Chapter 4.1 Knight Commander Houston

Houston, Knight Commander of the fortress city of Krassel.

He had a long and storied background.

20 years ago, at the young age of 13, he first joined the army as soldier-in-training.

On his first deployment, due to a severe lack of manpower, he was sent straight to the front lines. In that same battle, the Alliance faced a gruesome loss.

While his comrades lay dead, guts strewn across the bloodstained dirt, Houston was fortunate enough to live and see another day. After almost ten more years of being ferried from battlefield to battlefield, he eventually accumulated enough merit and experience to be become a Company Commander.

And as fate would have it, the battle he fought in right after getting promoted was a hellish retreat.

It was a horrific battle.

Every superior officer, from the General all the way down to the Battalion Commanders were either killed or fled. The chaos left by ever-changing chain of command left the army confused and frustrated.

When nearly 60% of the troops hard died, the role of Commander-in-Chief fell into Houston’s lap, even though he was just a measly Company Commander.

When a medic came to him, reporting that the last superior officer above him had died from his injuries and that he was now in charge, Houston, completely incredulous, thought this was all a bad joke.

But Houston, ever the soldier, kept his head down and did his job.

He rallied the remaining 40% of the forces and managed to retreat safely, taking almost no further losses.

His talent blossomed. He had a knack for commanding large armies.

Nevertheless, the success of that retreat was thanks to an insane stroke of luck. The opposing Orcish forces had recalled their forward troops to another position that was under assault and had determined that chasing down the remaining Humans wasn’t worth it.

In any case, his performance was highly praised within the military, and Houston earned a fast-track promotion to Second-in-Command of the Anti-Orc Army – an army that mainly fought against the Orcs and their Faerie allies.

Five years after becoming Second-in-Command, the main Commander fell in battle, leaving his position up for grabs. Being the next in line, Houston was the obvious choice to replace him.

As Commander, Houston kept on fighting the Orcs for a whole decade.

When facing the Orcs, he pulled out all the stops, and held nothing back.

He gathered every single scrap of intel, strained his wits to their limit, and even went as far as going to the front lines himself risking his life to kill even a single additional Orc.

As result, among the Humans, nobody had taken the life of as many Orcs as Houston.

[Houston, the Swine Slayer.]

Even post-war, he was merciless towards Orcs.

He was especially ruthless towards stray Orcs.

No matter how much they cried, yelled, prayed, and begged for their lives, he never paid them any mind. They were sent to the gallows without a second thought.

He inspired both fear and respect in the men and women who enlisted after the war.

In fact, however, even despite his gruesome nickname, Houston didn’t have any particular ill-feelings towards Orcs.

He was neither prejudiced nor discriminatory.

He didn’t really hate Orcs.

He just knew a lot about Orcs.

And his knowledge ran deep.

When Houston first became Second-in-Command, in order for him to perform his duties adequately – to better kill Orcs while minimizing casualties, he needed to know as much as he could about his opponents.

Diving headfirst into his studies, he soaked up any information he could get his hands on.

He observed Orcs, documented their behavior, scoured past literature, and sometimes even spoke to prisoners of war.

And thus, Houston had come to a realization.

He figured out that Orcs, even though they seemed like band of roving murder-rape monsters, were conscious, living beings just like Humans were – they just had an entirely different set of values, morals, and common sense.

It was impossible to judge Orcs using Human standards.

Of course, Houston feelings towards the Orcs weren’t all roses and rainbows.

He still held a grudge, albeit a small one, towards them for the unnumerable death’s they’ve caused. For the thousands of men and comrades he’d lost to their swords.

But ever since the end of the war, he gradually stopped unnecessary animosity towards them, and even grew to respect them.

The reason he was so harsh on stray Orcs because they embodied the worst sides of Orcish society.

They weren’t even able to follow Orcish laws, let alone Human ones.

Letting a stray Orc anywhere near Humanity was a recipe for disaster. Better safe than sorry, as they say. In this case, being safe meant ridding the world of stray Orcs before they could cause any harm.

