Chapter 18

Episode 18

I took a deep breath, raised my head, and looked around.

A place full of orc corpses.

Kaham was nowhere to be seen.

I looked among the corpses to see if he was dead.

There wasn’t.

If it wasn’t eaten by another monster in that short period of time, it would have escaped.

He ran away without helping…

It was strange from the beginning.

Starting with the gloves, what was trying to lead me in, and that brown bin.

Everything tells us that the culprit is Kaham.

‘The orcs were excited. why?’

Something suddenly occurred to me.

Oak stimulant.

A medicine that paralyzes the orcs’ reason and makes them attack them without any hesitation.

But it wasn’t just the user who could avoid the orcs.

Something else was needed to avoid the orcs’ attention.

It’s like a hiding item. A top predator or something…

And maybe there was something in that brown container he opened.

But should I just hand it over?

More solid evidence is needed.

Yes, a definite item like an orc stimulant.

“Ugh.”

A faint moan was heard.

Hearing the sound, he looked down and saw Beatrice holding her ankles and lowering her head.

“Does your ankle hurt?”

I looked at her body.

Perhaps because he fell because of the orcs, the clothes he was wearing were stained with dust.

She didn’t even look up and said nothing.

I could sense that he didn’t want to talk to me yet.

“You have to tell me so I can help.”

“I do not need.”

I scratched my cheek as she spoke coldly, still not raising her head.

Oh my gosh.

I had forgotten that there was blood on my hands.

I wiped the blood from my cheek with my sleeve and looked down at her.

Still, I thought that if we fought together, our relationship would have become a little better.

It seems that her trauma from 4 years ago has not been forgotten to that extent.

“Can you go back alone? “There might be more orcs.”

Her body trembled at the word ok.

You don’t want to talk to me, but orcs seem scary.

“If that’s the case, there’s nothing we can do.”

As I was about to walk, she hurriedly reached out and grabbed my pants.

“Help me.”

Only then do you open your mouth. You must have been afraid to be alone in this forest.

That’s why you grabbed my clothes.

“Then let’s look at the injured area first.”

I leaned down and grabbed her ankles. She trembles.

Without hesitation, I rolled up her pants.

It was swollen.

It felt even more amazing that I had endured until now that one more lump had formed.

There is nothing to worry about. I can never move alone.

“Pick me up.”

I turned around and showed my back to her.

“what?”

“Get on your back.” “If you move your injured foot, it will swell even more.”

“….”

I felt her hesitate for a moment.

For a moment, I felt a heavy, warm sensation behind my back.

‘More than I thought…’

A contradictory feeling of being both light and heavy.

Still, I wonder if the exercise was worth it or if the effects of the mana frost were still there, but surprisingly, it wasn’t heavy.

“I will move slowly, so let me know if you feel uncomfortable.”

“…huh.”

As he nodded, his shaking hair brushed his cheek.

It smelled good.

When trying to take a step.

“What is this.”

Something was blocking my view. I thought maybe a leaf had fallen from a tree branch due to the wind, so I grabbed it and stuck it to my face.

“….”

It looked like a leaf.

Faded yellow.

Except that it has unnatural holes and a thread attached to the end.

‘A foul smell.’

A dirty me came out of that hole.

It smelled like excrement that had been rotting for years, or like fermented durian or fermented skate.

In short, the worst smell.

“Oh, that’s…”

When I picked it up and examined it, Beatrice, who was on my back, pretended to know.

Then he tells me to take him down.

The initial antipathy towards me disappeared and he started talking normally.

“Do you know what this is?”

“If what I think is correct… their faces are too close.”

“Oh, I’m sorry.”

He moved his face away from her.

She looked at me quietly and opened her mouth.

“…And how long will I respect you? “It’s strange when you say that.”

It’s strange…

If that’s the case, you should do what’s comfortable for you.

It was already a bit uncomfortable.

I called her by her name without using her name, but when I tried to treat her with respect, I…

fortunately, she told me not to treat her with respect first. I nodded willingly.

“okay.”

“….”

She lowered her head without saying a word.

Her eyes sparkle as she looks at the leaves for a moment.

The shame went away and I looked at the leaves with a serious face.

Even though she was uncomfortable with me, she didn’t seem to care about me as she looked at the leaves to see if her passion for learning had not disappeared.

‘I don’t think there’s just one of those.’

He moved away from her concentration and moved among the orcs’ corpses.

As I looked at the tree branches above my head, I saw that it was true.

There were more things that resembled the leaves Beatrice was holding.

I collected three things like that.

Other than that, no matter how hard I searched, I couldn’t find anything.

I took it and returned to Beatrice.

I handed the leaf over to her and she nodded after checking what she had received from me.

“Do you know what it is?”

“This is a stimulant.”

stimulant?

If the stimulant she was talking about was the stimulant I knew, then I was right.

“Using this increases all desires of the orcs. Things like appetite and greed.”

