Chapter 204 – Episode 204. Each Person’s Path, Each Person’s Relationship (5)
It’s been about three days since we came to the village of Orcs.
During that time, each member was stably adapting to the tribe.
The witches help with the necessary work within the tribe while they are indebted, and the anti-human alliance’s activists, to whom I belong, are also secretly helping in a quiet place.
Of course, both of them are closed groups, so their activities were not made openly.
If there is something that requires cooperation, just do it without notice and move on.
On the other hand, the reason why I couldn’t take the vigilant behavior as badly was because I understood the feelings of both forces to some extent.
The Anti-Human Alliance has been betrayed by mankind, and has lost its position in the Demon King’s army, and the Witch Council is also in the same situation as being chased by both sides.
In fact, it can be said that the reason why the two forces were able to settle in one place was because of my existence as a mixed race.
So, if you want to seek mutual cooperation for the future, you can say that my role is the most important…
“Chairman is currently taking a break because he is not feeling well.”
Yes, the problem is this
For some reason, the person who should have sought cooperation is living a hermit life after joining this village.
Of course, she doesn’t particularly doubt her.
In the first place, she took the risk of revealing her identity and came all the way here to find me, and actively checking Celica’s condition or trying to fulfill my request was probably to close the distance with me.
If there is a problem, it must be after joining this village.
“Are you sick?”
“Yes, it’s the first time we’ve ever had anything like this, so it’s a bit embarrassing… Oh, but the research is progressing steadily, so don’t worry too much.”
“… If so, there is nothing you can do “
She reluctantly agreed to Luna’s explanation and prepared to retreat.
No matter how much the survival of the organization is one of my responsibilities, the most important thing right now is to determine which of the future situations Celica saw is the truth.
Among them, if she only knew the secret of my birth, the responsibility she felt would be greatly reduced.
“Excuse me~”
So let’s wait for the research to be over for now, and think about turning our backs on it for a while.
I confirmed that someone had visited the Witch Council’s quarters as if to replace me, who was about to step back.
A wild black-haired woman with a red cape draped around her neck. She was Yumir.
“The Witch Chairman came to visit me on business. Can I come in?”
“Ah, you are Ymir. Come in.”
“… What?”
Unlike me, Luna willingly allowed Ymir to enter.
When I turned around in amazement at her appearance, Yumir started looking back at me with a fishy smile.
“Ymir, how are you…”
“Huh, this is all the skill of the Archmage~”
His unique grinning must have been to scratch my nerves.
Her body trembled as intended by the provocation, but Yumir found me cute and just tapped her on the shoulder.
“Well, I also did research on demons and witches, so this situation is considered an opportunity. I will make your wishes come true, so you hold on to your worries and rest. Anything related to witches will be taken care of by this older sister.”
“Uh… That, yes.”
So, she confidently answers, and Yumir, guided by Luna, enters her quarters.
Although she was concerned that her idiosyncratic personality might cause friction with her reticent president, she decided to trust her.
Since he’s the kind of person who won’t reach out unless he’s certain, being confident means that he has a corner to believe that much.
Even more so, as she said, she also studied her witches and her demons, so interacting with her witches would surely come as a good experience for her as well.
“Dave.”
So, while looking around her village, entrusting Yumir with her witch, he encountered Heira.
She, who had been recuperating in Melia’s hands for the past few days, was now facing me with a full of energy.
-Jjie~
While holding something that made a strange cry in its arms.
“… What is that?”
“Baby.”
“Baby?”
“Yes, baby.”
Heira repeatedly replies and quietly puts out what is being held in her arms.
It had green skin and pig-like ears, and it was the appearance of a young orc living in this village.
“Cute?”
Heira, holding the orc’s baby in her arms, gently faces me.
Certainly, the baby in her arms was an orc, but there was a cuteness unique to infants.
“… Yeah, it’s cute.”
Of course, what was considered cuter than that was my lover.
The way she cautiously asked me, and the way she smiled contentedly after hearing her answer and waved her arms as she embraced her child.
“… But why are you holding a child all of a sudden?”
Apart from that, the fact that the orc’s baby was held in her arms made her nervous.
Like all races, Orcs in particular are very sensitive about parenting.
To the point of being prepared to burn the whole orc to death in order to protect the children…
Even so, was the reason why Heira entrusted the child to Melia, who is currently in charge of the children in this tribe, because of the influence of Melia?
“I want to learn how to be a mother.”
Heira answers the question without hesitation.
For the moment, I didn’t understand the meaning of her words and stared blankly at her.
