Chapter 17: A Warrior’s Qualifications (1)

Thompson walked toward Hoyt. He was limping in one leg. From his appearance, Yi-An and Hoyt could imagine what Thompson’s journey might have been like.

“What a scary face.”

“You still look like an anchovy.” [1].

Hoyt and Thompson looked into each other’s eyes. Countless emotions flashed across their faces.

Hoyt held out a fist. “Are you alive?”

“...Yeah.” Thompson looked at Hoyt’s fist for a while.

The corner of his mouth quivered as it turned into a grin. However, he then wiped his face with his sleeve. He couldn’t control his true emotions from appearing on his face. Thompson didn’t know what kind of expression to make, so he lowered his head instead as his shoulders trembled.

“I’m... alive.” Thompson raised his fist in return.

It was a human fist, which was small in comparison to an orc’s.

When their fists met, tears began to drip from Thompson’s eyes. Thompson tried to swallow the tears as he clasped Hoyt’s fist with both hands.

“Your family is well,” said Hoyt.

“Thank you. Thank you, Hoyt...”

“You came back as a crybaby.”

“I’m... I’m so grateful. You... You...” Thompson held Hoyt in an embrace. “I’m sorry I’m late, and thank you...”

“Aren’t we friends?”

“Friends. Yes. My friend...”

The colors of the sunset spread over the heads of the human and orc comforting each other, and Thompson cried for a while.

Then, the door of the house opened, and a little boy stuck out his head. When he saw the man, he rubbed his eyes as if doubting what he saw. Right after, he ran straight into the man’s arms. The child wailed loudly, and one by one, the rest of his family came out to see the man. They all ran into him and embraced him.

Yi-An nodded as he watched them from afar.

Later, the two orcs and the human family had a warm dinner together.

***

Derek leaned against his chair. He had accumulated great wealth in the city of freedom, Anail. He held onto power and reigned like the king of the underworld. Even the mayor of Anail wouldn’t be able to face him head-on.

The man in Derek’s room knew this as well and trembled in fear.

“A hundred gold...” said Derek.

“I will repay you no matter what,” replied the man.

“What about collateral?”

“I will sell my house...”

Derek raised his dagger.

The man flinched.

Derek stabbed his dagger into the cockroach crawling on his desk. The cockroach split open and writhed as it oozed out bodily fluids. It soon became still. Derek pulled out his dagger, and the cockroach’s broken body fell from it.

“Your house is not even close to being enough.”

“I will definitely pay you back, even at the cost of my own life...”

“You aren’t enough either.”

“Th-Then...?”

“Your family.” Derek locked his fingers together and rested his chin on his hands. “If the deadline passes, your interest will double. And if you can’t pay it back, I will take your family.”

“Anything but that...”

“Didn’t you say you pay me back no matter what? Are you trying to deceive me?”

“No, sir!”

“Then, it’s simple. Since you will pay me back anyway, you don’t have to worry about what will happen if you can’t pay me back. Is that not the case?”

“...”

“I want you to solve your problem and pay back on time. I genuinely want both of our businesses to thrive,” Derek said while ringing the alarm on his desk.

The door opened, and one of Derek’s subordinates came in and placed some documents on Derek’s desk.

“Now, read this. It’s just as we’ve promised. Sign here,” Derek said.

“I need to think...”

“There’s no later. Do it now or never.”

“Uhhh....”

“Right now.”

The man lowered his head and scanned through the documents. The content was simple. He would borrow money from Derek with interest and put up something for collateral. The collateral included the man’s house, family, and his own safety.

While the man was hesitating, Derek reached out to withdraw the documents. However, the man grabbed onto them. With blazing eyes, he clenched his teeth, signed his name, and then held the documents out to Derek.

Derek nodded. Now, he and the man were creditor and debtor.

“I wish you the best,” Derek said.

“...”

