I asked Master Daniela:

“So . What do you think we should do?”

“Indeed…I am in agreement with you, Asagi . But if you think about this from the perspective of the Adventurers, the orcs building a country could mean war . Though, it would not be a problem if they really would live quietly in peace . ”

I’m not too surprised… No, that was totally expected . I was not from here, and to be completely honest, this development was something that I had read in a novel before, and I had hopes based off of that . This idea that monsters who were once hated by humans now trying to change the way that they lived . I wished that it was possible . However, it had clearly not been the case with the a.s.sault Kobold . That was immediate death .

“I think that it would be great if everyone could live peacefully . Asagi, thank you, but…”

“No, I’m just too optimistic . Don’t worry about it, Arthur . ”

I should look at reality . This was another world . It was a world for humans . It was not a great place for monsters . That was reality .

“I think that you should focus on creating an environment where you can live without interacting with humans instead of creating a country . ”

Daniela said .

“I see… What about making buildings that can move?”

I was thinking about nomadic people . A lifestyle where you could raise your animals while moving from place to place . Constantly moving like that would ensure that you did not run out of food for your livestock… Well, you couldn’t plant crops or anything, but I doubted orcs cared much about that .

“Hmm . Raising livestock and not staying in the same place…I like that idea!”

Arthur nodded as he considered this possibility for the future of the orcs .

“Eating is very important for us . Orcs are very fond of meat . ”

“All worldly troubles are nothing if you have meat . ”

Daniela said with a perceptive nod . She was probably thinking about the meat at the Anthill .

“The problem is if there are any orcs who would agree to such a thing that are still alive . ”

“I do not believe that to be a problem . Did you see that there were two paths when you came here?”

There was . We had taken the stairs to the left, based on Daniela’s intuition . The right side had a flat path that led straight…

“That was used to escape to a place far off from here . When making this settlement, I wanted there to be an escape route to the valley floor in case of an emergency . But then we encountered the hole moles . And so we had them dig the holes for us…”

Arthur said with a dark expression .

“Mordred’s movements became most strange… And so I commanded the hole moles without telling him . I wanted them to dig a separate pa.s.sage in case we needed to escape . I had only told a few trusted orcs who did not wish to fight . Surely they would have used it to escape once Mordred started his coup . ”

We had indeed seen several other footprints leading to this place . You had to follow the wall quite a bit to find them . The hidden door would have been hard to find otherwise . They must have taken their times after he was captured to escape during the night . And now there was no one in the settlement . In other words, those footprints were the last of the group .

“I met them when they pa.s.sed through here . I told them to leave without me as I would go later . And so I have been waiting here for the right chance . ”

“…Wait a minute . So what was this cell made for?”

They only needed an escape route . There was no need to create this cell .

“I wanted to keep Mordred in here . I thought that he might have a change of heart after being confined for a while… It is rather ironic that it would be me who was left here . ”

He said with a self-deprecating smile and then sighed . I see…he wanted to see if he could start over . Arthur . He wasn’t going to kill someone who tried to rebel but give them another chance .

“Hmm…This is what we will do then . First, Arthur . You must escape . We Adventurers will deal with Mordred . ”

“I suppose things will only grow complicated if I am there…I am sorry . ”

“Do not be . You must run away and follow your people . And live freely . ”

“Yeah . That would be for the best . A moving building… I’m sure you could think of something?”

“Aye . In fact, I have a few ideas . I look forward to trying them . ”

Daniela watched as Arthur talked almost gleefully, and she laughed . To think that he was looking towards the future with such optimism . I don’t know if he was just being positive or if he was… Well, it was all up to us now .

“Still, perhaps it is all finished . ”

“Yes… the path that leads to the valley floor . Mordred is likely hiding there . There is nowhere else to go . ”

“Humans are capable . He will definitely be discovered and hunted down . Even without knowledge of what happened, orcs are orcs . ”

It was sad, but that was the reality . I wanted Arthur to live . Without being seen, choosing to live freely and peacefully with his people .

“Now, we should be going soon . Do you have any belongings, Arthur?”

“My sword should be here . No…Mordred has likely taken it . I will probably never see it again . ”

Sword…Arthur’s sword, huh?

“So, does this sword have a name by any chance?”

“Hm? Yes, it is the Excalibur . ”

“The Excalibur…”

So, pretty much everything…

“By the way, Arthur . Were you given that name by anyone in particular?”

“No, I wasn’t . I named myself . When I decided that I would become a king, the name flashed in my brain . ”

“Then what about Mordred? Is he an abnormally evolved being as well?”

“He is not . He is just an orc . Well, perhaps he has evolved more than the ordinary orc… His name too had flashed in my brain, just when I learned that he was planning to betray me . ”

It was a rather vague explanation, and also quite annoying . But was that all there was to it…? There was some intelligence they had been bestowed with . Could it have been from my world?

