Due to their massive physiques, Ogres excel as combatants. While their colonies tend to base their lifestyles on hunting, they undergo a complete transformation when interacting with other races, utilizing their strength as construction workers. Dwarves, who also possess great power as a defining trait, excel in iron forging and craftsmanship; thus, the division of labor in towns typically sees Dwarves handling smithing and Ogres handling architecture. Agriculture, fishing, and livestock are the domains of Humans and Elves. However, no matter how high one’s aptitude for labor may be, architectural technology cannot be advanced without the accumulation of knowledge and the cooperation of a collective. Consequently, it is common for each city to host several Ogre construction unions. Given that Ogres are inherently a bellicose race, these organizations possess a decidedly “muscular” character—to put it bluntly, they have a mafia-like quality. An organization that can effectively channel its overflowing energy through work, events, and shared philosophies is one thing; however, depending on the charisma of the leaders or the state of management, they can sometimes have a negative impact on local governance. This is one of the difficult aspects of the Celestia Merchant Nation—a nation that is “tolerant of races, but strict with profit”—and it is an element that is difficult to control uniformly. Fortunately, the oasis town of Talc is home to organizations with a reasonable level of control. There are two particularly powerful construction unions: The “Trident,” formed by a union of three-horned Tricorne Ogres. The “Tower Emblem,” composed mostly of single-horned Monocorne Ogres. Both have significant interests in finance, brewing, and retail, possessing enough influence to rank within the top ten of the many industries represented by the Talc Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Furthermore, because their headquarters are positioned symmetrically across the main street, and because they compete in several businesses in a constant back-and-forth struggle, the two groups have become a sort of local attraction in Talc, characterized by their subordinates frequently brawling on street corners. It was well known among the citizens of Talc that the leader of the “Trident” side was a woman of mature years.
“Mistress, wouldn’t it be better to have the youngsters search for him?” “You clearly don’t know that Sieg Becker.” The Ogre second-in-command nodded toward the female leader. “I do not understand the world of soldiers. I have heard that his exploits are being turned into epic poems and such, but…” The female leader nodded grandly and threw a light sunshade cloak over her shoulders. “Godspeed, whimsical, underhanded, and cunning. If we search by numbers, he will only evade us, wasting even more time. It is better if I search alone.” “But the youngsters of the Tower Emblem are undisciplined. If they happen to find you wandering an alleyway alone, then…” “I know. I have waited ten years. …Do not follow me. That man is sharp.” Rose Alderia, the leader of the Trident, brushed off her worried subordinate and strode out of the manor. Her temperament—unyielding once she had made up her mind and unstoppable once she set out—was an excellent quality for a woman leading a group of rowdy Ogres, but it also made her twice as reckless. The second-in-command clasped his head, praying to the heavens that nothing would happen. “Still… godspeed, whimsical, underhanded, and cunning… honestly, that sounds like nothing more than a small-fry.”
“Well, well. That is quite a crowd, even for me.” Before Sieg, a herd of single-horned Ogres was steadily increasing, though it was unclear how he had summoned them. There were perhaps just under twenty of them. Judging by their uniform, crude work clothes and the occasional hammer hanging from their waists, he surmised they were youngsters from a construction union. It was not particularly rare for construction unions to act as moneylenders, and it was not uncommon for them to handle debt collection as a side business. So, while it was within his expectations, dealing with twenty people was quite different from dealing with two or three. Above all, when one has someone to protect, being outnumbered was not a sound strategy. “That’s enough, customer.” Ariel tugged on Sieg’s sleeve, whispering with a strained expression. “They won’t take my life. You’re a source of income, so it’s fine… But they could bury you.” “Yeah, you have exactly that look in your eyes. Was blowing them away so suddenly a mistake?” “So just run, quickly. I don’t know where they came from, but you can surely escape if you’re alone. And get out of the southern district, fast.” Sieg laughed. “I’m not quite ready to set off until I can take you with me.” “If you come back to the shop once the heat has died down, I’ll indulge any of your whims for 40 coins per two hours.” “Ah. That’s some impressive professionalism.” Having made his decision, Sieg pressed on. “Forget 40 coins for two hours; I want you to manage my entire fortune for me.”
