I’m Not an Earthworm, I’m an Earth Dragon

“My main body has seen how the green pig bastards handle their prisoners, and I can tell you, at least they look better than I do. What do you think? Hero. Say something. You claim to love freedom and equality.”

Akash was still venting his frustrations about what happened earlier, but since I hadn’t done a good job either, I listened to him silently. But you know, this is mostly Akash’s fault.

He curses whenever he has a chance, and he’s tried to kill us several times. I think this is a humane enough treatment.

Yeah, I’ve been pretty lenient. I quickly finished justifying myself and recalled what the village elder had said. They looted without any reason.

That was their claim, but… still, if they were right, it was something to think about. Orcs don’t usually loot.

As nomads, they had nothing to gain from antagonizing the settlers, so they wouldn’t do anything to earn notoriety unless their tribe was really starving to death.

Then there must have been some external pressure. The question was what that external pressure was. If it wasn’t starvation, what could make them so violent?

“…You’re not even listening to me. Well, if I give you a clue, will you listen to me?”

“Do you have any idea what it could be?”

“Those damn devils. What else, it’s money. If there’s one thing those thugs worship, it’s gold. If orcs suddenly start causing trouble, it’s usually because someone hired them.”

Hired. But there’s no reason for that. Other wealthy villages or trading posts, maybe, but the chief said they only looted small villages around here.

“…You must have been the one hiring them?”

“Of course. They’re perfect as fixers. They’re strong, they’re loyal, and they’ll risk their lives to keep the client’s information confidential. I didn’t use them often because I was afraid their ignorance would rub off on me. Oh, don’t worry. Your ignorance isn’t contagious.”

I forbade him from cursing, but he still managed to get under my skin. I learned something I didn’t want to know.

Anyway, keeping in mind the possibility that they might have been hired by someone, we continued walking and saw a village in the distance.

I heard that it was burned and destroyed, but from afar, there were no signs of such terrible destruction. There was only a single stream of smoke rising, as if from a bonfire.

“Hmm… That’s strange. Didn’t you say they smashed everything up?”

“Certainly, that’s what the villagers said when they last saw it… but it doesn’t seem to be the case. It’s not looting… What could it be?”

“I don’t know. They’re… digging something up. I can’t see it from here. If you give me the book, I might be able to see it?”

Oh, never mind. I’ll just walk over and see. Akash clicked his tongue briefly, then went back to sulking and grumbling.

On the other hand, Altera had her ears pressed flat against the ground, as if she were listening to something.

The only problem was, for some reason, she had her lower body raised and only her upper body was touching the ground. That… certain area was too prominent.

She had panties on, and her tail, which served as a support, covered the embarrassing parts, but…

Her butt was too noticeable.

I wish she would be more considerate, but she had such a serious expression that it was hard to stop her.

“There really is something down there. It’s faint, but it’s moving… rumbling. Something. It’s asleep. If we keep going like this, they’ll find it soon. What should we do?”

As soon as she released that embarrassing posture and stood up, she informed me that the orcs were indeed trying to dig something up.

Uh. It’s useful information, but when I look at her, it seems like she has no awareness of being a woman. She grew up in the wild, so she might not have such a concept…

“Are you hot? Well, I guess crossing mountains would be hard work for you humans.”

“It’s… no, nothing. Anyway, there really is something down there… let’s… go… see!”

I quickly averted my gaze from Altera, who was tilting her head, and focused on the orcs for now.

There’s no way a nomadic tribe would suddenly invade a village and start digging. As Akash said, there was a high possibility that there was a client.

Whatever that was, I had to drive the orcs out first.

As we got closer to the village, we could see baskets overturned here and there, and broken dishes lying around.

And orcs too.

“You, human! What are you doing here?! Get out, get out! Orcs are using this place now! If you come any closer, I’ll call my comrades! Get out! Get out!”

The orc threatened me with a weapon, telling me to get out in broken human language.

…At least he didn’t rush to kill me on sight. I might be able to talk to him.

“Akash. As always, only use magic that doesn’t cause harm. Yuna, Altera. If things get a little weird… you know what to do, right?”

Knock them out. I mouthed the words, then raised my hands to show that I didn’t want to fight, and slowly walked toward the orc.

“What are you doing, human?! Can’t you see this?!”

The orc swung his spear even more violently, trying to drive me away, but when I opened my mouth, a look of bewilderment flashed across his face.

“Please calm down, I just wanted to visit the village. But… orcs don’t usually settle down… could you tell me why you’ve occupied this village?”

“…You, you know our language? How can a human… No. You seem like you can understand what I’m saying! Then get lost! This is not a place for you. I have nothing to tell you.”

He was surprised, but he still just told me to get lost.

“Is that so? Actually, the villagers asked me to drive you out. Do you know when you’ll be leaving?”

“I told you I have nothing to tell you! I won’t take any more of your wordplay, get lost now!”

He’s stubborn. Was it a mistake to try to solve this with words? Still, I tried to get a little more information by probing what they were doing.

“Well. I saw you digging something up… will you leave when you find something?”

“You, how did you know…! I can’t disgrace the tribe’s honor! Intruder! An intruder has appeared!!!”

Hmm. I don’t know why that’s directly related to the tribe’s honor. In the end, it seemed like it was a mistake to try to solve this peacefully through conversation. As the orc on guard shouted loudly, more orcs rushed out of the village, screaming.

“…Hmm. Things didn’t go as planned. Haha. Guys, get ready!”

It’s clear that they’re digging something up. I took out my longsword, which I use for combat instead of the holy sword, and prepared myself.

Normally, I would have run away by now, but now I had a very reliable companion. I was going to break through with force.

