Chapter 172 – My Plan
“…..”
Cold sweat ran down the leader’s back.
Warning signals continued to blare inside his head, but there was not much he could actually do.
As the human had said, trying to flee would merely be a waste of time. Even if the two of them attacked together, he was not someone they could defeat this time.
The leader glanced at the dimwit standing behind him.
Did he hear what that human said?
If the human still doesn’t know that the dimwit is a candidate for the leader’s position, couldn’t the dimwit escape?
The chances were slim, but it was the most promising option he could think of.
“Kweek......! You came because you need the leader’s head, didn’t you?”
“......Yes.”
The leader raised his voice to conceal his nervousness, and the human answered with an expression that still revealed nothing of his thoughts.
“Kweek...... Then you must have come to take my head.”
This human probably did not know that the succession to the leader’s position remained incomplete.
The leader calculated that he could save the dimwit if he convinced the human that the position had already passed entirely to him.
“Kweek, you insolent human bastard! If you want the leader’s head so badly, come and get it. Kweek, this time, I’ll kill you for good.”
The leader stepped forward on trembling legs.
If the dimwit escaped while he bought time, the human would have no reason to pursue him.
As long as he did not see through the dimwit’s lie.
Ratel’s face remained impassive as he gazed into the leader’s eyes, which were filled with a mixture of futile hope and anxiety.
His silence only intensified the leader’s unease.
“Kweek!! I told you to come at me!!”
Unable to contain his impatience, the leader shouted, and the human finally spoke.
“I don’t have time for your lies right now.”
The blade held in the human’s hand gleamed in the darkness.
Behind him, a black shape was gradually taking form.
The sight was strangely chilling, leaving the leader unable to move rashly. The human took a step toward him.
“From now on, I need the two of you to kill each other.”
Only then did the leader realize that his lie had never fooled the human in the first place.
“Kweek, I don’t know what you’re talking about.......”
“I believe I told you I was in a hurry.”
The leader’s attempt to feign ignorance only backfired.
“Or do you need some help?”
It soon became clear what kind of “help” he meant.
The leader could only watch as the razor-sharp blade hurtled toward his one remaining arm with terrifying force.
“Kweek!!!”
The dimwit’s scream struck his eardrums from behind, but the leader could neither evade the blade nor counterattack, so he tightly shut his eyes.
Yet no pain came.
Puzzled, the leader opened his eyes.
A green body filled his entire field of vision, breathing heavily.
* * *
Just how absurdly strong is this crazy protagonist bastard?
I had only blocked a single attack, yet my hand was numb. Shaking it out, I backed away.
Clicking his tongue, Ratel also stepped back, but his eyes remained fixed on the leader.
“W-what is this place?”
Having arrived late, Lia anxiously looked around.
“Kweek, it is the center of the orc den.”
To the three orcs, it was their home. To Ratel and me, it was a target that had to be destroyed.
Ultimately, it was also the place where this entire disaster had begun.
The only difference from before was that something was now flowing out of the smooth depression at its center.
It resembled fog, yet it also looked like a somewhat denser liquid.
What it signified was obvious.
The holy relic had already begun digesting its sacrifice.
“Kweek, it seems to have begun.”
When I unconsciously muttered those words, Ratel ground his teeth and raised his sword again.
I could sense his urgency in every step he took toward the two orcs.
“Didn’t you hear me? I told you to kill each other.”
The leader, who had hidden the dimwit behind him, shook his head.
He appeared to be trying to buy time again or somehow escape the situation. However, the current Ratel had neither a reason to overlook it nor the patience to wait.
Having lost his patience, Ratel thrust his sword forward without hesitation.
I barely managed to seize his arm before the blade severed the leader’s arm.
“Kweek, calm down. Killing them here won’t accomplish anything.”
“Of course I can’t kill them. I haven’t lost my mind that badly.”
Ratel readily admitted that he had lost his mind to some extent, then violently pulled his arm free.
“Kweek, I’m sure that’s exactly how much of your mind you’ve lost.”
If he went any further, he would ruin everything.
Before the protagonist bastard’s patience ran out, our first task was to stop that damned curse, even if only temporarily.
The problem was that the quickest method required the blood of royalty.
“Kweek, have you seen the other one?”
I asked Lia, who had been watching us with a pale face, and confusion appeared on her expression.
“What other one?”
