Chapter 66 : Chapter 66
Chapter 66
The last Ogre, as I expected, was in much better condition.
In fact, it was in such good condition that it was a problem.
"Groooaaar!"
Kwaang!
When the beast that spotted me let out a roar and slammed its hand down, the entire castle seemed to shake.
“Hehehe……”
Yes, this was the kind of fresh Ogre I was looking for.
The beast would swing its arm threateningly whenever I approached, but unlike when it was fighting the Orcs, it wasn't threatening at all.
It was as if it was hesitating, unsure whether to attack me or ask for help.
Of course, Ogres didn't have that kind of reasoning.
“Hey, if you happen to remember this later, you have to repay me a hundredfold.”
“Groar!”
Just in case, I said this to the squirming baby Ogre whose ears were perked, and the creature shouted as if in response.
“Then let’s start by saving your adoptive parents first.”
I said, looking at the beast that was bleeding crimson blood, as if it hadn’t been long since it was struck by the thorns of the ancient tree.
“I’d rather approach you after we’ve become friends, but I don’t have the time.”
I raised both my hands and took a step towards the beast.
Believing that at least body language could be understood by all species.
“Groooaaaar!”
At the same time, the beast raised its hand as if to strike me down at any moment, and I quickly backed away, shouting.
“Wait!
Time!
Time!”
This was all because of those damned Orcs.
My plan was to break a few bars and a few chains to free the Ogre, I never wanted a trans-species harmony!
Of course, the Ogre, unaware of my pure intentions, would attack me…….
Attack… huh?
Hearing no sound of crumbling debris or threatening roars, I stopped running and looked back.
“Huh?”
Blink.
The Ogre, sticking out its mountain-sized body, was blinking its eyes and looking at me.
No, at the baby Ogre dangling from my hand.
The little one, who had been whining and tapping my hand as if to ask why I had stopped when it was having fun, sensed something was off and tilted its head.
“Groar?”
“Hey, hold still for a second.”
I carefully lifted the creature that was frowning cluelessly.
“See, look, I’m a good guy, right?
Here’s this cute little baby too……”
Blink.
Once again, the huge eyes, as big as my height, blinked slowly.
Well, they say cats greet you with a blink when they like you.
Blink.
Just in case, I closed my eyes as hard as I could and then opened them, then slowly moved towards the beast.
Thud.
The moment I took a step, regret washed over me, wondering if I really needed to go this far, but don’t they say the enemy of my enemy is my friend?
Thud.
“Right?
We’re… friends, right?”
I cautiously approached the beast and lifted the baby, and the beast gently took the baby and then cried mournfully.
-Groooaaaar!
Startled by the beast's cry, I flinched and then naturally stepped on its belly and started climbing up.
“So, now that we’re friends.”
Unlike the other Ogres, this one’s thorns of the ancient tree hadn't fully grown, so the wounds were small, but it was still bleeding and would need treatment.
“It's a gift.”
I carefully poured the Stimpack into the beast's mouth and jumped out.
Because soon, the pain would hit along with the medicine's effect, and the beast would have a seizure.
Tap-tap-tap.
“……?”
After running for a while and hearing no screams, I looked back and saw the Ogre, holding the baby preciously to its chest, had collapsed and was panting.
“Wow, you can endure that?”
I wanted to wait until the beast had fully recovered, but because of the loud footsteps getting closer and closer, I had no choice but to run out of the old castle.
***
Clang!
As he deflected the sharp axe, Tail’s sword, which had been waiting, sliced the Orc’s neck.
“The arrows have stopped!”
“Just a moment, we’ll hold on just a little longer until the soldiers have retreated enough.”
That way, after the soldiers retreated into the forest, they could provide cover with the last twenty or so arrows.
“Yes!”
Watching Tail charge at another Orc as soon as he answered, Vergil fell into thought.
‘Impossible isn’t enough to describe it.’
With every step, the blood of the Orcs splattered.
It was an overwhelmingly and magnificent victory, almost unbelievable.
But the protagonist of that victory was not a knight.
No, he would have been lucky to even be a supporting actor.
Two Great Warriors and nearly two hundred legionnaires had melted away under a mere volley of arrows.
‘What on earth did he do?’
He had felt it when they counterattacked the Goblins, but no matter how much he thought about it, he couldn’t understand.
Soldiers who could draw a bow that required a pulley to shoot, with their bare hands, multiple times.
He had thought it was just a similar-looking bow, but seeing as the number of Orcs taken down by that bow exceeded a hundred, there was no room for doubt.
It would have been a relief if they had only lost to the soldiers.
Boom!
Boom!
Boom!
Boom!
He looked towards the place where the deafening roars echoed without rest.
When the lace fluttered, blood splattered everywhere with the roar of a flail crushing bone and flesh.
Dozens of Orcs must have already died by that flail.
“I never imagined I’d lose to a maid.”
Come to think of it, hadn't they said that if this mission was successful, the Young Lord would be appointed as the Knight Commander?
He had been in a position far beyond his station for too long.
Clicking his tongue, Vergil swung his sword at an Orc that was throwing itself at him, and the Orc's head rolled on the ground.
“Starting over as a regular member wouldn’t be so bad either.”
A Knightly Order led by the Young Lord, just how great would that be?
Just imagining it made the corners of his mouth lift into a pleasant smile.
“No more sticks!
Kill!
Human!”
As the arrows stopped, the Great Warrior who had been using his subordinate as a shield to block the arrows charged in.
Just a few days ago, he would have crossed swords with him and tried to win.
Because he would have considered him a worthy opponent who, despite being of a different race, had experienced numerous victories befitting the name of Great Warrior.
“Unfortunately for you, I’m different today.”
A knight simply follows orders.
