Chapter 792: The Children of the Orc God (Patreon)

By the time Garen Voss reached Gaiena, the orcs had already taken Farmarug, a coastal city. Gaiena itself sat near the borders of Rosemark, Duskridge, and Solvar. Over the last several days, Garen had sent messengers on striders into the neighboring kingdoms to call for a meeting, then headed there without waiting for a single reply.

More orcs were arriving at Farmarug by ship every day, and their forces were pushing inland from the coast. Settlements around the city were already under threat. Farmarug sat along an important stretch of coastline, with roads and trade routes connecting it to several human cities. With the city in their hands, orc ships could come and go safely, bringing in more troops and supplies before sending them inland. Every day they held Farmarug would make taking it back harder.

Representatives from several kingdoms had gathered in Gaiena. The city was usually where they discussed the empire’s advances. This time, the orcs were the problem.

“Your Highness...?” Garen blinked.

Princess Noelle of Rosemark stood before him. Noelle rarely left Rosehall. Seeing her here told Garen enough.

“It seems I’m not the only member of royalty here, Sir Garen.”

Across from him, Prince Lorian, heir to Solvar, sat awkwardly in his chair.

“I thought you were just a legend, Princess,” Lorian said with a short laugh. “I heard you weren’t even allowed to leave that palace.”

No one laughed with him. Once the representatives from Jungral, Duskridge, Solvar, and Rosemark were seated, the discussion turned to the orcs.

“Dealing with the orcs is in all our interests,” Noelle said. “They’re already inside our borders. And I will speak plainly. None of us can afford to fight the empire, hostile neighbors, and the orcs all at once. Rosemark will send three thousand soldiers and five hundred striders. We’ll also cover half the cost of any adventurers hired for the campaign.”

Lorian frowned. “Three thousand?”

“That’s what Rosemark can spare.”

“We came here prepared to offer ten thousand. I assumed Rosemark would at least match us.”

“The empire hasn’t stopped pressing our borders, and the trouble in the duchy hasn’t gone away,” Noelle said. “Three thousand is what I can spare without pulling troops from somewhere they’re already needed.”

“That duchy is still giving you trouble?”

“Correct.”

“Duskridge can commit five thousand,” the general said.

“Three thousand from Jungral,” their representative added. “No more. The Orc Lord is already moving through our lands.”

“So Solvar is supposed to send ten thousand while we’re already fighting another orc army?” Lorian asked.

“Rosemark is also providing the striders and covering half the adventurer costs,” Noelle said.

“Striders don’t hold a battle line.”

The Duskridge general tapped Farmarug on the map. “Whatever we send, we need to move soon. The longer we wait, the more troops they’ll bring ashore. Give them enough time to fortify the city and taking it back gets a lot uglier.”

“Couldn’t they have gone and conquered the empire’s continent instead?” Lorian muttered.

“And Solvar?” someone asked. “Are the ten thousand still on the table?”

Lorian shook his head. “Not ten thousand.”

“Our generals are already dealing with the Orc Lord. His forces are moving through Jungral and Solvar, and now you want me to open another front with ten thousand men while Rosemark sends three?”

“Your Highness...” Noelle began.

“If we knew we were going in with overwhelming numbers, maybe. But as things stand? My soldiers die, my kingdom gets weaker, and I still have another orc army to deal with when this is over. I’m not sending ten thousand.”

The hooded man beside Noelle spoke before she could answer. “Marlown will still send what forces it can spare. I’ll be leading them myself.”

Lorian turned toward him as the man pulled back his hood.

“Who the hell is that?” Lorian whispered to Garen.

“King Kyeran of Marlown.”

“Marlown? That place is smaller than a duchy. It’s nothing but farmers. What are they going to do, mow the battlefield?”

Kyeran kept his attention on Farmarug. “There are still people trying to escape. We’ll help get them out. If the orcs stand in our way, we’ll fight.”

Garen watched him for a moment. Marlown had little to spare, and Kyeran was going himself. He’d known Marlown wanted closer ties with Rosemark, but he hadn’t expected Kyeran to go this far.

Lorian leaned back in his chair. “Fine. Five thousand. That’s all Solvar is sending.”

“Then we’ll need more adventurers,” the Duskridge general said.

Garen thought of the Lost Foreigners.

“Can we hire them?”

“I’m handling it,” Noelle replied.

One name came to mind: Lord Moon.

Where is he now?

***

Luke fell asleep not long after returning to the castle. It had been a rough day. He had spent hours teaching goblins and ratfolk how to fight together, read their enemies, and react when a plan went to shit. The ratfolk picked it up faster, but unlike the five goblins, they didn’t have classes. Aside from Norn and Nara, the goblins were still the strongest members of his army.

For a moment, there was only darkness. Then white clouds rolled into view, and a new scene formed around him.

“Hello, my apostle.”

“Artemis...?”

She was wearing something different. A... teacher outfit? She even had glasses.

“Who hasn’t had dirty dreams about their teacher?” she asked.

“Looks like my offerings paid off. Lots of points.” Luke looked around. “We’re in a classroom.”

Despite the fact that he was lying in a bed.

“I wanted something new today. By the way, don’t you have anything to tell me?”

“Sure. I got a skill with your name in it.”

[Artemis’ Spirit Slash].

“Wait, what?” Her eyes went wide, and the glasses nearly slipped off her face.

“That wasn’t what you meant?”

“I was talking about your progress with the Kingdom Core. But holy shit, you got a skill with my name in it?”

Artemis pulled up her System screen and skimmed through it. Her grin widened.

