Chapter 184 – Revenge and a Request
Just as the leader had said, the dimwit was certain to become a fairly skilled hunter.
The fact that he had managed to catch several rabbits despite all that commotion proved it.
“Kweek, I can do better next time. Kweek, it’s only because I haven’t learned enough yet.”
The dimwit muttered while the small rabbits in his hand dangled in the air.
“Have you forgotten that I’ve already said ‘I understand’ about ten times?”
Judging by his lack of response, he had not forgotten. He simply had not listened from the beginning.
As the dimwit continued making excuses, I raised my empty hands.
“Nobody cares if you fail to catch anything. I didn’t catch anything either. No one is going to criticize you.”
What I meant was that he should finally shut his mouth, but the dimwit continued talking.
“Kweek, but there are many humans. Kweek, what does everyone eat?”
I was rendered speechless, having never imagined that an orc would worry about our meals.
“....That doesn’t matter either. None of the humans there are parasites incapable of finding their own food.”
Once I finally reassured him, his face brightened considerably.
My relief that he was so simple-minded lasted only a moment before the dimwit’s face darkened again.
His emotions truly were all over the place.
“What is it this time?”
When I asked bluntly, he pointed at my empty hands.
“Kweek, then are you the only one who can’t hunt? Kweek, are you the only parasite?”
Although his words took the form of a question, he had apparently already reached his own conclusion.
The pitying look he gave me made that obvious.
“....Think whatever you want.”
When I halfheartedly agreed with the misunderstanding because I could not be bothered to explain, the pity on the dimwit’s face deepened.
“....Kweek, it’s all right. Kweek, that frightening human hunts as well as the leader. Kweek, make sure you keep leeching off him.”
“Yes, I’ll cling to him tenaciously and live off him.”
I answered without enthusiasm and entered the cave, where Lia was waiting alone to greet the dimwit and me.
Where had everyone else gone?
“Kweek, where did the leader go?!”
Startled by the leader’s disappearance, the dimwit shouted in alarm.
“Calm down. The leader should be safe.”
I silently asked Lia what had happened as she calmed the panicking dimwit, and she pointed deeper into the cave.
“Ratel and the orc leader went farther inside.”
“Inside? Do you mean they returned to the center? Why did they suddenly do that?”
“The leader suddenly said there was something he needed to confirm. He seemed so urgent that Ratel and Jing followed him for the time being.”
“Kweek, I’m going too!”
The dimwit, who had been listening anxiously beside me, hurried in the direction Lia had indicated.
Watching his retreating back, it occurred to me that this might be connected to the dimwit’s reaction earlier.
I placed Sierra’s sword on the ground.
“I should go as well. What about you, Lia?”
“....I’ll wait here. I wouldn’t be much help even if I went.”
There was no need to force her to accompany us if she wanted to remain behind.
I nodded once and ran after the dimwit.
* * *
The sight at the center, where I arrived behind the dimwit, was both unfamiliar and peculiar.
Dozens of orcs surrounded two humans and a single orc, yet there was hardly any tension.
I could not tell whether that was because everyone knew the two humans could defeat them all or because neither side displayed any fighting spirit.
The orc horde merely watched the three standing in the center without making any threatening movements.
Neither Ratel nor Jing appeared to intend to attack them.
However, being surrounded by orcs seemed sufficient to provoke the dimwit’s anxiety.
“Kweek! Leader!”
The dimwit called out to the leader and charged forward.
His shout shattered the silence, drawing everyone’s attention toward him.
Since I was following behind him, I unexpectedly became the focus of the orcs’ attention as well.
He was the one who shouted, so why were they all staring so intently at me?
Despite their intense gazes, the orcs readily opened a path toward the leader.
They did not appear to have any intention of attacking him. Nor did they appear willing to harm the two humans beside him.
As I passed through the orc horde and approached the leader, I understood the reason.
More precisely, I realized it after seeing the leader’s gaze upon me.
Just like the dimwit, he had remembered something.
Only then did I notice that the orc horde had been staring solely at me from the beginning, not at the dimwit.
After finally reaching the center, the dimwit thundered toward the leader.
“Kweek, are you all right? Kweek, those bastards didn’t attack you again, did they?”
The dimwit frantically questioned him while circling the leader.
“Kweek, stop making such a fuss, you idiot. Kweek, they no longer desire the position of leader.”
After grabbing and stopping the dimwit, the leader turned toward me.
“Did you obtain a satisfactory result?”
When I spoke first, the leader readily nodded.
“Kweek, yes. Kweek, at least I learned that I no longer need to live in hiding with that idiot. Kweek, and I just confirmed that we have you to thank for it.”
The leader surveyed his surroundings with a much more relaxed expression before stepping forward.
The orc horde silently parted to either side.
Accepting their calm obedience as though it were perfectly natural, the leader began walking.
