“Damn it!”
“Quaargh!”
I was hit straight by the club wielded by the orc, and tumbled backward.
That orc’s strength was staggering. Despite my efforts to block with my sword, the impact sent me flying as if I were an arrow.
“Pufft…Cain, you are really weak. You can’t even defeat an orc with a broken arm.”
Even as I soared through the air, Bianca’s scathing remark reached my ears.
‘You b1tch!’
Instead of directing my anger at the orc who sent me flying, my resentment grew towards Bianca, who chattered like a salty sister-in-law beside me. Hatred for her fueled my determination.
“Keek…gh!”
Midair, I summoned strength to my legs and landed gracefully on the floor. Using the centrifugal force, I propelled myself like an arrow towards the orc, determined to retaliate.
“Die!”
The orc, undeterred by its broken arm, swung its massive club at my head in an attempt to shatter my head like an earthen pot.
Booong!
A moment before the club could connect, I discerned its trajectory.
‘One step to the right.’
A simple sidestep spared me from the ignorant swing of the orc’s club.
Quaang!
The club narrowly missed my head, crashing into the ground instead.
My hair fluttered in the aftermath, but my expression remained unchanged. Months of experiences had toughened me, making fear a distant companion.
‘One more step, one step forward…’
I closed the distance between the orc and me, extending my sword to its limit.
Its foul breath reached me. Our eyes met, and despite the chilling intent to kill, I focused. Ignoring the fear, I thrust my sword straight into the orc’s neck.
Poochi!
For good measure, I twisted the sword clockwise.
“Kreak! Gooh, uh uh…”
Cooong!
The orc, no matter how robust, crumpled to the floor as my sword pierced through its throat—an instant death.
“Whoa…hoooh..ha…”
I had teetered on the edge of death. This time, a miscalculation could have left me lying on the ground with my head shattered akin to an earthen pot.
Clap! Clap! Clap!
A slow clap echoed from the side.
Turning, I found a proud-faced princess.
“Sir Cain. Impressive. Defeating an orc after only six months of training.”
“…wasn’t that just an orc with a broken arm?”
Defeating a handicapped orc didn’t feel heroic, and the notion embarrassed me.
“Even considering that, it’s great. Six months ago, you wouldn’t have been able to face even an orc with a broken limb. It seems that this training method suits you.”
Her words, whether praise or not, contorted my face grotesquely. I recalled being beaten by an orc under the princess’s bizarre logic of ‘lions drop their cubs on high places,’ and Bianca’s amused observation.
Acknowledging my struggles, the princess intensified my training. Enduring a week of relentless beatings from orcs, I gradually learned to predict their attacks, reducing the pain.
After another week, I succeeded in defeating an orc, the culmination of my training.
“Hmm. Did it take 2 weeks? It’s slower than expected. I need to increase the intensity of your training a little more.”
Terrifying words from the princess followed my triumph.
The next day, she presented me with tougher challenges—first an intact orc, then a troll, and finally a bizarre creature whose name eluded me.
Capturing them alive, I was tasked with defeating them.
The princess, adept at capturing such monsters in the harsh winter, seemed dissatisfied.
Beaten, threatened, and struggling for survival, I endured.
Six months passed, and I mastered the skills to defeat a disabled orc.
‘…but what can I do?’
Yet, the achievement brought no joy.
Reflecting on the countless beatings endured, I couldn’t find solace. If someone praised my growth after six months of hard work, I wished they could comprehend the relentless routine: waking at dawn, enduring physical and swordsmanship training, marching through snow-covered fields, evening battles with monsters, and Bianca’s b1tch-like antics.
It made me contemplate su1cide.
If the Emperor and his goons had assigned me the role of a guide to inflict pain, the intention succeeded.
Oh how I longed for a swift death with a knife in my heart!
“Seeing you grow up, even I, the teacher, feel proud. In that sense, what do you think about fighting 5 orcs tomorrow?”
“…..”
