“Sorry. I ended up staying the night.”

Claudia rubbed the back of her head with an embarrassed look while standing in the entryway of Elianora’s house.

“No, I understand. Good luck telling the rest of your family about what happened.”

“Mmn,” a shadow crossed over the Knight’s face before vanishing. “Well, you don't have to worry too much. My family is made up of all Knights, you know? We won't just roll over and be depressed about it.”

Elly fidgeted and wrung her hands, “By any chance, if you're going to go avenge him, I know someone like me can't be of much help, but--”

Claudia held up a hand to stop her from speaking and put on a hard expression. “You won't be coming.” Then she held one index finger up and spoke in a storyteller voice, “for the first time in four years, three of the four Sartiella Knight sisters were gathered together, so they decided to go on a joint training expedition in the Black Mountain forest.” She smiled, “I won't be alone, and it isn't your place to fight with us.”

Temperance, honor, and valor; these were the traits a Knight had to possess in order to survive both on the field of battle and the courts of nobles. As eager as the “wild flower” of the Sartiella house was to avenge her brother, she wouldn't act recklessly.

I will call Merilyn to be here before the week is out, and I will provide Silvia an excuse to separate herself from the wedding preparations. If I could somehow bring mother along, that would be ideal. Anise… is better off where she is, but I'll send her a letter so she knows what’s going on.

Claudia opened the old wooden door of the narrow two-storey home and took a step onto the front stairs.

“Miss Claudia!” Elianora’s voice came from behind, and abruptly dropped in volume. “That is, um, if you see a winged Orc in the forest…”

The knight stopped her feet and looked back over her shoulder. “A Winged Orc? I've never heard of a Monster like that. Shall I kill him while I'm at it?”

“N-no! That’s, um,” the Mage wrung her hands which had started to sweat. “It looks a little like an Orc with wings, but it’s actually an intelligent Holy Beast. Please don't kill it if you don't have to.”

Claudia furrowed her brows. “Is that a joke? It’s the forest surrounding the Black Mountain; there aren't any Holy Beasts living there.”

“Is, is that right? Haha, yeah, I guess so. I must have dreamt it.”

Are there really people in the world who are this bad at lying? Claudia marveled and resumed her pace, her sword clattering in its sheath. How suspicious. I'll remember to be on the lookout for an Orc with wings.

The request not to kill it though, that was a matter to consider separately when she actually encountered such a thing.

She returned home, told her mother the terrible news, sent out letters to her three sisters, and started arranging for the hire of trustworthy Mages, Rangers, and Warriors. Something one wouldn't initially think about the “wild flower” Claudia Sartiella was that she was actually outstandingly efficient with paperwork.

***

Amid held breaths and silent stares, a single hushed word was eventually muttered.

“... .”

The image-recording Magic Tool emitted no sound or light, simply memorizing the scene shown before it.

Here, in the middle of the Black Mountain forest, arguably the second most backwater place in the world, a wall had been built. It was thick and tall, and made of some dirty green metal, with a dull surface like stone. The top of the wall was capped with some kind of white metal that glittered seven different colors in the sunlight. Circling around, there was a wide open gate on each of the four city sides, but the giant tiger-like statues placed there made the Rangers hesitant to get close. The tigers had black bodies and blood red stripes, and each one stood eight feet tall at the shoulder.

This view was bizarre enough that they had to have someone with the spell explain what absurdity they were looking at. As it turned out, it was exactly what they were afraid it was.

The main body of the wall was made of Orichalcum: a metal almost as sturdy as Adamantium, with the added bonus of absorbing magical attacks just as well. The glittering white cap on top of the wall was made of Angelite, which was somewhat brittle, but could cut through spells like water. It was also a great material to make magic weapons out of, since it could amplify the wielder’s spell output.

The tiger statues did seem, in fact, to be golems. They were made mostly from Adamantium, with some streaks of Herite mixed in. Whether or not the golems were currently functioning was unknown, but the threat of an Adamantium golem wasn't something a handful of Rangers could dare to provoke.

All of these substances were absurdly rare. There was no conceivable way to obtain this much of them without conjuring them through magic, but a Mage who could use that level of magic would be as dangerous as those Adamantium golems.

In addition, standing even taller than the wall, roughly in the center of the enclosed area, were the elegant spires of a green crystal palace. Since none of the Rangers present possessed the spell, they could only imagine what kind of exceptional material it was built from.

A natural question to have would be “what was something like this doing here?” or “who built something like this?” but those questions had been cleanly answered from the start. This was the base of operations built by the latest incarnation of the Orc Lord: the creature they had been sent here to investigate in the first place.

These Rangers were people who had access to information that many people lacked. In preparation for this mission, they had been allowed to read what documents there were describing previous Orc Lords. It was clear from those that the Orc Lord was always powerful; it had instincts driving it to gather strength, and a body and soul that would greedily absorb any power it could find. The thought that there was an Orc Lord--or a companion of an Orc Lord--with enough power to make a structure like this was not something to be surprised about. According to the documents they read, however, it had never been done before.

There was one very simple reason why that was the case: Orcs didn't have a concept of building proper large structures. In fact, to Orcs which never had enough food around to satisfy even a small town, something like a city would be an impossible thing to imagine. A stable food source had to be secured before a large population could be gathered in one place, and that was something that Orcs couldn't have.

