Chapter 194
Chapter 194
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 194
Chapter Title: Lizardman King
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“Princess Knight milord~ Princess Knight milord~ Eek! Tickles when you touch like that, it does! Keehehe~”
“Huh! Then how about this?”
“Keeet!? So embarrassing, it is! But feels good all the same~”
“Hehe. Your joy is my delight, after all.”
“Keeeng~ So embarrassing! Blush blush~ Kehehehe~”
“Hehehe~”
“You cheeky little things. Having fun without me, are you?”
“Milord!”
“Join us, Your Grace.”
“Hmm. Excellent. Feels like I have everything. Would be even better if the three of us could stay together forever like this. Hunting monsters together, smashing renowned knights. Wandering the whole world.”
“Kee! This one approves, it does!”
“The perfect cherry on top! Hehehe~ I gladly accept.”
“Hahaha~”
“Keehet~”
…….
….
.
“Is she having a good dream or something? She keeps smiling. How cute.”
Romari gazed down at Princess Lilisein, who lay with her mouth agape, grinning nonstop, and wore a pleased smile.
“Keeeh? Cute? What’s wrong with your eyes, goblin? That’s the savage grin of a beast eyeing its prey!”
“Hmm! This time, even I must agree with the evil spirit. It’s a bit eerie, but the princess is an outstanding knight forged through harsh training. ‘Cute’ doesn’t suit her. She must have gained some insight from my final blow and is reliving it in her dreams.”
“Nah, doubt it. She took a mace straight to the forehead. Look at that shattered helmet over there. Her wits are dulled at best—no way she gained insight…….”
Frabow bristled at Romari’s logical rebuttal.
“That’s a bit harsh, mage. Princess Lilisein is a pureblood royal of Elrand and one of our finest knights, her genius unmatched…….”
“She charged at Sir Galpredic without even knowing if he was friend or foe and went down in just two hits.”
“…….”
Frabow had no choice but to shut his mouth. He had been riding right behind Duke Bartla and witnessed the shocking scene firsthand.
His own prized disciple, who had even unleashed aura, had her sword sent flying in one strike and her helmet split in half by a single mace blow.
“Huh? Smiling again. She really is too cute.”
“Keeeh… Why do I keep getting chills? Feels like something’s groping this body of mine, it does.”
“Hah!”
Frabow let out a sigh and turned away, unable to bear this bizarre crew making googly eyes at Elrand’s pureblood royal.
“By the way, who are those orcs? They seem to know Your Grace well.”
“Oh, those guys? Maxen, acting chieftain of the Tollo clan.”
“Acting chieftain?”
“Huh? You haven’t heard, Sir Frabow? The master and I wrecked the Tollo clan in the north and put that guy in charge instead. So…….”
Galpredic recounted what had happened in the north after Eugene had left.
Frabow wasn’t the only one whose eyes went wide at his tale—the knights who had gathered around stared in shock too.
“Sir Galpredic. So the Tollo clan has unified the Baiman orcs?”
“Not fully unified, but they’ve taken the leading position, you could say.”
“But didn’t you take down all the remaining warriors? Doesn’t that mean the Tollo orcs now rule the north?”
“Turned out their situation was more complicated than that. So we came here to report to the master and brief the other chieftains who were waiting.”
“But the orcs waiting for reinforcements attacked first, sparking a battle on the coast.”
“The monster trouble escalated things, but yeah, that’s how it went.”
“Wow! That’s…….”
Frabow and the knights couldn’t hide their astonishment.
And Eugene, who had heard the full story from Maxen, felt the same.
* * *
“Lizardmen?”
“Yes. They attacked just before the vanguard landed on the coast.”
Maxen answered politely.
“Hmm.”
Lizardmen, who mainly lived along seashores and rivers, walked on two legs and used tools.
But born in the demon realm and harboring mana stones, they were treated not as a race but as lizard-like monsters.
In any case, the coast where the vanguard of six clans had arrived was one of their habitats, and the two hundred or so Baiman orc warriors who arrived first clashed with them in bloody battle.
Normally, the orc warriors would have crushed them.
But the fight broke out on a coast favorable to the lizardmen, and the orcs’ fear of water hampered their full strength.
Still, they had rushed to land staking their lives, so casualties weren’t too high. Once on solid ground, the lizardmen were no match for the orc warriors.
The lizardmen fled into the sea, but the orc warriors—who had braved the ships at the risk of death—weren’t about to swallow that humiliation.
Thus began the pursuit.
“The vanguard had a shaman, who told them about the lizardmen. They’re not just land-dwellers but amphibious monsters who always live near water.”
“Hmm. So they left a minimal force to greet the reinforcements and chased after them.”
“Yes. We and Sir Galpredic arrived knowing nothing and got attacked out of the blue by the other clan warriors, so we responded in kind.”
“……Even I’d attack if someone conquered my clan by force.”
“Th-that was Sir Galpredic, not me…….”
Maxen, tense, wiped the drool trickling from his tusks.
According to him, Maxen and the Tollo clan had first tried to ‘persuade’ the other clans through talk.
But no orc would blindly heed a young, green acting chieftain—let alone a half-orc.
Nor was Galpredic the type of knight to take such insults and disrespect lying down.
A fight was inevitable, and with their main forces absent, Galpredic mowed down the orc warriors like rats.
After ‘persuading’ two clans at swordpoint, Galpredic went to the others, but the rest—having heard the news—played dirty.
