ushernet Chapter 128 : Chapter 128
Chapter 128 : Chapter 128
Dividing the strong and the weak might perhaps be a natural instinct possessed by all living creatures.Trying to divide the hierarchy to enjoy even a little more, and continuing big and small fights for that throughout their entire lives.
Unless one was an outstanding bastard who would be fine living alone in the world, this was like a shackle that all living creatures could not escape from the moment they were born.
The Leader Orc, in that sense, was a bastard who followed his biological instincts very faithfully.
Seeing how he could not let go of his wariness towards me and Ratel even for a moment.
Thanks to that, whenever the bastard thought he showed even a slightly weak appearance in front of me, he tried to bluff like an animal puffing up its body in front of an enemy.
This led to the result of wasting even more of the bastard's already lacking stamina.
Actually, from the moment he made the judgment to give his back to Ratel, the bastard's wariness had no particular meaning, but there was no way the bastard would know that.
The Leader showed an excessive reaction especially towards me, who was of the same race.
He must be standing his pride against a single one that seemed to threaten his hierarchy.
Whether I wanted the Leader position or not was not important.
Because the wariness towards me must be what his instinct as an Orc was crying out.
Well, even so, it was also funny to persuade the bastard to trust me.
In the sense that I was aiming for the bastard's neck, what that instinct cried out was not very wrong either.
“Kkwek!! Watch this guy and that human well!!”
The bastard, who lost his footing again this time, deliberately made a loud noise to hide it.
“Kkwek!!!”
Flinching at the Leader's scolding, the Half-wit let out a cry as if answering.
As the Half-wit's echoing answer rang the eardrums, Ratel looked at the bastard with an annoyed gaze.
“Kkwe, kkwek…….”
The bastard, who quickly lost his spirit, lowered his volume even more this time and mumbled quietly.
At that timid appearance, a vein popped on the Leader's forehead.
“Kkwek!! You idiot!! What are you going to do if you lose your spirit to a mere human!!”
“Kkwek…….”
Despite the Leader's reproach, the Half-wit could not stop gauging Ratel's mood.
It was natural.
Because the bastard next to him was precisely the outstanding bastard who would be fine living while ignoring biological instincts.
At the Half-wit's appearance of not being able to come to his senses until the end, the Leader eventually let out a sigh and grabbed his forehead.
“Kkwek, to think that the only one left is the most stupid bastard of all things…….”
“Kkwek, was he a bastard who normally made a lot of mistakes too?”
As I reacted to the Leader's sigh-mixed soliloquy, the bastard secretly looked at me.
“Kkwek, if you are thinking of making him your subordinate, give it up. Kkwek, he is a bastard where you lose more than you gain if you carry him around.”
Unlike the expectation that he would react sharply, the Leader answered obediently.
Although it was a face somewhat steeped in fatigue.
“Kkwek, does that mean you knew the bastard normally too?”
“Kkwek, do you think a bastard like that would not stand out in the herd?”
True, if it was an individual who fired off mistakes like that even among Orcs, he would inevitably stand out.
“Kkwek!!”
As if proving the Leader's words, the Half-wit let out a cry.
“Kkwek, once we just return, I will immediately go to that bastard…….”
As if just hearing his voice made him burn with anger, the Leader spoke as if chewing his words and turning his body.
“Kkwek, what are you going to do?”
I asked again to the Leader who awkwardly stopped his half-turned body at the sudden question.
“Kkwek, I am asking what you are going to do after you reclaim the Leader position.”
“Kkwek, what does it matter to you?”
“Kkwek, are you going to kill him?”
When I asked, ignoring the gaze glaring at me as if asking why he had to tell me something like that, the bastard contorted his face.
“Kkwek, what kind of nonsense are you trying to spout again.”
“Kkwek, what if that Half-wit is not needed?”
Perhaps my continuous questions were bothersome, the one-armed Orc threateningly moved his remaining single arm again.
“Kkwek, say it if you have something you want to say. Kkwek, do not just spout incomprehensible words.”
“Kkwek, I am asking if you can beat that Half-wit with strength.”
At the same time as the question, I could see something similar to a laugh from the Leader for the first time.
Because a sneer was still a laugh anyway.
