Chapter 24.1 Dance With The Orcs (5)
T/L: Lore_Temple (foxaholic)
The dinner prepared by the orcs was more splendid than I expected.
Chilli roast mutton, smoked pork, and a variety of traditional orc delicacies and many others.
It was an unexpected treatment for those who had been intruders of their territory until recently.
During the banquet—
"Ha Ha Ha! To be honest, I realized it at the first moment my brother and I faced with our swords. My sword couldn't even reach brother's shadow!"
“Brother, you were the one who surprised me the most. Man, your muscles are rocks or what? My evading skills were actually a little less classy. If I had made even one mistake, I wouldn't be sitting here, ha ha."
I because brothers with Lugar.
It happened while we were drunk, but what about it?
In the first place, aren't fellow sworn brothers discovered while drinking or making mistakes?
And as we became sworn brothers, the atmosphere of the banquet became softer.
Those who acted cautiously at first began to actively participate in the banquet.
They shed tears of joy at the delicious dinner they didn't know how long after they had eaten. When the Orcs saw it, they laughed and enthusiastically passed them more food to eat.
Of course, not everyone enjoyed the banquet like normal peoples.
“I heard you two became brothers… hiccup, which of you two is the older and who is the younger one?”
There was a guy who stretched out his legs unnecessarily while he should have been quietly eating in moderation.
Normally, it is rightful that I, who won the duel, would be the older brother. However, the psychology of orcs with their strong self-esteem, there is bound to be an unconscious aversion on calling a human older brother.
So, I tried to gloss over it, but… This ignorant Callios person pulled it out blantly in the limelight.
Well, that doesn't mean there actually isn't a solution.
“Brother! That unscrupulous bastard is testing our brotherhood! Should he not pay the price for testing our iron solid brotherhood?”
“Ya, brother is right!”
Lugar, who nodded his head, gave an order to the other orcs.
– Hey, put that jumpy guy into the jail till the banquet is over!
– Understood!
Perhaps they also didn't like the way this particular human acted, the orcs were also eager to drag out Callios.
"Huh? Uh?!? Hey, let go! Wait, there's a lot I haven't eaten yet! Don't let me go!? You know who I am….”
Callios was screaming like a pig who was dragged to the slaughterhouse, but as he was gradually dragged further away, his screams became lesser and lesser.
We put our minds on enjoying the banquet again.
As the banquet came to an end, Lugar and I were admiring a masterpiece in the chieftain's house.
I don't know if it was because we had become sworn brothers or because he reminisced something while looking at the masterpiece, but Lugar told me about his difficult past.
It was a story about the burden of taking over the chieftain's duties at a young age after his father, the former chieftain, tried to challenge the giant scorpion and died.
“It must have been difficult.”
“Gmm, it was hard. Every night I felt the urge to leave everything and run away.”
“But you didn’t.”
“The tribesmen's hope was on me, so how could I allow myself to escape.”
“You are a good chieftain. It is understandable that the other orcs respect you so much.”
"Ha ha, don’t over-praise me too much, or my mentality will float. Everything I did was just fulling my responsibility. Ho, I'd rather hear your story than that."
"My story?"
"Yes. Although I have not lived for too long, I have never seen anyone as good in swordsmanship as you, brother. Not only among humans, but also among orc warriors. How the hell did you achieve that level of swordsmanship?”
I laughed out loud at Lugar's words.
Shaking the glass of ale, I watched the ale sway in waves.
“It's true that my swordsmanship is excellent. But it's not because I'm good. But because my friends were great.”
They were heroes.
Heroes who stood upright on the continent with their own bold moral objectives.
I just copied what they achieved, and sometimes what they didn't. That's not to say I stole it, rather they taught me.
If you're a warrior, you won't so generously teach your lifetime achievements to others.
“They were generous.”
How wide would one's heart has to be, to so easily just pass over whatever you have achieved throughout your life to the hands of others?
Maybe it was because they had that big of a heart, that they made it possible to rise upto that position.
Lugar nodded his head thoughtfully as I smiled bitterly thinking about them.
“It looks like it's something you can’t say.”
“Thank you for your understanding. Let's call it a day. Now that I feel, my head hurts a little.”
By the way, I pulled out two tabloids from my pocket and placed them on the table. Seeing them, Lugar eyes widened.
"This…"
“The price of today's meal. I'm not so shameless to extol a free meal from a friendly orc tribe."
Lugar looked at the tabloids of worth 1 million gold for a moment, then firmly shook his head.
“As a chieftain, I only treated the guest of the tribe. You can't take money from a guest.”
"Oh, did you upgrade my status from a intruder to a guest?”
“I won't consider my brother as an intruder.”
Lugar smiled, revealing his sharp molars. I smiled at him and tossed the two tabloid purses of money to him.
“Okay, that's enough, now take it. I would feel uncomfortable if my brother’s tribe starved because of me.”
"Yeah, but…"
“If it’s that hard to accept, why don’t you do me a favour.”
"Favour? Is there anything that you want?”
"The glyphs that you orcs can carve. Can I get that too?”
I looked into Lugar's eyes and asked. Unsurprisingly, Lugar's face hardened. Even if we are sworn brothers, is it still not possible?
