Chapter 15: Village Girl A and a Fort

We've arrived at Fort Forth! The journey took a grand total of four days, but that distance was probably shortened due to the physique of Orcs. These guys have incredible stamina and are huge, so any worries of fatigue or terrain were easily brushed to the side.

Such worries were mine of course. As a mere “Small Talon”, the endlessly stretching horizons of the Tilde Plateau were a bit intimidating. The Orcs solved this by letting me ride on their backs. They all claimed I “weighed less than half of an Orc baby” and placed me on their shoulders with no problem. Admittedly, such interactions were a bit awkward, because they tended to just grab me out of nowhere by the scruff of my dress.

Not only did I realize that I need to maintain my decency when that happens, but the strangely delicate method in which the Orcs picked me up, and the way their simple eyes looked at me, was odd. It's as if I was a fragile treasure that they couldn't afford to drop. I may be smaller than these guys, but I'm not some lost baby kitten who needs to be taken care of, alright?

Eventually I got used to it, and Fort Forth entered our sights. The situation here is pretty cut and dry. There’s a retired war general who heads this place named Wuns Agen. In the general's head, every day is during wartime. He forces his staff to prepare themselves for battle every morning, afternoon, and night. Even if nothing happens, the staff suffer through brutal training and possible forced monster subjugation.

To the NPCs, this is the work of a deranged old man. To me, who has played the game, I know this is the result of Wuns Agen’s own experiences. There’s a certain beast from the Tilde Plateau that has scarred the general for years. This beast is called the Raindeer. Despite its cute sounding name, the Raindeer is a post-game superboss that only appears after certain conditions are fulfilled. It’s a genuine terror, a beast that controls storms with a flick of its tail and shoots lightning from its antlers. As a superboss, it takes four actions per turn and has multiple moves with brutal secondary effects. I don’t want to comprehend that at my current level. The Hero Party certainly couldn’t.

In The Tears of Nephelai the problem at Fort Forth was solved simply by fighting General Wuns Agen, who had used a spell in his delirium to change the entirety of Fort Forth into a dungeon. All the staff were evicted and in their place were an army of undead soldiers. In a morbid twist, these undead soldiers happened to be Wuns Agen’s old comrades from battles that happened long ago. This only fighters his delirium and turns the general into an undead-type monster, and of course, the Hero is forced to take care of him.

If I was the Hero, I would slay the monster in charge. But I am Village Girl A! I've been newly promoted into an Orc Queen! I can solve this by approaching the general before his delirium reaches a breaking point. I just need to get to the general.

So then, what's the solution? Well, that's easy. We just need to take over the place.

All the knights stationed here are apprentice knights. Fort Forth is out of the way and only acts as a checkpoint to get to the eastern side of the continent. The Kingdom of Storiteim, which is where we currently are, doesn’t particularly prioritize this remote area of the country. In fact, only a single mountainous town lies beyond Fort Forth.

That town happens to be High-Five Rock.

The body of Village Girl A must have gone through Fort Forth after the takeover of High-Five Rock, and ran all the way across the Tilde Plateau to the opposite side of the country in order to reach Dadirdtoun. I would have found it impossible for a villager NPC, but if this body had a good relationship with her Rock Chickens, it’s very possible they might have fought off any monsters for her.

With High-Five Rock being the closest town to the Demon King’s Castle, I have to wonder why the Kingdom of Storitiem didn’t reinforce Fort Forth. If the takeover of High-Five Rock wasn’t enough of a warning, what else would be? Perhaps Wuns Agen’s delirium delayed any information that could have been shared. He was already troubled by the Raindeer, so I’m sure the Demon King’s existence is only making him more stressed.

Fort Forth is nestled in-between two alcoves of the surrounding mountain range on the edge of the Tilde Plateau. Taking over this place isn’t going to be simple… is what I would have said if I didn’t have an entire tribe of Orcs with me.

Fort Forth will gladly take in a human. I’ll use my status as a human to stay the night, and have the Orc Shaman from our tribe teleport Orcs into the storage room. From there, a pincer attack from enemies inside and out will end things quickly.

Sheffie seems to be a big fan of this plan.

