Chapter 176: The Eastern Training Camp
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 176: The Eastern Training Camp
“Trainee Chieftain Green Skin, Number 3! Straighten up!”
Just a few days ago, he’d thought his life was peaceful. Little Finger was sure of it.
“Can’t you straighten up! Trainee Chieftain Green Skin, Number 3!! Kkireuk.”
“If this continues, I’ll have no choice but to enforce collective punishment! Trainee Chieftain Green Skin, Number 3!”
Before him stood three goblins with the faces of demons. The whole situation was utterly absurd. This was definitely not what Little Finger had wanted. Getting stronger was a good thing, but not like this.
Naturally, the conversation he’d had with Black Spear a few days ago came to mind.
Black Spear was a truly respectable Green Skin. He didn’t express himself much, but he had a dignified gravity befitting a true man. His majestic tusks and stylishly swept-back hair were quite handsome. In truth, Little Finger’s eyes had been drawn to Black Spear’s explosive muscles when he threw his spear on more than one occasion. Though they were both chieftains, he had even thought it wouldn’t be so bad to merge with his clan and live alongside him.
Of course, it wasn’t just Black Spear. The Ogre named Goff was far from Little Finger’s type, but he was an honorable Ogre whose strength was matched only by his honor. And even the chieftain of the Blood Dagger Clan, who seemed somewhat sinister, had been surprisingly considerate of him.
But living with them and watching them grow inevitably led to a sense of being left behind. They had been together for just over a year, yet their accomplishments were beyond imagination. They had subjugated the demonic beasts of the East and won countless battles. They had freed slaves and built an enormous settlement. These days, their tribe was developing at a tremendous pace, and the number of beasts they brought back from each hunt was staggering. It was Little Finger’s dream to become a chieftain acknowledged by all, just like them, but he felt it was impossible for someone as lacking as himself.
His shamanistic skills had improved slightly, but he wasn’t getting much stronger. Watching the speed at which the three chieftains grew, he was rapidly losing confidence. If not for this growing anxiety, he surely would have refused Black Spear’s offer.
‘Little Finger. It seems your progress has stalled lately. I heard the Blood Dagger Clan and the Goff Clan have devised a rather effective training method for their new Green Skins. What do you think?’
‘Hmm… If you’re suggesting it, Black Spear… I suppose it would be fine, but…’
‘I am not forcing you, Little Finger. But I have a feeling this training is what you need most right now. Their passion is truly astonishing. Just watching them train makes you believe you can become stronger. Little Finger, if you join them, I am certain you will gain something from it.’
‘If you’re the one recommending it, Black Spear…’
‘For the others, it is a three-year course, but for you, it will take two. I would like to see you complete this training to the end.’
‘Uh… uhm… I… I understand, Black Spear.’
Damn you, Black Spear. He couldn’t help but think it. It was a brilliant handsome-man ploy. If he had known this was the kind of training he was talking about, he never would have participated. Some strange, unknown exercise. When the goblin instructor first demonstrated it, it had looked like nothing special, even laughable. But once he started, the pain was beyond imagination. ‘Difficult’ was one way to put it, but ‘agonizing’ was a better fit.
Of course, he was used to pain, but inflicting it on his body in such a bizarre way was a new experience. His legs kept sinking. For a Green Skin like Little Finger, who enjoyed being clean, the clumps of dirt and dust caking his body were also incredibly irritating.
But he couldn’t stop, thanks to the Goblin Three Sisters of the Blood Dagger Clan glaring at him with fiery eyes. He had thought they were cute little goblins, but who could have imagined they were such demons?
“Trainee Chieftain Green Skin, Number 3! Did you not hear this instructor’s words!”
“N-No!”
“Your voice is too quiet! Kkireuk!”
“No!”
“Still too quiet! All Green Skins, on your feet! Link arms. Now!”
“Now!!”
It had been a long time since he’d wanted to rest his body so badly, but these demons gave no breaks. The glares from the other tribe members, who were now sharing his punishment, stung. But Little Finger wasn’t without a few choice words for Giant Scream Apachi and the shaman Crugar, either.
‘The source of it all.’
The fucking source of it all.
Little Finger wasn’t deaf. He’d heard from the other small tribes in the East that the incident began when that foolish Orc, Giant Scream Apachi, challenged Blood Dagger.
Rumor had it that the atmosphere among the newly arrived Green Skins was quite tense. It probably wasn’t as hellish as this training, but they were surely suffering in their own way. He didn’t fully understand it, but the original chieftains were calling the current situation the Era of the Great Re-education.
‘That idiot!’
He was a true idiot. What kind of Green Skin was Blood Dagger? He was a fearsome warrior who had decapitated the demonic beast of the East in a single blow, cut down countless humans, and casually collected their weapons.
After Storm Shadow became the Great Tribe Leader and left for the South, Blood Dagger, along with Goff and Black Spear, had become one of the three great chieftains who formed, in name and reality, the largest tribes.
Challenging a Green Skin like that was absurd from the start. It was like a newborn goblin pouncing on an Ogre. Little Finger had heard that Blood Dagger was still undergoing hellish training to fight the human who had stolen his name. It was a fine story about reclaiming his honor, but it was also proof that Blood Dagger never forgot a grudge.
