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Such an orc had come to the land of the succubi, and the succubi were intimidated by him. They did not attack or seduce the orc, but rather look up to him. The orc even used the precious fairy dust to help the succubi with their “food”. He thought that even stupid and smelly orcs were different when they were a “Hero”.
It was the day after such an incident. Lowayne and the other “food” went outside for the first time in three years. Bathed in sunlight for the first time in a long time, he saw the other “food”. They looked as fat and unhealthy as he did, and seemed blinded by the sun. He wondered why there were so many people there, not just him, but no one seemed to know why.
But in the place where Lowayne and the others had been taken, another hellish scene was unfolding.
“Hah… hah… owww… coff, coff…”
An ogre child was being kicked by an orc and running away from him. He didn’t know what the boy had done, but it must have made the orc very angry. What clung to the boy’s face was the fear of death.
“Hey, that’s the Orc Hero.”
Someone said something that made him realize the identity of the orc chasing the boy. That’s right. The moment he thought that, the memory of the old battle came back to Lowayne’s mind, and he felt a sense of dread as if a centipede had been thrown at his spine. And this monster was right there. And for some reason, it was angry too, kicking the boy to the ground.
“Could it be that we…?”
This was something that everyone had been thinking about for a long time. Recently, they had lost strength compared to the past. They couldn’t be “eaten” as often as before, and more and more succubi had become dissatisfied with them. Yesterday, thanks to the fairy dust, they had temporarily regained their strength, but it was probably only temporary.
What did the shepherds do with the cows that could no longer be milked? The answer was obvious.
Succubi did not eat meat. But it was rumored that orcs did eat human meat.
And they understood that.
Ah, so that’s why they fattened us up.
“Now then, let’s take a few laps around the square, so please follow me.”
The succubus who had brought the “food” to the square explained. She sounded very apologetic. So he was convinced. This would be a test. If he couldn’t keep up with it, he would be disposed of like an old pet. And then he would be made into dried meat or something and eaten by orcs.
He didn’t want that. He didn’t want to die.
“You don’t have to strain yourself. Come on!”
Lowayne ran as fast as he could. His body was heavy, his knees creaked and his lungs screamed. Still, he managed to run, probably thanks to the fairy dust he drank yesterday.
And then, perhaps inspired by him, or perhaps coming to the same conclusion, someone else began to run as frantically as Lowayne. If one person started running, two would start running; if two started running, four would start running. Someone sensed that they would be in trouble if they didn’t, so everyone started running as fast as they could. No one thought deeply about why the ogre boy was being chased. However, the desperate form of him was enough to remind those who had been lazy for three years of a sense of danger and fear.
There was no one who was not running. They all kicked their legs as hard as they could. When they fell down, they thought, “I can still do it! I can still run!” And those who couldn’t get up kept going, even if they had to crawl.
They ate, slept, and had sex every day. They lived like nobles. They were happy. From the bottom of their hearts they were grateful that they were born men. Had they been born female, they would have become the orcs’ brood slaves.
But cattle were cattle.
When they were no longer needed, they were culled. No one wanted to die. Having survived the battlefields, they wanted to live longer. As long as possible. Driven by this instinct, men kept running.
■
“The ‘food’ was so happy! Today we were going to let them run for a while just to test them, but they all wanted to run more and more! Even after the training was over, I felt that they looked better than usual. They all seemed to have a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction on their faces.”
“Hmm, I wondered how effective it would be in preventing recurrence of the disease… if they’re happy, I’d be happy for them to do it on a regular basis~.”
“But I’m sure the others will be frustrated because they’ll be eating less for the time we spend training.”
“We’ll have to ask them to be strong because they’ll be eating less~.”
Curly Kale said as she listened to her subordinate Nion’s report. After all, it was about the all-important “food”, of which they had only a limited supply. She didn’t want them to get hurt, but if it made them feel better, it was the best they could do.
“In the same place, Sir Bash was training his apprentice, and some of them were filled with excitement at the sight of him. Even though they were physically exhausted, they showed that they could still go on.”
“Sir Bash is a war hero, right? It’s natural that even the soldiers of the Four Races Alliance would want to show off their good performance in training… So what kind of training is Sir Bash giving his apprentice?”
“You’re also curious, aren’t you, my queen?”
“Isn’t it obvious? I too would like to be trained by him.”
Curly Kale laughed and Nion shrugged.
“I’ve seen him train the boy to develop his physical strength and endurance rather than his technical skills. Specifically, he kicks him and makes him run until he drops.”