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“A letter from the young Human, huh…” He cut open the crumpled envelope with his sharp claws and pulled out the letter from inside.
“Hmmm…” The letters were blurry and smudged. He had no idea what it said. That’s what you got for letting an orc carry the letter. “I see.” However, he could guess what Nazar, the human prince, wanted by asking an orc to deliver the letter.
It would be about Sequence’s daughter, Poplatica, and her conspirators. She had left, leaving behind the words “we will resurrect Lord Gediguz” with a breath. She even stole the national treasure that Sequence managed to bring out from the Demon Nation. Many followed her and left. But there was no way to know what they were doing now. However, he had no idea how they were doing since they didn’t receive much information here.
“So, what do you want then? Did you just come to deliver this letter? Has the Orc Hero become a dog for a little human boy?” Sequence said in his usual tone, but he knew there was no mistake in choosing Bash as the messenger. If it weren’t for Bash, they probably wouldn’t have made it this far. He would prefer to ask him over a drink how he had made it from the border to here, passing through the dragon’s eyes, and how he had found the hidden fortress. Despite appearances, Sequence quite enjoyed listening to the sagas of the young ones.
That was the correct decision to have Bash deliver the letter. Just by arriving here, Sequence could tell. However, demons had a habit of using mocking phrases. They couldn’t help but underestimate their opponents, even if they themselves had lost.
Now, if they did well in letting Bash deliver the letter, the question remained, “Why?” Why was it Bash who came? Why would a proud, though humble, warrior Hero undertake such an insignificant task as delivering letters?
“I have no intention of being his dog.”
“I’m sure you don’t. I don’t know how a simple errand boy could come this far. If you came to visit us at night, that means you must have seen it too, right?”
“The dragon. Yes, I saw it.”
“You saw it. So, what happened? Did you kill it?”
“No, I had no way to make it come down. I hid in the snow and waited for the night.”
“I see, it’s like…”
Sequence stopped himself from saying, “Like you could defeat it if you had the means to bring it down.” It would be foolish to say that to someone who had already accomplished it once.
“I want to hear the purpose from you. Not from this piece of paper, not from a fairy hiding from the cold, but from your own mouth.”
Sequence said this respectfully. It wasn’t every day that a demon showed respect to an orc. It wasn’t worth listening to their words. If there was someone else of his kind by his side, he would ask them why they were doing it. Orcs didn’t have much to say when they opened their mouths. They just talked a lot and said foolish things. Although they were still better than fairies.
However, despite that, the general waited for Bash’s words. That’s how highly Sequence held him.
“…” Bash stared at Sequence with a tremendous gaze. It was a gaze so intense that it sent shivers down Sequence’s spine, who had fought many battles in his career.  “I want you to introduce me to your daughter.”
“Poplatica? I don’t know where she is.”
“Don’t you have another one?”
“Limendia is dead.”
“There was another, I think.”
“Ah, her! Asmonadia!”
“Then introduce me to her.”
Sequence pondered. “I want you to introduce me to your daughter.” In the common sense of demons, it meant “I want to go out with your daughter.” In the normal language of orcs, it meant, “I’m going to r̲a̲pe̲ your daughter and impregnate her.” As a noble demon, this was an unforgivable statement. He should crush him and remind him of this.
But in front of him stood Bash, the Orc Hero. Sequence didn’t know much about what kind of person this orc was.
His old friend once described Bash as “a man with balls.” And his friend was a stubborn man who rarely praised others. In his lifetime, Sequence had only heard him do it once, and it was to gift his favorite sword.
The human prince Nazar entrusted this man with a letter bearing his seal. A Human, to an Orc. Certainly, Bash would be the best bearer, but there were probably others who were better. There were many more trustworthy people than orcs.
“Do you… know what Asmonadia is doing?” Therefore, Sequence began to probe the truth.
“No, I don’t know.”
“Right now, she’s in charge of killing the dragon.”
“I see.”
And the fairy moved. She was whispering something in the orc’s ear. Sequence didn’t know what they were plotting, but the interactions between orcs and fairies were a bit exaggerated. Fairies were more intelligent than orcs, but to demons, they were as foolish as orcs.
“Do you have a plan to defeat it?”
Bash’s words were, in a sense, an insult to demons. Such a thing didn’t exist. If it did, the dragon would have already been reduced to bones, and they would have expanded their territory throughout the Lesser Snowfield.
“No. But we found its lair. It’s in the mountains to the east. So, whether it’s in the sky or if it has come down to walk on the ground, we have a chance.”
“That’s true.”
“In short…”
If it had been an unknown orc, Sequence would have been irritated.
Don’t agree so easily. It won’t be such an easy opponent.
“It won’t be easy, but you already killed one once.”
“That’s right!”
But the orc in front of him was a man who was well aware of that. He was the only man in the world who could boldly say, “I have slain a dragon crawling on the ground.” He was a man who could tell such a hilarious story. Well, one could say that this hilarious story had led the demons to almost their demise, but it was hard to say that noble demons, who were cornered, couldn’t do the same as an orc.