Chapter 206 : Chapter 206
Chapter 206 - Tornava Continent (7)
The first mission the Monkey tribe Chieftain proposed to me was to eliminate an Orc tribe inhabiting a nearby hill.
"You must never underestimate Orcs. Unlike other Orcs, they know how to utilize the terrain, and the scale of their settlement is enormous."
To face mere Orcs when I had nearly recovered my past strength.
However, the purpose of the Orc extermination was very characteristic of the Monkey tribe.
The Orcs living on the hill would occasionally descend to the banana plantations at night and leave the surrounding area in ruins.
"But are you really not going to tell me what quest you received?"
"As I said, it is difficult to reveal at this time."
"In all my life, I have never seen an outworlder like this! If I remain ignorant of your quest, I have no choice but to think only of my own tribe's benefit when giving you tasks."
"Is that not better from your perspective?"
"It is because I am a conscientious Chieftain. Ahem!"
With that, the Chieftain cleared his throat and smirked.
He certainly was not a bad fellow.
"I do not think there is any need for me to go personally."
I immediately delegated the command to Choi Ho-joong and deployed the Chamryongdan.
"Outworlder. You do not seem worried at all."
"They are just Orcs, after all."
"Did I not tell you? The number of Orcs is beyond imagination. I do not even expect annihilation; I will be satisfied if you just give them a proper scolding and return."
The Chieftain's words seemed to be true.
It took more time than expected for the deployed Chamryongdan to return.
"Still, you returned before I could finish this tray of drinks."
As soon as Choi Ho-joong saw me after his return, he shook his head.
"Unit Leader, I have never seen so many Orcs in my life!"
Furthermore, these Orc bastards supposedly possessed something called tactics.
Instead of just charging down from the mountain in a swarm, they knew how to fight while maintaining their positions and utilizing the geographical advantage.
"Even those Orc bastards. Their skill in using tools was surprising!"
"Tools?"
"Yes. They were throwing bamboo spears on a large scale from the mountain; I truly thought they were not monsters!"
The Monkey tribe Chieftain, who was listening, clicked his tongue in frustration.
"That is why I warned you. I told you not to look down on Orcs."
"Ho-joong. So, what was the conclusion?"
"Was the conclusion not already decided before we left? We decided to wipe those Orc bastards out to the last one."
At those words, the Monkey tribe Chieftain dropped the banana he was holding.
"You wiped them out?"
"Your banana plantation will be safe for the time being. Should you not start by thanking our Unit Leader?"
The Chieftain looked as though he were re-verifying the facts with the Monkey tribe guide who had followed the Chamryongdan.
"It is true, Chieftain."
"If you are lying, I will hit you with a banana."
"Why would I lie?"
"It does not make sense. It has barely been any time since you left."
"It does not make sense, but... I saw it with my own eyes."
I poured a glass of banana wine into the Chieftain's cup.
"I told you. I will grant whatever request you have."
"O-Outworlder!"
With this, I had accumulated a great deal of favor.
However, I hoped he would entrust me with a proper mission instead of something like this.
Only then would I be able to demand the Monkey tribe's sacred relic later.
***
After performing the Monkey tribe's first request, I received ten crates of bananas as a reward.
He told me to hold a banana party for the hard-working Chamryongdan.
Since we were already eating only bananas for all three meals, I wondered what the point was, but I accepted them for now.
There was no reason to dampen the Monkey tribe's pride in their bananas.
The Chieftain soon proposed a second mission.
Again, it was monster extermination.
"The Plains of Trolls?"
"Yes. That place has been a long-standing headache for our Monkey tribe. Every time we went to another region, we had to take a long detour to avoid the large-scale Troll army."
It was a bit better than Orcs, but still, Trolls were a rather humble request.
Even so, since he said it was a long-standing headache, handling this would allow me to accumulate favor once more.
"So, what is the scale of the Trolls?"
"At least two thousand."
"What?"
It was a number that defied common sense.
I had never heard of a single species of monster congregating and living in such numbers in one area.
Even the Orc settlement we annihilated recently was not to that extent.
"Listen, outworlder. On second thought, I think this is impossible. Act as if you did not hear it. It was such a big headache that I just mentioned it on the off chance."
No.
It was actually better.
It had to be on this scale for me to comfortably boast about it later.
"I should go personally this time."
"I am asking just in case, but you do know what a Troll is, right?"
I nodded my head.
"The wound regeneration of the Trolls in this region is no joke. And there are as many as thousands of such Trolls. I am sorry. It was an unreasonable request."
"I will be the one to make that judgment."
"Could it be that the quest you received was Troll hunting?"
Since I accepted the request without hesitation, it was not unreasonable for him to speculate that way.
"That is not it."
"And yet you will do it?"
"I will tell you once more. We intend to grant whatever you ask."
"Just why!"
"We shall discuss that in due time."
"No, I am dying of curiosity. So I will ask again. Does this truly have nothing to do with a quest?"
"Of course."
At my answer, the Chieftain immediately called in one of his tribesmen.
"Kero!"
"Yes, Chieftain."
"I have something to verify, so bring that object immediately."
"Ch-Chieftain!"
