The Grand Duke and Grand Duchess Saved Us
The Grand Duke and Grand Duchess saved us, they say.
Grnak the orc approached Krok, reverently holding a steaming bowl of fragrant meat stew in both hands.
"Chieftain…."
"Get lost, Grnak. I saw with my own two eyes how you bowed to that fake human bitch."
Krok bared his teeth and growled. But thick tears welled up in Grnak's eyes.
"Chieftain… please hear me out. This… this is really good. Just try one bite. Whether humans see us as slaves or not, we have to survive first to get revenge or escape, right…?!"
Grnak had already become quite fluent in human speech. And not just that—he was the one fervently teaching the other orcs to speak it too.
When Krok turned away without a word, as if telling him to scram, Grnak chewed on a thick piece of meat from the bowl and burst into sobs. Not a shred of vengeance remained on his face. It was the face of a loyal dog tamed by feed alone.
Gulp…!
Watching Grnak's expression, Krok unwittingly swallowed dryly. What could taste so good that this brute was crying?
The guy who only knew charge, destroy, victory.
'Just… one bite… maybe just one?'
Everyone else had already surrendered. What was the point of him holding out alone?
Krok's pride began crumbling bit by bit before his hunger.
The moment he reached out a trembling hand toward Grnak's bowl—
"Th-then, just one bite…"
"Meal time's over! Return your bowls and back to your workstations!"
The human guard's harsh shout echoed through the tunnel.
"Ah…!"
Krok's hand froze in midair. The guards started pulling the food cart out of the tunnel.
The orcs neatly returned their bowls and headed back to work with refreshed faces.
"Chieftain, sorry… I'll make sure to save some next time."
The oblivious Grnak chugged the remaining broth in one go, grabbed his empty bowl, and scurried off.
Krok stared blankly at the receding cart. Regret. Injustice. And maybe…
Anger?
His hunger was so profound that tears pricked at his eyes, words failing to capture it.
In the end, Krok chewed on a hard crust of bread that day too, swallowing his tears.
And then disaster struck.
After days of barely eating, while straining to haul a massive boulder, Krok's vision suddenly went white.
'Wha…?'
In his hazy mind, the image of Eleanor's meat stew that Grnak had shoved in his face flickered before him. The savory aroma seemed to tickle his nose.
"Chieftain! Kurrk…! Be careful…!"
The orcs' urgent cries reached him, but it was too late. His grip slackened, and the boulder he'd been dragging on ropes lost balance and rolled straight toward him.
Boom!!
"Kurrk…!!"
The rock crushed Krok's leg. Amid the agony of mangled flesh, he collapsed to the ground.
Normally, he'd have shoved off a puny rock like this with one hand. But hunger and fatigue had pushed his body to its limit.
"Oh no! Krok!!"
At that moment, Eleanor, who had been patrolling the tunnel, screamed and rushed over from afar. Behind her was his hated enemy, the one who'd reduced him to this state: Kailan Wintervalt.
"Hey. You six orcs—come lift this rock."
"Kurrk…! As you command…!"
He issued the order as naturally as if he were the orcs' new chieftain. And the orcs had already accepted Kailan as such.
"Your Grace! Let me handle the healing!"
"Don't worry. A tough one like him won't be badly hurt."
The burly orcs lifted the rock away, and Eleanor gently placed her hand on Krok's fallen leg. Her touch was unbelievably soft and warm.
Whoosh!
Warm solar healing mana poured from Eleanor's palm. As it seeped into his body, the crushing pain melted away like snow in the sun. Even his hunger seemed to fade.
The dark magic in his body purified, his mind cleared. For the first time in his life, it felt like he'd truly opened his eyes.
"Ugh…."
Krok slowly opened his eyes. The first thing in his vision was Eleanor's face, sweat beading on her forehead as she gazed at him with worried eyes.
"Are you okay? That was a close call."
Eleanor sighed in relief and held out a warm bowl of stew that Grnak had brought, right under his nose.
"Injured people need to eat well to recover quickly. If you refuse, I'll ask the Grand Duke to force-feed you, so please don't."