‘How the hell did that Gis guy get one?'
Did he slept with an orc chieftain?
I sighed and said.
“I was just saying for the sake of it. No need to take it so seriously."
"…no. Brother's request… Wait a minute.”
Having said that, Lugar went out of the barracks and returned after a while. Rubbing his red swollen head, looking like he had received quite a beating.
"…I'm sorry, but I don't think it's possible. It is said that it's impossible to engrave a glyph on an ordinary human.”
“What if I’m not an ordinary human?”
I took out my Hero's badge from my inner pocket and threw it at Lugar.
Seeing the Hero's badge, Lugar tilted his head.
"This?"
“That’s a plaque that proves that I am a Hero. Take it with you and ask again.”
Lugar looked surprised.
"Hero? That means, brother, you are a hero?”
"Yes."
“Haha, really? Damn, I should have known. Lugar, the son of Roxar, how can I be defeated by an ordinary human! Yes, brother, wait a minute!”
Lugar ran out to the barracks with excitement. When he came back, his face was more swollen than before.
"…ha ha, brother. The elders said they want to meet you.”
“Uh… I see…”
That… I'm sorry.
* * *
The elders in Luger's mouth were elderly people living up to their image as tribal elders. Their faces were full of wrinkles while they were enclothed in shabby robes, and there was no orc-specific hulky muscles present on their limbs.
However, their unique aura was not comparable to other Orcs.
Those five elders sat down solemnly, moving their eyes and looking at me.
“So, you are one of the Heroes of this generation?”
Among the five elders, the elder who sat in the center asked in a voice that spoke of his age.
"Yes."
“Which kingdom's Hero are you?”
“The Hero of the Kingdom of Prona.”
“Ah, the Kingdom of Prona. I still remember it, the bread made from the wheat produced there is so delicious.”
“I don’t know if there are any other pros of my kingdom, but in terms of farming, it is far superior to any other kingdom.”
“Right… That's why everyone expects to receive Prona's wheat at the end of the Harvest Day. Unfortunately, mostly the strong tribes take them all.”
The second elder smiled and said, with a hint of regret in his tone.
“More than that, our young chieftain said you wanted to receive a glyph?”
"Yes."
“From the distant past, there has never been a single instance of engraving a glyph on a human. If we can engrave a glyph on you, our tribe will be recorded as the first in history. And that's not some honorable achievement. Do you know?”
"Yes."
“I'm glad that you know. Then I'll ask you one thing. Why should we bear such disgrace for you?”
“Second elder! I—”
“Chieftain, be still. This is a matter of critical importance to the tribe. I mean, you shouldn't make dealings with your private feelings here. Now, Hero, tell me.”
If there's something that goes, shouldn't there be something that comes? The second elder meant that. I answered without hesitation.
“You can make friends with a Hero.”
“How would it be beneficial to our tribe?”
“As far as I know, most orc tribes are heavily dependent on crops looted from the three kingdoms.”
“It's an undeniable fact.”
“Until now, the three kingdoms have accepted the deterrence brought by the orc army and has offered grains because they know that they can't win or the victory will be brought by a heavy loss. Maybe this year, or the next year. But one of these years will be different. They will not offer grains to the orcs.”
“Do they have any another option except offering the grains to us?”
What do you mean by that?
The second elder asked with a sharp gaze.
“They will choose war.”
“Heh… Are you saying that a kingdom, not the Empire, will compete with our army?”
“Usually, that would be impossible. No matter how hard the kingdoms prepare, will they be able to compete with the orcs born with the heart of a warrior, that's what you mean, right? But what I mean to simply say is that now is not the usual time.”
I pointed at the Hero's badge.
The elders' eyes dimmed.
"Heroes…"
"That's right. Now, there is a Hero in each kingdom. Beings that are both human and non-human. They are still growing at this moment. And one day, when they are incomparably stronger than before, the kingdoms will not obediently hand over the grains to you like before.”
“Are you saying that the Heroes will step forward?”
“There is no reason not to. These are the guys who will one day hold great power in their own respective kingdoms. Would they like to see the orcs take away the kingdom’s property?”
“Will the Empire stand still?”
The orcs' looting behavior of the kingdoms was also a good thing for the Empire. Because the orcs shackled their growth by taking away the kingdom's surplus produce.
The second elder's words meant that how can the Empire stand still when the kingdoms try to break those imposed shackles.
"By that time, no matter how much the Empire doesn't want it to happen, it wouldn’t be possible for them to oppress or instruct the kingdoms like before.”
So far, it was possible to oppress the three kingdoms with overwhelming military power.
However, even the Empire is not strong enough to face all three grown Heroes.
“…Are you saying that our tribe will be given a lifeline by your kingdom at that time?”
“If we interpret it politically… yes. In fact, I can receive the glyphs from other tribes if I want to. Among the many tribes, wouldn't there be atleast one such tribe that would be willing to engrave a glyph for me? However, I wanted to have a mutual win-win exchange with the tribe of my brother instead of looking for the other tribes.”
“.…leave us for a while. I will talk with the other elders.”
The silent central elder spoke.
After that, after a few hours, I was finally asked to come back.
“We grant the permission to engrave the glyphs.”
And so, I became the first human ever to receive a glyph.
* * *
