Chapter 129 :

Chapter 129 - Test

After coughing out the water that rushed into her nose and mouth several times, Lia finally found a way to move forward underwater.

No, in truth, she could not even judge for herself whether she had found a proper method or not.

Because the water was too cold, and she was only wildly flailing her arms and legs.

Fortunately, the river was calmer than ever, helping Lia’s advance, which was closer to struggling than swimming.

As the island grew closer and closer, Lia felt her body, which had been stiff with tension, slowly loosening.

But that was not necessarily a good sign.

Because as her body relaxed, the negative thoughts she had been forcibly suppressing while crossing the river began returning to their places.

‘When I reach the island, how am I supposed to find Ran and Ratel?’

‘What happens if I run into the orcs first?’

‘What will happen to my future?’

When her thoughts reached that point, Lia snapped back to her senses.

‘No, let’s not think about things I can’t solve right now.’

The important thing right now was first delivering this holy relic to Ran and Ratel.

She was not usually the type to think little, but when she was alone, that tendency seemed to become even worse.

Before negative thoughts could rule her head, Lia quickly shook her head.

The effect was quite excellent.

Because the water rushing into her eyes, nose, and mouth made her mind snap wide awake.

“Uwegh! Damn it......!”

While coughing up water from a mistake that naturally brought out a curse, Lia stopped moving for a moment at a strange sense of déjà vu.

Her body was moving forward on its own.

Even when she had forgotten to struggle briefly for breath a moment ago, and even now.

For a moment, Lia wondered whether she had become a master of swimming and realized a way to move through the water without moving her hands and feet.

But soon she shook off that arrogant thought.

She was confident that she was not slow to learn, but that was only when she learned through proper instruction.

Swimming across the river by moving her arms and legs, and her body moving on its own, were completely different matters.

As Lia looked around in surprise, her eyes caught sight of her own arm cutting through the strangely calm river.

Lia, staring at it as if possessed, cautiously released all the strength that had entered her body.

Whoosh!

As expected, her body was moving.

And on its own, at that.

No, is the river moving?

Amid a shock that made her feel as though she might faint, resentment poked its head up, and tears welled in Lia’s eyes.

‘Then what in the world have I been doing until now if not swimming?’

* * *

After the incident where the dimwit’s head got stuck, the one-armed orc ultimately had no choice but to choose to watch me and Ratel from behind together with the dimwit.

Because if he left the dimwit and Ratel alone together, there was no telling what sort of accident would happen again.

Thanks to that, no more incidents occurred where the dimwit got scared of Ratel or acted unexpectedly.

My expectation that a quiet march would begin like that was half wrong.

Because instead of closing their mouths, the two orc bastards began glaring at the back of my head as if they would pierce through it.

The quiet journey, where only the sound of footsteps was heard, felt noisy instead.

“Kweeek, do you have something to say?”

Unable to endure it, I turned around.

Perhaps because neither of the two orcs had expected me to ask directly after sending such noisy gazes, both rolled their eyes and could not find a suitable answer.

The one who came to his senses first was the leader.

As if his flinching at my question had been a lie, the creature soon returned to a shameless face.

“Kweeek, why is this taking so long? Kweeek, surely you are not guiding us down some strange path?”

At the creature’s suspicious question, I glanced at Ratel.

“What?”

At the fellow’s displeased expression, I shook my head.

“Kweeek, nothing. Kweeek, I wondered if suspicion was contagious.”

“Kweeek!! Are you ignoring my words right now?!”

Perhaps he was quite displeased that there was no answer, because the leader raised his voice again.

“Kweeek, you can check for yourself whether we came properly.”

We had happened to arrive at the first destination too.

When I stopped in front of a dead end, the one-armed orc looked around.

But all he could see was a thick rock wall.

“Kweeek, who are you making fun of right now? Kweeek, what are you telling me to check?”

With this, it was revealed that he had not listened at all to the explanation I had shown such passion for, even drawing on the floor.

On the other hand, even without any special explanation, the dimwit looked up, revealing that he had listened to my explanation quite faithfully.

“Kweeek......!”

At the dimwit’s pale, astonished face, the leader, who raised his head following his gaze, also showed a reaction similar to the dimwit’s.

He had only managed not to let out a single cry like the dimwit.

In the ceiling, there was a gap just large enough for one orc to barely pass through.

Although the slope was almost vertical, and although thorn-like rocks jutting out here and there between the gaps whose end could not be seen obstructed the path a little.

In any case, this was the only path to the food storage that I knew.

Of course, the one who had taught me this path was the protagonist inside the book.

“What are you doing instead of going quickly?”

As expected of the protagonist who had voluntarily walked the thorny path in the novel, Ratel prepared to climb the wall with a calm face.

The leader, who had been staring blankly at that sight, gulped.

“......Kweeek, are you certain this is really the way?”

The leader asked, implying that he would kill me if it was a lie.

But that would not make a nonexistent path appear, nor would a connected path suddenly change direction.

“Kweeek, there is only one path, so what is there to confuse?”

