Chapter 12

8 THE HERO VS. THE COMMANDER OF THE BEASTS The cave was cramped and claustrophobic. The roof was around ten feet from the ground, and the passageways were around six feet wide. It was a tight fit for an orc but quite roomy for a human. In all likelihood, this cave had been used by the orcs as a frontline base position during the war. But even Bash, for all his wartime experience, did not know about it. It must have been abandoned over twenty years ago, at least. Until the bandits found it and made it their hideout. It only took a surprisingly short amount of time to reach Judith. After entering the cave and reaching an open chamber of sorts, Bash had swiftly dealt with the lookout guards. Then Zell came zooming up at top speed, jabbering with excitement. “Boss! You sure took your sweet time! This way! Quickly, quickly! Right now, this moment, this second, your lady knight is on the cusp of being ravished and devoured! This is your cue to mount a dashing rescue! But if you don’t hurry, it’ll be too late! You must hurry, Boss! Hurry! In fact, I recommend bashing through that wall and making your own shortcut!” Houston remained in the cavern, saying that he would secure the exit and deal with any enemy stragglers. In Bash’s opinion, Houston had more than adequate training. Even if they did have backup, he could handle a few bandits alone. Now, right before Bash’s very eyes was the woman he’d had his eye on for days, half-naked and exposed. Bash’s little warrior perked up immediately at the sight of her. Boss! Now’s the time! it seemed to say as it rose stiffly from between Bash’s legs. But Bash ignored it. If Houston had been there, he would have surely been surprised by the sight. An orc confronted with the sight of a naked woman and yet restraining the beast within. What a hero, Houston may have thought. Of course, Judith wasn’t the only one in the room. There was also another orc and several human bandits. “Whaddaya want? Hey, it’s an orc. This a friend of yours, Chief?” “Ya came to help, huh? Too late, we already dealt with all the soldiers.” The bandits all shot Bash quizzical looks, but none of them seemed very alarmed by his entrance. Instead, they seemed curious as to the identity of this strange orc who had come bursting through the wall all of a sudden. The bandits turned to their leader inquisitively. “Chief, who is this?” “Wh-what…? What…?” But their orc leader’s green skin had gone a sickly blue shade. He’d turned into a blue orc. Shaky and trembling, all he seemed to be able to say was “Wh-what?” as he stared wide-eyed at Bash. He knew that face. “Is that you, Boggs?” “Eek!” Boggs. Yes, Bash knew who Boggs was, too. Boggs was an orc soldier—a beast tamer—who’d commanded a group of bugbears during the war. He was the only orc who had attained the title of beast master. But Boggs was never able to accept the peace treaty with the humans and had openly opposed the Orc King. As a result, he was one of the rogue ones cast out of orc country. “Boggs, it is forbidden for orcs to force themselves upon women. We must first obtain their consent.” “I… I was just… I wasn’t forcing meself! She wanted me ta do it!” “…Bullshit.” Judith’s face was caked with snot and tears, and she was desperately trying to conceal her womanly parts from view. If this was what consent looked like, then Bash could have already disposed of his virginity with those two merchant women he first met in the forest. “Hey, Chief… We all thought this was a friend of yours, but from the way he’s talkin’ to ya, it’s clear he’s the enemy, yeah?” One of the bandits drew his sword, then with a smug, condescending smile, came rushing at Bash. His eyes were filled with the intent to kill. “Good guess.” Bash nodded, answering in a mild tone. There was no need for denial or subterfuge of any kind. “Then die!” The bandit was quick on his feet. Raising his sword to chest height, he thrust at Bash, aiming for the orc’s eye. He was nothing more than a bandit now, but he’d actually been in the war and survived. Comfortable fighting in confined spaces, he was also quite skilled with the sword. “That big fancy weapon won’t do ya much good in here!” The bandit thrust his sword forward, expecting to deal a killing blow. But just as he could perfectly visualize his sword tip piercing Bash’s eye and sending forth freshets of blood…his own head exploded in a spray of jelly and bone, and he fell to the floor, dead. “Huh?” None of the other bandits could process what had just happened. Their comrade’s head had disappeared with a ridiculous popping sound, just as he was leaping to attack the enemy. That much they had seen with their own eyes. But the logistics of it didn’t make any sense. “What?” One among their number noticed what had occurred, however. The orc’s sword had left its scabbard and was now held loosely in one hand. The greatsword had been on the right, and then it was on the left. But how could Bash have swung his greatsword in the cramped confines of the cave? A second later, the cave wall around Bash exploded with a roar of sound. It was like the sword had eaten its way through the walls. “Whoa!” The bandits all cowered and screamed as the walls exploded. Bash’s sword swing had eaten its way through the very walls of the cave before cleaving the attacking bandit’s head clean in two. That was what had happened. The rubble now tumbling all over the cave was the only visible sign of Bash’s swing. The bandits