Translator: CinderTL
Roland shook his head helplessly and slowly stepped into the cave, approaching the blood-red figure.
After studying it carefully for a long moment to confirm he wasn't mistaken, he called out softly, "Freddy? Freddy? Are you still alive?"
Before he could finish speaking, the snoring abruptly stopped.
The blood-red figure jerked its head up, revealing sharp fangs at the corners of its mouth, its eyes filled with confusion.
"Ugh... who's there? Who's calling me?"
"It's me, Freddy."
Seeing the orc's familiar, slightly simple and honest appearance, Roland couldn't help but twitch the corner of his mouth.
The figure bound to the cross wasn't just anyone—it was Freddy, the orc student Roland had met a few times and exchanged a few words with at the Capital Knight Academy in the River Domain's Royal Capitals.
"Y-you're..."
Freddy squinted his bleary eyes, leaning closer to scrutinize Roland's face.
In the next moment, his hoarse voice suddenly rose, becoming sharp with surprise and delight.
"Roland! Mr. Roland, is that you?"
"Yes, it's me," Roland replied with a soft sigh. "Don't move. I'll find a way to get you down."
"Okay! Thank you so much, Mr. Roland!" Freddy's voice was filled with gratitude.
In the dim cave, several swift flashes of silver light flickered.
In an instant, the vines and rusted iron chains binding Freddy snapped apart.
Thud!
A muffled crash accompanied a cloud of dust as the freed Freddy landed heavily on the damp ground.
But the fall was clearly insufficient to harm the thick-skinned orc.
He scrambled to his feet, brushed off the dust with his massive hands, and rushed excitedly toward Roland.
"I... I truly don't know how to thank you enough, Mr. Roland."
Freddy remained as clumsy with words as ever, stammering for a moment before finally settling on a deep bow, expressing his gratitude through the most direct gesture.
"Let's not dwell on that, Freddy," Roland said, gripping the orc's broad shoulders firmly. "Are you hurt?"
When Freddy shook his head in denial, Roland voiced his lingering question.
"How did you... end up in a place like this?"
Though Roland couldn't pinpoint their exact location, based on their initial landing at the small fishing village, this area should be in the easternmost reaches of the River Domain Nations, practically on the opposite side of the capital.
It was utterly baffling that a student from the Knight Academy would appear here.
Recalling their last conversation, Roland ventured cautiously, "Freddy, were you... expelled from the Knight Academy?"
"Expelled? No! No, no, no!"
The good-natured orc shook his head vigorously, his tone suddenly turning excited.
"Speaking of which, I must thank you, Mr. Roland! Your suggestion to take on quests from the Adventurer's Guild and eliminate demonic beasts to dispel my malevolent energy worked wonders!"
"Thanks to your guidance, I not only passed this semester's assessment smoothly but even earned a 'Good' grade!"
Freddy puffed out his chest, visibly proud of himself.
"Then what are you doing here...?" Roland's gaze swept over the damp, cold cave walls.
Freddy followed his line of sight, stared blankly for a moment, then scratched his head and said sheepishly, "After the semester ended, I continued taking on demonic beast extermination quests as you advised... Then I ran into some... really big toads? Those guys..."
His voice turned bitter. "They wouldn't fight me head-on! They just kept spitting that foul-smelling poison gas from a distance! As the fight dragged on... I inexplicably passed out."
Freddy scratched his foul-smelling hair with his thick fingers, flashing his signature earnest smile. "When I woke up... I was already here."
Hearing this unexpected yet perfectly logical explanation, Roland opened his mouth, momentarily at a loss for words.
"Before you were brought here... was this area shrouded in mist?"
"Mist? Yes, there was..." Freddy nodded.
Upon receiving this confirmation, Roland's gaze grew increasingly peculiar.
Even with his strength, he had deliberately avoided dangerous mist-shrouded areas when accepting commissions.
Yet this orc had recklessly charged in alone...
After a moment of silence, Roland couldn't think of a suitable response and decided to change the subject.
"Then... why were you tied up here? Those... toads, didn't harm you?"
The orc frowned, straining to recall the events. After a long pause, he shook his head slightly.
"No, those disgusting monsters didn't harm me. In fact, they even... fed me willingly. But the taste..."
He seemed to remember something utterly repulsive, gagging involuntarily a few times.
"And every night, they would come up to me one by one and... bow? I can't make sense of it."
Hearing this, Roland's eyebrows twitched slightly.
A group of Slaad Toads...
Bowing to a Red-skinned Orc?
The absurd image flashed through his mind, and the corners of his mouth involuntarily twitched upward, even as his confusion deepened.
"Those toads... why were they bowing to you?"
He was about to press the question when the faintest sound of footsteps reached him from the cave entrance behind them.
Roland instantly gripped his sword hilt and whirled around with lightning speed.
Freddy reacted just as quickly.
The orc let out a low growl, then exerted all his strength with both hands, snapping off one of the bone altar's support legs with a crack. He clutched the broken bone tightly, wielding it as a makeshift weapon.
But moments later, when a slender, familiar figure emerged into the light and shadow at the cave entrance, Roland's tense muscles relaxed.
He released his grip on the sword hilt and placed a hand on Freddy's taut arm, signaling him to relax.
"That's because this little one... carries the Chaos Blood within him, if I'm not mistaken..."
Vanessa's figure fully materialized before them, her footsteps light and graceful.
The witch's gaze first swept curiously over the quiver behind Roland, then settled on the towering orc. She spoke slowly, her voice measured.
"Your surname... it must be Bloodhowl? In the ancient orc tongue, it signifies... 'Hell's Roar'?"
"You!"
Hearing the witch accurately reveal his hidden surname, Freddy's signature honest demeanor vanished instantly, replaced by a deep, battle-ready vigilance.
"Who... who are you really?"
"That's irrelevant."
Vanessa surveyed the eerie cavern with keen interest, her slender fingers casually tracing the polished surface of the bone table.
"Besides... the tale of your ancestor betraying the abyss to become a world-saving hero has long been recorded in numerous texts. Even if your clan now treats it as a forbidden secret, it's hardly unknown to anyone with even a modicum of scholarly knowledge."
Her tone shifted as she leaned slightly against the bone table's edge, her gaze returning to Roland. "Compared to this, Mr. Roland, I believe we must hasten our pace."
"If my observations are correct, this entire region... is slowly sinking. Or, more accurately..."
The witch raised her hand, pointing to the patch of land outside the cavern entrance—a stark contrast to the surrounding swamp. Her voice was low and clear.
"The surrounding land... is gradually rising."
(End of the Chapter)
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