The Sword Master’s Son-in-Law

– Orc Shaman

I watched Asia battle the Orcs.

She dodged their ambush with an effortless grace, immediately turning the pressure back on them.

Within that fleeting moment, other knights of the Order rallied to Asia’s side.

Thus unfolded a brief skirmish.

Three Orcs against twenty-one Knights.

Predictably, the Orcs were no match for the Knights.

The sheer disparity in numbers made the outcome inevitable.

Asia dispatched the last remaining Orc.

“Haa…”

Asia exhaled a deep sigh, the battle concluded.

“Well fought.”

Captain Letid stood beside Asia, offering his praise.

Asia acknowledged the words but walked straight toward me.

“How did you realize it?”

“Pardon?”

What was Asia trying to say to me?

“I mean!!!”

Asia’s voice rose with a touch of frustration.

But there was no way for me to know what was in her heart.

“What are you referring to?”

“…Never mind, if you don’t want to tell me.”

Asia scrunched up her face, turning her back to me.

But then, she approached again, standing next to me.

“…”

“Why are you next to me…?”

“Surveillance.”

Asia’s ear, as she said that.

The tip of that ear was flushed a soft red, it seemed Asia was getting angry.

*

Deep within the abandoned mine, a throng of green-skinned orcs had gathered.

And in the center of that orc horde.

A special presence, unlike the other orcs, adorned in robes a mage might wear.

The Orc Shaman.

‘It failed.’

The Orc Shaman tilted his head, puzzled.

Because something inexplicable had occurred.

Something that shouldn’t have failed, had failed.

And without inflicting any harm on the humans, at that.

‘The illusion should have worked.’

The illusion had, in fact, worked.

The humans had seen the orcs as injured humans.

But at the crucial moment, the illusion shattered.

‘But it doesn’t matter.’

Since the Orc Shaman didn’t directly witness it, he didn’t know the exact details.

He only had a general idea of the situation.

Even with this irregular turn of events, the Orc Shaman was confident.

The total number of his followers was thirty-two.

Though they had just lost three common orcs, twenty-nine remained.

‘The humans are merely twenty-two.’

The Orc Shaman judged that with his strength alone, they had a good chance of winning.

‘Attention, everyone!!!’

The Orc Shaman raised the wooden staff in his hand high.

‘All troops, advance!!!’

At the Orc Shaman’s command, the orc horde began to systematically march forward, step by step.

And on the staff of the Orc Shaman who issued the command, a faint blue light pulsed.

*

Orcs are not strong creatures.

I, too, have faced many orcs.

Even two Sword Users who are mere novice Sword Experts, or rather, so-called initiates of the sword, could handle them.

“Of course, that’s if they were ordinary orcs.

But…”

“It seems… a rather perilous situation is unfolding?”

A grind.

Asia gritted her teeth sharply at my warning.

“…I know.”

More orcs than the Silver Knights combined.

And furthermore…

‘An orc shaman!’

Even a commander leading the horde.

Who could call orcs weak with such a setup?

Orcs with a command structure, properly armed.

It was clear that even for the Knights, this battle would be a difficult one.

“Everyone, prepare for battle and take your positions!”

Retid, the Captain, called out calmly despite the sight of the orc horde.

There was still some distance between them and the orc horde, but the orcs advanced slowly, step by step, towards the Silver Knights.

The moment they were almost upon them.

The Silver Knights all drew their swords.

Asia drew her sword as well.

I looked at Asia, her face serious as she glared at the orc horde, and offered,

“I will fight as well.”

“It’s alright…! Don’t underestimate the Silver Knights.”

It wasn’t that I was underestimating them…

It was merely my goodwill, to end things without casualties.

In any case, I had been refused once, so I decided to stand back for now.

There wasn’t even time to insist on being allowed to help.

The horde of orcs.

They were now as close as you could say they were right under our noses.

” #@%@#%@”

The orc shaman raised his staff.

At the same time, a blue light swirled around the staff, spreading widely around it.

‘Mana…? What is it?’

Mana spread widely throughout this space.

And yet, I felt a strange sense of déjà vu.

‘Mana like this… Where have I felt it before?’

It didn’t take long to realize what the shaman had cast,

Thanks to the Silver Knights’ odd state.

‘So that’s what it was…!’

Just like when we encountered the first three orcs, the Knights were muttering, “Why is a wounded human… here?”

