9 THE PROPOSAL “I’d just come face-to-face with the Black Head, Birmingham, when it showed up. “Someone said, ‘Look up to the sky.’ “I looked up and saw a majestic figure. It was a dragon, its red scales shining, and it was flying about, spreading fire, fear, and death as it went. “No orc could see that sight and not feel fear. I was no exception. My knees had not trembled before an enemy since back when I was a new recruit. “I might have tried to run. I knew there was no way I could win against something like that. But the next thing I knew, I was on the ground. The dragon’s breath attack had some kind of venom in it, I think. “I thought I was dead. I thought…, So this is what it means to die. I can’t die yet. I have to fight. But I couldn’t stay conscious. “When I woke up, not much time had passed, but the situation had changed. The dragon had descended to the ground and was on a rampage. “What a majestic creature, I thought. How mighty. How powerful. “I didn’t think I could win. I thought the dragon was far above my level. “But I picked up my sword and walked toward the dragon. “Why? It’s obvious. I am an honorable warrior. I am a proud orc. “I thought I ought to at least die fighting, not running away. I knew that was the way any honorable orc would act. “As I moved in front of the dragon, I saw its eyes lock on to me. “I raised my sword and let out my war cry. I don’t think I’d ever yelled so loud in my life. “From then on, I was in a blood frenzy. I had to disable the claws, lest they tear through armor and flesh. I had to disable the fangs… They would slice me in half with one snap. And I had to stop its fire breath, lest I be barbecued. It was the battle of battles. “I saw my chance when I landed a blow on its neck. My blow sliced through its scales, and when the blood spurted, I knew I could cut off its head. “I wasn’t even thinking of winning. I was just thinking, Cut it off, cut it off. “The dragon must have noticed. It became increasingly protective of its neck, blocking me from getting close. “If the orcs, the ogres, and the demons hadn’t swarmed the dragon just then, I no doubt would have died. Or the dragon would have gotten away. “I broke its claws, crushed its nose, dodged its breath by circling around it…and thrust my sword into its neck. “I remember the feeling of the sword plunging into that thick throat. I remember the light in the dragon’s eyes as it turned to me. I held its gaze until the light in its eyes died. “I don’t know what that dragon was thinking… But I believe I saw admiration in those eyes. You should be proud that you managed to defeat me, they seemed to say. “That’s when cheering broke out all around. “It wasn’t just the orcs. The demons and ogres, everyone I fought alongside showered me with praise. Yes! Even demons and ogres. “I had never felt such accomplishment, such pride. I was exalted. I was honored. “If I’d never defeated that dragon, I would not have the title of Orc Hero. “Fighting that dragon and surviving…is the greatest honor I have ever known.” Eyes listened quietly to Bash’s story. The story of the death of Bones, who was like family to Eyes. The story, as Bash told it, was that of a mortal struggle against a mighty dragon. Seeing Bash proudly puffing out his chest at the memory of slaying the dragon and winning honor for himself… Eyes opened her mouth to speak. “And then?” Hearing those words, Bash looked at Eyes in surprise. “…And then?” “What happened then?” Bash looked at Zell, somewhat flustered by Eyes’s question. Zell whispered something in Bash’s ear, and Bash muttered “Ah” before continuing. “…Then the human army came running in, and there was an all-out battle… In the midst of this, I heard someone say that the demon HQ was under attack. When I heard that, I…” Eyes listened to Bash speak. Eyes kept listening, even when the conversation had nothing to do with Bones. Eyes just listened. Eyes understood the words, their meaning, the overall context. Eyes simply sat and listened to Bash’s story. “I prepared myself to die in the cave. I had fought the great Elf Mage, but I was alone, and the enemy had allies. From outside the cave, I could hear the angry shouts of the elves, I could see the light of their magic flickering. I thought, They will find me soon, and the great Elf Mage will be healed and restored to magical power, and will seek to attack me again. But then a miracle happened. A fairy came to save me in the midst of the battle.” “That’s right! And that fairy was none other than yours truly!” Bash wasn’t done storytelling. He went on and on. And Eyes encouraged it. Every time Bash tried to finish his story, Eyes would say “So?” or “Then what?” and urge him to continue. “Then, after Zell’s fairy dust had healed my wounds, I managed to break out of the elf circle and escape in the nick of time.” For an orc, Bash’s boasting wasn’t really what you’d call sophisticated. Orcs were generally expected to embellish when they told boastful stories. A common narrative technique was to exaggerate one’s own achievements and deride the other person in the story, painting them as small and insignificant. Orcs described medium-sized lizards as massive dragons, described a bloody fistfight during which they got pummeled as a knock-out victory on their part, and painted the average-looking female warriors they dragged off as exquisite beauties. But Bash didn’t need to do that. Bash really did fight massive dragons, and he really was lauded as a Hero in multiple lands. Even if Bash did get pummeled in a fight, he was being pummeled by formidable foes that were nearly his equal. Simply stating the facts