“Kweeek.......”

The dimwit standing beside him made a groaning sound while looking up at the ceiling, but as expected, that did not change the path either.

Looking at the two who were standing there dazed, I hurriedly approached the wall.

“Kweeek? What are you doing right now?”

The leader, who came to his senses at my movement, asked.

“Kweeek, then the human and I will go up first, so you take the dimwit and follow behind.”

“Kweeek!! Wait!! Kweeek!! But why are you going so urgently?!”

“Kweeek, I have never gone urgently.”

Even while answering, I stretched out my hand to climb the wall.

Perhaps the leader found the way I seemed to be hurrying extremely suspicious, because he quickly grabbed me and pulled me down.

“Kweeek, wait!!”

I stepped back onto the floor exactly as the creature pulled me down.

And I asked while pretending not to know.

“Kweeek, since I have to guide the way, isn’t it right for me to go up? Kweeek, that’s how it has been until now.”

“Kweeek, that was because I had to watch you and that human. Kweeek, from now on, the dimwit and I will lead.”

“Kweeek, what need is there for that? Kweeek, just quietly follow behind me.”

When I spoke strongly, a vein rose on the leader’s forehead.

“Kweeek!!! That is not for you to decide!! Kweeek!! From now on, you follow behind me!!”

After shouting, the creature pushed me back and began climbing the wall just like that.

Well, if you want it that much, you should go first.

I silently watched the creature climbing upward.

Unlike my worries, the leader climbed the rock wall quite steadily even with one remaining arm.

The dimwit stood before the wall, chasing the leader with his eyes as he climbed without hesitation.

“Kweeek, if you don’t hurry up, the leader will make a fuss again.”

The dimwit flinched and looked at me.

I pointed again at the gap in the ceiling, meaning, what are you doing instead of going up quickly?

“Kweeek!!! What are you dawdling for down there?!”

Just as I had warned, the leader’s shout fell.

At that, the dimwit began climbing the wall while timidly checking my mood.

Though he kept turning back and checking on me.

Once a certain distance opened between me and the two orcs moving away, I also began slowly preparing to climb.

This time, it was not to deceive the leader, but a real preparation.

“Kweeek, the climb is quite long. Kweeek, after climbing, there will be a path where we can rest for a moment, but we don’t know what whim that leader bastard might have again, so you need to manage your stamina well. Kweeek, so......what?”

Ratel’s expression as he watched me continue explaining quickly was strange.

What? Are you even listening properly?

“Kweeek, what is it? Kweeek, is there some problem?”

When I asked at his uncharacteristic reaction, Ratel shook his head.

“......No, I just realized how stupid I must have looked until now.”

The fellow, who answered with a somewhat bitter face, ignored the hand I held out and began climbing the wall just like that.

I wondered whether I should offer comfort by saying that because his personality was so filthy, it did not really show much when he looked a little stupid, but it did not seem like it would be very helpful.

I also kept my words to myself and followed behind the protagonist.

While hoping that the result I wanted would come out before this first obstacle ended.

* * *

The fact that he carried an old bow the size of a person’s torso on his back, but his build was not noticeably large.

Because of that, if he was mixed among other orcs, it was difficult to tell at first glance that he was the boss leading the orcs.

And if one had to pick one distinctive feature......there was a long wound behind his neck, though it was unknown when it had formed.

The sensation of the bumpy scar mark I had felt when pulling the dimwit whose neck had been stuck out of the hole was quite vivid.

I raised my head and followed with my eyes the back of the dimwit climbing after the leader.

......At this point, it is definitely worth checking once.

* * *

While climbing the cliff gap, which was rougher than expected, I recalled the leader of the orcs in the novel.

The outward description of the orc boss from the original work, who probably defeated that one-armed creature and rose to the next position, was quite distinctive.

The question that had been circling my head ever since the leader had survived in that living-corpse-like state had still not been resolved.

Why did the orc who attacked him not attack the leader to the very end?

There must have been a reason that creature had to simply watch while the leader escaped and hid beneath the waterfall.

The hypothesis that immediately came to mind was one thing.

He had gotten lucky and succeeded in attacking the leader, but he was not strong enough to take the position itself.

If the dimwit was really the orc I was looking for, and what he needed was an opportunity to attack the defenseless leader, I was perfectly willing to create that much for him.

For example, a leader climbing a dangerous cliff with his back exposed could be called quite a suitable opportunity to attempt an attack.

In that sense, sending the leader and the dimwit first was a gamble with nothing to lose.

If the dimwit really was the boss from the original work, and if he had the intention of usurping the leader’s position, he would take some kind of action.

If the dimwit’s features that overlapped with the original work were merely a coincidence, then nothing would happen.

Whether fortunately or unfortunately, not long after, it seemed that something had reacted to the trap I had laid.

“Kweeeeek!!!”

Because a scream whose owner was unclear had come down from above.

But along with the welcome scream, one more thing came flowing down.

Kwaaaaaaa—

It was a strong sound of water that had screwed me over several times before, and for that reason, felt even more ominous.