Here it goes people, volume beginning to pick up the action, though maybe not in the way you’re expecting it might.
“The Great Eagle’s Nest”
As soon as Bash stepped into the tavern, he felt as if he had just wandered into a battlefield.
There was a strange tension pervading the atmosphere all around him.
It wasn’t a hostile, murderous air, yet somehow very close to it.
The Hero found it similar to the early stages of a large-scale battle, where both sides hadn’t fully committed to close combat and were just probing each other’s strength.
“An Orc…? Ah, yes, I heard that one of you had entered the country… Welcome to The Great Eagle’s Nest.”
The tavern’s owner greeted Bash, pointed at a table, and suggested he took a seat at a suitable spot.
There was a counter, yet no seats were lined up along it – guests could only sit around a series of long tables.
For a moment, the Orc wondered what the owner meant by a “suitable” seat, but he figured that out quickly.
On one side of the table were men, and on the other, women.
Bash pulled out a chair adjacent to the already seated men and sat himself down.
Sitting right in front of him was a female Elven warrior who’s left eye was completely glazed over, most likely due to the same injury that left a long scar running diagonally across her face, and right through said eye. Her remaining eye was filled with so raw violence and desire that shoe could probably kill a child just by looking at them.
She wore her hair in a short bob that and curled inwards.
On her shoulders hung a relatively simple dress that exposed a fair bit of skin, but Bash could tell at a glance that this woman was a fierce warrior.
She was probably just as strong as an Orc Platoon Chief.
As soon as Bash got himself seated, she looked at him in panic for a second, before noticing his attire. She looked over to the woman next to her as if to make sure this wasn’t some kind of Orcsish ploy, before turning back to the Hero and giving him a slight nod.
“Hi! You look like a wonderful gentleman. I’m Hembbit! Nice to meet you!”
Her voice was akin to a tiger trying to imitate a cat – a pale, grating mockery of cuteness carrying a slight tone of hostility.
After just hearing her once, Bash didn’t really feel like talking to this woman.
It was as if he was a piece of fresh meat, being sniffed and prodded at by a great predator.
Were he truly against a beast, he would have just fought it off. Unfortunately, in front of a woman, he wasn’t sure what to do next.
This whole thing felt rather strange to him, but it remained that this was technically the warmest reception he’d ever received from a female ever since he began looking for a wife, so he decided to stay and at least try to converse.
“What’s your name, Orc?”
“I’m Bash.”
“Bash! Oh, that’s a nice name! Orcs all have such great sounding names. And I’m out here stuck with a lame name like “Hembbit”!”
“Ha…ha…”
Her voice was so shrill that it made his head pound, and he was beginning to get dizzy.
Could this be… some kind of spell?
“Oh, are those… sword scars? Looks like you were a warrior. Where were you deployed?”
“Nowhere in particular. I moved around a lot, but last time I was around Siwanasi Forest I was fighting a defensive battle to protect my country.”
“Of course you were! I should have know! Silly me~”
“And you? Where were you deployed?”
“Ah, I was in a division assigned to attacking the Succubus Nation! 32nd Assault Division represent! So I don’t know much about Orcs…”
The female warrior, which Bash now knew was named Hembbit, hacked and coughed into her hand before taking a large gulp of water and turning back to face the Hero with a wide smile.
“This is the first time an Orc has traveled to Elven lands as far as I know… Tell me more about yourself ~! What brings you here?”
“Oh… I came here in search of something. Well, it’s more like I’m trying to lose som – …”
Bash was halfway though explaining his reason for being here when Hembbit leaned forward and put a finger on his mouth, shushing him.
He stopped speaking.
“Shh, no need to explain yourself. If you’re in here, you’re trying to get married, aren’t you?”
“…Hm.”
Being seen through so easily, Bash gulped.
Of course, if he’d come to a place known to be a hotspot for unmarried men and women to meet, it’d be obvious what he was looking for.
Well, it wasn’t as if he was trying to hide it – the only thing he wanted to keep under wraps was the fact that he was a virgin.
