Ogres are exceptionally effective combatants due to their massive frames. Colony-based Ogre societies often build their livelihoods around hunting, but when interacting with other races, they pivot entirely to leveraging their strength as civil engineering laborers.
Likewise favoring raw power, Dwarves specialize in smelting and intricate craftsmanship. In the city’s occupational landscape, a clear division exists: Dwarves work as blacksmiths, while Ogres serve as builders. Agriculture, fishing, and livestock farming are domains reserved for Humans and Elves.
Now, while Ogres possess high aptitude for manual labor, construction technology cannot be refined without collective accumulation of knowledge and cooperation.
Consequently, it is standard practice for every city to host multiple civil engineering unions composed of Ogres.
Given that Ogres are inherently a belligerent race, these organizations possess a distinctly muscular character—putting it bluntly, they carry mafia-like tendencies.
If an organization can channel its members’ overflowing energy through work, events, and ideological pursuits, all well and good; however, depending on the leader’s charisma or operational management, such groups can negatively impact local self-governance. This presents a difficult challenge for Celesta, a mercantile state that is tolerant of racial diversity but strict about profit, making these factions hard to control universally.
Fortunately, the oasis town of Tarq boasts a lineup of organizations capable of maintaining reasonable order.
Two civil engineering unions hold particular sway here.
There is “Trident,” united by three-horned Tricorn Ogres.
And “Tower Emblem,” predominantly composed of single-horned Monocorn Ogres.
Both have made a fair dent into finance, brewing, and retail industries, granting them influence that ranks among the top ten in Tarq’s Chamber of Commerce, despite the crowded field of various trades.
With their headquarters located in mirror-symmetric positions across Central Avenue, and given that they compete in several ventures—constantly trading blows for the lead—the two factions have a habit of having their low-level members brawl on street corners daily. In a sense, these fights have become one of Tarq’s local landmarks.
It was well known among the citizens of Tark that the boss of “Trident” was a woman in her prime.
“Boss, wouldn’t it be better to have the younger guys look for him?”
“You don’t know who this Siegfried Becker is, do you?”
The acting boss, an Orca of considerable stature, nodded gravely at the female patriarch.
“The world of soldiers is beyond my comprehension. I’ve heard that various heroic epics are being sung about him, but…”
The female boss nodded with aristocratic grace and swept on a thin sun-protective cape.
“Swift, capricious, vicious, and cunning. Searching by numbers would only allow him to slip away, wasting even more time. It’s best if I look for him alone.”
“But the Tower Emblem youth are becoming undisciplined. If they see you wandering off alone in an alley, then…”
“Leave it be. I’ve waited ten years for this… Don’t follow me. That man is sharp.”
Rose Aldelia, the female boss of Trident, brushed aside her concerned acting boss and strode out of the mansion with unbridled coolness.
Her quality of being stubborn once she set her mind to something was a fine asset for keeping the rowdy Orca crew in line, despite her gender, but it also made her incredibly reckless.
The acting boss covered his head and prayed to heaven that nothing would come of this.
“But… swift, capricious, vicious and cunning… hearing that description makes him sound like nothing but a small fry.”
“Well, well. That’s quite a party they’re sending. I do enjoy the spectacle.”
Before Sieg lay a horde of one-horned orcs, swarming into existence at a rate that defied question. Roughly twenty, give or take.
Dressed uniformly in shabby workwear, with a few sporting sledgehammers hanging from their belts, they looked every bit like young thugs from the Construction Workers’ Union.
It wasn’t unusual for the union to act as loan sharks or to dabble in debt collection on the side, so this was within expectations. But while two or three might have been manageable, twenty was a hassle. And more importantly, fighting a losing battle against superior numbers while protecting someone else was hardly a wise move. “Leave it now, customer.”
Sieg, lost in such calculations, felt Ariel tug on his sleeve. Her face was tight with tension as she whispered.
“They won’t go after my life. I’m their source of income after all, so I’m safe… But you’re going to get buried.”
“Oh? They certainly have the look of men who dig holes. Did charging in like that just now backfire?”
