Bator
“……Shouldn’t we send the wild boar back? Its wounds look pretty bad. Ah, maybe it can’t find its way?”
“What’d you say!? Boars are way smarter than wolves, hmph! And our Yarltai is even more so!”
Bold wasn’t sure if that was true, but something else bothered him more than the claim itself.
“You don’t usually name your brother something like Yarltai(йделведкашв, emergency rations)……”
“What!?”
“……Ahem, ahem. Never mind. Sorry. It’s a warrior’s prerogative.”
As Bold wilted under Narn’s murderous glare,
“……And its vitality is strong. If Sir Tiny helps a little, it should recover enough to trot along slowly.”
Narn said this while gazing at Tiny with eyes full of fervor. Tiny, guessing what that look meant and what she intended, gave a wry smile and stepped forward.
“I’ll help, but don’t push yourself. It’d be a problem if you collapsed instead.”
“……Of course.”
Tiny placed a hand on Narn’s shoulder as she blushed faintly for some reason, then refined the surrounding mana to its purest state and pushed it into her. A natural moan escaped Narn’s lips.
“As expected……!”
It proved that the overwhelming mana control he’d used to revive her earlier wasn’t a fluke. The ultra-pure mana flooding into her body exceeded the total amount she could immediately mobilize—far beyond her expectations.
Handling only pure mana while excluding one’s own unique mana, which could harm another’s body. It was unbelievable without experiencing it firsthand.
This should be enough.
Wooooong.
Red tattoos began glowing on Narn’s skin, and soon a phantom red wild boar rose from her entire body, overlaying her boar Yarltai with increasing clarity. It looked like two identical massive boars overlapping.
And then.
“Kweeeek!”
After a brief scream-like roar as Yarltai thrashed, color returned to its pale face, and the wounds oozing faint blood began healing before everyone’s eyes.
Bold’s eyes widened in astonishment at the sight.
“It’s been ages since I’ve seen a warrior use Integration to that level. Impressive……”
Bold’s admiration was no exaggeration.
An orc warrior’s technique applied to their brother and mount: Integration. A branch of tattoo mana circuit arts, akin to a human knight’s mana charge but considered a higher dimension of combat skill.
Of course, like its counterpart, its effectiveness varied wildly based on talent and aptitude rather than the user’s realm.
In that sense,
“Full synchronization plus wound healing—that’s a truly blessed talent, even among orcs.”
As Tiny assessed, Bold looked at him in disbelief, alternating between the pure blue mana gathering over his hand on Narn’s shoulder and Tiny’s nonchalant face.
“Who’s this monster praising, casually opening his mouth while injecting mana that pure?”
“……Well, me, obviously.”
Tiny shrugged, Bold chuckled, and they turned back to Narn. The red boar’s severe wounds were steadily mending.
Soon after, as the red boar began trotting slowly, the silver wolf kept pace beside it. A full day later, the group arrived at Bator.
At dawn as the sun rose.
The massive bone walls, now familiar to Tiny, gleamed in the sunlight—impressive, certainly. But something else drew the eye even more.
At the south gate of the horizon-spanning mega-city Bator, a scene utterly unlike any orc metropolis they’d seen unfolded.
“Hey, no cutting!”
“You’re the one cutting!”
“Quiet there!”
“Line up, humans!”
“This is orc holy ground. No commotion!”
At the bone fortress entrance, not orcish but the common tongue rang out. Humans, not orcs, swarmed with large and small wagons in tow.
“……What the hell?”
“I heard human merchants were fleeing to Bator from the eastern war……”
Bold responded to Tiny’s baffled mutter, but he and Narn stared just as dumbfounded at the endless human queue.
Even if orc crafts of bone and hide were popular in human lands, this many humans crowding an orc holy site was unimaginable to them.
They figure a holy site won’t get dragged into war…… Fair enough.
But it caused a problem.
“……This’ll take longer than expected.”
“The fate of the orc race hangs in the balance. We go first.”
“No, don’t. We might lose our chance to speak with the great warrior.”
“What?”
“Do as I say. It’s Warlord Zerik’s rule.”
“Oh! I think I’ve heard that too, friend.”
……Shouldn’t you know that already? He’s your great-uncle.
“You talk like you know the great warrior well, Sir Tiny?”
Oblivious to Tiny’s incredulous stare, Bold tilted his head.
