Chapter 135
Chapter 135
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 135
Chapter Title: No Shipwreck for the Protagonist (5)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
* * *
***
In the demon realm's night with two moons risen, Ballagu knelt atop the desert.
"Ultimately, it's come to this."
He spoke as he gazed at Yeomyeong approaching with handcuffs. It was the tone of someone who knew this moment was inevitable.
Yeomyeong stared at him for a moment before tossing the handcuffs she'd grabbed from another tent in front of Ballagu.
Thud—the black metal handcuffs dug into the desert sand, leaving a long streak.
"If you want to live, cuff yourself."
Ballagu didn't ask if she really meant to let him live.
Was it because not a single cuffed clan member had died?
Of course that played a part, but it was more because he was convinced the earthling before him could slaughter his entire clan whenever she wanted.
It was a laughable tale, but these handcuffs were mercy. Mercy in the form of a promise not to take their lives while shackled.
Ballagu silently cuffed both wrists and let out a sigh.
"...More uncomfortable than I expected."
"The slaves you sold probably felt the same."
Yeomyeong sneered, but surprisingly, Ballagu nodded readily.
"Yes, no... surely they did."
His tone carried a hint of regret. Yeomyeong looked down at him indifferently.
"Feeling guilty now, are we?"
"Guilt... I did feel that once. Right up until recently."
"..."
"But I figured it was better to sell others into slavery than let guilt burden my family..."
The orc fiddled with the large scar on his face as he gazed up at the moons. The pale and murky pair illuminated his features simultaneously.
"...and now I'm receiving my punishment. What will you do with our clan?"
"Well, probably sell them as slaves."
"An eye for an eye... justice may be slow, but it comes eventually."
There was even a sense of relief on Ballagu's face. Yeomyeong toyed with her sword hilt as she regarded his expression.
In truth, she had no intention of letting the orcs live.
They weren't ordinary nomads—they were human traffickers.
The moment they served Seti that drugged tea, their fates were sealed.
Yet... Seti saw things a bit differently. Selling slavers as slaves was the proper poetic justice, or so she said.
Yeomyeong had suggested chopping off their limbs one by one, but Seti opposed even that.
Before he could argue back, she bolted from the tent alone and turned the nomad camp into a wasteland.
Was it to preserve their merchandise value? Or simply to stop him from killing? He couldn't tell...
"Yeomyeong! Got it all swept up!"
As his thoughts deepened, Seti's voice snapped him out of it.
He turned to see her riding a massive camel.
She held a bulging leather pouch, and as she drew nearer, the jingling of coins grew louder.
"...Tamed the chief's camel in the meantime, huh. You've got quite the spirited wife."
With that brief assessment from Ballagu, Seti hopped lightly off the camel.
Despite the hefty pouch, she landed without a sound.
"Less to plunder than I thought. Even dragging the chief around, I only filled one pouch."
As if to prove it, Seti opened the pouch and showed its contents.
Strange coins that were neither silver nor gold, crude ornaments, rolled-up parchment and paper...
Aside from the coins, it was all junk that could be hawked at any antique shop.
"The carts were mostly spam and ingredients... but they had a ton of camels and goats. Selling those alone should cover expenses."
"Then we head somewhere that buys livestock. Any maps?"
"Map? Hang on... it should be in here somewhere..."
As Seti rummaged through the leather pouch, Ballagu, seated nearby, chimed in.
"The parchment tied with red cloth. That's the clan's map."
Out of nowhere? Seti shot the orc a puzzled look before pulling out the red-tied parchment and unfurling it.
She half-expected a trick, but it was genuinely a map of the demon realm region.
Detailed with marker rocks and stone hills, even oases and wells—a proper clan secret map.
"It's real? Uh... Orc? Thanks for the tip."
Seti flashed a sly smile, but the orc didn't spare her a glance and addressed Yeomyeong instead.
"My name isn't Orc. It's Ballagu. Ballagu of the Castrati."
"...Castrati?"
"Castrated by humans as a child. Orc cocks fetch a high price as aphrodisiacs."
"..."
It was the sort of story any man would recoil from. Yeomyeong grimaced faintly before taking the map from Seti.
He spread it wide, using the moonlight as a lantern. Then he alternated between the starry sky and the map, taking his bearings.
"...Yeomyeong, you know how to read the stars too?"
"I know the method. First time trying it for real."
More documentary knowledge. Seti quietly admired him as he stargazed.
As thoughts flitted through her mind—like how nomad garb suited him, or how much more muscle he'd packed on since they met...
