Chapter 48
Chapter 48
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 48
Chapter Title: Trash
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-Creak! Screeech!
The massive iron gate of the fortress lowers.
-Clop...
General Joseph comes out to greet Luna as she returns to the fortress.
"I'm terribly sorry to have summoned you like this, Your Grace."
Luna dismounts from her horse while watching Joseph bow his head in apology.
"No need. You've done your duty by holding the fortress."
She glances around as she speaks... but when she doesn't spot Aiden, her heart sinks.
"Where is Secretary Aiden?"
"Well..."
Sensing from Joseph's troubled expression that something has gone wrong, Luna presses him.
"I asked where he is."
As she frowns and asks again, Joseph has no choice but to confess.
"Secretary Aiden left the fortress to inspect the forward supply depot... and we haven't heard from him since."
At the general's words, Luna's face drains to the color of a blank sheet of paper.
Seeing her change color—her, who never shows emotion no matter what—leaves Joseph fidgeting anxiously.
"Then...?"
"I'm afraid... he may have been taken prisoner. Several soldiers reported seeing timber being used as a jail in the enemy camp."
Is it because she heard a truth she desperately didn't want to believe?
Luna's mind goes blank.
'Aiden?! No way...?'
"Don't worry. With Jin around, he probably surrendered peacefully instead of resisting pointlessly."
Luna forces herself to turn her head at Joseph's words.
'Right... Jin's been captured before. So... he wouldn't have resisted needlessly.'
Luna desperately tries to convince herself.
She bites her lip and compares it to past cases.
'Prisoners are usually sorted by race... so for Aiden...'
Typically, good-looking ones go to the elves, and the talented ones to the orcs.
So Luna must make a cold assessment of Aiden.
'Aiden's both highly capable and exceptionally handsome... so the elves must have taken him.'
With that thought, she hurriedly mounts her horse.
"Joseph! Deliver the supplies to the knights immediately!"
Seeing her mount up, a flustered Joseph asks,
"Wh-where are you going?"
"To rescue the captured prisoners! Hurry!"
And so, Luna heads off right after arriving at the fortress, without a moment's rest, to find Aiden.
But she doesn't realize it.
That falling in love blinds you with rose-colored glasses... and sends you in the wrong direction...
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ The other species retreated in haste upon hearing Luna is coming.
The elves head for the forest, while the orcs cross the plains toward their village.
I'm being forcibly dragged along by the orcs.
But strangely, they don't bind me.
They even pile several layers of thick leather clothes on me so I won't get cold—it's sweltering.
And for meals, I eat alongside the orc army's commander.
Like this...
"Hey, human?"
An orc named Yalta asks.
"Yes?"
"You look kinda scrawny. How about eating some of this while you're at it?"
He offers a rib bone slathered in roasted beef.
"Thank you."
I slice off a bite with my knife and pop it in my mouth...
"Mmm! This is delicious!"
The unidentified sauce coating the meat is packed with umami.
No exaggeration—it's genuinely good.
"Ahem... In that vein, how about impregnating my daughters?"
-Cough! Cough!
"That again? I told you, I have no intention of becoming a stud slave."
"Heh heh, intentions or not, it's gotta happen. Word is you're the secretary to that woman, so you've got brains, right? I'll reward you handsomely."
Seeing the pig snort contentedly makes my appetite vanish.
His broad face, dark green skin, and tusks jutting out like a wild boar's.
The daughters of a guy like that... must be hideously ugly.
And not just one...
"I heard you have fifty daughters, General."
A ton of them, too.
"Heh heh, one night could cover them all, no? If plenty of half-orcs bearing your bloodline are born, it'll be a blessing for my house."
I'd heard that excellent stud slaves get treated like royalty here.
Like prized stallions at a racetrack.
"Whatever! I'm a person! A human!"
-Munch... Munch...
As I take another bite of meat, Yalta nods.
"Sure, sure~ a human through and through! That's why we're treating you so well, right? Do the other girls once, but mine twice. Hey, someone out there? Bring booze!"
At his call, a burly orc hauls in a barrel and slams it down roughly.
"Let's see..."
Yalta cracks open the barrel and scowls.
"Hey! Who told you to bring this cheap swill to our precious stud? Get the stamina brew! Now!"
Stamina brew? What the hell is that?
At his bellow, the orc who brought it hauls it away.
"Sorry about that. My subordinate showed you something unsightly."
As he finishes speaking, another orc brings a massive barrel.
"Here, have this with the meat."
I eye the fragrant liquor he offers with suspicion.
"Heh heh? You'll be doing it non-stop once we reach the village. Gotta prep you now, right?"