People. She treated an orc like a person. Like her person.
Yet strangely, Krok felt no humiliation.
Eleanor's warm smile. The fantastical aroma of the meat stew piercing his nostrils. The gentle solar mana circulating through his wounds, soothing his entire body.
All of it shattered the last defensive line in Krok's heart.
With trembling hands, Krok took the wooden spoon Eleanor offered. He scooped up a heaping spoonful of broth and meat and shoved it into his mouth.
"……!!"
It was a revolution on his tongue. Thick pork melting silkily in his mouth, rich, deep broth warming him to the bone.
A heavenly flavor impossible in the barren mountains of his homeland. No, one he'd never even imagined.
"Kurrk…… ku-huhk……!"
Tears poured from Krok's eyes like a waterfall.
"Ku-huh-huhk……! It's good…… so good……!!"
Krok abandoned the spoon, grabbed the bowl, and chugged the broth straight. His face was a mess of tears and soup, but he didn't care.
The Grand Duchess Eleanor, who gave him such delicious food and genuinely worried about a monster like him. Loyalty sprouted in Krok's heart.
"Kurrk…… ku-huhk……! I was a fool! I was the idiot. It was my fault. I didn't recognize the grace of such a benevolent Grand Duchess……!!"
Krok set the bowl down, prostrated himself at Eleanor's feet, and slammed his forehead to the ground.
"For life……! I'll be Wintervalt's slave for life and repay this grace! I'll atone by helping the humans! Uuuh-huh-huh!!"
As the leader Krok sobbed and pledged loyalty, the other orcs who'd been watching exchanged glances, then shed tears of emotion and bowed their heads in unison.
"Long live the Grand Duchess!!"
"We'll work… hard…!"
Eleanor, who had unwittingly turned hundreds of monster orcs into fanatics, looked flustered and at a loss.
"Wh-what… why all of a sudden?"
Kailan, who had watched it all with arms crossed, wore a satisfied smile.
'As expected of my wife. Her taming skills are a work of art.'
Kailan pulled out the territory development plan from his pocket, adjusted the orc labor allocation ratios, and hummed a tune.
'Two hundred muscle monsters I can run for free twelve hours a day. Heh heh heh, that'll save even more on next quarter's construction budget!'
Kailan still viewed the orcs through his thoroughly capitalist lens.
A few weeks later.
On a freshly paved wide road in the new city's residential district, two kids were gleefully sword-fighting with sticks.
"Take this! I'm the empire's greatest swordmaster, Grand Duke Kailan!"
"Tch! Then I'm the First Prince of the Central Continent, Ludwig! Come at me!"
"What? A first prince doesn't even reach our Grand Duke's toes! You're dead now!"
"Hey! You know you'll get dragged off by the military police for insulting the imperial family, right!?"
"Pfft! In our North, Grand Duke Kailan is the king~!"
The kids spouted treasonous words amid giggles and dashed right into the middle of the road.
That was when it happened.
A massive merchant wagon rounding the corner appeared, its horses rearing up in shock at the sudden kids.
"Hiiing!"
"Whoa, whoa! Stop!!"
The driver yanked the reins desperately, but the spooked horses charged straight at the children instead of halting.
"Ah…!"
As the frozen kids couldn't even move—
Thud!!
The huge wagon screeched to a halt.
As the dust settled, what emerged was a massive orc—one hand pressing down the horse's head, the other casually blocking the wagon's front.
Blue work clothes caked in dirt. The mark of Wintervalt affiliation.
"Kurrk. Dangerous, little ones. Playing in the wagon path gets you hurt."
Krok, now fully a Wintervalt citizen, released the wagon and gently scolded the kids in a soft voice.
"Woooow! It's an orc, an orc!!"
"Orc uncle! Thank you for saving us!"
At the children's pure gratitude, a gentle smile spread across Krok's scarred, fierce face.
He slowly shook his head and gazed toward the towering Wintervalt castle.
"No. It was the Grand Duke and Grand Duchess who saved us."