“But…”
Hembbit shook her head while whining – probably trying to appear cute by sounding like a baby.
“You know, I don’t really want to be an uh… what do you call them… “servant”? You know, an Orcish breeding slave. Yeah, sure I want to have children, but I want to raise a family AND be respect as a woman too, you know?”
“Don’t worry. I’ve got status back in my country. If you become my wife, you’ll be treated differently from the other slaves. I promise.”
Status.
The moment that word came out of Bash’s lips, Hembbit’s eyes seemed to light up.
“Hey! Are you maybe a big deal among Orcs? What’s your rank? Could it be… a Great Warchief? A Warlord?”
“My rank? I’m just a regular warrior, but –…”
“Pfft, you’re at the bottom of the barrel!”
Hembbit spit out a glob of phlegm onto the tavern floor.
Following that, her voice changed into a deep, thick, nearly growl-like tone, like a warrior taunting her enemies.
This would have come as a shock to anyone else, but when Bash heard the changed feel of her voice, he was relieved.
Up until now, he wasn’t sure if he was dealing with a kitten or a tiger.
But now he knew – he was dealing with a tiger.
And he had a wealth of experience in dealing with tigers.
“My rank is warrior, yes, but I served in the war and m – …”
“I don’t wanna hear a fucking grunt bragging about anything. How much money ya got?”
“What?”
“You heard me. How much money ya got? Dosh. Cash. Moolah. Gold. You know, money.”
“Money? I don’t have any money, bu – …”
When it came to objective wealth, Bash was one of if not the richest person in his country – not counting the King, of course.
Not like he had much to spend all his riches on anyways. Most Orcs would bend over backwards to be able to somehow be of service to the Hero, let alone sell him something.
However, bartering was the main way of conducting business in Orc Country, and liquid currency was almost non-existent.
It was used exclusively to trade with foreign countries and wasn’t used in their daily lives at all.
However, Hembbit wasn’t aware of these cultural differences.
“Hah~… None at all… Next!”
Hembbit said with a huge sigh, after which she promptly got up and left.
“…?”
Bash didn’t understand what she meant by this.
Confused, he decided to just wait and observe Hembbit.
He watched as the Elven woman walked towards another table, took a seat, and began talking to another man.
“Zell, what should I do…?”
Bash looked over at the Faerie, deciding it would be wise to heed her counsel before doing anything else.
Unfortunately, Zell wasn’t in any condition to answer, being completely and utterly smashed from drinking a whole mug of honey wine.
“So I told him, “That’s why flower reading should be done with red flowers, and ONLY red flowers!”. And you know what he said? He said, “Which red flowers?”! Yeah! Imagine being that much of a dummy! You’ve gotta be kidding me… I mean, it’s not hard. Red flowers means red flowers! What do you mean what red flowers! Oh, hi mister!”
Bash’s love counselor was now rambling about anything and everything to a half-drunk glass of beer.
She was useless right now.
[What should I do…]
Should he go and accost Hembbit again? Or…
“Hello! Good evening, mister Orc! I’m Lilac! Wow, it’s so rare to see an Orc that I just had to call out to you!”
As the Hero was wondering what his next move should be, another lady came up to him.
This time, it was a female warrior that sounded like a gryphon imitating a hummingbird.
“I’m Bash.”
“So, Mr. Bash, do you own some land or something?”
[For the time being, let’s forget about that other lady and focus on this one.]
Is what Bash decided to do as he turned to face Lilac.
“I don’t own any, but the territory of Orc Country is – …”
“Oh, okay then, bye-bye.”
Lilac just waved at him and left.
It all happened in the blink of an eye, so fast that Bash could swear he could still see her afterimage where she once stood.
What just happened? What was she going to do next?
As Bash was once again caught up in his thought, the next woman came up to him.
“Good evening! I’m Spathiphillum! Sorry for bothering you, but are you an Orc Master?”
“Oh, no, I’m – …”
Once again pushed out of his contemplation, Bash began to answer the questions, remaining as honest as he’d always been…
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