Sorcerous Stabber Orphen Rogue Journey

Chapter 4 - Bajirikokku Fort Sorcerous Stabber OrphenDoll, Comply with My CommandChapter 4 – Bajirikokku Fort “Bajirikokku?” As soon as Stephanie heard the word, she lifted her face up. “I had to ask before I went.” Orphen bandaged his injured right arm, then he angrily replied. “……This Killing Doll——does he plan to kill all members of the Alliance of Sorcerers? What is his goal? Where is the Bajirikokku fort?” Four people sat in Stephanie’s small apartment——Orphen, Stephanie, Majic, and lastly Cleo, making the room even more crowded. Orphen angrily bandaged himself, and not just his right arm, his face was covered with large and small Band-Aids. Majic stood behind his master, helping to wrap the bandages around his head. Cleo didn’t seem to be doing anything to help, she just sat on the sofa. Stephanie started stroking her long hair, which was along her chest. “Why did you think about asking me?” “You didn’t seem fl.u.s.tered.” Orphen said softly, as he wrapped bandages around his right arm. “The Alliance of Sorcerers building suddenly exploded——you were seriously injured, yet you didn’t panic when you awoke the next morning. That’s the only reason——you know something.” “……It was just a gas explosion.” Stephanie said as she raised her hands, she had a look of fear on her face. “Really? You seem delusional——the playground’s slide was bent beyond recognition, the irons bars were torn from the ground and sent into the air. A billboard was torn to pieces, and hit me in the head. “……A piece of word wasn’t the only thing that hit me.” Majic said behind him, Orphen ignored him. “Don’t lie to me, Stephanie——it was magic. And that guy that did it wasn’t human.” Stephanie was taken aback, she raised her head. “I-I didn’t lie to you!” “You sure?” Orphen’s tone was sharp. Using her fingers, Stephanie pushed her hair to hide her face——then Cleo approached her, she tightly held her hands. Stephanie saw the girl’s sympathetic expression, she remembered that time when she comforted her. “Huh?” Orphen didn’t understand. “…………” Orphen didn’t want to press her too much, so he choose to remain silent. While holding Cleo’s hands, Stephanie began to speak. “Orphen, do you remember when we first met?” “Yes.” Orphen said softly. “Twenty four fractures, you were seriously wounded, and eighty percent of your body was covered in lacerations and beyond repair. Facial injuries——skull fracture, your internal organs didn’t suffer much damage thanks to my intervention, but when I brought you to the clinic, no one thought you could be saved.” “I was fighting people on the street who were trying to lynch me.” Stephanie spoke with a hoa.r.s.e voice, Cleo put her hand on her shoulder. Majic almost jumped. “A lynching? Master——I thought you said it wasn’t that serious.” “On the surface, this town seems like a tourist city. But what you see isn’t always what you get. Sure they’ll greet you like everybody else, but if you walk into a back alley……you might not come out alive.” “But……” Majic turned and walked in front of Orphen. “Why would they do that you ask? Listen, the Heavenly Beings once lived here——but they’re gone now. They hated sorcerers a lot, but that was hundreds of years ago. But still they’re hatred lives on……”“But why does such prejudice continue?” “I don’t know, maybe some people think the era which sorcerers were hunted……never ended.” Orphen’s tone became sombre. “It’s got to do with power, Majic. Ordinary people are afraid of what sorcerers can do, not just the Royal Family. They are all afraid of what they don’t understand, but then again……this city does have a history of persecution.” “But——“ “The history lesson is over, move it.” Orphen said as he pushed Majic aside. “Stephanie. When I carried you to the clinic, I saw what they did to you. Why didn’t you leave?” “……I had to pay off the surgery. And——“ “And?” Orphen asked. Stephanie looked at him. “You left me, when I got out of the hospital you disappeared……” “I had my own problems to deal with. Besides, I couldn’t live a laid-back lifestyle anymore. To be honest, I’m surprised that you remember me considering you spent six months in the hospital.” Orphen though that his tone was too cold. “I……” “Orphen, you shouldn’t say such things——” Cleo didn’t know exactly what happened between them two, she just didn’t want anyone to become upset. Orphen ignored her and continued talking. “Stephanie. I’m not interrogating you——I’m just looking for a little clarification. That Killing Doll threatened to kill all sorcerers in this city, that means me and you. We’ve got to work together if we are to win……” “I can’t help you. I didn’t receive special combat training like you, I’m not strong enough——” “But you have the knowledge.” Orphen said, he was becoming impatient. “Right? If you know anything about this guy, you’ve got to tell me.” “…………” Stephanie didn’t utter a word, Cleo let go of her hands——then as if she was sleep walking, she walked towards the window. Putting her hands on the windowsill, she rubbed her finger into the dirt and then stared at it. “The window isn’t open……so there’s no way to do the cleaning.” Orphen didn’t say anything, he just folded his arms as he looked at her back. Stephanie then spoke. “I did try to leave the city, but I just couldn’t ignore the existence of——“ “Stephanie!” Orphen shouted at her, she turned away from him. Then Stephanie spoke, her voice wavered. “But you……promised me.” “What promise?” Orphen asked, her face was serious now. “You promised me……you said you’d never leave me.” *** His small fingers touched the cube sticking out of the wall, then he sighed. His noise itched in the moist air, and it made his throat thirsty. Maybe he had a cold, he then rested his head upon the wall. His vision became distorted, he removed and wiped his gla.s.ses. “I wonder what went wrong.”