“That’s why you need to run. I don’t know where they came from, but if it’s just one person, they can surely escape. And get out of the southern district quickly.” Sieg laughed.
“I’m not in the mood to start a journey until you’ve finished keeping me company.”
“Once things calm down, come back to the shop, and for two hours and forty coins, I’ll accompany you in whatever hobby you like.” “Ah. What an admirable professional spirit.”
Having let go of his anger, Sieg pressed his advantage relentlessly.
“Don’t just say two hours for forty coins; I want you to co-manage my entire assets.” ”…………” Ariel gave him a deadpan look.
“At your age, hitting on an inter-racial business woman with one line? Don’t you think that’s ugly?”
“Easy now. But I’m a hundred-man squad leader here, so I make a pretty decent wage.”
“I can’t take anyone who walks into such a rundown inn in the morning at their word.”
“It was a bit of bad luck, that’s all. But then again, maybe it’s lucky I met someone as nice as you.” “I don’t know what you mean.”
Ariel sighed and tried to push Sieg down the back alley.
Zeuk gently tapped Ariel’s ear. “Hyaaan!?”
“I used to have a Dark Elf subordinate. …I think I’m pretty good at reading ear expressions. You were just flustered, weren’t you?”
“D-don’t be so loud! And keep your ego in check, human!”
Struck by the truth, Ariel wore a resentful expression.
He was quite confident in his abilities when it came to reading women’s moods.
Zeuk lightly pulled Ariel into an embrace, then released him and switched to a horizontal hold. “W-what are you doing?!”
“As a matter of professional ethics, two make for a hotter scene than one.” “What kind of business is that!?” “Kidnapped Princess Rescue Services.”
”…Zeig, Becker… wait, could you be!?” “That very same Zeig Becker.” Zeig leaped.
Carrying a single woman was no issue, and navigating the roof of a single-story building was a piece of cake.
He couldn’t exactly vanish from sight while sprinting at full speed in front of people, but he was confident enough to shake off tracking efforts made with Ogre’s wide strides. “Let’s go!!” Zeig Becker.
Bardic hero epics about him had hit the popular charts a few times over.
His third wave of popularity stemmed from his grand adventure in the Rapal Archipelago.
The second was an epic rescue drama where he saved a noble princess captured by bandits.
And the first? A tragic romance with an enemy spy.
After being dumped, he had gone on a bender at Quica’s tavern—downing wine he wasn’t even old enough to drink—and let loose about the heartbreak. One of the bards present turned that tale into a poem.
Thanks to that, he ended up becoming Celesta’s most famous spy.
Sure, having an epic sung about him didn’t quite get his real name out there, and since he always used aliases, it wasn’t much of a problem, but…
That particular bard had occasionally picked up rumors of Zeig’s exploits in Quica afterward and woven them into verse, though for the sake of mood and dramatic flair, he liked to spice things up with a bit of exaggeration.
Ah, the one kidnapped by the bandits wasn’t a noble princess but the only daughter of an Ogre gang boss.
That parting was nothing like those poems describe—no lingering kiss in the shade of a tree, no vanishing into a daydream as if waking up.
She’d turned out cuter than expected, so at our somewhat permanent parting, I reached out to touch her. But seeing that oddly pleased look in her eyes stirred up all my bad memories from my first love. In the end, I left her half-undressed while throwing my loincloth at her face and vanished like smoke—the absolute lowest of lowways to say goodbye.
I figured I’d better keep that detail from Ariel. “Hold it, you asshole—!”
The Ogres chased Sieg across the rooftops, tearing through the streets below.
But all that running around was exactly what Sieg wanted. “Found y… uh-oh!?”
One Ogre fell right into a simple pitfall trap—just a thin plank laid over the drainage ditch.
“Always lurking on the rooftops… I’m done being pa- whoa?!”
Another Ogre jumped onto a house roof not built to support their weight, and his lower half went right through the slats.
One Ogre tripped over a rope strung taut between two palms because he was only looking up, while another got hit by a beehive that Sieg kicked at him. In no time at all, the number of pursuers had thinned out.
”…Whoa, I’d never catch just one Ogre with that much mischief in store.”
