that’s an order. Whether I can live up to it depends on my ability, though.」
That would just mean it is Kainzel-san’s lack of ability for giving an order without judging my capabilities.
「Hmph. Very well. Shoot the aberrant species in the face!」
「Roger!」
I did not have an optical sight, but I had grown enough to hit a target that had come within fifty meters. I can do this, I thought, and pulled the trigger.
After firing for about three seconds, the aberrant species reeled back, making it harder to hit, but I wounded it badly enough for blood to spray.
「I’ll leave the rest to you!」
「Yeah. Leave it to me.」
I slung the VHS-2 over my back, stuffed as many magazines as I could into the apport pouch, and climbed down from the tower.
Thanks to my glasses, the darkness was not a problem, but since I had no real interaction with the villagers, I had no idea who to call out to. Who is in charge here?
「The Mokudan are coming closer! Stay alert! Light the fires!」
I shouted that since I did not know how else to give instructions.
I pushed the muzzle through the gaps in the log palisade and pulled the trigger at the approaching Mokudan.
I could tell that hot blood was spraying.
I moved again, stuck the muzzle through another gap in the palisade, and kept firing.
Although it jammed a few times, I emptied two hundred rounds. I left the MINIMI there and switched to the VHS-2.
I also took off my glasses and turned on the headlight and the light mounted on the rail. Maybe because I am not used to the glasses, my nose feels unbearably itchy.
Someone was holding an LED light and illuminating the Mokudan, which made them easy to spot. That was a big help.
I shot the Mokudan as if I were going to use up an entire magazine on each one, and in less than twenty minutes, I ran out of ammo.
「Once this is over, I need to focus on goblin extermination again.」
I have probably fired close to a thousand rounds. Even with a conservative estimate, that is a loss of sixty thousand yen.
I hate how I keep calculating money, but money is like my magic points, or maybe a life meter. I cannot just ignore it.
I used the apport pouch to retrieve magazines and stowed them in my chest rig and waist pouch.
「I’ll need to collect the magazines later.」
I sincerely hope that a day will come when I can treat magazines as disposable.
After making a full round of the village and returning to the front gate, the aberrant species had been defeated, and several of its subordinate Mokudan lay dead. Did the rest flee?
「Are you injured?」
「…No, I am not injured, but it has been a long time since I moved so intensely. I am drenched in sweat…」
The man who never even breathed hard during my training was now panting, sweat pouring off him like a waterfall. If it had been me, I would have definitely died.
I retrieved a towel and water from the apport pouch and handed them to Kainzel-san.
When I shone the light on the aberrant species, it was clear just how fierce the battle had been. Even 7.62 mm rounds were stopped by its muscles, only managing to tear at the skin.
Thinking about the future, I really need to learn how to handle an anti-materiel rifle too.
「What about the other Mokudan?」
「I shot the ones I could see. We’ll finish off the rest now. Kainzel-san, please go back to the Pioneer and resupply your magazines once. For anything that isn’t an aberrant species, the MINIMI will be enough.」
「Understood. You all, follow Takato and finish them off.」
「Y-yes, understood.」
The young adventurers were very obedient to Kainzel-san’s orders.
「I’m Takato. My main job is goblin extermination, and by arrangement of the guild master, I’m a provisional adventurer. Nice to meet you.」
「Y-yes! Nice to meet you!」
They were strangely obedient even toward me. Did Kainzel-san say something to them?
I retrieved three LED lights from the apport pouch and lent them to the adventurers.
「Let’s go finish them off in groups of three. Two of you, come with me. The remaining groups, do not stray too far and keep checking on each other. There might still be Mokudan around.」
The young adventurers nodded in understanding and headed out to deliver the finishing blows to the Mokudan.
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