The Ogre King

"How did it come to this…"

Carlos held his head in his hands.

For once, Lulu actually felt sympathetic toward him. So she placed a hand on his shoulder and spoke.

"Just give up. If you're going to stick with Ria, you'll need to get used to things like this."

"Haah…"

With a sigh, Carlos turned his gaze forward.

This was the great plaza of the ogre village. In the center, watched by a large crowd, stood two figures.

One was an ogre among ogres: the Ogre King. In his hands he held a massive warhammer.

The other was the girl Carlos was originally supposed to protect: Ria. She wore a katana at her side, but only one. She had removed her leather armor, dressed light and unencumbered.

Honestly, how did it come to this?

Rubbing the bridge of his nose, Carlos recalled the events from two days ago.

Even after being told all that so suddenly, the party followed the ogre to the eatery.

When they heard the small ogre's name there, Ria's response was a bit off the mark.

"I'm not old enough to be called Anego, though…"

"Oh, sorry about that. It's hard to tell human ages, so I thought you were an adult."

The ogre named Gig apologized with surprising candor, but they were all shocked to hear he was only twelve years old.

The opponent he had pummeled in that fight had apparently been an adult ogre.

"If you're that strong at your age, isn't that good enough?"

"But Anego's even stronger, right?"

So Anego had stuck after all.

When asked why he sought strength so desperately, Gig explained his circumstances.

Among ogres, strength was paramount, and the strongest became clan chief. The current chief was Gig's grandfather, who united the tens of thousands of ogres in the surrounding area. However, given his advancing age, he had announced his intention to choose a successor.

Being the strongest warrior was an ogre's pride, and naturally Gig aspired to that as well. But as the earlier fight had shown, there was no one left in this settlement who could match him.

When asked about his grandfather, the Ogre King, Gig said he refused to train anyone, including family, in order to ensure fairness.

"Even so, we're in the middle of a journey."

"Then take me with you! The selection isn't for three years anyway. I want to catch up to Gramps even a little by then!"

"Ahh…"

As Ria racked her brain for how to decline, Serge tugged at her sleeve.

"Nee-chan, let's make this guy one of us."

Since he whispered, she replied in a low voice as well.

"Hey now, he's still twelve even if he's huge. I'm not sure about taking him along on a dangerous journey."

"I used Identify on him, and he's seriously strong. His ability scores are all high, and he has Fist-fighting and Heavy Weapons at level 6. Plus some other stuff."

With level 5 being the benchmark for first-rate, level 6 was exceptional. And he wasn't even a reincarnator like Ria or Serge.

Incidentally, Ria rarely used Identify. She could generally gauge someone's strength from their bearing without it.

"He might be useful as a fighter, but he's still a child…"

"Speaking of which, what's the age of adulthood for ogres anyway?"

That was the crux of the matter. In Serge's case, his appearance aside, he was thirty years old including his previous life. That was why Ria had no particular objection to him.

"Hey Gig, Nee-chan's worried about your age. She thinks twelve is too young to leave home."

Serge moved the conversation forward on his own. Gig bared his fangs in a grin.

"An ogre's an adult once they can hunt. Age doesn't matter."

"See, Nee-chan? We wanted two more companions anyway, so isn't it fine?"

Serge smiled triumphantly, but Lulu and Carlos looked uneasy. That was understandable. Ogres had once been enemies of humanity, and they remained warlike even now, as they had just witnessed.

Still, they left the decision to Ria.

"For now, go talk it over with your family. We'll be here until noon tomorrow."

Ria found herself speaking in a tone like she was lecturing a child.

Having a bed with a roof over it for the first time in a while, Ria fell completely asleep at ease.

Even so, she woke before sunrise. When she went to the inn's courtyard to swing her katana, Carlos eventually got up and joined the training.

Incidentally, the one among them worst at mornings was Lulu. From her habit of working as Rufus's assistant, she would inadvertently indulge in sleep until the sun rose.

While eating breakfast in the first-floor eatery, early travelers were already leaving the inn. Since they had their arrangement, they had nothing to do until noon. They found themselves at loose ends.

Only Lulu had work to do. Street healing.

Ogres were a race with superior bodies, but except for extremely rare individuals, they couldn't use magic.

She examined ogres with minor injuries and illnesses, including other residents of different races, and even the adult ogre Gig had beaten senseless the day before.

"I can use simple healing magic too."

Saying this, Serge helped Lulu as well. His goal seemed to be learning magic like disease cure, invigoration, and detoxification.

Village mages typically learned practical magic useful for daily life, but Serge's repertoire was skewed toward combat magic. The spell he had used when they first met was apparently Dimensional Slash from the space-time school, a magic that could slice enemies along with the space around them.

"It feels strange for me to be teaching magic to someone."

Though Lulu doted on Serge, Ria knew his true nature was that of an old man and kept him in check.

Given the chance, Serge would cling to Lulu and relish her breasts. He was an enemy to both Ria and Carlos.

Incidentally, the night before, Ria had shared a room with Lulu and feasted her eyes on Lulu wiping down her body.

Around the time the sun reached its zenith, Gig finally arrived at the inn. However, his expression showed confusion.

"What happened? Did they say no after all?"

But Gig shook his head and stared at Ria.

"Gramps says if you're really that strong, he wants to fight you…"

This was a development Ria hadn't anticipated.

But it was exactly what she wanted. If anything, she wanted to request it herself.

Ogres possessed far greater power than humans. And he was the strongest warrior among them, called their king.

Her blood began to boil. The corners of her lips naturally lifted into a smile.

"By all means, please. Lead the way."

The house was located quite far north from the settlement's center. It was a large building made of stone.

It wasn't a noble's estate or anything like that. It was about the same size as her parents' home in Anise.

In a room devoid of any ornamentation, the man was there.

He was tall. Not quite three meters, but a massive figure that certainly hadn't existed in her previous world.

And the amount of muscle was proportionally immense. His wrist was as thick as Ria's waist.

"Sorry for calling you out here, Ojou-san."

His voice was deep and rich, yet pleasant to hear. If he sang, he would surely have a wonderful singing voice.

"Not at all, Chief. It's a pleasure to meet you. I am Riana Crystal."

"Hmm, just call me Chief. When I took this position, people stopped calling me by name. Now then, I apologize for doing this right away, but…"

At that instant, the pressure in the air changed.

The Coercion skill, she judged in a flash, and in that same moment Ria released all the tension from her body. Like a willow bending in the wind, she let the pressure flow past her.

Behind her, Gig had fallen on his backside. No surprise there. It was an intimidation that could probably make even wild beasts lose their footing. More terrifying than an earth dragon.

Ria knew of only one other person who could project such overwhelming presence. The late Rufus.

When that old mage had used attack magic in earnest, she had felt this same sensation. That was when he had exterminated an abnormal swarm of several thousand wyverns north of the royal capital.

"I see, you possess fearsome power. I don't know what blessing you've received, but…"

The Chief smiled. It was the smile of a beast.

"Shall we?"

"Let's."

Ria wore the same smile.