were too panicked to process what Bash had done, though. All they knew was that their comrade was dead, and the walls had exploded. All they could do was cower in terror. They had all frozen up completely. They didn’t even realize they were standing within attack range themselves. His expression grim, Bash swung his greatsword for a second time. The trembling group of bandits were all swiftly separated from the lower halves of their bodies. They never even had time to cry out. All of the bandits now lay in multiple different pieces in puddles of their own blood. None of them ever even knew what had hit them. “…Crap!” The only one left alive was Boggs, who had witnessed Bash in action at close quarters before. Boggs was the only one who had understood that tight spaces were no hindrance to Bash. He realized that Bash’s sword would crash through the walls and decimate the unsuspecting bodies of the bandits. As a result, Boggs was the only one who had thought to back out of range of Bash’s swing. “Why? Why did ya hafta come here?!” Bellowing loudly, Boggs suddenly darted away, running out of the room and heading for the cave’s exit. As Bash took a step forward to follow him, Zell whispered something rapidly in his ear, and the orc came to a sudden halt. Then, slowly, he turned to Judith. He was panting hard. Well, obviously. Right on the floor in front of him lay a mostly naked woman, hands tied tightly together so that she had no way to conceal her body from his view. “Yeek!” Judith gulped hard. It was only Judith and Bash left in the room now. A half-naked woman and an orc standing at full attention. Oh, there was the fairy, too, flittering around near Bash’s shoulder, emitting a mild glow. So the fairy wasn’t in cahoots with the bandits after all. But Judith knew the little thing wasn’t on her side. From the very beginning, the fairy had been loyal only to Bash. The fairy leaned in and began whispering something in Bash’s ear. Judith was certain it was saying something like Now’s your chance to do her, Boss! Perhaps this had been their plan all along, right from the very beginning. Judith’s nerves had been stretched to their breaking point, and she was ready to believe the entire world was conspiring against her. Bash slowly reached toward Judith. “No! Get away! I… Huh?” Bash was making no attempt to touch Judith’s bare skin. Instead, he covered her pale, exposed flesh up with the heavy overcoat he himself had been wearing. “…Huh?” “I came to help you. I’ll untie you. Then you should use some of this on the fallen soldiers in the jail area. It’s fairy dust.” Bash undid Judith’s restraints and handed her a tiny bottle. Judith knew all about fairy dust, of course. It was valuable stuff. A fairy could only make a certain amount of it per day. This dust must have come from the fairy that was currently squirming with embarrassment somewhere near Bash’s ear. That’s when it finally clicked for Judith. The orc had come here to save her. She was being saved. Rescued, in other words, from that terrifying situation. She was not going to end up like her sister. “You should be grateful, y’know! Our plan…I mean, the Boss’s plan… If I hadn’t gone ahead as a spy, you’d be the meat in an orc-bandit sandwich right about now!” “I…I am grateful!” Judith was blushing bright red but couldn’t deny her gratitude. It wasn’t just lip service. Bash had saved not just her life, but her very spirit. At the same time, though, Judith was surprised. How could an orc look upon a naked woman and not do anything? Perhaps Bash was impotent? But no, even now, Bash’s excitement was visible, the bulge in his crotch region all too apparent. In other words, Bash had suppressed his own lustful desires and put Judith’s well-being above all else. “But…” “What is it? I’ve already opened up a hole in the jail wall. It’s the first on your left.” “I…I already got that! It’s just…why aren’t you ravishing me?” “Do you…want me to ravish you?” “What?! N-no!” Judith pulled the heavy overcoat tighter around her. She was suddenly trembling again, recalling her terror from just before. “But I thought that orcs loved capturing women of other races and…impregnating them?” “We do. But the Orc King himself has forbidden nonconsensual acts of coitus with females of different races.” How many times had she heard that phrase over the past few days? He was like a simpleton repeating himself over and over. She’d been convinced he was all talk. But suddenly, Judith was hit with a wave of emotion. She understood now. Yes… This was loyalty. That display of strength a moment ago…punching through walls, leaving a Bash-shaped impression. Taking on and killing six grown men simultaneously. With strength like that, the orc could have taken any woman he wanted. When Judith had him surrounded in the inn, he could have pulverized all the soldiers and had his way with her without even breaking a sweat. But he hadn’t. Because he was loyal. To the Orc King. He’d restrained himself. Yes…it all made sense now. That was why Houston held the orc in such high regard. As a great orc of the orc country. As a skilled orc warrior. He was on par with even the leader of the knights of the royal capital. Just as Judith was starting to understand everything, Bash turned to leave. “Wh-where are you going?” “After the orc.” Bash had his orders from Houston. To “kill every last one.” He intended to perform his duty as commanded. Houston was not Bash’s lord, but he was the