There were people who had spent an extraordinarily long time tending and protecting a region they regarded as sacred ground. They had remained there for ages long enough to remember even a ghost lost to the recesses of history. They had a legitimate purpose, too: carrying on their sacred traditions. And in guarding this isolated place, far removed from the world, they had never done anyone any particular harm.

They even settled everything through duels rather than ruthlessly ambushing or killing intruders who trespassed on their sacred ground. How fair was that?

Considering that in the capital of the Iron Kingdom of Chervil, killing a trespasser on private property was lawful regardless of the circumstances, they were more merciful than humans.

Now, here was a question.

On one side were the orcs, who had been here incomparably longer, had a legitimate claim, and were even fair.

On the other was a human who forced his way in despite knowing this was sacred ground, coveted their precious sacred relic, and intimidated naive orcs into guiding him here.

Which of the two was the villain?

Nine times out of ten, anyone could have answered without my even posing the question. In this particular situation, I was the villain. Not just a villain, either. You could call me a f***ing bastard who lacked even basic decency.

Fortunately, however...

"A duel!"

Orcs were not a race concerned with right and wrong.

"Draw your sword, human!"

For this naive green race, every problem was solved with a duel. They loved violence: strength was reason, and the victor reigned as law.

I looked at the orc snorting through his nose with a savage-looking axe in hand.

'He's seriously huge.'

The orc who had challenged me towered over me. He was much larger even than the orc I had fought and defeated earlier. As the difference in size briefly intimidated me, Liam spoke.

「He's different from the orc you fought earlier.」

"How so?"

「That one isn't a young orc. He's a full-fledged warrior who has completed his coming-of-age rite.」

A warrior.

Yes, he looked brave enough to deserve the word. This time, I drew the dwarf-made sword Daisy had given me. A monstrous weapon capable of slicing through most steel in a single stroke.

「Be careful, young descendant. A true orc warrior is no easy opponent.」

"..."

「The creatures of this continent call orcs an ignorant, worthless race that knows nothing but fighting. But tell me, if that truly were all there was to them, could they have survived for so long?」

THUD!

The orc's footfall resounded.

"Waaaar!"

His thunderous battle cry rang out, and his massive green muscles bulged. The savage strength erupting from them poured into his axe. Watching the axe blade descend vertically, I drew a breath. My second heart beat, filling my body with superhuman strength. My sword swung to meet the axe, imbued with that same strength.

At the same time, my 「path」 unfolded. I could read exactly how the orc before me would move within it, as though glimpsing the immediate future.

And then...

'...?'

The orc's movements, as read by my 「path」, split into two possibilities. It was as though his body had momentarily become two. In the instant I flinched, his movement departed from my prediction. He released the axe he had been swinging vertically, throwing it instead.

Not an overhead strike. A throw.

"Hup!"

An unconventional attack. I hastily angled my sword to deflect it, but the orc who had hurled his axe was already right in front of me. Charging like a beast, he seized the haft of the deflected axe as it spun through the air and swung again.

CLANG!

Metal struck metal. A heavy impact, impossible to ignore, bore down on my entire body.

"A sword walker, are you, human? Snort."

Beyond my blade, I could see the orc's bestial eyes. His blue eyes blazed like seething flames. Sword and axe locked together. Rather than resorting to tricks, he swelled his muscles and pressed down on my sword with all his might.

Strength over technique.

Crude. But brave.

Above all, very orcish.

Show that exchange to anyone on the continent, and they would all say the same thing: it had been very "orcish." The corners of my mouth lifted before I knew it. Straight ahead, no matter what. That was the orcs' bold style of fighting.

"Even an orc like me knows how sword walkers fight. We have plenty among our warriors! But orcs don't fight like other sword walkers. Fighting that way isn't brave, and it isn't impressive."

Clutching my sword, I drew upon Petel's memories.

「Twilight」. The knight's swordsmanship unfolded, useful when blades were locked together. I shifted my center of gravity and swung with finesse. Instead of evading my sword, the orc took it head-on with his thick hide and kept swinging his axe, as though willing to sacrifice flesh to take bone.

Bold.

Just as that thought struck me, Liam spoke.

「You must never let your guard down against a true orc warrior. You may be able to predict their movements, but you cannot fully read the movements of the 'ancestors' dwelling within their bodies.」

"..."

「That is why orcs who have completed their coming-of-age rite are also called knight killers. Inexperienced sword walkers often fall helplessly before those masters of combat. So, young descendant, do not become fixated on what you can see.」

I stared intently at the charging orc.

「Never stop doing what you do best: doubting. Look at the world not only through what your path tells you, but through your keen senses and your objective, cool-headed gaze. Question everything, and never be certain. Your attitude toward the world will become your steel.」

I slid a foot forward.

I saw the orc charging. Instead of retreating, I raised my sword and caught his swinging axe near the tip of my blade.

SCREEECH!

The axe scraped along the sword. I guided it aside along my blade and, continuing to redirect its force, spun once and swung. The orc leaned sharply backward to dodge.

His balance broke. I stamped down on his forward foot, changed my grip, and delivered a long thrust. 「Needle」. Still leaning back, the orc released his axe, planted his thick palm on the dirt, and flipped his body over, evading the thrust.

