He executed them all, no matter what they claimed or how much they protested. Orcs that had committed known criminal acts, orcs with perfect conduct…Houston executed them all the same. Houston’s logic made perfect sense to me. Banished orcs have already committed crimes in their own country. It doesn’t matter if they’ve behaved perfectly on human soil so far. They’re still criminals. There’s no point waiting around for them to commit crimes in our land, too. Then it would be too late. When I saw how ruthless Houston was in his attitude toward the orcs, I made up my mind to follow him. After the war, everyone was focused on trying to get to know other races and learn about their mindsets and customs. But not Houston. He was brutal toward the orcs. I loved that. I knew if I stuck with Houston, the revenge I sought would come to me someday. I wanted to kill them all, every last orc. With Houston, I had faith. But then I learned there was an exception, a loophole in Houston’s anti-orc policy. I’m talking about the non-rogue orcs. In other words, travelers and those on special missions for their own country. Those orcs, Houston would simply question and release. But no such orcs had come through, not since my appointment to Krassel. So I’d forgotten all about the non-rogue orcs. Then one came to town. The orc who went by the name Bash…he was different from any other orc I knew of. He seemed a bit smaller physically than most orcs, but he was incredibly muscular, much more so than the others. And he was dignified. It wasn’t just the way he carried himself, either. His face was dignified, too. The rogue orcs always seemed to be mocking you. Whenever they laid eyes on me, they always (and I mean always) bared their tusks in lecherous grins, raking their eyes over my breasts and butt. I hated those looks. I hated them so much! But at least Bash hadn’t leered at me. Yes, he checked out my chest and my butt. But so what? So did all the human men. That wasn’t a big deal. Sure, it was kinda gross, but whatever. My problem was with Houston, though, and the way he started acting ever since Bash showed up. Honestly, I was left a bit disillusioned. I mean, what the heck was that all about? And what happened to the Pig Slayer? It seemed like this orc, Bash, was somebody important back in his own country. I got that, all right. But there was no need for Houston to simper and fawn over him like that. I mean…the guy was only an orc. Then after that, Houston announced that we were all going to search the forest together. And he kept asking for Bash’s opinion on literally everything. It was obvious Houston was desperate not to lose face with the orc, for whatever reason. That’s why he was making such a big show out of trying to solve the highway ambush case. I was getting more and more suspicious by the minute. That’s why I mutinied and went against orders. It was purely based on my own instincts. Just a bit of childish rebellion. But no, it was more than that. It was because my sister was kept as a slave for years and broken in both body and spirit. Even if defeat was inevitable, and the defilement of my sister was an unavoidable consequence, perhaps some of my sister could still have been salvaged if only she’d been rescued sooner. That’s why I felt so strongly about launching immediate rescue missions to retrieve prisoners of war. Even though this time, the prisoner of war was a fairy who meant nothing to me whatsoever. The soldiers, who knew my backstory, were all too happy to align with me. Even if we betrayed orders, it wouldn’t matter in the end if the mission ended favorably. Sure, we might all be facing pay cuts or forced periods of self-reflection, but we’d get away with it otherwise. Honestly, we were all way too flippant about the whole thing. We didn’t consider the implications of our actions or the true meaning of Houston’s orders. And we underestimated the strength of our enemy. “Guh-heh-heh… Can’t wait until tomorrow.” As a result of our hubris, the lives of myself and my soldiers now seemed to hang by a thread. “Guh…” “Ugh…” We were all tied up, lying on the cold, hard ground. Everyone had incurred heavy injuries. Some had broken bones; some were unconscious. No one had been killed, not yet, but a few men had lost huge amounts of blood and would be cold and stiff come morning. It was only by sheer luck that the battle had ended without any of us losing our lives outright. We’d been ambushed the moment we infiltrated the cave. First, they targeted our lights. In the darkness of the cave, it was impossible to tell how many enemies there were. One by one, we fell. In the aftermath of the battle, we found ourselves lying at the feet of about a dozen or so humans and an equivalent number of bugbears. Oh, and one orc. Yes…an orc. And not just any orc, either. A beast