Chapter 195: The Road to Orcrox (1)

The group waited for a while, but there were no signs of Abaddon returning.

“...”

Crockta realized that the Ashen God did not want him to know too much information.

As long as they were here, Abaddon would not return.

"The Ashen God will not send him back," Crockta said.

Zankus, Tiyo, and Anor looked at Crockta.

"Cursed by the stars, it seems you were fighting something unfathomable," Zankus commented.

Crockta and his group were on their way to protect the orcs against the oracle. But now, they faced the Ashen God and demons, entities of bizarre nature. Moreover, they even learned that the night sky was merely a fabrication of gods.

Zankus gave Crockta a look, signaling him to explain. Crockta responded.

He explained that he didn't fully understand the Curse of the Stars, but he knew that the Ashen God was planning something mysterious, and suspected that she was behind the strange oracles given by the other gods.

Since even Crockta wasn’t fully certain of the situation, the discussion just spiraled into more confusion and unknown.

Abaddon, who was probably the one who could explain the situation best, was gone.

"It looked similar to when you return to the abyss of stars. Is he not the same as you?" Tiyo asked Crockta.

"It seems different from my case. I’m guessing the god summoned him directly."

“Hmm...”

Tiyo, wrapping his head in his hands, seemed to be calculating something.

"No need to be hesitant!"

He stood up vigorously after only a few seconds of thinking.

"At this point, our priority should be to head to Orcrox to confront the gods' plans. As long as we carry on with what we have to do, the answers will come to us," Tiyo stated, and the others nodded in agreement.

The group was encouraged by Tiyo's spirited voice, and the air shifted in a more positive way. Rather than sitting in one place and worrying, action suited them better.

𝐟𝕣𝗲𝕖𝕨𝗲𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝚕.𝗰𝚘𝐦

They all stood up, hoping Abaddon would safely return to continue his higher-level culinary research.

The group decided to leave a note for Abaddon for him to read when he returned.

「We will be back. And when we do, we’ll be expecting an even fierier dish.」

As they were preparing to leave, Crockta noticed something on the wall. It was a faint writing on the wall.

Crockta took a long look at the writing, which seemed quite old. The faded ink made it difficult to read, but he was able to make out the gist of the message.

The message was a praise to the Star God.

Crockta looked up at the glowing object on the ceiling of the cavity.

It was a comforting light that didn’t blind anyone no matter how long they looked at it.

It was just like a starlight.

Crockta realized this pyramid was a monument for the Star God. The temples dedicated to the Star God must have been lost one by one after he perished. This pyramid was one of the few remnants of his temples.

Abaddon, did he stay there to mourn the dead Star God?

The dead god.

"The stars have cooled long ago."

Crockta hesitated.

‘I always see death. Life is merely a process of converging toward death. That is the reason why I aim to save everyone.’

The voice of the Ashen God echoed again.

The scene from that day came back. Before standing alone against the empire's army in Cathalu, the Ashen God showed Crockta her perspective. It was a despairing power to see everyone's imminent death.

The dying stars that adored her White World.

Was that the true sky of this world, perhaps?

"Do you know the answer?"

Crockta gently tapped the Demon's Mouth that had bared its teeth at Abaddon. The creature remained silent.

Like when they first met, the demon, despairing of death and void, was embedded in the belt, spreading its fear to the world. Quantes almost became a land of death.

Ashen gods and demons.

If he continued to fight on, perhaps one day, he would find the answer.

"Crockta, what are you doing?"

Tiyo called him from ahead. Crockta stroked the faded letters once more with his fingertips and looked at the glowing object again.

He paid his respect to the Star God, then left the room.

His companions were eagerly waiting for him.

"Crockta! The door won't open!"

"Is it time for Crockta, the one favored by the pyramid, to take action?"

"Looks like we need Crockta after all."

This time, they were pushing against the door.

Without a word, Crockta pulled the door open. With their praises, Crockta wondered if perhaps he was quite clever after all.

