Chapter 93: False alarm? (2)

"What? What false alarm?" I tensed up when I heard the unprecedented news.

"Us. We're the false alarm." Luke sighed and shook his head in disappointment.

"Oh, you mean their idea?" General Zhang piped up, his elbow was still resting on my shoulder.

"Exactly. They weren't planning to do a coup d'etat, it seems." Luke nodded, approving his words.

"Dude, what do you mean by 'their' idea? Isn't it 'our' idea?" I frowned at general Zhang and tried to get his elbow off of my shoulder, but I couldn't.

"Hey, you and that porcupine were the ones who decided that. I just watched. So I'm off the blame~" He said as he bent his elbow to squish both of my cheeks using one hand.

"Hew!" I protested, but it was hard to speak while your cheeks were being squeezed.

"So, do we have any leads about Jean-jean and the kid's whereabouts?" While ignoring me, general Zhang looked up to Luke and asked.

"Yeah. Those orcs really took them, that part of your speculation is confirmed," Luke replied, "but they didn't take them to go fight the elves. They needed the kid for something else."

"Hoh? Whah foh?" I questioned, raising an eyebrow.

"Their leader is gravely bedridden. Well, long story short, they need a special concoction. And guess who can make it?" Luke explained.

"Bleh!" I finally shoved off a certain eel off of me, and regained my ability to speak clearly, "wait, Firiell can make some sort of potion witchcraft scientific stuff?"

"You phrased it weirdly, kid. Witchcraft and science don't belong in the same sentence. But apparently, yes." Luke nodded, but he wore a confused expression upon hearing my phrasing.

"How did you know for sure? That orc can't speak." I tilted my head in confusion.

"Let's come back and regroup with general Emilio. You'll see why." Luke replied shortly.

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We quickly jogged back to where we left general Emilio with that poor orc, and found them sitting in front of each other. The orc's hand was still moving and swirling around, busy scribbling something on the ground which I couldn't really figure out what.

I pushed aside a tall bush in front of me, and stepped forward to approach them.

"Hey, what's up with this whole--"

"Don't move."

"Uh?" I froze just as my foot was about to touch the ground. What? Why?

"Oh? There are drawings here," general Zhang popped up behind me and pointed at the ground, "geez, you almost stepped on art, little cub~ Not appropriate~"

"Whaaat? I didn't notice, okay?" I pouted and stepped back, only to found that general Zhang's toned chest was pressed against my back, "ack! Move!"

Instead of moving, he just giggled like a little boy while pushing me slightly to throw me off balance. And with each and every fumbling I did, he laughed even more. Gah. At this point, I would go bonkers!

With a big sigh, I shifted my attention towards the ground in front of me, and found that a big chunk of it was covered with abstract scribbles that even I couldn't really make out the shapes.

Uhh, I saw a bottle--potion? And big X marks on a wonky stickman's eyes, a long-haired small stickman with crooked mouth and a skirt, and uh... Yeap, those were everything that I recognized. The rest of it was too abstract for me to interpret. My art soul wasn't that godly.

"Go around the bush. Come here and I'll explain from the start." General Emilio said as he made a motion with his hand.

Seeing that, I nodded and we went around, this time carefully stepping on the parts that didn't have any doodles on it. Wow, it almost looked as if that orc had scribbled an entire chronicle on the ground or something.

"Alrighty, can you start explaining now? We've only heard that they took the kid to make some scientific potion or something. Or witchcraft potion. Magic potion?" I asked as I sat beside general Emilio, where there weren't any drawings.

"This orc likes storytelling, so it seems," general Emilio started explaining, "he just has some troubles expressing it."

"...I can see that." I grimaced.

"Starting with their base's map," he said as he pointed at a nearby map scribble on the ground that had wonky and overlapping lines, "I'll explain the rooms."

While he explained all of the available rooms, starting from the entrance and all the way to the barracks, meeting room, armory, clinic, and yada-yada. Instinctively, I reached out into my bag and took out a pencil and a small notebook. Wow, Jeanne even prepared some writing equipment for us. She was prepared for everything, huh?

"Why are you writing them down, little cub?" General Zhang asked.

