Orc Harem Vol 3 Chapter 19

Chapter 19: The Villain Had Tragic Past Because They Wouldn’t Think of Doing Something Like Destroying the World If That wasn’t the Case

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The army’s advance was faster than my expectation.

Also, two of three armies that were dispatched from three fortresses had been successfully stopped. It had been ascertained that they were starting to retreat.

It was fortunate that I was able to learn that information this quickly.

There was a reason for that.

It was because Kulrina immediately dispatched his scouts right after I told him about the human’s attack.

Of course, even with that taken into consideration, the scouts still gathered information too quickly and too accurately.

What made that possible was the information network that the demon king army created in the past was still functioning even now.

It was an surveillance network that was made up from multiple tribes. Multiple relay points had been prepared in it.

Using communication magic that only had the range of ten kilometer at best like a relay, it was possible to gather information from wide range quickly and accurately.

In this aspect, the demon king army was several steps ahead of the humans. ……They had something like this thanks to the magic maniac who was like a mad scientist among the demon king’s four heavenly kings. He simplified the communication magic that had high degree of difficulty so that anyone could use it. On top of that he also designed the layout of the whole communication network.

Most likely that monster was the only one who could rival the great sage in magic.

This legacy really helped us in this case, but I felt a bit conflicted about that looking back at the present situation.

「Twenty kilo huh. An army that is empowered with magic power can arrive here in less than two hours.」

The marching of an army was slow.

Soldiers in a number that surpassed a thousand wore heavy equipments and moved in group. They also had to save some spare strength for the battle.

Even for a magic knight order that was a gathering of elites, it would be most satisfactory already if they could march with the speed of 10 km/hour.

Everything after this would be decided on how we made use of these two hours.

It would be tricky, but we would make it in time if we acted right away.

「Ork-dono, please give us your instruction. We shall obey.」

「Got it. This will be my first and last order. Tell all the elves in this village. Abandon the village.」

This was the best move that I could think about, but the words that I said were something hard to accept for the elves.

「Then, that’s what we will do.」

Kurlina agreed to my outrageous demand immediately.

「My bad, Kurlina.」

「Seeing Ork-dono right now remind me of the demon king-sama. I decided to place my bet on the vestige of demon king-sama that I saw on you.」

I’m looking similar with Tou-san huh.

That was the first time I was told that, but it didn’t feel bad to hear that.

◇

After that, two and half hour passed.

Rurine and I were hiding in the village chief’s house above the tree while looking down at the ground below.

The soldiers who arrived at the elf village were searching around for elves, but they couldn’t find anyone.

That was only natural. There wasn’t a single elf remaining in this village.

The elves had left the village while carrying only the minimum amount of luggage.

They brought with them a letter asking for help that was jointly signed by Kurlina and me to the neighboring settlement of the strongest tribe Iron Wolf tribe. The letter was jointly signed by the demon king’s son and one of the heavenly kings. Surely the elves wouldn’t be treated coldly.

「Can the elves escape safely?」

「They will be fine. There is no way the elves can be pursued inside the forest.」

They had to pass the forest in order to head to the village of the iron wolf tribe.

The terrain advantage belonged to the elves. That would easily compensate for the slowness of the old people and children.

Even so, this matter had to be solved right here.

If the soldiers learned that the elves weren’t here, there was a risk they would attack another village. They had to be stopped here.

Rurine and I stayed behind here for that.

(It should be the time soon.)

The last of the soldiers had also arrived at the outskirt of the village.

I had been waiting for this timing.

「I’m going now, Ork-niisama.」

This was Rurine’s turn.

Rurine was a royalty. Her right of command surpassed the brainwashed commander.

If she gave the order, the soldiers had to obey it.

Theoretically, this outrageous incident would stop with this.

But…….

「Be careful out there. They are here means that the group that was dispatched to stop them has failed. Something happened.」

Yes, three groups were dispatched from the palace to stop the armies’ advance using the method that Rurine was going to try doing.

However, even though two groups succeeded, only the third group failed with this army.

It was impossible that it was just a coincidence. There must be a reason why they failed.

「I understand……I understand the danger from the start. I come here exactly because it’s dangerous.」

The girl said that while shaking.

