Chapter 21: The Scarred Wolf (2)

“Simon!”

The knights drew their swords in unison.

The orc, with a growl, pulled Simon’s unconscious body toward itself.

The pleading demeanor it had shown moments earlier had vanished completely.

It gripped Simon’s neck and shouted something in its own tongue.

“What’s it saying?”

“Simon!”

“We have to save him!”

Heime remained composed. He signaled to the knights behind him.

“Cory.”

Then, a small, hooded figure stepped forward. He walked with obvious difficulty, as if disabled.

He bowed before Heime and spoke.

“He says that if we release him, he’ll let the human live.”

He seemed to understand the orc language.

Yuri looked closely at Simon.

“Isn’t he already dead?”

Cory spoke to the orc again. It gave Simon a couple of slaps on the cheek.

“Uuhh…”

Simon’s body twitched. He wasn’t dead. Yuri sighed in relief.

“It was thanks to the helmet. He owes me his life.”

Outwardly calm, he clicked his tongue internally. He hadn’t expected Simon to become a hostage so easily.

Had he faced an orc in this state, he would’ve ended up as just another nameless corpse on the steppe.

Thanking Heime again, Yuri turned around.

“Are you just going to stand there?”

His gaze fell on Hernand, who blinked in surprise.

“Me?”

“Yes.”

“You should’ve told me earlier.”

“I’m telling you now.”

“Right. Got it.”

While the humans spoke, the orc pounded the floor, urging Cory with incomprehensible words. It seemed to be trying to intimidate him.

Then, suddenly, its voice cut off. Simon’s body dropped to the floor. The orc froze in place like a statue.

“Now.”

Hernand had used magic to stop it. Yuri stepped forward and dragged Simon’s body by the ankle.

“Thanks, Hernand.”

“Don’t mention it. The spell will wear off soon.”

Just as he said, the orc soon began to move again.

“Graaahhh!”

A roar full of rage shook the basement. The orc picked up the sword Simon had dropped and stared at Yuri and Heime.

Yuri nodded toward a young knight nearby.

“Name?”

The youth blinked, then stepped forward with a serious expression.

“Guinness.”

“Guinness. Can you handle it?”

“Yes.”

“Do it.”

“Understood.”

He activated his mana method. His body lightened, and he charged the orc with sword drawn.

Clang!

He was thrown back. Even with mana, he lost in brute strength.

The orc pressed forward with the same force. Guinness dodged with agility, but the gap in power kept him on the defensive.

“Ugh…”

He struggled at first, but gradually began to adjust to the orc’s movements.

He found an opening and slashed its thigh. But the orc didn’t stay still. It threw a punch straight at him.

They exchanged blows relentlessly. The fight wouldn’t stop.

Yuri spoke to Heime.

“Give him some advice, Sir Heime.”

“Advice…”

Watching the fight, Heime replied.

“Think of it as fighting a beast, not a man. This isn’t a duel between people…”

Perhaps frustrated by the orc’s resilience, Guinness released a blue energy from his sword.

The orc backed away, gauging the distance. It seemed familiar with human tactics.

After trading a few more blows, Guinness made a decisive strike. Taking advantage of an opening, he severed the orc’s arm.

The energy-infused blade cut through with ease.

As blood burst forth, the orc countered with its other arm, knocking Guinness down. He tried to get up, but still dazed, he collapsed again.

“Orcs don’t stop when wounded. They learn as they fight. If you don’t go for the neck or heart, don’t rush. You have to hunt them patiently.”

The orc charged at Guinness, but Yuri stepped in. The orc stopped and growled.

“Prince!”

Raymond called out.

Yuri waved him off and helped Guinness to his feet.

“Guinness, can you stand?”

“Yes… yes, Your Highness…”

“Go rest.”

“What about Your Highness…?”

“Don’t worry about me.”

Yuri sent Guinness back. The orc, now one-armed, simply stared at him without attacking again.

