「 To think you’ve become a degenerate overnight. Tsk, tsk. The honor of the Caravan family is hitting rock bottom. A descendant sneaking into a house to peep on another man’s wife… 」
“No, is this really my fault?”
Dammit.
Instead of helping me out of this predicament, Liam was busy mocking me. My blood boiled. Right, this was exactly the kind of man he was—a shameless ancestor with a literal Face of Steel who lived just to get under people’s skin.
“Do not worry too much.”
“Do you have a plan?”
“Of course. Orcs may seem reckless, but we are a race that always lives with a clever trick up our sleeves. Especially a wise Orc like myself—I always find the path to the best possible future.”
“Oh.”
The idea of Orcs always having a “clever trick” was something I couldn’t bring myself to agree with, but coming from Sherizik, it sounded strangely reliable. If it was her, she might actually know a way out of this.
However…
“First, I shall stop them from prattling.”
“Huh? What do you mean by—”
Sherizik was, in the end, an Orc.
Thud—!
With a dull impact, Sherizik vanished. In an instant, the witches who had been making such a fuss were flipped over, their heads slammed into the ground. With a series of muffled squawks, they lost consciousness and collapsed.
And Sherizik? She was holding a witch standing further away by the scruff of her neck, flashing a “killer smile” at me. A terrifying, blood-curdling predatory grin.
“They say if you lack strength, your head suffers. But if you have sufficient strength, complex thoughts are unnecessary. It is an immutable truth passed down among Orcs.”
I nearly fainted looking at the beaming Sherizik.
Dammit, she really was an Orc after all.
「 As I thought, those who chatter too much just need a good smack. 」
“No, how are we supposed to clean this up…?”
Ignoring Liam’s boisterous laughter, I let out a deep sigh. But Sherizik just looked at me with a perfectly unbothered expression. The witch caught in her thick hand was gasping and struggling, her eyes filled with pure terror.
“Do not worry, Successor of Steel.”
“Ack, keheck! Ack!”
“Orcs have their own ways.”
Those words were maddeningly Orc-like. Honestly, I felt like my future was turning pitch black.
And yet.
“Hmm?”
Strangely enough, things began to go smoothly.
*
“L-let go! Do you have any idea who I am? If even a scratch appears on my soft skin, my husband will be furious! Can a lowly Orc like you even handle his wrath?”
“So what?!”
Sherizik, still gripping the witch, began to speak as if her brain had completely melted. Her voice was loud enough to burst eardrums, and her method of communication involved completely ignoring the other person to bark out whatever she wanted. It was the image of a perfectly ‘ordinary Orc.’
“I am a stupid Orc, so I do not know! What does it mean to handle wrath? What does wrath even mean? Do not use difficult words! And what is a husband? Is he like your leader? Then I must challenge him to a duel!”
“……”
“I do not know where this is! I am hungry! If you keep yapping loudly, I will break you just like the other human wenches! Puhaha! Your neck looks so frail, I could snap it off like a dry twig!”
“My god…”
“I do not care! Hurry and lead me to the others! I came here at Audrey’s request! Audrey told me to lead this human behind me to the other human wenches! She said she would give me delicious meat if I did. I am already hungry! I am hungry and bored! I want to swing my glaive!”
Witches—women with a convoluted way of speaking and a nasty habit of threatening people by bringing up the Father of the Sky the moment things turned slightly disadvantageous. Cunning women who blurred the essence of a conversation to ensure they never lost out while getting exactly what they wanted.
In this moment, the wicked rhetoric and attitude of witches, proven throughout history, were being completely dismantled.
“Heaven help us. How can anyone be this barbaric?”
A conversational style that used circular logic to gain the upper hand? It was useless against the ear-splitting, mindless shouting of an Orc. Threats using the Father of the Sky, one of the Seven Chief Gods? Naturally, that didn’t work on an Orc. Orcs were madmen who would challenge even the Emperor to a duel if they felt slightly annoyed.
