10 FIRST KISS The outcome of a battle becomes clear halfway through. When the tide begins to turn toward either winning or losing, the atmosphere begins to change. People tend to be sensitive to subtle things, like the momentum of their allies, or the degree of fear of their enemies. And depending on the atmosphere one senses, a person’s level of strength also changes. If it looks like losing is imminent, they back off for fear of death, but if it starts to look like they might win, then they gain momentum in their desire to claim victory. It’s the momentum, usually, that leads to either ultimate defeat or ultimate victory. Bash, too, had sensed the trend of battle on many occasions. Of course, it’s not always the case. But Bash could generally sense when he was about to win. Ah, this battle seems winnable, he would think. Of course, there were also times when Bash realized he was going to lose… “…And then?” When Bash told his story of dragon slaying at the Remium Plateau… The demon woman said this. She’d lost the frightened look she’d had before Bash had started his story. In its place was a coolness. Her eyes half closed, her lips slightly open as she cast a sidelong glance at Bash. Her face was beautiful, but her expression hurt his heart in a different way. Bash had seen a look like that before. In the land of the orcs, when a warrior brags about something really stupid, the orcs make this face. And they say this: “…And then?” So what’s the point of your boring tall tale? “…And then?” The words that came out of the woman’s mouth were exactly the same. Bash had never imagined he’d get such a bland, disinterested reaction to his tale of dragon slaying. He hadn’t been sure how the demon woman would react, to be sure, but he was expecting some sort of emotional reaction. Amazement or contempt, he wasn’t sure. But something. “And then what happened?” Bash panicked. He’d wanted to reassure the demon woman by telling her the story of how he killed a dragon. To reassure her that she’d be all right if the dragon returned. But perhaps she simply thought him a liar. In orc society, liars are considered uncool. Orc boasting invariably involved embellishment, yes. But most orcs were stupid enough to swallow a bit of exaggeration. And the person doing the boasting usually half believed their own words. So you couldn’t really call it an outright lie. But excessive exaggeration can make even an orc suspicious. Huh? Hold on. That couldn’t have happened like that, could it? When the audience started to think like that, they lost enthusiasm quickly. If the story rings false, then it’s just a tall tale. Orcs who tell lies that are incongruous with their actual abilities… They’re the height of uncool. On the other hand, if an orc is telling the truth and people still think they’re lying, this is a sign that they don’t believe in the orc’s abilities. For an orc, whose fighting prowess is everything, there is no greater humiliation. “…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…” And thus, after the dragon-slaying story, Bash told the story of his combat history. He began with the battle with the Hero Leto and went through many ferocious battles that he had been in right up to the end of the war. Boasting, the likes of which Bash rarely ever did. Halfway through the conversation, Zell started to get more excited than the demon woman. Zell gasped with amazement at the bits of the stories they didn’t know, and chipped in with comments and extra details about things they’d personally experienced. The bragging stories were really very vivid and detailed. “That’s the end…” But still, the woman’s attitude was cold. “You and the warriors you killed are all honorable warriors.” Her face registered zero emotion. Even an inarticulate ogre could have given a livelier response. Tall tales. It was clear the demon woman thought Bash’s stories were irrelevant nonsense. So all the warriors you defeated were honorable, huh? Great, wow. So what? …It was like that. All right, there was no punchy ending to Bash’s stories. He was missing the climax, the part where the orc ravishes the women. He had no climax to give her following her repeated question of “And then…?” His bragging might have been dripping with realism, but he was still only ever going to get to a maximum of 50 points. Defeating a dragon was around 100 points, of course, but the other tales were only 40 points at best. Thunder Sonia would be around 48 points. Halfway through, it became painful for Bash to listen to his own words. He started to feel self-conscious with his bragging eliciting such a cold nonresponse. Bragging was supposed to be about Bash reaffirming his own sense of confidence, but that confidence was slipping away fast. And the fact that he was still a virgin was weighing on him more heavily than