"Hurry!"
"Understood."
Then, the Chieftain looked at me and asked.
"Outworlder, I have one thing to verify with you. Do not take it personally."
"Just what are you trying to verify?"
"The truth of the words you are speaking."
"......"
A thought flashed through my mind at that moment.
"Outworlder, I do not think you are a bad person. However, it is also true that it is difficult to trust you completely."
"Because I am not revealing the quest?"
"Because no matter how much I think about it, there is no reason for you to hide it."
A short while later, what the one named Kero brought was a wooden box.
I could sufficiently guess what was inside.
'The Ring of Truth.'
Among the sacred relics of the non-human species in Tornava, it was an item well-known even to Earthlings.
He intended to grasp the truth of my words with that.
When the Chieftain opened the wooden box, as expected, a single ring was inside.
That worn, bronze-colored object seemed to speak of the long history of the sacred relic.
It was unavoidable that my heart was slightly moved.
If I were to forcibly take that ring from here, one-third of the quest would be cleared.
"This is called the Ring of Truth."
As he spoke, the Chieftain placed the ring on his finger and continued.
"Outworlder. Will you take my hand? Or my tail is fine too."
The tail was a bit much.
"I shall take your hand."
"Have you heard of this object?"
I nodded my head.
"Good. Then I shall not bother explaining and will ask immediately. Have you spoken only the truth since meeting our tribe?"
In an instant, an unknown, mysterious power was felt from the hand I held with the Chieftain.
This was the power of the sacred relic.
I could feel a massive force that could not be resisted with mana or physical strength.
This was the restraint against falsehood.
"I ask again. Have you spoken only the truth since meeting our tribe, outworlder?"
"That is not the case."
My answer was the truth.
The Chieftain's expression froze as he shook off my hand.
"I suspected as much, but you entered our village with some scheme!"
What a quick change of attitude.
He was a truly simple fellow.
"It is not like that."
"Then what was that answer just now! It has been revealed that you did not treat us with only the truth."
"Because I had no choice."
"What does that mean!"
"The bananas were honestly mediocre."
"What?"
"The fact is that your bananas are less delicious than the bananas on Earth. I simply could not bring myself to say that honestly."
The Chieftain's pupils shook for a moment.
He was shocked by my words.
"T-Take my hand again."
Then he verified it. Whether my words were the truth or a lie.
In fact, either way, it would not be a good result for the Chieftain.
After verifying the truth, he wore a hollow expression.
"Outworlder. You were being considerate of me."
"I am sorry about that."
"I will not ask what your quest is anymore. There must be a reason for it."
The Chieftain wore a bitter expression.
Unintentionally, I had accumulated favor with the Monkey tribe once again.
After some twists and turns, our Chamryongdan arrived at the Plains of Trolls.
As the Chieftain said, the rulers of this plain were thousands of Trolls.
He said at least two thousand, but to my eyes, there seemed to be easily five or six thousand.
"Unit Leader! This is truly insane!"
Apparently, the scale of monsters on the Tornava Continent was on a different level.
"Is it not good? What you all wanted was practical training."
I stepped forward, holding the holy sword.
SWISH!!
From one end of the straight line created by the holy sword to the other. Blood leaked from the bellies of all the Trolls within that line of sight.
Of course, the wounds of these fellows would regenerate quickly in real-time.
"What are you doing? Why are you not charging in?"
It was a place perfectly suited for putting the Chamryongdan to work.
Thousands of Trolls.
When they returned to Earth, they would each have a heroic tale to take with them.
***
The plains were cleanly cleared.
It would no longer be called the Plains of Trolls.
Because we had returned after perfectly wiping them out.
"Just who on earth are you people?"
The Chieftain wore an expression of disbelief.
"Congratulations. You have managed to clear a path that was blocked for many years."
I patted the Chieftain's shoulder.
"But it is truly a troublesome matter."
"Troublesome?"
"Because I can no longer convey my gratitude with bananas."
The Chieftain fellow had taken what I said to heart.
"Your heart has been sufficiently conveyed."
"Thank you, outworlders."
It was a heartwarming atmosphere.
However, I thought it was still a bit too early to bring up the subject of the sacred relic.
It had only been a few days since we arrived here.
"It was a stroke of great luck that you left the Lion tribe and came to us! If you had stayed there and joined the Lion tribe... it is terrifying just to think about it."
"It seems you truly have a bad relationship with the Lion tribe."
"It has to be so."
"It seems something happened."
"It is a story from the time of our ancestors long, long ago, but those Lion tribe fellows committed an unforgivable act."
"Just what happened?"
"The Lion tribe fellows once plundered our sacred relic. Then they kept it as if it were their own."
This was a fact I had not known at all.
"Are you talking about the Ring of Truth?"
"That is not it. We had two sacred relics. It was a time when the Lion tribe had none."
"I understand that the Lion tribe still has none."
This was information I had obtained by torturing Jemba-jemba.
Surprisingly, the Chieftain also knew.
"I heard that the Fox tribe has it now."
"The Fox tribe?"
That was the place where Heo Jeong-ah and her unit had moved after leaving the Rabbit tribe village.
My next task had now been decided.