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Chapter 58: Quantes (1)

The door was firmly shut. Crockta knocked on the door and waited for the gatekeeper, but no one came out. The door remained tightly shut. Crockta crossed his arms.

There couldn’t suddenly be a ban prohibiting outsiders from entering, right? Crockta was about to shout to summon someone when the ground began to shake.

“...?”

Crockta looked behind him. Something large was running toward him. His eyes widened in surprise. Huge monsters were shaking the ground as they ran over from some distance away.

They were ogres! Ogres were monsters that were several times taller and larger in stature than orcs. They were low in intellect, so they acted closer to beasts. They were the worst monsters that attacked everything in sight and chewed up everything alive due to their violent tempers.

An ogre, with teeth that were like saw blades gleaming inside its mouth, drooled as it stared at Crockta. There was even an unknown animal’s flesh and blood stuck between its teeth.

Crockta tried to run, but it was too late. The ogre charged toward him.

“Uwuuuuhhhhhhh!” The ogre swung his wooden club at Crockta, who dodged it rapidly.

The sound of the wind ripping through the air rang in Crockta’s ears. He felt a chill run down his spine. This was an ogre’s strength. It was Crockta’s first time facing an ogre even though he heard many tales about them.

“Dammit, bul’tar...!”

Nevertheless, Crockta was an orc and a warrior. Moreover, he had the Golden Anvil Tribe’s masterpiece, the Ogre Slayer!

The ogre had met its match. Crockta pulled out the greatsword and moved with caution. There were many enemies; the other ogres were getting closer. There were five of them in total. Even just one ogre was enough to throw a city into disarray.

Crockta took a few steps back until his back hit the city wall.

“Dammit...!” he cursed.

He had forgotten about what was behind him. As Crockta raised his eyes, he saw the ogres smirking at him upon seeing he had nowhere to retreat to. Crockta prepared for the worst and grasped his greatsword. He vowed to at least kill one of them when a trumpet sounded above his head.

It was followed by a boisterous voice, “Quantes gnome guards! Prepare the Asura Heaven-Breaking Cannon!”

“Asura Heaven-Breaking Cannon loaded and ready to fire!”

Crockta looked up. There were cannons sticking out at the edge of the city wall.

Voices that resembled those of children were shouting.

“Release the safety device!”

“Released!”

“Aim at the target!”

“Aimed!”

“Show them the price of encroaching on our city! Fireee!”

“Fireee!”

A flash of light sparked over Crockta’s head. With the sounds of explosions, beams of light flew toward the ogres.

Lights of red, blue, and various other colors struck the ogres.

“Uwuuuhh!”

“Keung!”

After taking direct hits, the ogres seemed to stand their ground for a bit and then tumbled over, but the gnomes persisted and continued their barrage of magic cannonballs. The ogres wrapped their arms around their heads and curled up into a ball.

The gnomes’ cannons refused to take a break and relentlessly struck the ogres’ bodies. They were not actual cannonballs but cannonballs made from magic. Magic cannonballs were the height of the gnomes’ unique magic engineering technology.

After that, the attacks stopped. Crockta could sense the gnomes scurrying in haste above the castle walls.

“Ahhh! Load quickly, load!”

“We don’t have enough magic!”

“The ogres are going to climb up the walls!”

“They said they would bring more supplies. What’s taking them so long?”

“Stay calm!”

The ogres that had been curled up on the ground glanced around and then got up. They began bellowing in anger.

“Uwuuuuuuuhhhh!”

“Kuwaaaaaaahhh!”

Their cries reverberated through the earth as they ran toward the city walls with enraged faces. Crockta quickly hid. The ogres clashed their weapons against the city wall, creating a crack. One ogre succeeded in climbing onto a city wall and began crawling upward.

“What should we do, Captain Tiyo?”

“St-Stay calm!”

The enraged ogres ignored Crockta and ran toward the entrance of the gnome city. Crockta, who had been quietly observing this spectacle, quietly raised his greatsword, Ogre Slayer, and followed after them.

A regular sword wouldn\'t be able to cut into thick ogre skin. At most, it would create a scratch and further incite the ogres’ anger. However, Crockta’s Ogre Slayer wasn’t just a regular sword; it was a greatsword of the highest craftsmanship.

Crockta leaped toward one of the ogres climbing the city wall and swung his greatsword. Ogre Slayer’s blade ripped through the ogre’s flesh.

“Ahhhhh!” screamed the ogre as it fell from the wall.

“...!” The gnomes, who had been in disarray due to the ogres, finally noticed Crockta.

They watched him swing his sword at the ogres in front of the city walls.

“What is that...? Who is that orc?” wondered the gnomes.

Orcs weren’t common in Quantes. Moreover, it was a first for an orc to stand alone against a group of ogres. With every flash of the orc’s blade, the ogres retreated. It was such skilled swordsmanship!

