The Elf Who Dreams of Sex with Orcs Is Frustrated Again Tomorrow (5)
"Wait a second. What do you mean by that…"
"For now, I heard he's come to and woken up, but I don't know exactly what kind of shape he's in either."
"……"
Orca, caught completely off guard, made an expression I had never seen on her before. The closest thing I could compare it to was the bitter look she wore when she told me about the persecution she and her parents had suffered. That, though, had been a story from the past—something she could smile through and brush off, leaving only a faint trace of bitterness. This was different. This was an unexpected, ugly situation, and her face showed it properly.
…Seeing Orca like this feels weird.
I knew she was the type to think carefully about serious matters. But she always tried so hard to keep that bright, energetic image that the contrast with this completely shattered expression hit me hard. If she went alone like this, something might go wrong.
"Ugh…"
"You okay?"
"I-I'll be fine…"
Her legs were actually trembling; she couldn't move properly. I tried to reassure her that it was probably just a mild illness and nothing serious. She knew that, of course, but her father had always been so ridiculously sturdy that something like this had never happened before, and she was rattled. Fair enough—I'd never heard of an orc getting laid up over anything ordinary either.
"Get on my back."
"Huh…?"
"You can barely walk. I'll carry you there."
"But…"
"Nia, would it be okay if I went with her? I can just use club activities as an excuse."
I was registered as the club's vice president, so as long as I wrote a decent reason on the leave form, going out shouldn't be a problem. Honestly, Orca looked far too rough to send off alone. The fact that her legs wouldn't move was just temporary shock; she'd recover soon enough. Still, the sooner she could confirm with her own eyes that her father was all right, the better for her peace of mind.
"You don't even need an excuse. I'll handle the explanation. She's clearly in no state to go by herself."
"Yeah. Thanks."
"Don't mention it. I'm the one who's supposed to be supporting her, but Orca seems a lot calmer with you around."
…Well, that was only natural. If I were in a similar state, I'd rather have someone close helping me too. Orca kept insisting she was fine and could walk, thrashing around a little, but I shut that down by telling her that if she kept it up, I would be the one who got hurt. Don't get cocky when you can't even stand.
"But if I'm like this, I'm the one who should be protecting you, not…"
"You're not even a knight yet, so don't get ahead of yourself. Right now we're just friends, and friends look out for each other. That's all."
"…Yeah."
And even if she were a knight, she was still mine. I'd protect her however I could. That was why knightly houses that spent their whole lives serving like loyal dogs and only entered politics late in life still got respect. This was a little different, maybe, but the principle was the same.
Her enormous breasts pressed against my back so thoroughly it actually felt hot. What really got to me, though, was the way Orca clung to me—like she was melting into me. When she truly let herself act spoiled, she stuck to me with a strangely mature air that scrambled my thoughts.
"So this is the place. It does look like the kind of house an elf would live in."
"Totally out in the sticks, right? I always used to dream of living in a city like the capital, but because of how people treat orcs and half-orcs, we got turned down."
"Maybe they just liked this kind of place?"
In the end, that was a matter of taste. The house was probably fully stocked with everyday magic tools anyway. It wasn't even that far from the capital, and it looked like a nice place to live. Frankly, the difficulty of living here didn't seem much different from my villa.
"I never realized how close to the city we actually were until later."
"…You didn't know when you were little?"
"Nope. Mom used magic to keep me from wandering off. I always thought the forest looked the same no matter how far I walked…"
Little Orca had been such a troublemaker that they'd set it up so she couldn't leave on her own and get lost. Once she became an adult and the barrier came down, she discovered they lived ridiculously close to the city. Must have been pretty anticlimactic.
"I knew Mom didn't do it out of malice, and she told me straight once I was grown, so I wasn't mad."
"You could've gotten mad at least once. That would've been fine too."
"Heh. I didn't get mad, but I used it as leverage to declare I was going on a solo trip to the capital for my birthday."
And that had been right around the time I debuted The Elf Who Dreams of Sex with Orcs Is Frustrated Today Too. She said that was when she met friends and people who recognized she was a half-orc and still approached her kindly. That was what led her to write me that letter and come running.
"Dad was so worried he probably would've told me not to go anywhere alone under normal circumstances. But after the atmosphere changed, he let me run around as much as I wanted as long as I kept up my sword training!"
