"Mama Kimpa, I'll be off to the dungeon now, don't wait up for me." His young, beautiful face—my child. His face glowed with beauty; the gold he exhibited showed me my child will grow to be the best.
"Don't worry, this granny's gonna be waiting, don't take too long though." I waved at him, and he waved back, sitting down on my rocking chair watching over the young fighting. My boy and the soldiers will come back with gifts galore.
But it's been a week now… "Where are you, my son…" Rain poured all around, but in the distance, I saw them—the group who went exploring—and look, they've brought back a plentiful amount of loot. Our village will rise in the ranks.
They approached me but left the loot on the floor. Their footsteps splashed around the mud. I saw the drops of rain fall atop a box, and when I looked at it, the world started to churn. I started feeling anxious, an ominous feeling—a premonition of death. Slowly, they carried the box toward my feet.
"Madam Kimpa, he fought well. Without his curses, we wouldn't have been able to defeat the boss. If only that bastard told us that he was stabbed by a kobold hiding in a corner."
I opened the box, and my son lay there—a stab wound deep in his back. I should've gone with him. I gagged; my stomach felt like it was eating itself. Tears flowed worse than the rain. I held his corpse in my arms for days. People called me crazy; they told me to bury him before he gets worse. But I know my son will come back to me. These fools will be proven wrong. Then he spoke to me—his mouth moved!!
"Madam, wake up.""What?"
"Madam Kimpa, wake up. The chief is calling for you." The face in her hand changed into the face of Himmel's. She shot up and was awake. For a second in delusion, she really thought her son came back to life. But reality hit—life will never be that easy.
Madam Kimpa grabbed my face and gave me a smooch on my head. "Good boy, thanks for waking me up gently." Her warm embrace weirded me out; she was probably dreaming about what happened to her son.
Yesterday, after being taken in by Madam Kimpa, I knocked off a few tasks from my list. First was getting better clothes, second a map, and third information. I got level 1 leather armor and a map of the Orc continent from Madam Kimpa. As for the information, it was basically said on the map—I am going the opposite direction from the capital.
This is a good thing for me but could also be bad. The capital held wealth, power, and probably a safer chance to get off this continent. But it was also dangerous. People fought in pits for money; orcs die every day. Slaves were used as worse than just possessions. They weren't just objects; that would be too good for them. The orcs knew they were sentient—they wanted the slaves to feel harm, pain.
I'll stay away from the capital if possible, but it can be an option. Other than information on the capital, I learned about what happened to Madam Kimpa's apprentice. He was a bright child similar to me but he wasn't a Dark Orc. But his talent—oh my god, his talent—his affinity for curses was like a pillar of hope. As such, he went into every dungeon discovered, every large beast attacked, and more. He had so much potential he could've genuinely been the first Orc king who wasn't a Dark Orc. But the danger caught up to him.
A dungeon expedition went wrong; he was stabbed by a random kobold during the main boss fight. The kobold caught him in the middle of pure chaos. The kobold's blade wasn't something to scoff at either. From what I've heard, the blade was made of a mythic-grade metal. The chances of that happening were 1 in a billion. Even right now, the blade was reforged into the edge of the chief's sword. Truly, his death was unfortunate. If he spoke about his injury, the party would've lost their focus. If he stopped to heal himself, the curses would've faded. He sacrificed himself to guarantee everyone else's lives. It's sad and unfortunate, but that's the life of the Orc continent—the brave man dies first.
I sulked a bit, pondering about what the chief would've needed Kimpa for. I had to know what was being spoken of. I snuck behind the tent. Soon after, listening in, I heard that they found a nearby dungeon and were planning to instantly loot and clear it. After being with Kimpa for just a day, I grew a bond with her, but I need to leave this place—it has nothing more for me. I've learned Drowsy, Despair, and Slow. There were a few more books in there for me to learn, but the chief won't let Kimpa teach me. Probably fear that I would be too strong too fast.
I climbed onto Riaz. I told her their plans. We were ready. The group of orcs gathered and moved quickly, each of them being level 3 or 4. Riaz couldn't keep up, but we luckily kept them at eye distance. They weren't moving at their top speed, probably saving energy. After about a mile east, the group stopped and made a post at these large, skinny boulders. They were really detailed and seemed to be made by hand.