“Kweek, follow me. Kweek, you must have something you want to discuss as well.”
Ratel, who had quietly watched the leader until then, stopped him as he walked away as though expecting me to follow.
“You’ve been acting as if we don’t exist. If you have something to say, say it right here.”
The leader turned and briefly looked at Ratel, who was staring at him crookedly.
“Kweek, I don’t care. Kweek, but if you remain here, your companion will find things rather troublesome.”
Ratel’s lips curled upward at the leader’s calm answer.
It was not even a threat directed at him. In fact, it was far too feeble to be considered a threat at all, and his expression showed how ridiculous he found the idea that such words could persuade him.
However, the leader’s warning proved sufficiently effective.
The orc horde surrounding the center began to move slowly. This time, they moved to surround me instead of the center.
“Lord Ran, come this way.”
Alarmed, Jing attempted to pull me behind him, but he could not deal with every approaching orc.
“Kweeeek.”
Several of them broke through Jing’s guard and reached toward me.
I stopped Jing as he prepared to attack the orcs.
“Just leave them alone. They don’t appear to intend to attack me.”
“No. However docile they may appear, they are still orcs. Why are you being so carefree?”
Ignoring Jing as he blocked my path as though he had heard something absurd, I walked toward the leader.
“Lord Ran!”
Jing called out anxiously from behind me, but what he feared did not happen.
The orcs did not attack me.
However, just as the leader had warned, the situation did become troublesome.
The orcs formed a circle around me and stared with curious eyes before beginning to thrust their faces toward mine.
Judging by the way their nostrils flared as they sniffed, they appeared to be smelling me.
Their behavior was unbearably uncomfortable, so I waved my hands and forced them back.
That only lasted briefly before new orcs surrounded me and began sniffing me again.
When several of them reached out and grabbed me, the uncomfortable situation became even worse.
They touched my head and poked my arms as though examining a fascinating creature.
The leader finally put an end to the troublesome situation.
Perhaps realizing that it would never end otherwise, he pushed through the orcs, approached me, grabbed the back of my collar, and lifted me.
Thinking that I was treated like a piece of luggage every time I entered this cave, I glanced toward the remaining orcs to signal Ratel and Jing, who were about to follow us.
I meant for them to buy us time by preventing the orcs from following, but I could not tell whether they understood.
Since they did not follow while the leader strode away, they must have at least understood that I wanted them to stop.
Jing was understandable, but why was that bastard being so obedient today?
While I wondered about that, the leader carried me away like a pulled bean sprout and left the central cavern with rapid strides.
Once we had put enough distance between ourselves and the orc horde, the leader lowered me to the ground.
“Kweek, didn’t I tell you things would become troublesome?”
The leader raised his eyebrows as if to say, “See?”
“You didn’t say they would treat me like an unknown life-form.”
“Kweek, they weren’t treating you like an unknown life-form. Kweek, they liked you.”
“That was how they expressed their affection?”
I once again recalled the orcs thrusting their faces toward me and sniffing uncomfortably.
Then again, I was accustomed to animals expressing affection toward me because of my ability.
This was merely the first time the creatures in question had been monsters.
However, I still did not understand why that characteristic had suddenly activated.
“Kweek, they cannot speak, so they express themselves in other ways. Kweek, their intelligence has declined compared to long ago.”
Perhaps my confusion showed on my face because the leader added an explanation.
By “long ago”, he probably meant a time far beyond his own lifetime.
Assuming the leader had remembered the past like the dimwit.
“Have all the gaps in your memories been filled?”
“Kweek, yes, to some extent. Kweek, I remember what we were promised and who broke the promise first.”
That meant he had recovered almost everything.
It also meant that he was no longer angry without even understanding the reason.
Put another way, his anger now had a clear target.
Unlike before, when he had been filled solely with rage, the emotions in his eyes were now so tranquil that I could not read what lay beneath them.
“How does it feel to possess complete memories from a thousand years ago?”
When I asked directly, the corners of the leader’s mouth rose slightly.
“Kweek, it feels as though my mind has been cleared. Kweek, until now, I was always angry without understanding the exact reason. Kweek, now I know who made me so furious.”
“Then what do you want to do now? Do you want revenge against the human who broke the promise?”
Yes, that was what I ultimately wanted to know.
Now that the leader knew the entire past, would he continue hating humanity as before, or would his anger stop with Sierra Abiran, the one who had broken the promise?
After remaining silent for a while, the leader slowly spoke.
“Kweek, yes. If possible, I want to capture her, tear off her limbs, and feed them to beasts. Kweek, because that human deceived us, we failed to obtain what we were promised and spent our lives devouring one another.”
“Is that why you called me?”
I looked directly into the leader’s eyes as he stared threateningly down at me.
“You said you had something to discuss. Wasn’t there something you wanted to confirm?”
