Orc Eroica, Vol. 1: Conjecture Chronicles by Rifujin na Magonote and Asanagi

Author:Rifujin na Magonote and Asanagi [Magonote, Rifujin na]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Yen On
Published: 2021-11-03T00:00:00+00:00

Wild beasts were vermin.

Left unculled, they would infiltrate the towns and villages, destroy crops, and attack livestock.

When their numbers were plentiful, they would even attack people.

There were not so many differences between ordinary wild beasts and demonic beasts. One key difference was that demonic beasts tended to appear from out of the ether, apparently not from natural reproductive means.

Although some said the key difference was that only demonic beasts attacked humans unprovoked.

Actually, the beastkin, demons, and orcs—races now classed as sentient beings—were considered equivalent to mythical creatures and monsters pre-war. The human historical records even described them as such.

The bugbears were viewed by orcs as a type of mythical creature, too, but were treated much the same as other wild animals.

They weren’t very tasty, but their large size and the sheer number of them meant that they made suitable food for the orcs.

As a result, orcs became skilled at hunting the bugbears. Orc hunters would get up with the dawn and head out to track them. The early bird gets the worm, after all.

During the war, Bash himself had often hunted bugbears.

“…”

Bash was silent now, solemnly following the bugbears’ trail.

He hadn’t been hunting in a while, but it still came easy to him.

Bugbears may have been crafty, but even they weren’t able to hide their tracks completely.

The saliva they tended to drop as they moved between trees actually had a distinctive smell and was a huge clue.

Orcs had keen noses. Their sense of smell was particularly attuned to the distinct odors of wild beasts. They could pick up on scents human hunters would barely even notice. In fact, the orcs were said to have a sense of smell that was even keener than that of the beastkin race.

To put it another way, there was no hope of tracking a bugbear without an orc’s nose to guide the way.

Bugbears were almost pathologically obsessed with hiding their own tracks. If you did happen to catch sight of a bugbear print, it was likely to be extremely faint, or even only partially formed, so much so that you would doubt your own eyes. Bugbears would also sometimes intentionally leave fake prints that led in the opposite direction of their lairs, just to throw off would-be pursuers.

“I heard that orcs have a keen nose for tracking down wild beasts, but I had no idea…”

Houston was gazing with awe at Bash, who was busy tracking. His voice was filled with wonder.

“It’s not so impressive. You know as well as anyone that our noses are easier to fool than, say, a beastkin’s.”

“Ah… Well…”

Bash’s pointed response made Houston smile weakly.

Yes, orcs may have been blessed with keen noses, but not discerning ones. For an orc was unable to categorize different smells. In the past, the humans had exploited this weakness by luring the orcs to one place and then ambushing the entire group of them.

Houston found his thoughts returning to the war.

He had once lured Bash into a trap using just such a technique in the hopes of killing him.

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