”…” Ariel wore a look of exasperation. “You’re old enough to know better, yet you fall for a demi-human merchant at first sight? Don’t you think that’s pathetic?” “Just a little. But for what it’s worth, I’m a Centurion, so I make decent money.” “I can’t trust the words of someone who chooses to stay in a cheap inn like that first thing in the morning.” “It was just a stroke of bad luck. But, well, I suppose I should call it good luck, since I got to meet a good girl like you.” “You’s making no sense.” Ariel let out a sigh and tried to push Sieg deeper into the back alley. Sieg reached out and gave her ear a little poke. “Hyah!?” “I used to have Dark Elf subordinates, you see… I consider myself an expert in reading ear expressions. You just felt a little flutter of excitement, didn’t you?” “S-shut up! Don’t get cocky just because you’re human!” Hit right where it hurt, Ariel glared at him resentfully. He had a fair amount of confidence when it came to reading a woman’s expression. Sieg gave Ariel a light embrace, then let go only to scoop her up into a bridal carry. “W-what do you think you’re doing!?” “In my line of work, things are more exciting with two people than running alone.” “What kind of line of work is that!?” “Rescuing captive princesses.” ”…Sieg… Becker… Wait, could it be you!?” “The one and only Sieg Becker.” Sieg leaped. Carrying a single woman was easy; scaling the roof of a single-story building was a breeze. While he couldn’t exactly vanish into thin air even at full sprint, he was confident he could shake off a pursuit by something with the long strides of an ogre. “Here we go!!”
Sieg Becker. His name had appeared several times in the heroic ballads of traveling bards. The third time he became a trend was during his great adventure in the Lapal Islands. The second time was the tale of his rescue of a noble princess captured by bandits. And the very first time was the tragic tale of his star-crossed love with an enemy spy. While moping in the Kuika Tavern, he had poured his heart out about a terrible heartbreak—forcing himself to swallow booze he couldn’t even handle yet—and a bard present at the time had turned it into poetry. Thanks to that, he had become the most famous spy in Celesta. Well, being the subject of an epic poem didn’t exactly out his face, and since he always used an alias, it wasn’t a huge problem. That same bard continued to occasionally hear of Sieg’s exploits in Kuika and turn them into verse, though he occasionally wove in lies for the sake of drama and flair. Ah, the one captured by bandits wasn’t a noble princess, but the daughter of an ogre chieftain. And their parting wasn’t quite like the poem described—vanishing like a daydream after leaving a kiss in the shade of a tree. Since she was cuter than expected, he had tried to make a move during a parting that was meant to be permanent; she had looked at him with such strangely happy eyes that it stirred up his unpleasant memories of his first love, resulting in the absolute worst kind of breakup: he had half-undressed her, thrown his waistcloth over her face, and fled into the clouds. I think I’ll keep that part to myself from Ariel.
“Wait! Get back here, you bastard—!!” The ogres were racing through the streets, chasing after Sieg as he sprinted across the rooftops.
However, running around was exactly what Sieg had intended.
“I found yo—Waaah!!”
An ogre fell straight into a simple pitfall trap—a single thin plank stretched over a drainage ditch.
“Always scurrying around on the rooftops… I’ve had enough, guh—!?”
An ogre leapt onto a rooftop that was never meant to support its weight, and its lower half promptly got stuck.
Because it was looking only upward, the ogre tripped over a rope stretched taut between two palm trees, only to be met with the sting of a kicked beehive.
Before long, the number of pursuers had dwindled.
”…I can’t believe you managed to trip that many ogres with just that much mischief.”
“Well, it would be easy if I could use instant-death traps. But even for a thug, setting those on civilians is a bit much.”
