The Seventh Prince Runs Away from Awkward Situations Chapter 138 : Chapter 138

Chapter 138 - Test (1)

Facing the three bastards filled with complaints, I calmly opened my mouth.

“Kkwek, I an exactly what I said. Kkwek, if we keep going like this, we’re going to run into those three bastards anyway, so there’s no need for all four of us to move together like this.”

Only two of us would be able to deal with them anyway.

“Kkwek, are you saying you’ll stay behind alone and deal with those three bastards?”

This ti, the leader narrowed his eyes and asked.

I couldn’t tell whether he saw as an idiot with an outstanding spirit of sacrifice, or as an orc strong enough to take on three at once.

It did not matter whether it was one of the two or both.

Either way, his judgnt was wrong.

I gestured with my eyes toward Ratel, who was glaring at from one side with a stiff expression.

“Kkwek, of course not. Kkwek, I’ll stay with the half-wit. Kkwek, you take that ‘bait’ and keep moving forward.”

“Kkwek?!”

The half-wit, who had been nad, jumped on the spot.

Startled by the words that he would stay with , the half-wit looked back and forth between and Ratel.

Why was he watching Ratel’s mood in this situation?

It was an incomprehensible action, but in any case, sending the two of them off ca first right now.

“Kkwek, hurry up and go.”

As if he had not heard my urging, Ratel did not move a muscle.

“What are you going to do with just you and the half-wit staying behind? Join forces and defeat three orcs?”

“Kkwek!! Then I’ll stay here too!! Kkwek, one of those three bastards might be the one who attacked !!”

After Ratel, the leader joined in and expressed his opposition.

Even though the most likely culprit was standing blankly beside him, watching the leader lose his temper.

“Kkwek, it’s the opposite. Kkwek, if it’s just and the half-wit, we might not need to fight at all.”

I did not know why the three orcs were following us, but at the very least, it was probably not because of the leader or Ratel.

Neither of them had been covered in Oaks grass for all that long.

As long as I sent those two ahead first, there was no reason for the remaining and the half-wit to fight those bastards.

It could simply end as a chance encounter between fellow orcs who had coincidentally t inside the cave.

“Kkwek, but the mont you two are seen by the orcs, a fight will break out imdiately.”

“You an you’re going to attack them while they’re off guard?”

“Kkwek!! If you just kill those bastards, what happens to ?!”

No sooner had Ratel finished speaking than the leader shrilled noisily.

“Kkwek, shut up. Kkwek, who said I’m killing them?”

When I furrowed my brow, the startled leader glanced at my expression.

“Kkwek, if you’re not killing them, what are you going to do?”

“Kkwek, I’m only sending them back for a while. Kkwek, so they won’t be able to chase us until we reach the food storage.”

“Let’s say no fight breaks out. What cos next? Are you going to politely ask those bastards to turn back now?”

As soon as he finished speaking, this ti Ratel cut in and asked.

If both of them were that full of questions, they probably did not get bored living in this world.

“Kkwek, that doesn’t sound too bad either.”

When I answered Ratel’s sarcasm seriously, he looked at as if I was beyond belief.

“Are you joking right now? There’s no way those bastards will listen to your request.”

“Kkwek, I’ll try persuading them. Kkwek, I’ll ask them to go back the way they ca.”

Though if they kept refusing, it would co with a very small amount of physical force.

“Kkwek, anyway, it’s better for both you and the leader to stay away, so I’m telling you to go first. Kkwek, I’ll follow soon, all right?”

While earnestly persuading him, I narrowed my eyes and stared at Ratel.

“Kkwek, and didn’t you clearly say earlier that you wouldn’t lift a single finger?”

“What does that have to do with this?”

Ratel t my gaze without smoothing out his expression.

“Kkwek, if you’re not going to do anything anyway, there’s no reason for you to stay here, is there?”

“......”

“Kkwek, or was saying you wouldn’t move a finger a lie after all?”

“......”

In the end, the party was split into Ratel and the leader, and and the half-wit.

It was a composition no one was happy with, but since everyone was equally unhappy, it was a combination that at least managed to maintain balance.

***

While Ratel and the leader moved far enough away for their figures to grow faint, the half-wit and I stayed where we had stopped and prepared to greet the three orcs.

By preparation, I ant giving the half-wit a few things to keep in mind.

“Kkwek, don’t move carelessly until I give the signal. Kkwek, if we don’t attack first, they have no reason to rush us.”

“Kkwek!!”

Whether he had understood my words or was simply reacting reflexively, the half-wit let out a cry.

Then he stared fixedly at with a thoroughly tense face.

“......Kkwek, you don’t need to tense up that much already. Kkwek, those bastards haven’t even arrived yet.”

“Kkwek!!”

The bastard answered energetically again, and this ti, he let out all the strength he had pumped into his body.

No matter how I looked at him, he really was too far removed from the leader in the original work.

Until now, I had wondered whether he might be acting stupid, but a clue the leader had let slip a little while ago had added one more hypothesis.

That the bastard had not fully inherited whatever was passed down to the leader.

Whether it was intelligence or knowledge, if the gap between the leader in the original work and the current half-wit stemd from that, then it would be hard to expect the intelligence from the original work’s version out of the current half-wit.

I watched him glance around with vacant eyes, then opened my mouth.

“Kkwek, what we have to deal with now is only three at most, but when we reach the front of the food storage, more orcs than we can even compare to this will gather. Kkwek, you said you’d beco the bait yourself, so you should know that.”

“Kkwek......!”

The half-wit answered as if he knew, but he did not seem to have fully understood my words.

“Kkwek, I’m saying you don’t have much chance left to beco the leader easily.”

