Chapter 111 :

Episode 111 - Big Catch

She spun the oars uselessly a few times, but Lia quickly learned how to handle them.

The child from the cabin stared at Lia with his mouth open as he watched the boat cut swiftly through the river.

"Wow, it took me a whole month just to row."

Lia smiled at the child, who muttered as if envious.

"It only took you a month."

"When Lia says it like that, it sounds like I’m slow."

The child said with a pout.

"I’ve lived at least ten years longer than you. Compared to ten years ago, there are more things you’re good at too."

"Well, ten years ago, I was five."

Watching the child nod as if convinced, Lia cautiously opened her mouth.

"You said earlier that it’s been six years since you started living in that cabin, right?"

"Yes, that’s right."

"What happened six years ago?"

When Lia asked with a deliberately serious face, the child rolled his eyes.

"It’s really nothing special. It’s just......the story of how my father and I came to be assigned the role of welcoming all of you here."

"That’s the chance of a lifetime?"

When Lia asked back, the child nodded innocently.

"Yes, my family came from a completely different region. After my mother passed away, earning a living became even harder. We might have been punished because we couldn’t offer tribute to the temple on time, but thankfully, we received grace from the temple....... We were lucky."

He spoke with a face full of relief and gratitude.

"Then your mother....... "

Before Lia could even finish speaking, a thin smile appeared on the child’s face.

"How sad would my mother be if we couldn’t offer tribute to the temple? Even after death, she might not be able to escape the life of a fugitive. So this really is the chance of a lifetime. A chance we’ll never get again. I have to live my whole life in gratitude."

Fortunately for Lia, who could not think of a suitable answer, the river helped her.

Splash.

The bait submerged in the water shook, and a rather heavy sound bit into the water.

Lia stopped her body, which was about to spring up on its own, sat back down, and looked at the child.

"Something got caught, right?"

At Lia’s small whisper mixed with excitement, the child slowly approached her.

Just as Lia had said, the end of the fishing rod really was shaking.

"You can’t pull it in yet. Shake the fishing rod a little."

The cabin child, who had far more fishing experience than her, lowered his voice and spoke.

Lia calmly followed his advice and shook the fishing rod in a fairly convincing way.

Soon, as if the fish had completely swallowed the bait, the tip of Lia’s fishing rod bent greatly.

This time, there was no need to tell her to pull the line.

Because before the child could even open his mouth, Lia quickly snatched up the line.

Amazed by her astonishing adaptability, the child looked at Lia’s first catch.

None of the praises he had fully prepared could come out. Because what had bitten the fishing line was not a fish.

The child and Lia stared blankly at what Lia had fished up.

At the huge green hand tightly gripping the bait.

Far larger than a human hand, it was hanging from the fishing hook without the body it should originally have been attached to.

Even with its end tattered as if something had torn it off, the way it still tightly gripped the bait only made it more grotesque.

The moment Lia, faced with the unbelievable catch, unknowingly pulled the fishing line a little—

The fingers gripping the bait wriggled and began climbing up the line.

"Eeek!"

Splash.

Without needing to think any further, Lia quickly threw the hand, along with the fishing rod, into the middle of the river.

But the green hand let go of the fishing rod as it flew in an arc, then quickly grabbed onto the net caught on the boat and clung to it.

With a grip as strong as its large size, the boat rocked violently.

Lia quickly grabbed the mast to keep her balance.

Unfortunately, the cabin brat could not display judgment as quick as Lia’s.

Startled, the child let out a short scream and fell headfirst onto the pile of nets.

Meanwhile, the huge green hand climbed across the net toward the child as if it could see ahead.

The violent movement made the cabin child’s body shake.

"Be careful!"

Lia shouted, but escaping from the pile of nets made for catching fish was far too difficult for the terrified child.

By the time the child barely managed to raise himself, the green hand had already snatched his leg.

Splash.

The rough hand pulling him toward the water dragged the child down powerlessly.

The boat shook violently as the child fell into the river.

Lia urgently reached out her hand, but the child’s body only repeated floating up and sinking down on the water, unable to grab Lia’s hand at all.

Lia finally grabbed the child’s hand and pulled him with all her strength.

"Haaah.....!"

The child gasped for breath and got his body onto the boat.

But before he could even catch his breath, the green hand that had stubbornly followed his leg now began climbing up the child’s leg.

At the sight more disgusting than a giant cockroach, Lia and the child screamed at the same time.

"Kyaaaah!!!"

"Uuuaaaaaaah!!!"

Even amid that, the green hand was steadily pulling the child toward the river.

"S-save me!!"

Terrified by the unknown force, the child clung desperately to Lia.

With one hand, she supported the small struggling body, and with the other, she kept her balance so the boat would not overturn, making Lia’s breathing grow more and more ragged.

At this point, she decided it would be better to give up on the boat and directly pry off the green hand in the water.

That was the moment.

As if it had been a lie, the force pulling the child disappeared.

The child was pulled along as Lia tugged him and was able to fly up onto the boat.

