Chapter 159 : Chapter 159
Chapter 159: Unexpected
The half-wit the leader had picked up because the sight of him stuck below the cliff and crying had been funny had still survived until now, if nothing else because his lifeline was tenacious.
Whenever the leader confirmed that the bastard was stubbornly surviving, he mostly felt it was strange.
Of course, each time, he also had to swallow the anger that boiled up at the half-wit’s stupid appearance.
No matter how bad he was at hunting, no matter how weak he was, and no matter how often he got hurt because he could not even manage his own body, the bastard stubbornly survived.
What had begun as watching because that tenaciousness was funny had come this far.
Now, the bastard had grown enough to lead him across the water.
His chest churned, and he felt as if he was going to vomit, similar to when he had realized the small human was growing.
No, was it a little different?
With the half-wit’s help, the leader reached the wall on the opposite side where the storage room entrance was located, and looked at the half-wit while panting for breath.
After confirming that the leader was panting, the half-wit pointed at the passage pierced into the wall above.
The unhesitating guidance was a little puzzling, but the leader soon shook it off.
There was only one path, so of course there was no need to get lost.
Seeing as he was even thinking about something with such an obvious answer, it seemed he had been swayed too much by the nonsense of that insolent bastard and the human.
“Kkwek......!”
The half-wit pointed inside the passage with gestures of his hands and feet.
Watching him, the leader somehow felt the strength leave his shoulders.
The leader let out a sigh of something he could not tell was relief or worry.
“Kkwek. There’s no need to get that excited. Kkwek. There’s only one path anyway.”
“Kkwek......!”
As if he had only then realized that, the half-wit nodded slightly with a surprised expression.
The leader quietly watched the half-wit’s face return to its blank look again.
Yes, he had watched the half-wit since the moment he was born.
He must have grown just enough to finally do his share.
The half-wit had had many chances to kill him all this time.
Nor did he have any reason to suddenly covet the leader’s place now, of all times, like this.
So there was no way the bastard would attack him now.
There was no way.
There was no way......
The leader’s gaze suddenly, truly suddenly, turned toward the back of the half-wit’s neck.
Perhaps because it had been pierced for too long right after he was born, a large scar remained on the back of the bastard’s neck.
The small space behind the waterfall where he had saved the bastard was one of the few pieces of fortune the leader had gained thanks to the half-wit.
Because the existence of that secret place, which the other bastards did not know, had become a resting place where the leader could briefly rest whenever his head hurt.
A place the other bastards did not know......
For the first time, the leader stopped walking as he followed the half-wit.
“Kkwek?”
As if asking whether something was wrong, the half-wit looked over his own body here and there.
The leader stared blankly down at the half-wit.
Why, of all times, had the face of that unlucky bastard come to mind right now, at this very moment?
-You couldn’t have hidden under the waterfall forever.
And why, of all times, had even the unlucky voice of that bastard, which had just brushed past his mind, come to him right now?
Apart from himself, there was only one being who knew about the space below the waterfall.
The half-wit, who had once been trapped beneath the waterfall himself.
“Kkwek. The insolent bastard and the human talked nonsense.”
Even after opening his mouth first, the leader was startled by the contents of what he said, and by the uneasiness in his own voice.
There was no reason to relay bullshit spoken by a human and a bastard who had gone over to the humans.
But once the leader’s mouth had slipped out of his control, it made him spit out the question he had been ignoring.
“......Kkwek. They said the one who attacked me was you. Kkwek. They spouted nonsense that you were the one who made me like this......”
The moment he finished the sentence, the half-wit who had been walking ahead stopped.
The leader watched the half-wit slowly turn his head and look at him, his heart tightening with tension he did not understand.
It was an unfamiliar, unpleasant tension.
A strange tension different from the survival instinct that ran wild before a powerful enemy.
He felt that this was a threat aimed at something other than his life, but the leader, far more immature than he himself believed, did not know what part of him was afraid of being hurt.
Fortunately or unfortunately, thanks to that, the leader also failed to realize that this moment was his final chance to avoid the truth.
Ignoring the pounding of his heart, the leader ultimately spat out one last question.
“......Kkwek. Those stupid bastards must have been talking nonsense, right?”
And he did so in perhaps the most pathetic voice and tone of his life.
“......”
The half-wit silently looked at the leader.
The leader was the most intelligent individual among the orcs.
For the leader, this was an obvious misfortune.
Because it made him unable to avoid realizing that the absurd words of the human and the insolent bastard were the truth.
It felt as if his head was going white and empty, or perhaps as if something black was filling it up.
Whichever it was, in the end, it meant nothing came to mind.
The leader had sworn that if he ever met the bastard who had torn into his neck and made him like this, he would charge in at once and punish him.
Standing there stupidly and only staring at the other party had not been part of his plan.
The leader opened his mouth to spit out anything at all.
“Kkwek. You......”
“Kkwek. Have you finally chosen the place where you’re going to die?”
......At the very least, that had not been the sort of unlucky thing he had meant to say.
