The Sword and The Shadow

"Come on, let's go. Don't dilly-dally now. Are you trying to escape again?" cried Kreighdon as he turned back and lowered his head. The humans were considerably shorter than he. If he kept his eye on them like he usually would, they'd definitely hide in his blind spot. So, he had no choice but to speak with his head lowered all the time.

"So what if I am?" grumbled Annelotte coldly. The impression the orcish wargod had made on her was rather bad, so bad, in fact, that the girl's usual frosty personality had changed quite a bit. The most apparent shift was how she always talked back to him.

She was not to blame, however, as the first thing the orc had said to her had ruffled her feathers thoroughly. Not only that; to prevent any odd, unexpected variables from the usage of magic, he had used an incredibly sinister method to infuse some of his impetus into her body and seal off her mana completely. Under his suppression, the genius magus girl was no different from a normal person, apart from her breathtaking beauty, anyway.

At first, her constant mocking unnerved Leguna greatly.

Freaking hell! That's a saint-ranked expert! A saint-ranked expert from a different race! Annie, I know you're prideful, exalted, immeasurably beautiful, and super lovable, but you don't need to grind your gears with him now, right? What would we do if you really pissed him off?! If you're really trying to get yourself killed, don't drag Innie and me into it! We still want to enjoy the rest of our lives!

At first, Leguna kept on commenting internally on Annelotte's inane antics. But, he soon realized Kreighdon didn't so much as lift a finger at her insults. Sometimes, he would even start bickering with her with a smile on his face and make her blush. In time, he got used to this odd scene. Upon hearing their latest bout, Leguna said lazily, "How would we dare? With you here, escaping would get us nowhere. Weren't we captured by you the last time?"

In the last couple of days, Leguna had come to more or less grasp Kreighdon's personality. Though the orc had the reputation of a wargod and used to be the chief of Blood-colored Warsong, he had never put up airs as a super expert or a leader. In fact, his behavior and manner of speech weren't unlike Kurdak's, and his expression looked like the crazy old Marolyt. Given how Leguna had a grasp of the two's quirks, he applied his experience on the orc and didn't have much difficulty getting along with him.

"Hmph! Even though you speak the truth, I know you humans call this ass-kissing," said Kreighdon with a delighted look on his face. No one knew whether he was getting full of himself from Leguna's praise or that he was feeling smug from showing his understanding of human culture. Regardless, it went without saying that Leguna's ass-kissing delighted the orc greatly. He happily declared they would be taking a rest.

To physical fighters like Kreighdon and Leguna, even walking for days and nights on end wasn't too taxing but Innilis and Annelotte were different. Especially the magus being suppressed. Not only had the girl lost her ability to dictate, her physical capabilities had degraded considerably with the loss of her magic. Coupled with the problem of her shoes, she was faring the worst of them all.

As for Innilis, given her meager life experience, she didn't really understand the hate that existed between humans and orcs. Seeing how the huge fellow chased the evil Eye of Arcana members away, she immediately thought he was a good person. So, she acted really friendly towards him.

It was obvious the girl's innocent and bright personality was well-liked by the straightforward and serious orc. Kreighdon spared no expense to care for the little girl. Sometimes, he would even let her sit on his shoulders as they traveled hastily. Unless Innilis herself wished to get down to wander around, she didn't even have to walk!

Annelotte sat quietly. Though they hadn't been pursued by the Eye for two days, Kreighdon's incessant hurrying was torture for her. A few more blisters had formed on her feet and the pain ground at her nerves incessantly. She didn't want to show any weakness in front of a potentially hostile non-human, however.

"How's it? Can you hold on?" asked Leguna.

He had long realized her predicament but didn't dare say much upon her insistence. The pain forced Annelotte's face to pale but she nodded stubbornly.

"I'm fine, I can hold on."

"I don't doubt you can—" Kreighdon chirped in with a cold laugh. Though he hadn't reacted angrily even after all of her provocation, he didn't hesitate to drill a snide remark or two in when he had the chance. "—but your legs will be defunct when we reach Ogrimma."

"That's none of your business!" hissed the girl.

"Of course it's not! But someone's worried for you!" Kreighdon gave Leguna a casual glance, before he continued in an eerie tone, "Oh, however, if you go on like this, your injuries will become infected. Come to think of it, we don't have healers or priests in Ogrimma that can treat you. Usually, we would just cut off the part with infected injury. Tsktsktsk… Even I have to admit it'd be a shame if such a beautiful lass were to lose her legs!"