“Muhahahaha!” Vulcan made lots of noise. He was in a room with an altar, there were many megalithic infantry lined up. “Oh my, what a spectacular sight this is! This is great, now I’ve got my very own army of stone soldiers! That d.a.m.n sorcerer will be quaking in his boots, and after I’ve got rid of him then I’ll set my sights on the world! And all who stand in my way will be smothered to death with a pillow!” Dortin didn’t take his words seriously, he just rolled his eyes. Vulcan put his damp hands on his waist, he then faced the megalithic infantry and giggled like a madman.  Pain came from Dortin’s stomach, he coughed a few times. Vulcan heard him coughing, and sneered angrily. “Oh, poor baby. Too bad for you there’s no medicine, so you’ll just have to die.” “............” Dortin didn’t say anything, he just sat on the ground. His back shivering off the cold stone. Vulcan continued to laugh loudly, he then waved his hand towards the megalithic infantry. “It’s naming time! Starting from the right——” The megalithic infantry all had a magical character stuck to them, they all looked the same, but Vulcan wanted to give them names. He started to call them one by one. “Dee fly, Tsukatikku, Tyler, Mike Stack, Kebinpeppera, Shipure Kyato Sohofu……” Calling each name, the stone giants raised their hands.  “Brother, I said……” Vulcan couldn’t hear him, he was too engorged in his activities. “Dakada, Heida, Monkey 1000——” “Brother!” Dortin shouted as he stood up——this made Vulcan jump, he gave Dortin an angry look and turned back towards the megalithic infantry. Dortin put his hands on his head and whispered. “Brother, I’m really cold——and my head hurts.” “How can you say that? When the weather’s so good.” “Summer hasn’t arrived yet, I feel like I’m sitting in a bucket of cold water! It’s impossible not to be cold in a place like this!” “Oh, I’m not feeling a thing.” “Where can I get these hallucinogenic drugs that you seem to be on, brother?!” Dortin said. When Vulcan heard these words he just laughed. “I Vulcan, the Masmaturian Bulldog am impervious to everything! Including the weather!” Dortin’s stomach rumbled. “When was the last time you ate?” “I don’t remember! I don’t remember!” Vulcan’s att.i.tude changed, he then folded his arms and began to laugh uncontrollably. Dortin sighed, as he tried to hold in the pain of his stomach…… No one could be comfortable in this room, even if it was a million square meters, you would still feel like you were suffocating. Light poured down from the ceiling, there was a strange white ball overhead——unlike an ordinary gas lamp, unlike sunlight pouring into a window. There was a hoa.r.s.e, a rhino that looked like it was carrying a bathtub, and a couple of other animals. Standing in the middle of them was a human ——a beautiful woman. Behind them hung a huge portrait of a woman, it was about five times taller than the statues. She had green eyes and green pupils, she was wearing beautiful green robes. Her face was slim and she looked very healthy, you could easily tell the painter put lots of effort into this painting. Below the portrait was carved “Sister Isutashiba”, that was probably her name. (Sister, she seems like a monk……or a priest.) Dortin thought, as he stared at the portrait in the middle of the room. These “ruins” as the Killing Doll called it, seem to have been here for hundreds of years——but there isn’t even a speck of dust. Well, it wasn’t really spotless, there were traces of cleaning everywhere. Just like—— (I wonder if other people have been here to investigate recently.) If this is true, then Vulcan has been listening to the Guardian of the treasure, and opened this place up.  (If someone else had come down here they would have claimed ownership over the ruins. Either that or that doll has taken care of any intruders.) Dortin looked over at Vulcan, who was thinking about something. “Brother, where did the Killing Doll go?” *** Something crawled in the darkness under the ca.n.a.l. Slithering along, it bounced back to avoid being seen by a pa.s.sing ship. The ca.n.a.l was generally quiet during the night, but some ships were still loading and unloading goods. From the south street came the sound of a bell——it was from a clock tower. It rang for a moment, then fell silent. “It’s midnight.” Orphen said, as he looked at a pocket watch he pulled from his pocket. He was overlooking the ca.n.a.l, and the night wind blew through his hair. The same night wind blew through Cleo’s blond hair, she nervously looked around. The girl had no other clothes to wear, so she had to borrow money from Orphen to buy a new shirt.  “I feel sorry for her.” “Who?” “Stephanie, who else!”Cleo was serious, Orphen just sighed. “She lives in a city where she’s not welcome, it must be hard on her.” “But she’s strong.” “That’s not what I meant——Orphen, strong people like you can’t understand. When you’re weak you’ve got to be constantly on your guard, looking over your shoulder because you know that someone out there will do you harm.” “I know she’s strong, she’s not weak.” “You still don’t understand.” Cleo said in anger, it was like she was scolding a student. “Do you think that because someone is strong that they’ll become a wrestler?” Orphen gave her a confused look. “After the surgery, her strength decreased sharply.” “I guess it’s plausible.” “……Don’t you understand?” Cleo questioned him, but he avoided answering the question and tried to change the topic. “You seem to know a lot about being weak, Cleo.” “……When I was a child, I was frail and sick. The doctor said——it wasn’t anything serious, that I would get better. I was bedridden for quite a while, my sister would always comfort me and tell me not to worry. Slowly by slowly, I got better——but during that time when I was weak, I couldn’t help but feel helpless. It was horrible……” “But at least you got better in the end, right?” “……Yeah.” Cleo whispered, then she sensed something and turned around to face it. “He’s coming.” Orphen looked, Majic was carrying a huge lump of something in the middle of the street——even at this time of the night you could see his frustration. Orphen could hear muttering until Majic came before him and dropped the luggage, then he started to complain. “Geez, if I move anymore my feet are going to fall off……or worse.” Majic said as he rubbed his feet. A wry smile appeared on Orphen’s face. “Exploitation of the weak is a natural thing.” “……That isn’t right……” Orphen ignored Majic, he then began rummaging through the luggage——portable gas lights, mountain climbing rope, emergency rations, and—— Orphen immediately stopped, and pulled something slender from the luggage. “Why did you bring Cleo’s sword?” “Because I told him so.” Cleo spoke proudly, as she s.n.a.t.c.hed the sword from Orphen’s grasp. “And don’t think for one second that I’m leaving, I can be helpful too.” “Sure you are.” Orphen made a rude gesture towards Cleo, signalling that she should shut up. He then continued to look through the luggage. Majic looked a little nervous as he spoke. “So, don’t I get a weapon?” “No.” Looking through the bags, Orphen lifted up the foodstuffs and chucked it at Majic. “Take this.” “……I knew this would happen.” “This too.” Cleo also gave him her sword. Majic didn’t even argue, he just sighed. “Anyway, take it slow.” Orphen stood up and put both hands on his knees, then leaned forward. Majic looked down the street. There wasn’t a soul about, only the dim street lights that lit the road. “Master sure is found of teasing people, I think he enjoys making people angry.” Majic said as he carried the luggage. Orphen pondered for a moment, then he made up his mind. But…… “Can I come?” Cleo eagerly asked. Stephanie appeared below one of the street lights, her footsteps echoing in the night. With her hands at her sides, she wearily looked through her purple gla.s.ses…… “……To be honest, I don’t want to go back there. Because——all those sorcerers from the Alliance of Sorcerers were killed there.” “It’s not your fault, you’re a survivor.” “Is that so?” Stephanie’s voice sounded tired, she tossed her hair back as she looked down the ca.n.a.l——Orphen also leaned forward, staring at the water. Stephanie started to talk. “Alenhatan——this city was once inhabited by the Heavenly Beings. If you pick up an old map, you won’t find the current street names on it. It was mostly a small walled city back then, called Bajirikokku……”“Bajirikokku——the legendary monster?” Orphen said, then Stephanie lightly shrugged her shoulders. “Probably. It was a deadly magical beast unleashed by the Heavenly Beings, about 1000 years ago. Apparently they tried to use it to help them defeat their enemies——according to history books, the Heavenly Being’s used it to defend Bajirikokku fort. However, the walls of the city were destroyed in the fighting and the area became a desert. But that battle proved to only to weaken them, as the Heavenly Being’s lost more than half of their people.” “……A desert?” Orphen whispered, he then looked at the ca.n.a.l——it was full of water, the entire city was. Stephanie just laughed out loud. “It was called the Battle of Bajirikokku fort. After the battle, the land became unfit to live in. So the remaining Heavenly Being’s used magic to make the land usable again, they built a ca.n.a.l……then Alenhatan city came after. From this city, our human ancestors migrated all over the continent. Then——” “Hundreds of years later, the Heavenly Being’s disappeared.” Orphen finished her sentence, both