The man took the duplicate copy that was layered below the documents, which their signatures had seeped into. He left Derek’s room while holding his copy with trembling hands.

While watching the man leave, Derek fell into deep thought. He had amassed wealth in a simple way—by making a contract and acting upon its terms. That was it. What distinguished him and others was that others placed emotions between the contracts and the humans who signed them. While others messed up their jobs due to being caught up in their emotions, Derek just followed the terms of the contract. If those terms were violated, he would kill the debtor and act in accordance with the rest of the contract.

“Elder Derek,” the subordinate said, drawing away Derek’s attention.

“What’s up?” Derek asked.

“Thompson fulfilled the contract.”

Derek’s eyes lit up. “Mhm.”

“He paid all of the added interest as well.”

“Interesting.”

“An accident occurred on the way up, but he got lucky with another opportunity and attained a big deal.”

The subordinate assessed Derek’s mood.

Derek gestured at him to go on. “Continue.”

“Yes, on his way back, he met a group of dwarves being attacked by a monster. He got injured while helping them, which delayed his return. But those dwarves turned out to be blacksmiths of the Golden Anvil tribe.”

“How convenient.”

The Golden Anvil tribe was a tribe with the highest engineering skills, even among dwarves who boasted excellent workmanship. However, it was difficult for others to make trades with them. They were stubborn craftsmen who only gave their products to those they had a relationship with.

“He was able to establish a trade with the Golden Anvil tribe thanks to the incident. It seems he will make big money going forward.”

“What an amusing story.” Derek laughed. “Kind Thompson, foolish Thompson. Because of that very kindness of his, he was pushed all the way here after being betrayed and even almost ruined his family.”

If it hadn’t been for Hoyt, Thompson’s family would have been ruined, which would have destroyed his life regardless of his newfound relationship with the dwarves.

“But as a result of that kindness, Hoyt protected his family, and he was able to make a comeback by helping the dwarves. Is Thompson’s kindness an advantage in his life rather than a loss?” Derek wondered loudly.

“It may look like that now, but we don’t know what things will be like in the future,” the subordinate replied.

“That’s true. We don’t know.”

His subordinate wiped the cockroach, which had fallen apart, off Derek’s desk and knife as he asked, “Then, is it okay... if we take our hands off Thompson’s family?”

𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

Derek nodded. “We should respect the contract.”

“Yes. I will convey the message.”

“Good work.”

“Not at all,” the subordinate said and exited the room.

Derek recalled the incident from yesterday. He had met numerous people in his life and concluded that all people were the same. They acted like they were different, but they ultimately only possessed greed, selfishness, and a sense of self-preservation. Those traits helped Derek fully understand and predict their behavior, but he could not understand Hoyt and his fellow warriors.

They had piqued his interest. He wanted to bend their will and break their principles. Would they show the same response as every other human? Did they possess the same negative traits, or would they remain warriors until the end? If it were the latter, how would they protect the thing they called honor?

Yesterday, Derek saw Hoyt get on his knees, but he didn’t experience the emotion he had expected to feel. Rather, the warriors became even more incomprehensible to him. Moreover, there was that young orc by Hoyt’s side...

“Curse of the stars...”

There weren’t many cursed beings on this continent, but they continued to increase in number. Recently, someone who had been cursed by the stars accomplished a huge deed. His name was spread across the continent, and the royals who had sponsored him reaped enormous profits. Hearing this news, other royals and powerhouses began to pay interest to those cursed by the stars.

They said that the young orc had also received the curse of the stars. Derek had good intuition, and he felt one thing from the orc—an unshakeable will. The young orc had an indomitable determination. Those who had that kind of mindset either died early or achieved great things.

Derek came to terms with the fact that he simply wouldn’t be able to understand the orc warriors. Even if he dug endlessly, he wouldn’t find the shabby substance he had been looking for. He might actually be swallowed by the abyss.

‘Then...’

“An investment...”