"I won't beg you for help even if my legs fall off!"

Though Annelotte's face paled even further listening to the orc's remarks, she forced herself to endure. Leguna was the one to panic instead.

"Annie, Annie, let's not get angry now. Of course you want to keep your legs! Think about how bad it'd be if your legs were amputated. You wouldn't just lose much of your beauty, you would also not be able to walk anymore! Why not talk nicely to Mister Kreighdon and let him help you?"

"You go talk to him if you want to! It's got nothing to do with me!" Annelotte glared at Leguna, annoyed, Why do I have this pathetic excuse for a comrade? He ruined the dignity I tried so hard to protect…

In the end, Leguna actually did approach Kreighdon.

"Well, Sir, you see… `Do you know we could solve this problem?" asked he with a beaming smile.

"Solve? How?" Kreighdon asked snidely, "The flatlands are so desolate even birds don't lay eggs or scatter their droppings here. It isn't like your Nightsong Forest or Azurewater Plains. Forget herbs, you won't even get weeds here. How would you go about solving it?"

"Just look at Innilis," Leguna said as he pointed to the girl playing by herself off to the side, "Isn't she fine? Why don't you help Annelotte like you've been helping her…"

Kreighdon's eyes brightened instantly. He revealed a perverted and aroused expression, "Ah, I see. That's right, oh, how could I miss such a perfect opportunity?! Human lasses are truly the best. Not only is their skin smooth and tender, you don't have any hair on your legs either. Did you know that not only are the legs of orcish women as hairy as our heads, their tusks are also so huge they look terrifying! They're even bigger than mine! It's even more terrifying when you see traces of meat and vegetable juice all over them! They really make me want to vomit! Ah, human women are still the best! Just take a look at-"

As Kreighdon rambled on, Leguna's expression gradually darkened. He could eventually not take it any longer.

"Hold on a second! Let's pretend I didn't say anything! I hope you don't overthink it! Don't overthink this. Otherwise, I'll be nothing but a corpse when we reach Ogrimma!"

"Then what do we do? It really would be a shame if her legs have to be amputated!"

Leguna ground his teeth and forced himself to forget the terror he felt when Annelotte bit into his shoulder.

"I'll carry her on my back!" he finally cried.

"That works too!" Kreighdon didn't object, he only thought gleefully, stinking lass… I just call him your lover and you look at me so sourly for two days? Hmph… Since you like to fight so much I'll make this brat your man no matter what! Still want to oppose me?!

Seeing Kreighdon's lewd expression, Leguna suddenly worried for Innilis. He ran to her side and mumbled something before running back.

Innilis looked at Leguna blankly.

What did he mean by 'watch out for anything weird Big One does to you'? Why do I have to bite him on the ear if he does something weird?

Having said what had to be said, Leguna felt relieved. But, in consideration of their future, he still felt it would be better to see how much information he could get out of the big orc. So, he sat beside him and casually muttered, "Come to think of it, I wonder why Sir Kreighdon had to come catch us personally."

"You're not getting anything out of me. I don't know why," Kreighdon said, "All I know is lil' Olly asked me to bring the two of you to him, one kid with short black hair and a girl with long blue hair. I only did as I was told; I didn't bother asking too many questions."

"Lil' Olly?" Leguna paused, before he asked gingerly, "Are you talking about Great Chief Oljharok?"

"Yes. I call him lil' Olly," said Kreighdon with a nod.

"I'm afraid only you out of all the orcs dare to call him that," Leguna said with a bitter laugh, "Now you mentioned it, I also heard about that incident and it left me wondering. You already had absolute dominance, right? Why didn't you just… off him instead of submitting?"

"Is it really that weird?"

"A little. If you had killed him, you'd have become the hero that stopped Earth-shaking Hammer. Your exploits would've become a legend for Blood-colored Warsong and the rest of the orcs as well."

As far as he knew, orcs hailed strength as the ultimate virtue. According to orcish culture, there was no reason for Kreighdon to respect Oljharok, a loser, let alone submit to him.

"Hero? Legend?" Kreighdon snickered, "If I really killed the Great Chief that brought lasting peace and stability orc-kind, I'd be eternally grateful if my reputation wasn't ruined to the depths of shame."