As Sub’Dai, the son of E’rk, Chieftain of the Asomdai tribe rushed towards me, I quickly halted his attack with a powerful mawashi geri roundhouse low kick right into his calf. Unlike in the typical Kyokushin-Kai fashion into the opponent's thigh, the calf kick was a much more effective technique. Calf kicks caused instantaneous pain and could easily send an untrained opponent tumbling to the ground.

Sadly however, I was facing an Orc that was larger and taller than me. It would take more than one calf kick to send him down for the count. Thankfully, that kick managed to stop him in his tracks, allowing me to flick my leg back once more for another powerful calf kick. The kick smashed right into the calf once more, sending him buckling to the side. And again, yet another calf kick, leaving a permanent red mark on his lead leg’s calf.

Of course, no matter how susceptible the leg kicks were, to Sub’Dai’s credit, he still managed to retaliate. Swinging his arm towards me in a wide arc, as if he was trying to crack open my head with the wild haymaker. Of course, I dodged it easily, leaning backwards with my torso. But that meant I couldn’t continue my onslaught of powerful leg kicks. However, he had opened himself up to a dangerous counterattack.

I then snapped forward, twisting my hips and legs, firing a right vertical cross to his chin, causing his head to recoil back. His brain jolts inside his skull, the powerful right cross obviously stunned him. Most Orcs would simply smash away at the face or the body, not caring for proper technique or torque. Normally, any human would have broken their knuckles or hands, but due to the orcs superior bone density. They could get away with whaling away at an orc’s skull or hard objects much more easily than a human.

As Sub’Dai stumbled backward, I stepped forward with a quick follow up, snapping my leg upward once more. Yet another roundhouse kick, but this time to his jaw, the shinbone smashing right into his jaw and sending him staggering to the side. But of course, due to his orcish nature, it wouldn’t be so easy to simply knock him out.

Of course, I went with the momentum, spinning around with the kick and then firing back with a spinning back kick on the same leg. Jamming the ball of my foot right into his liver. Finally, the orc collapsed with a groan as he hit the floor. Liver kicks took a few seconds to register after all, but once it kicked in, the effect was excruciating pain. Due to the orcs' larger size and thick muscle it would’ve been hard to land a proper blow.

But thanks to the extra power put into the kick with the spin, the blow smashed all the way into the liver, causing Sub’Dai to gag and vomit on the ground, clutching his liver in pain. His face wracked with pain and agony. Perfect. As everyone stared at me in stunned silence, I looked at them and pumped my fist in the air!

“NOW! WHO’S NEXT!”

A roar of applause and clapping filled the air, as the other sons of the chieftains were eager to clamber into the ring to fight me. A wide grin appeared on my face as I got into my fighting stance. Almost as if on cue, another orc rushed towards me.

This was going to be a tough one.

_______

After a solid 25 minutes of fighting, I was pretty damn exhausted. Many bruises and a single cut was on my face. Having fought around 15 people, I was starving. Of course, it was still day and the night would not yet come for a while now. I groaned, slowly making my way back to the tables. Perhaps there was some leftover food.

As I made my way over, I quickly found that Og’Dei had caught up to me

“Here, lean on me for a second.”

I deliberated this in my head for a few seconds, not wanting to seem weak. So, I shook my head, waving my hand as I continued to slowly but surely make my way towards the table. Thankfully, there still was some leftover food, a lot of people had rushed off to go watch the fights breaking out. Which meant there was, of course, more food for me.

I slowly sank down into a seat, groaning loudly as I tucked into one of the roasted antelopes. Sadly, it was cold. But meat is meat after all, its soft flesh tasted quite good to me. I always liked eating meat, even when I was still a human. The taste of red meat just couldn’t be replaced by disgusting shit like vegetables. Blech!

I chuckled quietly to myself as Og’Dei sat next to me, with a mildly confused look on his face

“What’re you laughing about my lord?”

“Just how disgusting plants taste.”

The Orcs were hunter gatherers after all, therefore meaning that they didn’t grow crops or vegetables that were edible. So, the closest substitute obviously would be plants. Og’Dei cracked a grin at my response,

“Ha! Well said my lord.”

“So, what do you want?”

“Well… There isn’t much to do, so I was trying to see what I could do to help you?”

I paused for a second, continuing to chew and tear away at the antelope. What could he help me with? I then glanced back, swallowing the food, having made up my mind,

“Og’Dei, do you know of any particularly good craftsmen?”

“In our tribe or in general?”

“In general, I have need of a good craftsman.”

“Oh certainly, the best craftsman around is definitely Ak’Mi of the Asmodai Tribe. He’s one of the high caste members.”

My ears pricked up at this news, interesting. A high caste craftsman wasn’t a real surprise, but the fact he happened to be of the Asmodai clan. Just so happened to be the clan where my first challenger came out to fight and eventually ended up suffering a crippling defeat to me. This might hamper negotiations in the future.

I snapped back to reality, before issuing my orders, “Find Ak’Mi, tell him I have a need for him to craft something of importance. Tell him to come over here. it’s the big one within the borders of the Asatru designated zone. I am willing to pay him in precious jewels and steel weapons.”

Og’Dei nods quickly, running off to go find the craftsman. As he did so, I winced slightly trying to reach for another chunk of antelope meat. My muscle was sore, but it’ll probably be healed up within a day or two. Thankfully, orc bodies could recover far quicker than human ones, being much much hardier. I leaned on the desk, waiting for the craftsman to come.

