Chapter 143 :

Chapter 143 - Change of Plans

When I climbed the wall and emerged from the pit, fish that had failed to move away with the water were left flopping where the pool had once been.

Their lively movements looked strangely out of place amid the fishy-smelling scene.

“Kweeek!!”

The dimwit was excitedly picking up and eating the fish scattered across the ground.

A sense of emptiness washed over me at the sight of the creature responsible for this entire mess happily filling his stomach.

Ultimately, I had no choice but to conclude that he had not acquired intelligence comparable to that of the leader in the original story.

Even if he had eaten the leader’s head, it meant he was currently in no condition to devise any highly intelligent strategies.

Why had I been so wary of him all this time?

He looked as though he had no thoughts whatsoever.

My sense of futility only deepened as I watched him swallow a large, flopping fish whole, only for it to become lodged in his throat and make him cough.

“Kweek?”

Noticing my gaze, dimwit looked back at me.

His body visibly flinched when our eyes met, but he showed no further reaction.

He did examine my drenched appearance with slightly curious eyes.

At the very least, he did not seem particularly resentful that I had chased after him alongside three other orcs.

Then again, dimwit probably had not expected anything like loyalty or friendship from me either.

There was no particular need for such things among orcs.

Whatever else might be said, I rather liked this kind of detached relationship.

While I reflected on the advantages of living as an orc, dimwit turned his head as though looking over my shoulder.

Following his gaze, I turned and saw Ratel climbing out of the pit.

“Kweek, what took you so long?”

I had naturally assumed he would overtake me on the way up, so when I questioned his late arrival, Ratel rolled his eyes while shaking off the water.

“Was that really so slow? For a ‘human’, I mean.”

Ratel’s answer—that he had merely climbed at the humanlike speed I kept emphasizing—was fairly reasonable.

No matter how much I thought about it, however, I could not shake my suspicions.

Since when did you listen to me so obediently?

I narrowed my eyes suspiciously, but Ratel turned his head and openly ignored my doubt.

“Kweek......!”

The dimwit, who had been watching the silent struggle between Ratel and me, cautiously approached us.

Previously, I would first have suspected that he was plotting something, but his actions looked different now.

Just as Ratel had said, it appeared that he was simply lowering his tail before a newly emerged superior.

That did not mean I could completely lower my guard yet.

“K-Kweek......!”

I could not understand what he was saying, but dimwit gestured with his hands and feet as though trying to convey something to Ratel.

“What is he saying?”

“Kweek, who knows? Maybe he is complaining that we left him alone.”

“Kweek......!!”

Apparently my attempt to interpret him was wrong again, because dimwit jumped up in protest.

“......You really are unsuited to being an orc, you know that? How have you failed to understand the dimwit even once?”

Ratel looked at me pathetically.

You would have trouble finding a human more suited to this than me.

I was about to answer.

A green arm suddenly thrust between Ratel and me.

The hand seized dimwit by the back of his neck and yanked him backward.

“Kweek......!”

Ratel and I stepped aside as the startled dimwit was dragged away.

The dimwit barely managed to remain on his feet as he was pulled along by the hand.

“Kweek, taking care of the dimwit the moment you emerge? Your love for your subordinate is truly exceptional.”

When I spoke to the leader, who had turned and was glaring warily at Ratel, his sharp gaze shifted toward me.

“Kweek!! The exceptional one is that human bastard! Kweek!! Why did you bring him all the way here?!”

His eyes, brimming with caution, moved between Ratel and me.

Faced with the leader’s rather dramatic change in attitude, I had no choice but to glare at Ratel, who possessed just as much talent for deception as I did.

He had claimed that he merely climbed quickly ‘for a human’, but he had clearly done something inhuman below before coming up.

* * *

The leader retreated while holding the dimwit, his eyes filled with hostility and vigilance toward Ratel.

He had never shown anything resembling goodwill toward Ratel in the first place, but the nature of his attitude was different now.

Previously, his gaze had merely contained contempt and disgust toward humans as a species.

Now, however, the leader seemed to regard Ratel himself as a threat.

“Kweek, what are you suddenly talking about?”

“Kweek!! I am asking what that inhuman bastard really is!!”

When I pretended not to understand, the leader immediately roared at me.

What in the world did you do during that brief interval?

I glanced sideways at Ratel, but not even the slightest hint of agitation appeared on his face.

Fine.

Since things had already turned out this way, I decided to imitate his shamelessness.

“Kweek, isn’t he one of those humans you hate so much? Kweek, the human we planned to use as bait.”

“Kweek, don’t make me laugh! Kweek, how could anyone use something like that as bait?”

“Kweek, why couldn’t we?”

“Kweek, are you asking because you truly don’t know, or are you merely pretending? Kweek, that bastard is......!”

“Kweek, so tell me exactly what is strange about him and how.”

“.......”

The leader, who had been raising his voice, abruptly closed his mouth.

He slowly looked down at the bewildered dimwit.

I understood.

If all he could do was repeatedly insist that something was strange, then the leader possessed nothing more than suspicion.

He probably did not want to admit that he had become frightened of a mere human without even being harmed.

Relieved that Ratel had not physically threatened him, I swallowed a sigh of relief.

No, why did I even have to feel relieved about something like this?

The range of disasters caused by that protagonist was so vast that I had to postpone criticizing myself for taking comfort in such a small thing.

There was still one problem that needed to be resolved first.

“Kweek, he is not an ordinary human! Kweek, now that I think about it, the fact that a human jumped into such a deep pit was strange from the beginning! Kweek, forget using him as bait—we must kill him immediately.”