Of course, even after earning that freedom, she spent all her time practicing swordsmanship so she could enter the Academy and never actually went out to play. Still, she said being here at the Academy, enjoying herself with her club friends, made her incredibly happy.
…Yeah. You look so much better when you're smiling like that.
"Haa…"
"It'll be okay."
"Yeah."
After standing in front of the door fretting for a long while, Orca carefully pushed it open. Inside, a beautiful elven woman was on her knees with both arms raised high. On one of the beds sat a somewhat exhausted-looking orc, leaning against the headboard. His body was so massive that even the large bed looked almost cute beneath him.
"Dad…!"
"Orca?"
As if her legs had never failed her, Orca hopped down and threw herself into her father's arms. Seeing them like that made Orca look tiny. He seemed a little tired, but that overwhelming orc physique still hit you right in the eyes.
"There, there, my girl. Sorry. Made you worry."
"Are you okay? What happened? Huh?"
"It's nothing. I'm getting old, I guess. Not like I used to be. Body's just worn out."
If I remembered right, Orca's father was somewhere in his late fifties. For an orc, that was getting up there. Orcs had shorter lifespans than humans to begin with—average around eighty, from what I knew. Considering humans these days casually lived past a hundred, it was definitely short. Compared to elves who lived for centuries, the gap was enormous.
"Ah…"
Orca must have reached the same conclusion; her expression hardened. Realizing her father had reached the age where he had to start worrying about old age was clearly painful. At any rate, the cause this time wasn't some illness—it was simply age and frailty catching up to him.
"I'm sorry, honey!"
"You keep those hands a little higher."
"…Hiiing."
"Mom, why are you like that again?"
"Because half the reason I collapsed is that wife of mine. Didn't you hear that if treatment had been even a little later it would've been dangerous? I told her I was tired and she still squeezed me dry until I… Ah. We have a guest. Sorry about that. Seeing my daughter after so long must've gotten me a little too excited."
"Not at all. Please don't mind me. It's actually nice to see."
So, without considering how weak his aging body had become, Orca's mother had enthusiastically milked and squeezed him, and that was what caused this whole incident. Wow. The reason he collapsed was so perfectly in character for this family it made me dizzy…
"Anyway, who might you be? The boyfriend she made at the Academy? Heh, my daughter's manners leave something to be desi—"
"Hands. Properly up."
"Hiiing…"
From what Orca had told me, her father was usually completely under her mother's thumb. Given the circumstances, he must have been genuinely angry for the dynamic to flip like this. Honestly, the fact that her mother seemed like more than I could handle made me feel a little relieved.
"I'm Cali de Gladis. We attend the same Academy and do club activities together."
"Hoh, of the Gladis family… She's a bit lacking, but please look after my daughter."
"Ah, I'm not in the swordsmanship department. Magic department. Orca's currently top of the first-year swordsmanship rankings, though."
"And Cali's top of the magic department!"
"You didn't have to say that…"
"A Gladis in the magic department. Life really does throw you all kinds of things."
He said his life had started feeling strange ever since he fell in love with a crazy elf who chased him around begging to be ravished and insisted on marrying him. Honestly, I'd been feeling like this world was pretty strange lately myself. How could a couple like that actually exist in reality?
"Anyway, don't worry too much. At first it hurt so bad I thought I was really going to die. But after treatment I was fine."
"Still…"
"You said you were going to work hard at the Academy and achieve your dream, didn't you? That you'd show me the magnificent knight you'd become?"
"…Yeah!"
Today, for some reason, I felt like I was getting a front-row seat to the most beautiful family this absurd couple had built. There was a comedic edge to it, sure, but the warm atmosphere was genuinely lovely. It wasn't exactly material I could use, but this kind of warmth would definitely help me while drawing.
"Hah. That's enough—put your hands down. We have a guest, so go bring something out. And stop saying weird things. You're the reason Orca always thinks that stuff is normal."
"It's not normal?"
"Yeah. So you absolutely must not act like your mother when you're outside, got it?"
"Uh…"
Hearing that, Orca subtly avoided her father's gaze and looked my way instead.
W-well, your daughter already confessed to me and then ambushed me with a deepthroat blowjob, sir. I'm afraid it's a little late for that…