Both Lia and the child looked around in confusion at the sudden peace that had arrived.

Soon after, Lia spotted Ran and Ratel standing on the riverbank, quietly watching her and the child.

Lia vaguely realized that the one who had helped her and the child was Ratel.

Though she had no idea what method he had used.

* * *

After confirming that the dangerously rocking boat had regained stability, I sighed.

"There was no need to show your determination to overthrow the imperial family in this way."

"Shut up. Are your eyes just decorations?"

Ignoring me as I teased him, the fellow raised his chin and pointed toward the island in the middle of the river.

I narrowed my eyes to confirm what he was pointing at, but all I could see were mountains and trees as small as miniatures, blurred and indistinct.

It was frustrating, but did I have to admit that, just as he said, my eyes were decorations?

"It’s an orc."

When I only silently frowned, the fellow finally gave me the answer, unable to watch any longer.

Human perception is a strange thing, and the moment I understood exactly what I was supposed to see, the swaying figure that had only looked blurry regained its proper form.

"Kuweeeeeek!!!"

A huge body approaching three meters.

Oversized molars that far exceeded the capacity of its lower jaw.

Rough-looking green skin.

It was unmistakably an orc.

Taking advantage of the falling water level, it was not hard to know what the fellow was aiming for.

"Kyaaaah!!!"

Because, by coincidence, Lia discovered the orc at almost the same time as I did and began screaming.

Ratel reached out his hand once again.

Bang!

With a small explosive sound, the orc, which had taken one step out of the island, collapsed with a hole in its stomach.

Lia did not miss the opportunity and safely pulled the child onto the boat.

Then she began rowing like mad.

The river was draining away faster than the boat carrying Lia and the child was approaching us.

It meant tomorrow morning’s schedule had been moved forward.

But well, plans being moved forward was something I had now become sickeningly used to.

After confirming that Lia had brought the boat to the riverside, I turned my head toward Ratel.

"Don’t just stand there stupidly. Go pack the luggage. We have to leave right now."

"Is that all you have to say?"

Ratel asked, but this time, I truly had nothing more to say, so I could only stare at him with a puzzled face.

"I broke your order not to use my power."

I looked at the fellow to check whether I had really heard that correctly.

Since when did he care about things like that?

The fellow I knew was not someone who would be discouraged over something like that.

Above all, from the way he looked at me as if observing me, I could not read any such sign at all.

At his words, whose intent I could not understand, I slowly opened my mouth.

"You were worrying about that?"

"I’m asking why you’re not saying anything."

"It’s not like you did it on purpose to screw me over, so what am I supposed to say?"

As I spoke, the fellow’s past actions gradually came to mind, and I nearly found it absurd.

"Hey, and since when did you ever listen to me that well? Why are you suddenly acting like you’re scared I might scold you?"

At my sneer, the fellow’s face crumpled.

"Talking with you only makes my head hurt."

Perhaps there had been something else he wanted to hear, because Ratel muttered dissatisfiedly and walked past me.

Thinking about your eccentric behavior makes my head hurt too.

Holding back what I wanted to say to the back of his head, I followed after him as well.

* * *

I had hoped it would end as nothing more than El’s needless worry, but Sierra’s power, just as he had expected, had a rather persistent side.

As soon as Ratel went inside, Lia approached, carrying the child on her shoulder.

Lia looked at me with eyes mixed with confusion and fear.

"It was definitely a green hand, right?"

"Yes, it was the hand of a green orc, and the thing on the island was definitely an orc too."

"Ah! I knew I didn’t see it wrong!"

Lia, who had been tearing at her hair in shock, suddenly seemed to remember something and raised her head, looking at me with puzzled eyes.

"Uh, how can you be so calm?"

I had no explanation to give, so I could only help her up.

"What matters is that we have to leave right now. Before the water completely reaches the bottom."

Or before the water devours one of us.

Because the damned timing of this world always managed to screw me over in a big way.

* * *

The problem was why those things were roaming through the mountains in broad daylight when the sun was so high.

I raised my head once again and looked at the sun high above between the tree branches, and at whoever might be in the sky.

In the original work, it said those things couldn’t endure sunlight.

If even El, who had lived for a thousand years, had enough will to be like that, just how rotten was Sierra’s personality?

Watching the water slowly drain away, I blamed the nasty temper of someone who was the root cause of everything and stepped into the cabin.

[Emperor Sierra’s cold eyes chased the horde of orcs approaching as they surrounded him. His hand moved toward the sword stuck in the ground. "Mere monsters cannot block my path." The flat voice was no mere warning. When the god gripped the blade, his blood flowed down the sword blade and soaked the ground. Light bloomed as if life were being born. When the emperor rose to his feet, there were no orcs left.]

This is a part of the Red Book that appears in the original work.

It is a section that records, from a rather biased perspective, the simple fact that Emperor Sierra Abiran once defeated orcs for the sake of humans.

Later, Ratel also defeated orcs in a similar way.