Rurine had been raised with special education for the gifted. She had endured many harsh trainings. She had also experienced mock battle many times.

Even from my evaluation, she was strong enough.

But, she lacked real battle experience to a fatal degree.

There was no way she wasn’t scared.

Even so she took action.

She looked lovely like that.

「You are a good woman.」

「So Ork-niisama finally noticed that. I’m going now.」

Rurine got out of the room and stood on top of a thick trunk.

I borrowed the power of wind spirits to support her with magnifying her voice.

And then I focused on my own work.

「I am the third princess of Forland Kingdom, Rurine Forland. By my name I command you, stop this barbarous act immediately. The coexistence of human and monster was achieved miraculously after shedding countless blood and tear. Don’t you all dare to bring it to naught!」

Rurine’s voice echoed to the whole area using voice magnification magic.

She had a nice voice. It possessed both dignity and beauty.

There was a word charisma. It was something that was sought the most from a leader.

The true shape of charisma was mostly made up from appearance and voice.

Voice and appearance that someone was born with, and the skill to make use of them to the maximum. Although it was possible to use some tricks to compensate for lacking in those factors to some degree, this was a power that was only possessed by those who were born with it. Those who didn’t have it couldn’t do anything about it no matter what they did.

It was a horrible story, but those were the things that were sought the most from a royalty.

Rurine was given the most excellent voice and appearance from the heaven.

Her voice and appearance could shake people’s heart.

(She is risking her life doing this. If possible I wanted to be the one taking the role of stopping the soldiers.)

But, the soldiers didn’t know my face.

I never showed my face in events like ceremony or parade like the other royalties. Yes, I was just a royalty in name only, just a royalty on paper. The people didn’t know anything about me.

This job could only be done by Rurine.

The soldiers stopped their search of the village.

The soldiers must also felt doubt about this violent act. They didn’t look angry when they were ordered to stop. Rather they looked relieved.

But, something strange began.

I felt a vast amount of magic power swelled up and focused my sight to that direction. An unknown magic was activated.

A wave that was formed from magic power was spreading like a ripple. The eyes of the soldiers who were touched by that ripple became bloodshot.

And then…….

「Kill anyone on our way!」

「Fire the bows.」

「Use rocks」

「Magicians, fire your magic!」

「「「「「Kill, kill, kill, kill」」」」」

The loud chant of the word kill was accompanied by a baptism of arrows and rocks and magic.

「W-why, even though they looked like they accepted the order」

Rurine immediately drew out her sword and dodged almost all of the attacks while parrying those that she couldn’t.

Her skill was splendid.

However her footing was too bad that she slipped and fell from the tree.

Below the bloodshot soldiers swarmed near and unsheathed their sword to stab Rurine.

「ORK-NIISAMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!」

Rurine shrieked.

She couldn’t move her body midair. She could only fall. The second wave of the long range attack assaulted her again at that situation. She wouldn’t be able to dodge that.

Even if she could, she would be hacked to pieces when she fell on the ground with countless swords.

Rurine’s death was unavoidable……if I wasn’t here.

「Did you call, Rurine?」

I hugged her midair and created a tornado that whirled with us at the center.

It was a natural calamity that I caused by borrowing the wind spirit’s power.

All the arrows and rocks and magic that came toward us were blown away. The small fries below us were also scattered.

The soldiers were sent flying grandiosely. Their bodies were slammed on the ground and trees.

The average human would die instantly from it, but the heavily armored soldiers who could use magic power wouldn’t die from that although they were wounded.

I held back to achieve that result.

「Geez, you were too slow. It was scary. Please comfort me later.」

Rurine hugged me tightly.

「Yeah, I’ll do that when everything is over. You did well. I was able to find the mastermind thanks to Rurine.」

There was one more reason why I told Rurine to give the order to stop to the army.

It was in order to determine the reason why the previous group failed in stopping this army’s advance and pinpointed the mastermind.

If the mission to stop the army failed, there was a high possibility it was because the mastermind accompanied that army.

If the mastermind was him, he was a super first class caster. I wouldn’t be able to find his location without concentrating with all my nerves.

Thanks to Rurine standing at the forefront, I was able to concentrate with mywhole being to find the mastermind.

