Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash Vol. 2

1. No Comparison

The party had sold off their loot for the day, split the profits, and were in the middle of idly chatting about what to do next.

Dong, dong, dong, dong, dong, dong.

The sound of bells rang wildly through Alterna's marketplace.

"Oh, it's six," Haruhiro furrowed his brow. "...No, that's not it, right? I mean, there were seven bells the last time they rang. Besides, the bell for 6:00 PM doesn't ring so frantically—"

"What, what, what?!" Ranta shook his curly-haired head left and right to look around.

"Hmm." Yume pulled on her braids, her eyes going wide. "Wonder what it is."

"An emergency... I guess?" Shihoru nestled closer to Yume.

Moguzo rubbed the back of his helmet, looking about worriedly. "...Muh?"

"No, it can't be..." Merry lowered her posture a little, squinting her eyes. "An enemy raid?"

"Huh?" Haruhiro cocked his head to the side. He knew what the word meant, but he wasn't used to hearing it. "By an enemy raid, you mean—"

Wahhhh! A cry rose up.

Where was that from? It sounded far away.

Ranta flared his nostrils, shouting, "Hey, hey, hey, hey!" and "Oh, oh, oh!"

What're you so excited about? Are you an idiot? Haruhiro thought.

"Merry, what enemies?" Haruhiro shouted, to which Merry quickly responded, "Probably orcs."

Orcs?

"Run!" someone screamed.

"Orcs!" "It's orcs!" "Orcs!" "The orcs are here!" "They're invading...!"

"Hoh?" Yume brought her index finger to her chin. "Is Ochre-kun someone's friend?"

"That's clearly not it!" Haruhiro reflexively corrected her.

That was when it happened.

The people who had been going about their business in the market turned into a raging stream. It only took an instant. Haruhiro was caught in the wave of people. Now, he could only go wherever he was being pushed.

"Wai—" Ranta tried to resist it, but his efforts were in vain. "What is this?!"

"Uwahwahh!" Moguzo's eyes were spinning. Because his body was so big, he was getting elbowed and kicked a lot. It looked unpleasant.

"M-My hat...!" Shihoru's hat fell off.

Haruhiro said "Oh!" and reached out, managing to catch Shihoru's hat—

He was good up until that point, but with the mass of people pushing against him, he was pulled away from the rest of his comrades.

"Haru-kun!" He heard Yume's voice.

"Haru...?!"

Was that voice Merry's? I can still just barely make out Moguzo's head. But there's no way I can get over there.

"G-Guys...!" Haruhiro desperately stretched out his hand. It's no use. I don't even know where Moguzo is anymore. "Everyone, be careful...!"

Really, the one who needs to be careful is me! If I fight against the flow, I'll be pushed down. I'll be knocked to the ground, trampled, and I could well die. I don't want that. For now, I'll have to go with the flow.

"It's an enemy raid," Merry had said. An enemy? What are orcs...?

Orcs.

I feel like I've heard of them, or maybe I haven't. Either way, something unusual is happening. If this is an enemy raid, that means enemies have come to attack, right? Alterna's under attack by these orc things, right? Still, if we're running away, where do we run to?