Of course he did. Tiny sighed at the group’s puzzled looks.
Zerik……
If they bypassed procedure just because they were in a hurry, that stubborn man wouldn’t hear them out at all.
“……I learned some things along the way. So let’s line up.”
“Fine.”
“Understood.”
With another long sigh from Tiny, the group reluctantly nodded and joined the queue. They wouldn’t enter Bator until the sun dipped from east to west.
Bator.
The birthplace of the first orc great warrior and unifier, Orc Lord Bator—the orcs’ first city. In their tongue, Bator(вгввтв) meant “hero.” Side note: orcs hated beastkin sharing their language using the name, despite using it commonly themselves.
More importantly than trivia,
In my past life, it was completely destroyed in the orc civil war……
Rumors abounded, but Tiny didn’t know the truth. Back then, as a fledgling mercenary, he’d operated around eastern free cities.
Besides,
“……I don’t want to talk long. Whenever it comes up, Zerik shakes his head sadly……”
As Tiny surveyed with mixed feelings, the two orcs gawked ecstatically.
“This is the holy site……”
“So cool……”
Sentiments Tiny struggled to grasp. Hide tents on bizarre bone structures. The massive orc architecture was grand, but no different from Red Boar’s Jamingwood.
The only distinctions: tower-like bone structures dotting the streets.
Towers that might look stylish if not made from creature bones—familiar ones, at that. Bold and Narn stared at them with sparkling eyes.
“……What are those towers?”
Tiny’s question got an instant reply.
“Towers honoring past great warriors’ deeds, friend.”
“Towers built from fallen archenemies’ bones. The history and proud symbols of orc strongest, Sir Tiny.”
Ah……
Why the hell make that!?
Most orc archenemies were humans, obviously. To human eyes, Bator’s streets were lined with corpse decorations.
Tiny was dumbfounded, reexamining the towers. But among the swarming merchants and mercenaries, some lacked tact.
“Tower of Slaughter……”
“Shh, quiet.”
“Most orcs here speak the common tongue. Shut it before you ruin the deal.”
“I know, but……”
“Call it Hero’s Tower—sounds good to orcs. Or in orcish, Bat Rudin Tsamkak(вгввтввьд члй).”
“Bat, what?”
“……If you don’t know, just shut up.”
Their whispers perfectly captured how average humans viewed the towers.
Tower of Slaughter…… Ha……
They thought they were whispering inaudibly, but some sharp-eared orcs were already glaring fiercely.
“You humans, what’d you just say?”
A 2-meter green-skinned brute with shoulders impossibly broad by human standards leveled his axe. The whispering merchants paled instantly.
“U-us?”
“W-what did we say?”
“We didn’t say anything……”
Insulting a culture revered by proud orcs.
Better to confess and apologize honestly.
Tsk.
As Tiny watched with tongue-clicking pity, the orc warrior began radiating killing intent.
“Heard you mock Hero’s Tower. I, Bator’s warrior Bator, will claim retribution for the insult.”
Of all names, Bator. Even a plain 1st or 2nd stage orc warrior was monstrous to normals. The merchants blanched and prostrated themselves.
“S-spare us!”
“Slip of the tongue, yes. A mistake!”
“Sorry!”
Tiny just watched in disdain when Bold interjected, misreading him.
“Don’t worry, friend. Even if they say that, no blood on holy ground.”
……Meaning it’d be real blood off holy ground? That level of insult?
Even more absurd to Tiny, but he had no interest in petty squabbles. More important things beckoned.
His gaze shifted back to their destination: the massive central tent. No need for directions—it screamed “most important orc lives here.”
Zerik’s there. And the holy relic too……
Even from afar, the barrier from the orc holy relic Cor pulsed faintly. As a 4th stage spirit user, his soul power enhanced, he could now distinguish the relic’s transparent force from distance.
Elation at his growth and longing for his old—no, future—friend(?) quickened his steps.
“Let’s go meet the great warrior. Ah, any other procedures?”
“We’re tribal envoys. He’ll see us, friend.”
“……I heard there are normally more steps?”
“‘Great Warrior’s Disciples’ test to block riffraff. But as Bold says, we’re exceptions.”
The orcs dismissed Tiny’s concern when,
How dare you insult me!!
From the distant target tent, a massive roar erupted, and several orcs burst through the fabric into the air.