Underground Ruins (1)
On the 52nd morning of defending against the orcs.
The Suffolk Duke's reinforcements had come within half a day's distance of Margel Island, but no one had noticed yet.
"Ugh…."
Owen forced his eyes open.
A noisy voice had woken him.
"There you are. Haha! Good morning."
Oddly enough, the one who woke Owen was an orc.
The orc looked terrified at Hyper, the murky dragon guarding the sleeping Owen.
Owen gestured with his hand.
"Hyper, come here. Good job."
He stored the creature in the dragon scroll and replied with an irritated face.
"If you were the only one I saw first thing this morning, it would've been a better one. Mugura."
"I figured you'd say that, so I brought some hot soup. Have some."
Mugura was the orc who had ruled Margel Island until recently.
But after becoming a prisoner, he had completely turned and was fawning over Owen with every sycophantic trick in the book.
Owen didn't like this sly orc one bit, but he couldn't deny the guy's usefulness.
He'd gotten a lot of help from Mugura lately in dealing with the orcs.
Owen took the soup with a sigh.
"If we hadn't been pushed back to the inner keep, I'd have left scum like you rotting in a cell."
Even after the turtle dragon had thrown a fit not long ago, fierce fighting had continued.
The humans and dark elves fought well, but they were outnumbered.
In the end, they'd abandoned the outer keep and fallen back to the inner one.
With things like that, Owen had no choice but to release Mugura and put him to use.
"Hahaha! Great Conqueror, you're as harsh as this chilly morning breeze."
"Shut up."
Owen dunked some hard bread into the soup, scarfed it down roughly, and headed out on inspection with Mugura.
This orc was useless in a fight but knew a ton.
Especially about rumors—he was handy in all sorts of ways.
Owen took him around, asking about the orc generals attacking the fortress.
Today, as usual, they climbed to the top of the wall at dawn.
To check who the enemy commander was.
"You're here?"
"Heroicus!"
Owen took in the soldiers' greetings on the wall and stood at a spot with a good view.
The inner keep assault was happening in tight quarters, so the enemy was committing troops in waves.
Units and commanders kept changing, making it crucial to scout ahead.
"Let's see… The banners have changed, so a new one's shown up."
Mugura seemed perfectly at ease now, selling out his own kind like it was nothing.
But when Mugura poked his face over the inner wall, curses erupted from the orc lines.
"You slimy traitor!"
"Gonna scrape by on your kin's blood, Mugura?!"
"Ungrateful wretch who forgets the Great Chieftain's grace!"
Mugura wasn't fazed at all by the barrage of orc jeers.
If anything, he used situations like this to prove he wasn't going back to them.
"Great Conqueror, as you see, I can't return to my kin now. Heh heh heh. All I can do is pledge my full loyalty."
"Heh… Funny. The Great Chieftain's already put a hit on you—you're as good as dead anyway."
Owen was stunned watching the orc, twice his height, keep bowing and rubbing his palms together.
He'd thought the guy had a chieftain's bearing at first, but he just looked more and more like a scheming rat.
Even his beard was like a mouse's tail—textbook fawning minister look.
"Shut it and scout the enemy commander already."
"Yes, yes. Of course."
At Owen's urging, Mugura stepped back to the wall and bellowed first thing.
"Shut your traps, you bastards! What'd the Great Chieftain ever do for me, huh?! Screw you all! Ptooey!"
It was the height of audacity.
Not content with betraying his kin for info, he was rubbing it in their faces.
"Th-that trash is even spitting!"
"A loogie, no less! Filthy bastard!"
"You're a walking disgrace!"
The orcs were outraged.
They knew Mugura had risen to rule Margel Island by fawning over the Great Chieftain and bribing him rotten.
Soon, the enemy commander couldn't hold back and stepped forward.
A veteran general with a magnificent bearing and long beard.
He laid into Mugura with fiery fury.