tamer. As I glared up at him with hatred, he leered at me with a lecherous, mocking expression on his hideous face. Fear seized hold of me. “Look what else flew into our net after the fairy! An’ a fine piece of meat she is, at that!” “Geh-heh-heh… Chief, how about givin’ the woman over ta me?” “Idiot! We’re all gonna share her, right, brothers?” “Right, right, no keepin’ the lady all to yourself.” “All right, how’s this? We lock up the woman, kill all the men, an’ then dump their bodies outside.” When I heard that, I suddenly knew what they had in store for me. “Guh… Just…kill me…” I could hear the fear in my own weak, tremulous voice. I knew I didn’t want to die, though. I still hadn’t really done anything yet. What was the point of me going through all that to become a knight just to die now? I couldn’t stand the thought of it. Please… Don’t do anything to me, please. That’s when I heard a high-pitched little voice in the dimness. “Hey! Not so fast! There’s no sense in killing them now! Not when you’ve made it this far without your operation being discovered! If the townsfolk discover the bodies, you’ll find yourselves hounded and hunted down by scores of knights!” The little creature was hovering in the air, emitting a mild glow that was visible in the gloom. “I know just what you should do! Wait until morning and then execute them outside! Stage it so it looks like they finally found the bugbears they were seeking. Oh, whoops, we were in pursuit, and then just outside the forest, bam! Bugbear attack! Blood everywhere! Oh, and you should leave a few bugbear corpses just so it looks like it was a real fight to the death. Humans are stupid; they’ll totally buy it! Look, do you really want all your good work to go to waste? No, no, it would be such a shame! I know you’re too smart, too cunning to blow the whole thing now! Not to mention, it’s really dark in here. Don’cha wanna take a good look at their faces in daylight while you kill ’em? See that look in their eyes that says This can’t be happening!…?” It’s gonna feel so much more satisfying to kill ’em while drinking in that look, don’cha think?” It was Zell. I couldn’t believe it. I’d assumed the fairy had simply gotten itself captured, but no. The evil little thing had been on the side of this group of bandits all along. The ambush we walked right into, which was no doubt set up based on the intel the wretched fairy had provided. “Ya may have a point, fairy. All right, men. We lock ’em all up. Heh, Lady Knight…I’m gonna take ya all the way ta heaven while my men watch…” The orc grabbed hold of my hair and yanked me along, dragging me deeper into the cave. My ears were filled with the horrible sound of the bandits all laughing and jeering as I was taken away. In the depths of the cave, I was dragged to a room with nothing else in it but a dirty straw mattress. Then I was thrown roughly to the floor. I turned to see the orc looming above me. Just one orc. The rest were all humans. They were hairy and unkempt and looked like a bunch of dirty bandits. Still, they were unmistakably human. “You vile scoundrels… How could you team up with a filthy orc? Have you no sense of human pride?” “A filthy orc? Now, now, that’s just racist. The war’s over, y’know. We’re all on the same side now. We gotta play nice together…right?” At this, the bandits all burst out laughing, and with calls of “Hear, hear!” began slapping the orc on the shoulder. The orc grinned in amusement as well and began slapping the bandits’ shoulders right back. I was in so much more trouble than I ever realized. It had never crossed my mind that orcs and humans might team up. Thinking about it logically, though, it actually wasn’t so strange. Taming wild animals was an old demon technique, widely adopted by the orcs. And bugbears were one of the most common animals that were manipulated this way. We learned this in knight school. So there were more than a few orcs around who would be capable of orchestrating the recent bugbear attacks. Orc country was close by, too. It all made sense. But orcs didn’t have the sophistication to attack merchants and abscond with just the right amount of loot to avoid raising suspicion. If an orc attacked a merchant by their own designs, they would simply plunder everything and leave nothing behind, not even scraps. If they were benefiting from the sophisticated touch of humans, then that would be a different story, however… Why hadn’t I figured this out sooner? It was so obvious. Well, I knew why. Because I was acting under the delusion that humans and orcs would never team up. That orcs weren’t capable of forming true alliances with other races. And I really believed that the superior human race would never sink so low as to fraternize with orcs. Now look where my naïveté had led me. “All right, who’s