The leader neither confirmed nor denied my question about whether I had become the target of his anger.
He merely responded with another question.
“Kweek, the human who broke the promise possessed a strange power. Kweek, just like you and that human traveling with you. Kweek, both of you must be connected to the one who broke the promise, correct?”
“He isn’t.”
The answer left my mouth more firmly than I had expected.
The leader narrowed his eyes.
“Kweek, then what about you? Kweek, what are you?”
His eyes, glistening with a fury that contradicted his calm voice, remained fixed on me.
“If I’m descended from your enemy, what do you intend to do with me?”
* * *
The moment I finished speaking, the leader grabbed me by the collar and lifted me.
“Kweek, what has gotten into you? Kweek, you should have escaped using one of those lies you’re so good at telling.”
If even the leader was saying that, I must have been caught lying quite often.
“I’m not going to do that now.”
“Kweek, have you finally run out of lies?”
I shook my head at his sneering remark.
Inventing a story was not the important part. What mattered was whether the other person would believe it.
“I could invent an endless number of lies if I wanted.”
“Kweek, then what the hell is this?”
“I intend to see you for a long time. Someone also told me that if I use lies to gloss over everything, no relationship will last for long.”
Admittedly, those words had also come from the mouth of a liar.
The leader fell silent.
Judging by his expression, he seemed temporarily lost for words out of sheer disbelief.
“Kweek, what an arrogant bastard. Kweek, who decided that you would see me again? Kweek, why would I meet you again merely because you’re being a little honest?”
“What? It sounds as though you aren’t going to kill me.”
The leader, who had recovered and begun reprimanding me, closed his mouth again.
This time, his lips twisted as though he had bitten into a sour grape.
With a sigh, he slowly lowered me to the ground.
He stared down at me with twitching lips before irritably scratching his head.
“....Kweek, fine. I never intended to kill you from the beginning.”
“I know. If you intend to lie, you need far more practice. If you want it to look as though you truly intend to kill someone, you should at least choke them hard enough that they cannot speak.”
Having once nearly died at the leader’s hands, the force with which he had grabbed my collar felt laughably weak.
When I pointed toward the collar he had grabbed, the leader’s face crumpled.
“Kweek, this is why everyone always calls you arrogant and obnoxious.”
Come to think of it, that issue still remained.
“Since you mentioned being obnoxious, the dimwit has started calling me an obnoxious bastard because of you. Don’t you know that you should watch your language around children?”
“Kweek, shut up. Kweek, if that’s your argument, do you think it’s acceptable for you to call him ‘dimwit’?”
That was a sharp observation.
“You’re right about that. Then what should I call him? Idiot?”
“Kweek, forget it. Kweek, it’s my fault for forgetting that you’re insane.”
The leader muttered exhaustedly and dropped heavily to the ground.
“Kweek, you saved my life, and because of you, the dimwit also….”
The leader paused after unconsciously calling the dimwit “dimwit”.
“....Kweek, the idiot survived too, so I don’t want to kill you.”
“The promise from a thousand years ago has been completely broken. What your people desired for so long will never be fulfilled.”
“Kweek, that was already decided a thousand years ago. Kweek, from the moment that damned bastard betrayed us.”
“Do you truly have no desire to take revenge on me, someone who inherited that damned bastard’s blood?”
Although I was not actually Sierra’s descendant.
“Kweek, what purpose would that serve when you weren’t the one who committed the deed? Kweek, I’ll consider your debt for having a wretched ancestor repaid by what happened this time.”
Leaning against the wall, the leader looked up at me.
“Kweek, come here whenever you want. Kweek, but I won’t forgive you if you bring the other humans with you. Kweek, I don’t want anything more to do with humans.”
The leader spoke with a relieved expression.
I recalled the idiot telling me that the leader used to secretly watch the cabin, but I remained silent.
This was not something in which I should interfere.
“Kweek, by the way, what would you have done if I had truly tried to kill you?”
As if the thought had suddenly occurred to him, the leader broke the silence.
“It wouldn’t have mattered. I was confident that I wouldn’t die.”
What kind of nonsense is that?
The leader’s eyes asked the question as they examined my body, which was considerably smaller than his.
“I was confident that I could escape.”
“Kweek! Then why did you ask whether I wanted revenge?!”
“Ah, because I have a request. I wasn’t certain whether you would listen after learning that I’m the Emperor’s descendant.”
Deep wrinkles formed between the leader’s brows.
“Kweek, what an infuriating bastard. Kweek, were you merely testing me?”
“It was still better than lying.”
Unable to find an argument against that, the leader sighed.
“Kweek, then what request is so serious that you were willing to risk your life?”
His concern made it more difficult to speak because the request was far less serious than he imagined.
I considered how to make my demand sound less burdensome before opening my mouth.
“All you have to do is kill us.”
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