“…”
Looking closely at the situation, the Faerie that used to accompany Bash on the battlefield was there too, bound and tied up in a padded bag, laying on the table.
Houston was familiar with this Faerie.
After being taken deliberately taken prisoner by the enemy, she would use some kind of strange magic to inform Bash of her, and thus her captor’s, position.
Faeries were prized for the restorative properties of the dust they gave off, so they were rarely killed, even when captured.
Taking advantage of the Humans’ behavior, she would intentionally get trapped, giving her would-be-jailers a nasty green surprise.
“Zell, the Master Baiter BOOBYTRAP-BAIT ” is what they called her.
“Ju… Judith…”
His sense of duty towards his subordinates, who were attentively watching him, was the only thing holding Houston back from succumbing to his trauma and run away screaming.
He was the Knight Commander of Krassel.
He was the one at the head of all the knights and soldiers of the city.
He was their leader.
Moreover, he was proud of the fact that they looked up to him – that they admired him.
He didn’t want to betray their trust.
Besides, if you paid close attention, you would notice Bash didn’t seem angry towards Judith.
Those weren’t the eyes of a murderous Human slaughtering monster. His expression was more akin to that of a good-natured old man listening to his grandchild’s selfishness.
It was incredible that an entity that brutal could make a face that gentle.
He couldn’t always be filled with an unquenchable thirst for blood just like he was on the battlefield, right?
Yes, because the war was over. There was peace now.
That was the impression that Houston got from Bash’s eyes.
But none of that changed the fact that they were dealing with Bash – THE Bash.
Taking a deep breath, Houston spoke to Judith with the utmost caution, mulling carefully over each of his words.
“Hey! What are you doing?”
“Oh! Sir, I was informed that an Orc attack had been reported in the Western Forest, and upon investigation, I found out that a suspicious Orc had recently entered the town. We immediately tracked him down to the inn where he was staying and put him under arrest. We’re currently interrogating him.”
“Ah, I see… Hmmm.”
Houston immediately understood the situation – there was no way this was a legitimate arrest.
Bash wouldn’t leave any witnesses.
If he really wanted to not get caught, he would have already escaped.
Even a hundred men wouldn’t have sufficed to capture him – let alone the Judith’s tiny squadron.
Why did Houston believe that?
Because he had tried it before.
“I’ve gotten him to give up most of his information, now all we need is to find out the goal of his journey! Hey! Spit it out, you fucking pig!”
Grabbing Bash by his collar, Judith got all up in his face, threatening him.
A chill ran down Houston’s spine.
“Oh, no, no, no, no, none of that! Don’t be violent!”
His tone and attitude were absolutely pathetic.
Why was that?
Even in times of peace, there were situations that would definitely make someone angry.
Like, for example, if you were taken to jail for no good reason, grabbed and jostled by a little girl who had never known war, who then proceeded to arrogantly threaten you.
In other words, now was the time.
He should be angry.
“I have nothing more to say.”
But Bash was not angry.
Rather than looking upset, his face was relaxed, his nostrils twitching once in a while.
The citrus scent wafting in from various parts of the prison must have soothed his soul.
Orcs were omnivorous. They would eat nearly anything but had a particular preference for fruit.
Houston inwardly thanked his men for implementing the use of citrus scented oil in the prison, thinking about giving them a pay raise.
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“Ahem… Judith, please take your hands off of him, slowly back away, and come stand next to me.”
“What’s the matter sir? What’s wrong? I can’t believe Sir Houston, the Swine Slayer, would be so.. so timid!”
“AHHHH, no, no! Don’t use that nickname!”
Houston’s nickname was of… particular interests to the Orcs.
Mentioning it while arresting a stray Orc would inevitably end up with him glaring at you, hatred burning in their eyes, cursing you, “You… you’re Swine Slayer! I’ll kill you! Fuck, I’ll kill you!”
That’s how much the name “Swine Slayer” riled up the Orcs.
Well, maybe they were just angry at being called pigs.
