TPDGR 06

Chapter 6…..

A few days later, the three orcs returned.

The one who had injured his forearm was almost fully healed, thanks to the herbs Gyu had given him.
New flesh had grown over the hole in his arm.
A scar might remain, but it had healed fairly well.

Since cleaning had become second nature to them, the orcs divided the chores among themselves without me having to assign them and tidied up the Demon King’s castle.

I walked over to the three, who had just finished mopping.

“There’s somewhere else you need to clean.”

“Huh? Not this castle?”

“Right. Follow me.”

I flicked my cloak and led the way.

“Looks like he’s going to pile more work on us after the last cleaning job.”

“Well, it makes sense. That’s the least we can do to earn a basket of fruit… honestly, he’s already been paying us generously.”

The orcs muttered as I took them to a village behind the Demon King’s castle.

“Lord Demon King, why have you brought us here?”

“This, this, and this.”

I pointed at three empty houses in the village.

“These three houses. Clean them up thoroughly.”

“Eh? These houses?”

“Not a speck of dust left. They’ve been sitting here for a hundred years, so there’s a lot to repair and clean.”

“Yes.”

“And clear out those small fields up ahead. Dig out all the rocks and tree roots.”

“You’re planning to farm?”

“Yeah. I can’t keep eating fruit forever. Tastes good, but still.”

“That’s a good idea. Understood.”

“Oh, and check if that well with the lid on it is still usable.”

“You’re giving us a lot of tasks today…”

“Oh? You got a problem with that?!”

“N-no, not at all!”

With my hands clasped behind my back, I glanced at the orcs.

They still looked like they didn’t quite understand what was going on.

I suddenly raised my voice.

“What? You don’t want to clean when it’s going to be your house?”

“…Excuse me?”

“Hmph! Don’t make me repeat myself.”

I turned my head away, avoiding their eyes.

“Those three houses are yours from now on. You three can decide who takes which.”

“L-Lord Demon King!”

“You mean… you’re giving us houses…?”

The orcs stood dumbfounded, and then, realizing what I meant, they began to cry one by one.

Just as I expected.

They had left so coldly a few days ago, saying they expected nothing from me… and yet now they were bawling like this?

How shameless.

The orcs wept so hard their noses ran.

“Don’t cry. Big scary guys crying like that makes me uncomfortable.”

“Uwaaahhh!”

“You’re now my dungeon monsters. I’ll give you homes and wages, so I want you to immigrate here.”

“How could such a thing be possible… sniff!”

Honestly, they had been on my mind since the day one of them got stabbed because of me.
No, even before that.

Still, I had pretended not to notice, because opening my mouth felt burdensome.

Sure, a dungeon’s rank goes up when it has monsters, but I’d been too lazy to bother.

But not anymore.
No—I couldn’t ignore it anymore.

Taking them in was simply the more comfortable choice.

Yeah. Sometimes, the easiest path is the right one.

Hunters will keep barging in eventually.
Shouldn’t there at least be some guards at the gates to keep up appearances as a dungeon boss?

Seeing those huge, ugly guys crying their eyes out, I felt tears threatening to well up myself—must’ve been hormones messing with me.

“Sniff.”

I had a reputation to keep as Demon King, though.

So I grabbed Gyu, who was by my feet, and wiped my eyes on his translucent body.

“Gyuu?”

“I’m not sad.”

“Gyuu.”

“It’s just hormones. Really.”

At that, Gyu trembled and chuckled softly.

And so, the three orcs became part of my dungeon.

At the gates of the Kingdom of Organ.

A hooded man waited anxiously, his companions standing behind him.

The gates opened, and the captain of the guard stepped out.

The man approached, and the captain gave a small nod.

“His Majesty the King has granted you asylum.”

“Thank you.”

The man bowed his head, and as he tried to bring his companions inside, the captain held out an arm to stop them.

“What’s the meaning of this?”

“You.”

