Chapter 1 – 10 Battle Vs. Orcs

Tenma’s Appraisal skill seemed to be indicating a group of 『Orcs』. Orcs, also known as pig-men or boar-men, are a type of monster. Although “men” may be included in their name, their form is more similar to a pig or wild boar standing on two legs, with their hands being the only things really similar to humans. Their meat is also tastier than normal pork, so often butchers sell it in towns.

I put s.h.i.+romaru into the basket Slalin was in, and put the basket into the bag. Using Sky Flight, I flew to the group of orcs and watched them from above. They were hidden from the forest, in a place similar to a valley, surrounded by rocky hills.

The orcs seemed to be attacking a horse drawn coach. The battle was between 6 humans and 43 orcs, with the orcs divided into squads of about 6 orcs each. The humans were fighting fanned out in front of their coach, with a rock wall to their backs. The orcs, with their numbers advantage, seemed to be gradually pus.h.i.+ng them back.

(This is way too organized for orcs. If something doesn’t change, it’s going to end badly!)

Tenma flew down to the coach and yelled,

“I’m here to help fight!”

He took out 10 magic stones from his Magic Bag and threw them between the humans and the orcs. Although Tenma’s sudden appearance surprised both sides, they were far more shocked at what followed. From where he had tossed the magic stones, ten 2-meter-tall stone golems sprung up from the ground.

“Golems! Attack the oncoming enemies while protecting these people!”

Tenma gave his orders to the golems, then started using the light element recovery magic, 『High Heal』 on the humans.

The man who looked to be highest ranked tried to thank Tenma, but Tenma interrupted him,

“From above, I’ll circle around behind and take down 6 orcs. Until then, crush as many as you can.”

and with Sky Flight, he ascended toward the top of a nearby rock cliff.

“Everyone regroup and prepare yourselves for this opening!”

With a shout from the highest ranked man, the other five retrieved spears from the coach. They began to thrust at the orcs from behind the safety of the golems. About 3 minutes later, by the time Tenma returned from top of the cliff, around 7 ~ 8 of the orcs had been defeated. Both sides had fortified their positions. When Tenma descended, he noticed that among the remaining orcs, one was bigger than the golems.

“Is that an Orc King?”

Orc Kings are the highest rank of orcs, usually ranked C+ to B, while normal orcs are only D to C-. The annoying part is, Orc Kings have the ability to strengthen the orcs that serve under them by one stage.

“GYA–, GYAYAYAYAAA!”

With the orc king’s battle cry, the other orcs powered up.

Tenma pulled a sword out from the magic bag. It had a double-edged tip, made in the so called “Kogarasu Maru” style. It was around 70cm in length, with a slightly curved blade. It had neither a guard nor proper hilt, instead being wrapped with cord.

[TN: Kogarasu Maru (lit. “Little Crow”) refers to a style of curved, double edged blades somewhere in style between older j.a.panese “Ken”, (similar to older Chinese swords) and traditional j.a.panese “Tachi” or “Katana”, which feature a single edge]

He first used strengthening magic on the sword, then leapt in front of the orc king.

“PUGYA!”

“FUGA!”

Tenma started attacking the orcs near where he landed. From his left hand he released the magic Wind Cutter and cut some of them to pieces. Using the sword’s sharp blade in his right hand, he slashed their necks and dispatched them one after another. The orcs fell into chaos. However, as expected of the orc t.i.tled the Orc King, he stayed focused and immediately turned to Tenma and attacked. The weapon he brandished was a previously sliced orc’s lower body.

The orc king, so confident in his own power, was sure that with one swing the enemy standing before him would be reduced to a pile of gore, and a dreadful smile crept onto his face. That would become his final memory. Tenma held his sword above his head, stepped forward and swung downwards. He slashed diagonally from the side of the orc’s neck towards his right side, cutting straight through.

Laying at Tenma’s feet, the orc king’s dead body was still smiling. Upon seeing this, the other orcs and the six humans stared in shock. Taking advantage of this, Tenma quickly unleashed Earth Needle before the orcs could regain their senses. By the time they had snapped out of it, their numbers were reduced by half. After this it became a one-sided battle. Tenma hunted down and annihilated the orcs, who were unable to put up much of a resistance.

As Tenma stored the bodes of the orcs in his dimensional bag, one of the men approached him.

“For granting us your aid in such a dangerous situation, I give my thanks. Because of you, the casualties have been minimized.”

This looks to be the most well-dressed man among the six. Tenma immediately used Appraisal.

Name: Alex von Bloomel Klostin

Age: 47

Race: Human

t.i.tle: King of Klostin Kingdom

“King?”

Hearing this, the other men became wary.

The most serious looking of the bunch, a man about 5’9” tall, with silver hair, dark eyes and a macho way of speaking, suddenly cut in and put himself between Tenma and the king.

“Hmph, stand down, there seems to be no malicious intent.”

Said the king to the man, but he replied,

“But, your majesty! He’s merely pretending to be that way, when he sees an opening he could strike!”

and drew his sword while saying so.

“Did you not hear Our order?”

[TN: The king starts using the royal We here to refer to himself]

The king remained quiet, radiating an intimidating aura. The man sputtered out,

“I apologize for the intrusion!”

and lowered his head.

“Very well. We understand that you are just concerned about Us. However, the boy has saved our lives. We must give thanks. Further, by you addressing me as ‘Your Majesty’, you’ve just proven him right, have you not?”

The man first seemed relieved but then turned pale.

“It’s already in the past. I’ll allow it. However, how did you know that We were king?”

Naturally Tenma couldn’t just reply “I found out with Appraisal”, so he desperately started to rack his brain for an explanation. Then, seeing the crest painted on the horse drawn coach,

“It was your c-c-crest. In this country, the only people who can use a crest designed with a lion and a dragon depicted together are the head of the King’s and Archduke’s royal families. Currently, the Archduke’s family has only one member, and I’ve heard they are quite old. Because of this, I thought you were the King.”

Tenma spoke quickly while giving his less than honest reply. It was knowledge he had gained from studying with mother.

“You do not need to be nervous. It was like that, hm? You’ve studied well.”

The king mistook Tenma’s quick speaking pace due to mere nervousness.

[Author’s Note] 

For the time being, the battle with the orcs is over.

I had thought I would introduce a candidate to be a Heroine by now, but instead it’s turned out to be this country’s most distinguished middle-aged man (the King). Originally, the king was younger, but I raised the age.

In the near future, I plan on having supporters for Tenma. (The overall plan is undecided, though)

I forgot to write about it earlier but, the difference between 『Flying』 and 『Sky Flight』 is that when traveling in a straight line, Flying is faster than Sky Flight. However, because it’s possible to freely maneuver in all directions using Sky Flight, Tenma tends to prefer using it, due to spending a lot of time in the forest.

s.h.i.+romaru seems to be slow to grow to the size of his parents, but please keep in mind that because he’s a monster, his growth speed is kind of strange.

Finally, thank you to everyone. This series has been bookmarked over 100 times now.

[TN: Referring to his growth on syosetu, the site where it was originally posted]

I look forward to your continued support of Isekai Tensei no Boukensha.