“Kweek, the squirrel that was following me. Kweek, he’s the kind of bastard who would follow me anywhere even if you didn’t deliberately bring him along.”
“Oh, that squirrel.......”
Judging by her reaction, Lia had clearly forgotten El even existed.
That meant he must have been hiding for quite some time.
While I wondered what scheme had prompted him to act alone again, Lia seemed deeply shocked by the realization that she had forgotten El’s existence.
“I’m sorry, Ran. Everything was so chaotic that I didn’t even realize your friend had disappeared.”
Perhaps remembering El so belatedly had been quite a shock, because the color began draining from Lia’s face.
“Kweek, no, I’m not blaming you. Kweek, and he isn’t my friend.”
That was right. Lia was not responsible.
El had always been skilled at disappearing and reappearing whenever he pleased.
The problem was that he had disappeared at the moment I needed him most.
Without his blood, my only remaining option was to try using my own.
I looked down at my plump green hand.
Even when I was human, calling me a member of the royal family had been questionable. Now I had even transformed into an orc.
I had no idea whether the curse would recognize the green blood currently flowing through my body as royal blood.
My chances would at least have been higher if I still had a human body.
Never before had I longed for a human body as desperately as I did at this moment.
I had no guarantee that it would work, but there was also no reason not to try.
Regardless of my current appearance, Sierra’s remaining power had continued speaking to me even after I transformed into an orc.
At the very least, that meant it still recognized me as royalty.
I raised Sierra’s sword, which I had taken from Ratel, and cut my palm. Green blood spurted out.
Before my body could begin regenerating on its own, I clenched my fist, causing the sticky green liquid to flow between the black shapes.
All that remained was to hope this would buy us some time.
Taking a deep breath, I raised Sierra’s sword.
“Wait. What are you doing?”
“Kweek, I already told you. Kweek, destroying the holy relic requires royal blood.”
After giving Ratel a cursory answer, I gripped the blade.
Then I watched the green blood running down it touch the black curse.
Even in this state, am I still a member of the royal family?
I must be.
If this blood is important enough to be revered like a god, it shouldn’t lose its power merely because my appearance changed.
Right. Even if it can do nothing else, it should at least be able to halt the curse temporarily.
......Please work.
I could count the benefits of entering Ran Abiran’s body on one hand.
Even those were merely things that alternated between advantages and disadvantages, like two sides of the same coin.
Damn it. This body should at least prove useful at a time like this.
Fortunately, Ran Abiran’s body proved that it still had some use left. A small change occurred where the black curse met my blood.
The black fog, which had writhed together and begun taking the shape of a living creature’s arms and legs, collapsed.
“It worked! Ran, the fog is dispersing!”
At Lia’s relieved voice, I silently nodded.
I noticed Ratel, who had been quietly watching from beside Lia, release a small breath.
“Thank goodness! Does this mean we’ve stopped Jing from being used as a sacrifice for the curse?”
“Kweek, we haven’t stopped it completely yet. Kweek, we can’t relax until the holy relic spits Jing back out.”
“Then we need to hurry and find a solution. Why are you just standing there? You’re wasting the time we worked so hard to gain.”
Perhaps noticing that I had remained completely still, Ratel approached me with suspicion on his face.
Or rather, he tried to.
“Kweek, don’t come any closer yet.”
At my firm warning, Ratel’s expression slowly twisted.
A moment later, he completely ignored my warning and closed the distance between us.
Lia also sensed that something was wrong and followed behind him.
As the distance between them and me narrowed, I watched the space between their eyebrows narrow as well and swallowed a sigh.
“......Ran, please tell me that what’s beneath your feet is also part of the outcome you anticipated.”
Lia spoke in a trembling voice and pointed at my feet, which had been concealed by the black fog.
Well, more precisely, she pointed at the traces where my feet had once been.
“Kweek, unfortunately, this was unexpected.”
Deciding that there was no longer any point in hiding it, I raised my leg to examine my missing foot.
It was not a particularly good decision.
All it accomplished was showing the two of them how everything from my foot to my calf was turning into black powder and scattering away.
I calmly lowered my leg again.
At the same moment, I was forced to drop to my knees.
....Good. At least I now know that remaining still is the best option.
“Kweek, I don’t think I’ll last long.”
“You call that an acceptable thing to say......?!”
Ratel, who had been glaring at me as though he wanted to murder someone, finally lost his patience and raised his voice.
