Hornless ogres excel as combatants thanks to their massive frames. While their colonies often revolve around hunting as a livelihood, they switch roles entirely when interacting with other races, leveraging their strength as construction laborers.
Dwarves, similarly relying on power, specialize in smithing and intricate craftsmanship; urban occupational segregation has settled into blacksmiths for dwarves and builders for ogres. Farming, fishing, and herding remain the domain of humans and elves.
While their aptitude as laborers is high, construction technology cannot be advanced without collective accumulation and cooperation.
Consequently, it’s standard practice to have several building unions for ogres in each city.
Given that these are inherently warlike races, gathering such a large number together gives their organization a muscular character; to put it bluntly, there’s a mafia-like element to them.
Ideally, an organization that channels this overflowing energy effectively through work, events, and ideology is one thing, but depending on the charisma of their leaders and operational conditions, they can sometimes negatively impact local governance. This is a tricky aspect of the Celestan Trading Nation’s principle of “tolerance for races, rigidity for profits,” making them difficult to control as a blanket rule.
Fortunately, in the oasis city of Tark, well-controlled organizations are available.
In particular, there are two particularly powerful building unions:
“Trident,” led by united Tri-corne ogres, and
“Tower Emblem,” composed mostly of mono-corne ogres.
Both dabble quite comfortably in finance, brewing, and retail, holding positions among the top ten in power within Tark’s Chamber of Commerce.
Given that their headquarters are mirror-image across Central Avenue, along with competing in various businesses in a cat-and-mouse dynamic, the two are often brawling at street corners, with low-level members fighting each other. In a sense, they’ve become a Tarkian specialty.
It was well-known among the citizens of Tark that the head of “Trident” was a woman in her prime.
“Shouldn’t we send a young scout out to find him?”
“You don’t know Sieg Becker, do you?”
The subordinate ogre nodded solemnly at his female boss.
“I’m no expert on the soldiers’ world. I’ve heard rumors that things are turning into hero ballads or something,” he said.
The female head of house shook her head with a relaxed demeanor and snapped a lightweight sunshade cloak over herself.
“He’s too swift, too whimsical, too cunning and deceitful. Sending people to search will only let him escape and waste more time. It’s better if I go alone.”
“However, the young recruits under Tower Emblem are lax in their discipline. If you found that ‘little boss’ walking alone on a back alley, then…”
“Enough. I’ve waited ten years… Don’t follow me. That man is sharp.”
Rose Alderia, the female head of Triden, dismissed her worried subordinate with a wave and strode out of the mansion briskly.
Her disposition—unwilling to listen once she speaks, unstoppable once an idea takes root—is excellent for managing rowdy ogre women, though it comes with its own fair share of peril.
The junior head gripped his temples and prayed that nothing bad would happen.
“However… swift, whimsical, cunning, and deceitful… It sounds like he’s just some small fry,” he muttered to himself.
“Now then. That many people should be interesting.” Sieg stood before a growing cluster of one-horned ogres that had gathered around him without warning. Perhaps there were about twenty of them. From their uniformly shabby work clothes and occasional gold hammers hanging from their waists, they appeared to be young laborers from the construction union. While it’s not uncommon for construction unions to act as lenders and collect debts in spare time, having two or three is manageable; but twenty people make it troublesome. Above all, being outnumbered where there are others to defend is hardly a wise strategy.
“Alright, alright, customers.”
Ariel tugged on Sieg’s sleeve, her face tense, whispering urgently.
“They won’t take your life. You’re just their livelihood source. It’ll be fine… but the seats will be filled up.”
“Hah, they certainly look like they’ve been seated. Guess blowing them away suddenly was a mistake?”
“So hurry and run. I don’t know where you came from, but if you’re alone, you can escape. And get out of the southern region as soon as possible.”
Sieg laughed.
“I’m not ready to leave until you’re willing to stick with me.”
“Once the heat dies down, come back to the shop. I’ll do any hobby you fancy for 2 hours and 40 coins.”
“Tch, damn professional ethics.”
Having cheered up, Sieg pressed on.
“Forget the 2 hours for 40 coins; I want joint management of all my assets.”
