I Don't Want To Work! - Chapter 48
CHAPTER 48
“Kid?”
The subordinate who first discovered the child twisted his face.
“Damn, what rotten luck to come across a kid in a place like this, damn it!”
“It’s not a monster, is it?”
“But look at that.”
Another one nodded.
“It’s the knotting technique used by orcs.”
“It seems like it’s nearby.”
As if conceding, the subordinates just tried to turn away.
“Wait.”
The one who stopped them was a man.
The man’s bloodshot eyes were fixed on the crying child.
The subordinate whose shoulder he grabbed twisted his face.
“We’re not going to save her, are we?”
“Of course not.”
The man chuckled. Then he made a gesture across his throat.
It meant to kill.
“Do we need to bother with that? It’s going to die anyway.”
“We need to make sure.”
Before the subordinates could say more, the man spoke first.
“Didn’t I say earlier?”
The man smirked.
“That’s our real target.”
“That? But it doesn’t seem related to the orcs…”
“Hey, you idiots.”
Tutting, the man clicked his tongue as if commanding them to listen.
“Just doing what we’re told isn’t enough! We need to do more to get a big share for ourselves!”
“Wait, are you saying that noble we talked about earlier wants that kid dead?”
“Yes!”
The man said loudly, his voice lowering.
“Remember when our bounty was announced this time.”
They called themselves ‘Monster Hunters,’ but it wasn’t true.
They were a group of criminals who would do anything for money.
So they had been constantly pursued by soldiers.
This time, they messed with a big shot and ended up with a bounty on their heads.
With more money at stake than they had thought, even those around them became untrustworthy.
“Thanks to that, we’ve been through hell, haven’t we?”
“…”
“So, let’s take this opportunity to thoroughly clean up and get paid for all the trouble we’ve been through, huh?”
Chuckling, the man nodded at the crying child.
“Just kill that thing. If we kill it, we can live in luxury.”
“But… it seems well-dressed. What if it’s the lover of someone from a noble household?”
“Don’t worry!”
The man patted his subordinate’s shoulder.
“Our client is even higher up than that.”
Sighing, his lips parted to reveal yellowed teeth.
After a moment, the subordinates exchanged glances and then strengthened their grip on the weapons in their hands.
“Since it might try to escape, let’s just go and kill it all at once.”
Nodding, they approached the whimpering child stealthily.
But the child didn’t even know people were coming and continued to cry, covering their faces with their hands.
“Waaah! I’m scared!”
The men who silenced their footsteps slowly approached.
They were determined not to make any mistakes, knowing the tempting reward awaited them.
“Waaah!”
‘Huh?’
When they got close enough to the child’s face,
‘Huh?’
One of the subordinates noticed something strange.
Crying, making crying sounds, but…
The eyeballs visible between the fingers were staring directly at them without blinking.
‘Oh, smiling!’
A faint smile was visible at the corners of the mouth.
“That’s… unusual…!”
“Ah!”
“Aaah! What’s this?!”
Suddenly, the ground beneath them gave way. With screams, people tumbled into the ground.
“Uuuh…”
“Was it a trap?”
It couldn’t be.
If there had been an artificial trap, they wouldn’t have missed it.
“What on earth…”
A lively voice settled over the heads of the people who couldn’t gather their wits due to the shock of falling.
“We got you.”
As they looked up, the child who had been crying just moments ago was now smiling wickedly.
* * *
‘I knew this would happen.’
This place used to be a place for intermediate magic practice.
The reason it suddenly became a restricted area was simple.
‘There was once a trend of earth magic here at the tower.’
The ground was already weakened by various intermediate magics.
Many people came and scattered and destroyed piles of dirt, eventually causing the ground to collapse.
Even in seemingly intact areas, there were empty spaces like crevices.
One of them was right here.
‘The orcs seemed to sense danger and avoid it. I’m fine because I’m light.’
They weren’t like them!
“You, you… deliberately lured us here…!”
“Do you realize that now?”
I chuckled and untied the vines that were meant for safety.
“Yeah, I intentionally brought you guys here.”