Captain Tiyo shouted at the guards who were just staring blankly at the orc. “Everyone, move quickly! It’s too much for the orc on his own!”

“Yes, sir!”

“He’s trying to buy us time!” shouted Tiyo.

The gnomes on top of the city walls quickly loaded their magic cannon as Captain Tiyo stared at the scene down below. The orc was targeting the ogre that had almost climbed to the top of the city wall. The rest of the ogres were ramming into the wall or climbing upward still.

“Hmmm!” Tiyo was anxious.

If this continued, the situation would become dangerous. The entrance was about to be torn down.

Right then, the orc left the ogre he had been facing and ran toward the ogre targeting the city’s entrance.

“Bul’taaaaaarrrr!” the orc screamed.

With precise swordplay, he cut off one of the ogre’s legs.

“Arghhh!” The ogre staggered while glaring furiously at the orc.

The orc shouted, “Come! I won’t run or hide!”

“Uwuuuhh!” the ogres cried out. “Keuuuhkk!”

?Two ogres ran toward the orc, who drew their attention toward him as he darted away from the entrance. However, there was a limit to how fast he could run.

It wasn’t long before one of the ogre’s clubs struck the orc’s greatsword.

“Ugh!” the orc groaned.

He put his weight on the greatsword to hold his ground, but it was no use. His body was sent flying into the air before dropping to the ground soon after. The ogres gathered around him and began swinging their clubs at the fallen orc, but the orc dodged by rolling away.

Tiyo’s hands grew sweaty from watching the battle. The orc was continuing to buy time for them as he lured the ogres’ attacks away from the entrance. If it hadn’t been for the orc, the ogres would have already climbed up the city walls and slaughtered them.

The orc was a truly great warrior.

Captain Tiyo shouted, “Are you ready?!”

“Yes, captain. The preparations are complete!”

“We are ready!” replied the gnome guards of Quantes.

Tiyo placed his weapon, the magic rifle, on his shoulder in preparation for a full attack. His magic rifle, the General, was more than just a good weapon; it was an ancient heritage classified as an artifact.

Tiyo looked through his rifle’s scope to aim at the ogre’s head.

“Rescue the orc first! Everyone, get ready to fire!” commanded Tiyo.

“Aim!” he continued. “Fiiirreeee!”

The gnomes’ magic cannon emitted polychromatic energy. Red, blue, and yellow cannonballs struck the ogres, causing them to lose their balance and collapse onto the ground.

“Uwuuuuhhh!” the ogres shrieked.

Crockta raised his head. A small gnome with a rifle was looking down at him from the top of the city wall. The gnome pointed at the ogres and did a thumbs up. Then he did a thumbs down. It was a clear signal.

Crockta nodded and clasped his Ogre Slayer. The ogres were still curled up on the ground as the magic cannonballs continued to strike them. Crockta would be the one to deliver the final blow.

There was no need to wish them a peaceful afterlife. Life and death seemed far apart, but they were both fleeting moments. It was the fate of the sword-bearer to bridge the distance between life and death.

The Ogre Slayer cut through the ogres’ necks—two down, three more to go. The remaining ogres were still clinging to the city walls. However, once they realized what was going on, their expressions completely changed. Their grotesque faces distorted into demon-like forms, and they revealed their blade-like teeth as they bellowed.

“Uwuuuuhhh!”

“Keaaaaahhh!”

Then they charged at Crockta in unison. They were indeed foolish creatures.

“...Bul’tar!” shouted Crockta while tightening his grip on his greatsword.

Distancing themselves from the city walls put the ogres in plain view and made them easy targets. The gnomes’ cannonballs poured down onto the ogres’ backs. The ogres rolled across the ground in pain after taking direct hits. The Asura Heaven-Breaking Cannon didn’t have the destructive power to end lives, but it boasted the ability to afflict immense pain and stop the enemies’ progress. With the combined effect of the Asura Heaven-Breaking Cannon and the Ogre Slayer, even ogres—the terror of Elder Lord—wouldn’t be able to survive.

Crockta chopped off the ogres’ heads in succession. The ogres exhaled their final breaths with bloodshot wide-open eyes. Crockta then turned around and saw the gnome with the rifle and the uniformed gnome soldiers looking at him.

The trumpet that had signaled the beginning of the battle resonated throughout the city. Suddenly, the gnome with the rifle saluted Crockta in a highly disciplined manner. The gnome guards followed after him and saluted Crockta. It was the highest regard gnomes paid to a fellow soldier!

A wave of strange emotions swept over Crockta during this uncanny experience of being saluted by small gnomes standing on top of a city wall. He used to be a soldier who had frequently crossed the boundaries between life and death, but he hadn’t received many salutes in his life. Instead of praise, many had looked at him with horror in their eyes because he was a soldier who crossed borders to kill people, rather than protecting borders like the gnome guards.