“Kkwek!! I did not know you well!! Kkwek!! You were not a bastard with black intentions, but just a bastard with an empty head!!”
I quietly waited for the bastard to stop sneering at me.
Soon, the Leader, whose laughter had subsided, turned his body again.
“Kkwek, there is not even a need to beat that bastard. Kkwek, that thing lacked the ability to act as the boss from the time he was born.”
“Kkwek, that is something you do not know.”
When I did not agree until the end, the Leader's eyebrows twitched.
“Kkwek, think carefully. Kkwek, just because he looks stupid does not necessarily guarantee that he will listen to your words well.”
The bastard, who was glaring at me perhaps not understanding the advice containing a meaning of warning, turned his body just like that as if it was not worth listening to anymore.
“Kkwek!!!”
There was also a scream-like cry from the Half-wit from behind again.
I slowly followed behind the bastard who went to check on his one remaining subordinate.
The law of the jungle is the most simple and clear law of nature.
However, within the laws of nature, anomalies always exist.
Just like how individuals with strong power do not always necessarily occupy the peak of the hierarchy.
***
What greeted the Leader and me, who belatedly followed the Half-wit's scream, was the Half-wit's butt.
“Kkwek!!!”
And a desperate cry.
“……Kkwek, how did this happen?”
“Can you not tell by looking? His head is stuck.”
Ratel, who was standing quietly next to the Half-wit's remaining body, answered.
Do you think I asked because I did not know that?
“Kkwek, I am asking how he ended up in this state.”
I pointed at the Half-wit, who only had his flailing body left with his head stuck in the wall crevice, and asked again.
“How would I know? He was acting noisy so I gave him a warning, but he suddenly smashed his head into it.”
As if just recalling it made him annoyed, the bastard furrowed his brows.
I felt like I roughly knew.
He was stealthily avoiding Ratel, and since he suddenly spoke to him, he must have been terrified.
Perhaps the warning Ratel mentioned might have been a little different from what is commonly said too.
“Kkwek, normally giving a warning, does not accompany weapons or other physical actions. Kkwek, you know that, right?”
When I asked again out of concern, the bastard narrowed his eyes.
“Are you doubting me right now?”
“Kkwek, you should not talk about conscience at least in front of me. Kkwek, in front of a person who received threats like it was a daily routine.”
When I narrowed my eyes, the bastard eventually shrugged his shoulders once.
“I did not say much. He was screaming kkwek kkwek, so I just said that if he wanted to keep his neck intact in the future too, he should save it a little.”
Depending on the person saying it, it could have sounded like deep-hearted advice.
However, it was not that difficult to imagine how the Half-wit, who had already been choked by the bastard's hands, would have taken those words.
Even so, I could not understand him ignorantly smashing his face into the wall like that.
“Kkweeeek!!!”
To the point of embarrassing myself for briefly warning the Leader to be careful of him, the Half-wit exerted all his strength to pull his head out from the wall crevice.
“Kkwek!! You stupid bastard!!”
The angry Leader smacked the Half-wit's shoulder.
“Kkwek!!”
The Half-wit, who was suddenly hit while in a state of not seeing anything, let out a scream and grabbed the place he was hit.
“Kkwek, now of all things you cannot even walk properly?! Kkweeeek, you should have at least one thing you do properly?!”
The Leader, who threw a tantrum to the fullest, bent his waist to pull out the Half-wit's legs with his one remaining arm.
However, perhaps the Half-wit's flailing was quite violent, the Half-wit's legs that had gone in deep showed no signs of coming out.
Whether his neck was swelling, or his head was getting stuck further inside, the part of his neck stuck in the hole was to the point of looking dark blue as blood was not flowing.
Unable to just watch, the Leader tried to break the edge of the hole, but there was a risk of the wall collapsing if the bastard with only one arm left used his strength ignorantly.
Even putting aside the Half-wit getting crushed, if the passage ended up getting completely blocked by any chance, that was also troublesome.
Accordingly, as the Half-wit's screams grew louder, anxiety showed on the Leader's face.
“Kkwek, damn it, what did you do to get stuck this tightly?!”
Unable to just watch, I stealthily gave a glance to Ratel.
“Kkwek, try cutting just the edge a little. Kkwek, with that much, the wall will be fine, and we can also pull that Half-wit out.”
