Chapter 150 : Chapter 150
Chapter 150 - I Noticed
One human and one grumbling orc climbed upward, and the remaining half-wit and I began the work step by step.
Splitting the rock was not that difficult once one got the trick of it.
After all, all we had to do was create a path for the rock to split along, like the perforations made in stamps so they could be torn off easily.
What was more troublesome than making holes in the rock was obtaining the tool needed to make those holes.
In the process, several more rounds of persuasion had to pass so I could borrow the leader’s rusty sword for a while.
As a result, the leader, moved by my sincere efforts, handed over his sword.
Though it came with excessive praise in the form of, “Kkwek, take it, you tiresome bastard.”
Fortunately, compared to its heavily rusted appearance, the leader’s sword was sturdy.
As the work of chipping away at the surface of the rock continued, until the remaining width of the rock grew thinner than the blade, the leader’s sword showed no sign of breaking.
There was no way he had made it himself. Did he take this from a human too?
THUNK!
After confirming that water was flowing down through the sword I had driven in, I turned my gaze toward the half-wit, who had been diligently clearing away the rock debris beside me.
The ropes connected to me and the half-wit respectively stretched outside the pit we had dug out.
Above us, Ratel and the leader were probably waiting for us to send the signal.
As long as they did not get distracted by yet another useless fight, there was nothing to worry about.
The problem was that the two overgrown brats above could not stop having those junk-food fights.
I suddenly began feeling anxious.
Surely they would not do something stupid like fight with each other and let go of the rope, but even so, entrusting my lifeline to someone else’s hands was not desirable.
THUNK!
I picked up speed, pulled out the sword that had been driven in, and pierced a hole right beside it. The gap between the two holes widened, and the amount of water flowing out increased.
“Kkwek, there isn’t much left now. Kkwek, once the remaining part breaks, water will surge in all at once. Kkwek, when I give the signal before the current gets strong, climb up. Kkwek, got it?”
When I spoke to the bastard carrying the debris piled around us outside, the half-wit, who had been shoveling debris out like a mole, nodded.
In another two or so strikes, there would be a path the water could pass through.
Things were progressing more smoothly than expected.
The half-wit was also moving more briskly than I had expected.
THUNK!
After swinging the sword once more, I briefly caught my breath and looked at the half-wit, who was calmly waiting for the work to end.
This time as well, the bastard was quietly sitting near the entrance, following my movements with his eyes.
Suddenly, the knot firmly secured around his waist entered my eyes.
Though I had followed the leader’s explanation, perhaps because I had tied it myself, it caught my attention especially.
There doesn’t seem to be anything unusual about it.
It was just an ordinary knot one could see anywhere.
Anywhere......
THUNK!
At the single fact that suddenly came to mind, I forgot to control my strength and swung the sword.
The sword’s tip, having lost its direction, struck a completely different part from my original target.
“Kkwek?”
Perhaps sensing something strange, the half-wit rose from his seat.
I turned around and slowly took my time examining the bastard.
To be precise, I examined the shape of the knot tied around his waist.
The reason I had thought it was a common knot one could see anywhere was because I had seen that method of tying rope with my own eyes not long ago.
And from very close up too.
The cabin boy and the cabin owner had both tied ropes in that way.
Perhaps because of the final excuse of asking them to untie the boat, the knot in my memory was especially clear.
The half-wit was looking at me with a face that knew nothing.
***
The father and son from the cabin had said they never came outside at night.
It was an order given by the temple, so there should have been no lie in those words.
If so, that meant the leader had secretly gone out during the day and watched the cabin father and son.
More often, and more secretly, than I had imagined.
Being able to imitate even the other party’s small habits after merely looking from afar could not be sufficiently explained by saying he had only watched, and the fact that the cabin father and son had never known until the end meant this act had continued in secret.
The leader had observed the cabin father and son.
Why?
The leader lived with words about how much he hated humans on his lips.
Why would he endure the pain of his skin burning and secretly watch, just to confirm with his own eyes a target he found horrifying?
What plunged me even deeper into a maze here was the correlation between the half-wit and the leader.
Though clumsy, the bastard also had a habit of tying knots in a way similar to the leader.
Did he observe the cabin together with the leader?
Or secretly, without the leader knowing?
I looked at the half-wit, who had fallen silent along with my silence.
The bastard’s eyes, which I had thought were merely vacant, now felt like an abyss whose depth I could not know.
It seemed his foolish appearance had made me lower my guard against him without realizing it.
In the original work, this was the bastard who had screwed over Ratel with not all that much strength.
“Kkwek, why did you observe humans together with the leader?”
Even at my direct question, the bastard neither denied nor affirmed it.
He did not tilt his head with his usual flustered expression or a look that said he understood nothing.
He only looked at me quietly.
It seemed he had no intention of continuing to pretend to be a half-wit in front of me anymore either.
“Kkwek, why did you go outside with the leader and observe humans?”
“......”
Even at my continued question, the half-wit still gave no answer.
“Kkwek, does the leader know you were with him?”
