“………Sighhh.” The king let out a tired sigh. Then he punched the door with all his might. He was incredibly strong despite being all bones; the hinge busted and the door went flying. When it hit the wall, it made a startlingly loud noise. The subhumans quieted all at once.
“Shut up. The next one of you to talk had better brace yourself.”
In that silent, frozen atmosphere—where some mothers frantically covered their children’s mouths—the king took a step into the room, and the subhumans all edged away.
“It’s not as if I came here to kill you. Quite the opposite—I’m here to set you free.”
It was hard for a human like Neia to grasp the emotions of the orcs’ piglike faces. But this one time, she was extremely confident.
The look was That’s a lie!
“It’s a pain if you all talk at once. Have a representative come forward.”
After a moment, an orc went to step forward, but the one next to him held him back. Then he came to the fore instead.
It was a thin orc, but he looked like he must have been quite built at one point.
“…So you’re the representative?”
The orc nodded without saying anything.
“…What? Why aren’t you saying anything?”
“Um, could it be because you told them to shut up, Your Majesty?”
“…I thought I allowed him to, but I guess it didn’t get through? I permit the orc who stepped forward to speak. First, let’s hear your name.”
“I’m Diell of the Gan Zuu tribe—Diell Gan Zuu.”
“Diell, okay. First question: Is there anyone here you don’t know or whose personality has changed as if they were someone else?”
“N-no, there’s no one like that here.”
“Then next, tell me why you’re all imprisoned here.”
“…Do you know about the demon Jaldabaoth?”
“Of course. He’s my enemy. Or rather, I came here—to the Sacred Kingdom—to kill him.”
Their faces said, Definitely a lie. Certainly before Neia knew him, she might have thought the same thing. But not anymore.
She showed herself beside him and spoke. “His Majesty is telling the truth. I’m a citizen of this country, so please listen. Jaldabaoth brought you along with the allied subhuman army to invade this land.”
Diell’s expression changed slightly.
“Wait, a human… I think a female?”
You think? Neia wondered what that was supposed to mean, but she couldn’t tell the orcs’ sexes by face; it must have been the same for them.
“We aren’t attacking this country. There shouldn’t be a single orc tribe that cooperated with Jaldabaoth. Which is to say, we resisted, so we were brought here as punishment.”
“Hmm… What did he do to you once you were here?”
The question seemed to shock all the orcs, not only Diell. The ones who seemed to be mothers held children close. Neia could also hear retching and other vomiting noises.
“…Honestly, what is he doing?” the king mumbled to himself. “Um, I seem to have asked a bad question. Should I bring some water? Or is there something else you want?”
His attitude changed completely. He seemed extremely flustered. Perhaps he felt guilty for causing the orcs to relive painful memories. It was probably less than respectful for her to think such things, but he seemed almost like a parent trying to comfort a kid that one of his children made cry.
This must be how a king thinks when he views both humans and orcs as subjects of his country…
To the inhabitants of the Sacred Kingdom, subhumans were enemies. If they were in the same position, they probably wouldn’t have anything kind to say to them.
“We don’t want anything special. Just please don’t make us talk about what happened. It wouldn’t be fun to hear, and for us, it was hell. If you ordered us to talk, we would have no choice, but please at least let us do it where no one else can hear.”
Hearing a female orc softly crying, Neia was terrified. What in the world was done to them?
“…This is a problem,” the King of Darkness mumbled, but there was so much going on that Neia didn’t know what he was referring to. “Also, um, yeah. If you’re against Jaldabaoth, then we’re also here to ask if you’d like to cooperate with us, since we have a common enemy.”
Diell lowered his eyes. “Once, we wanted to fight, but not anymore. After everything the demons put us through, our spirits are broken. We have no courage left.”
“Then what will you do if I liberate you?”
“If possible, we’d like to go back to our village, and if there are any of us remaining there in safety, we’d like to take them and move far away to somewhere Jaldabaoth can never reach us.”
The king nodded.
“Then how about the domain I ru—?”
“We refuse! We know how dangerous it is to displease you. It would be smarter to agree now and then flee with all our might at a point where it seems like we can escape. But nothing is worse than betrayal. So if we refuse now, at least we can hopefully die less painful deaths.”
“What…?”
Their refusal was so firm, the King of Darkness seemed confused. But Neia understood Diell’s feelings so well it hurt. Until she met the king, she thought undead were the enemy of all living things, too.
“…Uh, my domain isn’t a horrible place or anything. We even have a diverse population of subhumans!”
“Lies! You must be lying! You can’t fool me or any of the rest of us! They must be undead subhumans!”
Half-crazed Diell was Neia’s former self. That’s why it was her duty as someone with more experience to explain what she had learned about the true nature of this king.
“His Majesty is telling the truth. He may be an undead, but he manages to show kindness to the living as well. He loves children and governs subhumans equally, and his subordinates respect him. As proof of
