"Hehehe... And then I punched 'em straight in the gut! That sucker fell in seconds! Hahaha!" He punched the air a few times as he said so. He was currently just a tad bit drunk...

Christian, a well-known adventurer, was regardless attentively listening to the Old man's rambles, that was until someone interrupted their meeting.

"Excuse me, Sir Khal, h.e.l.lo Mr. Christian" Khal's subordinate bowed and entered the room, he didn't bother knocking. He was holding some papers that needed to be looked at along with a verbal message.

"Eh? Why are you here Miller? Can't you see I am talking with my buddy Chris? Heehehe" Khal nudged the nearby Chris and drunkenly dismissed his secretary, he then continued his tale.

"And that was how I- Eh? Why are you still here?" Khal was trying to continue his epic but Miller approached him and dropped a stack of doc.u.ments in front of him. Khal looked aghast after seeing the large stack drop in front of him. It was as if Miller had brought him his worst enemy.

"Miller!!! Are you trying to kill an old man! Get those things away from me!" Khal scolded Miller and even threw an empty beer bottle at him.

Miller didn't even need to dodge as the throw was horribly off-center. He was holding his temple in exasperation.

"With all due respect sir, I believe I told you to stop drinking during work hours" Miller let out a sigh shortly after that and recomposed himself.

"No way!" Khal vehemently refused. Miller held himself back from cursing out his boss and decided to tell him his purpose in coming in today.

"I have a message from Headquarters complaining about your work ethic Sir. They demand that to make up for it you be sent to a branch in Arbor town. The branch leader there seemed to have encountered some trouble and they want you to take over the operation until the matter is resolved." The work ethic part was a lie although there were indeed complaints filed against the branch.

"No way! If they are going to complain they shouldn't give me more work!!!" Khal refused once more without an ounce of hesitation.

Christian who was listening in on the conversation decided to pitch in at that moment.

"The branch leader? Wasn't that Samuel? He is the viscount's son, right? I heard he was pretty strong, how did he meet any trouble?" It seemed Christian had heard of Samuel before.

"Well..." Miller wasn't sure if that was something he could tell an outsider. Christian was only a friend of Khal and thus not affiliated with the Freedom Union.

"Oh! Sammy! I remember seeing that fella a couple of years ago! He was still stationed at headquarters, we went out for a couple of drinks." Khal suddenly became interested and wanted Miller to tell him what happened. Miller waited a few awkward seconds of silence but it seemed Khal had no intention of dismissing Christian. He decided that if anything he would pin the blame on his boss.

"Another special dungeon appeared near the area of the forbidden forest, Samuel as the branch closest to the dungeon was in charge of clearing it. Unexpectedly the monsters inside of it were of a higher than antic.i.p.ated level. Based on Samuel's account, the mobs in the dungeon were at most D-cla.s.s but he was faced with a Lich on the third-floor boss room."

"That is pretty weird... but! it sounds like he has it under control, why do I need to get involved?" Khal said while rubbing his chin before promptly taking a seep of beer.

"Sir!!!" Miller's anger reached the boiling point.

***

Ed was still on the march towards the settlement, it was much further than he had antic.i.p.ated. Surprisingly enough he hadn't been discovered yet. Or so he thought...

"Hey" Shel who had been watching from afar now stood next to him.

'Shoot!' Ed was startled by her sudden appearance and almost jumped back in fright. He had been too immersed in his thoughts.

"h.e.l.lo..." Ed composed himself and reservedly replied. Shel suddenly burst out in laughter after hearing his reply. Ed was extremely confused, he was led to believe that the orc in front of him was indeed crazy.

"Ah... you are killing me, what type of Orc says h.e.l.lo." Shel finally managed to calm down but not without one last snort.

'She is right' His reply had been too sheepish. Thinking back, he had not done much outside of walking.

If any of the orcs apart from Shel were in the mood to pay attention to him they would have realized something was off about him. Whenever anybody approached him to celebrate Ed would give out an unengaged reply. Other orcs would similarly approach until it became a small group, at which point Ed would sneak away. Basically put he wasn't acting like an Orc would.

"You are doing it again" Her words were sounded akin to a reproach.

"Doing what?" Ed couldn't understand what the crazy lady in front of him was talking about. He was naturally confused.

"You are thinking" Shel said while glaring at him.

'Eh?' He was dumbfounded by her reply. He was thinking? Was he supposed to not think?

"You are like Uram" Her tone eased up when she thought that way.

Ed held himself back from asking who Uram was. He was still unsure if the orc woman realized he was not part of the tribe or if she was there to chastise him for his weird behavior. He could only stare at her hoping she elaborates.

"He was always thinking, He was Vorgarag's only student" Shel seemed to be reminiscent. Ed then got an idea of who she might be referring to.

'Based on my memories and what I have observed so far, Vorgarag is probably the Shaman.' That was something that interested Ed. He wanted to learn more about this floor of the dungeon but he was also hoping to learn magic. It seemed impossible though given how much importance was put on the Shaman. So he decided to ask a question he didn't feel would be weird.

"Really? how did he do that?" Ed thought that becoming the student of a Shaman should be no easy matter, it was only natural to ask.

That question, however, brought back Shel from her reminiscing. She was displeased by his inquiry.

"See! You are too curious" While not all orcs were muscle heads, most would still not ask that question. That question suggested they were interested in becoming a Shaman which most Orcs did not want to do. Actually, most just knew they couldn't and thus didn't bother.

"Uram would always ask questions, Vorgarag noticed and took him as a student" Shel answered the question anyway.

'That's it?' Ed was let down by the answer, he imagined they would have to go through some sort of trial or maybe a test of apt.i.tude. Then again most Orcs were not used to thinking, thinking itself might be the required apt.i.tude.

'That makes sense' Ed nodded to himself in his head.

When he studied the magic books he had to well... read. He doubted any of the orcs present here knew how to do so. Orcs probably lacked understanding in the first place making it hard for them to learn anything complicated. Otherwise, they wouldn't have become so reliant on brute force.

Still, that's also what makes orc shamans so fearful. Most mages have weak bodies and are inexperienced in close-quarter combat. Orc shamans however have the naturally strong body of an orc along with wits and magic. They could be said to have no obvious weakness in regards to combat.

'Ouch!' Ed received a hit to the back of his head.

[You've been dealt damage. -3 hp]

Shel had hit Ed for zoning out a second time. Shel originally thought Ed was interested in her due to how they met but she turned out to be wrong. Ed was clearly immersed in his thoughts after the fight and never even approached her to claim his prize.

It seemed she had to take the initiative as she became interested in him after seeing his display of strength. She had looked at him flirtatiously hoping he would get the hint but she was instead entirely ignored. She finally decided to approach him but he kept on s.p.a.cing out for some reason. He was hurting her pride as one of the strongest and most beautiful orc woman in the tribe.

"Why did you hit me???" He rubbed the back of his head. That simple hit had taken away 3hp! It was clearly excessive.

Shel simply walked away after that. Leaving behind the puzzled Ed.

'Is she actually in love with me or something?' Ed was then interrupted by the sound of loud cheers. They came from up ahead.

Large wooden walls stood in front of the group of orcs. The cheers emanated from the orcs atop the large settlement walls.

'We are here' Ed's expression brightened. He was already antic.i.p.ating all of the good things awaiting him inside.