At my insistence disguised as advice, this ti, no answer ca back.

I had not expected so great change either.

I still did not know whether he was truly less intelligent compared to the original work, or whether he was pretending to be stupid, but I had only wanted to give him the pressure that there was not much ti left.

Even if not now, I could at least give him a stimulus telling him he had to attack the leader.

“Kkwek, for now, focus on driving those three away first. Kkwek, the important thing is to lure all three of them around here at once. Kkwek, so......”

I stopped speaking for a mont at the firm hand gripping my shoulder.

Hard to believe this was the sa bastard who had barely been able to et my eyes, the half-wit quietly stared at .

The thought that crossed my mind in that instant was the certainty that the half-wit had indeed been pretending to be stupid all this ti.

The grip holding my shoulder was rather strong, the place where I happened to be standing was connected to the bastard in the original work, and more than anything, I felt as if the bastard’s eyes, which had only seed vacant until now, had flashed for a mont.

It was the instant I filled my body with strength to prepare for the force that would push away.

“Kkwek!!”

With a cry so bright it left feeling hollow, the bastard nodded.

What was that all of a sudden?

When I furrowed my brow, unable to tell what he was agreeing to, the bastard suddenly shot out like he had been fired.

And he did so along the path we had walked so far, aning straight toward the approaching orcs.

I had been stunned by his sudden action, but I soon ca back to my senses.

I also realized what the half-wit’s nod had ant.

It was surely ant to say that he would lure the three orcs over himself.

I was the one who had said we needed to draw the three bastards over here, but that did not an he should charge in so recklessly.

I did not know what he was trying to do, but judging from the half-wit’s actions so far, trusting him and waiting at ease was not a wise choice.

I swallowed a curse and slowly followed the half-wit as he moved farther away.

And I made a vow.

Whether the half-wit was the leader from the original work, or whether he was just a passing Orc No. 1 who had been a little unlucky, once everything was over, I would not let him get away with this.

***

It was astonishing.

To think there had still been even a shallow expectation left in that the half-wit might have co up with so thod of luring the orcs in his own way.

Otherwise, there was no way I would feel this bewildered at the sight of him charging while swinging both arms every which way.

“Kkweeek!!! Kkweeeek!!!”

As if trying to gather the attention of every living thing inside the cave onto himself, the half-wit flailed his arms and cried out.

Unfortunately, I was not the only one bewildered by his sudden charge.

-Kkwek?

Three orcs appeared four ters ahead.

I had not expected us to run into them in such a tensionless fashion.

I stopped chasing the half-wit and backed away.

Fortunately, those bastards did not seem to have noticed yet.

The half-wit’s presence was too great for that, as he charged in while flailing his limbs as if he had been electrocuted.

Three pairs of eyes focused on the half-wit all at once.

The three orcs seed just as bewildered by this sudden encounter.

Of course they would be.

What they sensed from the half-wit approaching while excitedly flailing his limbs was probably not hostility, but madness.

Usually, very few people respond to the approach of a madman with an imdiate attack.

Bewildernt cos first.

The half-wit approached the bastards, who still could not seem to decide what reaction they should show.

Only then did the three orcs surround the half-wit with eyes full of suspicion.

I could not just leave him to die like that.

It was just as I was wondering how I should divert those bastards’ attention.

“Kkwek!!!”

Perhaps the half-wit, who had been running with great vigor, stepped on a slippery patch of ground, because he swayed violently.

The half-wit’s unsightly dance to sohow regain his balance continued.

It would have been nice if it had ended there, but the problem was the bow he held in his hand.

And the direction the tip of the bow pointed, even as his body tilted, was an even bigger problem.

No, it would probably be harder to find anything that was not a problem.

Whether he was trying to lean his body against the bow to avoid falling or not, the half-wit drove the bow into the ground right before he fell.

Without seeing the instep of soone who had already settled there first.

The tip of the bow, carrying the half-wit’s weight exactly as it was, stabbed into the instep of the orc standing in the middle of the three.

-Kkweeeek!!!

The orc, struck down in an instant by a sudden and, more than anything, pathetic attack, scread.

“Kkwe, kkwek......!”

The flustered half-wit hurriedly pulled the bow stuck in the ground back out, as if to apologize.

-Kkweeeeek!!!

The orc’s scream of pain only grew louder.

As if that were not enough, the half-wit could not withstand the recoil of pulling the bow back out and fell backward this ti.

It was a sight difficult to watch with open eyes.

Thanks to the half-wit, who slid forward while still in the posture of having fallen backward, the three orcs got tangled up with him and rolled through the water like bowling pins struck by a bowling ball.

The four of them floundered in the shallow water for a while, then soon ca to their senses and got to their feet.

With this, the three intruders seed to have judged the half-wit as a perfect enemy.

The three orcs surrounded the half-wit in an instant.

After watching the bewildered half-wit spin his gaze around and wail pitifully for a mont, I turned my back exactly as I was.

If that bastard fell over about three more tis from there, he would be able to buy enough ti for Ratel and the leader to reach the other side.

More than anything else, I felt pathetic for having run all the way here from my original spot just to see that spectacle, and I did not want to stay in this place any longer.

However, the half-wit was an expert in many ways when it ca to stopping from returning to my position.

“Kkwek!!!”

Even without checking, I felt like I knew who owned the orc cry stabbing into my back.

There was no reason for the other orcs to cry out with that kind of desperation, and more than anything, it did not seem likely that another orc who could make such a dopey cry existed.

At the nurous gazes I felt on the back of my head, I obediently accepted my fate.

When I turned around, four pairs of eyes focused on .

I glared at the pair of eyes among them that clearly looked delighted to see , and chewed down on a curse.

That damn half-wit bastard.