News of the large-scale troop movent from Zabiyaba quickly reached the ears of Baroness Virgo and the Knight Commander. It was well past midnight, but every light in Spica Castle blazed in response to the enemy advance.
"Those wicked monsters... they’re actually marching toward our castle..."
Baroness Virgo had been out of her mind ever since hearing the news. Imagining the future that awaited her if the barony fell made her nauseous.
"I’ll be violated... I’ll definitely be violated by orcs...!"
Dreams and reality were different. It was bound to be painful and agonizing. Her noble title and territory would go up in flas in an instant, like a log tossed into a bonfire.
"Please calm down, Baroness."
"ri...!"
The Baroness rushed to ri and buried her face in her chest. They had been sharing a bed for so ti now, but beyond that, ri was the only trustworthy vassal left in the lord’s castle.
"What should I do?! The enemy is surely a horde of monsters hell-bent on violating won...!"
"...That may be true, but we have the subjugation force, don’t we? A 1,200-strong subjugation force under the direct command of none other than the Holy Knight Commander himself."
"But...! If even they’re wiped out...!"
"Baroness."
ri quietly covered the Baroness’s mouth. If anyone overheard, it would be terrible for morale.
"You said the Knight Commander possesses skill rivaling that of a Hero. Is that correct?"
"Y-Yes."
"I’ve heard that among the 1,200 troops in the subjugation force, there are rcenaries, including A-rank rcenaries who ca from far away. Is that correct?"
"That’s right..."
"And Gray, the knight who has survived death multiple tis, will be assisting the Knight Commander. Baroness, please don’t worry. I will stay by your side and protect you."
ri cradled the Baroness’s head against her chest and patted her back. The Baroness trembled in ri’s arms, her face flushed.
"ri... even now, when everyone else has left , you alone remain by my side..."
The Baroness clung to ri with a desperate look on her face. Her fingernails dug into ri’s lower back; that was how frantic she was.
"Why do you go this far for ? I am... I am by no ans a good person. So why..."
"Because my father, the owner of the company, has taken a liking to you, Baroness. And I like you too."
"...What is his true identity?"
"You’ll find out soon enough. Because..."
Creak.
The Baroness’s face reddened at the firm sensation pressing insistently against her lower abdon. ri stroked the Baroness’s face and smiled. Her face, illuminated by moonlight, was breathtakingly alluring.
"He has agreed to visit here soon. So you must stay alive, Baroness. I’m going to introduce you to him personally. My..."
ri couldn’t finish her sentence. But the Baroness could guess what lay behind ri’s lancholy gaze.
Ah. ri has the sa feelings I do.
"...If you were a man, ri, that would have been a real problem."
"And if you were a man, Baroness, it would have been a problem for too."
The two won looked at each other and smiled. Though what they were thinking was entirely different.
"Then, Baroness... please wait here in the castle with peace of mind. Until the Knight Commander returns with news of victory."
"I think not. ...For the sake of our future together, I cannot simply sit here. ri, from this point on, what I’m about to say must remain known only to you."
"...Pardon?"
ri’s voice cracked at the Baroness’s deadly serious tone. What was Baroness Virgo about to say?
"There is an old legend in the Barony of Virgo. That an ancestor of our house long ago was a Hero who wielded a holy sword."
"I’m well aware of that, but..."
"It actually exists. The holy sword. ...And I know where it is."
"...!"
Where the Baroness couldn’t see, ri’s fist clenched tight. The one thing her commander, the Legion Commander, hated most had just appeared: an unforeseen variable.
’Of all tis, here...!’
Squeeze, squeeze.
The blade was poised at the Baroness. But the true protagonist wouldn’t arrive for so ti yet. Killing her right now was tempting, but the bait the Baroness had dangled gave ri pause.
"...A holy sword? Surely you jest. I was trying to put your mind at ease, and here you are joking around..."
"It’s no joke. The holy sword truly exists. ...I killed my own predecessor because of it. Because he was going to sell the holy sword for an enormous sum of gold and silver, and to demons no less."
"...What?"
ri couldn’t comprehend it. But the Baroness’s expression was deadly serious.
"ri, if you don’t mind, may I ask you one thing?"
Baroness Virgo asked ri with an awkward expression.
"ri, are you... by any chance, a virgin?"
"...."
Only one who was eternally and purely a virgin would be able to wield the holy sword Virgo.
"I am in a position where I must continue the family line. If I were to use the holy sword, the Virgo bloodline would co to an end. ri, I say this because I trust you. Would you... beco the holy sword’s wielder?"
"...And the price?"
"Virginity."
At the secret history of the holy sword that the Baroness revealed, ri’s mind went completely blank.
***
With the Andras unit’s departure, the scouting party had their hands full as well. Aside from the scout already dispatched to Spica Castle, a disagreent arose among the remaining mbers.
"Shouldn’t we move in now and get a look at the enemy position?"
"Bullshit. You could get killed doing that. Who do you think has better night vision, us or them?"
"But we can at least get close enough to confirm!"
"This is about your little sister, isn’t it? Give it up. We’re dealing with demons. The kind of happy ending you’re imagining isn’t going to happen. Face reality."
Disagreents flared among the scouts. Even Commander Aiga, who was supposed to diate and lead them, began to waver.
He understood the feelings of those who wanted to see inside Zabiyaba by any ans, and he also understood the judgnt that, by common sense and reason, a aningless death would accomplish nothing.
"...Rookie, what was your na again?"
"Snake, sir!"
"Good, Snake. You and I will go up to the fence of Zabiyaba. The rest of you, stand by here."
Commander Aiga said this and stripped off his clothes entirely. He was wearing stockings over every part of his body except his face. Hidden in the shadows cast by moonlight, he would be virtually invisible.
