I wanted a child. A child is the embodiment of love. And love is what makes people happy. I wanted to be happy. So I wanted a child. I wanted a baby.
…The other prostitutes used to look at me with pity.
“A child won’t make you happy, you know.”
“Besides, they won’t let you stay pregnant for long. They’ll take you out back and sort you out.”
They all wanted love too, like me. But whenever they found it, it was taken away.
Soon enough, that happened to me as well. I finally conceived, only for my happiness to be killed once again.
I wasn’t allowed to give birth.
“…What good is this?”
I tore it apart, staring at the thick, crimson fluid that flowed out of it.
I thought back to my time as a nun. Already my memories were fading, replaced by a pitch-dark sentiment as black as night.
“The village, the people. The Goddess and all Her creations…”
It all needs to DIE!
Another sound overlapped the woman’s voice. This one, however, came from the real world.
“…!”
Leon sensed danger and snapped back to reality. Right before his eyes, the wall of the brothel caved in, and several orcs entered. They turned to see Leon and…
“Oink!”
Squealing, they all rushed him at once.
“Tch!”
It was too sudden, too unexpected, too dangerous.
“We’ll fight them here! Prepare yourself!”
“Y-yes, Master!”
Alice took a step back and drew her bow. Leon stood before her, defensively, staring down the orc band.
…Then the battle began.
Thinking fast, Alice distracted the mob, and Leon charged in like a mad beast. The fight only lasted a few moments, and soon all the monsters lay dead.
“…How did they know we were here?”
Leon didn’t have an answer. He and Alice had remained completely silent. While he pondered how the orcs could have detected them…there was another crash from behind them as a second group of orcs broke in.
“…Grh! Get outside! Quickly!”
Alice and Leon left via the hole made by the first group. But what awaited them on the other side was…
“Oink, oink, oink!”
An entire orc army stampeding toward them.
“Impossible…!”
Nobody had raised the alarm. How did the orcs know exactly where they were? There was nothing wrong with Leon’s navigation, either. There should have been zero chance of the pair being spotted. And yet…
“M-Master! Your orders?!”
“…Rgh!”
Her question came like a scream, pulling Leon back to the battle. There was no time. The hows and the whys could wait until later. Right now, the question was…how would Leon and Alice get out of this alive?
The only thing for it was…
“Pull back!”
As he and Alice fled, Leon focused on his hearing, searching for a weak point in the blockade…but only failure waited at every turn.
Nothing about the situation made any sense. None of the orcs had called for reinforcements. And yet even faraway allies had come to the rescue.
Looking closer, Leon noticed that all their eyes were vacant…as though something were controlling them.
“It can’t be…!”
A memory occurred. Four years ago, during the massacre at Yugosland. Leon had seen the same thing there.
Back when the monsters all had empty eyes and moved according to his whims.
“Could it be? Is he here as well…?”
Leon was being pursued. Hunted. But though he was sure of it, he couldn’t sense the perpetrator anywhere. Soon, he and Alice were forced back out into the streets. He couldn’t explain why, but it felt like he was being guided somewhere. To the queen.
The village square in the center of town was her throne. Was she happy now, protecting dozens upon dozens of her own precious dark-red eggs? Was this everything she wanted; when she worked at that dingy brothel, when she was a woman of the cloth? Before she was transformed into this enormous aberration?
Her form dominated the square. Hundreds of dangling teats, spilling endless quantities of milk, and ten limbs, like an insect. But those limbs possessed a second function—reproduction. They were covered in female genitalia, and the monarch’s serving-orcs huddled around her, thrusting into the holes.
The semen flowed into her, implanting their seeds, while the eggs exited her body via the tubes that sprouted from her back.
Were those eggs the symbols of love she sought?
“M…my baaaabiiiies…”
The queen released a perverse sigh as she shifted her gaze to the two intruders. As she spotted them, her azure eyes grew fiery with indignation.
“This is exactly what I wanted to avoid,” Leon muttered. His face, by contrast, showed no emotion at all. But on the inside, he was afraid. His trembling arms attested to that.
“I—I don’t want to die! Not in a place like this!”
Alice, on the other hand, was shaking all over and made no attempt to hide her fear. Yet her eyes shone with boundless courage and a determination to return alive at all costs.
“Oink! Oink, oink!”
One by one, the orcs paused their breeding and turned to the pair.
“…We need to take out the queen before they overwhelm us. That’s the only way we’re getting out of this alive.”
Most of the orcs were her offspring. Kill the mother, and they would die with her. The question was how to go about that.
“The queen thinks of her babies above all else. That means she’ll focus on anyone trying to destroy the eggs, and since her thoughts are transmitted to the orcs, it means they will, too.”
After a moment’s indecision, Leon handed his gun to Alice.
“Use this to shoot the eggs. While you distract her, I’ll prepare the finishing blow.”
Alice was to take on the role of decoy and bear the brunt of the orcs’ attention. It was not an easy decision for Leon to make. If this plan worked, both of them would escape with their lives. But if it failed, it wasn’t hard to imagine what punishment the angered monarch would bring down on whoever attempted to defile her precious eggs. No doubt Alice had considered the possibility as well. And yet…
“All right, Master! Leave it to me!”
She answered without hesitation. The light in her eyes was the same as Claire’s and Rheinhardt’s, back when they were still around.
I trust you. Absolutely.
Four years ago, Leon had betrayed that trust. But not this time.
It won’t happen again. The old, weak me is dead, and today, I’ll prove it!
The fires of resolution ignited Leon’s eyes. The next moment…
“Ooooiiiink!”
The orcs attacked from every direction. A truly despairing number. Alice felt her heart might give out at any moment, but…
“I shall see it done, Master!”
Her arms and legs quivered. Her face was streaked with tears. Yet Alice stepped bravely forward. She pressed on, took up the gun…and fired between a gap in her foes. Her bullet struck one of the liver-red eggs directly, ending the life of one of the Orc Queen’s beloved babies before it had even begun.
“Ooooiiiiinnk!”