”…………”
Ariel sighed in exasperation.
“You’re old enough that a single encounter with an exotic foreigner leaves you flustered? Don’t you think that’s kinda pathetic?”
“Just a little bit. But hey, I’m still a Captain of a Hundred and making quite the decent living.”
“I can’t believe people choose such tacky inns right after noon to check in. There’s no way what they’re saying holds water.”
“Well, nothing more than a minor streak of bad luck. But hey, meeting a good girl like you makes it feel like I hit the jackpot too.”
“I don’t get it.”
Sighing deeply, Ariel pushed Sieg back into the shadowy recesses of the alleyway.
As if anticipating her movement, Sieg gave her ear a quick peck.
“Hyaan!?”
“I used to be under the command of a dark elf once… I figure I know my way around an elven blush by now. You’re blushing right about now, aren’t you?”
“T-that’s enough! Humans, stop trying to get ahead of yourselves!”
Caught red-handed, Ariel scowled with clear resentment.
She actually had confidence in her ability to read a woman’s face.
Sieg gently embraced her, then let go and pulled her into his side carry.
“N-what the hell are you doing!?”
“Given my line of work, we burn twice as hot together than alone.”
“What kind of line of work is that!?”
“Rescuing captive princesses.”
”…Sieg Beck… w-wait, are you saying… YOU’RE…!”
“That’s right. I’m the Sieg Beck they’re talking about.”
With a sudden leap, Sieg was airborne.
Carrying a single woman wasn’t a problem, nor was scaling a one-story roof—he could clear it with ease.
Of course, he couldn’t just vanish into thin air even if he sprinted at full speed, but he had plenty of confidence that an Ogre’s wide stride wouldn’t be able to catch him for long.
“Let’s go!!”
Sieg Beck.
His name appeared in several epic ballads sung by bards, becoming a popular hit multiple times over.
The third surge in popularity came from his grand adventure across the Rapal Islands.
The second was the dramatic rescue of a noble lady captured by thieves.
And the very first hit? A tragic tale of forbidden love with an enemy spy.
Dejected and drunk in Kuika’s tavern, Sieg force-fed himself alcohol he’d never been able to handle before spilling out his terrible heartbreak story—so bad that a bard standing nearby turned it straight into poetry.
As a result, Celesta became famous as a legendary spy.
Well, even if they sing narrative epics about him, it doesn’t mean he’ll get his face plastered all over the place anyway. Plus, since he always used aliases back then, it wasn’t really a big deal.
That bard still occasionally hears about Sieg’s exploits in Kuika and writes new ballads, but for the sake of dramatic tension, they often mix in some tall tales along the way.
Ah yes—the noble lady captured by thieves? Nope, that was actually the eldest daughter of an Ogre clan leader.
The farewell scene wasn’t like what’s sung in the ballad either: there were no lingering kisses beneath a tree or vanishing away like a daydream.
Since she turned out cuter than expected, after leaving things “properly” he ended up making a move just to see her face light up with that delightfully awkward expression of her first love—and boy did it bring back some painful memories. He ended up stripping her halfway down before hurling his loincloth at her face and vanishing into the clouds, which was honestly the most disgraceful goodbye imaginable.
He thinks best not to tell Ariel any of that part.
“Wait! Damn you!!!—!!” Ogres chase after Sieg as he runs across the rooftops, while others sprint frantically through the streets below in pursuit.
But running around was exactly Sieg’s cup of tea.
“I’m gonna find you—AAAAAHHH!!!”
The ogre got caught dead center in a simple pit trap with just a single thin plank covering the drain grate.
“Keeping popping up on the roofs one after another… I can’t take it anymore, dammit!?”
The ogre hopped onto a house roof that was utterly unprepared for an ogre’s weight and got its lower half stuck fast.
Blindly looking only upward, the ogre stumbled over a rope stretched taut between palm fronds and fell flat on its face, only to get kicked squarely in the backside by a beehive and suffer a rough time.
In short order, the number of pursuers dwindled.
”…Wow, I can’t believe you managed to lure only ogres into pranks like that.”
“Well, it’d be easy if I had an instant-death trap at my disposal, but even though they’re just lowlifes, setting something like that off on civilians is kinda…”
”…”Instant-death trap?”