“Bahaha! Small Talon, you are thinking like Orcs! This pleases me!”

“Oh, have Orcs done something similar to this before?”

“We did teleport from underground to capture you, Small Talon.”

“Ah! I guess you’re right! I didn’t even make that connection. Perhaps I was inspired by your tactics. By the way, Sheffie, will the Shaman be fine teleporting so many Orcs at once? I can think of something else if it won’t work.”

“If he is not fine, he will become fine after a good meal, bahaha! He’s my son, after all, good food will fix him!”

“Your son?! Sheffie, you didn’t tell me about this! I’ve been trying to introduce myself to everyone but I haven’t seen him around. If he’s your son, I should have gone to him first.”

“Small Talon, he is an odd Orc, and he likes to slither in the dark. It is not your fault. Do not worry, if I call his name loud enough, he will come. Watch this.”

Mast Tersheff took a big breath and shouted loud enough to tremble the entire Tilde Plateau.

“SON, GET OVER HERE NOOOOW!”

I covered my ears as soon as I saw Sheffie take in the breath, and I still feel my ears ringing. What a powerful voice. Immediately, Sheffie’s son, a comparably lankier Orc, teleports next to him. He’s still tall, but he’s not a giant like his father. He’s not a Fuzzy Orc either. He actually looks like a Half-Orc, which I didn’t even realize existed in this world. Interesting! I won’t ask directly out of respect for Sheffie and his son, but I’ll keep that string of questions in the back of my mind for investigation later.

“You called?”

“Yes, my son! Meet the new Orc Queen! Why have you not introduced yourself yet? Small Talon, this is Soos Sheff.”

“...Isn’t this one of the humans we captured a few days ago? This was the weird girl who ate all our food. How did someone so small become the Orc Queen?”

“My gut said so!”

“...Right. Well then, human, hello. I’m Soos Sheff. Please excuse these brutes, my father in particular.”

Soos Sheff bows low, and the gaps in his dark cloak reveals that he has markings all over his skin. They’re probably there to facilitate magic, since Orcs aren’t inherently born with magic power, according to the bestiary. Despite appearances, this guy is surprisingly eloquent. Are all Orc Shamans like this? They’re quite rare, and never really acted as anything else other than enemy encounters, so it's hard to tell.

“Hello there, Sheffie Jr.! Nice to meet you! I hope we can work well together in the future!”

“...Sheffie Jr.?”

“Your nickname!”

“I don’t particularly care for-”

“Son, the Orc Queen has given everyone new titles, you must learn to accept her wisdom!”

I can see his calm expression twitch slightly. Hehe, thanks for the backup Sheffie. Giving nicknames to everyone has been fun so far, it would be a shame for my streak to break here.

“Right… Sheffie Jr…. I suppose that’s fine. Queen Talon, do you require me for something?”

He adapts quickly, good!

“Yes, Sheffie Jr., we’re gonna raid that fort over there in about 6 hours, alright? You’ll have to teleport about half of our tribe into that place once I give the signal, okay?”

“H-Half the tribe?”

He starts clearing his throat and muttering to himself. Is this guy alright? Maybe I should encourage him. I drop my voice into an excited whisper and get close to him. Something like this will motivate him, right?

“You can do it, right? If you do a good job, I’ll treat you to something nice later on!”

“...I beg your pardon?”

“And, if you really satisfy me, I’ll make sure to make it extra special! Doesn’t that sound like something you really want?”

I flash my best smile at him. For some reason all Sheffie Jr. does is stare back at me with a stupid expression on his face. Did I say something wrong? Do I need to sweeten the deal? Fine then, I’ll add a little more.

“I’m sure your services will be useful in the future too, so if you keep putting in effort just for me, I’ll make sure to keep you nice and happy, even if you’re drained from all the hard work.”

I even throw in a wink and a giggle for maximum cuteness, but all Sheffie Jr. does is stare at me with an incredulous expression. Hm. I guess I need to work on maximizing my charm. I don't know why he's getting all weird, all I'm offering him is a way to improve his magic. Reuby seemed to have an odd reaction when I tried to encourage him too. I’ll have to add charm training to my bucket list.