“What are you going on about, Sir Houston? Now listen carefully, swine. Let me tell you about Sir Houston’s feats, you fucking pig. This right here, standing right in front of you, is the man who has slain the most Orcs during the war – Commander Houston of the Anti-Orc Army! He could take care of a little porky Orcy like you with a hand behind his back and a finger up his nose. And…”
“Now listen here, you little pork! I’ll have you know that Sir Houston was promoted to the position of Commander of the Anti-Orc Army and has been involved in numerous secret raids on Orc Country, and he has over 300 confirmed kills. He is trained in Dwarven molerat warfare and is the top swordsman in the entire Alliance armed forces. You are nothing to him but just another target. He will wipe you the fuck out with precision the likes of which has never been seen before on Vastonia, mark my fucking words. You think you can get away with hiding information from us? Here? In Human territory? Think again, fucker. As we speak he is contacting his secret network of spies across the country and your footsteps are being traced right now so you better prepare for the storm, maggot. The storm that wipes out the pathetic little thing you call your life. You’re fucking dead, orcy boy. He can be anywhere, anytime, and he can kill you in over seven hundred ways, and that’s just with his bare hands. Not only is he extensively trained in unarmed combat, but he has access to the entire arsenal of the Alliance combined military and he will use it to its full extent to wipe your miserable ass off the face of the continent, you little shit. If only you could have known what unholy retribution your little “clever” I-have-nothing-to-say attitude was about to bring down upon you, maybe you would have told us what we wanted to hear. But you couldn’t, you didn’t, and now you’re paying the price, you goddamn idiot. Sir Houston will shit fury all over you and you will drown in it. You’re fucking dead, pig.
Houston shouted.
It was a cry for help, for mercy. A prayer, a wish for all of this to end. A plea, coming from the depths of his soul.
“Shut up! If you don’t shut up right this instant, I’m going to smack you! Now get your ass over here!”
Judith was stunned by Houston’s threat, and proceeded to hesitantly back away.
Confused and embarrassed, she didn’t get why she was being reprimanded all of a sudden.
He’d have to explain it to her later.
But right now, he had to focus on Bash.
“Su…Haa…”
Houston took a deep breath and looked towards Bash.
As Judith stepped back, the Orc’s eyes returned to their sharp, hawkish look.
Houston’s mouth quivered.
“Allow me to apologize for my subordinate’s irresponsible actions. This idiot is in charge of solving the highway attack cases, but there’s been a lack of progress lately, so she’s in a hurry to produce results… Oh, I’m sorry, I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Houston Gayle.”
“I’m Bash.”
“I’ve known about you for… quite some time.”
“You have?”
“It was only a couple of times, but we’ve crossed paths during the war…”
Hearing that, Bash started paying close attention to Houston’s face.
The Knight Commander wondered if he would suddenly recall who he was and strike.
[No, he’s supposed to be a rational Orc.]
[Trust your judgment.]
[If he really wanted to hurt us, my men would already be dead, laying in a pool of their own blood. Judith would have already been beaten and raped into unconsciousness, leaking a… cloudy white substance from between her legs.]
While mentally reassuring himself, Houston forced himself to smile.
A wide, radiant smile.
For the whole of his thirty years of life, he had never smiled at any Human like this, much less an Orc.
“You’re… oh, a Human Warchief?”
“…Yes, I guess you could call me that.”
“I’ve missed you. It’s been a while. How have you been?”
Bash bared his fangs, his mouth open in a menacing snarl.
But Houston, the Orc scholar, knew better.
He knew that this ferocious expression was just a smile.
Feeling some the tension leave his body, he finally relaxed a little, glad that proper conversation might be possible.
“This all happened because of my lack of oversight. I hope you can find it within yourself to forgive me.”
“I’m not angry.”
Said Bash, seemingly irritated, regretfully looking over to Judith.
Seeing this, Houston concluded that Bash was “angry at Judith, but not enough to warrant murdering everybody.”
That was the extent of his anger, even after being treated so poorly.
He truly was a generous man – a person with such immense patience couldn’t be judged by the same standards as regular Orcs.
Any other Orc would have already torn Judith to pieces.
But! You never know when you might step on the tiger’s tail.
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Houston spoke out in order to end the conversation as soon as possible.
“If you don’t mind, I’d like to ask you a few questions. I promise this will be quick!”
“Again? How many times do I have to repeat myself?”
“Please just bear with me a tiny bit longer. Just one more time, please…!”
Hearing that Judith had pestered the Orc warrior with the same questions over and over again and made him repeat himself, Houston glared at her with a bitter expression.
Judith’s face reddened, and she turned away, embarrassed.
“Uh…”
Houston then asked Bash about the incident on the road in the western forest that Judith had reported.
The answer, of course, remained the same.
The carriage had been attacked by bugbears, and Bash had just walked by and chased them away.
He had approached the woman, but only to get her consent for intercourse.
The reason he didn’t attack her was because in the name of the Orc King, sexual intercourse with another species without consent was strictly forbidden.
Bash intended to abide by that law, so the notion that he had attacked anybody was nothing but a misunderstanding.