Anor's skeleton sparrow was waiting for them at the pyramid's entrance. Anor petted it before sending it back to death.

The snakes no longer regarded Crockta and his companions as enemies. Under their unsettling gaze, the group headed north again.

Orcrox was drawing near.

Since they left Orcrox, many things have happened. The apprentice warrior of then had now become a great warrior renowned throughout the continent.

Somehow, it felt like the orc guards he saw at the entrance of Orcrox back then would still be there.

* * *

Arcran smiled as he watched the army following him march.

Although they had wasted their efforts in Maillard, the size of the expedition was gradually increasing.

Every time they passed through villages and cities, ambitious youth volunteered themselves for their divine cause, and devout nobles from the borderlands also joined with their private soldiers. By the time they arrived at Orcrox, it would become an unprecedentedly large force in history.

The composition of the army was diverse, consisting of humans, elves, dark elves, dwarves, and gnomes. Although they were mostly humans and elves, other races were not insignificant in number. The orcs would be annihilated by the gods and their following races.

"The gods are watching over us," someone remarked.

"Don't rely too much on the gods," Adantadore advised. He was not particularly pleased with the growing size of the army.

"We're going to fight a madman who seems capable of killing a god."

Adantadore was reminiscing about a berserk orc warrior who had single-handedly faced the imperial army. He had joined the expedition with the intention of finishing off that orc if it came down to it. However, such an opportunity seemed increasingly unlikely, and he couldn’t even picture it in his head.

"Haha, soon we'll be in Chesswood. More blessings will surely come there. Even you, Adantadore, will find faith," Arcran optimistically stated.

Since the expedition began, apart from Maillard, it had been smooth sailing. Arcran felt confident.

When the expedition reached Chesswood, even more people would join.

"Oh yeah, what happened to the support from the commercial guilds for the expedition?"

To support such a large number of people, supplies were essential.

They had enough funds due to donations not only from the empire but also from volunteers. They had requested to trade with the guilds for smooth supply procurement.

The first to be contacted was the largest trading company on the continent,

Blacksmiths Trading Company

.

The Blacksmiths Trading Company decided its policies through meetings of its high-ranking members. Therefore, they mentioned it would take some time due to the meetings, but Arcran was not worried. There was no reason for them to refuse their partnership proposal.

"The decision will be made soon. Once we receive supplies through Blacksmiths, the expedition will proceed even more smoothly," Arcran assured as he nodded lightly to the passing volunteers.

Although they believed in different gods, this time their faith was united under the oracle.

This was not just a simple campaign against nonbelievers but a fight for the grand unification of the continent.

"After this battle, the continent will become more peaceful."

"Well, I don’t know..."

"Faith will unite people."

Adantadore shrugged.

He thought that if the expedition were to come out victorious, there would be a greater conflict over the distribution of profits. However, Arcran’s ideas and expectations were much more idealistic than he had anticipated.

Despite being a messenger of the War God, he was truly an innocent soul.

* * *

"Ah, there it is. We can finally see it."

Chesswood finally came into view.

The name originated from the chessboard-like arrangement of the various villages clustered together. Although it wasn’t one city, the collective population of these allied villages surpassed that of many large cities.

"Let’s raise the flag higher."

A flag was raised, calling for volunteers in the name of the gods.

Flags representing each god were also raised, along with those bearing the crests of the nobles. A myriad of colorful flags radiated on their way toward Chesswood.

"Let's go."

The expedition reached Chesswood.

It was the first village of many, marked by a sign stating, "Dandelion Village."

"This village has a lovely name."

A man leading three cows stopped to look at them; the cows looked identical, like triplets.

"Fine animals you have there."

"Hoho, they are my pride. They’re triplets."

"Could you call the village chief for us? You might have heard already, but we are an expedition aiming to exterminate Crockta and the orcs..."

Before Arcran could even finish his sentence, something came flying at them.

Splat!

It was an egg.

An egg had been thrown at him.

"Oh my, why did you do that?"