“Ah, you sneaky bastard. So that’s why I suddenly got so many credits.”

Artemis looked at him for a few seconds. Her smile slowly turned into something Luke didn’t trust.

“Why are you looking at me like you’re about to start drooling?”

Artemis started toward him.

“Why are you walking toward me like a lioness?”

“Your goddess demands a celebratory hug!”

She pounced.

Luke dodged the lethal embrace, along with what looked suspiciously like an attempted kiss.

“Stop running from me! We have to celebrate!”

She finally caught him in a crushing hug and laughed as she squeezed him.

“That means every kill you make with that skill counts as an offering to me, Luke! I get divine credit for it!”

“Is that good? Does it mean I can stop praying and making offerings to you every day?”

“Absolutely not. Keep doing that. I like being spoiled.” She paused, then grinned. “Divinely spoiled, specifically. Seriously, don’t stop.”

“Okay...”

“It’s proof that our love is growing stronger, Luke. You love me. We need to celebrate.”

“That has nothing to do with love, you horny goddess.”

Luke eventually managed to pry her off him, though she kept giggling every time she looked his way.

“I’m going to brag about this,” Artemis muttered into a cup of something hot. Judging by the smell, it was coffee.

“By the way,” Luke said, “during my crusade against the orcs, I accidentally found two orc children.”

“Two kids? So did you pull an Anakin, or did you make somebody else do it?”

“What? I didn’t kill the kids. Why would I?”

“When you’re trillions of years old, one year or ten thousand barely registers. You mortals are the ones who care about that stuff.”

“No. I did not pull an Anakin.”

“Oh. Good.” She took another sip of coffee. “So...?”

“Those children were called Orc Treasures.”

Artemis spat out her coffee.

“What?”

She set the cup down. “Holy shit, Luke. You still have those kids?”

“Yeah.”

“You lucky bastard.”

“That’s a big deal?”

“Luke, how the hell do I explain this to you... Orcs don’t call just anyone an Orc Treasure.”

“Yeah, I know. They’re part of the orc royal family from one of their kingdoms.”

“No, my young Padawan. In Star Wars terms, it’s like you found a Skywalker. An Orc Treasure is an orc known to carry the Onyx Bloodline.”

“Onyx?”

“Where do I even start...?”

Artemis spent the next few minutes explaining it. Onyx was an ancient deity who had created the orcs. With the System’s help, he had made it possible for them to appear across different worlds. They could show up during an integration, or even be spawned later by mana.

According to Artemis, creating a race wasn’t all that unusual for gods. Some even did it as part of their progression through the Divine System.

“Onyx scattered special seeds among the orcs,” she continued. “Orcs born carrying his bloodline. They were meant to rule other orcs, grow powerful, and claim the Legacy of his Path. Those are the ones they call Orc Treasures. So yeah, Luke. Those two kids of yours? They’re special. They can walk the Path of Onyx. They’re his descendants.”

Luke stared at her. “Actual descendants?”

“Divine bloodline descendants. Don’t start building a family tree in your head.”

“Damn...”

“I probably don’t even need to tell you that Orc Treasures are treated as sacred among orcs,” Artemis said. “Sacred by orc standards, anyway. Most Orc Kings have the Onyx Bloodline.”

“That explains why Gurgal is so obsessed with the kids. This goes way beyond kingdom politics or the Core.”

“So what are you going to do? Kill the little ones and turn them into a potion? I hear they make a powerful elixir. Or maybe trade them to the Orc King in exchange for hot orc women?”

Luke ignored the jab. “What can you tell me about orc society without breaking any rules?”

“I’ve already told you something pretty valuable. I can’t just keep dumping answers into your lap. You’re supposed to figure some of this shit out yourself. Screwing up is part of it.”

“What’s orc society like?”

“It’s like James Cameron’s Avatar, dude. Except the Na’vi are cannibals, and they’re the ones leaving Pandora to invade Earth.”

Luke was silent for a few seconds. “I’ve never seen a female orc before. Rheera was the first.”

“You into green girls now? Looking for your Gamora?”

“No. But the orcs I killed didn’t have reproductive organs. And no, I don’t go around inspecting corpses before you make a joke about it. Some of them fight practically naked, wearing nothing but loincloths or whatever.”

“To dumb it way down, wild orcs are born from an orc larva.”

“An orc larva?”

“Yeah. Think of a giant beetle grub. It eats everything in sight, gets huge and fat, then dies. After that, orcs crawl out of it. Out of its blood.”

“What? That makes no sense.”

“Watch The Lord of the Rings. I’m pretty sure there’s a reference to that. Orcs literally came out of the ground there, dude.”

“Okay, but when Charlie and Angie gave the orc kids a bath...”

“Oh, I get it.” Artemis raised a finger. “Awakened orcs gradually lose their bestial traits as they rank up. Eventually, they develop reproductive organs. Then the females can get pregnant, and their descendants are born that way too. Nature’s kind of insane, huh?”

“That’s very xenomorph.”

“It is extremely xenomorph.”

“It’s weird that you know this much about it.”

“I know everything about sex.”

“Yeah... that tracks.”

Luke went quiet. Until now, he’d assumed the ships were bringing soldiers.

They weren’t.

They only need to bring the larvae.

Once the larvae were here, there was no need to ship an entire army across the sea. Someone with enough authority could pull the orcs out of that bestial state, make them obey, and turn them into soldiers. That would explain the orcs he’d tortured. None of them had known a damn thing about their own kingdom. Of course they hadn’t.

They can grow an army here.

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Teacher Artemis: