Chapter 123 :

Chapter 123 - Change of Plans

The resistance of the leader, who thought he had already been deceived once, was even fiercer than before.

In other words, it meant things had become disgustingly difficult for me.

“Kweeek!!!”

Pushing away the creature that had started snapping at me again to tear into my neck, I glared at the root cause of this situation, Ratel.

The protagonist bastard was, of course, looking down at me without a shred of guilt.

Rather, he even seemed to be enjoying the fact that I had become this way.

Just you wait later.

Swallowing a line that a third-rate villain would say, I clenched my fist to deal with the urgent matter at hand.

When I swung my fist slowly again as a threat, the leader hesitated for a moment to dodge it.

I did not miss the moment and quickly opened my mouth.

“Kweeek, you should already know what is above here.”

The words that had come out after struggling through hardship were just as effective.

Because the orc that had been attacking me like a madman stopped moving for a moment.

“Kweeek, are you talking about the feed storage?”

The leader asked in a growling voice without loosening the hand holding me.

“Kweeek, yes, and there is only one passage that leads into that food storage.”

“Kweeek, so what? Kweeek, answer me properly!”

The creature, unable to endure his frustration, urged me to explain.

“Kweeek, that one and only passage has collapsed right now.”

It was the clear answer he had wanted, but his reaction was not very good.

The leader’s green face even looked as if it had gone pale.

* * *

If one asked the orcs to choose the most important place inside the cave, naturally, the center they used as their nest would come first.

And if one asked them to choose the next most important place, then, of course, the feed storage would come next.

It was the place where they stored the prey they hunted under the leader’s orders.

Of course, in the original work, it was one of the places Ratel completely wrecked.

Perhaps the news that the path to the only food storage had collapsed while winter was approaching was quite shocking, because the one-armed orc could not continue speaking for a while.

“Kweeek, what kind of lie are you......”

“Kweeek, if it sounds like a lie, check it yourself. Kweeek, though when you think about that water disaster earlier, I don’t know if there’s any need to.”

“Kweeek!! Damn it!!”

The leader, who had maintained silence with his mouth open, spat out a curse and rose to his feet.

Then he grabbed me by the collar and lifted me up.

Whether or not I frowned at the leader’s filthy habit of reaching out with his hands first whenever he was angry, the creature thrust his face toward me threateningly.

“Kweeek, you really do have some other scheme. Kweeek, from the beginning, you joined hands with that human bastard and tried to use dirty tricks......”

“Kweeek, so are you going to kill me?”

“Kweeek, I’ll kill you right now!”

The excited creature shouted.

“Kweeek, then you’ll have to throw away all the food you’ve gathered until now.”

The warning that they would have to starve this winter calmed the one-armed orc’s agitated emotions.

Stopping the sophistry of the patient suffering from suspicion, I roughly knocked his hand away.

“Kweeek, or you could listen to me and regain both the leader seat and the food storage.”

For the leader, who kept huffing and puffing, my sweet proposal was a temptation difficult to refuse.

I was saying I would return everything to him, who had lost everything in an instant.

No matter how suspicious the other party was, there was no way he could simply let it pass.

The silence that came after he stopped attacking could be taken as agreement that he would enter a deal with me.

“Kweeek, just because the only remaining path collapsed doesn’t mean there’s no way into the food storage. Kweeek, you don’t know this, but it’s not the first time the path into the food storage has collapsed.”

“Kweeek, what does that mean?”

“Kweeek, it means that while countless leaders have been replaced, this wide maze has repeatedly collapsed and been rebuilt.”

For the leader, who was still standing awkwardly with an expression that clearly said he did not understand, I picked up a stone rolling nearby.

And I began drawing the structure around the food storage on the floor.

Three pairs of eyes followed the lines made by the friction of stone and pebble.

Fortunately, the two orcs and one human remained silent until the drawing was complete.

Once I had shaped it to some extent, I raised my head and looked at the three of them.

“Kweeek, this is our current location. Kweeek, if we go up through this path, it leads to the passage connected to the food storage. Kweeek, but right now, because of the river water, this place will have caved in.”

I pointed to the fork below the place where the food storage and the passage connected.

“Kweeek, so we’re going to reopen this blocked passage.”

I felt like I had said something fairly important, but all three of them showed no reaction.

At about this point, shouldn’t someone normally ask why human bait was needed?

Feeling puzzled, I raised my head and saw the two orcs and one human still staring fixedly at the floor.

“Kweeek, do none of you have any questions so far?”

