The World Dragon's Heir - Chapter 629: Sidetracked

Chapter 629: Sidetracked

In the grasslands south of Wistover, Alexis stared up at the sky reaching its zenith overhead and sighed.

All morning they had been out here, dealing with an Ogre infestation that had somehow appeared during their routine patrol. Nobody had reported it, and the observers watching the Monster Summoning Ritual space had not detected any abnormal activity lately.

Yet here they were, clearing out their second Ogre encampment of the morning.

The rewards for the Duchy would be incredible, as they had to be close to a hundred Ogre Cores so far. That was perfect for crafting, as well as for paying to purchase goods from the Merchant’s Guild.

“Highness, there are more. We’ve spotted signs that another group split off from this one, and they should still be within a half hour’s ride.” Wilkes informed them.

“Alright, we keep moving. Get some food in you and mount up.

We can’t just let the Ogres take root so close to the city when we already know that they will attract Goblins and other weak monsters looking for protection to them.

Is anyone short on anything?” Alexis asked.

The Royal Guard quickly did a gear check, then shook their heads.

“We’re good. All equipment is still loaded within regulation. We’ve got enough on us for a week-long siege if needed.” Wilkes confirmed.

That was a measure that Alexis had set in place the moment that they arrived in Wistover.

If monsters or foreign armies invaded, every member of her troop would have enough in their storage items to fight for a week. Never again would they end up in a situation like they had found in Burton, where the moment that the city was under siege, they were short on everything from food to munitions.

She wasn’t foolish enough to think that with Dagos under control, Cygnia had no more enemies.

They might not have any that were strongly enough opposed to them to attack in the next few months, but there were likely to be at least a few who wouldn’t mind an easy opportunity to take a cheap shot at the new territory.

“Alright, let’s move. Has anyone got contact with the Manor?”

Dave nodded. “Yep, Boss Lady. They know we’re still out hunting. Larry says that he will save some of the potato leek soup if we get back late.”

That was the surest confirmation that the trolls weren’t being deceived. If they had gotten a response that was not the soup they had expected, they would be concerned about why there was a change, and they wouldn’t be able to hide it from her.

Looking at the group, Alexis realized that she should have brought more of the trolls, or perhaps more of the mages, with her.

She had four trolls, her ten Royal Guards, plus a pair of mages from the Duskblade Sect, but they were not supposed to be finding anything other than the morning’s spawn out here.

Alexis thought back to this morning, when she had met up with the team from the Adventurer’s Guild.

Wiz and Bella had been on the hunt for the Troglodytes that their scout had detected. According to their information, there should be fifteen to twenty of the beasts from the most recent spawn, a lower than usual arrival.

But they were hopeful that there might be something else in the area.

Alexis hadn’t seen any signs of Troglodytes, though she would have welcomed a quick fight with the reptilian monsters.

Instead, she had stumbled across an Ogre encampment, with signs that led them to a second, and now a third. All of them were recently established, without signs of long-term occupation, so they might have arrived in the last few spawns.

That didn’t seem likely, though.

More likely, they had wandered here from somewhere else.

“Rifles at the ready. I’ve got them in sight.” The scout called back in a hushed whisper.

The team rode up on him, and the four trolls took a knee in front of their formation, with their shields turned sideways on the ground.

It would stop small creatures, and trip up anything that tried to charge over top of them.

But it also let the others shoot over their heads safely, without Dave having to stand in the back for the inevitable counterattack. No matter how many Ogres they shot, or how good their rifles were, there was always a counterattack.

“Mages, get their attention, would you?”

That was what the mages were best at. They didn’t have to see the Ogres that they could hear in the distance to get their attention. And that meant that the riflemen got a few more seconds on the attack before they had to change tactics.

A small ball of light flew from the mage’s hand toward the Ogres, then exploded just over the next hill when it found its target.

The roar of enraged Ogres was joined by the sound of cracking branches as they ran up the hill and into sight, where the rifles of the Royal Guard began to fire.

In this fight, the mages were mostly defensive, as Ogres were magic resistant.

That didn’t bother Dave, though.

If the mages were going to mind their own business he got to thump things.

A dozen Ogres fell just as they crested the hill, and then another dozen on the run. These were not Ogre war troops, they were a feral tribe, carrying wooden clubs and wearing fur loincloths instead of armour.

That alone was curious.

The Ogres were dumb, but normally not so primitive that they had zero manufactured equipment. Even if it was crudely hammered steel from a destroyed tractor’s hood, they would normally have made themselves something resembling gear.

The constant thunder of rifles dropped wave after wave of Ogres as they charged up the hill.

Only when they got smart and started using their fallen comrades as shields did they start making headway. Dave approved of this tactic. Dead Ogres made excellent shields.

Not as good as their metal ones, but still, very good.