How did it happen like this?

Near the edge of a large crowd of Humans, a handful of Rangers reviewed their circumstances. They were supposed to look for an opportunity to separate from the group and investigate the Orc Lord’s fortress city. The fate of their country, and maybe more, depended on how much information they could safely recover. The city in question was a place with nearly impenetrable walls, mysterious guard golems, and over a thousand Monsters. How did they end up standing inside such a place?

“It’s hot out isn’t it?”

From a short distance away, a somewhat deep, feminine voice came. The Rangers looked over to see a High Orc passing out little bowl-like cups of water to the mass of Humans who were standing around in the sun. Many of them wore stuffy armor, and they apparently decided they’d rather be poisoned than die from heat and thirst. As a few people accepted the water, more people followed suit. Observing closely, the Rangers could see that large-bodied Orcs and War Orcs were helping bring water up from the wells, while the more Human-looking High Orcs distributed it. It certainly looked like they were trying to put them at ease.

The High Orc nearest to the Rangers handed a cup to a brawny man in metal armor. He didn’t look so big and strong anymore next to her, but her height brought something else up closer to eye level that kept him from minding so much. After ogling the High Orc’s chest for a moment, the man cleared his throat and drank his portion in one gulp. The Rangers felt ashamed watching him.

But it isn’t really his fault. Why are Orc women so huge, anyway?

“Don’t be shy. There’s still plenty to go around.” The High Orc reached the Rangers and held out some of the last cups on her tray. She offered what must have been a pleasant smile, but it looked a little too fierce and willful with those tusks present.

The nearest Ranger calmly accepted her offer and lowered his mask to drink. He looked bold, but he was trusting the medicines and antidotes he had on him to fix any issues that arose.

“Why do you all speak the Human language?” he asked after lowering his bowl.

The woman shrugged and grinned. “The Lord-Chief made it popular to speak many languages. Besides, you would not understand me if I spoke to you otherwise.”

“That’s true, I suppose.” It wasn’t a very satisfying answer though.

They were only forced to wait around for half an hour or so before the Orc Lord returned. She was very easy to spot because of her size, but it was quickly confirmed that the Sartiella sisters were accompanying her. Somewhere along the way, a fifth person had joined them. The Rangers were immediately suspicious of him, but the Knights and the Orc Lord were the only people who knew who he might be, and all of them were difficult to ask.

After finding what appeared to be an oasis in the Black Mountain Forest, it didn’t make much sense to leave and set up camp elsewhere for the night. The Orc Lord seemed to intend on being hospitable as well, not that anyone let their weapons out of arm's reach. Thanks to the relatively loose monitoring, one of the Rangers found a chance to sneak away and hastily scrawled a note onto a scrap of paper. An ordinary-looking bird flew over when it saw him alone, and he quickly tied the note to its foot. However, before the bird could fly far, a fireball streaked across the sky and reduced it to ash.

The Ranger knew better than to stare in shock, but he did stealthily trace the trajectory of the spell. He found a fire-red Orc woman, smiling inanely at him from within the crowd. With that, he and all the other spies understood that there would be no playing around allowed in the enemy’s city. They had no choice but to quietly observe while doing their best to survive with the information.

***

“The way you cook things sure is efficient, isn’t it?” Sylvia mentioned as politely as she could.

Thanks to her pointing it out, I was reminded that every cooked meal I’ve had in this world has been roasted over a fire in the most basic way possible. Honestly, since it tasted just fine, I felt no desire to make things more difficult.

Claudia, sitting with her legs folded and a steaming piece of meat in her hands, took a hungry bite and nearly burned her mouth. She took a sip of water from her cup to cool her tongue off and complained as soon as the pain stopped. “The meat is good, but it’s really bland. Don’t you have any herbs to season with?”

I smiled and spoke frankly, “No.” I took a large bite out of my own portion, various resistance skills protecting me from the temperature. It tasted just fine to me. That was especially good news, considering this was the first time clone meat had been used for dinner.

An idea popped into my head: a way to satisfy the noble-born women beside me. With earth magic, I made a small bowl and filled it with a fine white sand. I secured my meat with one hand and held the bowl out to the girls.

“If it’s really too plain for you, you can put some salt on it. That’s the best I can provide right now though.”

The girls looked at my outstretched hand and blinked.

“Salt?” Claudia asked.

I frowned. “Just what is that reaction? You people use salt, yes?”

Marilyn interjected, “You can make salt with magic?”

I raised an eyebrow. “You,” I could scarcely believe I was saying it, “Don’t tell me you didn’t know salt was just an edible rock.”

“Of course we knew that,” she said, which was a relief, “but when people make it with earth magic, it tends to come out poisonous.”

“Oh? I should test it then since I have .” I tipped the bowl of salt back and swallowed it all at once. Part of that was to force a more noticeable reaction, but it was also to test my new taste buds.

If I were a Human, this much salt should make me feel sick, but I don’t mind the taste at all. From here on, I’ll work under the assumption that everything that touches these tastebuds receives a positive correction.

After that, no matter how much I investigated, there didn’t seem to be anything wrong with the salt, so I made a fresh bowl.

“There’s nothing wrong with it. Those other fools must have mixed in some things which shouldn’t be there.”

“Hm. I’ll accept it then.” Claudia spread some salt over her meat. The bowl ended up being passed around the fire, and salt became a popular seasoning in Babylon literally overnight. I had to agree that it made the meat taste better with very little extra effort.

In the morning, I sent the Humans off at the west gate. They were accompanied by Durghan and a full batch of his hunters, who would allow them to pass through Orc territory and make it back to Human lands in the shortest possible time. Along the way, told him to spread word to the Neutral and Expansionist Orc villages that they were welcome to migrate to Babylon. I didn’t want outlying villages being attacked, considering word would soon spread among the descendants that I exist.

As for the Cultists, they lived close enough to the Black Mountain for an assaulting force to hesitate, so I decided to leave them out of things for a little longer. Though it might have been that I was wary to invite people who performed ritual sacrifice to live in my city.

As for Marilyn’s favor, I thought of what I wanted to ask, and she agreed without much trouble. She was so direct about it that I felt bad for putting her at risk.

“Now that it’s really happening, I feel sorry about asking you to do this for me.”

Marilyn shook her silver head. “Don’t worry about it. I’m already prepared to cut all ties if necessary.”

Her genuine resolve only made me feel worse. I would have to pay back this favor someday; the scales had already tipped so that I was the one in debt.

My dream was coming closer to reality.