The room reeked of decay and blood, its air thick with the stench of death. Dozens of goblin corpses lay scattered across the floor. Not just goblin corpses. Blood also almost covered the floor and walls.
Allen just stood there in front of the trembling—cowering Lavina. If there were any sounds in the room, it was the quiet sobbing of Lavinia. But suddenly, a voice broke the silence.
"You messed it up, Allen,"
came the cold voice of Queen Orc from outside the door.
Allen turned sharply, fury rising within him as he yelled,
"Mother! What have you done to Miss Lavinia?!" Allen spoke madly.
Queen Orc sighed deeply before responding,
"Humans have gotten stronger recently, so I should negotiate with the goblins to work together to fight back against the humans who came. Since there were no female goblins, they relied on humans to reproduce. I believe she already told you everything, and because she was planning to escape, I offered her to the goblin."
Allen was outraged again, he felt every reason Queen Orc's said was unacceptable to him. Because of his time with Lavinia, he finally began to appreciate human life.
"Then why?!" he demanded. "Why not use another human? Why Miss Lavinia?!"
"My skills aren't omnipotent," Queen Orc replied coolly. "Orcs are difficult to control. And capturing a living human is no easy task."
Allen clenched his fists, his frustration mounting as he struggled to find the right words.
"Oh I see…" Queen Orcs then continued…
"You like this human. Maybe I shouldn't have let you learn about humans in the first place."
Hearing that, Allen quickly lands his fist on his mother. Queen Orc slapped Allen's body with only the back of her hand. As a result, Allen was thrown against the wall
When the orc queen saw that Allen's hurt because of her slap, her expression changed for a second.
"I hate…" Allen muttered, his voice breaking.
Since it was not the first time his mother had hit him, he was aware that the strength she was used to smacking him was not as intense as it had been in the past. But for some reason, he felt that this moment was the one that hurt him the most.
"I HATE YOU, MOTHER!" he screamed, "I DON'T WANT TO SEE YOU AGAIN! GO AWAY! GO AWAAAAAY!!!"
The orc queen was silent for a few seconds, and then she answered.
"Alright," said Queen Orc as she closed the door.
Allen then curled up and sobbed. He was so angry at his mother, it was because of his mother that Lavinia said such a cruel thing to Allen. But what hurt him the most now was the fact that he also said hurtful things to his mother, even though he knew how hard it was for him when Lavinia said it.
In the end, Allen sobbed until he fell asleep.
.
.
.
Some time passed, and Allen awoke, his surroundings unfamiliar. He was no longer in his usual room; instead, he found himself in a dimly lit space with only a single torch flickering on the wall. The first thing he saw when he opened his eyes was Reig, who had formed a slimy substance, waving its tiny hand at him.
"Thank you, Reig, for looking after me while I was asleep."
Then Reig entered Allen's shadow.
Allen looked at Lavinia, who might not have slept all the time. Her condition seems more severe than before.
Despite what had happened, he still couldn't bring himself to speak to her, yet he didn't want to leave her either. He didn't want to return home, either.
He walked to the door, opening it. Outside, he found a bucket of water, likely left by Queen Orc. The sight of it only deepened his shame.
Knowing how caring his mother was, the subsequent wave of shame made him even less eager to see his mother.
Allen collected the goblin's equipment and piled it up. He used the iron helmet as a bowl and fired goblin's clothes. He cut the goblin's ears and boiled them.
Once he finished, he took the bowl of goblin ear soup, with a worried face, he approached Lavinia. He offered the bowl to her in the same way he had when they first met.
"This is goblin ear soup. After boiling it twice, the poison will be gone," he explained, offering it to her.
He offered the bowl to Lavinia, just as he had the first time he met her, but this time he could properly speak to her.
Lavinia reached out for the bowl with her hand.
*SLAP
she slapped it out of his hands, sending the soup spilling across the floor. Allen, again, bit his lips. He had only wanted her to eat it—he wanted her to eat with the same enthusiasm she had when they first met.
Allen picked up his bowl and put the bowl near Lavinia.
"You can eat that anytime you want," he said quietly.
Allen returned to his position and muttered,
"I already speak the same language as her, but I feel not a single word of mine could reach her."
Their communication was even worse than when they didn't understand each other's language.