Chapter 168 — Reunion
The dimwit was talkative.
How had he managed to keep his mouth shut so quietly all this time?
No, that was not quite right.
He had never exactly been quiet.
A belated realization flashed through the leader’s mind: perhaps all the incidents until now had been the dimwit’s sincere attempts to express himself through actions rather than words.
Don’t tell me all the stupid things this bastard did were protests directed at me.
The leader seized hold of the past before it could be swept away and beautified, then narrowed his eyes at the dimwit.
“K-Kweek, s-so, once we escape from here, kkweek, let’s build a small box. Kweek, because we’ll need to avoid the sun.”
Although the leader’s strength drained away again at the sight of an idiot who did not even understand the concept of aging dreaming about an impossible future.
Yes, what did any of it matter now?
The dimwit would learn for himself once the leader died. There was no need to shatter his dream beforehand.
Perhaps that was why the question that had lingered inside his mouth because of an inexplicable fear came out more easily than expected.
“Kweek, then why did you attack me while I was asleep? Kweek, if you wanted to become the leader that badly, you should’ve just...”
If you had simply said from the beginning that you wanted the position of leader, then...
“Kweek, I d-didn’t particularly want to become the leader.”
I see. So you didn’t want the position of leader.
“Kweek!! What the hell does that mean?!”
The leader shouted as his blood pressure seemed to rise at the dimwit’s overly casual confession.
Startled by the leader’s sudden excitement, the dimwit shuffled backward on his rear.
“K-Kweek! B-Because you wouldn’t wake up!”
“Kweek!! Does that make any sense?! Kweek!! You’re saying you attacked me because I wouldn’t wake up, even though you didn’t want to become the leader?!”
The answer that he had coveted the position desperately would have made the leader less furious.
He had always called the bastard stupid, but he had never imagined he could do something this absurd.
Unable to suppress his anger, the leader tried to rap the dimwit on the head.
The dimwit covered his forehead with both hands and hurriedly opened his mouth.
“Kweek, b-because they were trying to eat you! Kweek, I-I was trying to hide you. Kweek, I was told to do that. Kweek, the one who tried to eat you is p-probably dead.”
Thoroughly frightened, the dimwit spilled out a disorderly explanation.
Having learned that pressing him would not produce a better answer, the leader steadied his breathing and calmed himself.
Then he selected the most incomprehensible sentence from the dimwit’s reply.
“Kweek, the one who tried to eat me is dead? Kweek, are you saying you weren’t the one after my neck?”
“Kweek, I-I ate you too. Kweek, but there was someone who ate you f-first.”
The dimwit shuddered as though the mere thought gave him chills.
The leader stared blankly down at him before suddenly coming to his senses.
“Kweek, then how did you kill that bastard?”
“Kweek, I tore out his n-neck too. Kweek, then I dropped him down below. Kweek, because I was told to.”
He had been told to?
Once again, an unknown someone had appeared in the story.
Who could possibly have taught him such a thing?
* * *
The journey back after leaving the two orcs behind was not as noisy as before.
Perhaps it was because the group had been reduced by half.
Or perhaps it was because of the relief that the matter had been more or less resolved.
The quiet journey ended when we reached the end of the path.
That also meant the flat, easy road had ended and a steep slope had begun.
Looking down, I saw that the water level was lower than when we had climbed up under the dimwit’s guidance.
At this level, we probably would not need to worry about being swept away before reaching the outside.
The sight reassured me, but at the same time, worries about the future that I had postponed began to creep back into my mind.
For example, the prospect of leaving the cave and wandering outside in the body of an orc.
“Should I pretend to be a monster hunter from now on?”
I turned my head at the voice behind me.
He had remained silent throughout the journey, so I had wondered what he was thinking.
Apparently, he had at least given a tiny amount of consideration to his ridiculous plan.
Before I could answer, he passed me and began descending the cliff.
Judging by his indifferent attitude, he had truly thought about it only a tiny amount.
I followed him down the cliff.
“Kweek, yes. Kweek, though if you’re going to drag me around with you, you’ll have to give up on remaining inconspicuous.”
“In villages, you can lie down and pretend to be dead. We’ll drag you around from there.”
How generous of him.
His choice of the phrase drag you around showed me nothing but an ominous future.
In any case, if I could not return to my original body, would I also have to pretend to be a corpse for the time being?
I raised my gaze toward the rough green hand gripping the wall.
“Kweek, when I left the capital, I never imagined things would turn out like this.”
I did not mean only that I had transformed into an orc.
I also meant that I had never expected to argue with him about what we would do in the future.
I had intended only to provide a little assistance so that Ratel and his companions could follow the course of the original story.
If we continued searching for the other holy relics and the journey grew longer, my head already hurt wondering what other unimaginable future awaited me.
My dream had been to flee as far away as possible and live alone.
Perhaps my silence seemed strange, because Ratel looked up while climbing down.
“Was there something else you wanted to do?”
When he asked so directly, I had no answer.
I also could not immediately think of many options for wandering around in this form.
“Kweek, I don’t know. I’ve never thought about it.”
“You struggled that desperately to escape the imperial family, yet you never thought about your future?”
Ah, he had not been asking how I intended to flee while looking like an orc.
In that case, it was a somewhat abrupt question under the circumstances, but I answered readily.
“Kweek, at first, I planned to try trading.”
“Trading?”
Ratel repeated my answer, seemingly surprised.
“Kweek, I couldn’t exactly settle down and become a farmer. Kweek, I would’ve been on the run for a while.”
Once I had saved enough money, I had intended to leave this country entirely and disappear into the remote countryside.
“A merchant….”
