The Pig Orc's Survival Strategy
I was reborn into another world, and I became a new existence. An Orc. Having retained my memories, I had become a typical monster with green skin and a pig-like appearance. The only saving grace was that in this world, orcs were considered one of the races of humanity.
"Brother! Today, let us learn of the courage of the Red Wolf!"
The problem was that everyone else was a typical warrior-type orc who kept "Brother!" on their lips, while I was a typical pot-bellied demon who would ravish female characters in a tsukuru adult game. We were clearly the same species of orc, but I couldn't help but think there was a problem at the genetic level. Otherwise, there was no way I would be the only chubby one in our tribe. I wasn't fat. I was just plump.
Still, I had a chance. There was a three-year growth period from the moment a newborn orc was born until it reached adulthood. Even though I was currently suffering from childhood obesity, I would shed this belly fat and become a desert warrior with a magnificent six-pack. I had to become such a being to survive. Because from the moment I was born, I had been slapped with a massive death flag.
"What is this ugly piglet? Hey, it's a crime to make me look at this. Kill it."
"Lady Forneus! This child hasn't even been born for ten minutes! Please, have mercy!"
I had been looked down upon by Forneus, the demon who ruled the 30th dungeon of the legion I belonged to, simply because I was born obese. She was a high-ranking demon, and she hated my appearance.
"Is that so? An orc reaches adulthood in three years, right? Then let's see in three years. If you're still a piglet then, I'll kill you. Don't forget. I've remembered you."
The dungeon lord was trying to kill me for the sole reason that I wasn't aesthetically pleasing. Fortunately, Forneus (female) was a serious lookist who cared a lot about aesthetics, and she favored our tribe chief, who had a physique that would have made him a famous gym owner back on Earth.
"Keep this only between us, brother. Lady Forneus truly intends to kill you."
The tribe chief risked his life to tell me Forneus's true intentions. As expected of the craziest bitch in the Demon King's army, she was truly waiting for the day I became an adult. I had been murdered unfairly in my modern life, and I couldn't die unfairly again. If I had become pot-bellied because I ate like a pig, that would be one thing, but I couldn't be killed for being born obese and looking unsightly.
Should I run away? If I could escape the dungeon, I might be able to live for now. But this world was too dangerous for a young orc who wasn't even an adult to survive. The world was a battlefield where the Demon King's army and the Human Alliance fought, and although our dungeon wasn't on the front lines, it was located in a place that could become a battlefield at any time. Even so, there was no way an escape would succeed. It was obvious that the crazy bitch who was crossing off the days on her calendar to kill me would be delighted to come and kill me if I even tried to run.
I had to survive. Since the average lifespan of an orc was 40 years, I wanted to live for at least a hundred years, adding in the life I couldn't live in my previous life. Having died once, my desire to live had become stronger, and fortunately, I had three years left. Let's lose weight. Even if I couldn't join the Demon King's elite warrior unit, I had to cultivate a physique that would make Forneus think, "I guess this is acceptable," when she saw me.
I wondered what kind of situation this was, being reborn in another world, but unfortunately, this was a fantasy world where magic and combat power were strength, not knowledge and information. I was a grunt orc, and Forneus was a high-ranking demon ranked 30th. A true named character who had been granted the 30th dungeon by the Demon King Solomon. So, to survive, I started exercising. Hoping my belly fat would disappear.
As it happened, the three-year period fit perfectly with "that workout routine." There was one serious side effect, but if I could survive, I could endure that much. In fact, if I could become the strongest in the world through that workout, I might even be able to trample Forneus under my feet and teach her a lesson.
That workout, number one.
"Brother, what are you doing from the morning?"
"Ah, this is called a 'push-up.' It's an exercise that can improve the strength of the entire chest."
As I bent my arms, my belly fat hit the ground first, but after about a month, my belly stopped touching the ground.
That workout, number two.
"Brother, what are you doing lying down?"
"Ah, this is called a 'sit-up.' It's an exercise that trains the abs and full-body endurance."
Even when I lifted my upper body just a little, my belly fat touched my thighs, turning it into a crunch rather than a sit-up, but after about a month, I was able to lift my back off the ground.
That workout, number three and four.
"Brother. Why were you torturing yourself in a horse-riding stance earlier?"
"Ah, that is, Pahuu, called a 'squat,' huff, it is. Without any equipment, *cough!* you can train your lower body."
I was very out of breath trying to explain while talking. The guy running next to me and I had similar physical conditions, but I was out of breath quickly because of the belly fat that jiggled every time I ran.
That workout. 100 push-ups. 100 sit-ups. 100 squats. 10km run. From the moment I decided to lose weight, I executed the bald teacher's training method without missing a single day. Fortunately, our tribe members knew about Forneus's business, and they didn't look at my eccentric behavior of doing modern physical training in a medieval fantasy with pity, but cheered me on.
"Brother, huff, your willpower is stronger than anyone among us."
"Can you use that willpower to reduce belly fat?"
"......Wouldn't it be possible someday?"
"Then it's meaningless."
The orc running along the dungeon cave with me was a tribesman born on the same day as me. Unlike other orcs, he showed considerable interest in the workout method I was doing, and at some point, he started following my workout and started training with me.
"I definitely feel like I'm gaining stamina."