”…Instant-death traps?”
“Gunpowder, blades, vital points, poison—if you can get them distracted by something like that, it’s incredibly efficient to just stab them while they’re preoccupied.”
“That’s… terrifying.”
“Sometimes, you’re on missions that require it.”
With a sudden shift in direction, Sieg successfully shook off the last few remaining ogres. Then, in an inconspicuous back alley, he gently set Ariel down, looked into her eyes, and made his full confession.
“Anyway, setting that aside… I want you to go out with me. It’s just… I struggle with trusting people. But you saved me a little bit just now. I know I probably sound simple, but… I found myself wanting to be with you more.”
Of course, that wasn’t the only reason. There was also the fact that she was a dark elf with a strength of will in her eyes that reminded him of Diane, the woman he had regarded as the goddess of his heart. And then there was the simple, purely physical matter that she was wonderful to hold.
But more than anything, for Sieg, who had been sinking into an abyss of self-loathing, the smile and the way of life she had shown him were enough to make him fall in love at first sight.
“Liar. …No one can fall for someone that easily. Don’t you just want me for nothing?”
But Ariel, too, struggled with trusting people. Or rather, trusting men. She had fallen in love with someone, been deceived, and ended up working as a prostitute. There was no way she could be moved to pure admiration by a man who made such a cliché confession—a man who had come to her as a mere customer.
“Of course I want you for nothing.”
“I knew it.”
“I want you to go on dates with me for free, I want you to live in my house in Quica, and if possible, I want you to bear my children.”
”…Ugh.”
However, she falpered under Sieg’s relentless onslaught. Fundamentally, dark elves do not fare well with loneliness. And in the end, Ariel was a good-natured girl who had easily fallen for a bad man and ended up in debt.
“I want to kiss you for free, I want you to let me use your lap for free, I want you to wear nothing but an apron for free, I want us to bathe together and flirt for free—damn it, is that so wrong?! Rather than growing old alone, I want to be all over a girl! I want to be lovey-dovey and cling to each other! And if possible, with a girl exactly my type like you!”
”…Ugh… hnn…”
Ariel’s ears drooped as she looked up at Sieg.
A scruffy human man in his late thirties, desperately confessing his incredibly uncool and nakedly honest inner thoughts. Yet, there was an intensity to him. It was so powerful that it made her feel cowardly for even considering lying to him.
In truth, even from Ariel’s perspective, Sieg was her type: strong, dependable, tall, and above all, someone who wanted everything about her. For Ariel, who had been tormented by debt, forced to sever ties with her family, and left all alone after the man she loved ran away, that warmth was incredibly alluring.
“Ugh… hnn…”
As she wavered, torn between resisting that pressure and surrendering to it…
Beyond Siegfried’s arms, which were pressed against the walls on either side of his face, he saw three horns like a crown.
An ogre… He flinched for a moment, but the figure was short. Short, but still taller than Ariel. Even though it stood nearly 170 cm, it was quite small, even for a female ogre.
“I’ve finally found you.”
”…Whoa!?”
Startled, Siegfried looked up to see the ogre that had appeared beside him.
The small female ogre tossed aside her cloak and charged. Before Siegfried could even shift into a defensive posture, she had lunged straight into his chest.
At knife range, it was a lethal distance.
In that instant, their eyes met.
“You… YOU ABSOLUTE SCUMMMMMM!!!”
Siegfried went airborne from the force of her uppercut.
”…Ow… I thought my jaw had shattered.”
“It’s a miracle it didn’t. Even though my punching power is superior to most youngsters around here.”
Rose, the tricorn ogre woman, stared down at Siegfried with eyes that looked—well, almost—disdainful, though her face was slightly flushed. Siegfried had landed safely in the alleyway after briefly hovering completely above the rooftops.
”…So, who are you… Whoa, AAAAAAH!?”
