Black Iron Magician

Chapter 53 Camp

The blue sky, the white clouds, a wonderful picnic weather to reminisce the hopeful morning a few days ago. The grassland, where white rabbits lie peacefully, is peaceful today too. However, this will soon be a battlefield flooded with hordes of monsters. There, we are preparing to intercept them with sweats on our foreheads.

「Nell-san, I’ve finished cutting the vegetables!」

「This one is also okay.」

「Thank you for your hard work. Please leave it near the iron plate.」

「「Yes!」」

「Nell-danchō! This Muno has collected the branches to burn!」

「You are slow! Daganov already made the fire pit a while ago! Come one, hurry up!」

「I-I’m sorry!」

「Oi, Canon. Pull it harder. The tent doesn’t stand up well, you know?」

「………」

Yes, the preparations for the barbeque planned by Nell are progressing steadily.

Haru and Chinatsu are tasked with cutting up ingredients other than meat, Elder Daganov is tasked with making a fire pit, Muno-kun is tasked with picking up the branches to be the fuel for the fire, and Canon and I are tasked with setting up the tent for the resting place. As for Nell, she takes the command and helps each group.

「Um, Deris-san. We are on an expedition to subjugate monsters, right?」

「Hm? Canon, what are you talking about now? It’s obvious, isn’t it?」

「No, I’m just a little worried….」

「Hey, Canon! Your hands are stopped!」

「…… Well, it’s not that I don’t understand your feeling, but for now, you should do your best to set up the tent.」

We are not doing this barbecue without any plan. Only waiting sure is boring and we’ll be hungry… there sure are reasons like that. However, our real intention is to lure the monster group here! When the smoke rises, they can tell there are people in the distance. The fragrant smell of roasting meat in the air will draw hungry beasts to us. If the battle unmistakably happens here, there will be no damage to the fort and surrounding villages. In short, it’s a good strategy where we can fill our bellies and the other parties will come to us on their own!

I must take my hat off to Nell for coming up with this clever tactic in that short amount of time. When she was an adventurer, she was a girl who would charge with all her power. Now she utilizes her old knowledge to minimize the damage. That’s really great.

「The only thing left to do is securing the meat… I hope they come soon.」

Nell stares into the distance with eyes like a lion hunting for rabbits. No, wait a minute.

「Nell, don’t tell me, are you trying to get food from the upcoming monsters?」

「Yeah, what about it?」

「「Eh!?」」

Chinatsu and Canon let out surprised voices at the same time. Well, that’s understandable.

「Oi oi, goblin and orc meat smells bad and not edible, you know? We both had a stomachache in the past because of that. I demand better ingredients.」

「That was when we were hungry in the dungeon and had no other choice… Don’t worry, it seems that there are boar-type monsters in the Orc King’s group. It’s like a wild boar, it’s fatty and delicious.」

「No, Shishou… that’s…」

「What, you should have said that earlier. You had me worried there.」

「「Deris-san!?」」

The two of them raised their voices in unison again. Don’t worry, it’s no different from an ordinary wild boar. After all, I and Nell have proved it in the past.

「Boar, wild board… it’s nostalgic. I used to eat it a lot when I was training in the mountains.」

「Ara, not bad, Haruna. Canon, you should learn from her.」

「E-Ehh…」

「R-Rather than that, Haruna, you shouldn’t hunt wild boars without qualifications.」

「My dad and mom were with me, so it’s okay~」

「Nell-danchō! This Muno has lit the fire!」

When things were starting to get lively, Elder Daganov came back with hunted rabbits. We left the pretreatment to the unwilling Canon, and we moved on to the final meeting to confirm the division of roles. With Nell pushed the director role on me, I spread out the map on the table and look at everyone.

「About the roles in this expedition, we will proceed as we discussed it at the fort. First, Nell will confront the Orc King’s army that’s coming from the south. As for the Goblin King’s army that’s coming from the north, Haru and Chinatsu will confront them and I will go as their guardian. Muno will be in charge of watching the fire in this campsite, Canon will be in charge of the pretreatment, and Commander Daganov will be in charge of supporting them according to the situation. Any questions?」

「Um, what do you mean with the pretreatment…?」

Canon insecurely raises his hand.

「I’ll bring the preys while dealing with the monsters in the south, so you are in charge of processing them. I’ll do the blood removal, so you just need to learn how to skin them from Daganov. You will have to do it on another expedition anyway, so learn it now while you can. I guess you can start with that rabbit.」

「I-I will do my best…」

Canon and Muno-kun have Elder Daganov with them, so they will be fine. Even if they fail, there are still a lot of ingredients.

「We don’t have to worry about the south since Nell will deal with it. Now, ladies in charge of the north.」

「Yes!」

「Y-Yes!」

Haru and Chinatsu are wearing their combat uniforms. Haru wears her usual orange robe and black cane, while Chinatsu wears light armor that looks easy to move and a sword on her waist. Chinatsu’s light armor is also Nell’s old one. I remember seeing it a long time ago.

「I’ll be coming to, but don’t think that I’ll be fighting too. Only you two will be on this battlefield and only you two will defeat the monsters. Keep that in mind. In the unlikely event that a monster passed through the two of you, it will be the end for the campsite behind you. You have to be aware that you are responsible for the lives of the three remaining people in the camp. So, just mercilessly knock them down without hesitation. Do you understand?」

「「Understood!」」

Well, I’ll secretly assist them, though.

「H-Haruna-san, Chinatsu-san, please be careful…! Y(our) lives are at stake!」

「Ohh, as expected of my best friend. I see that you are thinking about the lives of our comrades first. Haruna-dono, please rest assured. This Muno will risk his life to protect the fire!」

「Now, Canon and Muno, leave it at that. Girls, you don’t have to mind about it that much. I’ll cover you as much as I can even if there’s a monster that passed through.」

According to the guards, the army of the Goblin King is a mixed force of more than 1000 monsters. Unlike the orcs, including the boars, this one is completely a composition of demi-humans. It seems that they have reasonably good equipment considering that they are goblins, and some of them even handle bows and arrows. Although we are dealing with monsters, I guess this could be used as a training session that simulates fighting an army.

And what is waiting after such a pseudo-war is the Gobling King, who calls itself the Demon King. Normally, it’s a level 4 monster and even Haru can deal with it alone, but――

「Shishō, can I catch the ingredients too? Goblins!」

「H-Haruna!?」

「You’re really tough….」

But that one is really terrible, so it’s no good. Well, unlike Nell, she won’t be dealing with the enemies while supplying the ingredients, so she will be fine unless something unexpected were to happen. It’s a flag, you said? Rather, it’s better if something were to happen.