“Heime. Is that a normal orc?”

“No.”

Heime shook his head.

“It looks small, but it has a lot of experience. It’s stronger than the average orc. Let’s say… it’s a veteran.”

Yuri looked at Calcio. He raised both hands and shrugged.

“I see.”

The orc remained frozen. That was because Yuri was crushing it with his presence. Heime, standing nearby, noticed. He began to see Yuri in a new light.

Yuri called the interpreter.

“You said your name is Cory?”

Cory, who had been standing apart, nodded.

“Y-yes…”

“Translate what I’m about to say.”

“Understood.”

“How many humans have you killed so far?”

Cory hesitated. Yuri gestured with his chin, and he, trembling, asked the orc.

The orc’s face twisted completely. It wasn’t clear whether it was angry or smiling.

But since the corners of its lips curled almost to its ears, it looked more like a smile.

The orc barked something, scolding Cory, then looked at Yuri and spoke again.

“He says…”

“Speak.”

“Two…”

“Two?”

Not as many as they thought. The knights exhaled slowly, but Cory continued.

“Two soldiers, that is, military men…”

Everyone looked at him.

“Five men…”

The atmosphere grew tense. Cory shrank further and finished the sentence.

“Four women… and three children…”

Rage spread. A murderous glare appeared in the knights’ eyes. The orc grinned with that grotesque expression. Its laughter sounded like a drumbeat.

“That bastard…”

Some knights stepped forward, ready to execute the orc on the spot. Yuri stopped them.

“Enough.”

“Your Highness, after hearing what that monster said…”

“Just one.”

“Excuse me?”

Yuri pointed to the orc with his chin.

“This is a valuable opportunity Sir Heime has given us. We can’t waste it on venting our emotions.”

“It’s not just venting, it’s—”

“It’s just an orc.”

Yuri wrapped his arms around the shoulders of two knights and looked at the others, one by one.

“See the others?”

Despite one of their own dying, the other orcs did nothing. They knew that stepping in meant death.

“They’re all the same. Out on the steppe, there are things far worse than them.”

Yuri patted one of the knights on the cheek.

“This is training. We’ll be facing orcs over and over. So control your rage.”

Then he pushed him forward.

“Go. Practice killing more orcs.”

Yuri’s voice carried weight.

The atmosphere turned grim. The knight faced the orc with composure.

When the first orc fell, Heime opened another cage.

Realizing what was happening, the orcs stopped resisting—until pain struck them. Then they raged and attacked.

Amid the chaos, the knights experienced firsthand the orcs’ strength. In this way, they killed seven.

Yuri spoke:

“Many of you have never fought an orc before. Perhaps you saw them as mere borderland bandits, but now you understand otherwise. Everyone, thank Sir Heime. If it weren’t for him, many of you would already be dead out on the steppe.”

Even so, the knights’ faces weren’t joyful. What they had just done was essentially experimenting on defenseless prisoners.

They looked at their bloodstained clothes with grim expressions and wiped the sweat from their brows.

Heime intervened.

“You don’t feel well. I understand.”

The knights looked at him. Their eyes were different now. Heime was the one who defended the frontier from monsters like these.

More than respect, they looked at him as something they couldn’t quite comprehend.

“So, for your sake, I’ll show you something else.”

He struck Calcio’s arm, who stood beside him.

“Count?”

“Let’s go upstairs.”

“Excuse me?”

Calcio scratched his neck, seemingly questioning whether it was truly necessary.

“Lead us.”

“Yes, understood.”

The dungeon door closed.

They climbed the stairs and stopped at a floor they’d passed earlier. It also had an iron door.

“This is it.”

The knights were tense.

Heime smiled at them as he inserted the key into the lock.

The door opened.

It was too dark to see anything inside. Without hesitation, Heime grabbed a torch and stepped forward. The darkness receded.