"You worm! Born a warrior, how can you wallow in such shame?!"
The roar was thunderous, but Mugura just scratched his ear like it was annoying. Then he reported back knowingly.
"Great Conqueror! That groomed beard and thunderous voice—it's gotta be Kargaru, chieftain of the Seven Steps Clan. Just like the rumors, a dumb old brute!"
"What's his deal? Looks hot-tempered."
"Spot on. Keen eye. Krh kh kh! Infamous for being a classy shithead. Word is, even his dad's a dog."
"What does that mean?"
"Means his temper's like a rabid dog's. Can't hold it in when he snaps."
"Hmm… Then we provoke him. If they bash their heads against the wall, that's a win for us."
Owen had been interpreting Mugura's personal gripes as intel lately.
Hell, their recent night raid success was thanks to the orc's trash talk.
He'd called the enemy commander a "shit-pants," and it wasn't just an insult—the guy had gut issues.
Owen had timed a raid for one of his frequent nighttime stomach breaks.
The commander got his head ripped off by Grenville mid-dump, and the orcs were in chaos for a while after.
"Alright… Mugura, you stay on the wall."
"Wha? We've ID'd the commander—my job's done, right?"
"Didn't you say he can't control his temper? With you up there, he'll charge right in. Perfect bait."
"Gack!"
Owen told the dark elves to tie Mugura up and make good use of him.
"Position him where he's just out of reach to lure the commander. Orcs are tough— a few arrows won't kill him, so don't sweat it."
"Got it! Heroicus!"
Soon Mugura was dragged off screaming.
"Great Conqueror! Nooo! Let go, you big-eared freaks!"
Owen hoped the guy would survive the day's battle.
He was useful, after all.
"Eh… If he dies, oh well."
But he soon forgot all about Mugura amid a new worry.
A dirt mound dug far off had caught his eye.
The Great Chieftain's after the underground ruins. Curious.
After taking the outer keep, the Great Chieftain had barely bothered with Owen and the expedition trapped in the inner one.
He'd left the assault to his generals and started digging with his men.
Everyone was baffled, but Owen, who knew about the ruins, could guess why.
His timing was suspicious too. He didn't come because we took the island.
The Great Chieftain had come to Margel Island for the underground ruins from the start.
The fight had just happened along the way.
"Hmm…."
Owen wondered what the Great Chieftain wanted from the ruins.
Far as I know, it's just home to a legendary dragon egg… Orcs wouldn't need that. What then?
Without more info, he was stumped.
He watched the digging daily but had no countermeasures, so with a sigh, he turned away.
The orcs were charging.
The commander had lost it at Mugura and rushed in blindly, just as planned.
The battle went their way.
Mugura took two arrows and screamed bloody murder, but otherwise it was fine.
The fierce fight dragged on for a while.
They'll pull back around noon.
Owen gauged the situation while drawing his bow.
Hours into the fight, heaps of orc dead already piled below the wall.
The commander was probably regretting falling for the bait, but it was too late.
Still, Owen figured he'd rage on till noon.
But soon the enemy lines wavered.
"Hm? What the…?"
Orcs didn't break easily on the battlefield.
They'd taken heavy losses but should've kept coming—instead, they hesitated. Weird.
Then a dark elf sentry shouted in excitement.
"Ships! Ships are here! Dark elf vessels!"
"What?"
Owen whipped around in surprise.
Sure enough, black silhouettes rose on the horizon.
He clenched his fist tight.
His arms trembled.
After 52 days of siege, reinforcements had finally arrived.
"Yes!"
Cheers erupted along the wall.
"Reinforcements!"
"Waaaah! We're saved! Saved!"
Even at a glance, there were plenty of ships.
They could fight with reinforcements or evacuate by sea.
A lifeline from the heavens.
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Amid the cheers bursting everywhere, Owen rushed to the docks.
Luckily, the docks were inside the inner keep and still secure.
Margel Island's fortress had all key facilities in the inner keep from the start.
