Chapter 153 : Chapter 153

Chapter 153 - What Grates

“Kkwek......! Let go of me!”

Judging by the leader’s horrified voice coming from above, it seemed Ratel had safely grabbed the leader.

When I looked up, I saw Ratel clinging to the cliff with one arm, his expression thoroughly rotten.

In his other hand, the rope I had untied earlier had formed a noose around the leader’s waist.

Perhaps supporting that weight with one arm was hard even for him, because I could feel Ratel cursing viciously with his eyes.

Hoping it would offer even a little comfort to him, I spread both arms so he could clearly see what state I was in.

Below the arm not embedded in the wall, the half-wit dangled.

It was my own way of comforting him by saying that this side had one arm dislocated too, so there was no need to get too angry.

“Kkwek......!”

The leader, finding the half-wit in a similar state to himself, let out a single scream.

“Kkwek, what the hell is going on?! Kkwek, why is that half-wit bastard like that?!”

Still unable to grasp the situation, the leader looked back and forth between me and Ratel, demanding an explanation.

Perhaps irritated by the leader thrashing around, Ratel furrowed his brow.

“Stop pretending not to know.”

“Kkwek, what am I pretending not to know......?”

“That you were deceived by the half-wit.”

Ratel shoved the cruel reality right before the leader’s eyes.

The leader stopped moving.

He hung there blankly for only a moment, then soon recovered his proper role.

Judging by the way he looked back and forth between me and Ratel with a face that said he wanted to tear us to death.

The one who deceived him was the half-wit, so I could not understand why he was glaring this way.

“Kkwek, isn’t that a bit discriminatory? Kkwek, all of us have deceived you at least once.”

“Kkwek, shut up!!”

Perhaps even hearing my voice irritated him, because the bastard shouted.

Though he flew into a rage out of habit, perhaps he thought my words had some truth to them, because his gaze belatedly turned toward the half-wit.

Contrary to my expectation that another uproar would break out, the leader’s expression subtly changed as he looked at the half-wit.

It was something rarely seen from such a simple bastard.

An emotion different from what he felt toward me or Ratel, something a little more complicated, seemed to pass through him.

But I could not identify what it was.

Because this time as well, before my head could follow that change, the shock that covered the bastard’s face hid everything else.

At the same time, feeling the heavy weight on one arm grow light, I realized what had happened.

“Kkwek!! You idiot!!”

When I turned my head at the leader’s shout, the half-wit moving farther away entered my eyes.

What remained in my hand was only the rope the bastard had untied.

No matter how much it was his own choice, a fall was still a fall.

There was no way a bastard who had only moved between the island and the cave would know how to swim.

But the bastard showed neither fear nor even the instinctive act of checking where he would fall.

The half-wit’s quiet gaze refused to leave the leader.

Until the water swallowed him, and his figure vanished completely.

***

The moment two orcs and one human safely settled on top of the cliff, Ratel let go of the hand gripping my shoulder.

Ratel quietly looked down at me and the leader as we panted frantically.

It could not help being a strange picture.

After all, the only human among us had saved the other two orcs.

The first to come to his senses was the leader.

After catching his breath, the bastard looked back and forth between me and Ratel with confused eyes.

The confusion soon turned to realization, and that in turn changed into anger.

“Kkwek, y-you...... you bastards, from the start......!”

Thinking he had been deceived, the bastard rose as if he would charge at us immediately.

But Ratel, no longer having anything to hold back, moved faster.

Ratel lightly walked into the leader’s range, then grabbed the bastard by the neck and lifted him.

“Kkwe, kkwek!!”

With his body half lifted into the air, the leader panicked and thrashed.

But I knew very well how meaningless that resistance was.

Because I had already experienced just how absurdly strong that bastard’s grip was.

In the first place, there was no way the resistance of a half-dead leader could work against someone who could lift two orcs.

After being briefly startled by the situation that had happened in an instant, the leader grabbed Ratel’s arm with an enraged face.

Though his panic once again overtook his anger when faced with Ratel’s monstrous strength, which did not budge at all.

“Kkwek!! You...... monster bastard......!”

The leader struggled to oppose Ratel’s monstrous strength, which he had confirmed once again, but unlike the orc whose face was darkening as blood rushed to it, Ratel’s expression did not change.

Perhaps his breathing was being cut off, because the leader desperately clawed at Ratel’s hand.

But the eyes looking at the leader, who had grabbed his hand, were calm.

“I told you earlier. From the beginning until now, when have I ever lied?”

The bastard’s voice as he tilted his head and asked was level, but there was something dissonant about it.

“Kkwek......!”

The leader thrashed in frustration, but his force gradually weakened as strength left him.

The leader’s next burst of anger turned toward me.

“Kkwek, you...... you knew from the start, didn’t you?! Kkwek, you knew this human was hiding his strength and......!”

Asking whether I knew it was funny.

I was the one who told him to hide it.

“Kkwek, I told you. Kkwek, I said I’d help you find the leader’s position.”

Though there were a few words I had left out.

“Kkwek!! Joining hands with a human to become the boss!!”

The leader exploded with rage again.

“Kkwek, what do you gain by helping a human?! Kkwek!! Did you beg him to let only you live?!!”