“… What?”
“She wants to be a mother.”
Listening again, the result is the same.
A lot of things were omitted, but I could feel the confidence in the two eyes that were clearly facing me.
“Dave, I will learn from her mother how to be her mother.”
“… Uh, uh Yes, do your best.”
When I answered, feeling intimidated by the spirit I felt from that figure, Heira smiled and started to leave her seat.
She still cherishes her child in her arms.
Leaving me here alone, questioning her words.
“… Mom?”
Yeah, thinking about it again, that was something I didn’t quite understand.
Of course, Heira talked about wanting to have a child of mine, but she never actively expressed it… Could it be that he had awakened to something while being taken care of by Melia?
“Well, it will be fine.”
I was a little worried, but for now, I decided not to interfere with Heira’s actions.
Melia should know better about elves than me or other party members.
More than anything, it was the first time I had ever seen Heira so actively insist on working on something.
“Shall we go for a walk?”
After getting away from the two of them, I had nothing to do, so I had time to look around the village in the valley.
I was worried about Celica and Verdia, but in the case of the two, unlike Ymir and Heira, it was not easy to check their safety.
‘From now on, I’m going to start training, so please don’t come in until I come out.’
After the sparring of the day, Verdia had time to devote herself to her training by shutting herself in the cave.
That too, with the entrance closed without any water leakage.
It is to spend time praying to the god you serve without saying anything or speaking anything in the darkness where not a single light can pass through.
‘Praying, how much?’
‘Until the end.’
Of course, for a religious person like her, her fasting or silent meditation is nothing strange, but the last thing she saw before entering the cave was Verdia’s uneasiness.
Was it shocking to her that she was beaten by Celica, or did she feel fear for her soon-to-be-coming future in the duel with her…
However, the problem was that there was nothing I could do right now to comfort her and interfere with her.
I just wait for her results to come out, and I hope that she will stand up and rise again with her own will.
‘Then I’ll go hunting.’
On the other hand, Celica, who became the reason for such a conflict, is actively going in and out of her village.
She suddenly wondered why she was going to face the monsters of the plains alone, but she didn’t explain much, only hinting at me.
‘Dave, do you believe me?’
Whatever she thinks or plans.
Indirectly teaching me that all of that is to protect the whole party with me.
‘… Believe.’
‘Yeah, I trust Dave too.’
After exchanging such feelings, Celica leaves the village to do something.
Afterwards, whenever she returned, cheers could be heard among her orcs, who were delighted with the increase in her food supply, but I didn’t bother to go out to find her.
After she also faced her witch, she seemed to be prepared for a lot.
If you look at her face for no reason, that resolution might be disturbed, so sticking to your own time now is a necessary policy for the future.
“… Everyone is working hard.”
Yes, after all the party members joined Mi Village, they were going their separate ways.
Ymir and Heirado are anxious, but Verdia and Celica are also…
While they are working hard, what can I do?
Is it all I can do to just quietly wait for them to produce their results?
“Lord.”
As I was quietly spending time thinking about such things, a voice suddenly came from behind.
While it felt sudden, the familiarity felt in the voice itself rather made me feel calm.
In a sense, it’s more than a warrior’s party, especially since I’m a trustworthy person.
“… Is it Katarina?”
I turned my head in response to that voice, and as expected, a woman wearing a mask in black greeted me.
The leader of the Anti-Human Alliance, the daughter of my teacher, and a loyal servant who came to serve me wholeheartedly.
“I told you to keep quiet until I call you, but your coming here means something happened, right?”
In response to her reply, which was eager to revive her expectations, Katarina hesitated for a moment before putting her hand on her mask, which was written on her own lips.
“… That is.”
Is it because it is such an important business? Or are you too shy to speak?
After several minutes of silence, thinking that we should wait for now.
“Can you hug me?”
The words that were soon followed by a trembling voice made me put on a blank expression without even realizing it.
“… What?”
“That…”
Afterwards, her face is revealed as she takes off her mask.
Her eyes, which had been sharpened as sharp as any famous sword, were dyed in a shy color without seeing me clearly for this moment.
“Being away for a while… Because I couldn’t.”
“…”
***
And, the time with Katarina began like that.
“Ah, ah, ah~♥ Lord, Lord, Joo Gu-woon~♥”
She is the leader of the Anti-Human Alliance and an outstanding assassin.
After the act started, she lost all of her looks and started shaking her waist vigorously under me.
For this moment, I just long for the castle.
As if it teaches me that I have degenerated into a woman who only exists to be embraced by me.