“Gunpowder, blades, vital points, poisons… If I get them distracted by any of those and then drop a bomb on ‘em, it’s super efficient.”
“T-they do scary stuff, huh.”
“Sometimes you gotta carry out missions like that.”
Suddenly changing direction to flee, Sieg finally let the last few remaining ogres slip away completely.
Then, in an inconspicuous back alley, he gently set Ariel down and fixed her with a serious gaze before pouring his heart out.
“Anyway… I want to go out with you. Look, uh, I’m kinda mistrustful of people these days. But earlier you kinda saved me. I probably think pretty simple-mindedly about things like this… but damn, I suddenly really wanted to spend more time with you.”
Of course, that wasn’t all. There was also the fact that she possessed a strong will in her eyes—something reminiscent of Diane, whom Sieg had once regarded as his goddess of the heart.
There was also the simple, materialistic issue of how damn good she felt to hug.
But ultimately, for someone like Sieg who’d been wallowing in self-loathing right on the edge of it all, her smile and the way she lived her life were absolutely worth falling madly in love with at first sight.
“Lies. …There’s no human being out there who can fall in love that easily. You’re not just saying this to get something for free, are you?”
But Ariel was also mistrustful of people.
More specifically… she was mistrustful of men.
She’d fallen for someone, gotten cheated on by them, and ended up working as a prostitute as a result.
So when some guy like this—who happened to be an idiotic, easygoing client who suddenly started confessing his love while visiting her—came on to her, she couldn’t possibly have been genuinely moved or anything.
“Of course I want it for free.”
“Sure you do.”
“I wanna go on a date with you for free. I wanna live in my house at Kueika’s place for free. And if possible… I wanna make your baby, too.”
”…Aaaahh!”
However, Ariel found herself trembling in fear under Sieg’s relentless assault.
At their core, dark elves weren’t built to handle loneliness. And Ariel was ultimately just a naive good-hearted girl who’d fallen hard for a scumbag man and ended up owing him money.
“I wanna get kissed by you for free! I wanna have my feet rested on your lap for free! I wanna be topless in an apron with you for free! I wanna bathe together naked and all lovey-dovey for free, damn it! You think that’s bad?! Even if I was gonna turn into an old geezer just like this, I still wanted to get super clingy with a girl! I wanna be able to dote on each other and act all lovesick! And preferably… with a daughter like you, who fits my type perfectly!”
”…U-uuhh…”
Ariel’s ears drooped down limply as she looked up at Sieg.
It was an unkempt middle-aged human guy with a scruffy beard, desperately confessing his painfully embarrassing and raw inner thoughts.
But… damn it.
There was something so powerful about him that even knowing he was lying himself made her feel how despicable that deception truly was.
In truth, from her side of things as well, the kind, reliable, tall, and above all else—someone who would seek out everything within her—Sieg was exactly the type she liked.
For Ariel, who had been crushed by debt to the point where she’d had to cut ties with her family and for whom the man she loved had fled, leaving her alone and lonely… that warmth was incredibly alluring.
”…Uuuhhh…”
Caught in indecision—whether to resist this overwhelming pressure or simply give in—
Behind Siegfried’s arms, which were pressed against the walls on either side of his face, three horn-like protrusions resembled a crown. Ogres, he flinched for an instant, but their height was low. Even so, they were taller than Ariel—nearly 170 cm. For a woman, that made them quite short; among ogres, it was nothing to boast about.
“Finally found you!”
”……Wha—!?”
Siegfried, startled, looked up and saw an ogre standing beside him. The petite female ogre had tossed aside her cloak and dashed forward. Before Siegfried could scramble into a retreat, she leaped straight at his chest. If it were a knife, this was the killing distance. For a moment, they locked eyes.
“This fucking guy!!!”
Her uppercut launched Siegfried skyward.
”……Damn it… I thought she’d cracked my jaw.”
“Not breaking is more of a miracle there. Even if I punched that bratty kid right now, I wouldn’t lose to her in pure power.”
