Chapter Forty-Five: Warren Height's Troubles (Part Two)

“I truly can’t walk any further. Can we rest for a moment?” Sisley pleaded.

The female Smai, who had been frowning ever since they were expelled from Enimon City, initially intended to steel her heart, but upon seeing Sisley’s blistered feet, her resolve softened, and she silently nodded.

They walked a few more steps until they reached a small stream where they paused to rest and washed their feet in the clear water.

Sisley’s expression was one of confusion and despair. She still hadn’t fully grasped what had happened. She had followed Indira to the orc capital, Esmon, only to be placed under what felt like house arrest upon arrival, forbidden from moving about freely. Then, the female Smai returned, but before she had even been there a day, grim news arrived: the orc king had ordered both Indira and Sisley to leave orc territory immediately.

“Indira, can you tell me what exactly is going on?” Sisley asked hesitantly, especially since Indira had been rushing to leave ever since their expulsion.

Indira was silent at first. Her eyes held a mixture of alertness and resentment. After some time, she replied, “I’m sorry. This matter shouldn’t have involved you, and dragging you into it is truly a burden. But since things have come to this, perhaps I should tell you more. Simply put, you know that I am actually an orc, belonging to the Smai clan, which has served the Bimon king for generations. Long ago, King Bimon led us to migrate to another continent. I have returned now as his representative. But the orcs here no longer recognize the authority of the Bimon lineage, which means the honor once held by the Smai clan has faded as well.”

“Oh, you mean the orcs here refuse to return power to King Bimon? So that’s why they want us gone?” Sisley stammered.

“Yes. They won’t restore power, nor acknowledge King Bimon anymore. But that alone wouldn’t have caused them to expel us. The real reason is that I, representing the orcs of this new continent, proposed cooperation to them. They gave no reply at the time, but now their actions have given me an answer,” Indira sighed.

“But why would mere refusal to cooperate lead to expulsion? Even among humans, failed deals don’t end in outright rejection. We still talk to each other. Orcs have always been more honest and hospitable than us,” Sisley said.

“Because…” Indira hesitated after uttering the word, as if weighing whether to continue. Finally, she went on, “Because of faith.”

“Faith?”

“Yes. The faith of the orcs here has changed,” Indira said bitterly.

“Changed faith?” Sisley read the words with puzzlement, then seemed to understand. “You mean you no longer believe in the orc war god of this continent?”

“Why should we?” Indira replied coldly. “We respect strength. Rochester defeated us, defeated King Bimon, and even defeated the war god’s emissary. Though Rochester is our enemy, in a way we must respect him. King Bimon was defeated, but if not for his final battle with the Bimon clan that dealt a heavy blow to Rochester, leaving him unable to pursue the orcs, we might have perished in even greater numbers. As for Odin, the war god, we once wholeheartedly revered him, followed his guidance, but in the end, we faced only defeat.”

Sisley was stunned. In truth, Indira had not told the whole truth. While these were facts, they alone were insufficient to explain why the orcs on this new continent abandoned their old faith. The deeper truth was that the orcs, after leaving their homeland, found that here they no longer received Odin’s protection. Miracles ceased, prayers from orc priests went unanswered, and their war chants lost much of their power. Establishing themselves in this new land was fraught with difficulty. As outsiders who had crossed the sea, many had died or gone missing along the way, and their numbers were initially small. Though orcs reproduced rapidly, being suppressed in both time and space threatened their very existence.

In this desperate situation, a will resembling that of the war god Odin suddenly reached out to them, restoring their strength and war chants, enabling them to endure harsh conditions. The ancient orcs recognized that the miracles and power displayed by this will were of the same nature as Odin’s—born of war and battle.

Though Sisley sensed that Indira had not revealed every detail, through their journey together, she had come to trust this graceful female Smai knight. Indira had saved her from danger multiple times; without her, Sisley would have died long ago. Despite the dangers and exhaustion, this journey had broadened her horizons. Compared to the prospect of confronting the Commineson Revolutionary Group—something she was reluctant to face—she almost wished this dreamlike journey could continue indefinitely.

Seeing Sisley’s silence, Indira felt a pang of guilt for dragging this innocent human girl into orc conflicts. She was a new generation orc, born after the ancient orcs had settled on the new continent. Though she carried orc blood, she no longer harbored the old grudges against humans. The only large nation on the new continent was Nairella, formed jointly by surface dwellers, underground races, and even sea pirates. The will of various races was expressed through the Elder Council’s votes and the election of the Chief Executive. The orcs’ initial hardships and eventual success in securing their place was a history written in blood and tears.

Indira’s generation was born into this environment. Though the nation was still small when she was born, it had just achieved a reconciliation and integration between humans and ancient orcs. Over the following decades, the nation expanded continuously, absorbing new races, facing no powerful competitors on the continent.

Now, this new Nairella prospered, especially after the death of the underground Black Spirit Queen over a decade ago, when several underground races joined the surface nation, extending Nairella’s influence beneath the earth.

Indira had been sent by King Bimon and the respected Mr. Abraham. The Elder Council controlled Nairella’s internal affairs and currently favored expansion only within the new continent. Yet King Bimon, despite generations passing, still clung to the old continent, as did Mr. Abraham, an Elder and advocate of the Chief Executive system. It was Abraham who made Bimon the first Chief Executive for a ten-year term and tacitly supported Bimon’s ambitions on this continent.

However, this stance conflicted with the Elder Council’s majority opinion. The Elders did not oppose war within the new continent but considered overseas military ventures madness. Thus, both King Bimon and Abraham agreed such endeavors required internal support—Bimon called it the orc return, while Abraham termed it cooperation.

But now it had failed. Indira worried about facing King Bimon and Abraham. The former was her king; the latter, someone she respected deeply and even secretly admired. The thought pained her. Though failure would bring no punishment—since neither Bimon’s claim to authority nor Abraham’s hopes for profit were guaranteed—it was still a failure she could not forgive herself for.

The reason was simple: Enimon City had not outright rejected cooperation with Indira’s delegation at first. Though they refused to restore Bimon’s authority, both Bimon and Indira had overlooked a crucial fact that even Abraham could not foresee: the orcs of the new continent had changed their faith in Odin. This enraged the war god.

After Chief Priest Ganiseka prayed to Odin regarding the orcs’ discord, Odin’s will descended with rare fury. Antaeox immediately declared Indira and Sisley unwelcome and ordered their immediate departure. This was out of lingering respect for the Bimon era; otherwise, they might have been sacrificed and burned in the temple.

Understanding why they had failed, Indira hurriedly led Sisley to leave as fast as possible, moving swiftly away from Enimon City. Odin’s anger might not be appeased by Antaeox’s expulsion alone. If further divine wrath followed, the orcs of the old continent might reconsider and pursue them to kill, hoping to curry Odin’s favor and elevate their own standing in the orc world.