“Well, if we could use instant-kill traps, it’d be a breeze. But you can’t exactly spring those on the general public, even if they’re just street thugs.” ”…Instant-kill traps?”
「Explosives, blades, vital points, poison. It’s highly efficient to catch them off guard while they’re distracted by those sorts of things.” “T-that sounds scary.”
“But there are missions where you have no choice but to do just that.”
He suddenly changed his fleeing direction and completely shook off the few remaining orcs.
And then, in a quiet alleyway out of sight, he gently let Ariel down, looked into her eyes, and made his confession in earnest.
“Anyway… I want you to be my partner. Um, well, I have some trust issues with humans. But you just saved me a moment ago. I know it sounds simple-minded from where I stand, but… I just want to spend more time with you.”
Of course, that wasn’t the only reason. There was also the fact that she was a Dark Elf whose eyes held a strength of will reminiscent of Diene, the goddess he had once idolized in his heart.
There was also the simple, materialistic issue that she felt good to hold.
However, for Siegfried, who was on the verge of drowning in self-loathing, her smile and the way she lived were indeed worth falling in love with at first sight.
“Lies… No human can fall for someone that easily. You’re just after it on the house, aren’t you?”
But Ariel was also plagued by distrust of people. Or rather, it was a distrust of men specifically.
She had fallen in love with someone, been deceived, and ended up being sold into prostitution.
After all that, how could she possibly be sincerely moved by an abrupt confession from a man who showed up as a mere customer only to start talking about romance so casually? “Yeah, I’m just after it on the house.” “I knew it.”
“I’d like you to go on dates with me for free, move into my house in Queenica, and preferably have my kids too.” ”…Eh?”
But Ariel shrank under the sheer ferocity of Zieg’s relentless offensive.
Inherently, dark elves are not strong in solitude. And Ariel was, after all, just a gullible girl who had easily fallen for a bad boy and ended up drowning in debt.
“I want free kisses too! I want you to let me put your head on my lap for free! I want you to wear a bare apron for me for free! I want to bathe together and get all gooey for free! Dammit, what’s wrong with that?! I don’t want to just grow old alone either! I want to be super clingy with a girl! I want us to be totally in love and spoil each other! And preferably with a girl of my exact type—like you!” ”…N-no…”
Ariel let her ears droop limply and looked up at Zieg.
Here was a forty-something human man with scruffy stubble, looking incredibly pitiable as he desperately confessed his raw, honest feelings. Just… so much.
He possessed such a force that lying to him made her feel like she was being a cheater.
The truth was, Ariel had always been attracted to Zieg—strong, dependable, tall, and above all else, the only one who demanded everything of her.
For Ariel, who was crushed by debt, forced to cut ties with her family, and left alone after the man she liked ran away, that warmth was incredibly seductive. “Uu…”
She was torn between trying to resist his pressure or just giving in.
Past Zieg’s arms, which were pinned against the walls on either side of her face, she caught a glimpse of three horn-like spikes resembling a crown.
Ogre, she thought for a split second with a jolt, but he was short. Short, though taller than Ariel. Standing close to 170 cm, he was considered quite small-statured, even for a female Ogre. “I finally found you.” ”…Woah!?”
Zeig started and shot up, his eyes landing on the Ogre that had materialized beside him.
The petite female Ogre flung her cloak aside and launched a sprint. Before Zeig could even get into a defensive posture to flee, she was already diving straight at his chest. A knife would have found its killing ground there. For a split second, they locked eyes.
“This… this goddamn bastard of a mannnn!!!!”
With one Uppercut from her, Zeig was sent flying into the sky.
”…Ow ow… I thought my jaw cracked.”
“It’s actually a miracle it didn’t break under that kind of blow. For all that, don’t think I’d lose to some street kid in punching power these days.”
After hovering briefly over the rooftops, Zeig landed safely in an alleyway. Rose, a female Ogre with tricorn horns, regarded him with what looked like a sidelong glare… though her cheeks were slightly flushed as she stared.
”…So, who are you…? Wait—WHAT THE—!?”