The farmer leading the cows turned in surprise to find a village woman angrily holding a bunch of eggs.

"You wretches. You want to kill Crockta? Out of all people? What, have you run out of people to kill?”

"Calm down, calm down."

"How can you tell me to calm down? Didn't you hear what that man said?"

"I know how angry you are, but it's dangerous to act like that toward people with swords..."

"Then let them stab me! I would have been dead long ago if it weren't for Crockta."

Arcran wiped the egg running down his head.

The volunteers who had followed him moved to draw their weapons, but he stopped them.

"Haha, please, let’s listen to what they have to say first. Our enemies are the orcs, not these people."

Arcran felt confused.

It was the same confusion he had felt in Maillard.

It was understandable that the Southern Free City Alliance refused to participate in the war. They had been at war with the empire until recently, and on top of that, Crockta had helped them. But in Maillard, Arcran had learned of a side of Crockta he didn’t know before. In that city, Crockta was regarded as a remarkably noble orc.

And now in Chesswood, Crockta's name surfaced again.

The man leading the cow triplet approached Arcran and handed him a towel.

"I’m sorry about that."

"No, it's alright."

Arcran cleaned off the egg and continued,

"Anyway, as you can see, there are many of us. We'd like to stay in Chesswood for the day and would appreciate meeting with the village chief."

"Well... you might not like what you hear there..."

The man nodded.

"Wait here for a moment. I'll call our village chief, and there's Ingram as well, who's the representative chief of Chesswood. He'll come too."

"Thank you."

The man left and Arcran waited at the village entrance with his forces.

There was a sound of music coming from within the village.

He had heard that Chesswood was known for producing many bards and musicians. Indeed, it seemed they loved their songs.

Once the expedition was over, bards would sing of their tales in epic poems.

While they were waiting for the man to come back with the others, a group of kids came running up to look at the expeditionary force.

Arcran smiled.

"Hello, my young friends."

But their expressions were not friendly. The kids glared at the expedition members, and one stepped forward.

"Are you really going to kill Crockta and the orcs?"

"Yes, that’s right. We are..."

"Bad guys!"

Arcran was taken aback, and it showed on his face.

"You guys don't deserve my respect! Interest in you? Piss off right now! I am a wanderer riding on words and rhymes! I’m going to change your misguided minds!" the child shouted.

“...!”

Rap. It was the latest trend across the continent. It was a fresh musical form with rhyming that critiqued others or sang of nature along with music.

As expected of the land of bards, Chesswood kids were heckling them with the latest raps.

"Hey there, misters! Scared into silence by my stormy word twisters! Listen up, Crockta is our hero! You don’t know anything because your eyesight is zero!"

The kid's freestyle lyrics drew cheers from the others.

"Yeah!"

"The best!"

"The rap king of our village!"

The kid didn't stop there.

"Chesswood was in danger once, attacked by demon-like enemies! We were powerless, we couldn’t help but fall on our knees! Then came Crockta, our friend! He swung his greatsword and the enemies faced their end! He is always seeking justice, that’s why he’s our savior! Don’t you dare mess with Crockta with your villainous behavior!"

After the rap ended, the kid turned and celebrated his freestyle verse with his friends, who cheered him on.

"Yay! A verse for the ages!"

"Truly the best freestyler!"

"Those guys must be shaking in their boots right now!"

Arcran was speechless, so he closed his mouth.

Listening to the lyrics, it was clear there had been a crisis in the village that Crockta had resolved.

"Misters, Crockta is our hero. Remember that."

The kid who had delivered the rap glared at them before a man came and smacked him on the head.

"What are you doing, you punk?"

"Village chief!"

"You can’t treat people like that."

"But didn't you hear my lyrics..."

"Are you talking back?"

"Ah, okay! Okay! I got it!"

It was the village chief of Dandelion Village. He glanced at Arcran and the expeditionary force.

"Hmm..."

But his gaze was not warm either.

Arcran sensed that things in Chesswood would not go as he wished either.