Betrayal
"……Orcs?"
What the screen had caught was a humanoid monster with green skin.
A build larger than a human's, massive lower fangs, pointed ears, and a vicious face.
And not one of them—four.
The orcs were pushing through the blizzard, coming this way.
"What should we do? If they get close, I can give them a little jolt!"
"Hmm……."
Orcs.
Monsters who delighted in blood and battle, who plundered human villages.
Not exactly the sort of guests one welcomed.
"They're not going to smash the door in, are they?"
"Hmph! Let them try! It'll never break! Even a dragon couldn't smash it! Though they might be an eyesore."
Soon the four orcs arrived in front of the house.
How would they play this?
I watched the status window tensely.
The largest of them stepped forward and pounded the door with his fist.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
"Is anyone inside!"
"Aaaah! They're here, they're here!!!"
I flinched and shrank back, but Goat was shouting with pure excitement, as if they'd just found the best show in town.
For now, stay quiet.
The big orc shouted again.
"My name is Bachuka! I come from the Kargu tribe in the northeast! If you can hear me, please answer!"
"Whoa, that name sounds ridiculously strong!"
"Please… please…… at least let our children inside."
Children?
Only then did the two relatively smaller orcs catch my eye.
Was the remaining one his wife…?
"Oh my god. It was an orc family?"
Goat sounded just as startled.
I hadn't seen this coming either.
Then the orc who looked like the daughter collapsed.
The family erupted into panic.
They propped her up, but she already seemed unconscious.
Bachuka let out a roar, yanked an axe from his belt, and swung.
"Uwaaaaaah!!!!!"
Orcs are strong.
A race with the monstrous power to split a wooden shield in a single blow.
A wooden door should have been nothing……
Ting!
The axe bounced off as if it had struck some invisible barrier.
Bachuka stood there looking utterly blank, then swung again.
Once more the blade never touched the wood. He just kept chopping at empty air.
"Uwaaaah!!! Kuaaaak!!!!"
"Puhaha! What an idiot! Swing all day if you want—see if that gets through…… Hmph!"
Goat sneered, but somehow Bachuka's axe swings felt desperate to me.
If I had been the one leading my family here, wouldn't I have done the same?
I probably would have done more, not less.
"Goat."
"Yeah?"
"If these orcs look pitiful to me…… is that weird?"
"Eh? Monsters?"
"Right. They are monsters."
"Hmmmmm…… So, you want to let them in?"
"I'm thinking about it. What about you?"
"Well, nothing can really hurt you inside the territory, but……"
Goat seemed to ponder for a moment as well.
All the while Bachuka's axe never stopped. At some point red blood began to spread across his hands—from forcing frostbitten fingers to keep moving, no doubt.
"Please…… save us……."
As if he no longer had the strength even to lift the axe, Bachuka let it fall and sank to his knees.
His family crowded around him, weeping.
Looking at that, I couldn't hold back any longer.
"Goat!"
"……Ugh! Fine!! It should be okay! That orc is using the common tongue, right? High chance he's an educated one! We might actually be able to talk!"
Come to think of it, that was true.
I hadn't even noticed because of the status window's auto-translation.
"Let them in!"
"Got it!"
I grabbed the doorknob and pulled.
The snow-covered orc family slowly lifted their heads to look at me.
"Come in! Quickly!"
They entered the house making soft, broken crying sounds.
The pronunciation was muffled, but I understood well enough.
Thank you.
"Here—cover the child with this."
I handed over a blanket and pulled the brazier closer.
Then the Luyria herb I had once given Officer Lee Hye-yoon.
I boiled it in a hurry and poured each of them a cup.
"Drink this. You'll feel a little better."
"Thank you, thank you so much……."
The orcs sipped the tea.
The collapsed child opened her eyes.
"Mom…? Dad…?"
"Ebrin!!!"
"Ebrin!! Are you all right?!"
The girl blinked a few times, then spoke with a peaceful little smile.
"It's warm…… Is this paradise?"
