And here it is, the real, final, last piece of content from volume 1. Now we start volume two for real!
It had been eleven days since Judith’s encounter with Bash.
On that particular morning, the Knight had been ordered to patrol the streets along with her men.
The highway incident case had been closed, but she had been instructed to keep an eye on the premises, just in case they had missed any stragglers from the cave bandits.
The same people that had just “solved” the case had been given a useless, boring task.
In other words, it was a punishment.
Houston was rational above all else. He needed to punish them for violating his orders, but he also thought house arrest was a big waste of time and resources.
Two days of house arrest, and a single day of useless, menial work.
“I won’t be admonishing you any further in this aspect. The true punishment is hard work every single day from now on.”
That was what Houston was trying to say with his actions.
Judith and her men knew this, which is why they solemnly accepted their mission, and headed to the highway.
Everyone thought the mission would end without a hitch.
Alas, it was not to be. Almost as soon as Judith and the others arrived at their destination, an Orc crawled out from between the trees.
A regular looking green Orc. I wielded a battle axe in its right hand and carried a thick stick on its back.
If this came down to a fight, it would probably fight with a weapon in each hand.
“An Orc… Hey, you there, what are you doing here?”
Before she had met Bash, she would have detained him without a word. Now, had it been any other day, perhaps she would even have let Orcs pass her by without batting an eye.
Unfortunately for the green fellow, she and her men were on the job. They had to guard the forest, and everyone that came out of it was suspicious.
After all, she was still a Knight of Krassel, and had responsibilities to live up to.
“I am Judith, a Knight of Krassel, and I am currently guarding this path. Identify yourself!”
“Hrm?! That voice…that name…a female knight…”
On closer examination, this particular Orc was thick and muscular, but unlike Bash, there was only hunger and lewdness in his eyes – not the sheer intimidating aura put out by the Hero.
The Orc flashed a vulgar smile.
The kind of grin that screamed “I am going to beat you into a pulp and rape you until you’re unconscious”.
“…Are you a stray Orc?”
“Heh, what else would I be?!”
“Just asking. I just want to ask you why you guys don’t follow the Orc King’s edict and leave your country.”
“Ha, it’s obvious! I left ‘cause I can’t stand being with those losers. The Orcs are done. Finished. Our pride is gone, and everyone is living with their heads down like cattle! You Humans…I heard you call us pigs… I can’t even be mad, ‘cause you’re right!”
“So, you’re saying you left the country out of your own volition?”
“Hell yeah I did! And I’m going to teach the rest of those pussies a thing or two about Orcish pride! I’ll be a Hero! And lucky you, you’re going to be my first trophy. I’m going to fuck you and fuck you and fuck you, and you’ll give birth to my child!”
Judith frowned deeply.
She thought back to the face, words and actions of the Orc she had met for just three days a while ago.
“There’s a difference between being a Hero and being…you – a stray.
“Hero? What the hell would you know about Mr. Bash!?”
“I met him the other day.”
“…What?”
“He wasn’t a stray. He wasn’t desperate. He was truly trying to restore Orcish pride. Unlike…you.”
“Mr. Bash was trying to restore our pride…?”
“Ah…”
Judith politely conveyed to him the events of a few days ago: how Bash had been nothing less than the perfect gentleman, how rude she had been to him as a Human, and how he hadn’t cared. She told him how foolish she used to be, and how Bash had inspired her to change. She spoke about the Hero’s ambitions and his goals.
Her monologue was a mix of truth and embellished speculiation,
“Impossible…there’s no way Mr. Bash would have acted like that…to not even take a female knight, even though she was right there…”
“Sir Bash is wise. He follows the rules set by the Orc King. He suppressed his instincts and tried his best to redeem his people. He is the reason why even…fools like me have changed and recognized Orcs as a proud race.”
“Ah…Mr. Bash…this is why I haven’t seen you these last few days…”
“If you can’t stay within the boundaries of Human rules when in Human territory, I will have no choice but to arrest you. Why don’t you follow in Sir Bash’s footsteps?”
Judith said, as she drew her sword.
No matter how much he seemed placated, a stray Orc was still a stray Orc. He was more than likely to take Judith’s words as nothing more than provocation – some dumb bitch’s last words before she gets inevitably raped.
Up until Bash, this has always been the way things have gone.
Judith had very limited experience with stray Orcs, but in all the cases she had to handle, this has been the norm.
“…”
“Hmm?”
But the stray Orc had just turned around and started walking away.
“What are you doing? Where are you going?”
“I’m going home, obviously.”
“Huh…weird. All the stray Orc I’ve met have gotten angry and attacked as soon as they saw me…”
“Geh, I don’t like backing away while you mock me, but… if Mr. Bash is fighting to regain our pride…and if he let you go un-raped, then I will too. I’m as much an Orc as he is, and I’ll fight by his side. For our pride. Doesn’t mean I won’t fight back if you try to stop me right now though.”
“No, I won’t stop you if you try to leave.”
The Orc snickered as he headed back into the deep foliage as Judith just looked on, somewhat taken aback.
Until now, stray Orcs were considered impossible to reason with, and Judith treated them as such – furthermore, Houston’s orders to kill them immediately still stood.
Even this Orc just now had the same attitude as the rest of them.
But then his mood changed on the spot.
As soon as she had mentioned Bash’s name, his eyes turned from that of a predator to those of a warrior, and he left.
The “Orc Hero” – Judith was deeply reverent of the influence his name held. His peers must have an extremely high degree of trust in him.
“Even stray Orcs will straighten up with the mere mention of his name… looks like we met someone way more important than we thought he was…”
The soldiers were in a daze.
Judith felt the same. Compared to stray Orcs…no, even compared to most Humans she knew, Bash was the true embodiment of generosity and heroism.
“The man even Houston was afraid of, huh.”
“How about you Judith, you’re probably going to hide in fear next time you meet him, won’t you?”
“The next time he asks her to bear his child, she might not be able to refuse!”
She still hated Orcs. Even just looking at one made her disgusted – although a little less now.
“Alright, enough joking around. Let’s go back. I’m sure Sir Houston has some more hard work lined up for us tomorrow. You’ll have to work your ass off to pay back your rudeness towards Sir Bash.”
“Pft, Judith, you’re the one who was rude.”
“Shut up. Let’s go.”
But even among Orcs, there were exceptions, thought Judith before walking off.
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