"I'll keep going, huff, until I see results."
No matter how hard and tired I was, I never skipped training. Occasionally, on days when the entire tribe was mobilized for interception, I inevitably skipped the running and did the rest, and I had been training without missing a day. And a year and a half passed. I had become stronger. Although I was a young orc who had been born only a year and a half ago, my physique was not inferior to that of an average adult orc, and I had gained notoriety by repelling many adventurers, with as many as twenty red bloodstains engraved on my axe. Of course, it meant that I was strong enough to stand out among young orcs, and if I fought Forneus, I wouldn't even be a match for her.
But I had clearly become stronger, and the tribe chief called me the proud prospect of our tribe.
However.
"......Why is the belly fat the same?"
My limbs had become incredibly hard and thick, but my abdomen showed no effect from the training and had instead become even more protruding. There was an effect from the training. Visually, it was a D-shaped body as if I were pregnant, but if you pressed that belly with your finger, it was a solid muscle that would stop even a kitchen knife.
So what? Even if the limbs were fine, the shape of the abdomen was not pretty at all, and I was clearly destined to become Schweinshaxe in this other world, crispy on the outside and moist on the inside, for Forneus. I had only a year and a half left. It would have been possible to survive if I had become stronger than Forneus, but I hadn't become strong enough.
"Brother...! I am infinitely grateful to you!"
Instead, my cradle mate who had been exercising with me had become incredibly strong. His hair, which had been flowing, had receded into an M-shape, but his gleaming green skin was the true proof that he had become a strong man.
"Thanks to the workout method you taught me, I was also able to become this strong!"
He had become strong. He had become so strong that I wondered if he had reached the ranks of the strongest in the world, and at least within our tribe, he was strong enough that even the tribe chief would yield to him.
"Listen well. You have become too strong, but if you show off that power, sparks will surely fly. Until you become an adult and stand on your own, keep your head down and build your strength within my fence."
Fortunately, the tribe chief recognized our strength with broad tolerance. In particular, even though he had fought 1:1 with my mate and lost cleanly, the tribe chief secretly thought of him as the next tribe chief—or even more—and waited for him to become an adult.
"Please take care of me for the next year and a half, brother!"
"Yeah, you too."
I felt jealous of the guy who had become practically the strongest in the world thanks to the workout method I taught him, but it wasn't like I had developed it, and thanks to my mate doing it with me, I was able to train without missing a day. I felt jealousy and gratitude toward him, but I didn't pay much attention to it. Because I had the expectation that if my mate became the tribe chief, he would at least shield me from Forneus's clutches.
And another year and a half passed. I had become stronger, and I was finally facing the coming-of-age ceremony where I would receive a "name." Pahuu=Kumcheoku. That was the name given to me through the ritual. That's right.
"Buhiik..."
I had become stronger, and I had become a muscle pig.
"Buhiik!"
A pig-squealing sound echoed, and an orc fell. It was me, and it was my voice. I had been hit hard in the stomach and collapsed.
"......Hmm!"
Our tribe chief, Stormblade, slammed his greatsword into the ground and knelt on one knee. The tribe chief kneeling meant that he had been defeated.
"You're amazing, Paohu!"
"Don't call me by that name."
"How can I not call your sacred name! Paohu, you are no longer a young orc! You can be called my brother!"
The tribe chief laughed heartily and helped me up. I stood up, wobbling, and "looked down" at the tribe chief.
"If it weren't for the curse on your body, brother, you would have become the best warrior in our tribe."
"What about Tural?"
"......Shouldn't that guy be called the strongest in the dungeon now?"
Tural Stormblast. My cradle-mate orc, who had trained with me and had truly become strong enough to transcend the level of an orc. According to the tribe chief, he was strong enough to create and lead his own tribe alone after the coming-of-age ceremony. Perhaps he had become strong enough that Solomon might take an interest in him and grant him his own dungeon.
"Brother. Do not even think about dealing with Lady Forneus with Tural's help. If you do that, not only you and Tural, but our entire tribe will be slaughtered."
"Can't Tural beat that bitch?"
"......I'm saying this because I don't think he can win. What would happen if a mere orc defeated a demon? Of course, it's impossible right now, and it would take about 20 years."
"Whether it's 20 years later or now, if he just takes the last seat, other demons will come running, right? Tural will become a slave, and we will be slaughtered."
I didn't even need to see it to know. Unless Tural took Forneus's place, other legion commanders wouldn't be able to watch a mere orc take a dungeon, which only high-ranking nobles were granted.
"Still, it's a shame. That no one knows Tural's true potential."
"An awl in a pocket will eventually reveal itself. Wasn't it you, tribe chief, who said to wait for the right time?"
"Oh, what was that expression just now! Brother, that's a great expression! Let's make it go down in our tribe's history!"
"......Tribe chief."
I let out a hollow laugh, dumbfounded. "I have three days left until my coming-of-age ceremony."
"......Let's find a way."
Three days left until Forneus visits. Three days left for my life. I had defeated the tribe chief for the first time three days before my coming-of-age ceremony, and the tribe chief had given me the "honor" to run away whenever I finished the ceremony. That's right. I had failed to lose my belly fat for a year and a half, and instead, I had gained more muscle, becoming the physique of a heavyweight wrestler. With a body like Mark Henry.