"No. This is the house of the one who saved us. Come on, get up and say thank you properly?"
"It's fine! Just let her rest."
I stopped the mother who was trying to force the child upright.
Then, without warning, Bachuka dropped to his knees.
"To swing an axe without recognizing our benefactor…! I am sorry! This foolish Bachuka bows his head in apology!"
"When family is in danger, that can happen. I understand. Please get up."
"No! We orcs, when we receive a favor, always repay it with our lives!! But this Bachuka has even committed the sin of trying to harm you…… Please give me a chance! For you, I will do anything!"
"Please give us a chance!"
Following Bachuka, the wife and the children all knelt as well.
I hadn't done any of this expecting something in return!
I tried to haul them up, but their massive frames made it impossible.
Then Goat's voice rolled out, suddenly grave and solemn.
"Chwiik?!"
The air in the room turned ice-cold.
Here we go again.
"Ha! You cunning little bastards…… Where do you think this is, daring to spout pretty lies? Should I just toss you into a fire pit?"
"N-no! Bachuka does not lie! I will really do anything!!"
"Is that so? Then I'll test your resolve! Let's hear a cute little cat meow!!"
A cat meow, all of a sudden……?
Bachuka looked flustered at first, but soon cleared his throat and produced a thin, delicate voice that had no business coming from that huge body.
"Me…… meow. Meoow."
"Pfft."
"Kyaha!"
The children burst out laughing at him.
Bachuka gazed at them fondly and kept right on meowing, but…… this was still wrong!
"Wait—stop!! Goat! What are you doing?!"
"What? He actually does it when you tell him to."
"Bachuka, please get up. Everyone else too! Keep this up and I'll send you right back outside."
At that, they all sat down quietly.
Whew. Absolute chaos.
"You don't have anywhere else to go, do you?"
"That is correct. This Bachuka was driven from the tribe and barely managed to lead my family here. We have nowhere left."
Driven out!
Somehow our situations felt uncomfortably similar.
But Goat's voice turned cold.
"Oh, how pitiful. But if you're thinking of staying at the Home Base, don't even dream of it!! This place is a space for one person only!"
"Then the outpost?"
"That might be okay……?"
"Goat, you don't mean—"
"Hehe. We need hands right now, don't we?"
This little schemer was surprisingly calculating.
I turned to the still-bewildered orc family.
"Do you happen to like forests?"
The moment Lee Hye-yoon stepped into the Paronan Kingdom, she felt that something was wrong.
The eyes of the people on the streets were strange from the start.
Why is everyone glaring at me? It feels like I've become a criminal.
Of course she wasn't free of responsibility for this cold, but there was no way ordinary people could know the truth behind it.
Hye-yoon simply assumed everyone was on edge because of the brutal weather.
At least until the royal guards arrived.
"Ranger. You will come to the royal palace quietly."
"Yes……? What's going on? Why are you doing this all of a sudden?"
"You'll hear the details at the palace."
The guards bound her wrists with magic-infused iron chains.
Hye-yoon was stunned, but she told herself there had to be some misunderstanding.
Or had the secret somehow been exposed?
But if that were the case, not only she but all of them should have been arrested.
For now, she decided to comply.
And when she reached the palace, three familiar faces were waiting for her.
"There's a rumor going around that it was you, Hye-yoon."
Jung Da-jung stood with her arms crossed.
Hye-yoon stared at her in confusion.
"What? What do you mean by that?"
"According to the rumor, this cold happened because you touched the gate key in the Demon King's warehouse. Ridiculous, right?"
"Me……? That wasn't me—it was the Manager who did that!"
"Ahem! Someone might overhear and get the wrong idea."
Manager Choi, lounging on the sofa, startled theatrically.
"That was a mistake we all made, not one person's fault, right?"
"That's right. Some malicious bastard must have targeted Hye-yoon! Who the hell would—"
Section Chief Park said, sipping his wine.
Everyone was acting as if they were just as baffled.
Then why was she the only one in chains?
When Hye-yoon looked down at the manacles on her wrists, Section Chief Park spoke again.