Clang. The man who looked like a captain sharpened his teeth.
You might lose a tooth doing that.
“…Do you think we can’t get out of here?”
“You can’t?”
I smirked.
“The hole is deep, but not so deep that we can’t get out. And there are several people here, so we’ll get out soon.”
But you know.
“Do you think you’ll survive and get out?”
Greedy bastards.
“Chiiekk (Human.)”
“Chee-ukk. (The ones who chased us.)”
Orcs hiding behind me and other orcs approached.
Scores of orcs filled with indescribable anger slowly approached them bit by bit.
‘They must have calculated the odds.’
Victory would be theirs if they faced them head-on.
“Wait a minute!”
Before the orcs crawled into the hole, the man who looked like their leader shouted.
“Save us. If you do, I’ll tell you who did this! You, you’re curious too, aren’t you?”
“I’m not.”
“What?”
I grinned at the frozen man.
“I’m not curious. I already know.”
I twirled my hair and smirked.
“Marquis Floyd, right?”
“…!”
His expression said it all.
“Orcs.”
“Speak.”
“He’s the leader.”
I pointed to the man who had turned pale.
“Bring everything he has to me.”
Just to make sure, I had to check.
“Oh, and…”
I grinned.
“Bring the robe he’s wearing.”
The fabric looks clean enough, so it could be used as a substitute for bandages.
They nodded about a dozen orcs jumped out of the hole.
“Aaah!”
Screams echoed, and within minutes, everything fell silent.
“Krkk.”
An orc crawling out of the hole dropped something in front of me.
It was a bag soaked in blood.
“Chieek. Pursued.”
Perhaps overly excited, his words were choppy.
But I could still understand.
“Body, we’ll take care of it.”
In other words, since I was being pursued, they would handle the corpses and clean up afterward.
“No, I’ll do the cleanup.”
It was bothersome, but it had to be done by me.
“You take the robe and go back to the cave first.”
“…Alone? Not good for you. Chieek, pursued.”
“Then can I borrow that guy?”
I pointed at one of the orcs.
He was the one who had brought me a pile of herbs earlier.
“Who, me?”
But the orc didn’t immediately notice the one I was pointing at.
After tilting his head and squinting his eyes a few times, he finally got it.
Then, still caught up in excitement, he loudly shouted at the warrior orcs still excitedly shouting.
“Chieek, pursued!!”
“Chieek!!”
Thump, thump!
The excited orcs echoed their shouts and stomped their feet.
Then they followed the orc back to the cave.
The surroundings grew quiet.
I kicked the bag in front of me.
As the bag opened, its contents spilled out.
Useless things, miscellaneous items, unnecessary stuff, garbage…
‘Oh, there’s something decent here.’
What rolled out from the bottom of the bag was a gold button.
It was stained with blood, but it still sparkled.
‘It looks like it’s taken care of every day.’
Moreover, the pattern engraved on it was very intricate.
It wasn’t the kind of button they would have.
“Chieek.”
As I put the button in my pocket, the orc left alone muttered.
“Chieek, Chieek.”
Sighing heavily, I turned to look at the orc.
“Shall we stop pretending now?”
“Chieek?”
“Just because you make ‘Chieek’ sounds doesn’t mean you’re speaking Orcish.”
It was strange from the beginning.
A vague impression as if shrouded in mist.
Despite speaking in the human language from the start, he understood and even brought herbs he hadn’t seen before, all neatly prepared.
‘Not knowing is foolish.’
It was an illusion spell.
“How about showing your true form now?”
It was a very powerful illusion spell.
“Lionel.”
As the name flowed from my lips, the scenery around me shook violently.
The image of the orc gradually dispersed like mist.
Revealed within it was a handsome young man.
Athletic physique, bright golden hair, a teardrop on the left, a long straight nose, and lips that formed a straight line.
And soon, blue eyes appeared between the long eyelashes.
As I looked at myself reflected in those blue eyes, I smiled brightly.
“Master.”
The bright eyes were filled with a bright smile.
“The unenlightened disciple sees the master after a long time.”
My young disciple smiled beautifully.