16 orc 2

“Huh, so that's why the orcs came running back.” A group of neighbouring soldiers approach us, as they notice my men cleaning up the mess.

A captain, a tall, well built man walks up to me. He’s in full armor, and a big greatsword at his back.

Name unknown, Level ??, Rank 5, Knight, Red

“Greetings. I take you are the leader?”

“Yes, I am Prince Carlos. My men intercepted the fleeing orcs, so here we are.”

“I see you got the giant orc as well. Good job. Saved us the trouble.”

I smile, “Ah not me. He did.” I pointed to Adam, now wearing and testing the gauntlet. Adam notices of course, and smiles back.

“I see.” He bows lightly, offers his hand, and I shake it. “Thank you, Prince Carlos. I am Captain Cedric of the 5th Eastern Knight Corps. Such cooperation should happen more often.”

“Well met, and yes. Monsters are our mutual responsibility, though resources are a bit lacking on my part.”

He smiles, “A decent force is measured in good men, not numbers.”

“Ah, true that, true that.”

“Well, we shall return now. Glad to see the orc matter did not spill into the villages as we originally feared.”

“Goodbye.”

And the neighbouring soldiers left. That Captain Cedric, I would recruit him if I could, but it is not to be. Maybe some other day, when our paths cross under different circumstances.

We return to the village, and have a rest. Some of the loot need to be further processed, so the men would borrow the blacksmith’s forge and tools in the village to clean up the loot.

“That went well, Prince.” Sara sits next to me, I see the indicator on her head says 14% now.

“No casualties is always a good thing.” I nod. “You did well.”

Sara pauses… “Ah. Thank you.” After a short blush she regains her composure, and brags. “I shot three orcs in the head! I should level up!”

“That’s great.” I flash my biggest happy smile.

She somehow fumbles when she sees my smile though. “... ah. yes. yes. I would be happy to level up.” Her face is kind of reddish, so she stands and gives me a light bow. “Ah... I will go help the guys out.”

And she runs away.

“She likes you.” Lani says, eating a bread. She’s been eating a lot. Her body is gradually gaining all the lost weight, so her face is still somewhat sunken in at her cheeks, but no longer as malnourished.

“Good.”

“Good?”

“Yes. I like my people to like me.”

“I see.” Lani takes a bite of her bread. I notice she has a pouch at her side, which contains more food. I think her experience with hunger made her stockpile food.

“How about you, do you like me?”

She stares at me, kind of surprised that I had the gall to ask such a question.

“Do you?” I lean in a bit closer, and she shakes her head.

“...Ah… You feed me, so…. I am happy…”

“Good. We might be fighting more bad monsters in the future. I hope you can be on our side then.”

She didn’t reply, and continues to munch on her bread.

Anne then comes over, “I met the villagers to tell them to repair their walls and have more patrols.”

I nod, and Anne sits next me, between myself and Lani.

“Are you hungry? Let’s go and eat something?” Anne asks, she holds my arm.

Lani glances at her, and shrugs.

“Ah, I do feel a bit hungry. Come, let's go then.”

Anne smiles, “The villagers tell me one of the aunties makes good chicken wings, so let's get that.”

At the auntie’s grilled stall, we dig into some tasty chicken wings, seasoned with the regional spices.

“So… what did you talk about?” Anne asks.

“Oh, nothing much. Just about the fight earlier…”

“Ah, Sara looks really happy though.” Anne nudges me with her elbow. “Really, nothing?”

“Hmmm, I might have praised her for doing well.”

“Ahhh. How about me?”

“You did well too, Anne. I am amazed you kept up with us so easily.”

She rubs her head. “I do have to run around Loom, and travel between all the various administration offices…”

Affection summary

Anne - 75%

Adam - 50%

Sara - 14%

Lani - 6%

Reese - 30%