“I have one.”

It was a question asked with the leader in mind, but the one who responded was Ratel.

When I looked at him with eyes asking what he could possibly be curious about, Ratel lifted his eyes from the floor and opened his mouth with a serious face.

“Are my eyes strange? I’m sure I just saw you drawing with your hand, so why did something worse than a drawing made with your foot come out?”

......The ways that creature screwed me over were becoming more and more varied.

* * *

Ratel’s evaluation that my drawing was worse than something drawn with a foot hurt my pride, and it also earned the agreement of the two orcs.

“Kweeek, it seems you move your mouth better than your hands. Kweeek, just explain it with words instead.”

At the leader’s declaration of surrender, after he had been changing his viewing angle here and there in an attempt to understand my drawing, the remaining orc also nodded fiercely.

Faced with the confident claims of the two orcs, I eventually had no choice but to put down the stone whose end had worn down and become blunt.

“......Kweeek, then listen carefully. Kweeek, from now on, we head for the collapsed passage closest to here. Kweeek, and we’ll clear the blocked path and create a new entrance.”

“Kweeek, what does that have to do with taking that human bastard with us?”

As always, the leader, whose patience had quickly hit rock bottom, cut in.

“Kweeek, it means he is perfect as bait.”

“Kweeek, bait?”

The leader belatedly reacted to the reason for the human’s existence, which had been forgotten because of Ratel’s sudden declaration of murder.

“Kweeek, yes, bait. Kweeek, if we use this one, we’ll be able to find the creature who dragged you down from the leader’s seat.”

At the words that he could regain his position, the leader calmed his excitement and glared at me as if telling me to continue explaining.

I glanced once at Ratel, who remained peaceful even in the midst of all this, then completely blocked him from the leader’s field of vision.

“Kweeek, if a human spills blood, the orcs will gather. Kweeek, since there is only one passage now, everyone will gather in one place.”

“Kweeek, how are you going to pick out the one who attacked me just by gathering them in one place?”

“Kweeek, do you know what orcs without a leader do when they go outside?”

At my sudden question, the leader’s brow wrinkled, as if only one thing immediately came to mind.

“Kweeek, they must be aiming for me.”

That was true too.

“Kweeek, they are stuffing every prey they hunted into their mouths. Kweeek, since they don’t need your permission, they are filling their bellies as greedily as they want.”

Perhaps he had not thought that far, because after staring blankly for a moment, anger settled on the creature’s face.

“Kweeek, they’re acting however they please.”

The leader muttered quietly, as if his pride had been deeply wounded by the fact that his authority had been thrown to the ground.

“Kweeek, thanks to that, we’ll be able to easily catch the one who attacked you.”

To the creature waiting for an explanation with a bewildered face, I indicated Ratel, who was standing with his arms crossed, with my eyes.

“Kweeek, since there is no boss, all of them will lose their minds when they see a human. Kweeek, they’ll charge in to eat him.”

Even though I knew it was meaningless, I pointed with my finger to one part of the food storage drawn on the floor.

“Kweeek, and when that moment comes, I intend to block the entrance again.”

The leader’s eyes, which had been following my movement, flashed.

He was the leader who had mistaken me, someone who knew how to speak, for a candidate for leader.

Compared to other individuals, it would not be unreasonable to say his intelligence was higher.

When all the orcs charged at the food before their eyes, if there was an orc who detected the danger of the food storage being sealed, there was a high chance that one would be the individual we were looking for.

The leader had a nasty temper and was impatient, but he was not stupid.

“Kweeek, you’re saying I just need to kill the one who rushes over to protect the storage.”

When I nodded, having been spared the trouble of a long explanation, the creature looked at me with strange eyes.

“Kweeek, why are you teaching me something like this?”

At the creature’s reasonable question, I shrugged.

“Kweeek, don’t misunderstand. Kweeek, I’m not just teaching you out of kindness. Kweeek, without my guidance, you won’t be able to get to the food storage anyway.”

So quietly listen to me.

The one-armed orc, having grasped the hidden meaning of my words, glared at me and slowly rose to his feet.

The leader had a nasty personality, but he was not an idiot.

“......Kweeek, I will not take my eyes off that human bastard or you. Kweeek, if either of you tries anything even slightly foolish, I’ll kill you right away.”

Expressing his agreement to do as I wanted in the most arrogant way he could, the creature rose to his feet and went ahead.

* * *

Contrary to their desire to rescue Ran and Ratel at once, Jing and Lia could not launch the boat easily.

