Chapter 43

2 THE GIJE FORTRESS A fortress shrouded in mystery. The location has little strategic value. The rumors say that when Geddigs ascended the throne and began construction, some of the demon leaders stood in opposition against it and were swiftly disposed of. This earned Geddigs the title of “King Fool”…for a short time. It remains a mystery as to why he was so adamant about building his fortress here, of all places. The nickname this fortress had during the war indicates its pointlessness. “The Unimpregnable Fortress.” Since there was no point in attacking it… There was no way it could ever be overthrown. Its weakness was, in fact, its strength. Even the orcs used to make a mockery of this fortress. (…It’s of sturdier construction than I’d thought.) Bash had expected it to be rickety. However, it was actually quite well built. Comparable to other demon fortresses. The fortress was built along the mountainside, behind three interconnected walls that were high and thick, and the entrances were not conspicuous. The walls were reinforced with black rock and black steel, and they had a faint glow, like they’d been infused with some kind of magic. Bash didn’t know much about magic, but he’d seen walls enchanted with similar protective magic before. The walls could nullify the effects of the mass attack spells of the elves and repel the log-like bolts fired from the dwarves’ siege cannons. The walls Bash had once seen were magically reinforced along only a small portion of their length, but the Gije Fortress walls seemed reinforced all along. It might be safe to say that it was the most solidly built fortress Bash had ever seen. “Halt.” Standing at the entrance to the fortress were two demons. A lesser demon with brown skin. And a male… Unfortunately. A checkpoint. Bash always seemed to encounter a checkpoint when entering a new country, and it seemed to be no different here. “We’ve been expecting you, orc. What is it you want, entering alone?” Expecting him? Bash’s features rearranged themselves like a question mark. But demons were always smug like that. Acting like they knew everything about the comings and goings of other races. But some orcs believed the demons had the power of precognition. Though they hadn’t been able to predict losing the war, had they? …So other, more sensible orcs would snicker. “Brother, there is a fairy, too…” “Fool! We do not count fairies as people. That is not how we are taught.” “Ha-ha-ha. Then perhaps one person and one insect?” “Insects do not count, either.” The two gatekeepers looked at Bash and Zell with grins on their faces. There wasn’t outright tension in the air… But there was a vague aura of condescension emanating from the demons. “So what’s the deal, orc? What business do you have in our dying paradise?” “Come on, Brother. You can’t go asking him that.” “Oh yeah? Why not?” “Think. Few reasons would bring an orc to a place like this. He must have been driven out of his home, persecuted in every country until he wound up here, starving and destitute.” “Hey! Quit talking like our land is some sort of…garbage dump.” “It practically is a garbage dump now!” “Oh, ah-ha-ha-ha-ha!” Bash ignored their jeers and dumped his cargo on the ground. “Hey! I just said it’s not a garbage dump… What is that?” “I picked them up on the way here. They’re injured.” The gatekeepers trailed off, peering down at the thing neither of them had noticed until just now. It was dark out, and hard to see much of anything, but the cargo looked like a person… In fact, it was a person, wasn’t it? A person… Carbonized. “What in the world?! Are they—” “—Alive? Yes. Burned by a dragon on the snowy plains. There were others… But only this one survived.” “There’s no way… the extermination force… Insane…! Then that means they’ve all been wiped out…” The gatekeepers’ faces changed color. Their calm expressions from before were gone, their voices now high with desperation. “They’ve been completely turned into charcoal! We can’t even identify them! Get a stretcher! Call for the medical staff! Hurry!” “Yes, Brother!” With those words, one of the gatekeepers ran off. “We sprinkled fairy dust on them. They won’t die. You don’t need to dash around like that.” Bash shrugged, and the remaining gatekeeper blinked and peered more closely again at him and Zell. Yes, with fairy dust, someone could be kept alive, even in this terrible of a state. Fairy dust was powerful healing stuff. “…Ahem, it seems you’ve helped one of our own. I am grateful. I should also apologize for my rudeness earlier. You have done a great kindness in helping a demon warrior. I would like to give you a reward, but unfortunately, I don’t have anything on me right now.” His words hadn’t changed much from before, but the tone of his voice no longer contained the tang of obvious contempt. The demons were a race that could be gracious when it suited them. “And thank you, fairy. It was generous of you to sprinkle your precious powder on our brethren.” At this, Zell unwound themselves from around Bash’s neck, emerged from the folds of his