Once Zeig properly registered Rose’s presence, he sank to his butt in the dirt and began backing away on all fours with a scurrying, insect-like scritch-scratch-scritch. It was quite the undignified sight.
“So you do remember me, you spineless man.”
”…Y-You… Rose…!!”
“Zeig Becker. I have not forgotten that humiliation from back then.”
“Sorry, sorry, I’m so sorry!”
She threw herself into a full-on dogeza. She really was looking pathetic. Ariel stood there, dazed. “W-what’s…?”
“It’s just… it’s hard to say, so please don’t ask. And look, Rose, go ahead and beat the crap out of me if you want, but just promise you won’t lay a finger on her.”
“Noble sentiments. But after faking a kiss with me just to throw a hip toss, only to find out you were actually trying to seriously pick up this woman? That does absolutely nothing for my image of you.”
“I’m serious, I’m so sorry, I’m really, really sorry.” Zieg rubbed his forehead against the ground in apology. “What am I going to do with you?”
Seizing Zieg by the collar and yanking him up, Rose’s face was a perfect smile as blue veins bulged on her forehead.
Zieg thought that must be what a beast looks like when it spots its prey.
“Oh, wait. Lyon, Davis, I’ve got them.” ”!!”
In an instant, Zieg shook off Rose’s hand and shielded Ariel from behind with his back.
At the entrance to the alley stood a pair: a lion-beastman and a human man. Behind them emerged a single-horned ogre. “The pursuers.”
Zieg muttered in a voice that was neither big nor small, and the human man tilted his head to the side with a click, grinning widely.
“The young masters from Tower Emblem have caused quite a ruckus. We are bodyguards on their support mission. …And look who it is. Special Agent Captain Zieg Becker.”
”…I’ve seen you before, haven’t I. Mait Gullen.” “Good that you remember me.”
“I’d be useless if I had a bad memory for faces.” Zieg flicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth in a sharp click.
The human man was Mait Gullen. The lion beastman was Lyon Lex. And the one-horned creature was… Davis Dogout.
He dredged their names up from the military intelligence stored in his memory.
“What’s more, that includes the head of the Trident.”
Crack. He tilted his neck sharply to the opposite side as Mait’s smile widened. The tip of the long pole he carried slipped over his shoulder and dropped from view, revealing a long sword with no guard nestled within.
“What are these guys? Those Tower types have been scouting out new Bachelors…”
Zieg raised a hand to stop Rose before she could clench her fists in a fighting stance.
“Fall back as far as you can with Ariel.” “Becker…?”
“They’re all Ace Knights.” At the Carlos mansion.
Lunch proceeded without Zieg. Andy was struggling through massive piles of leafy green vegetables, chewing them down with a grimace.
Deanne watched him with a face full of concern, though still smiling tenderly, when Aurora suddenly spoke up to her.
“Lady Dianne. …May I ask you something?” “Hmm?”
“Special Agent Captain Becker… just how powerful is he?”
“You’re an Ace Knight yourself. Just spar a few times and figure it out for yourselves.”
“No, that’s not it. I simply cannot fathom the extent of his strength.”
Aurora said this, her hands clasping and unclasping together as she spoke.
“As a swordsman, he doesn’t rely on many attack styles, and it’s hard to say he excels in raw offensive power. However, when he goes on the defensive or relinquishes his sword… that is when I feel the unfathomable nature of his ability. His evasive movements are devoid of waste, and his mobility efficiency far surpasses that of his brother, the Master Knight. And occasionally, I’m troubled by the inexplicable source of his killing intent. It always makes me wonder: if he were to abandon the sword and employ any means necessary…”
“Yeah, he’s certainly a puzzle. …But at least, stopping him in earnest is probably difficult even for a Master Knight.” “Really?”
“A few years ago, an Overnight said it: ‘You might be able to block a dragon’s fire, but you won’t be able to guard against Zek Becker.’”
“…An Overnight!? Which one… Iron or Thunder?”
“Iron. The Thunder side agreed as well.” “…What do you mean?”
Dianne muttered, This isn’t a subject for over dinner, but continued listening.