The leader turned his head toward the owner of that insolent voice, not knowing whether he should be angry that the owner of this insolent voice had cut him off, or relieved.
Perhaps it was a relief.
Considering that his heart eased, even if only slightly, the moment he took his eyes off the half-wit.
“Kkwek!!! I was just choosing the place where you’re going to die!!”
The leader deliberately raised his voice and turned his body, glaring at the root of all this.
***
As expected, the half-wit led the leader into the passage.
Though it was unexpected that the leader followed the half-wit without any suspicion.
The half-wit’s steps as he guided the leader were not particularly fast.
Even though he must have known that Ratel and I were following behind him.
Did that mean he was confident he could shake us off and escape?
But I was confident I would not lose him either.
Because chasing an opponent whose destination had been exposed was not difficult.
The pursuit continued until the leader’s small suspicion eventually burst out of his mouth.
-Kkwek. The insolent bastard and the human talked nonsense.
Even if we left him alone as he was, the leader would die at the half-wit’s hands anyway.
Normally, that would have been reason enough for me to quietly wait for the leader’s death.
But in the brief moment when the leader waited for a cruel answer, I stepped forward.
“Kkwek. Is this the grave you chose for yourself?”
This was not a hero complex or anything else.
It was just my own struggle to make myself feel even a little less uncomfortable.
***
“Kkwek!! You persistent bastard!! Kkwek!! How did you follow us all the way here!!”
How did I follow you? Obviously, I swam.
Thanks to that, I thought I was going to die from exhaustion.
“Kkwek. Then did you think I’d meekly let you go? Kkwek. I told you what I needed was the leader’s head.”
As if growing newly heated, the leader glared at me.
The half-wit did not seem to find my appearance as sudden as the leader did.
Instead of being startled like the leader, the bastard was calmly staring at me.
The leader must have gone bad with age, seeing as he had something like that beside him and still noticed nothing.
Compared to the half-wit, the leader’s eyes, full of wariness, swept over me.
“Kkwek. Where did that human bastard go, leaving you alone?”
“Kkwek. None of your business.”
The leader’s eyes narrowed.
“Kkwek. Seems he’s hiding somewhere like a rat and preparing to attack......”
“Kkwek. The two of you aren’t impressive enough to need an ambush.”
The leader’s face darkened after being refuted before he could even finish speaking.
“Kkwek!! Even if I die, I’ll make sure I see a scream come out of your mouth first!!”
The leader, caught by a simple provocation, had just taken a step to charge at me.
The moment the leader’s body kicked off from the ground, the half-wit grabbed him and began running backward.
“Kkwek?!!”
Suddenly reduced to being dragged like a baggage wagon, the leader flailed in confusion, but the half-wit did not even look back.
I began running after them.
When they were so openly telling me to follow, there was no reason not to oblige.
“Kkwek. Let go of me, you idiot! Kkwek!! We have to deal with that bastard while he’s alone!!”
The leader openly shouted his plan to kill me, but the half-wit did not stop moving.
The half-wit, who had been running while holding onto the leader, finally reached a dead end.
“Kkwek!! You were in such a hurry when you didn’t even know the way!!”
The leader scolded the half-wit, sounding as if his chest was about to burst.
Well, of course the leader had no way of knowing the half-wit’s plan.
“Kkwek. What are you going to do now? Kkwek. Are the two of you going to kill me?”
“Kkwek. Don’t underestimate us. Kkwek. I can deal with one of you as much as I want.”
With their numbers now at two, the leader warned me, suddenly arrogant.
“Kkwek. If the two of you can’t deal with one of me, that would be a problem. Kkwek. It would make me doubt whether either of you has the qualifications to be leader.”
“Kkwek!! So you really are hiding that human bastard! Kkwek!! Where is he!!”
The leader frantically looked around, but there was no way the bastard could find Ratel.
“Kkwek. You’re going to die anyway, so why does that matter?”
“Kkwek. What?!”
“Kkwek. Why do you think I sent the human far away?”
At my question, the leader’s face, which had been dyed a deep green from rising anger, lightened a little.
“Kkwek. What do you mean?”
I twisted the corner of my mouth at the leader, who looked as if he had no idea what I was talking about.
“Kkwek. There’s a limit to being stupid. Do you still think it’s just a coincidence that I can talk?”
The leader could not accept my words all at once and stared blankly at me as he chewed them over.
The bastard’s face slowly twisted.
It was a face with something strange about it to say that he was merely angry.
Unlike my expectation that he would lose his reason and charge at me, the leader turned his head in such a hurry that it made a whooshing sound.
The place his gaze went was the half-wit.
And what rose on the leader’s face soon after was clear enough that even I, dull about emotions, could recognize it.
Relief.
Yes, it was a relief.
The bastard was greatly relieved by the fact that he had not been betrayed by the half-wit.
***
I recalled a short conversation with the stubborn human bastard who was not here.
-Kkwek. Fine, let’s hear what you need to steady that wounded, weakened, delicate heart of yours.