“Can we leave now?”

“Ah, forgive me . I have given up on the sword . I do not need it to be myself . Let us go . ”

“If I am able to find the Excalibur, I will come and give it to you . If we meet again . ”

“Hehe . Thank you, Asagi . But I have no hope of that happening . ”

You could have just a little at least!

We carefully ascended the wet staircase until we reached the branching path . Arthur would be free if he went to the right . He could escape from here without the humans seeing him .

“Daniela will cover the hole when we get out of here . ”

“Aye, thank you . You have done much for me, Asagi . ”

“Don’t worry about it . And be safe . ”

“Aye . And you take care as well, Daniela . ”

We tightly shook hands . Orcs had very large hands…but he was gentle .

Arthur slowly walked away . He turned around after a moment and waved . I waved back . Eventually, he was far enough that even the magic lamps were not enough to see him .

“…So, we have some things to do now . ”

“Aye, Arthur is one thing, but orcs who take up arms against humans are our enemies . ”

We started to walk . In the opposite direction as Arthur . We would leave this hole and return to the settlement . There was a tunnel that led to the valley floor that we had to find . Mordred would be at the end of the other side . And we would kill him . There would be other orcs there who followed him . I had killed a number of orcs in the valley already, but not nearly equal to the number that had escaped . There would likely be a base along the way as well .

That would be the place of the last battle with the orcs .

I followed after Daniela, my arms full with the magic lanterns . If we were going to bury this place anyway, then it would be a waste to leave them here . That was what I thought as I picked up each one as we walked . Asagi Kamiyas.h.i.+ro was a man who was haunted by the ghost of un-wastefulness .

Finally, I picked up the last one and we came out of the hole . I put them down in the bushes nearby . I would come back with the hollow bag before we left this place… I mean, it would be no trouble with Legs of the Forest Wolf . I was a fast runner .

“Asagi, you are brilliant . ”

“What’s that? You’re making me blush . ”

“Do not worry, it was sarcasm . ”

“…”

Alright, now Daniela would bury the hole and we could return to the settlement . Virgil would be there, so we would have to explain the situation to him and search for the tunnel . I could only hope that they hadn’t found it already . I wanted to retrieve Arthur’s sword if I could .

I asked Master Daniela:.

 .

“So . What do you think we should do?”.

“Indeed…I am in agreement with you, Asagi . But if you think about this from the perspective of the Adventurers, the orcs building a country could mean war . Though, it would not be a problem if they really would live quietly in peace . ”.

 .

I’m not too surprised… No, that was totally expected . I was not from here, and to be completely honest, this development was something that I had read in a novel before, and I had hopes based off of that . This idea that monsters who were once hated by humans now trying to change the way that they lived . I wished that it was possible . However, it had clearly not been the case with the a.s.sault Kobold . That was immediate death

 .

“I think that it would be great if everyone could live peacefully . Asagi, thank you, but…”.

“No, I’m just too optimistic . Don’t worry about it, Arthur . ”.

 .

I should look at reality . This was another world . It was a world for humans . It was not a great place for monsters . That was reality

 .

“I think that you should focus on creating an environment where you can live without interacting with humans instead of creating a country . ”.

 .

Daniela said

 .

“I see… What about making buildings that can move?”.

 .

I was thinking about nomadic people . A lifestyle where you could raise your animals while moving from place to place . Constantly moving like that would ensure that you did not run out of food for your livestock… Well, you couldn’t plant crops or anything, but I doubted orcs cared much about that

 .

“Hmm . Raising livestock and not staying in the same place…I like that idea!”.

 .

Arthur nodded as he considered this possibility for the future of the orcs

 .

“Eating is very important for us . Orcs are very fond of meat . ”.

“All worldly troubles are nothing if you have meat . ”.

 .

Daniela said with a perceptive nod . She was probably thinking about the meat at the Anthill

 .

“The problem is if there are any orcs who would agree to such a thing that are still alive . ”.

“I do not believe that to be a problem . Did you see that there were two paths when you came here?”.

 .

There was . We had taken the stairs to the left, based on Daniela’s intuition . The right side had a flat path that led straight….

 .

“That was used to escape to a place far off from here . When making this settlement, I wanted there to be an escape route to the valley floor in case of an emergency . But then we encountered the hole moles . And so we had them dig the holes for us…”.

 .

Arthur said with a dark expression

 .

“Mordred’s movements became most strange… And so I commanded the hole moles without telling him . I wanted them to dig a separate pa.s.sage in case we needed to escape . I had only told a few trusted orcs who did not wish to fight . Surely they would have used it to escape once Mordred started his coup . ”.

 .

We had indeed seen several other footprints leading to this place . You had to follow the wall quite a bit to find them . The hidden door would have been hard to find otherwise . They must have taken their times after he was captured to escape during the night . And now there was no one in the settlement . In other words, those footprints were the last of the group

 .

