The Dark Green Hand
Squinoa Mountains, inside the subhuman alliance's tent. The representatives of each race scowled fiercely as they listened to reports from their subordinates.
BAM!
"Why the hell are those damn humans still alive and kicking? It makes no sense that they're fine even after we poisoned the water with dysentery! Unless someone told them the cure!"
The Orc King, with his dark green skin, slammed the table in outrage, but the Ogre King—arms crossed even more massively than the orc's—didn't so much as twitch, eyes closed.
And after a moment.
The Ogre King's eyes opened with a faint grunt.
"Calm yourself, King of the Orcs. Our subhuman alliance has no need for such petty tricks."
"Then you're saying those stupid, arrogant humans made the medicine themselves? Those idiots who just blow wind spells at dysentery patients?"
"That's right. The Harpy Queen's subordinates confirmed it."
"What? Is that true?"
The Orc King asked with a savagely twisted face, and the Harpy Queen nodded, tapping the table with her feather-covered fingertip.
"Yeah, I sent birds to check, and they said there's a peculiar human among the mages."
"A peculiar human?"
"Tell us more, Harpy Queen."
"Dysentery kills through severe dehydration if you don't drink salt-and-sugar water. No one lasts more than ten days, and most humans die in five. But this peculiar human led the effort to make a cure."
"Salt and sugar water?"
The impatient Orc King pressed again, and she nodded once more.
"That's not all. They say they also inject salt-and-sugar solution directly into the body with a sharp needle-like tool. Patients treated that way recover in less than an hour."
"So the subhuman alliance didn't leak the cure... Then where the hell did this guy come from?!"
The Orc King huffed, unable to contain his rage.
"We orcs deliberately didn't kill them outright, to make them feel despair worse than ours. We broke their bones and wounded them with rusty axes, forcing those filthy humans to amputate their own limbs in agony. So why aren't they dying?!"
Though it came from the hot-tempered Orc King, his words rang true, darkening the faces of all the representatives.
As he said, early in the war, they attacked humans with rusty weapons, shattering limbs but sparing lives. Human knights fled in terror, and the alliance pushed the front lines steadily.
But once the mages joined, humans started treating diseases they couldn't before. Emboldened knights returned to the front, stalemating the lines. And the dysentery, expected to inflict massive casualties, caused only minor losses—a dire situation.
Humans outnumbered the allied subhumans by nearly two to one. The longer the war dragged, the worse it got for them.
"The solution is simple: kill that peculiar human. Harpy Queen, did you identify him?"
The Ogre King asked, and the Harpy Queen nodded.
"I found out who. But there's a problem."
"What kind?"
"There's an aura-wielding knight by his side. Looked incredibly strong from the birds' eyes—stronger than any human we've faced on the front."
The Orc King growled savagely at her words.
"Doesn't matter! Kill that bastard first! I'll go myself—"
"Orc King, stop talking nonsense. What happens to your subordinates if you die?"
"Shut up! A brave orc like me won't lose!"
As tension thickened between the Orc and Ogre Kings, the Harpy Queen flapped her winged arms to clear the air.
"Us going personally is ridiculous. As the Ogre King says, we command our subordinates. And I oppose just killing him outright."
"Not just kill him? Why say that?"
The Ogre King asked, twitching his sharp, protruding horns, and the Harpy Queen smirked slyly.
"That peculiar human? Oddly enough, he seems to command the most respect among the humans—even more than their knights. So we kidnap him, drag him to the front lines."
"......?"
"And in front of all the humans watching their hero-worshipped mage, we behead him, flay his skin, rip out his guts."
The other kings' faces lit with satisfaction at her words. They knew well: in any war, a hero's death crushed morale.
"Then I'll send one of our orcs. We're a bit bigger than humans but not as huge as ogres or horned. A robe should disguise us."
"Do that. Harpy Queen, any other distinctive traits on that peculiar human?"
At the Ogre King's follow-up, the Harpy Queen licked her lips with relish.
"Won't be hard to spot. He's the only one with black hair."
"Maaaiineeer... Is Walter gonna be okay? I'm worried for no reason..."
"This is all because Res wanted to go home. If it weren't for Res, Walter wouldn't have said he'd go to war."