“O-Audrey… that foolish youngest sister. What was she thinking, asking such a barbaric Orc for a favor? Sniff .”
“Lead the way!”
“ Sniff … if I take that thing to Eldest Sister, the wise brains of us witches might be infected by the Orc and turn us into barbarians too!”
Normally, they would have argued logically, but all of this was possible only because Sherizik was an ‘Orc.’ To be fair, it was a perfect disguise—even I might have been fooled. Right now, Sherizik looked exactly like a hopeless, brainless Orc.
“ Snort! ”
Wait.
‘She’s… acting, right?’
For some reason, even I was starting to have doubts. I even wondered if she had lost her inherent wisdom while acting like an Orc and had actually reverted to a real one.
“I am stupid! Is it hard to talk to me? Then talk to this human! Audrey told me to bring this human to you as well!”
But that couldn’t be the case. Sherizik gave me a quick wink and a grin.
「 A fine strategy. Truly a wise Orc. 」
“……”
「 A perverted degenerate is better than a crazy Orc. In that witch’s eyes, you must look like an angel compared to the Orc. At least you can be reasoned with! 」
As Liam said, it was a wise strategy. With this method, the situation of our sudden intrusion would be resolved, and it seemed we could gain the witches’ cooperation relatively easily. It would be much more comfortable for them to talk to me than to deal with a brainless Orc.
However…
‘I’m not a perverted degenerate.’
Why did I keep getting pushed into that category?
“……You rude human?”
“Yes?”
“It seems I must speak with you instead.”
At any rate, the tangled situation began to unravel.
*
The Orc way was truly the most refreshing among all Seven Races. In a conversation, the most terrifying opponent isn’t someone with rock-solid logic or brilliant eloquence. It’s someone you can’t talk to at all. A lunatic who doesn’t listen to a word you say and just bellows their own thoughts. That is a state close to invincibility.
“So that is why you came here? The Orc Shamans suddenly sent you here, and that’s how this happened?”
“Yes, I’m a victim in this too.”
“Well, that certainly sounds like something Orcs would do. Yes… if it’s Orcs.”
The process that would have normally taken ages through convoluted dialogue was entirely skipped. Was this the wisdom of the Orc Shamans? No, there was no way. What kind of cursed wisdom would frame a perfectly fine young man as a perverted degenerate…?
‘But it’s fast, so I guess it’s good.’
Sherizik’s words, “But it was fast, wasn’t it?” kept ringing in my ears. Dammit, is this what it feels like to be tainted by Orcs? I felt like I was becoming addicted to this feeling of everything being resolved in an instant, social reputation be damned.
Regardless, with the witch’s help, we were heading toward the one they called ‘Eldest Sister.’ According to the witches’ rules, we needed her permission to receive their aid.
“Now, you may go in here.”
The witch was now smiling kindly, her previous glare gone. However, there was something I had overlooked.
“Yes, thank you. For coming this far—”
“—Hah! As if!”
“……?”
With a loud bang , the door slammed shut. The witch’s shrill voice echoed from behind the iron gate.
“Eldest Sister will judge you and that filthy Orc! You think I’d fall for that? ‘Caught in a scheme’? Orcs and strange men are all the same! Die! Just die!”
“……”
“Kyahahahaha! There’s no way Audrey would have asked you for a favor! That clever girl asking a strange man? And with an Orc in tow? Tell a lie that’s actually believable!”
Hmm.
「 This is why witch wenches haven’t been hit enough. 」
“They really are obnoxious, these witches.”
For once, Sherizik and my Master were in total agreement.
“Kyahahahahahaha!”
Amidst the obnoxious laughter, my body suddenly felt heavy with a creak . Looking down, I saw the floor beneath my feet cracking. An intangible pressure was crushing us. It felt as if an invisible boulder had dropped onto our heads.
Calming my breathing, I looked up to see three women clad in large robes. These beings possessed an aura incomparable to the witches I had seen outside.