Having finally taken a proper look at Rose, Siegfried, still stuck on his backside, began to scuttle backward like an insect. It was incredibly uncool.
“It seems you do remember me, you coward.”
”…Y-you… Rose…!!”
“Siegfried Becker. I will never forget the humiliation of that day.”
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry!”
He went into a full kowtow. Truly pathetic.
Ariel stood there, stunned.
“Wh… What is happening…?”
”…Look, it’s hard to explain, so please don’t ask. More importantly, Rose, you can beat the hell out of me all you want, but please don’t lay a finger on her.”
“That is a noble sentiment. However, considering you pretended to kiss me only to throw a waist-wrap throw at me, while simultaneously trying to seriously woo this woman, my impression of you remains terrible.”
“I am seriously sorry, seriously sorry, seriously sorry!”
Siegfried continued to grind his forehead into the ground in apology.
“And how do you intend to make amends?”
Rose wore a truly lovely smile as she grabbed Siegfried by the collar, her veins bulging with rage.
A beast facing its prey looks exactly like this, Siegfried thought.
“Whoops. Leon, Davis, I found them.”
”!!”
In an instant, Siegfried shook off Rose’s hand and shielded Ariel behind his back.
At the entrance of the alleyway, a duo consisting of a lion beastman and a human man had appeared, followed by a single-horned ogre.
“Pursuers?”
As Siegfried muttered in a voice too low to be heard by others, the human man tilted his head and grinned.
“The youngsters of the Tower Emblem are making quite a stir. We bodyguards are just here to support them. …Well, look who it is. Special Centurion Siegfried Becker, I presume?”
”…I recognize you. Might Galen?”
“So, you do remember me.”
“I can’t do my job if I’m bad at remembering faces.”
Siegfried clicked his tongue in annoyance.
The human man was Might Galen. The lion beastman was Leon Rex. The monoceros was… Davis Dugout. I dragged their names from the military information accumulated within my mind.
“And what’s more, we’ve even got the leader of the Trident here.” With a sudden tilt of his head to the side, Might’s grin deepened. The long staff he carried shifted over his shoulder and slid down, revealing a guardless longsword.
“What are these guys? Has the Tower sent some new mercenaries…?” As Rose prepared to raise her fists, Sieg held her back with a hand. “Fall back as far as you can with Ariel.” “Becker…?” “Every single one of them is an Ace Knight.”
The Carlos Estate. Lunch continued without Sieg. Andy was painfully munching through a large amount of green vegetables. Aurora, watching Diane gaze at him with a troubled yet fond expression, spoke up. “Lady Diane… May I ask you something?” “Hmm?” “Special Centurion Becker… just how much strength does he truly possess?” “You’re an Ace Knight yourself. Just spar with him and get the gist of it.” “No. I cannot truly grasp his level of skill.” Aurora spoke while clasping and releasing her hands. “As a swordsman, his offensive repertoire is not vast, and I cannot say he excels in raw attacking power. However, when he goes on the defensive, or when he lets go of his sword… that is when I feel his unfathomable depth. His lack of wasted movement and his efficiency of motion both possess elements that far surpass even my brother, who is a Master Knight. And sometimes, the inexplicable origin of his killing intent worries me. I often wonder… what would happen if this man were to use every means at his disposal, not limited to the sword…”
“Well, it’s true he’s hard to read. …But even for a Master Knight, it would be difficult to stop him when he’s serious.” “Is it that much?” “A few years ago, Overnight said, ‘You might be able to block the dragon’s flames, but you won’t be able to block Sieg Becker.’” ”…Overnight?! Which one?” “The Iron one. The Thunder one agreed as well.” ”…What do you mean by that?” Diane muttered, “This isn’t exactly the time for such talk, but…” “If you told him to find a thousand different ways to kill, he could probably do it. You might be able to block fire through magic, sigils, and specific materials, but there is no way to block a killing blow from Becker. …If he becomes your enemy, he might be more terrifying than a Master Knight.”
