Chapter 152 : Chapter 152

Chapter 152 - I Noticed (2)

The leader did not like Ratel.

The leader was someone who normally felt unbearable hatred rise whenever he saw humans, but this black-haired human was especially severe.

His arrogant way of speaking, his unreadable expression, even the things he said that scraped at one’s insides.

The leader felt twice the displeasure basically felt by people who disliked Ratel.

On top of that, though it had only been for a moment, the fact that he had shrunk back before a human like that touched his pride.

And on top of that, even the half-wit......

The leader wanted to harm the human before his eyes somehow.

If he could not attack him directly, he at least wanted to wound him inside.

“Kkwek, do you still not grasp the situation? Kkwek, do you really believe that bastard will let you out? Kkwek, there’s a limit to stupidity. Kkwek, do you think the other bastards will just leave it alone once I reclaim the boss position? Kkwek, you’re now......”

“I’ll die?”

“Kkwe, kkwek, yes!”

The leader, flustered by Ratel’s calm response, stumbled over his words a little.

“Fine, let’s say I die.”

“Kkwek, it’s not ‘let’s say.’ You really will......!”

“What will you do after that?”

At Ratel’s way of speaking, cutting off the other party’s words bit by bit, the leader’s face flushed green.

“Kkwek!! While they’re tearing you apart and eating you, I’ll reclaim the leader’s position again!! Kkwek, and your corpse......!”

“Fine, whether you eat my corpse or tear it to pieces, do as you please. What will you do after that?”

Ratel asked, brushing aside the tiresomely repeated curse without sincerity.

“Kkwe, kkwek, after that, I’ll go back to where I originally was......”

The leader, already overwhelmed by Ratel’s momentum once, answered Ratel’s question obediently without realizing it.

It was also because his thoughts deepened as he tried to answer Ratel’s words.

It was not as if Ratel had asked the question to give the leader a chance to look back on his life.

It had only been a question asked half because he wanted the leader to get angry, and half because he hoped the leader would at least keep his mouth shut while thinking about a question with no answer.

But unlike his light intention, Ratel’s question caused a larger ripple than expected inside the leader’s head.

After all, the leader had come this far with only the vague belief that everything would return once he reclaimed his position.

Because of that, the leader pictured the future after reclaiming the boss position for the first time.

The first thing that came to mind was himself guarding his place at the center of the cave again.

Nothing in particular would change.

He would give orders, stay on guard so he would not be attacked again, and sometimes...... sometimes......

As the leader imagined blankly, he felt a corner of his chest grow uncomfortable.

Extending his thoughts in a direction he had never set foot in before was difficult.

The leader wondered about the reason for that discomfort, but in the end, he could not find the cause.

Instead, he was able to realize one thing.

In the future he had drawn, the half-wit naturally existed.

Of course he did.

That bastard had never once left his side from the moment he was born until now.

The half-wit listened well, but in exchange, he was stupid, and his abilities were also terrible.

If a fool like that were left alone, no one knew when he would die.

That was precisely why the leader’s position could not be handed over to other bastards all the more.

If not him, what bastard would find use in the half-wit and take him around?

***

The leader, whose thoughts had unknowingly grown long, suddenly came back to his senses.

“Kkwek!! What does that have to do with you?!”

Ratel looked pathetically at the leader as he threw a tantrum, angered by the fact that he had been swept along by a human’s question.

“I’m glad it doesn’t look like there’s much to it.”

“Kkwek, what are you saying you’re glad about?!”

At the leader’s question, Ratel tilted his head and looked at his neck.

“I told you. I came to cut off your neck.”

At that confident attitude, the leader felt something beyond rage, almost awe.

At the fact that madness could dwell that deeply in a human who had gone neatly insane.

“Kkwek, there really is no end to human bastards. Kkwek, one moment they seem cowardly, and then a mad bastard like you appears. Kkwek, weak as you are, I don’t know if you’re bluffing or what.”

At the leader’s drained mutter, Ratel narrowed his eyes.

“I’ve been thinking about this for a while. Don’t you think your words don’t line up?”

“Kkwek, wh-what do you mean?”

“For someone who spent his life stuck in this cave, chanting about how much he hates humans, you seem to know quite a lot about humans.”

There was not much time to confirm the color draining from the leader’s face.

Because of the ominous feeling coming through the vibration of the rope, secrets about orcs quickly moved far from Ratel’s interests.

ROOOOAR----

Together with the ominous sound ringing from below, he felt a force pulling the rope.

Without thinking any further, Ratel yanked the rope hard toward the inside of the cliff.

The leader, who grasped the situation one beat late, followed Ratel.

***

What is it this time?

The prince who had gone down below said he could not use his power, so it probably was not because of the movement of Manis.

Did that mean something external was affecting the movement of the water?

If so, the first thing that came to mind was the holy object.

The prince had said the holy object devoured people, so there was no way there could be anything even slightly positive about its movement.

Did that mean they could no longer dawdle here?

Well, there was no reason to keep dragging things out here anymore.

It also happened that that stubborn royal bastard had bent his insistence a little.

