“You are…”
Cedric felt fear.
To him, the unknown did not exist.
He understood why humans feared the dark.
Why they cowered before wild beasts.
Because he knew the reasons, Cedric never wavered, no matter the situation.
To him, emotions were mere appendages, controlled by reason.
He had never truly been afraid of anything.
But now, for the first time, Cedric was afraid of someone else.
He didn’t understand.
He couldn’t grasp what this Kori standing before him truly was.
The perfect pattern he had constructed was unraveling once again.
In a stunned voice, Cedric asked,
“Why?”
Kori should have taken his hand.
It was only natural.
Kori’s role, this small monster, was to betray Yuri, to burn with hatred for humans, and to look toward the new world.
If not—
If not, then what was the thing Cedric had seen that day?
He remembered that moment clearly.
Laurent, corrupted by dark magic, his mind twisted as if burned, bristled with hostility toward everyone.
Every human who saw Laurent despised him, and he, in turn, scorned all humans.
It was so easy to turn a shining young man into a hideous monster.
Yet, there was one who did not turn away.
Kori.
This small half-orc doggedly followed Laurent.
Curious, Cedric disguised himself and trailed Kori.
The life of an ugly, small half-orc was harsh. Though he had gained the ability to use magic, humans never accepted him, and Kori always lived covered in filth.
All because of his ugly face.
Foolish.
Humans, driven by instincts etched into their genes, who even abandoned their own invented morals, were, to Cedric, contemptible.
If he were Kori, he would have killed them all with magic long ago.
But Kori never exploded with rage.
That was when Cedric’s interest was piqued.
What was that half-orc thinking?
He wanted to know more, to see deeper.
So he began to peer into Kori’s emotions.
He couldn’t reach the deepest layers, but reading the surface feelings was easy enough.
They were ordinary.
So ordinary that Cedric couldn’t understand why Kori endured so much.
He even harbored the simple, utterly mundane wish to be feared by others.
Then one day came.
Laurent lay unconscious in bed, wounded, and Kori quietly watched over him.
Kori, that ugly creature, was so hard to read that even his expressions were difficult to discern.
Why was he just standing there, watching so silently?
Did he feel pity for him?
Watching Kori, Cedric once again used dark magic to peer into his inner world.
And then—
He felt wonder.
A pure, untainted joy he had never experienced before.
He had never seen such a pristine emotion.
Cedric stood up, mouth agape, and gasped.
Yes. This was it.
This was what it meant to be human.
This was why he despised humans.
Watching a beloved human fall into ruin and be scorned, humans could still feel such pure happiness.
Kori.
Ugly, hunched, limping half-orc.
A small monster who had chased after the light of Yuri Briol, only to realize his place and bow his head.
This discovery made Cedric feel a joy different from that inspired by Yuri.
Kori became a symbol to Cedric—reminding him of the inefficiency of the old world and the lowly nature of humanity.
So he took Kori in.
As expected, Kori obeyed, looking toward a new world where he would not be despised.
That was all there was to it.
But then, why?
Why was this creature now standing in his way?
“Why?”
Looking up at Cedric, Kori’s face stirred a strange sense of déjà vu.
The peculiar twitching of his facial muscles.
The expression he wore when looking down at Laurent.
Could it be that now, once again, he was feeling that same pure emotion?
What was this thing?
Had his mind been so twisted that it was broken beyond repair?
“I don’t know, Kori. What exactly are you?”
For the first time, Cedric admitted his ignorance.
[I am…]
Cedric felt fear again. He had no idea what words would come from Kori’s mouth.
But his body would not move.
Like a condemned man awaiting judgment,
Cedric could only watch as Kori’s lips parted.
Kori recalled the moment he first met Cedric.
“Isn’t it strange? You, who wield magic, are despised by those pathetic humans who only know how to till fields and catch rabbits.”
“I am…”
“I will recreate this inefficient and unjust world.”
“That’s impossible.”
“No, it’s not.”
And Cedric quietly looked at him.
In his pupils, Kori saw something terrible. He was so shocked he forgot to breathe.
The darkness and resentment dwelling within were deep enough to swallow the world whole.
So Kori made his decision.
He would follow Cedric.
For Yuri’s sake, he would deceive him.
There was no other way to stop this man.
Cedric was literally trying to destroy the world.
He would probably be misunderstood.
Might be beheaded before he could explain.
Branded a traitor who betrayed his own kind, remembered forever in history.
He was afraid.
But there was no choice.
Pretending to help Cedric, Kori searched for what he could do.
He went to Zbeta and met Jane.
“You can’t hide your roots. I thought you’d learned some humanity after being taken in by His Majesty, but you’re no different from those filthy, vulgar orcs. Betraying your own kind and now clinging to the empire? Half-orc scum…”
The insults didn’t faze him.
He heard far worse every day.
But to deceive Cedric, he had to torment her.