They wined and dined Galpredic and Maxen’s group, then regretfully claimed the decision lay with their chieftains away on expedition, so they should meet them to settle it.
Galpredic’s temper would normally have flipped the tables, but the orc clans invoked Eugene and the king’s honor.
Treating them like the clans he’d already smashed would tarnish not his own name, but Eugene’s and Luke’s legitimacy.
In the end, Galpredic had to turn back.
Not empty-handed, of course—he, Maxen, and the other four clans drafted a ‘pact’.
It was Romari’s scheme, countering trickery with trickery.
“So the orcs who died here were from the Kalan clan?”
“Yes. Sir Galpredic explained the situation to their chieftain and suggested… negotiations, but they attacked anyway.”
“Negotiations? Bet he told them to submit. I’d attack too if someone waved a scrap of paper demanding surrender.”
“I-I’ve told you, that was Sir Galpredic…….”
“Anyway, enough. Long story short: the six clans’ warriors chased the lizardmen, and you chased those orcs?”
“Yes. Only the Katan and Pegul clans remain.”
“What simple, brutish fools. They sail together but fight separately.”
“That’s the honor of Baiman orc warriors…….”
Like the Tollo that Eugene annihilated, the northern orcs were united under the Baiman name but fought by clan and tribe as custom dictated.
Whether it was honor or pride in their strength as Maxen claimed, Eugene saw it as peak stupidity.
It also explained why orcs—stronger than humans—had ruled Brantia only once in history, and briefly for less than a decade.
Drunk on their own power, they neither united properly nor submitted to one another. How could they ever truly conquer Brantia?
‘Good for me, though.’
Maxen eyed the grinning Eugene warily and spoke cautiously.
“Y-Your Grace.”
“What?”
“Though it stemmed from Sir Galpredic’s minor misjudgment, the Katan and Pegul chieftains might see things differently. If Your Grace could show just a tiny bit of mercy and persuade them…….”
“Persuade, huh…….”
Eugene pondered briefly, then flashed a meaningful smile.
“They chased the lizardmen, right? And lizardmen likely have leaders evolved to lord or king level, mid-to-high tier?”
“Yes. That’s right.”
“If those two clans track them down properly, I’ll think about it then.”
“Ah… Yes!”
Though their relations were slightly twisted, Maxen brightened at the thought that his fellow orcs might avoid pointless deaths.
‘Perfect. While dealing with these insolent orcs, I might snag a red mana stone too.’
“Hope the orcs track the lizardmen well. Then we can band together and wipe them out.”
“It’ll happen for sure! Katan and Pegul are veteran warriors who’ve long hunted demon realm beasts.”
“Yeah, yeah.”
Maxen prayed the two clans succeeded, though Eugene’s satisfied smile felt oddly ominous.
* * *
“Smash those filthy lizard bastards!”
Groooaaarrr!!!
At the Katan chieftain’s roar, warriors charged like a gale, swinging spears and axes.
It was only three days—a short coastal voyage—but a life-risking adventure for the orcs.
A ship had even sunk in the waves en route, costing over ten precious warriors.
After all that hardship, the lizard bastards ambushed from the water, killing more kin.
Duke Bartla or whatever be damned—the orc warriors’ eyes rolled in rage.
After days of relentless pursuit, they found the lizardmen’s lair.
They’d lost contact with other clans’ warriors midway, but since the plan was to split after landing anyway, they didn’t care.
All that mattered was butchering the cowardly lizard swarm scattering from the shallow stream in panic.
“Dieee!”
“Grahhk!”
Orcs feared deep rivers or seas due to their inability to swim, but not water itself. Their fury and thirst for vengeance blazed openly.
Every swing of axe and spear felled lizardmen lacking metal weapons.
Lizardmen had the edge in deep water, but not in a shallow stream—they were no match.
Thus, the lizardmen fled to deeper waters or their cave hideouts.
“Graaahk! Let not a single one escape! Before we pierce the southern knights’ hearts! Offer those filthy lizard scum’s heads to the earth spirits!”
Groooaaarrrk!
True to their battle race, the blood-mad orc warriors berserked forward.
Drooling from tusks, spewing bloodlust from their eyes, they were nightmares to the lizardmen.
Yet the lizardmen trusted the one who ordered the sea attack on the orcs.
Their leader, who had slain three mid-tier monsters, devoured their mana stones, and evolved.
Steel-like skin shrugging off human knights’ swords, claws pulverizing their armor.
Their king, Lizardman King, whose tail alone could shred beast hides and shatter bones.
Kieeeekkkk!!!!
Sensing his slaves and subjects’ terror, the Lizardman King bellowed from the cave.
“Gruk? Wh-what the hell is that?”
The charging Katan chieftain and warriors froze.
Ker… Keruk!
A massive lizardman over two meters tall—three times the bulk of normals—emerged wielding a harpoon.
Its gray reptilian skin, studded with jagged protrusions, gleamed like armor. A tail as thick as an orc’s torso bristled with dozens of blade-like barbs.
Five horns lined its crest to neck like a crown of malice. Independently swiveling yellow eyes and a flicking tongue between dense fangs amplified the grotesquery.
“Still just a lizard bastard! Graaak!”
The chieftain—called a giant among orc warriors—roared and hurled his spear with all his might.
Thwack!
The Lizardman King casually snatched the thrown spear.
Then snapped it in half. With just four root-thick fingers.
(To be continued)
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