At one word that the leader had also reacted sensitively to, a change finally appeared on the bastard’s expression.
His face twisted as if he had heard something unpleasant.
It was the moment it was confirmed that he was indeed the orc who had attacked the leader, but there was still a question that remained unsolved.
Every question stemmed from the fact that I could not know the bastard’s purpose.
Why had he pretended to follow me, why had he pretended to be a fool who knew nothing, and why had he observed humans together with the leader?
The first two could be explained to some extent by saying they were meant to make the leader lower his guard.
But what was human observation?
It was an uncomfortable feeling, as if a puzzle piece of an entirely different kind had been mixed in.
“Kkwek, what were you doing while watching the humans you hate so much? Kkwek, were you making a plan to devour those two if only you could cross the river?”
Frustrated by the bastard’s endless silence, I asked again, and at last, the half-wit’s mouth opened.
ROOOOOAR---!
But as always, what tormented me most at important moments was shitty timing.
The ominous sound ringing in my ears and the impact hitting my head were once again the signal that a disadvantageous situation had begun.
Startled by the strong stream of water striking the back of my head, I turned my body.
The stream of water, which had been flowing out more slowly than a brook until just a moment ago, was suddenly bursting through the small crack in the rock.
At the ominous feeling, strength entered my body on its own.
Even without thinking deeply, I could tell what was happening.
Since entering this cave, the cause that stirred this filthy feeling was usually fixed.
Damn it, here we go again.
What the hell is wrong with this damned cave?
If I use strength, chaos. If I don’t use strength, chaos. If I can’t use strength, chaos.
At this point, I even began thinking that perhaps it would not be bad to simply let the other party rampage as they pleased at least once.
I was sick and tired of the water currents overflowing at every possible moment, but I could not keep doing nothing but complaining.
Because the crack in the rock, widening from moment to moment, had begun breaking apart with a cracking sound.
“Kkwek, jump!!”
Together with my shout, I tugged twice on the rope tied around my waist.
To be precise, once and a half.
Because the moment I tried to pull the rope the second time, a ridiculous force yanked me upward, making me let go of the rope.
Barely avoiding biting my tongue, I realized one thing as I was dragged along.
When the bastard had dragged me around back when I was human, it seemed he had been controlling his strength to some degree.
***
Almost at the same time as the half-wit and I were dragged out of the pit, the rock that had been blocking the entrance could not withstand the water pressure and shattered into pieces, flying away.
Avoiding being blown away together with the rock, the half-wit and I clung to the cliff and looked down at the water filling up at a frightening speed.
Whether because he was scared or because he was overwhelmed by the wondrous sight, the half-wit could not take his eyes off below.
“Kkwek, don’t get distracted. Climb up. Kkwek, the water will rise in an instant.”
When I spoke to him, the half-wit finally lifted his head.
The bastard looked at me with strange eyes.
As if asking where the attitude that had been pressuring him just a moment ago had gone.
“Kkwek, I can only hear your answer if you live. Kkwek, and you’re not the only one I can ask.”
It was the moment I was about to tell him not to try anything stupid and to climb up already.
A familiar voice came from above.
“Kkwek! What are you doing that you’re so slow?!”
“If you care so much about time, just jump down. If you’re submerged underwater, time might feel a little slower.”
It was the impatient leader urging them from above, and Ratel’s irritated jab.
As if reacting to the leader’s voice, the half-wit lifted his head.
The leader, who had been glaring at Ratel as if he wanted to kill him, felt the gaze and looked down.
“Kkwek! Why are you dawdling?! Kkwek! Get up here already!”
The bastard urging the half-wit like that was probably not simply because time was precious.
He was shouting because he did not want to show it, but bearing the half-wit’s weight entirely with one arm must have been too much for him.
As if proving that, I looked at the lifeline connecting the leader and half-wit as it swayed dangerously in front of me.
The half-wit did the same.
In that instant, something like an ominous resolve flashed through the bastard’s eyes.
After briefly meeting my eyes, the half-wit firmly grabbed his own lifeline without hesitation.
Before it was too late, I hurriedly undid the knot tied around my waist with one hand, and with the other, reached toward the half-wit’s rope.
At the same time, the half-wit pulled the leader down.
The sound of the leader failing to overcome the half-wit’s strength and falling, and the bastard’s scream, felt as if they were drawing closer very slowly.
In reality, it might have been no more than a few seconds.
Judging by how even the faint smile spreading over the half-wit’s expressionless face felt so slow.
Whatever grand plan the bastard had made, I had no intention of letting the situation proceed as he pleased.
I drove the hand that had untied the knot straight into the wall.
The impact of the fall struck my arm entirely, and in that instant, the arm broke with extreme pain.
Thanks to an orc’s recovery power, it healed quickly, but the pain still made curses come out on their own.
That crazy protagonist bastard sure does pull these insane stunts with a calm face.
Resolving to tell him later that what he did was not merely reckless, but outright insane, I raised my head upward.
Then I shouted at the bastard who should have gained the freedom of both hands by now.
“Kkwek, Ratel, grab the leader!”