Orc Lord

I'm allowed to bring four Orcs with me to the chief battle as escorts. I've decided to bring Durghan because he’s actually participated in this battle in the past, and he clearly knows the way to the previous winning chief’s village. I've decided to leave momma and Fiara behind to protect the village. I still need three more competent Orcs to bring along…

Because the numbers match and they're reasonably clever, strong, and trustworthy, I decide to bring the three that usually come to hunt with me on day ten.

As an aside, calling the days of the week day one through ten is… annoying. And it isn't stylish. I decided to name the days using German numbers, followed by the pronunciation of the Orc word for day. Thus, day one through ten are now called Einsrekt, Zweirekt, Dreirekt, Vierrekt, Fünfrekt, Sechsrekt, Siebrekt, Achtrekt, Neunrekt, Zehnrekt. A few of them were hard to say at first, but my mouth adjusted quickly, as did those of the other Orcs.

By the way, I slipped yesterday and called it Sunday instead of Zehnrekt. Now, Sunday has become the slang word for day ten. They use that word more than the official one.

Moving on, my four escorts and I have been gathered. We’re leaving the village early in the morning, since the journey should take the entire day. Apparently, the name of the chief whose village we’re going to is Rigdam. The Orc villages don't have names, so they're just called by their current chief’s name. In context, today, we will be traveling from Vyra’s Village to Rigdam’s Village.

I just realized that in the seventy days (two months in my previous world’s time) that I've been in this world, this will be the farthest I've ever traveled since the day I was born. I'm slightly nervous, actually. I need something to distract myself. Luckily, there’s been something I've been wondering for a while. Since the person to ask is right here, let's just get it out of the way.

“Hey, Durghan?”

“What is it, Chief Vyra?”

“I was just wondering… My mother used to be a great warrior who traveled from village to village. And when she got pregnant with me, she settled down in your village… Possibly… are you my father?”

I wonder why I'm hoping it isn't true.

… It’s probably because if he is my father, he was there the whole time but never tried to help raise me. I'm not sure how I would feel about that.

On the other hand, if my father is just nowhere to be seen… I can handle that. It was like that in my previous life as well.

While I was off thinking my own thoughts, Durghan made a terrified face. Ah, was it a huge misunderstanding?

“No no, Chief Vyra! The reason Lady Oolga settled in our village to have her child is because, at that time, the chief was her brother.”

“Eh? Then, you and momma are siblings?”

“Yes, Chief Vyra, although our mothers are different.”

So that makes Durghan my uncle? They don't seem to have any sibling bond, though. Well, but I haven't noticed feelings like those from anyone in the village.

“... Do you know who my father is?”

“Apologies, Chief Vyra. I can only say that it’s not anyone from our village.”

Well, let’s drop this topic for now. … If I really wanted to know, I would ask momma.

***

We walked for a looong time. To keep away the boredom, we chatted here and there. Midway through the journey, I proposed we hunt something for a quick lunch. When I said so, I had momentarily forgotten that Orcs only eat one meal a day, and it isn't lunch. Obviously, no one protested my idea. We hunted a few normal animals. I used to quickly dress them all. We didn't have a means to make a fire, so we just ate the meat raw.

Well, it tastes better cooked, but there’s no problem doing it like this. We’re still monsters, after all, and monsters with particularly strong stomachs.

***

Rigdam’s Village is located North of Vyra’s Village. It's somewhat close to the Demon Worshiper tribe territory. And because that’s really too long to say, I'll just be calling them Cultists from now on.

We didn't run into any monsters along the way. It's because I used  to purposely avoid them, though I did see several sets of tracks. Three of them were War Monkey tracks. So the area North of the village is their territory? Is that why we’ve been seeing so many of them?

Anyway, soon I can see the edge of the village.

Rigdam's Village seems larger than ours by a few dozen houses. Also, the trees around the perimeter have all been chopped down. It feels like this village owns the area it sits on. Durghan knows the way, so I let him walk in front and follow closely behind.

In the village square, there’s a gathering of about twenty Orcs. As far as I can see, the vast majority are large, fat, brawny male Orcs. I also see one of the thinnest and shortest male Orcs I've ever seen, and a very old male Orc. I don't see any other women.

Standing away from the Orcs gathered in the center appear to be their escorts.

“Chief Durghan finally here?”

The other chiefs started picking on us.

“You slow! Only chief Ramsule still missing.”

We’re not last. Good. I wonder which one is Rigdam?

“Hey, Durghan, which one is Rigdam?”

“Ah, it’s that tall one in the middle, with the bronze wrist guards.”.

So it is. He is pretty tall, huh? There’s not a whole lot of height variation among Orcs, but he’s a full head taller than me, with thick muscles, too. I can see how he was able to win the battle royale last year.

“Oi, look! Durghan finally got a woman!”

“Haha, it a clingy woman who even come to the chief battle with him!”

“Durghan, make your woman go home. She gonna complain when we smash you.”

Ahh… that look on Durghan’s face is dangerous.