Asia next to me, likewise.

“An injured human…? Something’s off… Ugh!”

He was muttering, eyes unfocused.

These pathetic displays spurred me to shout once more.

“What in blazes are you all doing!?”

My cry snapped the Silver Knights back to their senses.

Asia, too, jolted awake, regaining her composure.

A look of understanding dawned on Asia’s face, and she yelled towards the knights.

“That Orc Shaman is clearly using illusions! Everyone, focus your mana to steady your minds!!!”

Illusions?

So, the Orc Shaman was the one casting them.

‘I thought it was some mind-altering spell, but it was an illusion.’

Of course, aside from identifying it as an illusion, I had already figured out something was amiss.

‘So, that sense of déjà vu I felt facing those three Orcs… it was their mana.’

It wasn’t as strong as it is now, so I didn’t immediately recognize it.

‘But why am I unaffected?’

Do illusions not work on those with strong wills?

Anyway, after that crisis – or *near* crisis – had passed, the battle between the Orcs and the knights finally commenced.

*

The Orc Shaman was panicking.

‘What is this!!!’

The mystical stone embedded in his staff.

It was the power of that stone that amplified his illusions.

For someone unaffected by the illusion to shout wouldn’t break it.

And yet-.

That’s exactly what happened.

Though bewildered, the Orc Shaman began chanting the incantation for his next spell.

‘!@$#$#!%!!’

As he finished, a crimson aura crackled around the staff.

That crimson aura detached itself from the staff and poured directly into the Orc horde.

Simultaneously, the eyes of the Orcs engulfed in the red energy began to glow with a malevolent red light.

Their muscles pumped, veins bulging.

‘All troops, advance!!!’

The Orcs pushed off the ground, charging toward the humans.

‘Kruaooo!!!’

‘Uoaooo!!!’

‘Gruooo!!!’

Each Orc bellowed its war cry.

The clash with the human knights.

The Orcs, empowered by the Shaman’s magic, were strong.

Overwhelming the knights by a narrow margin.

The Orc Shaman smiled, pleased with the current state of affairs.

‘Indeed, it is the Mystical Stone. With this power, I could build a nation of Orcs!’

Such thoughts filled the Orc Shaman’s mind.

Even as he entertained these blissful dreams, he kept a watchful eye on one particular figure.

The black-haired human.

Unlike the others, he hadn’t participated in the battle, yet he was oddly unsettling.

The fact that he hadn’t fallen prey to the illusion, or even worse, that he had broken it.

‘A prisoner, perhaps…?’

The black-haired human was restrained, bound.

The Orc Shaman concluded he was a prisoner.

Therefore, logically, there was no need to be wary.

Bound as he was, and captured by the knights beforehand, he must be weak.

And yet…

‘I must be careful of that one.’

A primal instinct, Orcish in nature, warned him.

That human was dangerous.

And so, the Orc Shaman kept his gaze locked on the black-haired human, never faltering.

‘Ugh…!’

Mana began to swirl around the black-haired human.

A foreboding feeling arose simultaneously.

Crack.

Snap.

Though distance separated them, he almost imagined hearing the sound of the restraints breaking.

‘H-has he just made eye contact with me?’

A strange terror gripped the Orc Shaman, causing him to stumble a step back.

‘N-now he’s smiling?’

The Orc Shaman witnessed it.

The black-haired human was smiling at him.

*

I assessed the battlefield.

Orcs and knights.

Under normal circumstances, the knights should be dominating.

After all, these knights had at least reached the lower echelons of Sword Expert status.

But…

‘They’re losing ground.’

The Orcs, strengthened by the Shaman’s dark magic.

Each one was now as strong as a lower-level Expert knight.

And with their superior numbers…

The knights’ defeat was inevitable, as long as the Orc Shaman watching me from afar joined the fray.

“No choice, then.”

I roused the mana slumbering in my dantian, wrapping it around my body.

Then, I gave a single burst of strength.

*Rattle.*

The severed rope fell to the floor.

“Speaking of which, that orc shaman… he’s got a good sense, doesn’t he?”

The orc shaman kept his eyes fixed on me.

Could he recognize strength?

Or was it just some monster instinct?

No matter. It was irrelevant now.

I’d decided to move personally; the orcs’ defeat was assured.

I smiled at the orc shaman who watched me and muttered,

“I’m coming to meet you now.”