of them looked at each other. “The walled city, does parts of it still exist? The Killing Doll said the place to meet was theBajirikokku fort.” Stephanie looked down the ca.n.a.l, and shook her head. “No. The walled city and the Bajirikokku fort were destroyed a thousand years ago, they don’t exist anymore.” “Then why would he suggest that place?” “…………” Stephanie was silent, she then looked to her side. She saw Cleo and Majic standing nearby. “Are you brining those two kids with you? To……the Killing Doll.” “They’re strong headed, especially Cleo.” “They are brave……but obviously they’re powers are limited. I doubt they’ll continue following you for much longer.” “He might not, but she will.” Orphen angrily looked at Cleo. “Don’t be like that.” Stephanie said, she then put her hands to her sides. “Anyway, back to the matter at hand. The Bajirikokku fort was actually the underground part of the city, even when Bajirikokku turned the area to sand, he didn’t do much damage to the underground sections.” “So……” “Parts of it still exist……under the ca.n.a.l.” Listening to her, Orphen leaned forward and looked at the ca.n.a.l. It was too dark, so he couldn’t make out much. “Have you ever been down there?” “More than once, I organized a research team to investigate the ruins. We thought we could find ancient weapons and information, but we were too hasty……” Stephanie stopped talking for a moment. “A week ago, the last time I went down there……we found it.” “What did you find?” “……We thought it was just some puppet. We took it back to the lab, and after several days of investigation……we found out it wasn’t just a puppet.” “What do you mean?” “It was a Killing Doll——an ancient weapon created by the Heavenly Beings to hunt down our kind.” “And that’s what destroyed the Alliance of Sorcerers building……” Orphen asked, Stephanie bit her lip. “Yes. We woke up a sleeping……killing machine, we were careless.” “……But even so, why hasn’t it eliminated all of the sorcerers in the city yet?” “I don’t know. All I remember is that words appeared all over its body——then everything’s a blur.” “They seem to be magic words.” “I know. But Orphen, it can use the Heavenly Being’s magic——you can’t win.” “I’ve got a trick or two……” Orphen muttered in a low tone, he then waved towards Majic and Cleo. “Hey! You two! Come over here!” Cleo ran towards him like a bolt of lightning, a gust of wind flying behind her. Majic was much slower, for he was carrying heavy luggage. Cleo stood proudly and spoke. “So, is you’re secret talk over?” “It wasn’t really secret.” “……That’s good to hear. Though next time don’t behind my back, okay?”   Orphen put his arms around her, and started caressing her hair with his fingers. “W-What are you doing, Orphen?” Cleo started to panic. Orphen ignored her, he then whispered in her ear. “Cleo. I have one thing to say.” “……W-What is it?” “I……” Orphen gave Majic a look, Majic secretly sighed. He began to take out the climbing rope from the luggage. Orphen secretly took the rope from him, and immediately started tying up Cleo. He was so fast that she didn’t even know what was going on until it was too late, now she was angry. “Orphen! What’s the big idea?” She didn’t get an answer. Her whole body was tied with rope, one would think that it looked like some kind of weird rope bondage fetish. With a grin on his face, Orphen kicked Cleo to the ground. “You’ve done well, my apprentice.” Orphen said as he looked at Majic, who wasn’t as ecstatic. “Here’s a list of things I took from the carriage……” Majic murmured softly. Cleo’s hands were tied, so she wasn’t able to stand back up. She squirmed like an angry caterpillar, her eyes filled with rage. “How dare you! You lied to me!” “Who lied to you? I said you could come along, I just didn’t say how far.” “Fine! Liar!” “Oh, shut your trap. Majic, get me a towel from the luggage.” “Help! I’m being kidnapped! Rape! Somebody save me——” Orphen stuffed a towel in her mouth, she couldn’t speak any longer, only moan. A lecherous grin appeared on Orphen’s face, as Orphen stroked her hair. “Wow, you’re very cute like this, Cleo.” “Pervert…” Majic said behind Orphen’s back. This naturally resulted in Orphen punching him in the gut. “Watch your mouth, boy!” “Ouch……what next Master? What are we going to do with Cleo?” “Well, you can tie her to a tree……just don’t do anything.” Orphen said, he was very harsh about his last comment. Majic showed an expression of relief, and then he started to move. “I can’t do this! I can’t leave Cleo in this state, misfortune is sure to follow me if I do.” “Do as I say!” “I won’t! She’ll surely find some way to get her revenge on us, she’ll tie us upside down to a tree until blood rushes to our head. Then we’ll be roasted over a fire and fried like marshmallows.” Majic would clearly distraught, Orphen’s gaze fell upon the struggling Cleo. “……I can’t believe this……” “Ugh——!” Cleo vigorously groaned. “Forget it, just keep her here. There aren’t that many people out at this type of night.” “……But what if we run into some human traffickers?” “Well, hide her in an alleyway.” “There could be wild dogs there!”