“I sure hope everything goes this smoothly,” whispered Alice.
“It’ll all change once we enter the Nursery,” said Leon, not slowing down as he talked. “The orcs will have prepared a defense there.”
What happened next came out of nowhere. As Leon made his way between the buildings, he passed a pagan church. And the moment he did, a foreign memory invaded his brain.
Happiness is born of love. That was my guiding philosophy.
“Your belly’s really started to grow recently.”
My husband smiled like an innocent child. It brought me immeasurable joy to think that part of that man was growing inside me.
“When I first met you,” he said, “I didn’t think this day would really come.”
My thoughts were the same. After all, he was a strict and holy knight, while I was a humble nun. We were both pledged to the Goddess, sworn to live our lives in Her service.
“I suppose we didn’t know what love was back then.”
“No,” I agreed. “We were so ignorant.”
No one was more devoted to our Lady than we, and we were rewarded with positions that befitted our piety… But one day, I noticed the hole in my heart.
We loved the Goddess. But She did not love us back.
It wasn’t enough to shake my faith, but a part of me always seemed to be missing.
Until I met him. He had been feeling the same way, and we chose to fill the holes in each other’s hearts.
“I’m really glad I married you,” I said.
“Me too. It was truly our Lady’s will that we met.”
We smiled, stroking my swollen belly and praying for the new life I was bringing into the world.
But that ungrateful bitch of a goddess betrayed me. Betrayed the love I offered her.
“How…? Why?”
I never became a mother. According to our faith, it was because my soul was wicked and corrupt, unable to bear a child safely into the world.
“Ortesia…”
There was no trace of love in my husband’s eyes.
“…how could you betray me like this?”
I lost everything that day. My happiness. My love. My child.
…And my right to live as a human.
The influx of memories suddenly stopped, and Leon’s mind returned.
“…Those were most likely the memories of the Orc Queen,” he said.
This was the true identity of the endlessly birthing fiend. A woman who lost her unborn child, and with it, everything.
“Yet another fiend with an unusual fate.”
But that was why Leon was here.
“…Let’s go. It’s time to put an end to her tragic tale.”
With determination shining in his crimson eyes, Leon led Alice through the village. After walking for a while, their surroundings began to change.
“Are those…egg tubes?” asked Alice.
“Yeah. This is where things get serious.”
The two stared at a building completely entwined in a white, tubelike structure.
“That’s where the Orc Queen births her offspring… Like that.”
From the tip of the serpentine tract came a squelching sound as it ejected a dark red egg.
“Wh-why, it already looks quite vile just from appearances, doesn’t it?”
Alice winced in displeasure. The egg began pulsating, but just as it seemed about to hatch, bringing another new life into the world…a horde of werewolves descended on it. With their sharp claws, they tore the egg, and the hatchling within, to pieces.
“Th-th-th-that’s…! Thaaat’s…!”
That’s what you deserve, they tried to say. Just then…
“Piggyyyyyyyyy!”
A piercing shriek echoed over the area. It belonged to the queen. A scream of anger and grief for another life cruelly destroyed. As if synchronized to her pain, an army of orcs suddenly appeared out of nowhere and started fighting the werewolves.
“Her obsession with children could be a weakness…”
However, Leon was not going to have the chance to exploit that weakness. Because the job here was a simple assassination. All Leon needed to do was find a location to take the shot, and his victory would be assured.
“I know I’ve said it before, but this is where things get serious. The scales are tipped heavily in the orcs’ favor here. If you get spotted, it’ll be over. Try not to make a sound.”
Leon first dropped to the floor, placing his left ear to the cobbles. His superhuman hearing picked up footsteps, which his brain analyzed to draw a complete map of the surrounding area in his mind—how many fiends, their locations, how they were moving. Then it calculated the shortest distance to his destination.
He turned to Alice and signaled with his eyes and hands.
“No speaking from here on out. Understand?”
“Yes, Master!”
The pair set off again, Leon leading the way via the complex route he traced in his mind. As a result, they encountered no opposition at all.
“We’ll pass through this building and leave by the back door,” Leon signaled. “From there, we just have to get onto the rooftops.”
“You’re amazing, Master! You make it seem so easy!”
It was a tightrope act, but Leon had made it through unscathed. A little relief mixed in with his continued vigilance, he entered the building.
“M-Master,” Alice signed. “Wh-what is this place?”
“A brothel, obviously. Is that a problem?”
Alice immediately went red-faced, clearly flustered.
“B-b-b-but that’s lewd!”
“…You need to train yourself to be numb to it. Adventurers can’t go losing their minds over this.”
“Wh-wh-what kind of training are you suggesting?!”
The gentle back-and-forth relaxed Leon’s mind, and just as he noticed his guard was down—just as he passed one of the rooms—a new memory began to play.
When I was a woman of the cloth, I hated purveyors of corruption and vice. They had turned against our Goddess and deserved the stones people threw at them.
It was only when I was put in their shoes that I finally understood. It was us, throwing the stones, who were the sinners. The purveyors of corruption and vice had been denied the privileged life I led.
But that realization came far too late.
“Now, squeal! Squeal for me, you little pig!”
I did what the customer wanted. Even though it made me feel sick to my core.
“Oink! O-oink!”
“Hahahaha! Music to my ears! Sounds just like the real thing!”
The man cackled as he violated me from behind, like a pig.
“Always wondered what a nun feels like! Who’s your savior now, bitch?”
He struck me on my cheeks, slamming his crotch into my behind.
…What a pathetic, wretched thing I’d become. I wanted to die, but I was too ashamed to go through with it. I was born to be happy, so why was I living this tragedy?
I couldn’t accept it. And I couldn’t let it end without doing something about it.
To die without dignity, reduced to a pig… I couldn’t let that happen.
I needed to live happy. To die happy.
And for that…
“Give me…a child… Please… Please…”
I begged. Not for the customer, but for myself.