commanding officer of this area. And an orc always obeys orders from the officer in charge. “I see… That’s why you…” But Judith had come to a different interpretation of Bash’s words. She respected Bash’s sense of loyalty. As a result, she now thought she had a pretty good idea what Bash was doing there. Why Bash had come to the human country, why he had allowed the humans to detain and interrogate him, why he had joined the forest search along with the soldiers, why he had come rushing into this dark cave to save a foolish knight like her, why he was ignoring the temptations of Judith’s nude female form in favor of chasing the enemy…in favor of chasing another orc…it all made sense to Judith now. And now that she understood, Judith knew there was no way she was about to stand in Bash’s way. “Hmm?” “Ah, nothing… I understand. May the fortunes of war be in your favor.” “Uh-huh.” And with that, Bash left. Bash came across Houston on his way back through the caves, fighting in the cavern. The human was besieged by a dozen bugbears, fighting for his life. The cavern area was a little wider than the passageways, but it was still part of the claustrophobic cave system. If the cramped environs weren’t bad enough, taking on a dozen bugbears in such a small space seemed to be giving Houston a huge amount of trouble. “Go forth, my bugbears! Surround the human! Kill him! Kill him now!” Boggs was also there, screaming orders, mace in hand. He seemed half-crazed, controlling his bugbear puppets, backing Houston into a corner. Houston was thinking of nothing but defense and enduring the enemy’s attack somehow. If Boggs wanted to flee, it would have been better for him to ignore Houston and run. But Houston was fleet-footed and seemed to be attempting to block Boggs’s escape route. There was only one passageway leading to the exit. Only one way out. The Boggs Bash knew should have had no problem crushing one human soldier. And yet he could not manage it. Was it because of Houston’s skills? No, it was because Boggs was frenzied and doing a poor job of directing his bugbears. “Boggs!” “B-Bash?!” Boggs whirled around at the sound of his name. Standing there was the orc Boggs believed to be the strongest in orc country, the country he was banished from. Wielding his greatsword, the orc Bash came walking over toward Boggs. “Gah! Surround me!” Boggs yelled out desperately, even as he felt his blood run cold. The bugbears all abandoned their pursuit of Houston and came to Boggs’s side. Protected by a circle of bugbears, Boggs stared Bash dead in the eye. “Why?! …Why have you come here?” Bash answered him, his tone steady and even. “I was ordered to kill you.” “Gah! So that’s how it is, is it?” Boggs understood immediately. Why Bash was here. Why the Orc Hero, who should have been resting on his laurels back in the home country, had come here to kill him. He understood everything with only a few simple words. Boggs may have been a rogue orc, cast out in disgrace, but he was also once a soldier. As a beast tamer, he had experienced many battles. He was regarded with much pride by the other orcs. Yes, indeed, Boggs was everything an orc should be. But the Orc King’s orders had been at odds with Boggs’s values. No more violating unwilling women? No more fighting enemies? How absurd! If you took away women and war from orcs, what was left? Nothing! So Boggs had spoken out in opposition and was cast out. But even though he had joined up with bandits, he had not abandoned his pride. No, in his own way, Boggs always sought to uphold the values of the orc race. But his rogue actions had been deemed distasteful by the orcs, who desired peace with the humans. That’s why the order had been given. The order to have Boggs killed. To have anyone who tried to disturb the peace between the orcs and the humans killed. And who could have issued such an order? There was only one who could have given such a command to the Hero Bash, the greatest orc of them all. The Orc King. That wretch Nemesis had ordered Bash to take Boggs’s head. For Boggs, this was the only possible answer. “Am I really so despicable in yer eyes? Jus’ fer bein’ an orc who doesn’t blindly follow orders?!” Boggs knew he could never win in a fight against Bash. His instincts were screaming at him to toss aside his mace, fall to his knees, bow his head, and beg for mercy. But Boggs still had his pride. He hadn’t lost that. Nor would he abandon his values. How could he grovel before this man, this pride of the orcs? How could he fall to his knees and bow before this orc, who even now was holding a sword aloft? “I am the Beast Master Boggs of the once-mighty kingdom of the orcs!” Boggs had spoken his name aloud. His opponent, a Hero. “Hmm. Then I am the Orc Hero Bash, a soldier under Captain Budarth, of the once-mighty kingdom of the orcs.” To speak aloud one’s name, to unleash the standard war cry, and then to fight each other to the death… This was the ancient custom of the orc-on-orc duel. Boggs had offered up the challenge, and Bash had accepted. This was to be a duel between two great warriors, and the standard customs applied in this case more than they ever had. “Graaagh!” The cave walls shook with the force of Boggs’s war cry. The sound of it made all the bugbears leap forward as one. “Graaagh!” Bash unleashed his own war cry in response. The bugbears surged forward like a wave, but Bash stepped forward to meet them, showing not a single ounce of fear.