"Pardon?"
"This here's booze made from three-pronged clover grass. It'll blow your mind at night. Makes your junk bigger, too."
I'd never heard of it, so I ask,
"Three-pronged clover grass? What's that?"
"Oh? It's a weed that makes a ewe pregnant with a hundred in a day..."
I don't know about the rest, but bigger junk sounds tempting... but I have zero intention of banging orc chicks.
"No thanks!"
Irritated, I shove another bite of meat in and chew vigorously.
Damn it... while I'm at risk of losing my virginity to orcs... that bastard Jin's double-teaming a dark elf and an elf? Just you wait till I catch you, Jin...
"Hey! Even if it's not today, you need this. What if you drop dead from overwork?"
As I refuse the booze, Yalta looks concerned.
"How old do you think I am? Dropping dead from overwork?"
"The sooner you knock one up, the less strain on you."
Seeing him say it so casually, like it's obvious, boils my blood.
"Argh! No way! Why the hell do I have to sleep with those hags?!"
"Isn't that your job? Here, eat this too."
Yalta plops some weird root vegetable on my meat.
"What's that?"
"This is ginseng. Good for stamina. Drink the booze too... or we'll make you."
His words piss me off, so I down a cup of the booze he's pushing.
'Damn...'
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ Luna surveys the enemy campsite.
Footprints split into two groups.
She crouches to examine the hundreds of prints.
Seeing footprints not yet obscured by snow fills her with regret.
'If only I'd come a little sooner...'
If she'd been just a bit faster, she might have rescued Aiden.
Luna forces herself to stay rational.
'Standing here changes nothing.'
She follows the direction of the footprints.
Soon, she sees them split widely.
'Split into two groups. Small prints are elves... big ones orcs.'
She stares at where they lead.
'Left to the forest: elves. Right to the mountains: orcs.'
Luna's eyes gleam as she looks left.
'Sorry, knights... but I have to rescue Aiden fast.'
She heads to where the knights are resting.
Spotting them, and seeing the supplies from the fortress have arrived, she says,
"We must rescue our captured allies. Everyone, mount up."
The soldiers look unhappy at Luna's command but start rising from the snow and mounting their horses one by one.
Charles approaches and says,
"This is too grueling a march. We need a break."
But Luna looks at the knights.
They look utterly exhausted.
They've already ridden three days without sleep.
Still, Luna has no intention of abandoning Aiden.
Elves are lenient with prisoners, but not fools.
They torture high-rankers for intel.
'They haven't gone far. Delay, and the snow will erase the tracks.'
With that thought, Luna says...
"Time is of the essence. If the snow covers—"
"Your Grace? Someone's coming."
At Charles's words, Luna turns.
Three riders from the fortress direction head this way.
"Jin?"
She's puzzled to see Jin—who she thought captured with Aiden—riding freely.
With two women: a dark elf and an elf.
Luna spurs her horse toward them, Charles following.
"Your Grace, Master! Good to see you."
Charles looks relieved at Jin's words.
"Jin... you're safe?!"
"Yeah, thanks to these two."
"And them?"
One dark elf, one elf.
As Luna and Charles puzzle over the pair,
"Master, that's not important. Secretary Aiden was taken by the orcs!"
"What?!"
Luna startles at Jin's words.
She knows orcs turn male prisoners into stud slaves.
"Wh... where did they go?"
At that moment...
Elysia steps forward.
"I know the orc village."
Luna frowns as the blonde elf speaks up.
"You?"
Elysia bows slightly under Luna's gaze.
"I'm Elysia. I know where Aiden's headed."
Elves can't lie.
Her words must be true.
But... Luna glares coldly at Elysia and the dark elf, asking lowly,
"What do you want?"
"We want to stay in the Grand Duchy with Jin."
Luna's eyes widen at Elysia's unexpected demand.
"If that's all... you'll tell us Aiden's location?"
-Nod.
"M-me too! Don't forget!"
Roa steps up, worried she'll be overlooked. Luna asks,
"And you? What's your name?"
"I... I'm Roa El. El Kanta oppa's little sister."
"What?!"
Luna can't forget El Kanta.
She dueled him to the death.
She nearly died by his hand but became a Swordmaster and defeated him.
'That man's little sister? Wants to live in the Grand Duchy?'
Luna stares intently at Roa amid the baffling situation.
Unlike elves... dark elves can lie.
"What do you want to come all this way?"
"I... I want to be with Jin oppa too!"
"What?"
As Luna looks at Jin with trembling eyes, he grins broadly.
'This guy's total trash, isn't he?'