The presence of an Orc city would imply that a food source bountiful and stable enough to support a large group of Orcs had been discovered. Every nation would want to possess such a method! However, that didn't change the fact that ramparts and castles would be unfamiliar things to Orcs. Where would they have learned of them to build them here?

Actually, around the back of the city, there was a large section of wall that was made of simple earth. Orichalcum and Angelite were slowly creeping and covering more of that earth. By the time reinforcements could come, the process would have finished and the weakness gone. But this was the first time the Rangers had witnessed such a phenomenon, so they were sure to include it in their report.

At one point, the group detected a Monster near the city: a powerful Formor. The Humans hadn't been noticed, and the giant creature seemed to be investigating just the same as they were, so the agile descendants simply avoided making contact with it.

The bird by which the Humans had sent their first report had returned with an order to continue observing, so they did. And because they did, they got to witness a sight that only a handful of descendants have seen: the process of Monster evolution.

There weren't many places from which the area inside of the walls could be seen, but sometimes Orcs would come into view. Actually, a few Goblins, and even Fomors appeared to be living within the walls--something the Rangers quickly sent a report about.

Well, at one point, an unusual blue female Orc had come where they could see it and started firing off water spells. Another female Orc, wearing a hat with deer horns attached had come to watch, and then started chatting with the blue Orc. A little while later, the blue Orc left, and the horned Orc started firing off fire spells. Actually, it was just one spell which was cast over and over again. Even from a distance, the Rangers could identify the most basic spell.

They started to form a hypothesis that Orc women, which were rarely seen or documented by Humans, were significantly more intelligent than Orc men; hence these two women using magic, and the female Orc Lord building a large defensive structure. Even then, incredulous expressions gradually formed on each of their faces as they watched the horned Orc casting the same spell again and again.

It became clear to them that it wasn't the exact same spell each time. Small adjustments were being made with each new attempt. This lowly Orc, without any proper guidance, was trying to isolate the two types of fire magic before their eyes.

What Humans who had progressed as far through Guild society as these understood was that spells of each type of a magic school could be learned in order to quickly learn higher level versions. Calm elements, such as earth and water, tended to naturally separate their types into different spells. They were less dangerous than high energy elements, but easier to control and advance with. High energy elements, like fire and lightning would naturally combine their types together to create a more stable and easily controlled spell. It was hard to advance with these attributes, so there were very few Monsters who could cast, say fire magic, above the first level.

The Monster in front of them was trying to do just that.

Through continued manipulation of the spell formation that the embedded spell would instruct her to use, the light from the fire was becoming weaker with each casting, but the heat distortions in the air remained present. It was gradually becoming closer to the first level spell.

Though it wasn't something an outsider could see with their eyes, she soon seemed to have succeeded in learning and to go with , which caused them to merge into the second level spell.

Since the Orc woman had come this far on her own, it was only a matter of time before she dissected the spell formation for into and . In fact, when close to three hours had gone by, she seemed to have done it. Wearing a large grin, the horned Orc cast what had to be the third level spell . The wild orange flame that could gouge out the soil it touched, leaving shiny baked clay along the edges of the hole, was a commonly used indicator that a fire Mage had truly become skilled.

And after casting this notorious spell, the horned Orc was surrounded by white light. The light seemed to gather in and cling to the shape of her body, and then it shifted and changed its form. When the light faded, a new creature was left behind, matching the new silhouette.

The change in physique was so drastic that it would be impossible to see the two creatures as the same Monster. At least, there was no way the Rangers would think so if they hadn't witnessed the evolution for themselves. In an instant, the fat, pig-faced Orc had become a curvaceous red-skinned Monsteress with a brutally beautiful face.

And after this metamorphosis occurred, her eyes immediately turned toward where they were hiding themselves.

The red Orc turned her head to the side and mouthed a few words to someone out of sight, then started to step past the tiger golem and through the gate. After a few steps, her skin looked to have directly caught fire, first just in patches, then as a carpet of flames, and she broke out into a frightening smile.

They had clearly been discovered. The elected leader among the Rangers quickly gave the order to retreat. They stopped caring about stealth and camouflage, since they did no good, and ran with all their might, but those Rangers were never heard from again, and no report ever reached Balk’s office about a red-skinned Orc dressed in fire.

------------------------

Name: Oolga

Race: Mayhem Orc; Monster

Skills (embedded): 7/9 skill slots

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Skills (learned):

,

Blessings:

Perfect Omnivore (Amplified, Mayhem Orc)

Fire Immunity (Mayhem Orc)

Curses:

Unending Hunger (Amplified, Mayhem Orc)

Blazing (Mayhem Orc)

allows the user to produce the fire element directly from their skin. It is listed as a Rare racial skill.

allows the user to perceive light, heat, and flame as spirits do. It is listed as a Rare racial skill.

the enormous number of fire spirits dwelling in the Mayhem Orc’s body render them immune to any damage caused by the fire element.

it is more difficult for a Mayhem Orc to suppress emotions of violence and chaos; however, “extinguishing” this permanent state will leave the Mayhem Orc vulnerable to other elements, likely causing its death. Also, a Mayhem Orc’s blazing body is extremely intolerant to elements besides fire.

the amplified form of this blessing allows anything that can be combusted to become sustenance for the Mayhem Orc.

the amplified form of this curse creates a new hunger for destruction in addition to the hunger for food. As always, resistance skills cannot be gained to counteract these cravings, and they are difficult to resist through basic stats alone.