______

It had only been a mere 5 minutes and Og’Dei had brought over the craftsman. As I spun around in my seat to meet him, I gave the craftsman a good look over. Unlike contrary beliefs, craftsmen who worked with wood and metal needed to be quite strong. Ak’Mi however, was shorter than most orcs, standing at around 6’2 and judging by his physique, maybe weighing in at about 180 or 190 pounds?

He had light green skin with a few scars on his forearms and hands, probably from splinters and metal flaking from weaponry. He had strong forearm muscles and definition, most likely from either working the forge or from working wood. Good, he looked like a proper craftsman. Just from his tunic, I could see the muscles bulging out from his chest area.

Glancing upward now, I looked to see his large traps and thick neck, most likely from hammering away at metal to bend it into shape, his face was the interesting bit. A clipped goatee of thick straight black hair, a bald scalp and head, except a single ponytail extending out the back. His tusks were large and his face wide, he had a large robust square looking skull, with a few scars on his face, though not as numerous as some other veterans.

“So!” He spoke, clapping his hands together, seemingly looking mildly enthusiastic, “What do you need of me, Simba, son of Gorthalax of the Asatru tribe.”

“Well, quite simply put. I would like your help in helping create a new kind of weapon for me. A new kind of weapon you say? Well then, do elaborate.”

“I would like to create a weapon called a ‘bow’.”

“A sling?” He paused for a second, narrowing his eyes before speaking,

“Well, how would you like it designed?”

“It would be better if I showed you, perhaps at your tent?”

He hesitated for a second, most likely not wanting a foreign orc to stumble around into his own camp, much less his own tent. I interjected quickly, “I have silver, gold and emeralds to pay you. And I can assure you, I pay handsomely.”

That seemed to dissuade his fears, gesturing for me to follow him. I nodded at Og’Dei to stay, not wanting to get him even jumpier and more nervous around me. It would be better if I could make sure he was in the right state of mind.

A few minutes of walking later, I was ushered into his tent. Well, a tent wasn’t really an appropriate term. It was like a large yurt, with thick walls and a sloped dome above it, allowing the water to run off. It was held down by nails and rope on the edges, ensuring that it wouldn’t collapse with heavy wind.

The walls of itself were made out of tanned hide. The reason why most of the tribes only used Yurt’s in temporary settlements like these is that a large breeze of heavy rain could easily cause it to collapse. Therefore, studier external buildings were better. Also a huge reason why the festival was held in the dry season instead of the wet season.

Inside the pseudo-yurt however, was tons of work benches, chests and barrels of various make and design. It was obvious this was a craftsman’s abode, with so many scrawled drawings upon papyrus. Of course, since the Orc’s didn’t have paper, they used papyrus instead or clay tablets. Since it was a relatively rare commodity, only members of the high caste or those well off in the middle caste could afford it.

Yet again, those near the rivers or lakes would have a greater advantage in this department. Considering the vast amount of Papyrus, the Asmodai tribe probably was near a water source of some kind. A quick glance on the papyrus showed what kind of wacky new designs the Asmodai had attempted to create.

What appeared to be Slings and some kind of spear throwers could be seen. Perhaps it would be wise if I stole the design drawings or somehow kidnapped the craftsman. Having a talented mind such as his would prove most useful. I would need to find a way to poach him in the future.

My eyes snapped forward as his voice pierced through my monolouge, “So, what is it then?”I stepped forward to a rudimentary wooden desk, a fresh roll of papyrus being placed upon it. Of course, a lump of what appeared to be charcoal or graphite was on the desk, allowing for drawings to be scratched on, in a somewhat rudimentary manner.

Of course, I began to draw, creating a rough outline of a bow, specifically the short bow the goblins had and an arrow as well. After I finished, I stepped back, the lump of whatever that was on the table as I glanced over at the craftsman.

He peered down, looking at the bow and arrow with great interest before glancing back towards me, “So, this is the bow. How’d you come up with the design, and what, if you know, what specifically makes up said design.”

I rattled off a few ingredients and designs quickly, “Wood for the main piece of the bow, a form of string, to be pulled back. The arrowhead could be flint or metal, with a wooden shaft and feathers on the edge to help it fly. The way you fire it is by setting the arrow into the string, pulling it back and releasing it.”

He nodded, now fully engrossed in the design. ‘Yes…yes…I see, so, do you want me to make it from scratch and have a prototype first? That’s going to cost extr-”

I interrupted him, speaking quickly, “Don’t worry, I’ve got a model on me. Of course, you have to swear on Pandar's name that you will not divulge this secret to anybody until the deal is complete. I am reasonable after all.”

He nods quickly before speaking, “I, Ak’Mi swear upon Pandar’s name that I shall not speak of this ‘bow’ to anyone until the deal is complete. On the pain of death, of course.”

I nodded satisfied, it was quite convenient living in a world of non atheists. First of, the term “swear to god” actually means something now. Second of, the god’s are actually real so if they do break it, they’ll get screwed over, somehow and some way.

“Good, now wait here, I’ll go bring the model over.”

As I sauntered off to get the goblin short bow, letting Ak’Mi to sit in his own yurt and wait, as well as some think some things over. I mused quietly to myself, wading in and about amongst the group of orcs and goblin slaves. Things were going to be very interesting in the near future after all…

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Feedback/comments are appreciated as always. If you enjoy, please upvote the post, thanks! Oh also, any speculation about the future of the story? Feel free to leave that in the comments too, I fucking love that shit.