Chapter 10

7 JUDITH I had a sister once. I was so proud to have her as my sister. There were ten years between us, so by the time I started being able to actually form memories, my sister was already a gifted student and a proper young lady, an example to everyone around her. She was the pride and hope of our family. I grew up idolizing my sister. In turn, she treated me with such kindness, even though I was so much younger. Apparently she was put on a pedestal by the other kids at school and didn’t have close friends as a result, so having me running around after her all the time yelling, “Big Sis, Big Sis!” really made her happy. I used to love it when my sister would braid my hair. She was so talented and could do anything, but she was rather clumsy when it came to hair. My hair always ended up lopsided, leaning to one side or the other. I used to love walking around with lopsided hair. I wore it like a badge of honor, a symbol of sisterly love. After my sister graduated from school, she became a knight. I come from a family of knights, you see, and my sister intended to follow in the family footsteps. The country was in the midst of war back then, and they needed all the troops they could get. With her abilities, my sister rose up the ranks soon after becoming a knight. Within a few years, she was in charge of her own platoon. Once a year, my sister would return to the family home and entertain us all with tales from the battlefield. My sister’s achievements including slaying a Demon Lord and winning countless major battles. Soon, the tides of war were turning in favor of the Alliance of Four Races. It looked like the war would be ending soon. When my sister came home last, she told me, “Once the war’s done, I’m going to focus on training you up! You’re going to become a knight, too, of course. I’ll start by teaching you the sword. Heh-heh. Maybe you’ll even be posted to my platoon! Well, it won’t be like it is at home! I’ll make sure to work you hard!” Yes…that’s what she said, a big smile on her face. But then, just a few months later, my sister’s platoon was wiped out. She was taken captive by the orcs and held as a prisoner of war. The news devastated my family. Father and Mother’s faces fell, as if the world were ending. They said terrible things, like how it would be better if my sister had just died. I didn’t understand at the time. How could my parents say such a thing? This was my sister they were talking about. Both Father and Mother had absolutely doted on her. I remember screaming at them, “How dare you say that about your own daughter! You’re despicable!” Then I locked myself up in my room. I didn’t speak to either of my parents for a long time after that. Then a few years passed. The war ended. The Alliance of Four Races, to which the humans belonged, had won the war. The Coalition of Seven Races, to which the orcs belonged, had lost. The orcs’ prisoners of war were all released. My sister came home, too. That’s when I realized what it really meant for a woman to be taken captive by the orcs. My sister was…defiled. She was dead behind the eyes, her hair a matted bird’s nest. She had always had perfect posture, but now she scuttled about, bent over and hunchbacked, as if trying to hide herself from sight. She barely spoke, and if any men came near, she would shriek and shake. Even if that man was our own father. I heard later that my sister had been forced to wed a great orc chief, and she bore him six children by the time the war finally ended. Being pregnant and giving birth so many times over such a short period completely wrecked my sister’s body and mental health. She returned a shell of a person, utterly unsuitable for continuing her career as a knight. At the same time, she was far too damaged for remarrying. My sister’s future, her life…it was all ruined. Forever. I vowed revenge on the orcs. I’m not stupid. I understand how things work. The orc race…that’s just how they are. They see things differently to us. They don’t share our values. Orcs follow their own customs, just like cats seek out dark, tight spaces and dogs look for trees to piss on. The orcs did what they did not out of malice, but simply because it was their way. But there’s a difference between logic and emotion. I wanted to kill every last orc with my bare hands. And so I became a knight. Of course, that was always the plan. But now I was more determined than ever. The war ended, and the army was cut back drastically. The demand for knights decreased, too. It took me a while, but I finally made it and became a knight anyway. The Fortified City of Krassel was my top choice for placement. Krassel was the closest town to orc country. If war broke out again, it would be the first town to taste combat against the orcs. Also, Houston the Pig Slayer was stationed there. My placement request was granted. Many around me expressed concern about me, a female knight, going so close to orc country. I ignored them all. Meanwhile, Houston the Pig Slayer was everything people said he was. He was merciless in his dealings with the rogue orcs that came out of the orc country. He would interrogate them to find out why they had been banished. But whatever they said, Houston did not care.