It was not because they were busy fighting like the two who had fallen away, nor because they had lost their way.

The reason was simple.

Damage to the boat, or more precisely, the torn sail.

Jing let out a sigh as he checked the condition of the half-overturned boat and the sail.

The aftermath of the whirlpool had been great, and the direction of the wind he had created had matched better than expected too.

‘I suppose there will be no returning the boat to the father and son from the hut.’

No, since we will not be coming back anyway, does it not matter?

Jing shifted his gaze to the small hut visible beyond the river and to the river that had become calm as if it were a lie.

Unlike the still water surface, Jing’s heart was greatly surging.

Because of a single phrase that would not leave his head.

-It is an order.

Ran’s voice would not disappear, as if it were still circling his ears.

In other words, Jing was surprised at himself for having obeyed Ran’s words so easily at the single word “order”.

He knew that he was especially weak and obedient toward Ran.

But he had not thought that it was the same as the blind obedience he had shown toward the imperial family.

He had believed it was merely a sign of gratitude toward a benefactor and an expression of human respect.

But the moment he uttered the word “order”, his body had moved before his head, as if it were a lie.

Before he knew it, he had been holding onto Ratel exactly as Ran had said, and when he belatedly came to his senses, it was after he had been slammed into the boat’s hold.

Jing looked at the island where wandering orcs could faintly be seen and let out another deep sigh.

It was a jeer at himself for having dismissed the fact that the black-haired prince trapped inside had constantly felt uncomfortable around him as merely being due to a high wall between people.

He had known.

That this was not merely an expression of fondness and gratitude.

Realizations bloomed in succession.

Having even understood what Ratel’s silent gaze, which had always looked at Ran and himself with displeasure, meant, Jing pressed a hand to his forehead in self-loathing.

They were two people who resembled each other while seeming different.

Why did they have to resemble each other specifically in the way they swallowed important words?

“I’m only showing unsightly sides in various ways.”

Having finished mocking himself, Jing gasped for breath and raised his head.

He could not ruin the future by sinking into shame and regret. There was something he had to focus on right now.

Rescuing Ran and Ratel, who would be stranded on the island without a boat.

“Jing? Why are you standing like that?”

At the puzzled voice coming from behind him, Jing composed his expression and turned around.

“I was spending a moment reflecting. More importantly, were there any private houses nearby?”

At Jing’s question, Lia’s expression hardened and she shook her head.

“No, there’s nothing but trees everywhere. If we want to find a place where people live, I think we’ll have to go all the way to Limis.”

“There was nothing at the place where the boat was tied that looked like it could be used to repair it either. It must not become too late.”

Agreeing with Jing’s worried voice, Lia turned her gaze to the river Jing had been looking at.

The river, having regained its original appearance, was so quiet that it actually made a person uneasy.

“......Do you think both of them are safe? They can’t have died, right?”

Lia asked Jing in a trembling voice.

She herself did not know whether she wanted a truthful answer, or merely an answer that could reassure her.

“Hm? No, Miss Lia, you don’t need to worry about that.”

At the assurance that was lighter than expected, and because of that, reassuring, Lia looked at Jing in bewilderment.

“The two of them should be alive. They have probably reached the island by now.”

Jing, belatedly realizing that Lia was worrying about whether the two were alive or dead, made an oops expression and quickly reassured her.

Lia, surprised by the fact that Jing and she had been worrying about completely different problems, widened her eyes.

“How can you be so certain?”

“Because it is something Lord Ran chose.”

He was someone who had survived even against Prince Dito.

Jing could be certain that there had been some intention behind this as well.

Lia had no way of knowing the basis of Jing’s certainty, but she also could not completely deny it.

Because an unfounded belief existed inside her as well, that somehow, if it was Ran, he would not have recklessly thrown himself into the river.

Lia’s worry shifted to the other person who had disappeared into the river.

“Then what about Ratel? Did Ratel also have a reason for making such a reckless choice?”

“Ratel......probably didn’t think much at all......”

When Jing trailed off, Lia’s face turned pale.

“What?! So the one we should be worrying about wasn’t Ran, but Ratel?”

“No, no. Ratel is definitely alive too.”

At the firm declaration that he was alive, not merely that he should be alive, Lia’s face, which had been full of worry, changed subtly.

“If you are not worrying about the two of them, then what exactly are you worrying about?”

“I am worrying about the two of them.”

Jing was always worried that the two might fight because of some strange stubbornness.