“Kkwek, why does that matter now? Kkwek, there’s no need to get that angry.”

I had meant it as a way to tell him to calm down, but the leader’s anger exploded as if it had met oil.

“Kkwek, no need to get angry?!!”

“Kkwek, everything will proceed according to the original plan. Kkwek, you’ll fight over the leader’s position, and either win and reclaim your place, or fail and die.”

I rose and looked around.

After confirming that the path cut off once in the direction opposite the cliff we had climbed from far away, I gestured to Ratel with my eyes.

Though he furrowed his brow for a moment, Ratel obediently set the leader down on the ground.

The moment his feet touched the ground, the leader charged at me.

Brushing aside such an obvious attack was easy enough with one step to the side.

“Kkwek, save your stamina. Kkwek, when the half-wit returns, you’ll have to fight again.”

“Kkwek, what nonsense are you saying?! Kkwek, the half-wit died earlier!”

“Kkwek, that isn’t enough to kill him. Kkwek, he only ran away for a while.”

It was not as if he was the half-dead leader. If he were someone who died that easily, he would not have screwed over Ratel that badly in the original work.

The leader, sprawled on the ground and glaring at me as if he wanted to kill me, gradually recovered his breathing.

After catching his breath briefly, the bastard’s murderous gaze soon turned toward Ratel.

“Kkwek, so once I reclaim my position, that human will aim for my neck.”

“Kkwek, yeah.”

“Kkwek, there’s no way I can beat that monster bastard!”

Perhaps my short affirmation displeased him, because the bastard shouted again.

I looked down at the struggling bastard and tilted my head.

“Kkwek, the situation hasn’t changed. Kkwek, the only one who changed is you.”

Nothing had changed except that he had realized Ratel was stronger than him.

The bastard still wanted the boss position, and all we needed was one orc who became the boss.

“Kkwek, aren’t contests of strength what you like best? Kkwek, think simply. Kkwek, if you win, you can get everything you want.”

“Kkwek, what did you promise the human? Kkwek, did you beg him to spare only you?”

It was probably the leader struggling to scrape at me, but it did not have much effect.

“Kkwek, it’s not all that different. Kkwek, I only live if that bastard cuts off the leader’s neck.”

At my calm answer, the leader glared at me with hatred and disgust.

Yes, I had played around with the bastard’s life, so this much anger was expected.

“Kkwek, nothing changes. Kkwek, you’ll return to your place through the food storage, and the human will cut off your neck. Kkwek, though if you fight the human and win, that won’t happen.”

Both the bastard and I knew that was impossible.

Even the half-wit in the original work had offered his neck only after resisting.

There was no way the half-dead leader could handle Ratel.

No, in the first place, the bastard would probably be unable to reclaim the boss position again.

He had grown so weak that even beating the half-wit was impossible.

If all the leader had left to say was obvious provocation, there was no longer any value in listening to him.

As I rose, the leader, who had been glaring at me, opened his mouth.

“Kkwek, the half-wit followed you.”

That was not exactly an obvious thing to say.

“Kkwek, he didn’t follow me. Kkwek, he was only watching me while aiming for you. Kkwek, to see whether I was aiming for your neck.”

The leader snorted.

“Kkwek, do you think that bastard has the brains for that?”

I looked at the bastard who still believed in the half-wit.

Perhaps my silence grated on him, because the leader opened his eyes fiercely.

“Kkwek, I hated your eyes from the start. Kkwek. Next time, I’ll gouge them out for sure.”

The leader’s struggle, threatening my corneas, returned to stale provocation.

It was not as if only one or two people had disliked my eyes.

Even after becoming Ran Abalan, many people had expressed regret toward my eyes.

Seeing that I still heard things like that even after becoming an orc, perhaps the expression that eyes are the window to the heart really was true.

When I turned my gaze toward Ratel to tell him there was no more business with the leader, I saw the bastard standing quietly.

The problem was his expression.

It was not a face that openly showed dissatisfaction, but there was something about it that seemed unconvinced.

When the bastard kept his mouth shut like that, there was a high chance he would do something unwelcome.

“Kkwek, what is it?”

“What is?”

“Kkwek, don’t pretend you don’t know. Kkwek, what’s bothering you?”

At my repeated question, the bastard frowned as if thinking for a moment, then slowly opened his mouth.

“......If the half-wit attacks, do you think that one-armed bastard will fight back?”

At the contents, which were almost embarrassing to call a question, I furrowed my brow.

“Kkwek, of course he’ll fight back. Kkwek, he’s about to die soon, but he isn’t so weak that he’ll be taken down without even resisting.”

Why would he have any reason to question that after seeing the leader bastard rampage until just a moment ago with his own two eyes?

When I turned my gaze toward Ratel with that doubt, I realized I had misunderstood the point of his question.

“......Kkwek, do you think the leader won’t be able to fight back, or do you think he won’t fight back?”

“I’m not sure.”

At an answer that was honest like him, and also clumsy unlike him, my brow furrowed.

“Kkwek, where is there any reason to hesitate between the two?”

There was no bastard who would obediently offer up his own life.

Ratel still gave no answer.

In other words, the bastard still could not abandon the absurd assumption that the leader would obediently offer his life to the half-wit.