Chapter 82: Orcs and a Female Knight 2
TL/Editor: Raei
Schedule: 5/Week Wed-Sun
Illustrations: Posted in discord.
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The orc warriors, paralyzed, fall to the ground and vanish, turning into mana stone.
This is likely due to the berserk spell the orc shaman cast on them.
Typically, orc warriors would only become heavily injured and dizzy after being hit by my passive.
But when they go berserk, their attack power increases while their defense and health decrease, which led to fatal damage from the passive.
Orc hunters who fire arrows and berserk orc warriors who attack from close, all die from the passive reflected damage.
It's a frightening sight, seeing dozens of their kind fall as I move towards the village center.
Kyaaak!
The orc shaman, shrieking like a scared child who's seen a ghost, thrashes on the ground.
Seeing tears streak down its ugly face, I almost feel a twinge of pity for it.
"This one is larger, and its skin is a different color... It's kind of sad to see it like this. Remember that movie we watched? The one the movie reviewer talked about, where everything around the hero starts to die. This reminds me of that."
-Just one skill changes the genre.
-He kills everything now without even having to run.
-I can't help but laugh every time I watch the stream.
-The color is definitely darker, the patterns are different, and it seems heftier below as well.
-Can't these orcs wear some pants? Seriously.
Feigning interest, I carefully pick up the writhing orc shaman and hold it up to the camera.
This one is distinctly different in terms of color, size, and tattoos.
If normal orc skin is dark green, this one is darker with a hint of brown.
"Come in! All clear!"
What more can I, a non-mage, make out from further observation?
All that comes to mind, thanks to a viewer's chat message, is the filthy leather loincloth.
So, I yell loudly, inviting the rest of the group who are waiting outside the wall.
I had already broken the door, so they easily enter the orc's base.
Meanwhile, Mari the maid begins to gather the orc loot rolling on the ground.
The rest of the group, without hesitation, head towards me, curious about the orc shaman I'm holding.
After all, where else would they see a live monster?
The orc shaman, now the center of everyone's attention, is too weak to resist.
"Just hold onto it for a moment, Roland. Its tattoos look a bit different, and I want to document them."
"Sure, why not."
While Charlotte shows interest in the captured orc shaman, the rest of the group starts to explore the now-empty orc base.
A village made up of shacks built from abundant lumber, like the safety zone.
Naturally, there were no piles of meat or hide inside the shacks.
Even if you hunt in the 20th-floor forest all day, the beasts would leave behind magic stones instead of meat and hide when they die.
The occasional sight of an adventurer's blood-stained gear only served to darken the faces of our party.
Just as there are adventurers who fall to goblins, there are those who succumb to orcs.
The sight of blood-stained armor and cracked helmets all too clearly reveal what became of their wearers.
"Roland, it seems like there's someone inside."
"Inside?"
While rummaging through the shacks, Grace suddenly pricks up her ears.
Hearing this, Mari quickly approached, pulled out a rope from her pocket, and began to bind the orc shaman securely.
Either due to its higher intelligence avoiding pointless resistance, or it's simply drained of energy, the creature remains eerily still.
Like artists sketching a nude model, Charlotte and Mari began to draw the orc shaman's tattoos.
Leaving them and Kaiden, who had volunteered to guard, behind, we followed Grace.
Just like how Charlotte's mumblings led the quest progression earlier...
[Investigate the suspicious movements of the Orc Hunters]
[There is a base where the Orc Hunters relay information. Find the shaman here.]
[A unique tribe ruled by an orc shaman. Someone is imprisoned within.]
"Imprisoned? Was someone kidnapped by orcs?"
-Roland got kidnapped, now orcs are kidnapping too?
-Is today's theme about kidnapping?
-Someone captured by orcs? Could it be...?
-The quest seems to have some creepy elements.
-Wouldn't the creepy ones be the viewers spamming the chat?
Grace detected something, and Han Se-ah confirmed it through the quest window.
We followed her towards the largest shack.
The shaman's shack looked exactly like you'd expect a 'shaman's' dwelling to be.
Dried herbs and branches hung on the walls, a few magic stones lay scattered around, and a large pot hung over the remains of a fire pit in a spacious area.
However, the prisoner was nowhere to be seen.
As we looked around, a very faint sound reached our ears.