To carelessly pick a fight with him… At that moment, his resentment for Giant Scream flared anew.
Whether they knew what was on his mind or not, the Goblin Three Sisters continued to scream at them from the front.
“On one! Comrade! Kkireuk! On two! Do it right! Begin!”
“One!”
“Comrade!”
“Two!”
“Do it right!”
“Your voices are too quiet! Kkireuk!”
Suddenly, he thought of his goblin mother and father back home. This training ground had a strange way of making a person sad and emotional. He felt tears welling up in his eyes for some reason.
“Trainee Chieftain Green Skin, Number 3! Is there a problem! Kkireuk.”
“N-No!”
But when the question was barked at him again, he could only shake his head. In truth, he felt that everything was a problem, but he knew from experience that he must never say it out loud. As he glared at the three goblin instructors with a hint of resentment, another goblin came running up, out of breath. He couldn’t quite remember the name, but it was the Blood Dagger Clan’s strategist goblin. The one famous for being incredibly smart.
The strategist said something to the goblin sisters, but it was too far to hear. Whatever it was, it seemed to have a positive effect, because a voice that filled him with happiness came from the goblin instructor’s mouth.
“Alright! We will now take a thirty-minute break! Kkireuk! Thirty-minute break!”
“Thirty-minute break!”
It was a sweet, sweet moment. Normally, breaks were only ten minutes. Thirty minutes felt like he could fly. Those thirty minutes would pass in a flash, but it was a honey-sweet time he couldn’t afford to waste. Usually, his tribe members would bring him water, but in this training camp, everyone was equal, so no help was allowed. Little Finger forced his heavy body up and slowly made his way to the water pump. It was then that the voices of Orcs reached his ears.
“We get extra training every day because of Trainee Chieftain Green Skin, Number 3.”
“That’s right. Number 3 is the problem.”
He glanced back and saw Apachi’s damn tribe members talking amongst themselves. They were speaking freely, perhaps not knowing he was there. What an infuriating thing to say. Did they even know who was responsible for their suffering? Just as he was thinking of burning their mouths shut with a spell, another voice cut in.
“You will not speak like that.”
“Trainee Chieftain Green Skin, Number 1!”
Trainee Chieftain Green Skin, Apachi. The cause of all this, the fucking source of it all. He had appeared in person. Little Finger worried he might insult him as well.
“Trainee Chieftain Green Skin, Number 3 is a shaman, so he may be lacking physically, but he is an excellent Green Skin. Do not forget that we avoided punishment during the mock battle training thanks to him.”
Little Finger’s heart began to beat a little faster.
“Trainee Green Skins who train together must help one another. If you do not, you will never survive three years of this hellish training.”
“I was wrong. The words of Trainee Chieftain Green Skin, Giant Scream Apachi, are correct.”
“As expected, Giant Scream is a deep thinker. We trainees are one.”
The ones who had made the insolent remarks admitted their mistake. He couldn’t help but feel good. Little Finger secretly nodded to himself.
“Will you not forgive the rudeness of my tribe members, Little Finger?”
The voice came again. It was a rather thrilling voice, and when he turned around, he saw not a muscle-bound idiot, but a surprisingly wise-looking Green Skin. His appearance and personality were better than he’d expected. He didn’t seem as stupid as he’d heard. Little Finger nodded.
“I accept your apology, Giant Scream.”
It was a heartwarming scene, even in his own opinion. He even worried for a moment what he would do if this guy showed interest in him. Love blooming in a hellish training camp… Crugar didn’t seem too bad either. It was enough to spark all sorts of fantasies.
But the face that rose in his mind was Black Spear’s benevolent one. I can’t waver here, Little Finger thought, turning his head away. True to his clueless nature, the Orc was still smiling and talking to him, which made him feel a little sorry for him.
“That’s a relief, Little Finger.”
“For you, it is two years, but I look forward to working with you. We must all combine our strength.”
“I understand, Trainee Chieftain Green Skin, Number 1. Let us join forces and overcome this trial together.”
It was natural to think that what was difficult alone was manageable together. He even began to wonder if this was the true purpose of the training. As he was drinking water, a human caught his eye.
It was common to see humans in this settlement, but this woman had an ambiguous air about her that made it hard to classify her as one. She was bold enough to raise a hand in greeting when their eyes met.
‘A demon?’
Her skin was as white as snow, but she definitely had the feel of a demon, just like Blood Dagger.
The atmosphere around her was also quite unusual. All the women of the Blood Dagger Clan had gathered. From the fairy Mev, pregnant with Blood Dagger’s child, to the Alraune known as the plant, and even the human priestess who always gave Blood Dagger strange looks.
The thought that this might be the human who had secured their thirty-minute break made him feel a little favorable toward her, but considering the mood over there, he couldn’t help but think something was about to happen.
It was a tense tug-of-war, one that felt like it could snap at any moment. Unable to bear the strange atmosphere any longer, Little Finger decided to ignore them as best he could.