"R-Really?"
Res knew a lot but was still a four-year-old kid, making her fun to tease like this.
Walter had rushed off to find Felix to end the war quickly, leaving me alone with Res to head to the clinic.
"I'm kidding. You know how strong Walter is, Res."
"Yeah! Walter's super strong! His sword shoots out aura!"
"So no need to worry needlessly... Huh? Who're you?"
Res and I usually arrived at the clinic thirty minutes early. We needed time to power up the multi-taps and medical devices, set everything up.
But in the clinic full of empty exam beds, a man cloaked head-to-toe in a robe hunched over on a bed near the edge entrance.
His sturdy build under the robe suggested a mage from another magic tower at first glance. But his huddled posture hinted at pain somewhere.
"Are you a mage, sir? This is the Beauty Tower clinic. Did you come to the wrong place?"
"......"
But the huddled man gave no reply even as we approached. His odd posture made me think he might be an injured mage.
"Excuse me, or are you here because you're hurt? Let's start with an exam... Gah, guh, kuh...!"
Before I could finish, thick hands shot out like a straight line, grabbing for me and Res at blinding speed.
The man's powerful grip seized our collars. Like caught in machinery, I couldn't resist the iron force clamping my throat. Unable to make a sound, I thrashed, barely rolling my eyes to check Res.
I screamed her name inwardly over and over, but no voice escaped—not even a groan. Helplessly, I watched Res's head loll limp.
"You... bast... ard..."
In my fading memory, the last thing brushing my eyes was the massive dark green hand clutching my throat.
Drip—
Drip-drip—
Drip—
The first sensation was water droplets hitting the floor. Like ink spreading from a spilled cup, my thoughts restarted from there.
...Ugh, LOC?
Loss of consciousness confirmed. Memories before, during, after the incident. Stable vitals. I pieced together from blackout to now.
The damp chill of my kidnappers' hideout, the creeping cold of rock against my skin—it screamed cave. Even without that, context was obvious.
—Orc! That bad orc kidnapped us! He said he'll eat me if I'm noisy!
—Wake up, maaaiineeer! We're in a cave! I'm scared!
—Maaaiineeer! Sniff! Are you dead? Don't die, maaaiineeer!
"......"
I might've snapped to faster than the dripping stalactites thanks to Res's nonstop chatter filling my ears.
"Mm, awake now?"
A deep bass rumbled through the cave. No explanation needed—the alien voice screamed kidnapper.
—Maaaiineer! You're awake? I'm scared! Say something!
Res's telepathy buzzed in my ears. Standard kidnapping protocol: don't provoke, scout location and exits, lull into complacency, loosen bonds.
What? Not even tied up?
A slight twitch—no restraints on wrists or ankles.
Squish—
Pat!
Squish—
Pat!
—M-Maaaiineer! Wake up! Get up quick!
Res, the fluffy furball, was squishing and patting my face with her gel-like paw pads.
In a kidnapping, this mischief meant the perp was at a distance. No follow-up after that one voice since I woke—no check-ins.
—Maaaiineeeer! Open your eyes! Please!
I cracked my eyes for recon... and regretted it.
"Gaaahhh!"
"Orc hahaha. Knew you were faking. Get up."
—Maaaiineer! What do we do!
...Fuck.
Why'd Res beam that telepathy? Her gel paw was now gripped in the orc's massive hand.
—M-Maaaiineer... This orc says he can hear telepathy. Scaryyy.
"Hatchling's blabbing that I can hear telepathy, huh."
"Yeah, looks like it."
Eek! Scaryyy!
Seeing Res tremble in the orc's green fist, ears hidden, filled me with pity.
"Res, it's all lies. Telepathy's dragon-only, right? How could an orc?"
"B-But... What! You lied?!"
"Orc hahaha, human's right. I lied. You fell for it, kiddo."
"H-How! How could you, you rotten orc!"
Res shrieked and flew behind my neck. The orc just bellowed a hearty laugh.
"Why... why kidnap a mere doctor like me?"
Even in wartime, this sudden snatch made no sense, so I asked. The orc replied flatly.
"Obvious, ain't it? To kill you."