She continued speaking with a serious face.

“Among other things, it increases your appetite explosively. “Orcs’ main prey are humans.”

I understood what she was trying to say.

Orcs, blinded by their appetite, will attack humans as soon as they spot them, and if that happens, people living nearby will definitely be in danger.

Above all, the fact that something like this is hanging here means that someone installed it to kill the children.

“Then what should I do to avoid those orcs?”

“Predator stool. We need at least the stool of a predator greater than that of a troll. “An excited orc can even find a hidden wizard.”

If so, the situation fits.

The stimulant belongs to Kaham, and that’s why it had the feces of a predator to avoid the attention of the orcs.

Otherwise, there would be no reason for that guy who likes to show off to carry around an unsightly brown container.

So what should I do now?

***

Somehow I got Raymond inside.

It seemed like he felt something strange, but since there was nothing exact, he followed me obediently.

Then, at the sudden sound of a woman’s scream, Kaham felt as if his heart sank.

Could it be that there was someone else there?

Kaham, who hurriedly followed Raymond, felt his heart sink and escaped.

‘Beatrice… why her.’

Someone who shouldn’t be there was there.

Beatrice. The eldest daughter of a magic family equivalent to Millennium.

The original plan was that she wasn’t supposed to be there.

It wasn’t just her.

There was an Orc Warrior there.

Orc warriors were dangerous even to ordinary orcs.

This is because individuals with warriors ignore the presence of predators.

You have to run away.

If you stay here, you may also be harmed.

Beatrice got caught, but there was nothing she could do.

Because her presence here was the problem.

When the orcs’ gaze turned towards this direction, Kaham opened the lid of the barrel he was carrying in his arms.

Then a foul smell began to come out of it.

I tried it a few times, but it was an unpleasant smell that I couldn’t get used to.

The orcs’ eyes flinched for a moment and then focused from Kaham to Raymond.

Raymond, who was dealing with an orc, glances back.

Kaham, who made eye contact with Raymond, flinched and stared at him for a moment.

‘What can I do now that I’ve noticed? ‘I’m going to die anyway.’

He is an Orc Warrior. Even knights are picky.

There is no way that incompetent bastard could survive against an Orc Warrior like that.

Kaham ran away without looking back.

Suddenly, yesterday’s events came to mind, but I shook my head.

Raymond can never defeat the Orc Warrior.

‘It worked out better. ‘If it’s that guy, I’ll kill you for sure.’

Although it’s a little different, the result is still the same.

Even though Beatrice was there, it couldn’t be helped.

He didn’t drag her in, she got caught, and it’s not his fault.

Kaham, who was running to the meeting place, suddenly stopped and looked at his body.

His body was in too clean a state to be said to have run away alone.

Kaham returned to the entrance with his clothes torn and bruised.

“hmm? Why did you come alone? “Where are your companions?”

“Oh, the Orc Warrior has appeared!”

At the knight’s words, Kaham’s face contorted and he shouted.

“An Orc Warrior. “It wasn’t there when we looked.”

“So you’re saying I lied? It really appeared! “I barely escaped alone!”

Kaham’s angry voice spread everywhere, and all eyes focused on the sound of Orc Warrior.

Only then did the knights realize the seriousness and urgently asked.

“Who were you with?”

“Raymond Youngsik… and Lady Beatrice were also there.”

Kaham spoke with as much anger and sadness in his voice as possible.

“Where are you.”

“Over there.”

In response to the knight’s question, Kaham raised his hand and pointed in one direction.

The knights with stiff faces headed in the direction he pointed.

“Are you okay? “Your face is very pale.”

People around him gathered around him and offered words of comfort.

Kaham bowed his head.

To not show a smile that cannot be hidden.

He thought that now that the obstacle was gone, the attention of Count Warrug and Selina would turn to him.

Although there were unplanned sacrifices.

What can I do? That’s my fault too.

“Uh uhh. excuse me…!”

“Raymond, it’s Raymond!”

what?

At that time, the voices of the people were heard.

Kaham’s body, surrounded by people, stiffened at their words.

Kaham slowly raised his head and saw something he shouldn’t have seen.

Kaham’s face turned pale when he saw that.

Raymond, carrying Beatrice on his back, was approaching with a fierce look on his face.

He approached, escorted by knights, and shouted at them.

“Therapist! “Get a therapist!”

He set Beatrice aside.

Those who returned alive from the Orc Warriors.

All the people gathered around Kaham ran towards them.

What happened?

Is it true that you met an Orc Warrior?

How were you able to come back alive?

People wanted to hear their stories.

But Beatrice remained silent with her mouth tightly shut.

Raymond relaxed his shoulders, slipped through the crowd, and approached Kaham.

“You did well to run away by yourself.”

Raymond glared at Kaham with a deep murderous look in his eyes.

Kaham hesitated and took a step back from that force.