Before the food was ready, I had a very human-like thought: that it would be good to chat with the Human guests over dinner. As if there’s time to talk when you're eating at a buffet with Orcs.

There are two hundred Orcs sitting around the fire, thirty odd Goblins, one War Orc, one Wisdom Orc, me, and three Humans. The food couldn't possibly last more than ten minutes, and it's every… erm… sapient creature for themselves.

When dinner was in progress, the only words I got across to the Humans was to grab some while they still could, even if they had to shove someone else out of the way. When faced with the prospect of missing dinner, Runa became the most vicious. She jumped up onto people's shoulders to get closer to the food. She even did a backflip over the fire at one point to steal a piece that wasn't even finished cooking yet.

It was really awesome--no, fearless--no, stupid? Mu~ I guess it was cool, but pretty much unnecessary.

Samael was the opposite. He was too shy, so he barely got to eat anything. Near the end, he was just standing toward the back, clutching his staff close to himself and looking miserable.

Nobody shared with him. Armin was going to share, but I reminded him that there isn't any breakfast or lunch in this village. He decided to save his leftovers for lunch instead of giving them away now.

Maybe I can use food as a bribe to get Samael to teach me things. No, if he’s like Elianora, I won't even have to work for the information.

After dinner was over, we finally got to talk.

I've decided to leave my hut for Oolga and Varoon to bond in tonight. The next best place in terms of privacy would be the underground. I kind of want to call that place the Mating Chamber, but that name also kind of scares me. I'll only say it in my head for now.

“Could you keep anyone else from going in for a while?” I ask the guards at the Eastern entrance. “Unless it's something important, of course.”

The guards bobbed their heads up and down and snorted to show their determination. “Yes, Chief Vyra.”

“Thank you.”

I waved the Humans along to encourage them to go down the stairs. There's an orb conjured by every couple of feet, so it isn't even that scary… Although it's hard for me to say a fifteen foot wide stairwell into the depths of the earth isn't a bit nerve wracking.

“See? It's just a big empty room. Nothing to be nervous about.” I turn around and smile after reaching the bottom. The Humans just express stunned looks on their faces, mouths slightly parted.

Runa’s eyes clouded over as her thoughts wandered. “Big,” she muttered.

“Ohh,” Samael turned his head to survey the whole area. “Amazing! You really dug this all by yourself?”

“It took eight days,” I nodded.

Armin pinched his nose between his forefinger and thumb. “That’s still way above what most one-star earth Mages can accomplish.”

“So? Why are we down here?” Runa questioned. She doesn't seem shy at all about leaving her hand on her blade.

“Well,” I folded my arms and searched the ceiling for the right wording, “you’ll have the next four days to observe me, but there are a few things I thought we would need to get out of the way ahead of time.”

“And so you brought us deep underground?” Samael smiled awkwardly.

“My brother just returned home for the first time since before I was born. He and momma get to have the house tonight. This was the next most private place I could think of.”

“It echoes,” Runa glared. “Anyone near the entrance can hear us.”

Ah. That might be true. I have to block things and to manipulate vibrations. Is there any way I could use the spell model for to apply as a half-sphere shell? Or perhaps imbue the effects of into a normal ?

[[User understanding has reached a certain threshold. Would you like to merge and to create ?]]

Perfect! Ah, but… I created this using a unique skill. It might be really suspicious if I used it here. I'll just have to keep this one in reserve for now, so I'll just have to convince her some other way.

“The same would apply to my house. Talk quietly if you're so worried.”

“What about sign language?”

“Oh?” I raised both of my eyebrows. “Interesting. Give your answers like that if you want. I'll pick it up before long. Ah, but,” I held my three-fingered hands palms out for her to see, “I'll just be saying my answers out loud.”

I lowered my hands and wiped the grin off my face, sweeping my eyes over all three Human guests.

“First things first. I'm glad to host guests here in my village as long as they're well-behaved. However, I can imagine several situations in which people might find the presence of a nearby Orc village gaining power to be,” I sucked on my teeth briefly, “undesirable. Therefore, those who know the location of my village must promise not to share it. If I can't trust you to do that, I can't let you leave.”

“Of course, I don't want to hold you hostage either. That would just prompt a rescue mission, which is the opposite of what I want. So, you can understand my stance for these four days to be “make my guests want to help me keep unwanted people away from my village.”” I chuckled. “I will treat you well.”

“If you're going to just trust we won't say anything, you're completely a naive idiot,” Runa said out loud.

“Hey! Runa, you don't have to antagonize her!”

The ninja-like girl crossed her arms and puffed a stubborn breath out through her nose. Samael held his head helplessly.

“Now then, do you all have any initial concerns?” I asked with a business smile, completely ignoring any problems they were having amongst themselves.

“Oh, yes,” Samael quickly recovered from his previous state and smiled, extremely curious, but still reserved. “Do you really possess the Holy attribute?”

I blinked calmly twice and held up my hand, palm facing the ceiling. “.”

Without throwing the glowing white orb, I let it hover there for a moment, then crushed it in my palm, reclaiming the magic power I put into it.

“Yes. Anything else?”

Armin raised his hand lightly into the air, “Where will we stay while we’re here?”

“Good question. I'll make a house for you on the surface, would that be acceptable? I'll need it for other things after you're gone, so it isn't any trouble.”

“I don't mind,” Armin nodded.

“It's better than camping,” Samael smiled gratefully.

“Hmm,” Runa made a strange sound while narrowing her eyes and examining her male compatriots. Finally, she nodded while folding her arms over her flat chest. “Fine.”

“What exactly were you going over in your head just then?” Armin glared at the small woman.

“I'm not happy about it either,” Samael said with a hurt face.

“I didn't think about anything,” Runa quickly denied, obviously avoiding eye contact with the boys.

“Ahem,” I cleared my throat to interrupt their little comedy sketch. “I think we’ve covered the essentials. Let's go back up and pick a place for your house.”

The three quieted down and obediently followed me back into the village proper. We found a good open area near the North entrance and decided to build the house there. It was small and simple. I had some Orc women bring over enough straw and pelts to make three nest-beds.

It's probably a little substandard for humans, but that's what this village can do at the moment. I told them where to get water and where to relieve themselves. For now, I'll go borrow a corner in Fiara’s house to sleep in, and we’ll pick this up tomorrow.