A wall blocked the passage ahead, and in the center was a barred iron gate.

It was a large cell.

“Are there orcs in here too?”

Heime shook his head at the knight who asked.

“No.”

“Then what is there?”

“It’s better if you see for yourself. Come.”

He gestured with his hand. The knight hesitated for a moment, then stepped forward. He stopped just a step away from the bars and peered inside.

“I can’t see anythi—”

Suddenly, Heime grabbed him by the neck and shoved him against the bars.

“C-Count?”

“Look closely.”

Pressing from behind, Heime thrust the torch through the bars. Since the door wasn’t very wide, the interior was hidden behind both of their backs.

The knight must have seen something, because he leaned his head in.

And after a moment, he screamed and began convulsing like he was having a seizure.

“Aaaahhhh!”

But Heime didn’t let him go.

The knight clutched at his robe, struggling to break free. Heime released him a second later.

The knight stumbled back like fleeing, crashed into the wall, and began vomiting. Heime’s raspy laughter and the sounds of retching echoed in the dungeon.

Everyone swallowed hard.

“What the hell…?”

No one dared step forward. What had he seen to react like that?

Breaking the silence, Yuri stepped up.

“Your Highness shouldn’t expose yourself to that.”

“Who knows.”

In truth, Yuri already had an idea of what might be inside. In his past life, he had wandered through the most dangerous fronts in search of death. He had even taken missions deep into orc territory.

“Sir.”

Yuri looked inside.

“Why do you keep them here?”

“Do they trouble you?”

“No. I’m just curious.”

Heime smiled calmly.

“These things… sometimes turn out to be useful.”

The cell was filled with horrific, undefinable creatures. Only a few tufts of hair remained hanging from their heads. Their eyes were twisted unnaturally, lacking any symmetry. In place of a nose, there were holes oozing pus. Their teeth grew erratically, grinding against each other.

Their bodies were misshapen or hunched, with malformed bones protruding as if trying to pierce through their skin from within.

But the most repulsive part was that, despite their monstrosity, they still retained human features.

Half-orcs.

Lives born of orcs and humans—existences that were curses in and of themselves.

What kind of connection existed between the two races for the gods to permit such an abomination?

“Since they’re half-human, I give them a chance.”

“How compassionate of you.”

Yuri turned around.

“Everyone, come closer and look.”

The knights stepped forward one by one and looked inside. They were shocked not only by the grotesque appearance, but by the fact that hybrids between humans and orcs could even exist.

“My God…”

Not many knew about half-orcs. Most avoided the topic, and their existence was rare.

Heime spoke.

“They’re hard to conceive.”

He looked into the cell as if he were already used to the sight, then withdrew the torch.

“But the fact that there are so many here… what does that mean?”

He passed by Yuri and smiled toward the other knights.

“You said it was excessive, but we were merely imitating.”

“Imitating…?”

“The orcs have their own cells too.”

He didn’t explain further, but everyone understood. One of the more hot-headed knights punched the wall and cursed.

“You’ll be facing things like this.”

No one could respond. Heime looked at them again.

“Be careful.”

Finally, his gaze settled on Yuri. His gray eyes were calm and unwavering. Yuri asked him,

“Sir Heime. Do you hate orcs?”

He smiled faintly. His scars and wrinkles twisted together.

“Yes.”

Everyone has an archenemy. For Yuri, it was the Empire. For Heime, it was the orcs.

Yuri placed a hand on his chest and gave a slight bow.

“Thanks to what you’ve done today, the orcs will shed even more blood. I promise you.”

“Really?”

Heime blinked. The red glow of the torch flickered in his pupils.

“Thank you.”

He bowed deeply. After holding the bow for a moment, he straightened and looked into the cell.

Throughout that entire horrific display, not once did he flinch. What must he have seen fighting orcs to reach this point?

It was said that Heime had recovered his son’s corpse from an orc village. Did that image still linger in his eyes?