“I met them when they pa.s.sed through here . I told them to leave without me as I would go later . And so I have been waiting here for the right chance . ”.

“…Wait a minute . So what was this cell made for?”.

 .

They only needed an escape route . There was no need to create this cell

 .

“I wanted to keep Mordred in here . I thought that he might have a change of heart after being confined for a while… It is rather ironic that it would be me who was left here . ”.

 .

He said with a self-deprecating smile and then sighed . I see…he wanted to see if he could start over . Arthur . He wasn’t going to kill someone who tried to rebel but give them another chance

 .

“Hmm…This is what we will do then . First, Arthur . You must escape . We Adventurers will deal with Mordred . ”.

“I suppose things will only grow complicated if I am there…I am sorry . ”.

“Do not be . You must run away and follow your people . And live freely . ”.

“Yeah . That would be for the best . A moving building… I’m sure you could think of something?”.

“Aye . In fact, I have a few ideas . I look forward to trying them . ”.

 .

Daniela watched as Arthur talked almost gleefully, and she laughed . To think that he was looking towards the future with such optimism . I don’t know if he was just being positive or if he was… Well, it was all up to us now

 .

“Still, perhaps it is all finished . ”.

“Yes… the path that leads to the valley floor . Mordred is likely hiding there . There is nowhere else to go . ”.

“Humans are capable . He will definitely be discovered and hunted down . Even without knowledge of what happened, orcs are orcs . ”.

 .

It was sad, but that was the reality . I wanted Arthur to live . Without being seen, choosing to live freely and peacefully with his people

 .

“Now, we should be going soon . Do you have any belongings, Arthur?”.

“My sword should be here . No…Mordred has likely taken it . I will probably never see it again . ”.

 .

Sword…Arthur’s sword, huh?.

 .

“So, does this sword have a name by any chance?”.

“Hm? Yes, it is the Excalibur . ”.

“The Excalibur…”.

 .

So, pretty much everything….

 .

“By the way, Arthur . Were you given that name by anyone in particular?”.

“No, I wasn’t . I named myself . When I decided that I would become a king, the name flashed in my brain . ”.

“Then what about Mordred? Is he an abnormally evolved being as well?”.

“He is not . He is just an orc . Well, perhaps he has evolved more than the ordinary orc… His name too had flashed in my brain, just when I learned that he was planning to betray me . ”.

 .

It was a rather vague explanation, and also quite annoying . But was that all there was to it…? There was some intelligence they had been bestowed with . Could it have been from my world?.

 .

“Can we leave now?”.

“Ah, forgive me . I have given up on the sword . I do not need it to be myself . Let us go . ”.

“If I am able to find the Excalibur, I will come and give it to you . If we meet again . ”.

“Hehe . Thank you, Asagi . But I have no hope of that happening . ”.

 .

You could have just a little at least!.

 .

We carefully ascended the wet staircase until we reached the branching path . Arthur would be free if he went to the right . He could escape from here without the humans seeing him

 .

“Daniela will cover the hole when we get out of here . ”.

“Aye, thank you . You have done much for me, Asagi . ”.

“Don’t worry about it . And be safe . ”.

“Aye . And you take care as well, Daniela . ”.

 .

We tightly shook hands . Orcs had very large hands…but he was gentle

Arthur slowly walked away . He turned around after a moment and waved . I waved back . Eventually, he was far enough that even the magic lamps were not enough to see him

 .

“…So, we have some things to do now . ”.

“Aye, Arthur is one thing, but orcs who take up arms against humans are our enemies . ”.

 .

We started to walk . In the opposite direction as Arthur . We would leave this hole and return to the settlement . There was a tunnel that led to the valley floor that we had to find . Mordred would be at the end of the other side . And we would kill him . There would be other orcs there who followed him . I had killed a number of orcs in the valley already, but not nearly equal to the number that had escaped . There would likely be a base along the way as well

That would be the place of the last battle with the orcs

 .

　□　　　□　　　□　　　□.

 .

I followed after Daniela, my arms full with the magic lanterns . If we were going to bury this place anyway, then it would be a waste to leave them here . That was what I thought as I picked up each one as we walked . Asagi Kamiyas.h.i.+ro was a man who was haunted by the ghost of un-wastefulness

Finally, I picked up the last one and we came out of the hole . I put them down in the bushes nearby . I would come back with the hollow bag before we left this place… I mean, it would be no trouble with Legs of the Forest Wolf . I was a fast runner

 .

“Asagi, you are brilliant . ”.

“What’s that? You’re making me blush . ”.

“Do not worry, it was sarcasm . ”.

“…”.

 .

Alright, now Daniela would bury the hole and we could return to the settlement . Virgil would be there, so we would have to explain the situation to him and search for the tunnel . I could only hope that they hadn’t found it already . I wanted to retrieve Arthur’s sword if I could