That day, on the outskirts of Heglas Hive, the two of them struggled to hold out under Ork artillery fire, only to be knocked down together by a single shell.
Fortunately, the shell fragments did not hit them. They had merely been knocked unconscious by the blast wave.
Unfortunately, the Orks discovered they were still alive and escorted them back to camp, trading them to the whip boys for a few big teeth as payment.
That was how they had ended up here.
After listening to Annie's quiet account, Joseph only felt the shame and humiliation in his heart grow heavier.
They worked as slaves under the Gretchins, watching those ugly, foul-smelling, wretched creatures swagger before them. Joseph felt that their dignity as human beings had been trampled beneath their feet.
That mine pit was actually a factory district built in the wasteland, containing quite a few excavation machines and storage facilities. It had fallen when the Orks attacked.
After occupying and modifying it, the Orks turned that sprawling factory district piled high with ruins into a mine. After all, to the Orks, digging for ore and digging for iron plates were not all that different. Occasionally unearthing an engineering vehicle was their greatest surprise.
The crushing labor and the dangerous, dim environment were nothing compared to the threat posed by the Orks.
Those Orks merely looked as though they could talk and be reasoned with. Their fundamental moral logic was the complete opposite of humanity's. Joseph had no intention of learning from the nobles and bowing and scraping to the Orks. Instead, he quietly prepared to fight in secret.
Even if he died, he had to die charging forward.
That was what his loudmouthed sergeant had always said. Joseph had not seen him in the camp; he had probably