Crockta saluted them back. The trumpet of victory reverberated throughout the city as the soldiers acknowledged one another. That was how Quantes’ gnome guard Captain Tiyo and orc warrior Crockta met.

***

“On what business did you come here?” asked Captain Tiyo in a hearty voice.

He had the voice of a child but the spirit of a general. Crockta and Captain Tiyo were sitting across from one another at the visitor management office located past the entrance.

Crockta answered, “I came to receive help before heading to the north.”

Captain Tiyo furrowed his eyebrows. The north was a dangerous region. It was a cursed place inhabited by groups of ogres like the ones they had defeated earlier today, and even scarier monsters lurked everywhere.

“Well, I guess the reason doesn’t really matter. That’s your business. But Quantes is temporarily forbidding outsiders,” replied Tiyo.

“Why is that?” asked Crockta.

Quantes was the city of gnomes, but it wasn’t a place that had restrictions on visitors like Arnin.

“Lately, there’s been a downpour of monsters from the north. Like earlier, ogres have been ambushing cities, and doppelgangers and liches have been sneaking in and frightening the citizens. There was an incident in which a doppelganger snuck in with a group of outsiders, so we had to ban visitors.

“Hmm...” muttered Crockta.

“We suspect that the doppelganger is still here!” declared Tiyo.

It was a totally understandable reason, but Crockta was at a loss.

Tiyo continued, “But I see that we can trust you. You are a fellow soldier who defeated the ogres with us! I will vouch for you, so you can be permitted entry on special grounds.”

“Yes,” said Crockta with a nod while extending his hand. “Thank you.”

“Hmph, it’s not because I like you or anything,” said Tiyo bashfully as he shook hands with Crockta.

Crockta noticed that the actions of gnomes didn’t match what they said.

Gnomes were small in stature like children. Dwarves gave the impression that they were small but dependable, whereas gnomes appeared to be cute because they looked like miniature humans. However, gnomes had the most advanced magic and magic engineering technology and were considered the best among magicians and enchanters. Despite that, players veered toward elves as the superior alternative, so gnomes always led the way in unpopularity for character choices—if orcs were excluded, of course.

“Good. What’s your name? Where are you from?” asked Tiyo as he laid out the visitor management book.

“My name is Crockta. I became a warrior at Orcrox, and now I’m heading to the north.”

Tiyo widened his eyes in surprise. “Crockta? The honorable orc Crockta?”

Crockta’s chest puffed up. “Some call me that, hahaha.”

“Ohh! What an honor!” exclaimed Tiyo, leaping up from his seat in excitement. He immediately sat back down, but he was noticeably restraining himself to not lose his dignity. “Hm, hmph! Anyways! With the tattoos all over your body and your greatsword, along with your courage... your appearance and personality do match those of Crockta. Welcome to Quantes!”

Thus, Crockta received permission to enter Quantes.

“But be careful,” warned Tiyo. “The public sentiment is grim. There’s been a doppelganger serial killer, so the citizens are guarded against outsiders. They might be especially afraid of orcs...”

“That’s fine,” replied Crockta.

“You said you came to Quantes to go to the north?”

Crockta nodded.

“The north... Gnome professors are researching the north at the academy, so it’d be good for you to visit it,” advised Tiyo.

Although Tiyo had a solemn manner of speech, one couldn’t help but laugh when listening to him because of his childish voice.

Tiyo seemed to sense that as well and furrowed his eyebrows. “You can’t underestimate gnomes just because you are a big orc. Gnomes are extremely intelligent, wise, and strong, so you will be in for a surprise if you dare to belittle one.”

“I already know that. Your Asura Heaven-Breaking cannon was really something.”

“Hmph! Of course. It’s the pride of gnomes.” Tiyo smiled broadly and rose from his seat. “Anyways, I grant you permission to enter Quantes.”

“Thank you, Captain Tiyo,” replied Crockta.

Crockta departed from the visitor management office with Tiyo. Everything in the city of gnomes was small in scale, but each thing had its proper place. The city was built in a modern configuration with streets divided into sequential blocks.

“Hmm, Crockta?” said Tiyo.

“...?”

“I noticed earlier that your salute was excellent. Do you have military experience?” asked Tiyo.

Crockta laughed.

“Back in the day,” he replied.

“I see. You used to be a soldier.” Tiyo’s eyes glistened. “The gnome guards are planning to celebrate tonight for defeating the ogres. Considering your contribution, won’t you join us?”

There would be liquor at the celebration. Crockta wouldn’t be a real man if he refused. Thus, Crockta, along with the gleeful Captain Tiyo, set out onto the streets of gnomes.