Hearing his story, Houston nodded.
Had it been a stray Orc saying this, or any other Orc for that matter, he wouldn’t have believed it, even for a second.
But this was Bash, the Orc Hero.
And if he said he was just passing by – he was just passing by.
Honestly, Houston had been expecting this to be the case.
If Bash had really attacked that carriage, there wouldn’t be anybody left alive to even report on it.
Houston knew better than anyone that running away from the Orc Hero was a life-threatening endeavor.
If someone really wanted to escape from Bash, they’d have to be both blessed with godly luck and prepared to sacrifice all their allies – assuming those allies were heavily armed and armored.
So,
“Alright, just one more thing…”
This next question was of utmost importance.
“This… thing you’re looking for… does the Orc King know about it?”
“Of course.”
“I see…”
Houston put two and two together and drew a conclusion.
It all started to make sense to him.
Why was Bash here?
What was the purpose of his journey?
It was by command of the Orc King.
Orc King Nemesis had given Bash some kind of order.
And following that order, Bash set out on his journey.
And the essential element of this mission was to “search for somebody, or something”.
“Ah… this is troublesome. I might need to involve the higher-ups in the government if it’s of national concern.”
“This is a personal matter. I don’t mean to cause you any trouble.”
Apparently, this secret absolutely had to be hidden from the Humans.
To warrant sending out a Hero like Bash, it had to be important.
Was it something that would being many benefits to his nation if he could obtain it?
Or something that would greatly harm them if left unchecked?
At the very least, it was definitely a big deal to Orc Country.
If it weren’t, they wouldn’t have sent out the Hero all on his own.
It was most likely because of that same mission that Bash didn’t cut down Judith and Houston right where they stood.
If he killed Humans and caused an uproar, it would interfere with his mission.
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The problem was what that mission entailed…
“I understand.”
Making up his mind, Houston stopped thinking about Bash’s quest.
Maybe what he was looking for would be harmful to Humanity.
“That’s all for now. I apologize for the inconvenience.”
But this had nothing to do with him.
He didn’t want to put his life on the line by unnecessarily getting involved.
Life was the most essential, yet fragile thing on the battlefield.
Bash’s arrest was all due to a gross misunderstanding.
He then cooperated without making a fuss and explained his side of the story.
That was that.
Case-closed.
In the meantime, or perhaps tomorrow, Houston would send a report back to the capital, saying,
“Bash, the Orc Hero, came to Krassel. He seems to be looking for something.”
And then he would let the intelligence department deal with this whole thing.
“Hmm.”
Bash nodded deeply, stood up, and began to untie Zell.
“Be careful on your way back. Oh, and don’t forget anything.”
Houston said, relieved that it was all finally over.
A massive weight had been lifted off his shoulders.
It was the first time he had ever spoken to Bash from up this close – the Orc warrior turned out to be a heroic man with a big heart.
But even though he was kind, Houston knew better than to stretch the limits of the Hero’s patience.
Houston knew a lot about Orcs, and thanks to his extensive knowledge, he also knew that there were innumerable aspects of Orcish life he was ignorant of.
The best thing to do now was to send them home as quickly as possible, before anyone blundered and woke up a sleeping dragon.
And after that, he would pray that the Orc-Faerie pair wouldn’t cause any unnecessary commotion in town.
[I’m not even going to send soldiers to escort them.]
[The lives of my men are important.]
[I’ll just stay out of it.]
That’s what Houston decided.
He hadn’t survived this long and endured so much hardship just to get killed during peacetime.
Why would he go around courting death when the war was over?
“…Hmm.”
However, Bash looked reluctant to leave as he was meticulously untying the Faerie.
His gaze kept wandering towards Judith, who was watching him from afar.
[Oh…?]
Seeing the look on Bash’s face, a sudden thought appeared in Houston’s mind.
Bash hesitated when he was told to go.
Why?
Why look at Judith?
Was he angry with her? No, just a second ago he said that he wasn’t. So why?
What information did this Orc have on her?
She’s a knight… She’s in charge of a case in the Western Forest… The highways…in other words!
Houston let his hyperactive mind run at full throttle and made a conclusion.
Hello everyone, BAD MACHINE here!
Whew this chapter is a grind to translate. One part left, coming up tomorrow.
This chapter will be the last release before next year, after which I’ll be taking a long, well deserved break from translation.
Hope you all enjoy!
And as always, thanks for reading, and happy holidays!
BAD MACHINE, out!
P.S. pls gib money if you like my translations, KO-FI link is in the novel description.