scarf, and perched on his shoulder at full attention. “Well, of course! As you can see, we are veteran warriors who have been through countless battles. If we see a wounded soldier, we carry them to safety in the time it takes you demons to finish eating breakfast and take your morning shit! Anyway, we fairies don’t actually shit, so we have plenty of leeway! And incidentally, I think you ought to show a little more gratitude! Do you have any idea who you’re dealing with here? I’ll have you know that… ACHOO!” Zell sneezed loudly in mid-speech, then retreated inside Bash’s scarf, shivering. Though the fairy hadn’t finished talking, the gatekeeper was now smiling coldly. The demons have a lot of sayings about fairies, too. One went as thus: “If you listen to the words of a fairy, first your ears become full of air, then your mouth becomes full of air, and eventually your head itself becomes full of air, and then it’ll float right off your neck.” In short, if you keep listening to fairy nonsense, you’ll eventually die. So the gatekeeper turned to Bash. “Excuse me, orc. In that case, let me ask again. Who are you, and where are you from? For what purpose have you come here? According to the reports, you didn’t come via the bridge, but…?” “I am the Orc Hero Bash. I come in search of a certain something.” That was Bash’s line, but to be honest, he didn’t have high hopes. I mean, these were demons after all. Judging from his brown skin, the gatekeeper was likely a lesser demon, a lower-ranked member of the species. But even a lesser demon still outranked an orc. The demons laughed in the very face of orcs. “The Orc Hero…? You mean…the Dragon Decapitator…?” However, the gatekeeper’s reaction was unexpected. “How dare you try to fool me, you wretched orc?! We all know how much the title of Hero means to you orcs! Now I know we’d all like to be heroes, but you can’t go around making false claims! Don’t you at least want to cling to the last scraps of pride you people have left…?” “I am not lying. I swear it on the Orc King himself.” The demon’s eyes widened at those words, and he looked at Bash with intense scrutiny. “You really are the Dragon Decapitator!” Though the demons did not know Bash’s face, they knew what it meant to swear on the name of the Orc King. Only a select few orcs would be capable of uttering those words. It wasn’t something an orc could casually lie about. Claiming to be the Orc Hero, though… Well, it was frowned upon, yes, but could still be forgiven as mere wishful thinking. “Then what is it that you are looking for?” “I cannot say…but I have a letter from the Human Prince Nazar, for Sequence, the Dark General.” Those words caused the gatekeeper to stiffen. The name of the Human Prince Nazar had reached even the demon country. The prince of humans, who defeated the Demon Lord Geddigs. A brave warrior who had dominated the subsequent battles between humans and demons. His continued wins had made him a figure of terror in the hearts of all demons. Of course, demons aren’t particularly afraid of normal humans. Still, it was better to be cautious… But then the gatekeeper relaxed. For, as he recalled, was it not the prince himself who had ended the war and proposed peace? “…I understand. In that case, and as we are in your debt, I will personally guide you to Sequence, the Dark General.” “That would be helpful.” Thus, Bash and Zell followed the demon gatekeeper and entered the town at night. The demon stronghold was built to endure. Like any fortress worth its salt, it was built to facilitate long-term survival within its walls. Yes, the demon fortress was built for holdout defense. Quite different from the fortresses of the ogres, whose motto is “Short-term battles or bust,” and those of the succubi and harpies, who didn’t have to worry much about defense since they had the power of flight. Humans built similar fortresses, and would probably just take it as a given… But actually, the fortresses built by those belonging to the Coalition of Seven all have their own unique characteristics, depending on the race. And the demons’ fortresses were particularly notable for their strong defense. “I’ve heard rumors about it, but to me, it just looks like an ordinary fortress. I wonder why Lord Geddigs built one in a place like this? Maybe he was planning to make this the demon capital once the war was over, huh, Boss?” “I don’t know. But there are houses. Maybe he intended it for habitation.” Inside the Gije Fortress were row upon row of stone houses. Of course, this is common in demon strongholds. The buildings were constructed along wide steps cut into the hillside, with the gaps between them kept very narrow. Then barricades were built, forming a crude sort of maze. This made it easy to slow the enemy’s advance. Buildings can act as obstacles to hinder enemy advances. Better to build useful homes, then, rather than just plain walls. Thus, the demon stronghold was a city in itself. Bash had visited demon fortresses a few times and remembered them as being far more advanced and lively than you might