Though he still did not seem to have escaped the delusion that he could run away at any time.

For now, Ratel had to be satisfied with the fact that the bastard had given up on the plan of staying on the island with the two orcs and plotting something useless again.

At the very least, he would not have to listen to insane nonsense about staying here with the one-armed bastard aiming for that bastard’s life.

Yes, aiming for his life.

At the sudden sense of dissonance, Ratel turned his head and looked at the leader.

“Kkwek, damn it......!”

Perhaps supporting the half-wit with one hand was too much for him, because the leader was cursing as he pulled the rope backward and endured by putting his weight into it.

The leader, who had been groaning to avoid being dragged forward, seemed to feel Ratel’s gaze and turned his head.

Perhaps his judgment had blurred from the strain, because the only thing in the leader’s eyes as he glared at Ratel was irritation.

Even that did not last long.

Perhaps the half-wit had thrashed below at that moment, because the leader was dangerously dragged forward by the half-wit’s weight.

Horrified, the leader tore his attention away from Ratel and put strength into his legs.

“Kkwek! What are you doing that you’re so slow?!”

“If you care so much about time, just jump down. If you’re submerged underwater, time might feel a little slower.”

Heated by Ratel’s sarcasm, the leader opened his mouth this time with plenty of curses loaded and ready.

But there was no chance to hear the leader’s rough curses.

Because before that, the leader’s head began functioning.

Enough for him to realize that the human beside him was enduring the weight of an orc without showing even a hint of strain.

The realization that he was not making even the smallest groan, let alone showing signs of difficulty, came as a bonus.

At last, shock filled the leader’s face.

So it wasn’t my imagination after all!

***

Feeling a chill run down the back of his neck, the leader slowly turned his gaze.

The orc desperately hoped that the arrogant human had found some object to lean his body against while holding the rope.

Or at least that his face was twisted as far as it could go from using all his strength.

But there was no way a structure capable of withstanding an orc’s weight would suddenly rise from this empty field, and there was no way a human could pull up an orc merely by twisting his face a little.

The leader himself knew it had been an absurd hope.

But knowing that did not make the human’s monstrous strength, pulling up an orc without even a change in expression, any less shocking.

“Kkwek!!!!”

Because it was still a sight worthy of a scream.

Whether the leader was frightened or not, Ratel remained calm.

He only thought quietly.

It’s impossible to hide it any further.

Feeling the leader’s horrified gaze, Ratel put strength into both hands gripping the rope.

“Kkwe, kkwek, you......!”

At the sight of him slowly pulling the rope and approaching the front of the cliff, the leader stammered.

“Are you going to keep staying like that? If you don’t pull, the half-wit will sink under the water.”

At Ratel’s advice, the leader seemed to remember the half-wit he had forgotten and carefully pulled the rope as he approached the cliff edge where Ratel stood.

“Kkwek, what is that strength? Kkwek, have you been deceiving us this whole time?”

The leader demanded an answer, glaring at Ratel with wary eyes.

“I’ve never lied. Not once, from the beginning until now.”

“Kkwek! That’s the lie! Kkwek, you’ve been deceiving us by following quietly until now!”

“I told you at the start, didn’t I? That I came to cut off your neck.”

At Ratel’s reply, the leader gulped.

He looked down at himself, unable to even pull up one half-wit.

Only now did the realization begin to creep over him that this human bastard had not been insane, and that the one who should have felt his life threatened was not the human, but himself.

***

“Kkwek, Ratel! Grab the leader!”

The leader, who had been pulling the half-wit with all his strength, could not withstand the sudden impact and pitched forward.

With his vision tilting along with his body, he saw the human spit out a curse, throw aside the rope, and reach a hand toward him.

He had no intention of obediently letting himself be caught.

If asked to choose between the human and the half-wit, of course he would choose the half-wit.

The leader avoided the human’s hand and obediently entrusted his body to the force pulling him.

But the moment his eyes met the half-wit’s eyes as the half-wit pulled him from below the cliff, the leader felt that something had gone terribly wrong.

Because the owner of those unfamiliar eyes and unfamiliar expressions was not the stupid orc he knew.

Since when has that bastard had such a clear face?

It was too late to wonder.

His body had already been thrown into the air, and all that remained was the flimsy rope tying him to the half-wit.

Regret surged over him for having done something so reckless because of the half-wit’s words.

The one misfortune and fortune was that the person the leader was trying to escape was Ratel.

After all, Ratel was not someone who could be escaped from by merely jumping off a cliff.

“Kkwe, ek......!!”

Nearly biting his tongue at the ridiculous force pulling his waist backward, the leader lowered his head.

At some point, a rope with a noose had wrapped around his waist.

Unable to understand his own situation as he dangled there, the leader followed the rope with his gaze.

His gaze climbed in order from the arm holding the rope firmly to the owner of that arm, then stopped together with his breath.

The moment he met those cold golden eyes, an instinctive alarm rang through his head.

The belated realization brushed past his mind that things had started going wrong not now, but long ago.

No, that all of this had simply been wrong from the very beginning.