(I understood why the previous group failed after watching what happened just now.)

When Rurine gave the order to stop, almost all of the soldiers were relieved and stopped doing what they were doing.

They recognized her as a royalty and accepted her order.

After that, a powerful magic was activated.

That was the reason why the army’s march didn’t stop. It was an instantly activated brainwashing magic that targeted great number of people.

From the immense magic power that was radiated in order to use that magic, the positions of the brainwashed soldier, and the positions of the soldiers who weren’t, I identified the magic’s activation source, analyzed the residue, and saw through the caster.

「But, we are still in a pinch even now……the whole army is come rushing at us.」

「Something like this doesn’t count as a pinch at all for me. I’m going straight.」

I released the spirit crests on both my hands.

I kept holding Rurine in my arm slipping through the gap in the army formation that crumbled thanks to the tornado with a super fast and smooth movement like flowing water.

And then I touched a single man.

「You are the mastermind. Looks like my worst fear has come true.」

I tightly grabbed the head of a man who was wearing mass produced type full plate mail.

I had also seen through the trick behind the instant mass brainwashing that originally should take a lot of time and could only be done to one person one at a time.

・Attack the elf village

・Kill anyone on your way

The magic didn’t try to grasp the target’s heart. Those two commands were strongly burned to just the surface of the target’s consciousness and the time it was effective was only a few minutes.

If it was a super first rate magician applying the magic to a crowd that was below first rate, even the feat of controlling a great number of people wasn’t impossible. Of course, it was still a super difficult feat but it was possible if it was him.

If it was him, the one who created the information network of the demon king army.

One of the demon king’s four heavenly kings, Khalil of the Golden Crystal tribe.

Golden eyes shined behind the full plate mail.

「So I’m found out. But, what are you going to do now? You won’t be able to stop the soldiers just by cornering me the mastermind.」

A refreshing voice of an agreeable youth resounded.

「I’ll do this.」

Wind blew violently. Rurine, Khalil, and me floated in the air.

Right after that, several sounds of explosion roared in the elf village.

The gas bags that I set up in the house on the trees exploded.

The trees around here were filled with components that could be used as sleeping medicine.

I extracted it with magic, compounded it to be even more powerful, and poured them into bags that were filled with gas.

The content of the exploded gas bags fell toward the soldiers below because they were heavier than air.

I’d have the soldiers slept soundly.

The short term brainwashing would be undone during their sleep.

Rurine, the mastermind, and me glared at each other while being jostled by the wind.

「To think that you will get on my way. What a horrible disciple to be so ungrateful toward your teacher who taught you magic.」

「I’m grateful to you. ……Even so I’ll stop you Khalil.」

The push of the wind vanished and we were falling.

We landed on a vast plain. There was nothing here to block our sight.

I was going to fight one of the demon king’s four heavenly kings. The after-effect from our battle would be unthinkable.

I couldn’t fight him near any village or city.

◇

We both landed and faced each other.

(Khalil’s face immediately came to mind when I saw the magic formula.)

The mastermind’s true identity was his acquaintance.

One of the four heavenly kings of the demon king, Khalil of the Golden Crystal tribe.

The armor enveloping his body was split.

What was hidden behind the armor was an intellectual looking handsome young man who seemed to be at the middle of his twenty.

Just as the name Golden Crystal indicated, the tribe had the trait of having a third eye with beautiful golden color.

They possessed immense magic power and excellent brain. They were a tribe that possessed top class aptitude to be magician.

Khalil was the youngest among the four heavenly kings. He was a super genius who fought and survived the great war when he wasn’t even ten years old at that time.

I hoped that the mastermind wasn’t him not just because he was my acquaintance, but also because he was really troublesome to fight.

「I’m really outdone here. Even though the peace treaty will be annulled with just a bit more and the great war can resume again.」

「So you admit your crime.」

「Hmm, I admit that I’m trying to start the great war again. But, I don’t think that is a crime at all. The creature called human should be destroyed. That is for the good of all monsters.」

He was driven by violent emotion……it would be better if that was the case.

However, he was giving that answer with intellectual conviction.

「Did something happen? Can you tell me why you are doing this?」

「That’s fine. It’s just something trivial. There is this Prince Falta that you cornered right? He kidnapped my lover and gouged out her heart.」

I lost my words.