“If he were told to find a different way to kill a thousand people, he’s the kind of man who could probably pull it off. If it were just fire, we might be able to counter it by deliberating on magic, engravings, and materials, but there is no means to seal Becker’s lethality… He might be more terrifying as an enemy than even a Master Knight.” “Well now.”
Jiik straightened his back with a smooth motion and wiped the smile from his face.
The stench of burning, the aura of a battlefield, began to hang around him.
Might tilted his head sharply to one side, grinning ear to ear as he raised his sword into a stance.
“Becker, you special ops Centurion. Ever since I was in the army, I’ve wanted to see how you and I stack up in a kill contest.”
“Oh? I’d rather not. I try to avoid unnecessary casualties,” spoke Leon, the lion beastman. “How arrogant of you.”
“No, no, no. If we had a kill contest, one of us would die, wouldn’t we?”
Davis, with his single horn, chimed in on a mumble.
“Let at least one of us die… ‘At least one?’”
Jiik looked at the three of them with a pitiable gaze.
“The ones who die are you guys, right?” The three fell silent in an instant. “Who knows.” “No idea.”
“Three against one. If we win, that makes you a Master Knight… or not?”
In silence, Jiik drew his knife. A blade only fifteen centimeters long, a ridiculously small weapon. And then, he crouched low.
The three Ace Knights surged forward, radiating murderous intent… but in that same instant, Mait, who was in the lead, collapsed to the ground. “Wh—!?” “Heh—!?”
Leon followed suit, crashing down. Oil had been pooling beneath his feet.
Davis vaulted over the two of them. A needle drove itself into his face. ”!?”
Davis stumbled to the ground, thrashing about before finally going still.
“Poison and oil are fair game in a match, so yeah, I definitely count as a Master Knight.”
He drove needles into the fallen Ace Knights with a series of clicks. “C-ch… that’s low…”
“If you showed even a second of hesitation, I could’ve killed you seven times over.”
Speaking in a cold voice, he picked up Mait’s sword and snapped it in half.
“Also, I have to be the one to set the terms in my favor first. It just doesn’t sit right with me otherwise… Consider it life’s lesson.” Truly, in an instant.
Before Ariel and Rose could even process what had happened, the three Ace Knights were down.
”…It’s anesthetic, you know. I take my people seriously.”
Waving his hand dismissively as he reclaimed that goofy grin, Zieg gave a relieved, smiling look to both Rose and Ariel.
”…What a pain. Well, since it’s Siegfried Becker, I wasn’t worried.” “Siegfried-san…”
Changing locations, Siegfried turned back to face the two of them.
Just then, Rose shoved a cloth bundle right into Siegfried’s face.
“You’ve made me wait a long time for this chance. ……It’s a present.” ”…What?”
“Open it. ……Let me say this up front: this is neither thanks nor an obligation.” “H-huh?”
When Siegfried opened it, a jewel knife was inside.
“Ever since then, I’ve wanted to have a treasure matching yours, so I worked hard to get one too. It wouldn’t be right if you didn’t have it.” ”…Ah, th-thanks…” Siegfried burst into tears.
“Thank you, Rose—!! I don’t really understand why, but I love you, damn it all!!”
“Oh… well, that’s good to hear.”
Then, while sobbing, Siegfried rubbed his unshaven cheek against the jewel knife, then suddenly remembered something.
He just passed it straight to Ariel. ”…Huh?”
“That thing would sell for a lot of money… You have debts, don’t you? Sell it and take care of those first… After that, will you be my girlfriend… or something like that?” ”…………” “Siegfried Becker…”
Rose shook her head frantically.
Ariel hesitated, unsure whether she should take it, before eventually accepting it.
Zieg shed imaginary blood tears in his heart. But it was fine. He decided he would become a guy with a girlfriend too. ”……Yes. Understood.” Ariel blushed brightly.
“I’m unworthy, but please take care of me…!” (Wait a minute?) She felt like she had skipped a step. And then Rose erupted in fury.
”……Don’t you realize you’re proposing to someone else using the proposal gift from another person? You absolute scumbag—” “Oh! Oh my!?”
In this colony, the unconditional transfer of blades carries a special meaning. (To be continued)