The leader had become far too wary of Ratel.

My plan to naturally send Ratel outside under the pretext of using him as bait was beginning to fall apart.

I had to decide whether to repair the collapsing plan or abandon it and formulate a new one.

Repairing the existing plan would not be particularly difficult.

The leader was simple-minded and proud.

That meant it would be equally easy to coax him all the way to the food storage.

My deliberation was brief.

I opened my mouth toward the leader, who was glaring furiously at Ratel.

“Kweek, fine. He is strange, just as you said.”

The leader’s expression relaxed, believing I had acknowledged his words.

“Kweek, because he is too valuable to use as bait and discard.”

It immediately crumpled again at what followed.

“Kweek, what kind of nonsense are you spouting? Kweek, have you forgotten that he is human?”

“Kweek, forgotten what? Kweek, anyone with eyes can see that.”

“Kweek, then what are you saying?!”

Enraged by my sarcasm, he shouted at the top of his lungs.

“Kweek, aren’t you the one who has forgotten? Kweek, that human saved me.”

From you, when you were trying to kill me.

Even without adding the final words, he appeared to understand what I meant.

“Kweek, are you saying you intend to trust a human?”

“Kweek, yes. Kweek, so I intend to take this one with me alive.”

Ratel, who had been standing there with an expression of complete indifference, raised an eyebrow.

He was probably wondering what had caused my sudden change of heart.

It was nothing complicated.

Since things had already reached this point, I had merely decided to do what he wanted one final time.

Besides, I had managed to escape the pit easily thanks to him.

At my calm response, the leader’s eyes widened as though he had heard something unbelievable.

Then he snorted.

“Kweek, you have lost your mind.”

“Kweek, I am choosing the one who saved me over the one who broke his promise and tried to kill me. Isn’t that fairly reasonable?”

The leader narrowed his eyes.

“Kweek, that human clearly said he came here to cut off the leader’s head. Kweek, does that mean you intend to become my enemy from this moment onward?”

Right.

There was still that problem.

Once again cursing the protagonist’s thoroughly unhelpful honesty, I feigned composure.

“Kweek, I will not help him. Kweek, but if he can obtain it through his own strength, I will not go out of my way to stop him either.”

I discreetly swallowed the fact that Ratel could probably wipe out every orc on the island, let alone merely take the leader’s head, and continued.

“Kweek, but if you attack this human, I will stop you, not him. Kweek, you understand better than anyone what might happen in the process.”

At first glance, it sounded as though I were promising to protect Ratel, but in reality, it was a warning intended to prevent the leader from making a reckless challenge.

After bringing the leader all the way to the front of the food storage, I could not allow the plan to collapse so pointlessly.

I continued warning the leader, who still looked displeased.

“Kweek, I will continue guiding you as promised. Kweek, unlike someone who calls humans liars while breaking his own promises, I keep my word.”

The final sentence clearly struck a nerve.

The leader’s expression turned cold.

“Kweek, what did I do wrong?! Kweek, you were the one who threatened my position first! Kweek, you were also the one who tried to kill the dimwit!”

“Kweek, I told you I never intended to kill him.”

The dimwit glanced at me, but I remained confident.

My intention had not been to kill him.

It had been to test him.

Though the result had been disastrous.

“Kweek, that does not change the fact that you obstructed me.”

It was remarkably shameless anger. A truly orclike way of thinking.

Then again, he was the only truly orclike one among us.

In that sense, he was right.

“Kweek, yes. You did nothing wrong.”

He had merely followed his instincts.

His instincts as a leader, as an orc, and perhaps even as a living creature.

No one here would particularly blame him for acting that way.

No, to begin with, no one cared enough about him to do so.

“Kweek, then what is this? Kweek, why have you suddenly decided to take the human’s side?”

I alternated my gaze between the leader, who was angrily demanding an explanation, and Ratel, who watched me with his arms crossed.

Then I opened my mouth.

“Kweek, because I like the human’s side better.”

At the simple answer, the leader fell silent and looked back and forth between Ratel and me.

Confusion, anger, and several other emotions swirled in his eyes.

It was unexpected.

I had assumed he would immediately begin shouting.

Just as he always had until now.

This time, however, his anger was quiet.

The leader glared at Ratel and me with smoldering eyes, then tightly closed them before opening them again.

“Kweek, do whatever you want.”

The certainty in his eyes said everything.

The easiest way to create a convincing lie was to mix a little truth into it.

That meant there was at least some sincerity mixed into this current deception, most of which consisted of lies.

It had been fabricated so hastily that even I could not tell the exact ratio or where the truth was hidden.

Perhaps that was why.

I felt an impulse to add one unnecessary sentence and prove that the leader’s certainty was wrong.

As he began turning away as though there were nothing more to say, I opened my mouth.

“Kweek, if someone risked his life to help me, I suppose being deceived once would not matter.”

Risked his life?

The side of my head prickled beneath Ratel’s strongly dissatisfied gaze, but I ignored him.

Ratel had his honesty.

I had my lack of conscience.

The leader, having fallen for my shameless deception, ground his teeth.

“Kweek, you are doing something foolish.”

“Kweek, I do not care if it is foolish. Kweek, if it is him, being deceived once would not matter.”

“Kweek, you would not care even if he deceived you?”

“Kweek, it would mean he had something important enough to justify it.”

Without responding, the leader turned and walked away from Ratel and me.

After hesitating, the dimwit followed behind him.

His gaze, however, remained fixed on Ratel and me for quite a long time.