“Well then.” Sieg straightened his spine, his smile vanishing. He began to radiate the scorched, heavy atmosphere of a battlefield. Might tilted his head sharply to the side and took a combat stance with a smirking grin. “Special Centurion Becker. Ever since I was in the military, I’ve wanted to try killing you.” “Is that so? I’m not keen on it. I’d prefer to avoid unnecessary deaths.” Leon, the lion beastman, spoke up. “How arrogant.” “No, no, no. I mean, if we kill each other, someone’s gonna die.” Davis, the monoceros, muttered in a low voice. “It’s not like it matters if one person dies…” “Just one person?” Sieg looked at the three of them with eyes full of pity.
“Because you’re the ones who are going to die, aren’t you?”
The three of them fell silent instantly.
“I wonder.” “Who can say?” “Three against one. If you win, you’re a Master Knight… you know?”
Without a word, Sieg drew his knife. With a blade only fifteen centimeters long, it was a flimsy weapon that looked almost like a joke.
Then, he crouched low.
The three Ace Knights surged forward, filled with bloodlust—but in that very instant, Might, who was leading the charge, tripped.
“What!?” “Hey!?”
Leon followed, collapsing. Oil had pooled at his feet.
Davis leapt over the two of them, only for a needle to pierce him right in the face.
”!?”
Davis tumbled to the ground just like that and stopped moving.
“If poison and oil are allowed in a match, then I suppose I really am a Master Knight.”
Stab, stab. He drove needles into the fallen Ace Knights one after another.
“T-That’s… dirty…” “If you show an opening for even a second, I could kill you seven times over.”
He spoke in a cold voice, then snatched Might’s sword and snapped it in half.
“Besides, I’m the type who can’t rest until I’ve secured an advantage for myself. …It’s a life lesson.”
It truly happened in an instant. Before Ariel and Rose could even comprehend what had transpired, he had defeated all three Ace Knights.
”…It’s just anesthetic. I care about my citizens, after all.”
As Sieg waved them off, his silly grin returning, Rose and Ariel let out sighs of relief.
”…Honestly. Well, you are Sieg Becker, I suppose. I shouldn’t have expected anything else.” “Sieg…”
Moving to a different spot, Sieg faced the two of them once more. At that moment, Rose firmly pressed a cloth-wrapped bundle into Sieg’s hands.
“You’ve kept me waiting a long time for this opportunity. …It’s a present.” ”…What?” “Open it. …And let me tell you something upfront: this isn’t out of gratitude or obligation.” “O-Oh?”
When Sieg opened it, a Jewel Knife lay inside.
“Ever since then, I wanted a treasure that matched yours. I went to great lengths to obtain it. It wouldn’t be right if you didn’t have one too.” ”…I… I see…”
Sieg burst into tears.
“Thank you, Roseeeee!! I don’t really understand what’s happening, but I love you, dammit!!” “I… I see. I’m glad.”
After wailing and rubbing his stubbled cheek against the Jewel Knife, a sudden thought struck him. He handed it, just as it was, to Ariel.
”…Eh?”
“That… if you sell that, you’ll get a huge price for it. You’re in debt, aren’t you? If you use that to somehow fix things… then, um, if you’ll stay with me… right?”
”…”
“Sieg Becker…”
Rose shook her head vigorously. Ariel hesitated, wavering on whether or not to accept… but ultimately, he accepted. Sieg wept tears of blood in his heart. But it’s okay, he thought. I’m finally going to have a girlfriend.
”…Yes. I understand.”
A flush crept into Ariel’s cheeks. “I-I’m inexperienced, but… please, look after me…!”
(…Wait?)
He felt like he had skipped something. At that moment, Rose erupted.
“Don’t you realize you’re proposing to someone else using a gift meant for a proposal from another person, you absolute scum—!!”
”…Ah, auugh!?”
In this colony, the free transfer of a blade carries a special meaning.
(To be continued)