But that was not enough. Pressing harder on his trapped foot, I let go of my sword and drew 「Fang」 from my thigh. I stabbed the knee joint of his forward leg, punched a hole in his thigh, then stabbed his flank and chest, moving like a snake hunting prey.

Keeping his foot pinned, I reached out with my forward hand and seized his neck. I slipped smoothly into his space and touched the tip of Fang to his neck. An assassin's art. The techniques of darkness, now fully ingrained in my body, had completely subdued the orc.

The subdued orc stood still for a moment, then turned his face toward me and grinned.

"I've lost."

"Yes. You've been defeat—"

"If I've lost, I must join my ancestors."

Then the orc bent forward, driving himself onto the dagger I held against him. The sharp Fang pierced his neck. Sticky blood burst forth, and the next instant, the orc warrior went limp and died.

'What the hell.'

I was bewildered.

I had only intended to subdue him and devise a scheme to obtain the sacred relic. Yet the instant he realized he had lost the duel, he threw himself onto my blade and took his own life? He had not even shown fear right before dying. The moment he lost, he readily chose death, as though it were only natural.

As I stood frozen in confusion before the orc's still-warm corpse, the distant orcs, teeming like a swarm of insects, shouted.

"Oooh!"

It was not a resentful cry directed at me out of a desire to avenge their dead comrade.

"A brave! Human!"

Their voices held a frenzied excitement.

Covered in orc blood, I faced their madness head-on. Watching them cheer before the corpse of one of their own, I felt I had learned a little more about the race called "orcs."

To put it simply:

'... These bastards are insane.'

* * *

I had trespassed on another race's sacred ground, ruined their coming-of-age rite, and even killed one of their warriors. What did I receive in return?

"Orc beer. Knock it back, then speak!"

Amazingly, I was granted a private audience with the orc elder, the highest-ranking orc settled here. They even served me their food and drink. By any common-sense standard, the situation was utterly incomprehensible.

"Yes."

But I was slowly coming to understand something.

You could not deal with orcs using common sense. For these green lumps whose brains were made of muscle, this was common sense. I downed the yellowish beer in one go. Without a word of exaggeration, it was the foulest drink I had ever tasted. They could have mixed every kind of food waste together, boiled it, and served it to me, and it would still have been better than this. F***.

'This tastes like f*ing shit.'

I would have believed them if they told me it was poison.

But seeing all the orcs around me drinking the same orc beer, I decided to believe these bastards simply had defective taste buds. I set my tankard down with a thud and looked at the elder laughing heartily before me.

He wore a necklace strung from bones, a multitude of dangling bone earrings, and skull-shaped ornaments all over his eyelids and lips.

「A shaman. Most likely the highest-ranking shaman overseeing 'ancestral inheritance' here. The spiritual power I sense is quite considerable.」

A shaman.

Put simply, an orc mage. Someone who wielded mystic power according to their traditional methods. Liam spoke.

「He could banish the likes of you to the spirit world with a snap of his fingers. So if he challenges you to a duel, give up an arm and run.」

"..."

「Tsk. What a shame. If you had even a little spiritual talent, I could have helped you. But you lack not only martial aptitude, but any spiritual talent whatsoever...」

Ignoring Liam's grumbling, I looked at the orc elder.

"So! Why have you come all this way, human!"

The elder spoke so loudly I thought my ears would burst. His manner of speaking was comical, but as Liam had said, he was no ordinary being. My senses, sharpened by becoming a 「sword walker」, told me so.

The being before me was not an enemy I could face.

He could crush the likes of me as easily as an insect. An indescribably vast gulf separated us. There was only one reason the elder treated me favorably: according to orc custom, I had won a duel and proven myself stronger than their warriors.

Having won the first duel, I had earned an opportunity to "talk" under their traditions. In other words, had these been humans or elves rather than orcs, I would have been dead long ago.

"If your reason! Is trivial! You! Will have to duel every orc warrior here! So speak! Human!"

Orcs were ignorant and simple.

That was why these green beings did not lie. I knew those words were the pure truth, without a single falsehood. The moment I said something frivolous, the elder would make me duel every one of those orc warriors, as numerous as a swarm of insects. He would guarantee sufficient rest, follow every rule of fairness, and keep sending them at me one-on-one...

'Terrifying.'

In a sense, being so insanely simple was frightening. That meant I had to choose my words carefully this time. My master was strong by nature, gifted with a talent for violence, so he would gladly have chosen to fight every orc warrior here. But I was not like him.

I had to do what I was good at.

"I heard that long ago, my ancestor left a family heirloom on the orcs' sacred ground."

Now then.

"That blade, a treasure of our family, is as precious to me as my own life. Our family's honor rests upon it. It embodies the convictions our family has upheld for hundreds of years. I have heard that orcs retrieve their dead and honor their souls in keeping with tradition. I, too, have a duty to recover my family's treasure and honor the unfulfilled wish of my ancestor. To fulfill that duty, I braved the danger and came alone to these treacherous mountains..."

Time to trick our naive orc with a glib tongue.

* * *

『Name: Orc』

『One of the seven races found on the continent.』

『A wandering race scattered across many regions. Rather than living stable lives, they relish endless struggle and always enjoy fighting to win something for themselves.』