“I don’t know how you ended up in the empire, but you’re so arrogant.”
Because he was usually so clumsy, no one suspected his poor acting.
He knocked Jane out with a half-hearted magic seal and kept her alive.
He brought many prisoners under the pretense of experiments.
Through this, Kori realized what he had to do.
He actually experimented with the magic seals.
But not the kind that harmed people.
He decided to use his power to hinder Cedric.
“Jane, I might fail, but I’ll do my best.”
The ritual to sacrifice humans to the gods of another world was so evil and powerful that interfering was no easy task.
Kori practiced the magic seals all night.
And finally, he succeeded.
He inscribed his magic seals on the prisoners’ foreheads, making it so that neither dark magic nor otherworldly beings could dare approach.
Only then did he begin to understand the meaning of the seals Cruar had taught him.
Now, all that remained was Yuri Briol.
And Yuri exceeded Kori’s expectations.
The Anti-Empire Alliance was formed, and after many twists and turns, they reached Zbeta.
Here, Kori’s arrangements shone.
Cedric thought he had succeeded, but the god of the other world had not received the full price of their contract, so he had not fully exerted his power and withdrew beyond.
And now—
Defeated by Yuri, Cedric sought to destroy everything.
And Kori stood alone before him.
Cedric shook his head.
“You disrupted the ritual with mere magic seals? That’s a lie. Impossible. Such a thing can’t stop me. Seals are always…”
[It’s because of you.]
“Me?”
[Because of you, I learned.]
Kori placed his hand over his chest.
He knew himself.
Ugly and ugly, weak in body, with a crooked spine that made walking difficult.
Though he had a magic organ, it was too weak to use freely like Cruar.
For someone like him to stop Cedric was impossible.
But—
“Kori, you felt joy when you saw the twisted Laurent, didn’t you?”
Yes, that was true.
It was a truthful answer, born from his innermost self, without any lies.
But Cedric was wrong again.
He said Kori felt satisfaction watching Laurent fall into ruin.
No, no.
Kori shook his head.
He had felt joy, but its source was different.
Seeing Laurent, twisted and spitting venom like himself, the first thing he felt—
Seeing the once radiant, admired young man turned into a monster, the genuine emotion he felt.
If someone asked him then—
If Cedric asked him now—
Kori could answer without hesitation.
Affection.
I feel affection.
I, Kori, feel affection for you.
No matter how ugly you become.
No matter how much venom you spit or how many thorns you raise.
I care for your well-being, wish for your peace, and hope you find happiness at last.
“That’s nonsense. You’re lying now. Kori, shut up. Don’t say another word. You are…”
The world gave flowers to the beautiful you, but spat scorn and mockery at the ugly you.
Yet my affection remains unchanged.
Beautiful or ugly,
I still love you as I did at the start.
And the moment I realized that,
I understood.
That I—
Had already become human.
“Nonsense, nonsense…”
I wanted to be human.
Yuri Briol.
The one who first brought me light, like the sun.
He once asked me what my dream was.
I answered him like this:
“I want to be accepted by others, to belong, to live among them.”
That was my dream.
Though I was scorned and bullied by people, I still wanted to be human.
Because I was born a hideous, ugly half-orc, I knew all the more how radiant humans truly are.
I longed to be part of their world—to laugh and chatter alongside them, to be recognized as one of them.
But now, that’s no longer the case.
I no longer need their approval.
Even though Lorant has changed.
Though his face has twisted into something ugly, and cruel words spill from his mouth.
Still, the affection I hold inside has not wavered.
And in that moment, I realized something profound:
I was already truly human.
I feel sorry for Lorant, but that truth brought me joy.
I am human.
More so than the countless others who spit on us and look down on us.
Far more.
My heart was already human.
And so, from the depths of my being, I tasted a happiness unlike any other.
“Cut the crap! That’s impossible. Cory, shut up. You’re just going to come with me to a new world…”
What is it?
What is it that made me feel such affection for Lorant, even as he became so ugly?
What is it that makes a human truly human?
Where does this thing called the heart come from?
I, small, ugly, and lacking as I am, cannot say.
All I can do is revere it, worship it.
The heart.
I can vividly feel the moment that wondrous thing stirs.
What greater miracle could there be?
Once, Lord Cruar said:
If I could understand why language becomes magic, then I would truly be able to wield the Word.
Yes.
He was right.
I didn’t know then, but now I do.
Born as different beings,
Unable to fully connect heart to heart,
We desperately reach out to others through language.
Yes, I can never master killing.
Because the will to kill is something I can hardly comprehend.
All I can do
Is to pour my sincerest heart into language,
To share the most wondrous thing I know.
Now, Cedric.
Listen closely.
This is the only Word I have.
“No, I won’t listen. Cory. You’ve been lying and babbling nonsense from start to finish. Stop it. I will never…”
The Word of Power.
Emotion.