"Anyway, the people of the kingdom are under the impression that Hye-yoon did it. You saw them, right? Fire in every pair of eyes."
"Then just correct it!"
"Right. That's true, but…… to correct something we need a fact check, don't we? Just answer the questions asked."
A fact check, all of a sudden?
Hye-yoon felt something off, yet she was confident enough to answer.
She hadn't been the one who touched the gate key. That was the fact.
Section Chief Park asked,
"Hye-yoon. You've been missing for the past few days. Where did you go?"
"I was on my way back from meeting Han-gyul! That's why I was gone!"
"Han-gyul…? He's alive?"
"Yes! He's doing perfectly well!!"
"Whoa, why the anger…… Anyway, next."
Section Chief Park rubbed his temples.
"Good. Then, Hye-yoon…… do you think you have no fault whatsoever in this catastrophic cold arriving? Be honest."
Hye-yoon momentarily lost her words.
No fault?
If she was being honest with her conscience, she couldn't say no.
When she fell silent, Manager Choi laughed lightly.
"Actually, I'm the problem first. I feel sorry about it. I shouldn't have done that."
Section Chief Park and Jung Da-jung both nodded in agreement.
"I have responsibility too."
"That's right, I think so as well."
An atmosphere of shared admission.
So Hye-yoon, without thinking too hard, went along with it.
"……Yes. It's not as if I have no responsibility either."
"Why do you think you have responsibility, Hye-yoon?"
"Well, because I was there too. If we hadn't gone to the warehouse after killing the Demon King, this cold probably never would have……"
"Recorded."
Section Chief Park clicked the artifact in his pocket.
Manager Choi shot to his feet as if he'd been waiting for that exact moment.
"Royal guaaaaards!!!"
"Yes!!"
The guards waiting outside poured in.
"As a result of the interrogation, the criminal has admitted responsibility! She is indeed the witch who brought this disaster—drag her away!!"
Only then did Hye-yoon realize she had walked straight into a trap.
They had been leading the questioning the entire time……?
Recording only the critical parts so they could pin everything on her?
"What are you doing right now!!! Let go of me! The one who touched the gate key was the Manager, not me!!!"
"You witch!!! You who touched the gate key blinded by greed dare try to pin it on me?"
"It wasn't me! It wasn't!!!"
Hye-yoon screamed until her voice broke, but the royal guards paid no attention.
Then force was the only option left.
She shoved the guards aside and summoned her bow.
She tried to loose an arrow at Section Chief Park's artifact.
Oh no.
With both hands bound, she couldn't nock the arrow on the string.
In the end the guards overpowered her and she went down hard.
Manager Choi and Section Chief Park clutched their chests.
"Aigoo, that scared me half to death! Thought I was having a heart attack……."
"That—that!! Look at her showing her true colors the second she's cornered!"
Hye-yoon shot Jung Da-jung a desperate look, pleading for help.
Jung Da-jung met her eyes and spoke.
"See, Hye-yoon. I told you not to carry around unnecessary feelings."
"……!!!"
At those words, Hye-yoon remembered the conversation she'd had with Jung Da-jung before heading south.
Back then she had said it didn't feel right for them to stay silent while hiding the truth, that her heart was too heavy.
It was Jung Da-jung!
Hye-yoon was certain Jung Da-jung had been the one who set this in motion.
That conversation must have made her anxious.
And she must have gone straight to Section Chief Park and Manager Choi.
Told them Hye-yoon looked ready to expose the secret to the world.
"What are you waiting for? Drag her away!!!"
"Yes!"
At Manager Choi's order, the royal guards hauled Hye-yoon off.
She screamed and fought until one of them struck her across the head. She blacked out and woke locked in the palace dungeons.
After that, a royal trial was held for Lee Hye-yoon.
She proclaimed her innocence, but not a single person believed her—not even the elves.
The verdict was delivered with what they called generosity, in consideration of the great achievement of defeating the Demon King.
Exile from the kingdom.
A lighter sentence than death.