ever. This was why Bash rarely boasted in the orc country. He was afraid that this exact scenario would happen. “You want to protect your honor at all costs, right?” “Huh?” The demon woman’s cold gaze shot through Bash, making him flinch. The demon woman was probably only indulging Bash’s stories out of a sense of obligation. After all, Bash did come to rescue her. Otherwise, she would not have been this cold, this unemotive with her words. “Yeah. I’ll protect the honor of the orcs, no matter what.” “You…would kill a dragon…to defend your honor?” Otherwise, the gaze directed at him would not have been so empty. The demon woman had no interest in Bash. She clearly didn’t even think he was worth scorning. “Huh? Yeah… I’ll kill the dragon for you.” “I don’t want to die…” “Hmm? Well, of course you don’t.” The conversation wasn’t going back and forth, no doubt because she wasn’t truly listening to what Bash was saying at all. Bash wasn’t a sophisticated conversationalist, but he’d picked up on this somehow. The demon woman seemed absentminded even as she listened to Bash’s stories, and she didn’t even look at him. She didn’t even respond when Zell tried to act as Bash’s hype fairy. Plus, there was a tense atmosphere emanating from the woman… It was something almost intimidating. It was something he often felt when facing high-ranking female demons or succubi. She seemed to look at Bash as an inferior creature she’d been unlucky enough to be burdened with. Deep down, she must have been thinking all sorts of terrible things about him. “Earlier, the dragon fled. You won already, didn’t you?” “Dragons are not such easy opponents.” The woman seemed to be steering Bash away from fighting the dragon a second time. Probably because she didn’t have any faith in Bash’s fighting ability. She probably thought that she’d get caught up in the conflict if Bash fought the dragon again, and that they’d both be killed together. Nothing Bash had said up until then had resonated with the woman at all. His fierce days of battling… She either thought he was lying or she thought all of it was insignificant. Bash was utterly humiliated. “How…will you protect honor…without killing it?” “Protect my honor…? Without killing the dragon?” “…Yes.” Bash felt like he was being told to flee from the dragon and defend his honor in another way. If a fellow orc back in the orc country had said this to him, Bash would have been furious. Me? Run from a fight? Bash was an orc who valued battling, who valued honor. He took great pride in his own strength and in being called the Orc Hero. He would not let anyone insult him. First, he would slay the dragon as he had declared he would, and then he would pummel anyone who underestimated him until they were bloody and unconscious. “My honor…” “…” But the person before him was a beautiful demon woman. Of course, Bash believed in protecting one’s honor and pride. But there was something else he wanted to protect… By which I mean, something he wanted very badly to get rid of. Getting angry now wasn’t going to get him laid. If the Hero Bash could not manage to lose his virginity, then his orcish pride would be wounded forever. So he could not attack the demon woman. But what could he say in response to such an insult? And what could he say to woo this woman into becoming his wife and having consensual sex with him? Bash was an orc. He wanted to say the right words. But at a time like this, the words just weren’t coming. “Boss.” Then Zell whispered in his ear. But of course. Bash had Zell. At times like these, the fairy always gave him guidance. It was always this fairy who saved Bash from difficult situations. “This isn’t looking good, Boss…” But the fairy merely shook their head… Rare for Zell. “How can she be this cold after hearing your stories, Boss? I don’t like her… I mean, she is a demon, you know? Yes, she’s a demon, and a woman, but after hearing your tales of bravery, she can’t show one tiny emotion? She’s seriously looking down her nose at you, Boss! A woman who treats you with contempt isn’t worthy of being your wife…!” Bash was left speechless by this. He never thought Zell would say something like that. He always expected Zell to say things like, You can do it, Boss! Sure, Zell would tell it to Bash straight when something wasn’t working, but the fairy would always put an encouraging spin on it. Zell, the eternal optimist, saying all that with tears in their eyes… I see… Another failure, then. So this woman isn’t the one, either… Bash was convinced by Zell immediately. He gave up, knowing that the woman would never become his wife, no matter what clever words he used. At the same time, a terrible feeling of disappointment washed over him. “Another failure…” Sometimes, in battle, the outcome is clear halfway through. Whether it’s victory