Orc Lord

Elianora saw her sister off the same way as usual that morning: after helping to braid the priestess-in-training’s hair and giving the girl a brief account of her plans for the day. After Olive promised she would pray for a safe journey, Elianora tossed on her robe, fastened her belt, smiled, took up her pack and left.

It was morning, but not too early. The city streets were crowded already, but it wasn't a problem to the people who weren't in much of a hurry.

Exactly on schedule, Elianora’s glossy brown head pushed its way out of the throngs of people and passed through the door to the adventurer’s guild.

She righted the delicate spectacles on her nose and looked around for the rest of her party.

One young man dressed in leather armor, with long black hair and a crossbow at his hip, turned and noticed her. Smiling softly, he nodded for her to come over.

“You’re exactly on time as usual, Elianora. Is your sister doing well again this morning?”

Elianora smiled and lowered her head in thanks. “Yes, she’s energetic today as well, Nostel.” She turned her attention to a young man with sandy blonde hair who was still facing a wooden board. He was examining one of the papers posted on it closely.

“Good morning Rudan,” Elianora smiled and greeted him. “Is that going to be our mission for today?”

The young man seemed to have been absorbed in the contents of the paper, and had only just noticed her arrival. He turned and smiled at her, the sheathed sword at his waist clinked as it tapped against one of the metal plates sewed into his hard leather armor.

“Hey, Elianora. Sorry, I didn't notice you come in.”

“It's fine. So what’s that mission about?”

“Oh, right.” Rudan scratched his head and looked back at the mission. “It's kobold extermination. The reward is good, and it's on the western side of the mountain, which is safer. If Patch were coming today, I'd take it. But without him, I'm hesitant.”

“Oh that's right. Patch has his advancement tests this week, doesn't he?”

“So what do you think, Elianora? Without Patch helping out, can we handle a group of kobolds?”

She nodded.”They should still be manageable. The only concern is if we run into something stronger than kobolds.”

Nostel chuckled.”In that case, it's just extra pressure on me to make sure we don't meet stronger monsters.”

“So it's a go then?” Rudan asked. The others nodded, and he took the mission off the wall, presenting it to the person behind the counter.

“Then, if everyone’s ready, let's head out.”

***

The party had been prepared. They navigated their way through the forest with confidence and precision. They avoided any unnecessary fights, and stopped to gather any valuable herbs they spotted for Patch to use later. They could recognize various wildlife, and their formation when moving had no obvious flaws.

They were clearly experienced, and yet other adventurers would call them novices.

Because they had not yet been “baptized.”

There were clear levels of superiority among the various monster races in the forest. Most adventurers would be considered novices for only fighting those monsters who have weaker potential than the average Human. For example, the kobolds they were going to fight were like small, angry dogs. Both their size and strength was below that of a Human adult, and they were only expected to possess two or three skills. Therefore, an adventurer, who would surely have at least four skills, would have an obvious advantage.

An adventurer would be baptized when they fought the rulers of the western forest: those whose base physical ability was above that of Humans, and who might have just as many skills: Orcs.

Elianora and her party had yet to fight an orc. For the current them, it would basically be suicide. Thus, since they were only able to pick on weaker monsters, they were novices. The so-called “stronger” monsters they were worried about were Hobgoblins and Kobold leaders. Although these were stronger than the lowest class of sapient monsters, they were still inferior to the orcs.

The party was advancing cheerfully through the dense forest. Although they were in high spirits, they didn't actually let their guards down. Still, the idea that large monsters like orcs would be easily noticeable was a fatal miscalculation. Because just a few dozen feet away, hiding themselves among the leaves even better than the small green Goblins could, was a party of two dozen orcs.