After floating briefly above the rooftops, Siegfried landed safely on an alleyway. There, Rose—the tricorn ogre woman—stared at him with narrowed eyes and cheeks flushed red. ”…S-so who are you…? Uh-AAAAAAAH!?”
Only then did Siegfried properly identify Rose. From his seated position, he began backing away as if crawling like an insect, zakazakaza. Extremely uncool.
“I see you still remember me, cowardly man.”
“O-o-you…? R-Rose!!!”
“Siegfried Becker. I will never forget that humiliation from back then.”
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m so sorry!”
Siegfried went down on his knees in full despair. Really uncool.
Ariel looked utterly stunned.
“W-was there…?”
”…Look, it’s awkward to ask, but don’t press me. Rose, let’s just say you’re free to beat me up with all your might, but please don’t touch her.”
“How generous of you. But after pretending to kiss me and throwing a waist sash around my neck while flirting seriously with this woman…” Her expression turned deeply unfavorable toward her.
“MAGI I’M SO SORRY MAGI I’M SO SORRY MAGI!”
Siegfried groveled on his knees, grinding the dirt beneath him.
“Shall we deal with you?”
Rose grabbed Siegfried by his chest cavity, pulled him up, and grinned brightly, her forehead veined with rage.
“That’s what predators look like when they’ve got their prey,” Siegfried thought.
“Oh— hey. Leon Davis, we found ya!”
”!!!”
Instantly, Siegfried shoved Rose’s hand away and leaned back alongside Ariel to protect himself. At the entrance of the alleyway stood a duo: a lion-beastman man and a human male, with another one-horned ogre trailing behind them. “Chasers?”
Siegfried muttered the word in a voice too large to ignore, and the human male tilted his head sideways with a smirk.
“Younglings under the Tower Emblem are causing trouble. We’re just here to assist as escorts… And who do we see but Special Lieutenant Siegfried Becker?”
”…I’ve seen that face before. Might Galen?”
“Do you remember my name, then?”
“If short-term memory’s an issue, it won’t suit your job.”
Siegfried clicked his tongue sharply.
The human man is Mait Gahren. The lion beastkin is Lion Rex. The one-horned one… Davis Dugout.
He dredges their names from the military intel piled up in his brain.
“Plus, there’s even the boss of Trident.”
Mait tilts his head sharply to the other side and flashes a grin. The long staff slung over his shoulder slips past his shoulder and falls, revealing a long blade without a guard beneath it.
“What kind of scum is this? Tower people… new riffraff…?”
Sieg halts Rose just as she raises her fist.
“Pull back as far as you can with Ariel.”
“Becker…?”
“They’re all Ace Knights.”
Carlos’s residence.
The lunch break where they advance, excluding Sieg. Andi is frantically stuffing his face with a mountain of leafy greens.
Diane watches him, troubled yet smiling softly. Aurora suddenly speaks up.
“Lady Diane… could you answer me just a bit?”
“Hm?”
“Just how powerful is Special Lieutenant Colonel Becker?”
“You’re an Ace Knight yourself. Have a casual spar and figure it out.”
“No. I just don’t have a clue about that person’s power.”
Aurora grips her hands, spreads them wide as she says,
“As a swordsman, he lacks offense; one wouldn’t call him gifted in raw attacking power. But when he enters defense or discards his blade… that’s when I sense the unfathomable depth of that man. The lack of wasted evasion, the efficiency of movement… aspects that far surpass even my older brother, who is a Master Knight. And sometimes, there’s something unsettling about where his killing intent seems to come from. Always thinking… if this man were to take any means whatsoever, not just with the sword…”
“Well, I suppose that guy’s truly unpredictable. But at least, defending him when he’s serious would be tough even for a Master Knight.”
“Is it that bad?”
“A few years ago, Overnight said: ‘You can stop dragon fire, but you can’t stop Sieg Becker.’”
”…Overnight?! Which one?”
“The Iron one. Lightning agreed too.”
”…”
“What the hell?”
Diane mutters, though there’s no need to discuss this at mealtime.
“He’s probably a guy who could do what he asked—a thousand different ways of killing. You might stop his fire by examining magic runes and materials, but there’s no way to seal up Becker’s kills. If he ends up on the enemy side, he could be even more terrifying than a Master Knight.”
