Chapter 122 : Chapter 122
Chapter 122 : Frame-up
An orc who becomes the leader leading the pack once does not go outside the cave.
Because it is the leader's role to protect the place where the Core is.
The last time that one-armed orc saw the sky outside was likely the last day he ate the previous leader.
Since orcs cannot leave the island because of the river, the probability that he has had contact with humans is also remarkably low.
If so, a single question arose.
Where on earth did his hatred toward humans, which was even extreme, originate from?
The leader orc thought of humans, with whom he had never even shared a word his whole life, as if they were lifelong enemies.
I thought it was because of the predator-prey relationship between monsters and humans, but the word ‘promise’ that came out of his mouth led me to a certain strong premonition.
A premonition that perhaps a past between the two species existed, a promise between monsters and humans that only the leader knew.
And another prediction that the Imperial Family seemed to be at the center of that past once again.
Otherwise, there would have been no reason for that strange voice to talk to me, who wasn't even the protagonist.
So, this meant one more thing had been added to what I had to obtain before Ratel killed the leader.
***
“Kkwek, you babbled as if you were so great, and it was only this? Kkwek, calling a human into the cave so you could become the leader?”
The leader, who had neither the thought nor the need to hide his gaze full of loathing, asked condescendingly.
“Kkwek, seeing your current state, it seems you wouldn't be able to reclaim your original position even if you borrowed the strength of a human.”
“Kkweeeek, what?!”
At my answer, the sneer faded from the one-armed orc's face, whose nerves were scraped, and aggression revealed itself again.
“Kkwek, I told you earlier. Kkwek, there were plenty of opportunities to kill you. Kkwek, even without specifically borrowing the strength of a human, eating you would have been a piece of cake.”
Whether he thought my words made sense or he was thinking of something else, the leader's suspicious gaze scanned me and Ratel.
Neither I nor Ratel had any reason to avoid the fellow's gaze.
After waiting a moment with patience, the leader, who narrowed his eyes, finally opened his mouth.
“……Kkwek, do you really know nothing?”
What was it that I didn't know?
When I furrowed my brow at the question that had no beginning or end, the fellow changed the subject as if that answer was sufficient.
“Kkwek, fine. Kkwek, then what on earth is the reason you saved me?”
The fellow asked in a much softer voice.
It was beyond blatant and was a crude change of topic, but I decided to let it go for now.
Luring the fellow was the priority right now.
“Kkwek, it's for the orc cave to go back to how it originally was. Kkwek, it doesn't matter who becomes the leader.”
At my answer, a question appeared on the leader's face.
“Kkwek, that's what you want? Kkwek, not to lead the pack?”
“Kkwek, why would I do such a bothersome thing?”
This much was my pure sincerity.
Even if I were to live as an orc for the rest of my life, I would rather live alone than take the leader position.
“Kkwek, then what on earth is it that you want?”
That would be cutting off the leader's neck.
Excluding such an honest answer, I pondered what would be convincing to the fellow and then opened my mouth as if possessed.
“Kkwek, there is something you must do for me when you become the leader again.”
“Kkwek, what is that?”
The leader fellow asked with a face full of wariness.
It wasn't anything that great.
“Kkwek, once you become the leader, I am going to live outside the cave.”
As if my answer was unexpected, the fellow's eyes widened.
“Kkwek, are you asking for permission for that?”
“Kkwek, I don't need your permission. Kkwek, where I live is my freedom.”
At my firm answer, the leader scowled.
“Kkwek, then what?!”
“Kkwek, order the rest of the subordinates to leave me alone. Kkwek, tell them to treat me as if I don't exist, whether they find me outside or inside. Kkwek, you just have to give the order as soon as you reclaim the leader position.”
I felt gazes piercing me from the front and back.
From the front, the leader's suspicious eyes, and from behind, Ratel's gaze of unknown meaning seemed to penetrate me.
“Kkwek, you want to live alone outside? Kkwek, under the sunlight? Kkwek, is that all you want?”
The leader fellow, who didn't know about respecting preferences, asked again.
Though it was a wish that came out impulsively. It wasn't so insignificant that the modifier 'just' should be attached to it.
Because this was my own insurance for a situation that might happen.
Insurance in case, just in case, I really couldn't return to being a human and had to live as an orc like this forever.
It was unknown whether Ratel would subjugate all the scattered orcs like in the original work.
Anyway, with this body, I wouldn't be able to move around outside easily, and there was a high probability I would live inside the island for the time being.
So it was a 'just in case' proposal for a 'just in case' situation.
Since it wouldn't be bad for me if the leader left such an order before he died.
Well, it was a story for when the 'just in case' and 'just in case' overlapped.
The leader, who couldn't possibly know my inner thoughts, couldn't make a decision hastily as he suspected whether I had other intentions.
“Kkwek, you seem to have forgotten, but it doesn't matter to me who else becomes the leader. Kkwek, the reason I saved you is simply because you were the easiest to find. Kkwek, if there's another orc who wants to be the leader, I just have to help that fellow.”
As I added that, a look of anxiety flashed across the leader's face.
The one-armed orc was not naive enough to suddenly believe my words.
It wasn't that he wasn't desperate enough to be able to refuse, either.