made Bash sound impressive. Still, his bragging skills were unlikely to improve like this. And incidentally, none of Bash’s stories included any parts about female warriors being taken as spoils of war. He had no such stories to boast about. So naturally, he focused on other stuff. In other words, the combat. “Fighting Thunder Sonia and surviving is one of my greatest honors.” Bash always ended each tale by describing the honor he felt at the achievement. His voice was tinged with pride. It was quite moving to listen to. Pride and honor. From Bash’s speech, it was clear how important those two things were to orcs. No doubt it would reduce a listening orc to manly tears, but… It meant nothing to Eyes. “And then?” As Eyes listened to Bash’s tales, Eyes recalled Bones. The way Bones used to speak. Calm, like they were carefully explaining every detail. Odd stories, where you couldn’t quite figure out what was supposed to be so interesting about them. Like Bones was a professor, lecturing students on an important but boring topic. “…Ah, yes. Of course, the battle didn’t end there. “When I returned, having just barely survived the battle against the great Elf Mage Thunder Sonia, what I saw was not the sturdy wall of the impregnable fortress… “What I saw was fire. When I returned to base camp, I found that it had already been attacked by elves and was basically completely destroyed.” “…” Compared to Bones’s dry storytelling, Bash’s was much more vivid. He spoke from the heart about things he’d personally seen, heard, and experienced. And Zell’s frequent excited interjections made the scenes even easier to imagine. You might say that this was Eyes’s first time experiencing something that could be described as entertainment. Which, ultimately, meant… Interesting! I wonder what will happen next?! …It meant that Eyes was having an absolute blast. “And what happened then?” “…Well, that’s it. The war ended. We lost.” “Boss is right… We lost…” Bash’s story went on up until the end of the war. Toward the end, he seemed to falter a little in places, and Zell got sort of despondent, but Eyes enjoyed the whole thing immensely. The heroic tale of Bash… Eyes enjoyed it immensely. “That’s the end…” Eyes was sad that it was over, but oh well. Bones did say that all stories came to an end. But enough about the story. Eyes had drawn a conclusion. “You are an honorable warrior, aren’t you?” “Yes. Well, I try to be.” “You and the warriors you killed are all honorable warriors.” “Yes. They were all honorable warriors.” Eyes hadn’t known what honor was before but had come to understand it from Bash’s story. People were creatures that valued honor. Honor was something difficult to explain in words, but people fought for honor and often boasted about it. And the stronger the opponent, the greater the honor. When you defeated an enemy with high honor, your own honor became even higher. The greater the honor, the more valuable you were as a person. And that law applied to other living things as well. For example, one could say that dragons have a great deal of honor. Dragons could easily kill many people, so killing one dragon is a great honor. “Honor…” Bash had gained great honor by killing Bones. Bash said that by killing Bones, he had become known as the Orc Hero. Honor. It was a concept that changed Eyes’s entire belief system. Eyes had always considered death to be void of meaning. Because to Eyes, the deaths of other living creatures were meaningless. Whether it was insects, animals, or people, Eyes only saw them as food. They weren’t worth anything more than that, and their deaths didn’t make any difference to Eyes. That’s why Eyes was afraid of dying. Eyes didn’t realize it consciously and couldn’t put it into words, but Eyes hated the idea of the dragon life she’d lived up to that point being deemed worthless, just like those of other creatures. But listening to Bash’s story, Eyes had discovered something. Death had meaning. When a strong person defeats an even stronger person, they gain a lot of honor. After defeating Bones, Bash became an honorable warrior. He inherited all the honor of Bones. As long as Bash lived, Bones’s death would not be meaningless. Even if Bash was killed by another, Bones’s honor would live on still, through that person. The highest honor imaginable. A strong man could speak proudly of his honor. That is pride, Eyes thought. If Bash had told the story of killing Bones another way… If he’d belittled Bones, or said something like, To me, a dragon is a mere fish in the ocean. And that was barely even a dragon, more like a lizard… Ha-ha-ha! then Eyes would not have come to this realization. In that case, Eyes could not have held herself back. Dragons have no concept of pride or honor. But Eyes would have been overcome with unspeakable rage if a small person had mocked Bones. If Eyes knew that Bones had been attacked by tiny people in a war Bones hadn’t wanted to be part of… If Eyes knew that Bones had been dragged to the ground, decapitated, and stripped of their flesh… A tool in a meaningless war… If Eyes knew that… Eyes would have hated Bash with a fiery passion. A complex explanation for what was a pretty simple outcome. Simply put, hearing this tale of heroism for the first time in her life, Eyes was captivated and thrilled. “You killed the dragon and gained honor.” “Yes, indeed.” Eyes felt some secondhand pride, seeing Bash smile and nod. “I…” At the same time, Eyes was thinking hard. What about me? What about me? Eyes had run from a battle, transformed herself with Newt, and tried to hide from the fight. What of Eyes’s honor? Across her many