episode_0147

The actions of Korkuis and the other orcs, who had acknowledged defeat, were remarkably swift.

Since orc society is inherently a place where the strong lead the tribe unilaterally, showing overwhelming strength to all the orcs present resulted in almost no resistance.

Of course, there was a bit of commotion among some of the orcs, especially the giants, but it seems they managed to resolve things among themselves.

Thus, all the cities that the orcs had occupied without permission were returned, and all the hostages were released.

After completing all these processes, I faced the leaders of the orcs once again.

“All the orcs who were with us are here. And the cities have been properly returned to the humans.”

“Good job. You’re quite efficient?”

“The defeated… have no say. That is our rule.”

Neat.

I nodded and looked over the orcs.

High Orcs, Red Orcs, Giant Orcs….

It’s just an orc paradise. And the High Orcs and Red Orcs were much better than before, but some of them still had swollen faces from being beaten by me in various ways.

Well, at least I didn’t kill them.

“So, first of all…. There are a few things I want to ask. First, what are you planning to do from now on?”

“Us?”

“Yes. You.”

“…We’ll have to go back. There’s no land for us orcs in this land.”

They answered my question with a somewhat gloomy look.

Go back, huh….

“Yeah, well…. I understand. Actually, what you do from now on isn’t that important.”

Thanks to these guys, the proficiency of has increased considerably.

The activation speed of has decreased by about 1 second.

It may seem like only 1 second, but that 1 second can make the difference between victory and defeat, so it can be said to be a significant improvement.

It’s definitely not a case of mental victory, or three days of hard work just to reduce it by 1 second.

Damn it.

“I have a request.”

“Huh?”

While I was contemplating the regrets of the past… no, the results of the training, Korkuis opened his mouth with a very solemn expression. I wondered what he was going to say, setting such a serious mood, so I watched quietly. Korkuis looked at me cautiously, then glanced at the other orcs and said,

“Please…. End it with my life.”

“…Huh?”

“Korkuis!”

“What are you saying! Korkuis!!”

I tilted my head, wondering what nonsense he was talking about, and Grahhryuseu and Bochkov shouted.

But Korkuis, as if he had already made up his mind, said with a firm face.

“We must pay the price for trespassing on another’s territory. That way, humans will understand too. And it was I who insisted on coming here. So…, if someone has to take responsibility, it should be me. So please, show the mercy of the victor and end it with my life.”

“Korkuis! Why does the High Orc like you have to pay for our sins!! The Red Orcs will repay their own sins!!!”

“That’s right! Our Giant Orcs will repay our own sins!!”

Really, a tearful display of friendship from the orc trio.

I wondered what they were going to say so seriously, but it was this story….

But definitely…. Thinking about it, I feel like the lord said something related to that. That they had to receive a price for the orcs’ invasion.

I wasn’t very interested and just let it go…, but for people who faced the fear of being killed by orcs at any moment, that might be the case.

“Grahhryuseu, Bochkov. If even you are gone, our orcs will truly be annihilated.”

“Ugh, shut up! Human! Kill me!! Kill me!!!”

“No! I threw a fist at the human!! So kill me!!!”

Are you guys filming a noir film among yourselves?

I don’t have any thoughts, but it’s a bit funny to see them playing the drums and cymbals all by themselves.

“Okay. Whether you guys die later or not is up to you, and what I want is the situation in the Western Continent.”

“””….”””

The guys who were saying they would sacrifice themselves and whatnot looked at each other, cleared their throats, and Korkuis spoke as the representative.

“The situation in the Western Continent…, you mean?”

“Yeah. You didn’t come all the way here from the Western Continent for nothing.”

“That’s true, but…. Is that okay with you?”

“Whether it’s okay or not is not for you to judge, but for me to judge.”

At my words, Korkuis hesitated for a moment, then nodded.

“It’s not that difficult to talk about that….”

Orcs are basically a race centered on plunder and hunting.

Hunting, in particular, has a greater importance, and in this situation, strange things started happening in the Western Continent.

“The magical beasts that were our main prey started showing strange behaviors.”

“Strange behaviors?”

