“Hey--”

Just when I've opened my mouth to try and calm Durghan down, the big Orc in the middle, Rigdam, raises his hand.

“Quiet. Chief can bring any escort he want. Durghan, come over. You keeping us waiting.”

The rage on Durghan's face doesn't seem to have lessened, but he is controlling it somehow.

“I am no longer a chief. This is Chief Vyra. She defeated me in fair combat to take my place.”

The other Orc chiefs chuckled to themselves, but they left center stage to Rigdam.

“That joke. Stupid.”

Alright, alright, let’s finish this up already.

“It’s not a joke. I defeated Durghan to become the new chief of my village. My name is Vyra. It's a pleasure to meet you all.”

“A woman chief? No way!”

“Go cook something!”

Jeez, the peanut gallery is acting up again.

“Like I said, the new chief is me.”

“Liar! Stupid woman is a liar!”

…

…

Now I'm pissed.

“... Take that back,” I say dangerously.

“Boo! You a liar! Go home stupid woman!”

Before I notice it, Durghan is already holding me back with all his strength.

“Chief Vyra, you can't get violent before the battle! Please calm down!”

No violence? I shove Durghan off of me. Looks like I was too rough; he fell on the ground. Fine.

“You worthless swine! You're a waste of air on this fucking planet! Your mother is the only Orc woman in history to regret giving birth! She would have drowned you, but the filth from your disgusting presence would have polluted the river for a hundred years! Go get fucked by a Goblin you stupid bastard! Otherwise, when it's time to fight, I will rip out your useless fucking tongue and shove it up your ass to join your maggot-infested brain!”

I take a moment to fix my breathing while the other chiefs just stand there stunned.

“... You is really chief?” Rigdam asked after a moment.

“...” I can't help but glare at him. “Yes. Incidentally, is killing allowed in the chief battle?”

“Killing, is it?”

“See, creatures without brains shouldn't be alive in the first place. I think nature made a mistake, so I was hoping to correct it.”

“... Killing is fine. Chief-less village will be your problem.”

“When can we start?”

“Ramsule not here yet. When he come, we start.”

Ten minutes… Twenty minutes… What is taking so long?

Finally, a single Orc arrived.

“You. Where Ramsule?”

“He dead. Ramsule’s Village have no chief.”

“Hmph. Fine. We start chief battle.”

Right here in the center of the village? Well, the space is large enough, I suppose. Now, where’s that bastard who called me a liar? I have to make him reflect on his actions.

“There you are!!” I see him and immediately activate . I haven't drawn my Demonic bone mace yet because I have to rip his tongue out first. I can feel the Holy attribute protesting inside of me, but it's weak. Probably because I consider this justice!

The Orc chief who insulted me sees me charging and squeals. He can't run away before I'm on top of him, so he draws his iron sword and clamps his mouth shut tightly.

“Oiya, oiya? You’ll make me open your mouth myself~?”

I ignore the sword which digs into my side and grip the Orc’s snout and jaw. The wound will heal in an instant anyway, thanks to .

I pull to open the bastard’s mouth, but only hear cracking and squelching sounds before the top half of his skull came off in my hand.

… Eh?

Blood shoots up at me, and I release the lower half of his jaw which I was holding. The former Orc chief’s body collapses to the ground as dead weight.

Ah… haha… is this Mortal Combat? I think I'll be sick.

I guess since I haven't sparred with a person in a while, I forgot that Orcs are a bit more fragile individually than Magic Beasts. If I'm not careful with the rest of this fight, the other Orc villages might team up to suppress mine.

No, more like, I just murdered someone without even really trying. Can I have a moment to sort out my emotions please?!

Of course not. Three other chiefs are already trying to team up against me.

Just aim for the legs until you figure out how much strength to use.

The Orcs which approach my direction fall one after another. It's a little pathetic. Finally, Rigdam notices me and comes closer. He uses a spear as a weapon, and he seems to be quite good with it. Before I realize it, the ones that tried to interfere have been incapacitated, and it's just Rigdam and me facing each other.

“I misjudge you earlier. You strong chief.”

“Admitting your mistakes is difficult. I accept your apology.” I feel like I should apologize for some things too, but technically I'm on the receiving end this time. As for the Orc I killed, I'll apologize directly to his village.

Rigdam makes use of his distance to bring down his spear toward my head. I hold up my bone mace to block. I’m left in the disadvantageous position, but I use and shove hard, causing him to stumble.

I've heard before that it's better to get close when fighting spear users, so I rush in, preparing to use a aimed at his abdomen. He can't block from here, so he jumps back… and falls into the hole I dug with earth magic. The Orcs in the audience could see it, and they shouted to warn him, but… Well, he fell in anyway. I'm sure he wasn't expecting there to be a hole in the middle of his town.

“Well, I could rain spells down at you from here, or we could just call me the winner.”

“Hmph. So you was a Mage. Yeah. You win.”

I smile, and the spirits call out with something useful.

[[Conditions met. acquired.]]