years, honor as a concept had not existed. But now that Eyes knew… Eyes couldn’t ignore it. Eyes’s honor. “Bash.” “Yes?” When Eyes spoke his name… Bash turned to Eyes. A piercing gaze. Different from how he’d looked while telling his stories. It was closer to the look he had when he’d been attacking Eyes. It wasn’t quite filled with murderous intent, but Eyes considered it a sign of danger either way. Eyes was smart. Eyes knew. Bash was a first-class warrior who’d survived many battles. He broke the glamour spells cast by human mages and saw through the disguises of beastkin warriors. He even managed to break through the great magic of the elves. So no doubt Bash knew from the beginning. He had seen through Eyes’s cheap magic. In other words, he knew that Eyes was a dragon. Therein lay the answer to the question of why he didn’t kill Eyes already. Basically, Bash was disappointed when Eyes fled and reappeared in person form. What a cowardly dragon, he no doubt thought. That was why he told Eyes all those tales of the proud warriors he’d fought, including Bones. What about you? he seemed to be saying. Will you fight to protect your honor, too? “You want to protect your honor at all costs, right?” “Huh? Yeah. I’ll protect the honor of the orcs, no matter what.” “You…would kill a dragon…to defend your honor?” “Huh? Yeah… I’ll kill the dragon for you.” “I don’t want to die…” “Hmm? Well, of course you don’t.” But Eyes’s feelings hadn’t changed. Eyes did not want to die. Even if her death would bring honor to Bash, Eyes was still afraid. Eyes did not think she could be a brave warrior like Bash, or like the warriors Bash spoke of. “Earlier, the dragon fled.” First off, in Eyes’s mind, the battle had already been decided. Eyes had lost, and even resorted to Newt magic to save her hide. Wasn’t that answer enough? “You won already, didn’t you?” “Dragons are not such easy opponents.” Eyes was flattered by this but felt like Bash was giving her too much credit. Eyes was terrified of Bash and wanted to flee. Yes, Eyes felt that honor was aspirational… Eyes would like to die honorably if possible… But still… “How will you protect honor…without killing it?” But still, Eyes didn’t want to die. Eyes was so scared she wanted to cry. “Protect my honor…without killing the dragon?” “…Yes.” Bash closed his eyes, his expression solemn. Eyes felt panicky as she watched Bash thinking. Zell came close to Bash’s ear and whispered something. Eyes’s anxiety intensified. Let’s just hurry up and kill this pathetic lizard, Zell was saying, no doubt. There was a scene like that in the stories Bash had told earlier. “…” Eventually, the two finished whispering, and Bash looked right at Eyes. Was Eyes going to die after all? Killing a dishonorable opponent would not convey much honor. But Bash had also killed dishonorable opponents before. After all, he’d said so himself earlier. “My honor…” “…” “If I make a beautiful woman like you my wife, my honor will be upheld.” “…?” All of a sudden, here was a new concept Eyes couldn’t comprehend. A wife. What was a wife? “Wife?” “Yes. I want you to become my wife and give birth to my children.” Birth young. Eyes was smart. Eyes understood. Wife meant mate. “You want to make me your wife? Your mate? That would uphold honor? How?” “An ordinary sort of orc would never be able to take someone like you as his wife, no matter what kind of dangerous gambit he pursued. If I were to take you as my wife and have children with you, I’d be remembered in history as an exceptional orc until the day that orcs are gone from this world.” “…” “Though becoming an orc’s wife might be humiliating to you…” Eyes thought, Oh, right. In dragon legends, dragons who used Newt often went on to have younglings with the person they used it against. Even Bones was the same. Bones didn’t use Newt to save their hide when cornered or anything. Nor did Bones particularly want to have younglings with a person. But Bones did indeed have a child with a person. How come using a Newt results in having a child with the one you use it against? Eyes had long wondered about this… Here was the answer. These words from Bash were the answer. It was requested by the other party. For a person, mating with a dragon was likely an act of great honor, even more so than slaying a dragon. The reason Bash didn’t immediately suggest it was probably because he was worried about Eyes’s honor. Certainly it is dishonorable for a dragon to mate with a puny person. At the very least, up until a few days ago, Eyes would have hated the idea. Even if dragons had no concept of honor, they would still not want to have children with people. “…” However, Eyes realized that they were far beyond this disgrace now. Eyes had used Newt to beg for her life and was given a chance to protect her honor, but threw it all away in order to cling to life. Eyes did not care about disgrace or humiliation. The only important thing was survival. And now Eyes had learned about honor. Bash was an honorable warrior. Much stronger than Eyes. To be his mate did not seem like such a big disgrace to Eyes. As Bones used to say, the strong seek one another out and form bonds. To do so is very becoming of a dragon. Eyes hadn’t experienced that yet. But to have Bash as her first partner… It did not fill her with discomfort or resentment. Partly because Eyes had recognized Bash as stronger than herself. Partly because of all that talk about honor and pride. Now Bash was a Hero that Eyes respected. So the answer was obvious. “Okay. I will be your wife.” And on that day, Bash pulled off his first-ever successful proposal.
Chapter 53
16 min read