Hiding in the brush, we kept away from their sight. As they went into the dungeon, we followed along. But the area felt off—everything here was completely different from what I know. It was like someone was trying to make a house with rocks. Then there was the path the group went down; torches lined the sides of the walls.
I assumed the people who made these structures had a goal in mind. Maybe the rocks were for pure decoration. Possibly made by giants who used them as weights. In the end, it won't matter why I think they made them. The action was done long before my birth.
My guess was right, though—someone long ago made a home with rocks. No wonder they died; that's a stupid idea. Or so I thought, but then I realized that even though the builders died, their structures remained. It is interesting. I had Riaz stay outside since she was a bit too large for the entrance. She kept her guard waiting for my arrival.
I slowly went down, making sure I made no sound. I stayed just far enough away to see the group. They paused, looked into a room, and kept going down. The floor was made of the same material—defined and strong. What's interesting is that there was a faint energy in them. As I got to the entrance of the room, the group turned right, going somewhere else.
I went into this room and instantly started to search around. There was a bookshelf, a table with a box, a barrel full of plants, and another barrel filled with empty bottles. I made quick work. I scanned through all of the books and found nothing I could read. I went to the box and opened it up.
Inside was a glove, rings, and a note. Although the note was in a different language, I could understand it:
"_____ Clemton, day 7 note, my experiments was a success but also a failure, combing ____ and a ____ created a rift in my magic circle. Creatures began crawling out, they are most likely demons. I've been able to fight them off for now but their numbers grow with every passing day. I leave my glove and my rings. Good luck to whoever may find this bec..."
The note had parts of it hidden—not like the books, where I just didn't understand the language, but in a manner where, when I looked at a word, it was blurry. I found it odd as well that the language on the note, for a few seconds, was in the same language I couldn't understand, but the next second it made sense. I pulled out a random book on the shelf and tried to read it—it was the same. I couldn't read a word, but it was different. The words on the note were the only words I could understand.
I kept the note in my pocket. I looked into the barrel and saw there was nothing but glass bottles. I tossed out the bottles to make space for the books; then the barrel shrunk in size. I began placing the books inside, and the barrel grew again. I did the same with the plants. Although these plants may have been important, that was long ago—they had wilted and died.
Curiosity made me push the bookshelf over. Nothing was behind it, which reassured me, as I was planning on taking as much as possible. All of a sudden, as I was looting, I heard a shout that echoed through the dungeon. That was my cue. I took everything I could: the rings, the glove, the books in the barrel, the smaller barrel, the note in my pocket, and, just in case, a single plant from the stack.
I ran, with all my legs could carry me. I saw the opening and saw Riaz. I climbed on her back, and we ran. I looked back, ready for any attack. Luckily, I saw nothing. My heist was flawless. We ran through the mile quickly. The herd saw us and prepared to flee, but in the distance, I saw them—the chief's party.
I told the entire herd to gather around and obscure the vision of Riaz. In a quick attempt, I gave Riaz and another horse all of the items. I informed them, "Hide with these. I'll give you the cue to come out, but wait for us." Then they left for the high fields nearby, blending perfectly.
All of a sudden, they were just fifty feet away from me. The chief, Rumbleback, approached. "Boy, what have you been doing today?" I was suspicious—the only outsider in the village and the person who had gained but never given to the village.
"Just training, chief. The horses here are amazing training partners for someone weak like me." I made my alibi with the horses. The village folks had seen them here all day, and since they often fought each other, the dumb orcs could be easily convinced. I even positioned myself to appear weak, so it would be impossible to follow them.
"Then have you seen anything suspicious around here recently?"
"Yes, chief. I saw a few orcs from the village just north. I don't know what they were doing, though. I did see them with big barrels." Take the bait, take it—the barrels.
Rumbleback looked toward the village I had just been to and sent a few soldiers there to interrogate them. Afterwards, I was brushed off. Madam Kimpa did walk up to me, though. "Hey there, kid. Look, you asked me for a map, supplies, and a quick lesson. I know you're planning on leaving us soon." So she knew.
"Look, you can go. Adventure the world, be safe, my child. Don't let this village hold you back any longer." I think she thinks I'm her kid—she's right as well. If that boy had been sent to the capital, he would've prospered. He would've had other strong partners with him.
"I love you." She gave me that same smooch from the morning. It was gentle. I'll come back one day with gifts galore for you.