Yeomyeong jabbed a spot on the map.
Slightly north of dead center in the southern demon realm.
"Already? You pinpointed our location just from the stars?"
"Nah, that failed."
"Uh, what?"
He shrugged.
"Knowing something and doing it are different."
"...Then why point at the map?"
He tapped it.
"Found the mark for that well we dug earlier. Looks like these orcs were heading there too."
While Seti verified the well marker, Yeomyeong elaborated.
"The fastest way back to Earth from here... is straight north."
He dragged his finger upward, pointing to the large city marked at the map's northern edge.
Its name was...
"...Dreiteryal?"
Commonly known as the city of trash.
Unlike the unfamiliar place names, even Seti knew of it.
It was the backdrop for a worldwide-famous crime drama series.
"We sell the orcs and livestock here for cash, then hop a train to the city with the portal."
"Ah... so we might get back to Earth quicker than expected?"
She'd braced for at least half a year, but by his plan, even at worst it was two months.
"...Lucky us."
Seti let out a sigh that was half regret, half relief.
That's when the handcuffed Ballagu gazed meaningfully at the horizon.
In the direction of Dreiteryal.
***
People often wonder why this land is called the demon realm.
Why such an unlucky, ominous name?
Couldn't they call it the southern desert, or the great desert—something better?
Cynics claimed it was because the empire's official name was too long and stupid.
Gossips speculated it must be haunted by demons or some cursed slaughter ground.
Locals simply said it'd been called that forever, so it still was.
But the wise—or anyone with even a passing interest in legends—would mention a certain tale.
The legend of the hero who opened the portal and battled the invading monsters.
The monsters' king... the demon king... had made his lair right here.
The land of monsters and the demon king.
That's why it was the demon realm—and why it remained so even after the hero slew the demon king, the land unhealed.
Unscientific nonsense, sure, but that's legends for you.
Imagination plus time, topped with heaps of exaggeration—just that sort of story.
If one dissected the legend, the ancients had likely spotted natural mana storms erupting in the desert and imagined a demon king from...
"Quite the cynical take."
Yeomyeong cut in toward Ballagu, who wouldn't shut up.
"...Not familiar? I hear earthlings lump myths and fairy tales together."
Ballagu sat on one side of a cart pulled by three camels, back slouched, legs splayed in ultimate leisure.
Without the handcuffs, he'd look like a man out for a casual desert jaunt.
Yeomyeong replied as he gripped the camel's reins.
"Earthlings might, but... aren't desert orcs proud descendants of the hero?"
How could they deny their own identity so easily?
That was the subtext. Ballagu snorted.
"The empire and dwarves claim the same. Unless the legendary hero was some indiscriminate horn dog who banged every race... it's nonsense."
"..."
It was akin to a Korean insulting Dangun, so Yeomyeong checked the other orcs.
But the ones huddled inside the cart neither contradicted Ballagu nor showed anger.
Did they all agree? Or...
'...slave lethargy.'
It had been five days since Seti turned the orcs upside down and slapped on the cuffs.
Some had rebelled or tried fleeing upon hearing they'd be sold as slaves, but Seti gave them a sound thrashing each time, and the orcs dared not resist.
With escape and rebellion impossible, the orcs had collectively sunk into lethargy.
The classic slave state: eat, shit, obey orders, nothing else.
One orc named Gadudu or whatever was especially bad—he wouldn't even meet Seti's eyes, just burrowed into the cart.
Of the orcs, only the chief and Ballagu had resisted the lethargy.
The chief's reason was obvious: a sense of duty. Over the past few days, he'd been rallying his clan and trying to haggle or negotiate with Yeomyeong and Seti.
Ballagu's nonchalance, though... was baffling.
He blabbered on carefree, as if everything would sort itself out somehow.
"Shall I continue on the demon realm? Or prefer another tale?"
"..."
"How about tales of the distant Whitefire Kingdom? Or the empire's founding myth?"
As Yeomyeong silently watched Ballagu, he suddenly realized why the orc hadn't succumbed.
Deep in those characteristically blunt orc eyes gleamed an emotion.
One utterly absent from the eyes of those bound for slavery.
Hope.
"...Ballagu."
"Yes? Speak, temporary master."
"What are you scheming... no, what are you hoping for?"
A sudden, blunt question.
Ballagu started to make excuses, then sensed Yeomyeong had pierced his thoughts and fell silent.
A brief pause.
He straightened his previously lax posture and spoke in a weighty voice.