“Now then…”
Sieg straightens his spine suddenly, wiping the smile from his mouth.
The scent of smoke, the aura of a battlefield begins to radiate around him.
Mait tilts his head sharply in reverse, chuckles darkly, and draws his sword.
“Special Lieutenant Colonel Becker. Since I was in the army, I’ve always wanted to try killing you.”
“So? I’d rather not. I don’t want dead bodies, if possible.”
The lion beastkin, Leon, opens his mouth.
“What a proud fool.”
“No, no, no. Because if we kill each other, we die!”
The one-horned man, Davis, mutters aloud too.
“One guy dying here and there wouldn’t hurt…”
“About one guy?”
Sieg gazes at the three of them with an expression full of pity.
“Because it’s you lot who’re gonna die?”
The three fell instantly silent.
“Well, what about it?”
“I don’t know.”
“Three-on-one. If we win, you’re the Master Knight, right…?”
Sieg drew his knife without a word. It was but a measly 15 centimeters long, an utterly pathetic blade wielded like a joke.
Then, he crouched low.
As the three Ace Knights tensed and lunged forward… in that very instant, Mitto at the front tipped over.
“What!?”
“Hold on!?”
Leon followed, stumbling as oil pooled beneath his feet.
Davis leaped past both of them, but a needle drove straight into the bridge of his nose.
”!”
Davis slammed belly-first to the ground and went motionless.
“If poison and oil count as valid moves in battle, then I’d definitely be a Master Knight too.”
With crisp snap-hiss sounds, he drove needles into each fallen Ace Knight.
“H-how… un-sportsmanlike…”
“Give me even a fleeting moment’s opening and I could kill you seven times over.”
He spoke in a chilling tone, then snatched Mitto’s sword from his hand and smashed it flat on the ground.
“And besides, it’s just who I am—I can’t let go until I’ve secured an advantage for myself first… it’s something I learned from life.”
Truly, all in an instant.
Before Ariel and Rose could comprehend what had transpired, he’d already dispatched all three Ace Knights.
”…Just like anesthesia. I value the lives of my people above all.”
With a fluttering hand gesture, Sieg recovered his wheezing laughter, and rose and Ariel both smiled with palpable relief.
”…Well, it’s just Siegfried Becker you’re dealing with. I wasn’t too worried in the first place.”
“Mr. Siegfried…”
Changing venues, Sieg turned back toward the two of them once more.
Then, Rose suddenly pressed a wrapped bundle into Sieg’s hands.
“I made myself wait for this opportunity for quite some time… it’s a gift.”
”…What?”
“Go on and open it. Let me be clear beforehand—it isn’t a favor nor an obligation.”
“H-uh?”
As soon as Sieg unwrapped it, a jewel knife lay within.
“These past years, I’ve been desperate to possess a treasure that matches yours, and after much trouble, I finally managed to obtain one. You simply cannot carry on without it.”
”…A-aah…”
Sieg’s eyes welled up, tears welling forth.
“Thank you, Roseeeee—!!! Though I don’t quite understand why, but I love you too, dammit! -!!!!”
“S-such is life. Then that’s fine.”
He sniffled through his tears, rubbed the jewel knife affectionately against his scruffy cheek, and then suddenly resolved to something.
Handing it over directly to Ariel without hesitation.
”…Huh?”
“That’ll fetch a huge price if you sell it… You’re in debt, right? Just use this to clear your head—then, uh, you could go out with me…”
”……”
“Sieg Becker…”
Rose shook her head frantically.
Ariel hesitated, uncertain whether to take it or not… and eventually, she accepted it.
Sieg wept bloody tears inside his heart. It was fine. I’ll get a girl like this one too, he thought.
”…Yes. I understand.”
Ariel’s cheeks flushed suddenly.
“I-I’m useless, but please take care of me…!”
(…Wait.) Something felt like it had been skipped.
Then Rose erupted.
”…Did you not realize that you’re proposing to someone else with a gift meant as a proposal from another person?! You absolute trash—!!”
”…A-Ah, ah??!”
In this colony, the unconditional transfer of blades carries a special meaning.
(To be continued)