Docks, barracks, trade posts, dark elf merchant quarters. The outer keep housed orc troops.
The design was meant to fend off orc attacks, not dark elves.
Major business interests meant rival orcs were the real worry. And that structure made reinforcement landings easy.
"Over here, our hero!"
Betshel, already at the docks issuing orders, waved.
"Elder!"
"We're saved now! Uhahaha! Time to sweep these damn orcs away."
Betshel showed no sign of abandoning the island.
Owen felt the same—the ruins nagged at him too much to leave.
More than the dragon egg now, he wanted to thwart the Great Chieftain's scheme.
Soon reinforcements poured ashore, and Owen spotted an unexpected face. His eyes widened.
"Bellatel?"
Even from afar, the one thumping his staff and grumbling the moment he disembarked was clearly the archmage Bellatel.
He scanned around, spotted Owen, and glared—his dark skin made his white eyes stand out.
"You brat! So here you are!"
Bellatel stormed over, snorting, and jabbed a finger at him.
"You damn whelp! Because of you, I got dragged to this godforsaken island!"
Owen, clueless on the details, could only blink in confusion.
"Pardon? I just asked you to inquire about the ruins."
"That's what snowballed into this!"
Soon Bellatel's companions approached.
Owen recognized one and couldn't hide his surprise.
"You're Luke?"
The cold-faced man with arms crossed wiggled two fingers in greeting.
"Here to keep my promise."
"What? You came all the way here just to deliver the dragon?"
"Not 'cause I give a damn about you. Just didn't wanna feel bad about breaking my word."
"Uh… Thanks."
Luke's unexpected arrival thrilled Owen.
He had a medium Similis dragon.
It'd be a huge asset in the coming fight.
But there was an unfamiliar face among Bellatel's group.
Three in total: Bellatel, Luke, and a massive stranger.
He was built like he made knights look puny, with an angular face and long, slitted eyes that drew attention.
What? Feels familiar…
A total stranger, yet oddly recognizable.
Especially that piercing gaze—he'd seen it before.
"Pardon, who might you be?"
The stranger smirked at Owen's question.
"Not bad magic, Bellatel."
Bellatel chuckled happily beside him and stuck out his hand to Luke.
Luke scowled.
"Tch! Idiot. Can't even spot shoddy magic like this."
Muttering, Luke pulled a gold coin from his pouch and dropped it in Bellatel's palm.
"Ooh! So shiny and beautiful!"
Bellatel beamed undignified for an archmage.
He held the coin to the sun, even bit it.
Owen swallowed the urge to tell him to act with some dignity.
That made something click.
Bellatel was a master of transformation spells.
Which meant this man might be Karaku, the orc legion commander in human guise.
Looking again, the eyes matched his memory perfectly.
"No way…."
As Owen started voicing his hunch, a cheerful voice cut in.
"Great Conqueror! How was Mugura's performance today?!"
Mugura had followed them—the one screaming about dying from two arrows earlier.
They'd hit solidly, but aside from bandages, he looked fine.
Maybe he had troll blood like the Human Reaper.
Mugura sidled up to Owen, fawning nonstop. Then he spotted the trio and greeted them.
"Hahaha, you must be under our Great Conqueror. As for me, I'm Mugura, his most favored lackey of late."
Mugura naturally assumed the three were Owen's underlings.
In his eyes, Owen outranked everyone in the expedition.
So they had to be highborn back home too.
Gotta be royal blood. Heh heh heh, time for this Mugura to snag a real connection.
That's why he was subtly showing off in front of the new "subordinates."
The trio reacted differently.
"Heh? Get a load of this orc."
Bellatel looked amused, like watching a clown.
"Annoying."
Luke frowned.
"……."
The presumed-disguised Karaku just glared at Mugura.
Then he muttered, amused.
"Life's full of surprises. Who'd have thought I'd run into you here."
His tone carried a chill.
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