Orc Must Die (1)

As the Nagas fled, the orc necromancer dusted off his robes and approached his broken wheelchair, beginning to repair it.

“Hey.”

When Azadine spoke to the orc necromancer, he responded.

“My name is Scott McGreen. A descendant of the great Greenswald.”

“Aren’t most orcs descendants of Greenswald?”

Among the Kurt God Clan, the orcs’ deity, Kanak, had a single champion—Greenswald. He was known as the first and last great overlord of the orcs, who ensured their prosperity on this land.

Since Greenswald, no orcs had been able to remain active for long periods. Most suffered from Kanak’s blessing, which was also a curse, forcing them to lose their homelands and sell their skills as mercenaries or hired workers for other races.

Yet, despite this reality, most orcs still claimed Greenswald as their ancestor.

“That’s why he’s great. The great overlord who seeded all of our kind. Being his descendant means we, too, can become like Greenswald. Inferior species like you wouldn’t understand, but what can you do? I’m sure you would’ve wanted to be born with a smart brain too. Guess it’s up to someone as brilliant as me to be understanding.”

“…….”

“Should we kill him? Is there any reason to keep him alive?”

Mediam, who had arrived late, asked Azadine’s opinion.

“No. We let the Nagas escape, so I don’t want to lose the informant we managed to get.”

“That’s right. Inside this brilliant brain of mine, I have plenty of information you’d want.”

“Wait a minute. You… don’t tell me.”

Hearing that, Shati glared at the orc in shock.

“Are you going to switch employers so easily?!”

“Don’t be ridiculous. Are you really worried about that in this situation? I saw it, they saw it—you betrayed your own kind. You’ve become a traitor to the Nagas. I don’t expect a snakehead to have intelligence, but at the very least, if you’re going to speak, you should be able to grasp some basic logic, shouldn’t you?”

“What? You bastard?!”

Shati was furious at Scott’s provocation, but the funny thing was—Scott didn’t even think he was provoking her.

He was crude with his words, but what Scott McGreen said was true.

Azadine had orchestrated Shati’s betrayal of the Nagas. Even if she tried to return to them now, she would only face brutal torture. Compared to that, quickly switching employers like Scott was the wiser choice.

“What were you doing with the Nagas here?”

“Extracting and manifesting the Heavenly King’s Book of Truth.”

“What happened to the Heavenly King’s Book of Truth?”

“Hmm. Explaining this to idiots… I’m not sure how much I should simplify. But before that, how about you introduce yourselves first? I know you’re from the Messenger Clan, but…”

“Hey. You’re a prisoner. Watch your mouth. And stop what you’re doing. What are you working on right now?”

“Isn’t it obvious? I’m repairing my wheelchair. Surely, you’re not so stupid that you can’t tell just by looking?”

“You don’t seem to have any physical issues, though. Can’t you walk on your own two feet?”

“You don’t understand. If I walk, my muscles build up.”

“Muscles? Isn’t it better to have more?”

“When they’re on your limbs, sure. But if they build up in your heart, the capacity of your heart shrinks, reducing its efficiency. My body already has plenty of muscle, so if my heart starts sending less blood, I’ll suffer from chronic fatigue. My heart will have to work even harder to compensate, which will make me grow even more muscle, creating a vicious cycle that eventually leads to death. Huff! Just explaining it like this is making my heart race. Ah, no…”

Scott McGreen suddenly collapsed onto the ground.

“Quick! Assemble my wheelchair for me. If I stay active for too long, I enter a hypoglycemic state like this.”

“…….”

For a prisoner, he sure had a lot of demands.

Azadine sighed and looked at Ismail.

“Me?”

“Yeah. I’ll retrieve the Heavenly King’s Book of Truth.”

Azadine retrieved the Heavenly King’s Book of Truth and the Shadowsteel Arrow, which had been wrapped together. The blade’s edge was still razor-sharp.

“Still good to use.”

He placed the Shadowsteel Arrow back in his quiver and surveyed the area. The camp had an ample supply of grain that could be used as food and fodder—more than enough for their group.

There were also mummified soldiers, seemingly guards of the Nagas. Even though the Nightcrawler was gone, these soldiers remained.

“They’ll have to be burned. Hey, orc. Can these mummies still move?”

“Of course. That’s an easy task.”

“Then make them gather all the corpses in one place. I want them all cremated.”

“You’re going to hold funerals for them? A Messenger Clan member? You’re a strange one. But if that’s your request, I’ll do it. In return, guarantee my safety.”

“After slaughtering all these innocent people, now you want to live?”

“I didn’t kill them directly. The evidence here shows that you humans killed each other. Sure, my undead took down some soldiers, but those soldiers were slain by the very villagers they had killed first. So, isn’t that poetic justice?”

“Fine. Just gather the bodies.”

The mummified soldiers and the still-functional undead began moving, collecting the corpses. Meanwhile, Ismail finished fixing the wheelchair.

“Not bad. You’ve got some skill. They say the Messenger Clan is full of talents.”

“Shut up, orc.”

“What? You’ve just been praised by the genius of this era, Scott McGreen. One day, when you lie on your deathbed, surrounded by your descendants, you should look back on this moment with gratitude and joy.”