"Truth is, I'm from Dreiteryal."
"So?"
"Born on a slave farm, castrated and sold to a renowned mage as a body servant. Lets me know a fair bit, relatively speaking."
"...Don't care about your backstory. Get to the point."
"We've got time to kill, so if you just..."
Before Ballagu finished, a translucent ice shard floated right before his brow.
"I- ice pick...?"
An ice pick Yeomyeong conjured on reflex.
Desert heat made it needle-sized rather than a proper pick, but Ballagu—knowing how difficult even that was—went wide-eyed.
"...A mage, not a knight?"
Yeomyeong neither confirmed nor denied, conjuring another to hover at his nape.
A chilling sound of air freezing echoed through the cart as Yeomyeong issued his final warning.
"Point only. Short."
Ballagu gladly complied.
"Th-that way to Dreiteryal now... you'll enter the territory of the black mage called the Wraith."
"..."
"We might already be in it."
Yeomyeong didn't ask how he knew.
Ballagu had overheard when they plotted the route using the map.
"...You knew from the start we'd cross this Wraith's turf."
"Yes. It's the only fast way from here to Dreiteryal."
Yeomyeong let out an incredulous chuckle.
"That's your big hope? Leave us to fight the Wraith?"
Ballagu mirrored his grin. The thick scar twisted into an odd expression.
"The Wraith's trash. Holds nearby orc clans' families hostage, squeezes tribute quotas... the king of bastards."
Wondered why orc nomads turned to trafficking? That explained it.
Yeomyeong crossed his arms, as if to say keep talking.
"If you lose to the Wraith, we just become his dogs again. But if by some miracle you kill him..."
"We still sell you at the slave market."
"But the hostage clans regain freedom. That's enough."
No scheme or plot—just simple hope.
Yeomyeong offered no verdict and moved the ice pick.
The sharp shard pierced green skin, burrowing toward Ballagu's skull.
Or trying to.
But the instant Ballagu squeezed his eyes shut and blood trickled from his forehead...
Yeomyeong tsked and dispelled the spell.
"Tch. Not one of the good ones either."
"Yes? What do you..."
Before Ballagu could ask, the desert sky began turning pitch black.
Whiiiiiin!!
The thing filling the sky was a colossal swarm of flies.
So vast in number that their wingbeats alone drowned out everything.
"W-Wraith!"
"The Wraith's here!"
The terrified orcs clutched their ears. Even Ballagu craned his neck to peek outside in shock.
"Stay put here."
Yeomyeong drew his sword and leaped from the camel.
***
Seti thought as she and the camel floated into the air.
'Ambushed.'
Less the foe's cunning, more her own carelessness.
With horizons visible just by turning her head, how could she miss an approach? That complacency.
But the enemy mocked it, striking not from horizon or sky—but from deep underground.
Like a landmine, something enormous erupted beneath the camel's feet, launching her and the beast skyward.
Magic? Bomb?
Stabilizing midair, she looked back to see something far beyond her imagination glaring at her.
'...Centipede?'
Not merely large. Its exposed length alone blotted out the sun—a gigantic centipede.
Seti landed before it could move, checking her weapon first.
The hammer slung on the saddle of the camel she'd babied these past days.
The hammer was intact, but sadly the camel was mush.
She unleashed Flying Leg Art to snatch the hammer, then looked up at the centipede.
—Knight were you? How dares a wench?
A withered old man, little more than leather over bones, stood atop the centipede's head.
His tattered robe suggested mage, yet oddly no staff.
"Who the hell are you? Bandit? Highway robber? Who pulls ambushes?"
Seti asked as she drew up mana.
—And who the hell are you? Stealing my underlings, invading my land—who?!
A parched, cracked voice boomed through the air.
"...Your underlings?"
—Don't play dumb! Those carts you're hauling—all Kiran Clan property! They're mine!
Seti's eyes narrowed as the old man shrieked in a fit.
"You're the orcs' slaver boss, huh?"
—Yes, you wench! Don't know what foolhardy courage let you set foot in the demon realm, but you'll pay for coveting my property!
No sooner had he finished than flies began pouring from the centipede's hole.
Whiiiiiin!!
The massive swarm surging skyward was vortex-impressive, but Seti showed no reaction.
Her martial art was specialized for situations like this.
—My children, seize her!
The oblivious old man unleashed the flies.
The innumerable swarm roiled like a black wave, casting a long shadow over Seti's head the instant...
"...Might as well clean up before Yeomyeong gets here."
Seti smashed the hammer down.
* * *