"So I can review it later, obviously? Do you expect me to remember everything in one go and keep everything perfectly intact a few days from now?" I answered without looking up from my notebook.

"Hmm. You're full of preparation." He replied.

"Isn't this just the bare minimum, though?" I said as I tapped my pencil a few times to my lips while I continued taking notes.

"Don't mind him, kid. Keep being diligent. That's good." Luke said as he proudly gave me a few pats on the head.

"Everything clear about the map?" General Emilio inquired.

"Uh-huh." General Zhang leaned back with a smile.

"Where do they keep their leader? No way they're keeping him in the clinic." I stopped writing to look up at general Emilio.

"Good question. According to this orc, they're keeping him in the armory. Presumably for extra protection." He answered while tapping lightly on my notebook on where the armory was.

"That would be extra danger, too." I remarked.

"Well, orcs aren't exactly the smartest monster around. Their bond isn't even that strong, hence why we were able to easily persuade this guy--"

"Not persuade, threaten." General Zhang cut Luke off.

"Yes. Threaten. Whichever one that was," Luke nodded, "anyway, they're lower rank for a reason. Also, they're known to rarely wash their clothing and armor, even though they wear those every day."

"That's... A rather unrelated piece of information, but thanks." I replied.

"We could use that armory to our advantage," general Emilio added, "if we're all clear, I'll start explaining the other drawings."

"Yup yup." I gripped my pencil tighter, ready to take more notes. Usually, I wrote important points during my brigade's briefings, just in case our mission got extended so long, that I might forget some of the information. Then in my free time before sleeping, I would review my notes just in case they got lost on the battlefield.

Too unnecessary for some, maybe. But better be prepared than not.

"That drawing over there represents the orc tribe." General Emilio pointed at a faraway drawing that looked like a bunch of scribbles to me.

"...Okay." Didn't get that, but sure bro.

"They were doing okay before the elves came along, but then one day, their leader gathered them all for an important announcement." He started explaining.

...How the heck could he understand the story so much from those scribbles?

"And then, their leader told them that they needed to do something important," general Emilio continued, "and that was to take a throne."

"Huh, so they also got the same message. Understandably so." I nodded and wrote a little remark on my book, 'orc peeps. Mission. Wack.'

"And then that drawing over there," he pointed at another scribble beside the one from before, "that depicted the day when the elves attacked them."

"Cool, cool."

"They were still preparing to attack the elves' kingdom, but they were slower." General Emilio elaborated.

"Pfft! Did they seriously think they could beat the elves?" General Zhang chuckled.

"Well, that's how you know I didn't lie when I said that they're not smart." Luke shrugged.

"I know, we also have information about monsters," general Zhang replied, "we might know a lot more than we look, you know?"

"Pay attention." General Emilio frowned.

"Okay, sorry~"

"What happened after they lost?" I questioned, which in turn, earned me a sad growl from the orc that was sitting in front of us. Huh, he was still listening.

"Look over there," general Emilio gestured over the next drawing, "they quickly gathered the orcs at one place and threatened to wipe them out if they wouldn't comply with the elves' wishes."

"I can see why that would work. To orcs, as long as they could survive, they didn't mind much." Luke added with a little nod.

"And then, according to the next drawing, those elves occupied their castle, and in just a few days, established an enslavement program." General Emilio continued.

"Just in a few days? Dang, are the orcs just that easy to command, or is that crazy king that good in management?" I frowned as I wrote a little note at the corner of the page saying, 'elf king, slavery, no no.'

"Most likely both," he said, "and that's why we caught this guy over here. He and his mates were tasked to fetch some water."

Oh, so it was a him.

"And as for their leader, it turns out that he got his disease after the elves' conquest." General Emilio added while pointing at a stickman with X marks I saw earlier. Ah, so that was what it meant. Gotcha.

"Was he poisoned, then?" General Zhang asked. Right, probably the same poison that was used against us when we first met Ioriell?

"No," general Emilio replied with a serious frown, "it's worse than that."

"Oh gosh, what now." I sighed, and added a little note saying 'sleep when?' at the corner of another page. Ugh, when could we rest!?

"They have a witch in their army."