Chapter 249: A troubling mistake

"W-what the… " A beaten, battered and bruised, but still alive albeit quite weary silver-haired youth cried out in a mixture of shock and surprise as the metal door opened, revealing a strange dark green looking humanoid figure with a robust-looking orc following behind him. 

As they stepped inside the dimly lit storage-looking dusty, empty room, they stopped just a few steps away from the silver-haired human sitting on the ground. 

"W-who are you? W-what do you want?! I told you before, I will not say a word, you are just wasting your time! Hmpf!" He cried out with a fierce, determined gaze, despite the many beatings he surely must have received in the course of several hours. 

Looking at the duo, he spat on the ground, and harrumphed, adding a few words under his breath in the process to his previous outcry. "Not that any of you pig heads could understand normal language…"

Contrary to this belief of his, the dark green, lean and tall figure that had strangely familiar facial features revealed a cheeky grin. He crouched down, matching the silver-haired youth's fierce gaze.

As he opened his eyes and began to speak, his words, or more to say the language he used, stunned not just the human but the orc behind him as well.

"Now, now my dear friend, this is how you greet a comrade? Drake, you weren't like this when we went to that underground slave pen in Higrove to rescue both our sisters… Well, I guess this is just how royalty is…" Even his tone was familiar, but as soon as the figure said those words, Drake's eyes almost fell out of their sockets in his surprise.

He couldn't even respond for quite a while and just looked at the strange figure as if he were seeing a ghost.

However, after a while, as he finally managed to process his words, he cried out once more, this time even louder.

"AIDEN?! W-what the… How in the world… W-when did you…" He stuttered, unable to phrase a singular question as a multitude of them raced inside his mind at the same time.

Seeing his stunted look, Aiden, still in his Primal Goblin form couldn't help but chuckle at the sight of him. 

"My, that's quite a lot of questions there, Drake! Well, I guess I can answer a few... Yes, it's me Aiden, and this form you see here is an illusion taught to me by my family. I'm here on a mission from the Adventurer's Guild. We have already met with your sister, and my friends have probably already freed all the other slaves, or at the very least in the process of doing so. They should have no problems in doing so as I have already cleaned up the guards there…" Aiden answered, the wide, satisfied grin not leaving his face in the process. 

Turning towards the orc standing stoic behind him looking at the human with emotionless, uncaring, rigid, cold eyes he continued.

"This here is my servant, Roas. He is not allied with the orcs here, nor any of the other races of this 'Horde' or whatever it is really called." 

Then, shifting his language, he also addressed Roas, not leaving him in the dark, although he probably has already figured at least some of the details out by now.

"[Orc] Roas, this here is the human I know. He is called Drake, and although he is an idiot for trying to infiltrate the horde's settlement by himself, he is actually not a bad person. Treat him with the very same respect you would give me and make sure he stays safe, got it?"

Hearing his friend speaking the very same sounding, gurgled, hoarse language as the orcs here did, stunned Drake once again. It wasn't that long since they departed, and during that time, that strange, unreadable youths have changed by such a great deal it was hard to even come to terms with it. He just looked at his back that was turned towards him as he discussed something with the orc guard.

"[Orc] Yes, my lord! I will make sure this human-" Roas immediately responded, the cold look instantly vanishing from his face and a reverent, devoted expression replacing it, giving yet another surprise to Drake who was witnessing the peculiar scene.

"[Orc] Drake. His name is Drake. Don't refer to him by his race, address him by name." Aiden interjected, speaking in a calm yet commanding tone.

Hearing his young master's words, Roas gave a deep, respectful and apologetic bow as he continued.

"[Orc] Y-es, my lord, please excuse me for my rude behavior!"

Waving with his right hand, Aiden silently dismissed the issue as it wasn't a huge mistake, to begin with, letting his servant continue with his acknowledging words.

"[Orc] Rest assured, my lord! I will make sure that Drake, your friend will be kept safe and sound! As he is the young master's dear friend, I will make sure to give him the same respect as I would to the young master!"

Aiden gave a smiling nod at his servant's devoted acknowledgment and turned around, facing the still wide-eyed, puzzled-looking silver-haired prince. His face turned stern as he fixated his gaze upon the man sitting on the ground in front of him.

"So, do you mind telling me what the hell are you doing here? Are you and your sister are completely retarded?! This is the camp of the horde, swarming with orcs, goblins, and who knows what else?! What were you even expecting?! Even I had to go through quite the hoops to even be able to get inside!" He berated, only stopping to take a short breath before continuing with the 'lecture'.

"Your sister was worried about you! You have just managed to save him and reunite with each other and what is the first thing you do?! You go and get yourself captured and tortured! Are you tired of living? You could have just told me that, I would gladly accept such a request!"

Grabbing his temples Aiden heaved a tired sigh, mumbling to himself.

"Seriously, you humans are so troublesome to deal with…"

Although his muttering was hushed, Drake still managed to catch the drift of it, creasing his eyebrows of what he had heard.

"W-what did you just say?!" He inquired with the same puzzled look.

"Doesn't matter, don't bother with it." Aiden waved his hand in dismissal, not wanting to continue this particular topic. "What you should be focusing on, is to get yourself back on your feet and getting out of here! We can't waste too much time on you, we have already wasted too much on the outside…"

Although he clearly couldn't speak the Common language, unbeknownst to the both of them, Roas, for some reason, could hear his master's words inside his mind speaking in his own native, Orcish dialect. Thinking that it must have been his master's doing, he listened to each and every word he spoke, smirking as he harshly lectured the captured and beaten human.

However, as he heard him mention leaving the building, and remembering the loud explosion that most likely alerted most of the settlements resting orcs, he stepped forward, gently touching his young master's shoulders.

As his master turned to look at him, Roas respectfully spoke.

"[Orc] My lord, it may not be the best course of action to step outside for the time being."

Surprised by the sudden actions of his servant, Aiden asked with an inquiring tone.

"[Orc] Oh? What do you mean?"

"[Orc] Master's last battle with the guardian most likely awoke the orcs resting in the vicinity. They would probably be outside the building right now, investigating the scene. Once they see the destroyed stone guardian, they would report to their captains. The whole camp should be on high alert by now, searching for us outside."

Roas' words shocked Aiden. Yes, how could he have forgotten such an important detail?! He should have grabbed the remains of the statue and placed it into his system inventory! How could he have forgotten such an important detail?!

Although he was agitated, he retained his mostly calm outlook as he replied, asking another question.

"[Orc] And do you think they would look for us inside this building?" 

To his relief, Roas firmly shook his head in response.

"[Orc] No, they would not. This is a sacred place, not everyone can step inside. Only the highest leaders of the tribes, and their generals. We should be safe here but leaving the camp's grounds will be quite difficult. If Drake were to step outside, he would most certainly be caught almost immediately, and he wouldn't be simply taken to some holding cell, like previously. He would be killed on the spot." 

Grabbing his chin, Aiden responded thoughtfully. This was quite a troublesome turn of events, making their return just that much more difficult, all because of a single mistake he made. 

Thinking about it, Aiden suddenly turned wide-eyed with shock. A moment later, however, his expression changed once again, changing into a stern, stoic outlook as he asked his servant again, this time in a much colder tone.

"[Orc] What about outside the camp?"