Those who couldn’t conform to civilized society were no better than vermin.

And just like vermin, they should be exterminated.

In the years following the signing of the peace treaty, his thorough attitude and end-justify-the-means way of doing things finally got him knighted and appointed as the Knight Commander of Krassel.

Thanks to his empathy towards the Orcs, the chances of a conflict sparking up again were slim, and if war ever did happen again, he was the best man to protect Krassel.

“What? You caught the suspects of the highway attack case?”

That day, he received a particular report from one of his subordinates.

“Yes, sir. Looks like it was an Orc.”

“Didn’t I tell you that you didn’t need to report to me for matters concerning stray Orcs? You don’t need to tell me everything, just kill it”

Houston shook his head as he answered.

According to agreements made with the Orc King, any Orc that was exiled from their country was fair game and could be killed without repercussion.

Houston would have preferred the Orcs deal with their own issues, but they had their own laws too, so he resigned himself to the fact that he had to clean up after them.

“But sir, we’re not sure if it’s a stray. He was well dressed, and his answers held up to questioning.”

“In that case, just let him go. It’s a pity, but we can’t do anything about it.”

“But sir, Judith said there was something off about him… that he was suspicious…”

“Gah, that stupid girl. How does she intent to bear the responsibility if this whole thing starts a war with the Orcs…”

Judith was the knight in charge of the case involving attacks in the forest.

She had recently been knighted and had been at this post for nearly a year. She was finally getting used to her tasks, so Houston entrusted her with a case.

At first it was supposed to be an easy open-and-shut case, but whether because the perpetrator was unexpectedly cunning or Judith was spectacularly incompetent, it had yet to progress.

Recently, she had been getting impatient and frustrated with her lack of results.

She wanted to do everything she could to earn merit and respect, all in order to prove that she wasn’t inept.

“Well, what’s your opinion?”

“Well, there are certainly some suspicious aspects to the whole things. He didn’t want to talk about why he was here, and he had a Faerie friend accompanying him. He was also… very calm when we surrounded him. It was pretty unsettling. He may be a… spy.”

“Pffft…!”

Houston couldn’t help but laugh.

This particular recruit was still young and hasn’t known war.

Which is most likely why he didn’t know much about the Orcs.

If he had any idea what Orcs were truly like, he would have never even considered using “Orc” and “Spy” in the same sentence.

“Sir Houston, this is no laughing matter! They may be trying to get inside information by deliberately getting caught by us!”

“No Orc is that clever you dummy. If anyone wanted to spy on us, they’d have only sent Faeries.”

The Orcs that Houston knew so well wouldn’t bother with something as complicated as getting purposefully captured.

If that Orc was able to and wanted to beat Judith and her subordinates, he would have already done so. He would have killed the men, and then proceeded to interrogate and rape Judith – at the same time.

Orcs weren’t capable of sophisticated intel gathering maneuvers in the first place, let alone gather information by infiltrating the enemy.

They could do some minor reconnaissance at best.

Tracking the enemy’s position, their number, the composition of their equipment, how many swords, if they had bowmen… that sort of thing.

Anyhow, the fact that he went along and let himself be arrested without a fight suggests that he isn’t a stray Orc.

He was most likely a regular, civilized Orc just trying its best to get along with Humans and respect the laws set by the Orc King.

Orcs had a strong sense of community and belonging, and seldom travelled alone, so it wasn’t common to hear about an Orc making his way through the world on his own… but just like Humans, there were many kinds of Orcs. It wouldn’t surprise Houston if there was an individual like that amongst them.

Judith most likely just got impatient and jumped the gun…

…is what Houston decided.

[But the fact that he had a Faerie companion is certainly curious…]

Back during the war, seeing Orcs and Faeries together meant something was up – that an operation was underway.

Even though they were now at peace, Houston’s warrior instincts nagged at him from the back of his mind.

“Alright, I’ll take a look,”

Said Houston as he stood up.