“Tail!
Retreat!”
As soon as the Great Warrior moved, Vergil ran towards Reina, slung her over his shoulder, and began to flee into the forest.
“Human!
Coward!”
Well.
My master is a human who doesn’t seem to be ignorant of cowardice.
Vergil, running towards the forest with Reina slung over his shoulder, looked somehow liberated, despite wearing the heavy full plate armor.
***
As I left the old castle, Hoodwock, who had been waiting, waved his hands frantically and called out loudly.
“Commander!
Commander!
Look at this!”
Happy to see him, I approached him, but then I saw the blackish meat in his hand and immediately changed direction.
“Commander, where are you going!
I said look at this!”
What kind of stupid thing was he saying?
There was so much of that disgusting meat inside the old castle, how could I have not seen it?
“You think I didn't see that?!”
Actually, even if I had seen it, I wouldn’t have known what kind of meat it was, but come to think of it, Teheki also ate unidentifiable meat.
Is that kind of meat popular among monsters?
“No, this is different!”
I thought about checking it out, but the sticky feeling of the mucus that had been on my face was still vivid.
Still, not wanting to continue this useless conversation, I stopped, and Hoodwock said with a serious face.
“I think this is a baby Ogre.”
Unlike the sticky, round chunks of meat that had been hanging between the tents, in Hoodwock's hand was a fetus the size of an Orc's head.
It was half the size of the baby that had been wriggling in the old castle just a moment ago, but it was just smaller, its shape was identical to the baby's.
"What is this now……"
“Perhaps the beasts kidnapped the baby Ogres?”
For a moment, the dozens of chunks of meat I had seen inside the old castle came to mind.
“No, that’s not it……”
They hadn't kidnapped the babies, but the mothers.
The Ogre’s mournful cry from a moment ago must have been the grief of a mother who had lost her child.
Only then did I understand the first Ogre, who had given up everything and was waiting for death, and the Ogre that had displayed blind killing intent and slaughtered the Orcs until the very end.
“Do you know anything about Ogres?”
“Well, they’re so rare, I’ve only picked up a few stories here and there……”
“What about their habits?”
“I heard they cherish their young immensely.
There are even occasional records of finding an Ogre that died while giving birth.”
It was a story I had never heard before.
Had I been unknowingly looking down on the inhabitants of this world just because I had seen a few endings in a game?
Just because I didn't know didn't guarantee that the inhabitants of this world didn't know either.
“Have you ever seen a black, spear-like branch?”
“A black, spear-like branch?”
At my question, Hoodwock furrowed his brow and sank into thought.
After a long moment of contemplation, he looked up.
“The elders of the fortress would know better, but the only thing I know of is the Geomeok tree.”
“Geomeok tree?”
“I’ve never seen it myself, but I heard one of the fortress elders mention it.
They said that if you place it on a wound, the pain disappears like magic, so they used to cut them down and sell them in the old days.”
“And then it was discovered that if you don't remove it quickly, it takes root in the wound, so logging was banned?”
Anyway, you have to give it to the old folks for their exaggerations, he said with a laugh, but my thoughts were different.
“It wasn't an ancient tree, it was a Geomeok tree……”
An Ogre, just before giving birth, rubs its body against the Geomeok tree, which has anesthetic properties, to endure the pain.
When the mother loses consciousness, the waiting Orcs kidnap her.
After that, they hung the babies on ropes to threaten the mothers.
I didn't know what the Orcs were thinking, but I could understand the Ogres that were said to be charging in groups.
“Of course they’d lose their minds if they lost their female and their young in the blink of an eye.”
In the end, they were just coming to retrieve the females carrying their young.
Even if the legion attacked the fortress, there was no need to worry about an Ogre attack…….
“Hmm?”
Was that really true?
If they came all this way only to find their young and their females all dead.
And if the Orcs were fighting right in front of them.
They would naturally intervene and crush every last Orc in sight.
And then what?
Would an Ogre that had lost its reason to anger ignore the humans scurrying around like ants, or would the sturdy fortress and the scurrying humans seem like a suitable target to vent their anger on?
“Let's go back.”
After organizing my thoughts, I called out to Hoodwock.
What was scarier than the Ogres right now was the fact that there were Orcs who could come up with such a plan.
And that Great Warrior from before, had all the Orcs who lived by honor and pride died off?
“Commander?”
“Ah, sorry.
Let’s go.”
Suppressing my uneasy thoughts, I headed towards the main force that would be waiting for us.
***
In the dreary forest of demonic beasts.
Instead of a clear blue sky, in a place where not a single ray of light penetrated, we held a small party by the light of torches.
“So I took that bastard’s brow, and bam!
Pierced it in one shot, I tell you!”
Everyone raised their liquor bottles and laughed at Hoodwock's tale of heroism, which I had heard at least twenty times already.
“And then I went to that old castle!
Don’t even get me started!
You have no idea how vicious those Orcs are……”
Hoodwock, his face flushed red, chattered on excitedly, and the other soldiers snickered as they listened to his story.
As I was getting slightly drunk in the peaceful atmosphere that didn't suit this forest, Vergil came and sat next to me.
“Commander.”
“What.”
Unlike before, I didn't hate the stiff knight so much.
Was it a case of growing fond of someone you dislike?
“Why aren’t you drinking?”
“Someone has to watch over this place.”
“Tail is on guard duty.”
“I don't really trust that rookie.”
He chuckled at my words as if agreeing, and looked at me.
To receive such a profound gaze from a man.
“Ah, come on!
It's creepy, so if you have something to say, say it quickly and get lost.”
Despite my blunt voice, Vergil, with a slight smile on his lips, cautiously offered his sword and said.
“Please accept my sword.”
It was the first knight’s oath of my life.