Derek had never taken a risk before; he always secured collateral. However, life had become boring. He had aged. Now, there wasn’t anything in life he couldn’t predict. He knew that the man who had borrowed money would run away, and the man’s house and family would be sold because of him. Derek would collect fifteen percent more than the principal amount.

“Unpredictable.”

Yet, for the first time in his life, he was gripped by the desire to take a risk and make a blind bet.

“Life is unpredictable...”

***

“I would like it around this size.”

“Isn’t that too big no matter how you look at it?”

“An orc should wield a sword this size.”

Hoyt and Yi-An were putting their heads together as they scribbled something on a piece of paper. It was a sketch of a weapon. Thompson had suggested making new weapons for them in return for all they had done.

There weren’t many merchants who could do business with the Golden Anvil tribe; thus, there weren't many warriors who used their special weapons. Yi-An and Hoyt had earned the opportunity to possess weapons produced by the Golden Anvil craftsmen!

Hoyt completed a sketch that wasn’t too different from the hammer he currently used, but Yi-An drew a sword that was even larger than his greatsword. In Hoyt’s eyes, it was too big as a sword.

“Are you really thinking about using this?” he asked.

“Yes, I can feel it in my bones,” Yi-An replied.

He wanted a huge greatsword. The Master of the Greatsword Leyteno Pacrinche, whom Yi-An had seen at Orcrox’s Hall of Fame, had a greatsword as large as this.

“Then, I trust your instinct.” Hoyt cackled as he leaned against the couch and sipped on his tea.

It was an expensive black tea Thompson had brought back. Thompson had successfully made a comeback and was busy making deals left and right. He even borrowed the Blacksmith Company’s crystal ball every day to communicate long-distance with all of his old clients.

Derek stopped bothering Thompson. It was in line with his reputation for thoroughly following a contract and taking his hands off the matter once it was fulfilled. Yi-An had a distaste for such a reputation, even though it was a somewhat positive one.

Unexpectedly, Derek gave Yi-An his business card and advised him to reach out if he needed any help in the future. It didn’t sit well with Yi-An that the villain, for whom a beating wouldn’t suffice, had approached him with good intentions.

Yi-An exuded an air of malice as he faced the subordinate who relayed the message, but the subordinate just laughed him off. The subordinate was not intimidated by Yi-An as he had formidable strength and was only second to Derek in terms of power.

“You guys are villains,” Yi-An said.

“Still, you should keep it in case,” the subordinate replied.

Yi-An went silent for a moment before he stated, “There will be no need for me to receive his help.”

“The future is unpredictable.”

***

Yi-An asked Hoyt, “What will you do going forward?”

“Thompson is back, and the issue with Derek has been resolved, so I will embark on my travels again.”

“Will you be leaving immediately?”

Memories of them spending time together flashed by. He couldn’t believe it was already time for them to go their separate ways.

“I will be temporarily staying at Ocrox, so there’s no need to be sad.”

“Oh...”

“I also have something to say to Instructor Lenox.”

How old was Lenox if even Hoyt had learned from him? And how strong was he if he had maintained such vigor throughout the ages? Yi-An was in awe of Lenox.

He was still admiring Lenox while working on his weapon design when a message suddenly popped up. It was from Grom.

[Grom: Yi-An-ssi... how are you doing?]

As soon as Yi-An read the message, he could see Grom’s sullen face.

[Yi-An: I’m doing well. How about you?]

[Grom: I’m...]

[Grom: Well...]

[Grom: Save me...]

[Grom: I’m scared...??]

Yi-An had heard Grom was on a goblin hunt.

[Yi-An: Are goblins that scary?]

[Grom: ...No... not goblins...]

[Grom: Orc warriors...??]

While Yi-An was leisurely sketching the sword he would receive from the Golden Anvil craftsmen for protecting Thompson’s family, Grom was in for a rough ride with orc warriors.

1. In Korea, people sometimes refer to small, skinny men as anchovies ?