Chapter 11.2: Elven Town

PHAT thanks to Chad Orc-san (for like, the 1 billionth time) for your generous ko-fi contribution!

Here’s part 2 of chapter 11.

“What are you looking at, greenie?”

“You trying to pick a fight with the Elfdom’s 31st Independent Division? How did you get in here anyways? You don’t look like a stray.”

“Hey, haven’t I seen you somewhere before?”

“Yeah I have this gut feeling that I’ve met this guy before… Not like I can tell the difference between these pigs anyways.”

“Maybe he’s a battalion commander or something? Nah, he’s not wearing the right armor though.”

Bash was somewhat confused by their change of attitude when it came to talking to him.

But it was rather typical of an Elven warrior, he thought.

That’s right – after all, this is what Elves should be like. They’re aggressive and xenophobic. It’s only right that they bite at other species when they meet them.

He had no recollection of what the Elfdom’s 31st Independent Division, but he guessed it was a group of hardened warriors that had fought during the war.

“Excuse me, I was just wondering about something.”

“What?”

“Why are three Elves competing over one Human?”

“…”

The three Elven women looked at each other, incredulous.

But after a few seconds, they stood up straight, their faces flushing from both rage and embarrassment, and stared holes into the poor confused Hero.

“You’re really trying to pick a fight with us, aren’t ‘cha…”

“You think we looks like a bunch of hyenas, huh? You think we’re scavengers, squabbling over scraps?”

“You looking to die today, Orc?”

Bash nearly fainted, as his heart tightened under the pressure. It took all of his willpower to not keel over clutching his chest.

“No…”

He just couldn’t bear the unbelievably pleasant smell the Elven women gave out.

Moreover, they were wearing clothes that exposed a fair bit of skin – their shoulders were uncovered and Bash could swear he could see a little bit of cleavage, courtesy of his height granted vantage point.

If they got any closer, his greatword might just become a little too big for its scabbard…

Taking a step back to compose himself, the Hero answered their questions.

“I didn’t mean it that way. If I wanted to fight, I would have said so clearly.”

“Huh? I don’t know about you but that sure sounded like you were lookin’ for trouble.”

“I’m sorry, but I really wasn’t. I just arrived in this country and there are just so many things I don’t understand yet. I was just curious to know why there were so many foreign men walking around with Elven women…”

At Bash’s seemingly honest and innocent response, the Elven women once again looked at each other, as if to say “Really?”, before turning their eyes back towards him.

Their passionate gazes made Bash’s heart thump hard in his chest.

Even back when he was fighting for his life in barren battlefields, he would rarely be this riled up. His heightened blood pressure was starting to make him light-headed.

“Damn, you really don’t get it, do you?”

“Tsk…fuck off.”

One of the shrugged, another sighed in exasperation.

The last shooed Bash away with a wave of her hand.

“Fine, I’ll let you off the hook this time. Get out of here before I change my mind.”

“…Understood, please excuse me.”

Bash regretfully backed off and left the scene.

He desperately wanted to have just a little more time to talk with these Elven ladies.

He wanted to know why the three of them were competing over a single Human, and more importantly, their voices were like music to his ears, though these particular women had a rather raspy throat.

Unfortunately, he couldn’t help but listen to them and leave.

Had he stayed any longer, it would have undoubtably ended up in a fight – his Orcish warrior instincts told him as much.

Of course, Bash was the Orciest Orc there was, and would never turn down a fight so long as he lived.

But that would be unproductive – after all, he was here to look for a bride, not a brawl.

And his brief stint in Krassel had taught him that even if he won the fight, it wouldn’t end up in marriage.

Unexpectedly, it was the Human man that spoke up next.

“Listen, uh, girls…no, ladies… I don’t think we’d be a good match. We’re just so different from each other. Really! It’s not you, it’s me… and frankly I’m kind of scared, so I’m just going to take my leave now, hahahaha….”

“Wait, wait, wait! No, no, no, don’t leave! I swear we’re not usually like that! I swear!”

“Yeah! She’s right! That was an Orc! An Orc! They’re all violent brutes who want to beat up anybody they don’t like! I…uh… I was trying to protect you!”

“Pft you’d protect him from an Orc? I’d protect you even from a Dragon! I’ll serve you and coddle you and protect you for the rest of your life.”

Bash could hear the conversation devolving into desperate pleas sprinkled with speciesism as he was walking away, but he did not look back.

If he didn’t want to fight, it was only polite to leave without looking back, no matter what was said.

For Orcs, turning back after one agreed to walk away from an argument was synonymous with saying: “I was ready to drop the conflict and leave, but you’ve provoked me one time too many!”

Incidentally, it would usually be the party that was looking for a fight that would repeat provocations to rile up the other.

“Fu…”

After putting a decent amount of distance between himself and the Elven trio, Bash leaned against a tree on the side of the road, arms crossed.

There were still so many questions left unanswered.

For some odd reason, men from other species were going about their business in an Elven town.

Yet there were nearly no Elven men to be seen.

And as for the Elven women, they were flocking to these foreign males…

As Bash took a closer look at the women, he noticed that most, of not all of these ladies were former soldiers.

They carried themselves with the confidence of seasoned warriors, and several wore remnants of injuries on their bodies.

Was this a military festival?

“Mister! Heyyy! Heyyyyy!”

As Bash was deep in thought, a glowing object suddenly launched itself through the air and landed straight onto his face.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa! Mister! Mister! This is wild! This is outrageous!”

It was Zell, of course.

Not like there were many daring flying creatures that would go through the trouble to sticking their nose onto Bash’s own.

“What’s going on?”

“I found out what was going on! It’s crazy! Absolutely insane!”

Bash gently pulled the Faerie off his face as he questioned her.

She had an unusual expression on her face, something between anger and sadness.

But there was no doubt that she was terribly upset.

Yet at the same time, she seemed very excited.

It was rare for this Faerie to be so disturbed.

Zell, who was usually optimistic and carefree, was panicking and spazzing out as she stuck to Bash’s face.

During the long years the pair had been cooperating, she had only shown this degree of distress a handful of times: once was in a battle that occurred right where they were, in Siwanasi Forest. The time before that was during the battle of Sandrion Hill, and the time before that was the battle of Honey Forest.

In any case, Zell was only ever this agitated when something truly serious was going on.

Like when Orc Chief Baraben met his end, staking his life in an unwinnable battle, or when Demon King Gediguz was slain by the Alliance death squad, or when the traitorous Killer Bee Queen was eaten by her daughter…

All of these instances involved shocking, depressingly bad news.

What could possibly have happened this time?

“Calm down.”

Bash grabbed the spazzing Faerie out of the air, calmed her down, and focused all his attention on what she was about to say.

What was she about to tell him?

Not that it truly mattered in the end.

Bash was the Orc Hero.

No matter how heavily the odds were stacked against him, he was always ready to fight.

Even if it was a hopeless battle, he was prepared to struggle until the end and give his life up in combat, as a true Orc should.

However, if this case had nothing to do with battle, it would be a different situation.

His heart sunk as he thought of the possible scenarios…

Could it be…no, don’t tell me there’s something wrong with Orc King Nemesis?!

Was there a crisis in the Land of Orcs?

Bash concentrated his hearing, anxiety gnawing away at his guts.

“What’s going on?”

“Listen to this! Listen to this! Right now, in the Elf Country…”

Trembling with excitement, the Faerie revealed what she had found out.

The shocking truth.

The answer to all his questions.

“It seems that interspecies marriage is booming!”

This was a piece of unbelievably good news.