The town of Alaman was a well protected town since it was a border town. There was also a mandatory check by customs officials while entering the town. Gojo and Grisella soon went to the guild building. They took up a herb collection quest. On their way outside the town Gojo warned Grisella to stay alert.
" They seem to be lying low for now, but we must be careful since it's the Night Eagles after all. " said Gojo. Grisella nodded in agreement.
The quest was rather quick, as they didn't have to travel far into the forests. However, the forest seemed too quiet unlike most of the time they had been to such forests. It was as if something was always watching them.
Both Gojo and Grisella kept their guards up through out the entire quest but nothing happened. As they were returning back to the town. They saw a spot behind the bushes that seemed to be covered in blood. They approached the bushes very carefully.
As soon as the object of their interest came into view. It was the corpse of a wild boar. Several portions of the body seemed to be missing as if eaten. Also parts of internal organs as well as pieces of bones were lying here and there.
" Should we deal with it, I mean whatever did this to the boar here or not ? " asked Grisella.
" It hasn't been long since the boar was killed. I think we should remain cautious as we return to the town. This could be just be another predators hunt. So let's not take any action now. However, we will notify the guild about what saw after returning. " said Gojo.
So they returned to the town and went to the guild to submit the herbs. They told the guild receptionist about whatever they saw in the forest. Then, the guild receptionist said that she would talk to the guild master about it. After that they returned to the horse cart.
Next day, was the day of their departure from Alaman. They got up early and were packing their belongings. As soon as they were ready to leave, they heard a commotion nearby. Some other horse carts were stationed near them. That's where the commotion was coming from.
Eric Flavel approached the group that was having commotion and spoke to them.
" So, what's the problem here ?" He asked.
" Well, if you have heard we were just informed from the people of the guild that the gates of the town won't open at present as there seems to be some troubles outside the town. " said one of the traders.
" So, what's happening is it bandits, or is it some group of monsters attacking people passing by. " asked Eric Flavel.
" It's the latter, earlier this morning a group of woodcutters went to the forests. They got attacked there by a couple of red ogres. Out of the ten woodcutters that went out, only five have returned. Hence the lock down. " answered the trader.
A little later, Gojo and Grisella went to the adventurers guild and confirmed the story. However, the guild assured them that the lock down of the town would end soon as they had sent a small group of adventurers from the town to investigate and if possible dispose of the ogres.
Gojo felt crestfallen, as he had also wanted to hunt strong monsters.
" Well, you should let other adventurers their chance of glory. Perhaps, there are others who are as strong as you. " said Grisella.
" Nope, I am the strongest I have proved it once and I'll prove it again soon. " said Gojo flashing a smile.
They didn't have to wait for long. Soon, a disheveled man covered in blood entered the guild building. He went straight to the reception.
The receptionist took one look at the man and with horror flashing across her face said " What happened Jervil ? How did the hunt go ?"
" Dang it ! I never expected them to ambush us. I had faced several monsters from the the horned rabbits to the horned bears but never had I thought these ogres would be so tough. We were forced to run for our lives. Although almost all of us managed to escape two of our people died after the attack and two more are missing. I think we need to summon other adventurers, we severely underestimated these ogres. Please tell this to the guildmaster. " said the disheveled man.
" All right, I'll be right back. " said the receptionist and walked through a door behind the reception.
A few minutes went by. Then the receptionist came and and said " I delivered your message to the guild master. He agreed but there seems to be a problem. We don't have much money in our funds. So we can't offer the adventurers much. Since, most adventurers get paid more in other cities for hunting a single ogre. Don't you think we should ask for help from other guilds ? "
" That would take days. Then, what do we do ? All we have are D ranked or E ranked adventurers since higher ranked adventurers move to bigger towns and cities to earn more. " said Jervil.
Gojo had been observing the situation for sometime. So he came forward and volunteered to join the hunt so did Grisella. Jervil, although was happy to receive any help looked at them with concern written across his face.
" Are you sure ? You people look quite young. How old are you ? What about your adventurer ranking ? " he asked.
" Both of us are almost sixteen and we are D ranked adventurers. " replied Grisella.
" What, are you serious ? Didn't you just hear what I said ? we are dealing with ogres not some random monster. These monsters are around fifteen to twenty feet tall and are very tough not to mention their aggression. " said Jervil.
" Fear not, we are strong. " said Gojo with his usual nonchalant attitude.
" I don't know, now follow me. Let's hope the two of you make it out alive. " said Jervil as he walked outside the guild building.
Soon, Jervil and the small group of adventurers he had managed to gather made their way to the forests. Jervil had managed to very few adventurers in the town most of them being new adventurers with just one or two years of experience.
After entering the forest he lectured them about the size of ogres and their aggressive behavior. These red ogres were one of the four types of ogres found in Olvin Empire. The others being the green ogres which camouflaged in the forest. The white ogres that lived in the ice covered Greater Northern Mountains to the far north.
Then came the mountain ogres that hid among the mountains and were the tallest ogres. However these were very rare. In fact the last reported citing of a mountain ogre was twenty five years ago. All ogres except for the mountain ogres were very territorial and had separate hunting grounds.
So the hunting party advanced through the forests. After walking sometime, they came across the corpse of the boar that Gojo and Grisella saw the previous day. Not much had happened to the body except there were a few more parts missing as well as the putrid smell of rotting flesh in the air.
" Be careful, we are approaching their territory. If you can't fight it just fall back. " said Jervil.
They didn't have to wait long. A sharp branch was hurled at them from their left side. It impaled one of the adventurers and he fell down. Then the red ogre emerged, it was around twenty feet tall. It was light red from head to toe, boosted black hair and a couple of horns above it's forehead. It's yellow eyes glowed in the dark. The ogre was holding a large rock in one hand. It jumped near the adventurer who had fallen and crushed his head by hitting it several times with the rock.
Seeing this, the adventurers panicked and started running heater skelter. However Jervil stood his ground drawing his sword.
" I see, I see. So this is an ogre. " said Gojo Satoru. A smile appeared across his face as he walked close to the ogre. The ogre surprised by his actions threw the rock at Gojo who dodged it effortlessly. Then the ogre got up and charged at him with it's fists clenched.
Gojo put forward his hand, sticking out his middle finger and said ' Reverse red '. Soon a red orb of cursed energy formed above his fingers. With a flick he sent it flying towards the advancing ogre.
The ogre stopped running, it's right leg as well as a large portion of it's waist and lower stomach had been blown apart from it's body. With the cry of a wounded animal it fell to the ground. Blood pooled out of it's wound. At first it seemed to have died but it kept crawling towards Gojo. So he used reverse red to crush it's head killing it.