‘You sad1stic witch!’
Now that was simply messed up.
I yearned for someone to end my life sooner.
Except, of course, that b1tch Bianca.
***
Fortunately, the other two members of the ‘Winter Expedition’ didn’t torment me as directly as Bianca or the princess.
In this hierarchy of mental torment by Bianca and physical torment by the princess, another assailant might have broken me.
Saintess Ariel was truly an enigma. You would never know exactly what she was thinking in her head. She always had a smile on her lips and never seemed to lose her composure no matter what happened during the expedition.
Since I had never seen her expression change, I even thought that the Saintess might sleep with a smile on her lips even while asleep.
From her beauty that could even be called the incarnation of a goddess, to her kind heart, the friendly way of speaking, and the immense divine power that casually revived a person on the verge of death to their original state, nothing about her was normal.
There is nothing lacking in the Saintess Ariel—she was the perfect woman.
But, for some reason, I felt uncomfortable with the Saintess.
It wasn’t that she was mentally torturing me like Bianca or physically abusing me like the princess, but I felt somehow uneasy around her. I didn’t know why. I just thought that way as soon as I saw her.
Whenever I was being treated like a servant by Bianca or gasping from exhaustion from training with the princess, she was a kind woman who silently came to me and cast healing magic on me.
It was definitely something to feel grateful about, but every time she did that, I felt uncomfortable in a corner of my heart. Maybe it was because I couldn’t understand why she treated me so well.
Come to think of it, from the moment I first met the Saintess, she treated me with care without hesitation as if she had been my friend for 10 years.
And that wasn’t all.
Every time I carried the luggage and followed the expedition team while panting, the Saintess was the only one who stood still and waited until I caught up with them, and she was also the only one who helped clean up and wash the dishes after the meal.
But I still felt uncomfortable. If anyone hears it, they might say that I was simply being paranoid, but I was really uncomfortable with Saintess Ariel.
The way she looked at me from time to time felt like something incomprehensible and uneasy.
Kyrie, the elf, on the other hand, simply ignored my existence. Despite using honorifics, an underlying disdain for humans lingered.
The cause was unclear—whether disdain for our shorter lifespan, resentment towards the human ‘witch’ who brought winter, or past conflicts with humans. Whatever it was, Kyrie’s contempt added tension between the women.
The Saintess, as always, would just watch from afar, adorned by the trademark smile on her face.
Luckily, neither Bianca nor the princess sought direct confrontation with Kyrie. Still, the silent war of nerves between the women felt suffocating.
Even with just five expedition members, every day felt like a struggle for survival against their various assaults.
Although it had already been a year since the expedition began, I never had a day of rest. Consequently, my anger and resentment towards the ‘witch’ escalated.
The fact that I was scolded by that b1tch Bianca today, the fact that the princess brought two orcs and I was beaten up like a dog again, the fact that Kyrie almost confronted Bianca, who was angry because of a sarcastic remark, the fact that Saintess just silently watched with a smile.
Yeah, it was all because of that b1tch witch. If not for her, I wouldn’t be in this situation—thrown into a dungeon, brought to this expedition as a meat shield, and bullied by these four people.
The frustration, now a part of my life, engulfed me. It got to the point where I would let out a vacant laugh without any particular reasons.
A year passed in this manner.
Reaching the northern end of the Duchy of Estel, we confronted the ‘Witch of Winter,’ the culprit behind the continent’s never ending winter.
The witch was a beauty with hair as white as snow. To be honest, I couldn’t believe that she was a ‘witch’ who brought the never ending winter to the continent if I only looked at her appearance.
But as soon as I saw the b1tch blowing snowflakes out of her fingertips, my eyes widened.
“Hehe, you finally arrived here. To think you came this far north from the south to stop me…”
“Hey, you b1tch.”
“Eh…yes?”
I cut off the witch’s words, consumed by the urge to end all grievances by severing her head.
“Just shut up and die. You damn b1tch!”
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bro had enough