"Wh...who's there"
"Below?"
A feeble voice comes from under their feet, accompanied by a dull thud.
It's a listless sound, as if something is lightly striking a door or a window bar.
At my murmur, the party began to thoroughly search the floor of the shack.
It's just an orc-constructed shack, so we quickly found an entrance leading underground.
Whether the orcs tried to hide it well or didn't bother at all, pushing aside a shelf of herbs revealed the entrance to a burrow.
"Roland, do Orcs typically dig burrows like this?"
"They also made walls, and they seem to be more dexterous than the ones outside the tower."
"I'll use a light spell since it's dark."
They had built walls and shacks without proper tools.
It wouldn't be strange if they managed to dig a slightly slanted burrow that could accommodate the large-bodied Orcs.
Han Se-ah conjures a ball of light on her staff to act as a torch, and we walk into the burrow.
The tunnel is rough but sturdy, not shaking or crumbling even as we enter.
It doesn't seem to extend outside the village, as the end of the tunnel comes into sight after a short walk.
We were greeted by a sight that looked like a simple prison, with wooden bars blocking the dead-end path.
The contraption was so basic that even a rural farmer or a neighborhood kid, not to mention an adventurer, could easily escape from it.
"Is she...an adventurer?"
The woman beyond the wooden bars looked in serious condition.
However, it wasn't due to violence or violations by the Orcs.
"Good heavens... Hanna, could you take out a bowl from your inventory and create some water?"
Her eyes were haggard, with dark circles underneath, and her lips were cracked like a parched field.
Her frail and skinny frame clearly showed how long she had been starving in this burrow.
Inside the tower, where hunted beasts yield no meat, where would the Orcs get meals for their prisoners?
If they had anything to eat, it would've been the previous owners of the blood-soaked equipment found outside.
I didn't know exactly what happened, but I could make an educated guess.
The adventurers became a meal for the orcs while this woman was left imprisoned in the cave.
Even if the smarter orcs had provided food, she couldn't eat human flesh.
So she had been held captive, continuing to starve.
"Who is this woman to be imprisoned like this?"
"It's even stranger that the orcs imprisoned a woman without touching her in the first place."
"Indeed, there are no signs of violence. She just seems weak from not eating."
Orcs are monsters, instinctual in nature.
This can be observed in the Orc warriors' behavior.
If they see an enemy, they charge.
If they're hungry, they eat, and if they're sleepy, they sleep.
They're as primitive as beasts can be.
Is it possible for such violent creatures to have a woman, taken alive, untouched, and locked up in a prison?
How many contradictions can be found in a single sentence?
Especially when they devoured the other adventurers.
The woman, dressed in thin clothes because all her equipment had been stripped off, looked emaciated, but her beauty still shone through, making it even more puzzling.
The orcs just imprisoned a scantily-clad beauty without laying a finger on her?
"Let's get her out of here for now. Irene, it won't be a problem if I carry her, right?"
"Yes. I've infused her with a bit of divine energy, so it should be fine for you to carry her."
With Irene's affirmation, I gently lifted the woman in my arms and exited the burrow.
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Raei Translations
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The shaman was kept under Charlotte's watch, while Mari collected all the spoils from the warriors and hunters, storing them in the inventory.
Having also rescued the unidentified captive woman, there's nothing left to check, right?
As I step out of the burrow with the woman in my arms, Charlotte, surprised, quickly runs over to us.
Of course, the woman captured by the orcs would be more intriguing than the orc shaman.
As a result, Kaiden naturally took care of the orc shaman who was tied up with ropes.
The shaman's condition seems to be worsening as it was barely breathing, looking as if it might die at any moment.
"We've checked everything we need to, and the walls and shacks won't disappear, so let's leave a mark and return to the safe zone."
"That sounds good. After all, it's most important that this lady regains her senses."
"Although, I am curious about how a female knight of the kingdom ended up in the tower."
"...A knight?"
The one who responded quickest to my suggestion of returning to the safe zone was Irene.
But the ensuing words of Charlotte caused a wave of confusion to ripple through us who had entered the den.
A knight, not an adventurer?
How did she know that?
"Do you know her?"
"No, it's just an inference based on the standard-issue knight armor of the kingdom mixed among the adventurers' equipment."
A female knight of the kingdom? Why did the orcs imprison her?
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