“Intruders? Daring to enter a witch’s domain?”
“We should crush them. Tsk, such things never happened when we were young. It’s because the youngsters these days don’t know how terrifying witches can be. The world has become too soft.”
“Eldest Sister, we will handle this.”
I was starting to get annoyed.
‘You said all I had to do was go and ask.’
Dammit, bloody Audrey. Curses rose up inside me, but I couldn’t truly resent her. She was a precious neighbor and friend who was protecting my territory. So, instead of blaming anyone, I gripped my sword.
At that moment, a voice echoed in my mind.
『 Let us fly. Let us fly. Let us fly. 』
The power of 「Ascension」 .
With it, all the forces binding me vanished. The moment I was liberated from the restraint, a blue world unfolded, and a power like a lightning bolt permeated my body. The Authority of liberation that allowed me to run through a frozen world. Unleashing that Authority, I dashed toward the center of the hall, facing the witches.
“Witches!”
My voice thundered through the room.
“Your youngest, Audrey, asked me for a favor! She said she needs the support of the witches to teleport us to the Caravan Estate in the Verdi region of the Iron Kingdom! You have an obligation to grant that request!”
A shout that instantly shattered their tricks.
But the witches didn’t even flinch. Intangible energy flickered from their hands. Once again, invisible Mysteries assailed me—Mysteries of chains, ropes, and shackles.
However, nothing worked on me. There are no exceptions to the Mystery of liberation contained within 「Ascension」 . This was an Authority that had even destroyed the True Word of a Dragon. And according to Audrey, all magic originated from Dragons. There was no way the Authority of liberation, which had shaken off even the Dragon Tongue of the progenitor of magic, would fail against magic of a lower order.
As long as I had 「Ascension」 , I was completely immune to magical restraints.
“That is……”
“……What is that?”
Only then did I hear the witches gasp in surprise. And then.
“Sisters, step back.”
The witch who had been standing furthest back among the women slowly walked forward.
“This is no intruder, but a precious guest. A guest who has come with a clue to the treasure we have desired for so long. Audrey has sent us a person of great destiny.”
“Eldest Sister, what do you mean?”
“The Descendant of Steel has arrived. Carrying the key to deciphering the legendary adventurer’s code, Labyrinthos.”
I heard a faint chuckle.
In the next instant, the witch called ‘Eldest Sister’ appeared right in front of my nose. Teleportation performed without even the procedure of chanting a spell. Appearing in a flash, the witch grabbed the hem of her robe and lifted it slightly, bowing her head in a greeting just like a noble lady. She overflowed with elegance.
“It is a pleasure to meet you, Descendant of Steel. I am the First Witch, Elizabeth.”
Elizabeth. The witch who introduced herself as such kept her head bowed and trembled slightly. Why was a woman with such immense power trembling in front of me? I was puzzled for a moment, but I soon realized the reason.
“Please forgive the disgraceful behavior of my sisters, O Master of All Swords.”
Liam.
“I beg for your mercy.”
This woman… she was conscious of my Master.
「 I was hiding my presence because the fuss last time was such a bother, but I suppose I couldn’t hide from this wench’s eyes. Tsk, annoying things. 」
“……”
「 You get to benefit from your great ancestor again, young descendant! 」
No, he stayed quiet when I was being treated like a degenerate. And now he says this?
‘……Truly a Face of Steel.’
「 Uh-huh, no bad thoughts allowed. 」
*
“So you must go to the Iron Kingdom. However, there is one problem.”
“A problem? What is it?”
“The current Iron Kingdom is far too dangerous for me to send one of my sisters. Are you unaware of the situation outside? The Iron Kingdom is currently at war.”
“What?”
The Witch Elizabeth delivered unexpected news.
“The Iron Kingdom is at war with the Machine Empire. And the war zone includes the Verdi region you mentioned, Descendant of Steel. A very fierce battle is taking place there. To the point where several areas have already vanished from the map.”
What.
What did she just say?