“…….”

“Can we really not kill him? Do we really need his help?”

Ismail asked Azadine seriously.

“Let’s secure the Heavenly King’s Book of Truth first.”

Azadine said, scanning the area. At that moment, Zebec and Brand arrived.

“The undead were defeated, so I assume you’ve won.”

“Ah, Sir Zebec. What about the soldiers?”

“…Some perished, and some fled. We tried to prevent casualties, but the undead suddenly became stronger.”

“And what about Sir Brand?”

“Hmm, I’m fine.”

“…….”

Soldiers and knights were either dying or fleeing, yet Brand remained unscathed. He seemed to possess extraordinary natural strength.

Had he become a warrior, he might have made a name for himself in his youth. But instead, he lived as a scribe, a lawyer, and a writer. Did he realize his true talent too late?

“And what’s with this orc? He looks like a necromancer.”

“Scott McGreen.”

The orc, Scott McGreen, stated his name.

“He seems to be a necromancer hired by the Nagas.”

“That’s right. And from now on, I’ll be working for you.”

“What? You’re hiring a necromancer?”

Zebec looked at Azadine, as if questioning whether he was serious.

“No, let’s just hear him out first. Orc, why do you think we won’t kill you?”

“Because you’re searching for the Heavenly King’s Book of Truth. I can manifest it. And I can calculate its location with greater accuracy. If you truly wish to collect and assemble the Heavenly King’s Book of Truth, you wouldn’t want to waste a talent like mine.”

If what he said was true, then his value was immense. Too valuable to kill.

“And erasing my genius from this world is something that no spiritually aware being could ever condone. Ah, of course, you might let your inferiority complex take over and kill me out of spite, but if you do, you’ll be haunted by guilt for the rest of your lives. Can you really endure the agony of knowing you’ve erased one of the greatest minds to ever exist?”

“If what you’re saying isn’t just bluster, then you may indeed be useful. But I don’t do business with those who kill civilians without hesitation. Let’s start by conducting the funeral.”

The mummified soldiers controlled by Scott gathered the corpses into a pile. Azadine recited a funeral prayer over the heap of bodies.

“O Archangels of the Three Thrones, embrace the souls of those who met an unjust death and guide them to their rest. People of Hubris, may you find peace beyond this cruel world.”

As Azadine offered his blessing and set the pile ablaze, a brilliant light shone from the burning corpses. A copy of the Heavenly King’s Book of Truth had manifested.

The book flew directly into Azadine’s hands.

“There. It manifested. Looks like you’re useless now?”

Mediam teased Scott with amusement.

However, Scott remained unfazed.

“That’s only because I had already prepared the groundwork for its manifestation. If it were me, I could have done this even more easily.”

Even after witnessing the Heavenly King’s Book of Truth materialize before his eyes, the orc showed no signs of intimidation. Instead, he remained utterly confident.

“You sure are full of yourself.”

“My talent is vast enough to shake the very heavens. If you understand even the most basic arithmetic, you should realize that a treasure like me should never be treated carelessly. Of course, just as the sun outshines the stars, you might feel inferior before my brilliance. But at least your leader doesn’t seem like the type to harbor petty jealousy toward me.”

“Hmm.”

Azadine found himself conflicted as he looked at the orc, who so firmly believed in his own survival. In truth, Azadine wasn’t the type to easily kill someone with a smiling face. That was why he couldn’t bring himself to execute Shati, even after she had betrayed them and pleaded for her life.

Shati’s situation, at least, was somewhat understandable.

She had been captured by Azadine, her life threatened, and she had desperately sought a way to return to her kin. But Azadine had severed that path, leaving her with no choice but to follow him. It was effectively a death sentence or life imprisonment.

The problem now was the orc.

“So, are you saying you didn’t participate in the killing of civilians?”

“Haha. Only fools seek to prove their superiority through mindless violence. Those who have true confidence in themselves, like me, do not even entertain such petty comparisons. If you were even half as intelligent as I am, you would understand that. The fact that you’re asking such a foolish question makes me worry for your future.”

“…….”

“Hmm, I seem to have spoken too much. I can feel the muscles in my tongue swelling. But I suppose I have to prove my usefulness right now, don’t I?”

“It’s hard to justify keeping an evil necromancer alive. Even if Count Lantarique ordered the massacre of these civilians, I doubt you had no hand in it. When you attacked the soldiers, the prisoners and civilians held by Count Lantarique also died, didn’t they?”

Zebec turned to Azadine and asked.

Just as Shati had become a prisoner and could no longer return to her kin, Zebec found himself in a difficult position. While it was one thing to hold Shati as a prisoner, traveling with an orc necromancer was a different issue. Just associating with Scott McGreen could call his status as a Holy Knight into question.

“You have a point. Count Lantarique’s soldiers must have slaughtered the people of Salasma, but there were prisoners and captives among them too. You’re not going to claim that they weren’t killed, are you?”

Azadine shot a cold glare at Scott McGreen.

That was when Scott spoke.

“I can decipher the Heavenly King’s Book of Truth.”