“Yes. Magical beasts usually don’t stray far from their own territory unless there are special circumstances. But…, recently, magical beasts have often strayed from their territory, large numbers of corpses have suddenly appeared, and even docile magical beast individuals have become violent and fought with other magical beasts around them.”

“Hmm….”

Is that the prelude to the movement of the Demon King’s fragments observed in the Western Continent that the Pope was talking about?

“But is that all?”

“…If that was all, it wouldn’t have mattered. No matter how violent the magical beasts became, we are valiant High Orcs. Even though there were a few more injuries, we could endure it.”

“Our Red Orcs are the same!”

“Us too!”

Grahhryuseu and Bochkov added a word each, getting angry at Korkuis’s words.

“Hey, be quiet. Keep talking.”

“Then we confirmed that the World Tree was contaminated. That’s why we decided to head here.”

“World Tree?….”

What? There’s a World Tree here too?

I haven’t heard of the World Tree before?

“Yes. The contamination of the World Tree is a sign that the sealed in the Western Continent has awakened…, we had to escape before that demon became active.”

Demon?

Could it be that the Demon King’s fragment that started moving in the Western Continent is the 『Demon』?

As expected, it was good to keep the orcs alive. I was able to get useful information.

“But as it has become like this…. We must fight to the end.”

“Tell me more about the demon.”

“Huh? About the demon?”

“Yeah. For me…, it seems like essential information. Depending on the usefulness of the information, I’ll talk about your disposal.”

As I looked at him quite seriously, Korkuis also looked at me with a serious expression.

“I understand. I’ll tell you about the demon. But keep in mind. The information I know is only the story passed down among our orcs. It may be different from the exact truth.”

“It doesn’t matter.”

“Then….”

“W, wait a minute!!….”

The moment Korkuis was about to open his mouth, a woman’s urgent voice was heard.

I wondered whose voice it was and turned my gaze in the direction of the voice, and there, a girl was running in a hurry.

“Phyllis!!!”

It was Korkuis who became urgent when he saw the woman.

Korkuis hurriedly stood up and tried to approach the woman called Phyllis. But since the other party was human, he stopped Korkuis from approaching.

“Dad!!….”

“…Dad?”

Did I hear wrong? Dad? Who? An Orc? Whose? A human’s?

In an instant, dozens of question marks filled my head.

What is this girl talking about?

Because my head was filled with question marks, I couldn’t come to a proper conclusion because my head broke down, and familiar silhouettes approached from behind the girl.

“Baekryeon? Seolrin? Lucy? Baekho? What is all this? This girl is calling the Orc dad?”

“Um….”

“That’s….”

“She said he’s her dad?”

Baekryeon and Seolrin licked their lips, wondering what to explain this.

And Lucy shrugged her shoulders lightly and spat out an answer that wasn’t an answer.

“That child said that Korkuis, the leader of the High Orcs, is the father who raised her. So I brought her here.”

Baekho was the one who gave me a proper story, so I was barely able to calm my head.

“Korkuis, I think you need to explain? Why is that human girl calling you dad? Weren’t you not supposed to touch any of the humans you captured as prisoners?”

“That child is not a prisoner. That child…, when she was a very young baby, we found her.”

“You found her as a baby?”

When I tilted my head and asked, Korkuis nodded.

In the meantime, the girl shouted, blocking Korkuis as if to block him.

“P, please!…. Please don’t kill my dad!!!….”

“….”

“””….”””

I. And I sighed, feeling the familiar sensation that Korkuis, Grahhryuseu, and Bochkov were probably feeling too.

“Should I just kill them all.”

“!!”

“W, wait a minute!!!”

* * *

After all the stories were sorted out.

I was finally able to get a grasp of things only after hearing all the stories about the .

“Doryeong, what are you going to do?”

“It’s simple. We’re going to the Western Continent.”

It doesn’t matter if I put the matter of the aside for a while.

But…. If I leave the alone, it seems like it will become troublesome.

Besides…, if I hear the story about the , the world will eventually perish.

“So tell the orcs to stay there for a while and not cause trouble. Baekho.”

“Um. I understand.”

I decided to decide on the treatment of the orcs.

And the treatment of the orcs that I decided on was….

‘You guys, live in Cheonsan.’

‘Cheonsan?’

‘Where is that?’

I sent them to Cheonsan.