Volume 3 - CH 10.1

Act 3 – 10.1: Land Dominated By Ogre 3

Shirone and the others walked under the moonlight, they had decided to head towards Zengu’s living place. Ogres usually built their palace or castle in the mountains, which was why they immediately knew where to go.

When they came across the castle, they felt like it was not as grandiose as it should be. Granted it looked like a huge castle from a human’s perspective, but taking into account the ogres’ giant figures, it was nothing more than a small mansion. Yet, it was still skillfully built as ogres were known for their talent of construction.

This, of course, was not the only talent they had, ogres were also physically strong and had a high affinity with magic—they were even more powerful than the elven race. But, as if in exchange to these high physical and magical capabilities, their intelligence was far lower than any other race, even lower than the human race, which in this world, were considered to be among the most idiotic.

Shirone had once heard that an ogre tribe had been tricked by a cat spirit and ended up having their castle hijacked. She could imagine how dumb they were.

It was not common to find humans under the control of ogres as the ogre population was far less than that of the humans. It was rather fortunate since their physical and magical strength could make them rule humanity easily, even with their lower intelligence. Nevertheless, the country they chose to visit this time just happened to be one of the countries ruled by ogres.

「Kyouka-sama, that’s Zengu’s mansion.」

Echigos, who had become their guide, pointed at the mansion on top of the mountain. The mansion was as expected quite splendid and was located an hour walking distance from Koki.

The sun had set, Shirone and her companions had wanted to take a good rest after their arduous day filled with fatigue; however, the current situation wouldn’t allow them.

Shirone knew that other than being skillful architects who could build their mansion on top of mountains and even clouds for the more talented ones, ogres were also known to keep many treasures in their abode. As they approached the mansion, they knew that their first impression of it was indeed correct. The mansion was far more splendid than any one they had ever seen before, but it was still smaller than the other ogre mansion they had encountered.

「Well then, I shall…」

「Stop right there.」

Shirone grabbed Echigos by his collar as he tried to leave.

「Uhm… Is something the matter, Shirone-sama?」

「Were you thinking of returning, Echigos-san? I wouldn’t have said anything if it was another person, but did you really think we would let you or that werewolf-san go scot free?」

Echigos let out a despaired groan upon hearing her remark, followed by a muffle from Daigan. Daigan, who had already reverted to his human form, was tied on top of the Hippogriff with his mouth chained. And since his mouth was gagged by chains and padlocks, no one knew what he was talking about.

After a little bit of interrogation, they had found out that, different from the other citizens, Echigos had managed to become the ruler of Koki after currying favor with the ogre who lived in the mansion in front of them. That’s why Shirone and the other two girls had no intention of letting him go just like that.

Koki was a country ruled by Zengu the Ogre. It was not rare to find countries like Koki, which were ruled by monsters. Many countries would opt for this deal as by accepting a monster as their ruler, their country could be safe from other monsters attacking. There was definitely merit in this deal; however, upon closer look, their relationship was rather like a shepherd and his livestock, not a ruler and his citizens. The citizens of these countries would live under constant fear of becoming their ruler’s food.

After hearing their situation, Shirone and co declared they could defeat Zengu the Ogre, the citizens felt so joyous that they happily guided them to the ogre’s mansion. Thus, aside from Echigos and Daigan, the citizens of Koki were also following them.

After arriving in front of the mansion gate, Shirone forced Echigos to call Zengu.

「ZENGU-SAMA――――！ZENGU-SAMA――――！PLEASE OPEN THE DOO――――R!!」

After Echigos shouted loudly, the gate of the mansion opened.

The one who came out was a giant being around 2.5 meters tall. It was none other than Zengu the Ogre himself.

Zengu the Ogre was the youngest among his eight siblings. He had ordered Echigos to get him a human woman this time for the feast he was preparing for his mother’s birthday. It was his gift for his beloved mother. Unfortunately for him, it was also at this time that Shirone and her companions decided to visit Koki.

Zengu’s appearance, if compared to a human, was similar to an obese man in his early thirties. Shirone couldn’t help but immediately conclude he was an idiot after seeing him come out while scratching his crotch, not being aware of the situation before him.

「Oh, it you Echigos, is something the matter?」

After questioning Echigos, Zengu’s line of sight fell on Shirone and the others, who were standing behind Echigos.

「Ou, so you brought the human woman I requested for my mother, huh. You even brought two more… I must’ve put you in a lot of trouble.」

Zengu spoke with a sneer, making him look uglier and scarier. The ogre race’s main trait were the tusks that grew from their lower jaw, which was why they had a squared jaw and big mouth. When they laughed they looked frightening. Zengu’s sneer had made the Koki citizens shrink in fear.

「Let see how much meat they have on their body.」

Zengu stretched his hand to grab Kyouka, but that hand was flipped away.

「Sorry, but I won’t allow your dirty hand touch Milady.」

Naturally, the one who did that was Kaya, Kyouka’s maid.

「What are yo…?」

Kaya had already made her move before Zengu had managed to finish his sentence.

「HEART BREAK!!」

Kaya lightly punched Zengu’s chest.

「GUH!!」

Zengu, who received that seemingly feeble punch, suddenly raised a groan, and fell on his knees.

Heart Break was a skill that would allow the fighter’s fists to send shockwaves in their opponent’s body, stopping their heart without causing any external injuries.

Zengu, whose heart had stopped beating altogether, died on the spot.

「Well then, he’s just the right size for our Hippogriff’s meal.」

Koki’s citizens trembled in fear upon seeing Kaya’s figure when she uttered those remarks with a gaze that sent a chill running down their spine.

「No way… that ogre… in one strike…」

「Even though she has such a slender frame.」

「Moreover, to think that she’s going to feed the ogre’s corpse to the Hippogriff… what a scary woman, she’s far scarier than the ogre.」

Koki’s citizens muttered amongst each other. In that regard, even Shirone was sometimes scared of that side of Kaya.

Kaya then threw Zengu’s corpse in front of their Hippogriff.

「I’m tired Kaya. I hope there’ll be a comfortable bed inside this mansion.」

「Yes, Milady. I shall go inspect the mansion right away. And for the people who came along with us, please wait here for our return.」

Koki’s citizens nodded in agreement upon hearing Kaya’s remark.

Her initial plan was to inspect the mansion with Shirone and then call in Koki’s citizens and Kyouka once they confirmed its safety. But, looking at Kyouka’s mood, Kaya decided to take her along.Thus, the three of them entered the ogre’s mansion.

After they entered the mansion, they discovered that the inside was as splendid as the outside. Witnessing the beautiful interior design, the three women decided to sleep in the ogre’s mansion tonight.

After inspecting the guest room and the kitchen, there was only one room left, the ogre’s bedroom. Upon entering it, they found that it was quite a mess. The room was full of naked ogre pictures pasted on all the walls, and the floor was littered with underwear.

「This place looks like a garbage dump. There are also a lot of rounded tissues that smell fishy…」

Kyouka muttered with a disgusted look on her face.