"But I’m not keen on getting spotted by the enemy and dying either. If you don’t want to be seen, you’d better do at least this much."
"...Yes, sir!"
Snake imdiately dashed to his gear and began rummaging around. The other soldiers watched their commander with mixed feelings.
"It’s dangerous."
"It’s dangerous, but the crows pulled out, didn’t they? That cuts the sentries in half. The only ones left are orcs."
"Commander, didn’t you just say you were going to make things work with that fairy from Avalon?"
"I was thinking all the way to marriage and grandchildren. Damn, but at least I got one good romp in, so I can die without regrets. You guys, you absolutely have to go there. In my entire life, I’ve never been with a woman that good."
"Ready, sir!"
Snake, dyed black from head to toe, spread his arms wide for all to see. He’d rubbed ash all over his white skin to blacken it with soot.
"That... tch."
The other soldiers fell silent at Snake’s incredible determination. Cutting a hole in the crotch of the stockings and shoving his head through it was not an act most people would have the willpower to attempt.
"Good, you’re ready. Let’s g... now what? Everyone quiet."
The scouting party quickly ducked down. Long after the Andras unit had departed, a group of people began erging from Zabiyaba amid a noisy commotion.
"Th-Those...!"
Commander Aiga was stunned. He couldn’t believe the scene before his eyes was real. But it was unmistakably real.
"What on earth is this...?!"
"Quiet! Stay calm... stay calm."
The scouts focused on the group that had erged from Zabiyaba under cover of darkness. Then they rubbed their eyes and looked again.
"The orcs... are holding humans by leashes?"
Snake recited what he saw in a dazed voice. The other scouts realized their own eyes hadn’t been wrong either.
"Three or four per orc...?"
"I don’t think the orcs were dressed like that before...? Why are they wearing black leather in that style?"
"Look at those people’s faces. They look like they’ve been through hell. They’re all... struggling just to walk."
"...Am I seeing things?"
The commander pointed at a green-skinned woman leading a single man. With skin so green she could easily pass for an elf, the orc was strikingly beautiful.
"Commander, no matter how pretty she is, is that really what catches your eye right now?!"
"No, look at the person that elf, I an orc, is holding on a leash!"
The wrongly accused commander yelled and pointed frantically. There, wearing a tattered priest’s vestnt with a leather collar around his neck, was a young priest.
"Father Francis...?!"
"Guinevere Pisces. I heard he was kidnapped, but he’s... alive!"
The scouts were thrown into a frenzy. The scene before their eyes was more important than the Andras units marching on Spica Castle.
Fweeeet.
When the lead orc blew a whistle, the orcs began dragging the humans by their leashes like slaves and walking south. The march was heading in the exact opposite direction from Spica Castle, and Commander Aiga’s head started spinning.
"What the hell is going on...?"
"Commander, let’s follow them!"
Snake pointed at the orcs, his eyes blazing. His wide-open eyes looked as if he were searching for soone.
"...This is insane. I don’t know what’s happening, but we need to relay exactly what we’ve seen. You, run to Spica Castle right now and report the situation. You two, stay behind and watch for any additional movent. I’ll go with Snake and..."
Commander Aiga pointed at the trail behind the heavily ard orcs and lted into the darkness.
"...follow them."
***
In contrast to what appeared to the scouts as "humans being dragged away as slaves," the humans who had erged from Ras Vegas were putting on quite the performance.
"Hey, can’t you pull a little harder?"
"S-Sorry. I didn’t want to hurt you..."
"Honestly. Have you ever seen how goblins pull? You should have seen how they treat humans like toys!"
"...Our legion does not consider goblins as brethren. Therefore, unless the Legion Commander changes his mind, no goblin will ever be joining our legion."
The human prisoner was demanding more detail in the acting and insisting the orc pull the leash harder, while the orc holding the leash was deeply uncomfortable. At the head of the column, the human young man and the orc woman, Guinevere and Lancelot, smiled wryly.
"There’s zero tension here."
"Everyone’s gotten used to this life..."
"How about you, babe? Used to it?"
"Eat, roll around in bed with you, pray... the sa routine every day."
"But we do a different position every day, don’t we? You like it too."
"...."
Guinevere blushed and hung his head. A few of the female human prisoners following behind stifled their giggles.
"The legion’s only female orc, and... with looks that rival an elf’s, no less... pfft, I’m jealous...!"
"Father, Father. How are things with Miss Lancelot, really? Is she as amazing at night as they say?"
"How am I supposed to say sothing like that...?"
Guinevere scolded the two n approaching him. The Legion of Wrath had developed a culture of being openly vocal about these matters, but embarrassing was still embarrassing.
"Want to tell them? What was it you said again? ’A pussy bestowed by the Goddess.’ Ahahaha!"
"Lancelot...!"
Guinevere nearly jumped out of his skin at Lancelot’s explicit remark. Everyone was struggling not to burst out laughing when they were supposed to be acting miserable.
"We’re supposed to be slaves being dragged away by orcs...! You can’t keep ruining the mood like this!"
"Sorry, sorry. You get so embarrassed, babe. Just a little while ago before we left Ras Vegas, you were pounding away from behind like crazy."
"Lancelot."
"...Sorry, I went too far."
At Guinevere’s cold, hardened expression, Lancelot tugged the leash as if pulling him and sidled up to him playfully.
"Are you mad? Wanna touch my boobs?"
"...Once we’re inside Ras Village."
Guinevere didn’t say no.
A short while later.
Small shadows latched onto the rear of the humans being led by the orcs, but the orcs deliberately left them alone.
As if inviting them to follow the trail of footprints left behind.
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