In the end, he had no choice but to choose to step back.
“……Kkwek, then what on earth is that human?”
The fellow pointed with his chin at Ratel, who was standing a step away with his arms crossed, with eyes full of loathing and suspicion.
At the leader's pointing, the fellow, who had been watching us with a bored expression the whole time, turned his gaze toward me.
I met the gold eyes that were quietly staring at me, but I couldn't particularly read the fellow's thoughts.
The friendly conversation we had shared until just before the leader woke up weighed on my mind.
Unlike me, who was somewhat relieved that it had ended vaguely, I couldn't tell what he was thinking.
Ratel's eyes, which had calmed down, had regained their tranquility, and this time there was nothing I could read inside them.
This was a somewhat serious problem.
Because it also meant I couldn't be certain whether the fellow would willingly cooperate in the fraud I was about to start.
I opened my mouth with the hope that he would just stay quiet and not expect anything else.
“……Kkwek, that human also said there is something he desperately wants.”
You also want to destroy the holy object quickly and crush that Dito fellow and the Imperial Family, don't you?
The fellow must have understood the implied meaning in my words, which were conscious of being in front of the leader.
Whether he read my desperation or simply didn't want bothersome things to happen, the fellow gave a very small nod.
At the quiet agreement, I swallowed a sigh of relief and looked at the leader again.
“Kkwek, thanks to that, I was able to deceive him and lure him in here.”
“Kkwek, you lured him in by deceiving him?”
The leader narrowed his eyes and asked back.
If I just matched my words well here, everything would be resolved.
The leader would walk to the Core on his own feet, and there would be no need to worry about whether he might die.
Confirming that the muscles around the fellow's mouth relaxed slightly as he liked the explanation that I had deceived and brought a human, I continued speaking.
“Kkwek, he's bait.”
“I came to cut off the leader's neck.”
Among the voices that burst out almost simultaneously, the latter was naturally not a word that came out of my mouth.
No, what kind of crazy thing did I just hear?
***
Startled by the honesty that made my mind hazy, I turned my gaze, and that crazy human, I mean, Ratel, also had his gaze fixed on me.
I had a lot to say.
Was that nod just now a signal that you're going to properly screw me over this time?
If so, it's a huge success, you damn fellow.
If a day comes where I nod to you, you can take that as a signal that I'm going to kill you.
The words that couldn't come out as sounds were caught by my reason and hovered in my mouth.
While I was sparing my words, the protagonist fellow raised one eyebrow in dissatisfaction in the meantime.
“Bait?”
Is that what's bothering you right now?
On top of touching the leader's temper that I had barely calmed down, he was just peaceful despite making the plan to take the fellow safely to the Core come to naught.
Yes, perhaps this was the price.
The price for touching that young fellow's temper with all sorts of cowardly words just to win against him.
“Kkwek, you're going to cut off my neck?!”
The fire was lit again in the leader's temper, which had a low ignition point.
The excited fellow puffed up his body as if he would lunge at me and Ratel again right away.
“I said I came to cut off the leader's neck. Did you go deaf while getting old?”
I held my forehead at Ratel's dignified answer, which didn't care about such things.
Yes, it's not once or twice that I've been screwed over by you, so I was foolish to mistake that you would quietly follow my words this time.
The time to blame myself was not long.
I pulled myself together and blocked the space between the leader and the protagonist's fellow.
“Kkwek, this fellow is…….”
“I do the work of cutting off the necks of monsters and selling them. Especially the neck of an orc leader that sells for a very high price.”
It was my mistake.
The protagonist's fellow's havoc was starting in earnest from now on.
Because the lie he spat out after cutting me off was enough to lead the situation to the worst.
“Kkwek!!! You cut off necks and sell them?!!”
The leader, who seemed to find even the existence of humans hard to tolerate, was deeply enraged by Ratel's lie.
But Ratel did not care about such things.
No, rather, as if he had been waiting for such a reaction from the leader, he continued to lie.
“That orc tempted me by saying he would let me cut off the leader's neck.”
The damn protagonist fellow, who had thrown a bomb, slowly raised a finger.
Ratel's fingertip pointed at me like a hunter's arrowhead.
His target probably wasn't my life.
He was likely just trying to injure me so I couldn't move as I pleased.
Or it could simply be to screw me over.
***
At Ratel's false revelation, the leader's gaze was fixed on me again.
Looking at the fellow's half-turned eyes, I had a premonition.
That all my previous persuasion had become useless.
Thanks to someone who suddenly screwed me over.
I glared at the protagonist fellow with all my heart, full of gratitude.
The fellow, who had been running his mouth as if his tongue were oiled until just a moment ago, was now standing with his mouth shut again.
As if telling me to try and do whatever I wanted now.
The impulse to give him a punch tempted me, but I didn't have the luxury to be possessed by such a thing.
“Kkwek!!! You were indeed aiming for my neck!! Kkwek!! I almost got fooled!!”
The leader, who had concluded I was an enemy, lunged at me.
I thought I saw the corners of Ratel's mouth, standing nearby, go up for a brief moment, but it must have been my imagination.
Otherwise, I might have gotten so angry that I'd kill the leader fellow lunging at me.