Chapter 66 - Another Settlement?
There wasn’t a gate at the back so Ed simply left as he came in, by climbing over the wall. He took a quick glance back at the settlement before disappearing into the lush forest.
An hour or so passed before he caught sight of a path.
‘Looks like people walk through here often’ Ed thought to himself while looking at the trodden grass.
‘Maybe it’s a settlement, It might not be a bad idea to check it out’ Ed was curious as to how he would be treated in this settlement and whether or not it participated in the fight against them. Based on the distance that might have indeed be the case. Regardless of if that was the case though, Ed planned to rope them in.
‘But I shouldn’t waste too much time…’ He was pressed for time and he had been going in this direction for a good hour now, it might not be a good idea to separate from the route now.
Ed weighed the pros and cons before ultimately deciding to investigate.
In the first place, Vorgarag himself wasn’t too sure about how far away the cavern was and therefore didn’t give him a time limit.
‘That’s settled then’ Making people that had previously crossed him his cannon fodder in a war was a particularly appealing idea. Ed manipulated the earth to leave behind an obvious mark before following the path, he made it point towards the right direction anticipating his return.
He then walked down the path for a good 10 or so minutes until he finally got a glimpse of fortified wooden walls. The state of the settlement was much less shabby than Vorgarag’s angakok tribe. That probably also meant a higher number of inhabitants.
‘Hm? Are those goblins?’ Ed had come closer and could now get a better look at the strong wooden walls. They had a group of goblin keeping watch atop them.
‘I guess they are used for more than simple scouting.’ Ed thought to himself as he looked at the goblin’s actions.
‘They seem kind of… tired.’ Ed didn’t know if goblins were nocturnal creatures but their current state seemed to suggest they were not. They were probably being forced to keep guard in the stead of the orcs.
‘But isn’t that too irresponsible? Can’t they just flee?’ In that case, there had to be some orcs keeping watch over them. Otherwise, the goblins must be too dim-witted to make use of the prime opportunity.
‘How do I get in then?’ With the goblins keeping watch it wouldn’t be as simple as hopping over a wall. The security of Vorgarag’s tribe was looking extremely lacking in Ed’s eyes at the moment.
Ed circled the settlement to get some more information. He found that based on its size, it seemed capable of housing at least 300 orcs. He also managed to notice some of the goblins were sleeping on the job. He presumed it wasn’t on purpose and was most likely due to exhaustion.
At that very moment, one of the sleeping goblins let out a painful screech. It was hit in the back of the head by a stone. Ed could barely hear the words of what he assumed was an overseeing orc.
“No sleeping! I don’t get to sleep so why should you!” The rough voice carried with it a lot of anger.
The goblin was naturally awakened by the stone throw and was forced to ignore its bleeding wound to observe the surroundings. Ed couldn’t see the orc that had thrown the stone as they weren’t near the edge but he assumed that they likely went back to patrolling the area.
‘I should still be able to get in’ Ed thought after taking in the information he had compounded. Having spent enough time in the bushes, Ed circled once more hoping to catch sight of a sleeping or unfocused goblin.
Once he caught sight of one he sneakily neared the wall and raised the ground, he proceeded to snatch the goblin from its feet. He then quickly pummeled it killing the goblin in seconds. His strength was not something an exhausted goblin could contend with.
He raised the ground a bit more and hopped off it landing atop the fortified walls. He placed the goblin’s bloodied corpse on top of it and then allowed the earth to swallow it.
He was then able to get a good sight at what the inside of the settlement looked like. There were plenty of cabin-like wooden houses strewn around and some of the streets were illuminated by torchlight. Ed was slightly astonished as it was a stark difference to the settlement he was used to. ρꪖꪕᦔꪖꪕꪫꪣꫀꪶ
‘It’s a good idea to travel’ It would allow one to broaden their horizons and not be a frog stuck in a well. As far as he could remember though he never managed to do anything like that in his past life.
Ed then focused on his main goal for his quick visit. Finding the village chief. He quickly took in the surroundings trying to find an area akin to Vorgarag’s workshop. It didn’t take him long to find it and he proceeded to quickly yet carefully hop down the wall.
Funnily enough, apart from the patrols on top of the wall, the security inside was actually fairly lax. Ed was able to walk around the settlement without too much trouble. Then again it was worth considering that without his versatile manipulation of the earth he would have been easily spotted before getting inside.
Ed then reached the fairly sizeable cabin he had spotted from the distance and carefully scanned his surroundings. With everything seeming clear, Ed opened the lockless front door. He had seen no lights before getting inside so it was likely that the person inside was sleeping.
He then opened another door which led into one of the few rooms in the cabin. Upon entering, he spotted two figures resting on the bed. Due to the darkness, Ed could barely make out who they were so he silently made his way forward.
Upon taking a closer look, Ed recognized the familiar face, ‘That’s the axe throwing guy’ he thought. Although the two figures were covered by a blanket he wouldn’t forget how the irritating guy looked.
It was time to put part two of the plan into action. It was forceful subjugation or diplomacy, and given the circumstances, Ed was leaning towards the former.
‘This is my first time doing coercion…’ Ed could safely assume so since he would probably remember if he had done something like that before. Then again. given his previous mundane life, even if he simply couldn’t remember it was highly unlikely.
Ed then grabbed the orc’s neck and used his free hand to cover his mouth. Duma as a seasoned warrior was instantly awoken by the feeling of being touched. Ed then forcefully pulled him off his bed before his struggle could wake up the other person who was laying next to him.
“Kuk” Duma’s increasingly red face was a weird mix of anger and fear as he glared at Ed.
“Do you remember me?” He asked Duma whose name he didn’t really know as he raised him up in the air.
Duma could only struggle to nod his head as his neck was being tightly gripped by Ed’s hands. But realizing who the other person was only made him more fearful. He should be dead! He thought to himself as he began to run out of breath.
Ed then realized that he was nearly killing him and put him back on the ground while also loosening the hold on his neck.
“I came here to talk” Ed said in a low voice with a smile. However, that smile seemed particularly vicious to the naked Duma.
That’s right naked.
‘No, wait! naked…!’ Ed then realized what had happened and couldn’t help but feel awkward. The orc before him probably felt very frustrated after losing an advantageous battle and decided to loosen up a bit.
With a couple of awkward coughs, Ed managed to maintain a professional outward appearance and ignore the whole matter. He instantly got back on track.
“I want to discuss the terms of an alliance with you” Said Ed while still gripping the frightened Duma who was cursing him inwardly. Who proposed an alliance while holding somebody’s neck!? Duma didn’t dare disagree afraid that Ed would snap his neck like one would a twig.
The true reason as to why he honed his throwing skills was due to his cowardly nature. Of course, as an orc, he wouldn’t dare let others know that. If he had ever done so he probably wouldn’t be living in a nice cabin getting to sleep with some of the settlement’s beauties. Duma would always try to keep up appearances. It just didn’t seem possible under the current situation.
“I’ll let go so we can have a talk, but you should know that I am more than capable of killing you and fleeing if you try to cause a commotion” Ed wasn’t an expert at reading others but Duma’s frightful expression suggested that he wouldn’t try anything funny. But it was also true that he would be able to kill Duma and flee the settlement especially since most of the other orcs were sleeping.
“ah…” Duma was finally able to freely breathe, he couldn’t possibly describe how frightened he felt when he realized someone had grabbed him mid-sleep. He didn’t get to relish the feeling of fresh air properly entering his lungs however as Ed’s voice brought him back to reality.
“You should put something on” Said Ed awkwardly.
“Eh? ah….” Right, he was naked.