Orc Hero Story: Discovery Chronicles - Chapter 73.1

Orc Hero Story

An orc entered the Stormhill Castle alone.

“Was it like this before?”

“They rebuilt it, didn’t they?”

A fairy accompanied the orc. Both of them desperately tried to evoke their past memories as they looked at the castle. However, no matter how hard they tried, the concrete form didn’t come to mind.

It was natural. Stormhill Castle had once fallen to the orc forces. For humans, it was the most vivid and recent memory of defeat. Only a few survived and shed tears of blood as they watched the castle burn from afar. No one ignored what it meant for orcs to capture a castle. Men were massacred, and women were taken as breeding slaves, forced to bear orc children.

Many never returned, and those who did were almost broken. So, when they decided to reclaim this land and rebuild the castle, those who had shed tears that day made a solemn vow: they would never let this land fall again. If this castle was attacked again, they would not allow it to be taken.

And so, this castle was built. It was natural that Bash and Zell couldn’t remember it. Furthermore, Bash hadn’t participated in the looting but had joined the pursuit, so the burning castle wasn’t etched in his memory. No matter how hard they tried to remember, what wasn’t there wouldn’t come to light.

“This way, please.”

Following a soldier’s guide, Bash and Zell began to walk. Now that he thought about it, why had they come here? There were parts of the journey that made them doubt. However, when they were told to follow, the nature of a low-ranking warrior was simply to go with the flow.

They traversed winding corridors, went up and down slopes that seemed like ascents, all while climbing stairs that didn’t actually lead upward. Bash finally arrived at a room. He realized he had lost track of Zell. Along the way, he seemed to hear phrases like “Fairy, we have some sweet fruits prepared over here” and “Well, I prefer roasted nuts to sweet ones, but if you say so…” but in any case, the fact was that he had lost Zell. As for the path, it was impossible for him to remember.

“Here we are.”

When Bash entered the room, he heard a click behind him. The door was closed. Well, Bash didn’t really care. If he felt like it, he could break down an iron door like that. At most, he thought, “They’re quite diligent about locking it”.

“Hm?”

Inside the room were four men and women. Among them, three were familiar faces.

“Thunder Sonia…”

In particular, one of them was a figure that Bash couldn’t help but drool over just by looking at her; an incredibly graceful and beautiful elf.

“Oh, long time no see! Since the Red Forest, right? I heard you even went with the demons. How have you been?”

“Lady Thunder Sonia… I will be the one asking questions, so you can catch up later.”

“Alright, alright. Don’t give me that terrifying look. Hey, Nazar, we should at least exchange greetings, right?”

“Lady Thunder Sonia’s greetings are usually long, so it would be better to do it later.”

“You too!? What’s wrong with you? Greetings are important…”

Bash averted his gaze from Thunder Sonia and instead looked at one of the men, a handsome blonde who was not wearing a mask today.

“Nazar, thanks to you, I was able to negotiate with the demons smoothly. I appreciate it.”

“Is that so? With that letter? It was just a piece of paper, but… I mean, yes, I suppose without the letter, they might have rejected you… mumble…

Ignoring Nazar, who seemed lost in thought, Bash turned his attention to the third person, Judith.

“Judith, long time no see… What are you doing here?”

Judith was a guard in Krassel, Bash knew that. Essentially, he wondered why she had left her post.

“They called me here the other day; I arrived in a magical carriage.”

“Hmm, I see.”

However, Bash didn’t pay much attention to the details. There was more, but Judith had intentionally omitted the subtlest details.

“I heard that Sir Bash had come here, and I came eagerly to hear about your adventures on the journey.”

“…I see. Alright.”

As an introduction to listening to what the orc had to say, it was perfect. Judith signaled to those around her and began the interrogation. She was careful not to be domineering or too authoritative, unlike in the past. By the way, the last person was the Chancellor Crusader, but to Bash, he was just another unimportant human male, so he didn’t pay him any attention.

“First of all, it is said that the border patrol near the Demon and Beastmen’s territories was completely annihilated. Was this your doing, Sir Bash?”

“No, it wasn’t me.”

“Then, do you know who might have done it?”

“I don’t know. When I passed by, there was no one left. However, I felt bad about passing by silently, so I left a note.”

Judith turned her head back, seeming to say, “See?” Thunder Sonia and Nazar also directed their gazes at the person next to them. Chancellor Crusader, upon whom the looks had now fallen, muttered quietly, “It could be a lie,” but orcs didn’t lie. At least, that’s what non-orc races believed.

“Next, after crossing the border, I assume you entered the Demon country. What did you do there?”

“Yes. We entered the Demon country, but we couldn’t find any of their cities for a while, so we ended up walking through a desolate snowfield with nothing to see. However, we got lucky.”

“Lucky? Even though you couldn’t find a city?”

“No, not because of that. After a few days, we witnessed an attack on one of the Demon warrior units.”

“A Demon warrior unit being attacked…? And what was attacking them?”

“A dragon.”

“I see, a dragon… A dragon!? Huh, did you say dragon?”

“Yes. The Demon country was in the territory of a dragon. We didn’t encounter it, but we were walking through that dangerous area for many days. I can only say that we were lucky.”

Judith broke out in a cold sweat as she looked back. Thunder Sonia and Nazar were also surprised. They murmured about how the connection to the Demon country had been cut off because of this, but Bash didn’t pay it much attention.

“What happened next?”