Orc Must Die (2)

“What?”

“I can overwhelmingly enhance the white magic of a Holy Knight. And not just that.”

Scott looked at Azadine.

“I can also strengthen that strange power you use.”

“…….”

“My contract with the Nagas has just ended. Choosing you as my new employer doesn’t seem like a bad idea.”

“Are you saying you will serve me? Can I take it that way?”

“Give and take. It’s just an equal contractual relationship. But yes, you have the initiative—so long as you don’t do anything too foolish.”

Azadine sighed.

If even half of what Scott McGreen said was true, Azadine had no reason to refuse his offer. He had to accept it.

“Fine. Orc necromancer.”

“Scott McGreen.”

“I accept the contract.”

“A wise choice. Be sure to boast about today’s decision to your descendants.”

“I already slightly regret this.”

Azadine started wondering if he was making the right choice.

Azadine hitched Scott’s wheelchair to his mountain goat and began pulling him along. While Azadine walked, Scott simply sat in the wheelchair, being carried effortlessly.

“For a prisoner, he sure is traveling in luxury.”

Mediam found the situation rather displeasing, but Scott offered a suggestion.

“Then give me one of the corpses from the funeral pyre you conducted. I’ll use necromancy to animate its muscles and bones to push my wheelchair instead.”

“Mocking the dead is unacceptable.”

Zebec strongly opposed it.

Azadine, also a follower of the angels, agreed.

“Forget it. Just let him ride. He says he’ll die if he builds muscle, remember?”

“Well, I don’t intend to just sit quietly. I’ll share some of my knowledge along the way. Whether you’ll be able to understand it is another matter, but a true genius like myself must learn to live among the ordinary and the dim-witted.”

Scott McGreen spoke as if he were doing them a favor.

There was a saying: Anyone who met an orc would feel an urge to kill them.

It was hard to believe until one actually met one.

For any sane person, the sight of an orc alone was terrifying—bulging muscles covering their entire body, combined with magic that made them an inherently violent and dangerous species. An orc’s arm was thicker than a human’s thigh. Their sheer physique evoked thoughts of brutality, even if one didn’t want to.

But then, there was this rumor—that when someone actually met an orc, they wouldn’t just fear them. They would want to kill them.

And now, having met one, it all made sense.

“Wow. Every single word that comes out of your mouth makes me want to kill you.”

Mediam couldn’t hold back her murderous intent any longer.

“Resorting to murder over minor frustrations? Just how many people have you killed so far? With your level of intelligence, I imagine you’ve met many people superior to you. If you felt the urge to kill them every time, well… Tsk, tsk. My sins as a necromancer are nothing compared to the karmic weight you must be carrying.”

If only he’d just shut up, maybe he wouldn’t be so infuriating.

Mediam was furious, but Azadine stopped her.

“If you keep talking to him, you’ll just have to listen to more of it. Just let it go.”

“Huh?”

“Instead, let’s hear about the Heavenly King’s Book of Truth. First, why did it disappear? Where did the copies go, and why are they only now reappearing? How do you even find them? And what exactly does it mean to ‘manifest’ them?”

When Azadine asked, Scott scoffed.

“You sure are greedy, demanding to know everything at once. I’ll explain it step by step. First, we can’t talk about the Heavenly King’s Book of Truth without discussing the Light of the Crown. The Yaegas God Tribe uses the Light of the Crown, which is a system that circulates white mana under strict constraints. It is a massive mechanism that transforms people’s faith and reverence into power. The Heavenly King’s Book of Truth is both the blueprint for this system and the essence of its constraints. The Heavenly King’s Book of Truth is simply another form—the true nature—of the Light of the Crown. Are you following so far?”

Scott was doubting Azadine’s intelligence.

Was he smart enough to keep up? That silent doubt was more insulting than any verbal mockery.

Azadine sighed as he pulled Scott’s wheelchair, which was connected to his mountain goat by a rope.

“Yeah, I get it. I was a mage’s apprentice, you know. So, then?”

“By the time your Messenger Clan stole the Heavenly King’s Book of Truth, the Light of the Crown was already severely damaged. The Yaegas God Tribe—the kings and nobles of your human race—had already begun to fall into corruption, weakening the Light of the Crown. Your Messenger Clan sacrificed greatly to create copies of the Heavenly King’s Book of Truth, but then… those copies were absorbed into the Light of the Crown itself.”

“What?”

“That’s nonsense!”

Zebec, who had been listening, was outraged.

As a Holy Knight, this entire conversation was already blasphemous enough. Traveling alongside an orc necromancer and a naga—creatures belonging to the Kurt God Clan—was an unbearable disgrace.

Sure, they were technically Azadine’s prisoners, but Scott continued referring to Azadine as his employer, and Shati wasn’t even bound—she walked freely among them.

If another Holy Knight saw this, Zebec’s position would be in jeopardy.

That alone was maddening, yet now this arrogant orc was openly slandering the king’s church in front of him.

“Hmph. Are you saying the kings and nobles weren’t corrupt, Holy Knight?”

“…They’ve fallen. That orc is right.”

Brand supported the orc’s words.

“Ah.”

Zebec also knew about Brand’s circumstances.

Yes. Saying that kings and nobles were not corrupt was just Zebec’s stubbornness. In truth, a significant number of kings and nobles had fallen to corruption. Even Zebec’s own mentor, Ject the Arbiter, had succumbed.