or defeat. This time, it was a losing battle. Bash had lost again. He’d climbed a snowy mountain, thwarted a dragon, and boasted his ass off about having killed another dragon before, all to impress a woman, but she hadn’t even taken him seriously. The demons were having a huge dragon issue currently. Maybe if he hadn’t let the dragon escape. Maybe if he’d slain it. Things might have been different. But he did let it escape. And for that, there was no excuse. Since Bash hadn’t defeated the dragon, boasting about his dragon-slaying prowess just made him sound delusional and immature. …I guess having a demon woman as a wife is just a distant dream. Basically, it was an impossible idea. From the start, it was never all that likely that a demon would agree to become an orc’s wife. “If I make a beautiful woman like you my wife, my honor will be upheld.” “…?” Still, Bash gave voice to this desire. Those were the words he’d prepared, after wooing her with his boasting. A warrior must, on occasion, bravely take the final blow, even knowing he will lose. All of the warriors that Bash had defeated had been like that. Though they knew they’d lost, they still held their swords high and proclaimed, “I accept defeat!” Then, as a proud orc warrior, Bash, too, would follow suit. “Wife?” “Yes. I want you to become my wife and give birth to my children.” Bash’s proposal. “You want to make me your wife? Your mate? That would uphold honor? How?” The demon woman asked. How cruel she was! She wanted Bash to explain how low his status was. She was forcing him to say it. “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 when orcs are gone from this world.” “…” “Though becoming an orc’s wife might be humiliating to you…” It was a rhetorical question. Yep, it sure would. Now, since we’re on the same page, kindly escort me back to the fort. If you do that, I’ll forgive you for having looked at me with that lustful gaze. That was what Bash was expecting to hear. However, there was one thing Bash had forgotten. Yes, you could tell when the battle was a losing one. It was in the air, it was in the morale level of those around you… But sometimes, sometimes…you were wrong. “Okay. I will be your wife.” At such times, the moment of victory comes to the brave soldier with the force of a cannonball to the head. Bash felt like he was floating on a cloud. He didn’t quite understand the situation. He’d proposed, she’d accepted… He couldn’t quite grasp that. “I’ve never been wifed before. This is quite exciting.” But the woman’s words themselves confirmed it. She didn’t sound that excited. On the contrary, her expression was cooler than ever. The woman stood up calmly, as if the frightened look on her face had never even been there, and began walking briskly through the cave. “But I know what a wife has to do.” Bash trailed after her. Eyes on her slender back. She had long, lustrous hair, delicate shoulders, long, supple legs, and perky buttocks. Her body looked somewhat weak compared to that of the women he’d encountered so far, but he could sense an incredible power emanating from her whole body. It was a strength unique to the powerful demon species. Her presence was more imposing than that of any demon Bash had ever met. No demon general he had encountered before had been as powerful as this woman. Any child born to this woman would surely be full of vigor and bring great prosperity to the orc race. “I learned this from Bones.” The woman looked over her shoulder, her face radiant. If he could make her his wife, then he would be losing his virginity to her. Bash might just die on the spot from happiness. And hadn’t she just mentioned that this would be her first time? She was everything Bash had been looking for. “Making babies.” The woman was certainly direct. The only reason Bash didn’t throw himself on top of her was because he was still confused about the general situation. He didn’t understand why such a great woman had accepted his proposal. He wasn’t on guard, but rather confused…something that was unusual for Bash. “Making babies, huh?” Bash’s most chivalrous aspect was his honesty. He responded directly and earnestly. That’s right, no matter how confused Bash was, he had been waiting for this moment. “May I…have sex with you?” “Okay.” Permission readily given. This was…consent. The Orc King had decreed that only sexual intercourse with consent was permissible. That prerequisite was now fulfilled. Bash’s confusion quickly subsided. Because Bash was an orc. A proud orc. Even if he had doubts, just knowing that he had the go-ahead to bed a woman had his instincts taking over. “Raaargh!” Finally, Bash’s base instinct overtook him. He threw himself at the woman and wrapped her in his arms. The woman also wrapped her arms and tail around Bash’s back.
Chapter 54
14 min read