“Kkwek!! Cut what do you mean cut!! Kkwek!! Did you think I would not know that you are trying to cut this guy's neck like that?!!”
Even though the opponent I spoke to was Ratel, the Leader bastard got excited and glared at me.
“Kkwek, what would I even gain from cutting his neck right now…….”
“That is a good method.”
Blocking my words of carefully explaining in frustration, Ratel took one step closer to the two Orcs.
Why are you suddenly acting like this again?
“Kkwek, what did you say?”
I tried to stop Ratel, but the Leader, whose temper was also not to be trifled with, fell away from the Half-wit and was threateningly approaching Ratel.
“Cutting off the head is a good idea. Even if you just pull ignorantly like that anyway, blood will not flow and it will rot, so rather it would be better for that Half-wit too to cleanly cut it off.”
“Kkwek??!!!”
At Ratel's claim that did not reflect his opinion in the slightest, the Half-wit's arms and legs started to flail again, but neither of the two cared about such a thing.
“Kkwek, then hand your sword over to me. Kkwek, I will widen the hole myself.”
“Why? Are you going to swallow it down saying you cannot hand over such a dangerous item to a human next?”
“…….”
“…….”
The entirely useless scuffle that started between the two bastards expectedly led to a meaningless war of nerves.
Fatigue rushed in at the risky atmosphere where a physical fight seemed like it would break out at any moment.
“Kkwek, are you done fighting now?”
At my question, the gazes of the two ignorant bastards gathered on me.
“Kkwek!! Why are you just standing still!! Kkwek!! We have to teach that human bastard who does not know his place, his situation!! Kkwek, hurry up and take the bastard's sword!!”
The Leader gave me an unreasonable command.
“…….”
The protagonist bastard did not particularly say it in words, but he sent a gaze implying the meaning that he would not leave me alone either if I did anything useless.
“Kkwek, right, then.”
At my confirmation that it was unknown to whom it was directed, the Leader and Ratel glared their eyes.
I trudged my steps towards Ratel.
The bastard glared at me with a spirit that would just cut off my arm if I laid even a single finger on his sword.
My face is going to be pierced, you punk.
However, my goal was not the sword hung on his waist.
It was my bag that I had never received back even once since entering the cave.
When I nonchalantly snatched the bag slung over his shoulder, Ratel just watched what I was doing without any particular sign of stopping me.
The original owner is me anyway, so it is also a bit funny to insist on handing it over.
I rummaged through the bag and soon pulled out a small dagger the size of a palm, which was only the size of a finger joint in an Orc's hand.
You are not the only one holding a weapon, you know?
I held the sword and approached the wall where the Half-wit's head was stuck again.
Perhaps his head was properly stuck, the back of the Half-wit bastard's neck was exposed as it was.
I grabbed the Half-wit's neck to prevent the bastard from flailing in advance.
And I just raised my hand and jammed the dagger into the wall above the bastard's head.
“Kkwek!!”
The surprised bastard screamed, but I paid no mind and quickly dragged the dagger down to the edge of the hole where his neck was caught.
Small broken fragments fell with a patter, and the entrance of the hole widened a little.
As the crevice opened up, the Half-wit pulled his head out as if he had been waiting.
The bastard, who suddenly regained his freedom, looked at me with a surprised face.
“Kkwe, kkwek……!”
Perhaps oxygen had not flowed quite a bit while he was stuck, his eyes were fully bloodshot on his face that had turned dull dark.
I did not feel sympathy.
I mean, why did you shove your head in there?
I pushed the escaped Half-wit to the Leader.
Perhaps bewildered by how the matter was resolved so anti-climactically, the Leader caught the Half-wit without even getting angry.
Confirming that the two Orcs had no particular complaints, I immediately walked over to Ratel and hung my bag back around the bastard's neck.
“Kkwek, it is done now, right?”
Judging from his expression, it seemed it was not a resolving method he liked, but well.
“Kkwek, well, it was not yours originally either. Kkwek, you stole it and are using it as it is.”
So let's just roughly call it even with this.
Ratel glared at me wordlessly and soon turned his head.
It essentially ended with roughly neither side winning nor losing.
It was just that my energy was depleted a little.