“Ratel, control yourself! If you strike Ran right now, he might crumble into powder and disappear completely!”
Lia shouted as she clung to Ratel when he tried to step forward.
“Kweek, thank you. Kweek, please keep holding him like that.”
When I thanked her for remaining calm, Lia turned and glared at me with tearful, resentful eyes.
“......Does it hurt?”
“Kweek, not particularly.”
“......Will you be devoured by the holy relic like Jing was?”
Lia asked while suppressing her sobs.
“Kweek, no, I don’t think so. Kweek, if that were happening, I would have been swallowed and vanished instantly like Jing.”
The moment I finished speaking, the area extending from my other ankle to my knee disintegrated.
At this rate, I’ll be too frightened to open my mouth.
“So what are we supposed to do? If we destroy the holy relic, can we restore both Jing and you?”
Ratel asked urgently, but I had no definite answer for him.
This rule had never appeared in the original story.
Sprinkling royal blood on the place where the curse remained was clearly supposed to be a hidden quest that granted the protagonist power before he beheaded the monster.
In other words, there was no reason for me to disappear like black ash.
Wait, perhaps I wasn’t disappearing.
I raised my hand and rubbed my index and middle fingers with my thumb.
Rustle—
This time, my fingers crumbled into powder, scattered through the air, and mingled with the black fog.
Right. I wasn’t disappearing.
I was becoming part of the fog.
There was no pain, but the sight was nevertheless shocking.
What worried me even more was what would happen to my consciousness once my entire body had been pulverized.
The worst-case scenario was that only my consciousness would remain while I lost the ability to move anything according to my will.
If that happened, I would be forced to watch helplessly as an orc was born before my eyes using Jing as nourishment.
Conversely, the best-case scenario was that my consciousness would remain intact and I would be granted the power necessary to exert my will.
If the direction of my future depended entirely on luck, there could be nothing more infuriating.
I lowered my head and looked at my crumbling torso.
Whenever one loses direction in a moment of uncertainty, the way to find it again is to remember one’s objective.
And the subject whose objective mattered here was not me.
“Damn it! Is this really the time to get lost in thought? You constantly complained about not wanting to die. Was all of that a lie?!”
A voice forcibly pulled my mind back just as I was about to reach my final conclusion.
I slowly raised my head.
When I looked up, I saw the protagonist breathing heavily.
Beside him stood Lia, glaring at me with an equally fierce expression.
“Kweek, calm down. Kweek, anyone who saw you would think I was dying.”
“You’re already half-dead. What kind of nonsense are you talking about?”
I looked at Ratel. Although he was trying not to raise his voice, he could not suppress the anger in his eyes.
There was that expression again.
It resembled the expression he had worn when he caught me as I jumped from the ship.
The difference was that if he did the same thing now, what remained of my body would shatter into pieces.
He was clearly displeased with the situation.
The bastard glared at me with his lips tightly shut, then turned his head away when our eyes met.
Lia, who was staring only at the ground, was probably thinking something similar.
I sighed and opened my mouth.
“Kweek, I was planning to cling to the two of you because I want to live.”
The moment I finished speaking, both of them focused their gazes on me.
Their stares were intense enough to make me uncomfortable, but it was still better than seeing them look more devastated than I did.
“Does that mean there’s still something we can do?”
Perhaps her eyes had filled with tears again, because they glistened as Lia approached me.
“Kweek, don’t come too close. Kweek, even a breath through your nose could blow me away in my current state.”
At my warning, Lia hurriedly stepped back after nearly entering the black fog without thinking.
After watching her retreat to a suitable distance, I used what remained of my thigh to push Sierra’s sword, which was lying on the ground, out of the fog.
The price was the complete destruction of my lower body.
“What are you doing?!”
Ratel, who had remained silent, finally opened his mouth and shouted.
“Kweek, what does it look like? I’m begging you to save me.”
Contrary to my expectation that he would enjoy hearing such a humiliating plea, Ratel merely pressed his lips tightly together again.
What? Would he only be satisfied if I knelt and begged?
Unfortunately, my lower body had just disappeared, so I could not show him enough groveling to satisfy him.
There was no time for that either.
“Kweek, I’m in a bit of a hurry. Kweek, and this is something I can’t do without your help.”
“......What do you need me to do?”
Fortunately, he gave me a cooperative answer.
“Kweek, cut the dimwit with that sword.”
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