Ratel stared into empty space as though imagining me selling goods, then let out a faint laugh.
“You probably wouldn’t have suffered any losses.”
“Kweek, losses? Kweek, I could’ve lived my entire life without worrying about money.”
“I’ve heard that people who say things like that usually bankrupt their households.”
“Kweek, what household do I have to bankrupt? Kweek, who told you that?”
“Someone who raised me.”
There had been more than one person who raised him.
Apparently, among the priests who remained in Amica’s space, there had been someone who taught him bits of ordinary wisdom like this.
“Kweek, then why don’t you possess any other common sense?”
“Are you talking about me?”
Ratel furrowed his brow at the question I had muttered without realizing it.
“If we’re comparing how little common sense we have, you’re hardly in a position to act proud.”
He suddenly picked a childish fight over my level of common sense.
“Kweek, apparently you don’t understand. The moment you decided to travel around with an orc, your common sense was already ruined.”
Unfortunately for him, when it came to years spent behaving childishly, I had the advantage.
“That’s why I thought of a cover occupation. A monster hunter is fairly reasonable.”
The bastard lacked both common sense and shame.
“Kweek, what kind of monster hunter travels around with a living orc?”
“Are you implying that you have more common sense than I do?”
“Kweek, isn’t that obvious?”
When I nodded confidently, Ratel stared at me with an expression of disbelief before suddenly closing his mouth.
His instincts, trained by accumulated experience, were warning him to stop.
In truth, preparing myself like this did not mean much.
The protagonist’s actions always went far beyond anything I could predict.
This time was no exception.
Splash!
The heavy sound of a person falling into the water echoed through the cave.
I alternated between staring at the wall where Ratel had been hanging moments earlier and the ripples created when he jumped in.
Then I came to my senses and began climbing down the wall.
What now?
Had he decided to demonstrate just how far his lack of common sense could go?
As I drew closer to the surface, Ratel moved swiftly through the water like a mermaid.
Only then did I realize that he had a target.
Narrowing my eyes, I stared in the direction he was swimming and spotted something brown.
There was something in the water.
It did not take long to realize that the disturbingly familiar brown object was long hair.
The hair spread across the surface was gradually sinking along with its owner.
Just before it disappeared completely beneath the water, Ratel took a deep breath and dived.
Before long, he resurfaced.
Pale-faced Lia was held beneath one of his arms.
In Lia’s unconscious hand was a sword so magnificent that it looked ominous.
After I pulled Ratel and Lia up, Ratel laid Lia on the ground and checked her breathing.
“Cough!”
Fortunately, shortly after being rescued, Lia began violently coughing up water.
Ratel and I stepped back and waited for her to regain her breath.
“Are you all right?”
Once her breathing had recovered somewhat, Ratel checked her condition.
“Gasp, gasp...! I-I nearly died.”
Lia raised her head with difficulty, tears in her eyes.
However, the new hope for life she had just found vanished again the moment she saw my face.
“Aaaahhh!!! An orc!!!”
Spotting me standing beside Ratel, Lia screamed as though suffering a seizure.
I had stepped back in anticipation that she might be startled, but apparently that was nowhere near enough to reassure her.
Judging by how terrified she became the moment she saw my face, it seemed she had not simply gotten lost outside.
She must have suffered something terrible at the hands of the orcs.
Perhaps I should consider her fortunate to have survived with only these injuries.
“Get away, Ratel!!”
Without the slightest hesitation, Lia swung the sword at me with all her strength.
Her momentum was fierce, but honestly, the attack was not particularly threatening.
She appeared to have badly twisted one leg, and her balance was completely broken from the start.
I avoided Lia’s attack, then grabbed her to prevent her from moving any further.
If she continued struggling on that leg, she would only suffer more later.
“Aaah!”
Terrified, Lia threw a punch with her other hand in an attempt to shake me off.
More striking than the attack she launched with all her strength was her blood-soaked hand.
Despite the terrible state of her palm, Lia did not seem to feel any pain at all.
Only then did I realize her condition was far more serious than I had thought, and I seized her other arm as well.
Lia’s pupils were greatly dilated with fear.
I hurriedly handed the struggling woman over to Ratel.
“Kweek, explain it to her. Kweek, she’s about to faint.”
When I scolded him for standing there and watching while Lia attacked me, Ratel finally seemed to regain his senses and looked at me.
His dazed response was unlike him.
My confusion lasted only briefly.
After handing Lia over, I belatedly turned my gaze toward the object from which Ratel had been unable to look away.
The sword clenched with frightening strength in Lia’s blood-soaked hand.
Ratel reached toward it.
“No!”
Lia, who had been unable to tear her eyes away from me, hurriedly retreated from Ratel’s hand.
After widening the distance, she hugged the sword tightly to keep it beyond his reach.
The blade dug into her hand, but Lia did not seem to notice even that.
“I won’t touch it, so put it down.”
Ratel withdrew his hand and raised both palms.
Breathing roughly, Lia slowly lowered the object in her hands to the ground.
Even then, she did not seem reassured.
Like someone half out of her mind, Lia rapidly alternated her gaze between Ratel and the sword.
“Y-You can’t touch this. If you touch it...”
“It devours you?”
Ratel’s calm voice completed the sentence Lia had been too frightened to finish.
When the terrified Lia nodded faintly, Ratel stepped forward without hesitation and picked up the sword she had placed down.
Lia flinched in surprise, but the thing she had feared did not happen.
After quietly swinging the sword several times, Ratel turned toward Lia.
“Where is Jing?”
Unlike his composed voice, his gleaming golden eyes revealed just how shaken he was.
Along with the tiny droplets of light rising around him.
No comments yet. Be the first to leave a review!