It was Altera who signaled the start of the fight. She pulled a huge boulder out of the ground and threw it, and the orcs, who had been in formation, scattered in all directions.

Then she charged into the gap and grabbed an orc’s arm, swinging it around like a weapon.

She was wielding a greatsword in one hand and a limp orc in the other, unleashing a flurry of attacks.

I caught the orc that was trying to get behind Altera and stabbed my blade in with all my might.

The orc, who had momentarily stopped with a sharp scream, had its head cleanly blown off by the tail that Altera swung.

Altera threw away the orc’s arm, which had fallen off because it couldn’t withstand the force of her swing, and picked up another orc lying on the ground, her eyes gleaming as she rushed at another orc.

There were dozens of orcs just by looking at them, but one person was single-handedly dealing with, and even slaughtering, 90% of them.

When I turned my head, Yuna was stabbing and striking with her iron bow, then swinging the iron arrows in her quiver like swords, pushing away the orcs that were rushing at Akash and her.

Hmm. I’m not needed.

I turned away from the brutal scene of flying rock and flesh fragments and caught the back of a large, ornate orc who was struggling with Yuna.

The orc seemed to have noticed my attack, and just before my sword could slash him, he brought his sword to my trajectory to counter.

“Kugh… What are you guys!”

The tense standoff was broken in an instant by an uppercut from Yuna’s steel arm as she twisted her body.

As if that wasn’t enough to knock him down, he quickly regained his posture, but then he knelt down when a bow struck his hamstring.

Yuna struck the back of his head once more, tied his arms behind him, and signaled to me.

“Myungho! The holy sword!”

I immediately understood her intention and took out my brush, inscribing it on the orc’s body.

Fall down.

The orc, who had been resisting with all his might with bloodshot eyes, immediately fainted as soon as the words were inscribed.

Compared to what I had dealt with recently, this felt easy. Maybe this orc just wasn’t that strong.

…Among the orcs I had met, there were some who grabbed humans and swung them around like weapons, like Altera was doing now. This orc was probably just average among orcs.

Still, the ornate decorations suggested that he was the chieftain. Yuna probably knew that and told me to capture him.

Meanwhile, Altera was fiercely chasing after the orcs who were fleeing with their backs turned, throwing the corpses of their comrades at them.

Since I had already achieved my original goal of driving out the orcs, I shouted her name to let her know that the battle was over.

“Altera!!! Come back now!! It’s over! We captured the leader too!”

Only then did she stop pursuing the remnants. Her whole body was covered in blood, but it didn’t look like her blood. Above all, the few minor wounds she had were healing at a visible rate.

This, wasn’t this a real jackpot? Every time I saw her fight, I felt like praising myself more and more.

It felt like I had found a ‘cheat key’. Her strength was really that absurd.

Even a gold-ranked adventurer wouldn’t dare to mess with an orc colony. But she looked like she could take on an army, not just a colony.

“…Is this the leader?”

Altera poked the captured orc’s head with her foot and asked me. Yuna had already tied up the orc tightly with her bowstring.

“I didn’t do anything.”

Akash was still grumbling, but now I might be able to be generous with him.

“Yeah. Now we have to… extract information. Why they did this, and what they were looking for. Right…”

Like this. I inscribed another word on the body of the fainted orc.

Answer my questions truthfully.

And wake up.

Then the orc suddenly woke up and struggled.

Altera roughly stomped on him, and he let out a pained groan and went limp. I didn’t intend to stop her… but I wish she would be a little gentler.

“Now, you lost. So, answer my questions truthfully. Why did you do this?”

“That’s…kugh…ugh…! There was a client…! But I can’t say who…!”

The orc grimaced, whether in shame or pain, but he did answer. However, it wasn’t satisfactory.

“…Well. Let’s say that’s that. What were you looking for?”

“A key…! A key…! Ugh, damn it… Why is my mouth…! A key to the ancient civilization…! The demon race… needs it… urgh… urgh…!”

Demon race? But I couldn’t get any more answers from him.

Not long after he said ‘demon race’, a blood-red hand grew out of his neck and pierced through his chest.

If it had been about 100 years ago, many people would have had a fit just hearing the name ‘demon race’, but now they weren’t such a dangerous group.

In their prime, each member of the demon race could take on hundreds of soldiers, but the current demon race was not like that. I had even fought one myself, so that said it all.

As a result of the whole nation’s relentless and thorough demon hunt, most of the remaining remnants were either insignificant small-time bosses of back-alley organizations or bandit leaders, or mixed-bloods.

…Mixed-blood. I stared at Altera. No, I couldn’t put the two on the same level. I shook my head to clear my strange thoughts.

“Hmm. A typical demon curse. The condition is obvious, I suppose. Don’t reveal our identity. Something like that. Hey, Myungho. Your ability, it really creeps me out every time I see it. You know that, right?”

Akash looked at the grotesque scene nonchalantly, not stopping his sarcasm even in the midst of it.

…Honestly, I thought it was a terrifying ability, regardless of its usefulness. Just writing with the brush had an effect close to mind control.

But you know. There are monsters that can make you their ally just by making eye contact, so this is pretty tame in comparison.

Thinking that, I looked down at the orc, who had gone cold.

“…Well. I guess we have no choice but to keep digging. Akash. Do you have any idea about ancient civilizations?”

“I’m sorry, there are too many civilizations buried down there, I won’t know until I see what that key is.”

I guess we have no choice but to dig.

“Altera. Can you… dig up that moving thing down there?”

“…Alright.”

Her horns glowed golden, and the ground split open, revealing something in the middle. That’s…