Nishino had different plans that had numbers from 1 to 4.
And Plan #4 was the one that took into account the worst possible situation.
In other words- ‘Leave the refugees as bait and run.’
Of course, the only people that knew of this plan were the students.
The refugees had no idea.
The students knew the meaning of his words, and their faces darkened.
The refugees didn’t understand, but they had a small hope that Nishino would think of something.
“We will slowly retreat into the store while continuing to defend! The plan will be put into effect once the orcs get inside! The back exit and the windows! Do it!”
Rikka nodded without hesitation. The other students looked less enthusiastic.
“You guys! We’ll die if this continues! We must survive this! Isn’t that right?”
“ !”
“ !”
Upon hearing Nishino’s shout, the students made their decision.
The refugees didn’t understand it, but they could do nothing but follow orders.
( Yes, we cannot allow ourselves to be killed. Not here, never !)
Their desperate plan was about to begin.
A plan to sacrifice the others so that they can live.
At the same time-.
That ‘bad feeling’ was getting stronger
We were carefully navigating through the town in order to avoid any encounters with the pack of orcs or shadow wolves.
Goblins would have been manageable, but fighting monsters of the orc or shadow wolf class were impossible at my current level.
Not to mention, there was a high orc among the orc pack.
I was lucky to get away the last time, but I didn’t think it would happen again.
I could not allow myself to encounter them.
“Position-wise, we are right between the two packs right now ”
And both groups had monsters with a keen sense of smell.
It was the worst combination.
So, what was I to do in order to get through this ?
I wonder as I look up at the sky. It was dark and clouded.
A drop of water falls on my nose.
“ Looks like it’s going to rain again ”
It’s been raining a lot lately.
I wanted to make as much distance between me and the monsters as possible before it really started to pour.
For now, I would just go in a direction where I didn’t get ‘a bad feeling’ from.
I wanted to fight as little as possible for now.
I look up and see a black pillar of smoke rising in the distance.
A fire?
Judging from the amount of smoke, it was on a pretty large scale.
Wasn’t that the direction that the home center was in?
It was also the direction where the orcs were headed.
Could it be
It started to bug me, and so I decided to write to Ichinose about it.
Maybe she would be able to get a good view from the top of her apartment building.
I open the Mail window.
There was 1 Unread message.
Judging by the time it was received, it was sent just a minute ago.
I open it and read the contents.
‘It looks like there has been a fire at the home center. It is where the orc pack was headed, so I think there is a strong likelihood that they were fighting with the refugees in the home center. The orcs seem to be actively hunting down humans, so we must be careful. Also, about joining your party, have you not reached a decision yet? Hope to hear from you soon.”
She was fast!
I was just about to ask her, but she answered me first. This girl.
And she was really rushing things with this party business.
She was really determined
In any case
The smoke really was from the home center.
And they had fought against the orcs.
May they rest in peace. That’s all I can say.
“I do hope that they somehow escapes ”
Not that I had any time to worry about others now.
I avoided the direction that was giving me a ‘bad feeling’ and continued to move.
The rain got worse as we went on, and so Aka turned into a raincoat for me.
“ Mmm?”
As we walked in the rain, Scout started reacting to something.
It wasn’t a monster, but humans.
Two of them.
The place a nearby park.
It was rare to encounter people walking about. Most people stayed indoors.
I couldn’t help but feel curious, and so I headed in the direction that Scout indicated.
And as I got closer, something started to bother me.
That’s weird
These people haven’t moved at all ever since I detected them.
What did that mean?
I reached the place that they were.
It was a small park with only a swing and a bench.
The people were in a corner in the park, trying to hide in the bushes.
“There ”
I hide in the shadow of a building and inspect them.
They looked familiar.
Students.
One of them was Nishino.
The other was the female student with the side ponytail.
Her name .Ri something?
Oh, whatever.
It wasn’t important.
What was important was the state that they were in.
“ They’re a mess.”
I could tell even from this distance.
Especially the girl, she was bleeding quite a bit.
It looked really bad.
Had they escaped from the orc ambush?
All of a sudden, Nishino looked directly towards me.
“ Is someone there?”
CH 50
Chapter 50 Sudden Change
Don’t tell me I was found out?
But, how?
Does Nishino also have a ‘perception’ skill?
I thought he hadn’t noticed yesterday but can it be that he took the skill after leveling up?
Or is it some other skill?
“Someone there ”
With unfocused eyes, Nishino extended his hand towards me.
What do I do ?
Should I go?
I don’t feel any monster presence nearby.
I also don’t feel any human presence or somebody is watching.
But but-
“Woof.”
Ah, Momo?!
While I was pondering, Momo appeared before them.
Seeing that, Nishino’s expression got dim.
“ .Dog? Hmm, you are ? Ughh, please someone, anyone a person-”
He couldn’t finish.
It seems like he lost consciousness.
Momo slowly approached him.
And after getting close and sniffing them, he looked at me.
Are you saying it’s fine to come out?
I guess I have no choice
“Aka add the hood.”
“ .(shake-shake)”
The raincoat I am wearing right now are the clothes Aka mimicked.
And because of that, we can change different parts.
The hood Aka added with mimic covered my eyes.
Just in case.
Let’s make it so that he can’t see my face.
I also took out the ‘rucksack’ from the item box and carried it on my back.
And for what it matters, I also put inappropriate amount of things in it to make it look full.
This should do.
My appearance is completely that of a refugee.
I made up my mind and headed towards Nishino and the others.
“ .He’s out completely.”
I tried shaking Nishino and the other girl but they didn’t react at all.
Parts of their clothes were burnt black and blood was flowing out.
Nishino had a lot of scratches and cuts.
The girl’s condition was even worse. A part of her cloth was completely stained red with blood.
As I thought, they probably had a fight with orcs.
Even still, they did a good job running away after encountering that high orc.
Momo was pulling on my sleeve.
Feels like he is asking me to save them quickly.
Save them, eh
“ .But, there’s next to nothing I can do, ya know?”
I have never even applied first-aid treatment.
The stuff I do know is of no importance at all.
Stuff like carrying them to a nearby empty house so that they don’t get wet in the rain.
Momo just intently looked at me as I worried.
“ .Hey, Momo, would you hate me if I were to abandon these guys here?”