imagine from the outside. But the Gije Fortress could hardly be described as lively. With the sun already long set, the houses were dark and quiet, though there were a few scattered lights burning here and there. The houses felt occupied, but there was hardly anyone out on the streets. The occasional person passing by walked with their hood pulled low over their eyes, as if to hide their face. A dark town, with a murky atmosphere. But unlike the succubus country, the people did not seem to be living in desperation. Still, there was a sludge-like sense of stagnation… A collective sigh of resignation in the air, perhaps. “Hmm.” Suddenly, a woman came to pass by Bash and the others. A woman with blue skin and horns on either side of her head. She had sharp eyes and moved smoothly as she walked. Even through her winter gear, her voluptuous figure was clearly visible. Bash particularly noted the indescribably fragrant scent that was unique to demon women. To demons, it was nothing special, but to an orc, it was as fragrant as a meadow in spring. “…Hmm.” She glanced at Bash, then quickly looked away and passed him by. Bash stopped and turned to face her. The woman turned around, as if sensing Bash’s gaze, but then quickly turned her face away and walked on. “Huh. She didn’t say anything, eh, Boss?” “No.” It was unexpected. If it had been wartime and he’d encountered a demon woman like he had just now, she no doubt would have said something scathing to him. Something like, Stay away from me, you filthy orc! Or What are you doing here, orc trash? And who gave you permission to even look at me, hmm? Or if the woman had been in a particularly bad mood, she might have blasted him with magic. Or perhaps torn Zell’s fairy wings and limbs off, shrieking with fury. Some demons saw fairies as no more than flying bugs. That was the kind of race demons were. Noble and arrogant. Entitled and supercilious. When they saw a member of a race they considered inferior, they couldn’t help but admonish them. That’s just how they were. But the demon woman just now had simply passed by in silence. Maybe if Bash called out, she would stop again… Though her reaction might be harsher the second time. “It may be just as Nazar said.” “There’s hope here after all, eh, Boss?!” Yes, Nazar had said so… Even high-ranking demons would stop and listen to the words of the Orc Hero. Bash had been skeptical at first, but seeing the demon woman actually pass by without even one word of abuse… It was starting to make him a believer. Although, it wasn’t like she’d smiled or anything. “Is something wrong, orc?” “Um… Well. She didn’t say anything to me.” “…We demons are not so arrogant. We understand our present situation.” The gatekeeper muttered moodily and then walked on. Bash took this to mean that even a demon would not be disrespectful to the Orc Hero. He certainly owed Nazar one. For it seemed to be exactly as he had said. In which case, it might indeed be possible for Bash to take a demon woman as his bride. His chances might be slim, but they weren’t zero. If the odds weren’t zero, then it was worth fighting. After all, Bash was a proud orc warrior. “No wonder the war was lost.” Humans were…frightening. Their astute ability to assess a situation was indeed astounding. That was what led Bash to make this comment. “What?” But the gatekeeper gnashed his teeth and glared at Bash. “Did you just…mock us demons?” “No.” “Right! The boss would never mock a demon! I mean, you people might be sarcastic and self-deprecating, but an orc’s mind doesn’t operate that way! The boss is way too straightforward a fellow to diss someone in a roundabout way! We fairies know that! When an orc wants to diss you, he does so directly! He’d tell you you’re a moron! Come on, you know that, don’t you? And the orc you see before you now is no mere orc! He is the Orc Hero Bash, of all people!” “…Mm…” The gatekeeper’s outrage was mollified by Zell’s rapid-fire machine-gun verbal outburst. The gatekeeper knew very well that it would be foolish to argue with a fairy when they had gotten worked up like this. Therefore, he turned to Bash and decided to get straight to the point. “Then what do you mean, saying ‘no wonder the war was lost’?” “Because the demon woman reacted just as Nazar said demon women would react.” The gatekeeper turned back, but the woman was already long gone. He couldn’t really remember how she’d reacted. Or even what expression she’d had on her face. Demons were always haughty, but she hadn’t reacted at all. Yet still, if Nazar had said that demon women would react a certain way, then who was he to argue? Among demons, the name Nazar carried more weight than Bash realized. “…Let’s go.” In the end, the gatekeeper couldn’t think of a response and just decided to ignore the whole thing and keep going. Perhaps it was just Bash’s imagination, but the demon gatekeeper’s steps seemed to speed up. It was as if he didn’t want Bash to take in the current state of the Demon Kingdom. As if there was something about the demons here that they were all ashamed of…