Orc Eiyuu Monogatari Sontaku Retsuden

“Message!”

As soon as Cyrus entered the operations room, everyone present stood up. These days, Cyrus coming to report meant a dragon attack. They had to go out and intercept it. Even though they knew they wouldn’t achieve much, if they didn’t show the will to resist, the dragon would ravage the fortress.

“The dragon took flight and disappeared into the southeast sky,” he reported.

But when they heard the report, they looked at each other with suspicion.

“What do you mean? Southeast? Are you saying it was heading towards the border?”

However, some eyes widened upon hearing the report. They belonged to Sequence, the “Dark General.”

“And you saw an orc!?”

Sequence had all his eyes wide open. Cyrus shuddered a bit at the urgent and high-pitched voice of the old general, who rarely spoke, but nodded.

“Yes, sir. The orc and the fairy headed towards the border sometime after the dragon. What does that have to do with anything?”

“Bash did it!” Sequence exclaimed, rising with a wide smile. The demons in the room were surprised. Sequence hadn’t stood up in several months. In fact, there were many days when he didn’t even move. It was almost as if the old man was dead.

“Sir Sequence, what the heck is going on?”

“Do you know that the other day, Bash, the Orc Hero, went out to kill the dragon?”

“It can’t be, no, it can’t be possible…”

Sequence’s words left the demons gasping. Surely, they knew about it. The Dragon Decapitator. It was well-known that Bash had cut off a dragon’s head in the battle of the Lemium Highlands. But that was only because the demons had brought the dragon down to the ground through magic and exhausted it with their hordes. Many demons believed this. They thought that an orc alone couldn’t have won the battle against a dragon. It was only thanks to the power of the demons.

“If you don’t want to believe it, don’t. But Bash fought the dragon, as he declared he would, and he battled it, not killed it.”

“Then why didn’t he return to Fortress Gije? Knowing orcs, he would already be boasting about his triumph!”

“It’s because he hasn’t defeated it yet. He went to pursue and finish it off.”

Because that’s what’s proper, Sequence thought. The ecology of dragons wasn’t well understood, but according to one theory, once a dragon left its territory, it never returned to it. This was only a theory… but it was true that this dragon had left. It didn’t mean it wouldn’t come back, but at least they would be free to act at daylight for a few more days.

“In any case, the demons have been saved. By the hand of the orcs.” Sequence was sure that Bash had fought and won against the dragon.

Most of the demons present, however, were skeptical. They had lived in fear of the dragon’s threat for a long time and had tried to defeat it many times without success. No frenzy or drunkenness would make a dragon leave. And no one had ever entered the dragon’s mountain and come back safe and sound. Bash had undoubtedly won. He achieved such a victory that the dragon fled with its tail between its legs.

“And nothing could be more humiliating.”

The demons bristled at Sequence’s words. They, the powerful demons, had not been a match for a dragon. They thought they could win because they had already defeated it once, but they failed, and still couldn’t win after a serious fight. In the end, they realized that without the Demon King Gediguz, defeating the dragon in the Lemium Highlands would have been impossible. Then, a solitary orc managed to kill it. Bash, the “Dragon Decapitator,” lived up to his title.

So, what were demons? They acted so arrogantly for nothing, mocking orcs so haughtily. How long did they intend to claim that they were in the upper echelons of society?

…With a loud noise, one of the demons stood up. It was a woman. A tall demon woman with blue skin, white hair, and red eyes. Her body was toned but still feminine. If Bash had been here, he would have kneeled and proposed to her – that’s how impressive she was. “The prestige of the demons has fallen to the ground,” the woman said clearly, and a somber atmosphere filled the room. They didn’t want to admit it, but they had no choice. Demons had been defeated. They weren’t as strong or imposing as they believed. Today’s demons couldn’t even defeat the orcs they had once mocked.

“Your Excellency, the Orc Hero, Sir Bash, has become our savior. If we send him away without gratitude, the pride of the demons will be damaged. And if we lose our pride, even our prestige, we won’t be able to face Sir Gediguz in the afterlife.”

“Thank you…”

“Sir Bash wanted a demon woman. That’s what I heard.”

“Yes, that’s true. It’s what he said, although in jest.”

Bash never said anything in jest, but those were indeed his words.

“Then I will marry the hero and spend the rest of my life paying him homage.”

“Nonsense!”

“A demon being owned by orcs?”

“Do you know what that means? Do you know what it’s like to belong to an orc?”

The woman laughed at their words.

“Don’t make the mistake of misunderstanding me. I am also a demon. I will not become the property of the orc. The orc will be my property.”

“You say that, but…”

“Orcs, and a demon marrying someone from that ugly and stupid race…”

While the demons complained, only Sequence remained silent. But then he heard the words of everyone and spoke up.

“I’ll say it again. We have always despised orcs as an inferior race, but now that they have defeated the dragon, the threat is over. After what happened in the Lemium Highlands, Bash, the Orc Hero, has saved us twice from our difficult situation.”