The Golden Crystal tribe. The origin of that name wasn’t just because of their third eye that was beautiful like a golden crystal.

Their heart was undoubtedly a golden crystal.

It was the source of Golden Crystal tribe’s immense magic power. Its value as magic tool was super first class. Not only that, it was so beautiful that it was counted as one of the three greatest gems in the world.

Among the nobles, such item was traded with a value that surpassed even a castle.

The Golden Crystal tribe was also a race that had been continuously targeted by human like the elves.

「Is that, true? The peace treaty should be forbidding the humans to lay their hands on monster. How can the prince of all people broke the rule.」

「I was doubtful when I heard that my lover died in an accident and investigated it. That prince’s fiancée wanted the most beautiful gem in the world. That was why, he targeted the Golden Crystal tribe who migrated to Forland Kingdom as proof of friendship. He made it looked like my lover’s carriage fell into a cliff due to an accident at a mountain road and her corpse couldn’t be found, while he actually killed her, took her heart, and presented it to his fiancée.」

Impossible……I was about to say that before I stopped myself.

I knew how scary human’s desire was thanks to being a merchant. There were countless people in this world who was able to go that far just for something like that.

「I realized it then. Humans created rule like peace treaty, but they can easily lie like that and prey on us. Humans are that kind of creature. Then there is no other choice but to slaughter them all. After all they are going to break any kind of promise they make.」

That was the truth for him.

A rule was created between the demon king army and Forland Kingdom that both sides wouldn’t try anything with each other. And yet that rule was easily broken.

In that case, peace didn’t have any meaning anymore.

「You instigated Prince Falta and made use of him because you want to ruin that guy who killed your lover……then why did you direct the army to attack Kurlina’s village? You two are close friends.」

Even among the four heavenly kings, the oldest and caring Kurlina and the youngest and immature Khalil should be especially close with each other.

「That was in the past. You see, I suggested to my close friend Kurlina to resume the great war again. The elves have also met horrible experiences like us due to the humans. Even after the peace treaty, sometimes there are still elves who go missing unnaturally. For some reason they will always get discovered being sold as slave in human city. That peace treaty doesn’t have any meaning. Human greed cannot be stopped. He also understands that. That was why I thought he would become my like-minded comrade.」

「……But Kurlina didn’t accept your suggestion.」

「Yes. That’s why, I thought that perhaps he should also meet a horrible experience. After all his eyes should be opened if his adorable daughter get sold by human as plaything, and then he will fight together with me.」

Khalil chuckled.

He laughed in enjoyment.

「And, what are you planning to do with me Ork-kun? I’ll be happy if you cooperate with me though. I don’t want to fight you. You are like a little brother to me, and you are also strong and troublesome to fight.」

「Sorry but I can’t lend you my help. Just allow yourself to be restrained quietly. I won’t hand you to the humans. I’m planning to entrust you to Kurlina. Go cool off your head a little.」

I couldn’t bring myself to allow him to be judged one-sidedly.

That was why I wouldn’t hand him to the humans.

「Hee, I see, I see. So you won’t understand. Fuu, that’s really unfortunate.」

「Me too.」

Khalil laughed darkly hearing those words. His eyes weren’t laughing. He was looking at me with a despairing and resigned gaze.

「Hey, Ork-kun, I want you to tell me. We monsters, even though the humans secretly broke the rule and took away our treasured someone, they play innocent and we can’t even punch back due to the peace treaty. Is it wrong for me to want that kind of shitty rule to vanish? I want to punch back after getting punched.」

「If that’s what you want, then don’t go suddenly breaking the rule. You should take action to improve the rule.」

「You can say that because you have never go through horrible experience thanks to human. I heard that you managed to get some cute lovers. You should also try experiencing your cute lovers getting turned into plaything of the humans. After that you will surely understand my feeling.」

Khalil’s magic power heightened explosively.

From here we couldn’t talk using words anymore. We would use our fist and magic to communicate with each other.

The genius magician who was the youngest in the demon king army and one of the four heavenly kings. A great person who rivaled even the great sage when it came to magic.

The battle would be over with my instant death if I didn’t play all the trump cards I had.

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