The captain jerked his chin at him.

“His Majesty grants asylum only to you. On the condition that you fight as a hero in the war.”

Hero.

The man’s jaw tightened at that word.

“…I wish to seek asylum with these people. And I refuse to fight in any war against monsters.”

“That so? Then negotiations are over. Try your luck at another kingdom.”

The captain sneered as his eyes roamed over the ragged group.

“Judging by your state, you’ve already been rejected by several, haven’t you?”

“…”

Behind the captain, soldiers bustled about busily.

After the great war that had divided the continent into five, another race war had erupted.

The Five Kingdom Alliance seemed determined to wipe monsters from the land completely.

The man bit his lip, glaring at the gates as they closed.

“If only I hadn’t closed the Demon King’s dungeon…”

“Griffiths, it looks like all five kingdoms have decided to join the war. What do we do now?”

A hooded woman asked softly.

The man gripped her hand.

“There must be another way.”

As he murmured bitterly, a huge cloaked figure passed by.

An orc.

The man recognized the stench instantly—it was a monster.

He hid his companions somewhere safe, then trailed after the suspicious orc.

The orc, having traded a giant blood-red fruit for seeds and saplings, seemed relieved once he left the capital. He strolled into a tavern filled with monsters and began boasting over drinks.

“All this booze? Paid for with the wages my boss gave me. The new master doesn’t beat us—he actually protects us!”

“Ha! Cut the crap. No dungeon master’s that generous.”

The monsters laughed at him.

Of course they didn’t believe him.

Dungeon bosses were supposed to rule through fear, squeeze their minions dry, and exploit them mercilessly.

The idea of one who paid wages, gave sick leave, and defended his minions from enemies? Absurd.

“If you don’t believe me, fine! Honestly, I don’t even want other monsters trespassing on our Demon King’s land anyway!”

The orc, pleasantly drunk, staggered out, saying he should head back.

“A benevolent Demon King who takes care of monsters…”

Meanwhile, the man’s eyes glimmered sharply as he followed.

The orcs worked hard to clean the houses I’d assigned them.

A hundred years of dust and decay meant it took a whole week just to tidy them.

I told them they could bring family too, but they said they had none.

Well, of course. Who’d dare get married and raise kids when they weren’t even fed properly?
Bringing a child into that kind of world would be cruelty itself.

Dungeon masters seemed completely bound to their dungeons, unable to leave.
But lesser monsters weren’t so restricted.

The orcs had nothing worth fetching, so they settled in the village right away.

As for why I took them in… honestly, no special reason.

If I had to name one—because they were good at cleaning?

Or maybe… sentimentality.

Koreans are soft when it comes to emotions and backstories, after all.

What I wanted was simple: Gyu, me, and the three orcs living together in peace.

Quietly. Modestly.

For systematic dungeon management, I assigned them chores: cleaning duty, guard duty.

Their payment was still a basket of fruit, but once farming became possible, I planned to share that too.

Could rice paddies even grow here?

“Number 1 said he’d go get seeds from another land, right?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

I’d decided to call them Orc No. 1, No. 2, and No. 3.

While No. 2, the only male among them, stood guard at the Demon King’s castle against possible hunter intrusions, No. 1 was tasked with using a gate to travel to another world and trade monster fruits for seeds.

As I waited for No. 1’s return, I asked,

“By the way, is there really nowhere else livable besides my land? I get that while I was asleep you were just stealing fruit from here, but in all that time, you never found another place to settle?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

No. 2 answered with his hands behind his back.

“Not just us. Other orcs too have been sneaking through gates, searching for lands to immigrate to. Gates connect not only to dungeons but also to other human worlds.”

“Human worlds?”

“Kingdoms where humans live, you might say. Among ourselves, we call places where humans live ‘human worlds,’ and where demonkin live, ‘dungeons.’”

“So what you’re saying is—there’s more than one human world?”

“Yes, that’s correct.