“Wait, are you saying the Heavenly King’s Book of Truth was absorbed into the Light of the Crown? That no one cast it to the winds from the edge of the world?”

“What? Did you seriously believe the Heavenly King’s Book of Truth was carried by the wind, popping up all over the world? I knew humans were stupid, but I didn’t realize it was to this extent. The imagination of a fool never ceases to amaze me.”

Azadine was growing exhausted by this orc, who insulted him so casually.

“Is this guy insane? He’s a prisoner, so why does he talk so recklessly? Is he not afraid of getting his head chopped off?”

But if what the orc said was true, then what had Azadine been told his whole life?

Azadine was the cursed child born from the plundering of the Heavenly King’s Book of Truth. He had been told repeatedly that his father, Acre the Traitor, was the one who scattered the Heavenly King’s Book of Truth across the world.

Yet now, Scott was saying that it had merely been a consequence of the weakening Light of the Crown.

“Was it not my father’s fault after all? Then…?”

Azadine, deep in thought, asked another question.

“Then why didn’t it appear before, and why is it appearing now?”

“Because the Light of the Crown has weakened even further. The Age of Jupiter is approaching, and the descendants of Yaegas are realizing that their blood is thinning. More nobles and royals are betraying and abandoning the Light of the Crown, accelerating their corruption. That, in turn, further weakens the Light of the Crown in a vicious cycle.”

Scott also mentioned the Age of Jupiter.

“Do you, followers of the Kurt God Clan, also believe in the Age of Jupiter?”

Zebec asked, and Scott clicked his tongue.

“You followers of the Yaegas God Tribe seem to believe that the Yaegas gods banished the darkness of the world and ushered in a new age. But that story? It was originally our Kurt God Clan’s myth. Your version is nothing but a stolen, plagiarized tale. It was our Kurt gods who fought against the evil deities of the Nether World to turn this land into a home for life. But while we were weakened from that struggle, the Yaegas gods swooped in and stole the position we rightfully deserved.”

“Then that means your kind also fears the Age of Jupiter.”

“Of course. Why else do you think so many of us are scrambling around these days?”

That made sense. Azadine had encountered many followers of the Kurt God Clan recently. They were all desperately trying to secure power and influence in anticipation of the prophesied catastrophe known as the Age of Jupiter.

“So. How do you find copies of the Heavenly King’s Book of Truth?”

“The Heavenly King’s Book of Truth is fused with the Light of the Crown. And the Light of the Crown is bound by vows and restrictions. When the people are in crisis, the Heavenly King’s Book of Truth will appear.”

“So, are you saying people are being tortured and massacred to force its manifestation?”

“This is something that many Yaegas nobles—your human nobles—already understand. Doesn’t it ring a bell?”

Was that why Count Lantarique was committing mass slaughter?

Come to think of it, even the Margrave of Salasma had prioritized punishments over relief efforts when his people were suffering from drought. Perhaps that, too, was a method to manifest the Heavenly King’s Book of Truth.

“I, on the other hand, use a much more intelligent method. In areas where many people have already died and the Light of the Crown has weakened drastically, I can use my magic to manifest the Heavenly King’s Book of Truth.”

“So, you’re claiming that you never participated in massacring civilians? How do I know that’s not just an excuse?”

“I dislike irreversible choices. Since I can use my magic to manifest the Heavenly King’s Book of Truth, I see no reason to kill people and create an irreversible situation.”

“And yet, you’re a necromancer?”

“Using magic to efficiently repurpose corpses is rational. Besides, even if I don’t kill anyone, this world is already full of corpses. Necromancy is a highly reversible magic—it doesn’t require killing to be useful. But… fine. I acknowledge that the prisoners held by the soldiers may have been killed by my undead. If that’s the case, then I suppose it’s impossible for me to prove to you that I never killed anyone. Even I don’t know for sure.”

Azadine clicked his tongue at those words.

“This bastard truly didn’t care about killing civilians.”

“So, what now? Are you going to kill me?”

“No.”

Azadine shook his head.

“I won’t kill you. You’ll remain a prisoner and pay for your crimes until justice is served.”

“Wouldn’t it sound better to just call it an employment contract?”

“No. We have a Holy Knight with us. If I say we hired you, it’ll put him in an awkward position.”

“Ah, I see. Well, a genius like me can afford to be considerate of your less intelligent perspectives.”

Everyone was at a loss for words.

This orc had just walked in and out of death’s door. If Azadine had truly blamed him for the massacre and decided to execute him, not even an orc’s massive frame could withstand an attack while confined to a wheelchair.

“By the way, I’m starving. My brain requires a significant amount of nutrients. You wouldn’t understand, but intelligence is something that thrives on nourishment.”

“You’re literally just sitting in a wheelchair being pulled along. And you’re already complaining about being hungry?”

“That’s just how orcs are! I mean it!”

Scott McGreen kept demanding food, but Azadine glanced at the others. None of them seemed particularly hungry.

“Let’s talk after we’ve crossed the river.”

Azadine’s group found a hidden boat far from the enemy camp. Using it, they crossed the Kora River and reached the lands of Count Lantarique, where they set up camp.

Until then, they had to endure Scott McGreen’s constant whining about his hunger.