-Well, I suppose enough rest would do it. Illnesses of the heart are not easy to cure in the first place.
Watching the bastard whose face seemed to grow thicker and thicker, as if he were layering leather over it, almost made an empty laugh escape me.
-Kkwek. Fine, are you saying your rest is staying here and watching the leader and the half-wit fight each other?
-Watching them fight?
I was waiting to see what kind of sarcasm the bastard would throw back this time, but the unexpected question drained the strength from me.
-Kkwek. There’s no way the leader will stay still once he learns the half-wit betrayed him. Kkwek. He’ll react even more violently because he relied on the half-wit that much.
It would be a dirty fight, and it would not be a very pleasant scene to watch.
More cruelty than necessary might go back and forth.
I thought it was the obvious course of events, if anything, but it seemed Ratel’s thoughts were different.
Considering that even after my explanation, he was still looking at me with a strange face that showed not a trace of agreement.
-Kkwek. Do you think the leader will be taken down without even putting up a fight?
When I asked again, only then did Ratel open his mouth.
-There might not be a fight at all.
-Kkwek. There’s no way.
The denial sprang out automatically.
Perhaps my answer was quite firm, because the bastard’s eyes widened slightly.
-How can you be sure?
How could I be sure? Because in the original work, the future half-wit had taken the leader’s position.
But I could not give an honest answer that honest.
-Kkwek. Then why do you think nothing will happen?
When I asked back instead, Ratel turned his gaze to the unconscious leader.
The bastard’s eyes swept over the leader’s arms and legs, which were covered in wounds.
-Well, when despair is too great and you’re too exhausted, even the truth can start to feel meaningless.
His voice was as indifferent as usual, but the content, in contrast, was so emotional that I was at a loss for words for a moment.
Perhaps it was because I thought those words, which in one way sounded spiritless, were unlike him.
-Kkwek. Has the leader ever shown any sign of that? Kkwek. Does he look like he’s given up because he’s exhausted and nothing else matters anymore?
When I asked while recalling the time the bastard had spent alone with the leader, Ratel shook his head.
-Do you think this bastard and I could have had that kind of conversation?
Well, if anything could pass between those two, it would be curses and threats rather than conversation.
-Kkwek. Then was it Jing? Kkwek. No, it couldn’t be. Jing isn’t the kind of person who’d say something like that either.
-What has been with you since earlier? Why are you suddenly talking about other people?
-Kkwek. Because you aren’t someone who would think knowing the truth has no meaning.
I lifted the unconscious leader.
And as I dragged the heavy body, I continued speaking.
-Kkwek. You’re the kind of bastard who’d think revenge is better than despair.
You know that too, don’t you?
Perhaps he read the hidden question in my gaze, because Ratel’s mouth opened slightly.
Maybe he had nothing particular to say, because the bastard closed his mouth again.
In the meantime, I moved the leader’s body to the middle of the path.
It was not as if the fact that the leader had been betrayed would disappear, and his body would not suddenly rewind through time and become healthy.
But rather than dying without knowing anything, he would be able to decide whether to burn his final life in revenge or not.
I thought Ratel knew that better than anyone.
That was also why I had not expected this conversation to become so long.
Nor had I expected such an awkward silence to arrive.
-You’re right.
The one who spoke first was Ratel.
And he did so with words that affirmed me.
-Kkwek. Why are you being like this again?
His obedient attitude, which made me feel nothing but ominousness, only heightened my wariness instead.
As I refused to let go of suspicion, the bastard shrugged with a brazen face.
-Then I have no choice but to stay here too.
-Kkwek. What? Kkwek. How did the conversation turn out that way?
-Just as you said, I’d rather have that leader choose revenge at the end than watch him snivel helplessly before the truth.
When I questioned the topic that had suddenly turned and came back again, Ratel answered with a shameless face.
-Kkwek. What does that have to do with you staying here?
-Why? Because if I don’t confirm with my own eyes that the leader gets his revenge, my tender heart won’t be able to endure it. I’d be so bothered by the possibility that the leader might just get taken down that I’d come back.
In the end, he was saying he would somehow refuse to do as I said.
......You bastard, were you aiming for this from the beginning?
***
At the time, I had wondered whether it was just a long-winded forced argument meant to refute me, but now I felt as if I knew what Ratel’s uncharacteristic assumption had meant.
The bastard might have known from the beginning that things would turn out this way.
The leader had climbed all the way here with an exhausting obsession toward the leader’s position.
If a bastard like that learned of the half-wit’s lie and betrayal, of course he would go berserk.
Meat thrown to a starving beast was naturally bound to be bitten, torn, and ripped to pieces.
Even a beast with all its teeth fallen out would try to swallow the food before its eyes using its gums.
That was what I had thought.
Until I saw the dazed leader’s relieved face.
And I had to admit that my prejudice had failed to think of one other possibility.
Yes, even with its belly skin on the verge of sticking to its back, there were some bastards who would not eat their own comrade.