first? It’s gotta be the chief, right?” “No, no. You all have your fun first. I’ll go after.” “Ya can’t be serious, Chief. Lady knights are a favorite among orcs, ain’t they?” “It’s orc custom to let the lower-rankers have the first go.” “Well, it’s human custom to defer to the boss. We wouldn’t ’ave gotten this far without your bugbears, Chief.” “Oh yeah? What’s that y’all sayin’ about hatin’ authority an’ never bowin’ down to the higher-ups?” “It’s a different story when it’s someone we respect, Chief. We all trust ya, y’know.” “Heh-heh. Well, if that’s the case, then I don’t mind if I do.” The orc reached for me with his horrible, meaty hands. He was going to defile me, just like my sister. The realization was horrible and absolute. I could feel all the blood drain from my face. My hands and feet had gone cold, and I was starting to shake. “N-no…! Stop…!” “Now, now, Miss Knight, that ain’t the right attitude, is it? Considerin’ the situation yer in, don’cha wanna beg for death instead? It would make it so much more interestin’. What about whatcha said before? Let’s hear that one again, hmm?” “No! No, no, no!!!” All I could think about was my sister, broken beyond repair. In my mind, I could still hear her screaming in terror whenever our father got too close. Our own father. I could still see her face, the horrible empty look in her eyes as she told us about the six orc children she’d been forced to bear… I was enraged. It was the orcs that did this to her. I knew I would have to dedicate my life to wiping out every last one. When I was forced to look upon Bash’s…engorgement…I felt no sense of embarrassment nor hysteria. No, I felt nothing but pure, burning rage. I had never imagined anything worse than that happening to me. I was so naive. Never in my wildest dreams did I think the atrocities my sister endured might one day befall me. “Get off me! No! No! No! No!!!” “Hey! Settle down, will ya?” With my hands tied behind my back, it was impossible for me to prevent the orc from yanking off my armor with a series of heavy clanks. All I could do was sob and scream. Once my armor was off, all the men leaned in closer, eyes drinking in the contours of my body, now visible through my tight-fitting cotton undergarment. “I can’t wait any longer!” “Nooo!!!” The orc’s hands reached out and tore my undergarment right down the front. The sound of the other men’s heavy breathing suddenly increased. Drool began to drip from one corner of the orc’s foul mouth. “…Oi! What’s that sound?” One of the men suddenly yelped, looking concerned. “What?” The men stopped panting all of a sudden, and silence filled the room. The sound of fighting was suddenly audible, coming from somewhere close by. Actually, it wasn’t exactly like the sound of a fight. It was more like the sound of one person smashing their way through, unchallenged. Just then, one of the other men came dashing into the room, tripping over his own feet in a panic. “Chief! It’s the enemy!” “What?! There were more of ’em? How many?!” “It’s…it’s just two…” “What?! Then pull yerself together an’ deal with it! Don’t let ’em get away!” Just two? That was of no interest to these bandits. The men were more concerned with the matter at hand. They were all about to get a turn enjoying a woman for the first time in who knew how long. They all returned their eyes to me, hungrily. Some still seemed concerned by the panicked appearance of the messenger, though. Upon closer inspection, his face was spattered with blood, but the complexion underneath was pale and sickly. The messenger yelled out again. “There’s no one left ta deal with it! They darn near wiped us all out! We hafta run, now…” That’s when the wall suddenly exploded. All the bandits froze and turned to look in the direction of the disturbance. From the cloud of dust, a tiny glowing creature came bobbing through the air. “Ah, nice job, Boss! You were right on the money.” The fairy sounded calm and relaxed, so different from the hyperactive chatter it had been coming out with earlier. The dust cloud gradually settled. There was a huge hole yawning open in the wall. Then, from that gaping hole, a hulking figure stepped into the room. The sight of the figure stole away my last shreds of hope. Green skin, long tusks. Another orc. As if one wasn’t bad enough. I began to tremble even harder than ever before. Just picturing what was about to happen to me made my limbs go numb with fear. I could feel tears streaming down my cheeks. Resignation flooded me, and I accepted my fate… “…” But the new orc looked around the room, finally fixing its eyes on me. It wasn’t leering at my exposed, naked skin. No, this orc looked me right in the eyes. Then it spoke in a voice I’d come to recognize over the past few days. “I’m here to help.” …That’s what the orc said.
Chapter 11
14 min read