Dancer In The Shadow - Chapter 2 - Meeting The Orc For the First Time At the Shane River
The carriage was still going fast. Little Via had now been on the road for almost two weeks. After all this time, things were rapidly changing with this place as well. The weather was not as hot as before when they had first met each other. It was even getting a little chilly at night. The leaves in the woods were starting to turn yellow and red. During the daytime, Via spent most of the time on the road. In the evening, he would find a place for camping before practicing with his sword.
The man did not interfere much. He merely set a specific time for Via to practice every day. Aside from that, he had not taught Via anything yet. The man spent most of his time telling Via exciting stories of the continent. For example, there was a strange kind of plants that ate people ,and it's called the piranhas, birdmen were appearing somewhere, or there were creatures like half-men, half-lizards. The man also told Via about orcs that were the biggest problem for the continent. Via was so curious that he kept asking the man why. The man tried to be as patient as possible and answered every of Via's question with a smile. The man never told Via what his name was, and he only said that the name of the carriage man was Shadow.
In the evening, the carriage had arrived the Shane River. Shadow found a better place for camping along the banks of the Shane River, and he asked the man, "my Lord, let us stay here tonight? I have checked everywhere, and there doesn't seem to be a danger. I've only heard from some people saying that sometimes orcs do appear. But I don't think we should worry." The man smiled and nodded, "ok! Let us stay here tonight." After finishing what he said, he walked out from the carriage, and Via followed him. At this time, the facial expression of Via had already changed from relaxed to enthusiastic. When he saw that many fish were jumping out of the surface of the Shane River, he asked the man with curiosity, "my teacher, is this the Shane River? Someone in my family who is good at martial arts told me that he was born near the Shane River, and he told me that you could find a lot of tilapia in this river. Even people at the Palace love this kind of fish. Unfortunately, the master said the tilapia is a tribute, only people at the Palace can enjoy it."
When he finished, he still looked at the Shane River with fascination, "this is easy! If you want to try this fish, ask Shadow to catch a couple of them! Then we can have a taste of the tribute tonight!" He laughed, "this kind of fish is very precious. For many ordinary families, they may not even have the chance to eat it once for their whole lifetime. The Tilapia is not only a royal tribute. First, they do not reproduce a lot. This fish even has its spirituality. They live under the water in groups, some tilapia that have lived for a long time release a first-grade magic ice bomb, impossible for the ordinary to catch. Even people in the Palace need to think of different ways to catch them if they want to."
Most importantly, the tilapia is a natural source of medicine. The secretly-made remedy pills in the Palace are made with the ingredients of tilapia. The man mumbled himself…
At night, on the side of the Shane River, a pile of bonfires illuminated the surroundings. There were two adults and one child sitting next to the campfire, and five oily fish were grilled on a shelf above the fire. The roasted golden tilapia was served with mint, cinnamon, cloves, and other unknown spices. The smell was attractive. That's right, these two adults and one child were Shadow, the mysterious man , and Via.
Via was already used to the mysterious style of Shadow. Every time, he vanished and appeared with no sign. He also started to get used to the strange man. In any case, the only word he could use to describe the man was "mysterious." The little Via was thinking about what had happened, and what he had seen all along. He seemed a bit stunned and didn't even notice the lovely smell of the grilled tilapia over the fire.
The man saw Via's face and shook his head lightly. He sighed, "little guy, what are you thinking? What's gotten you so concentrated?" "Nothing, my teacher! I am just missing my mother a little…I am not sure if she's doing fine?" Via stood up immediately and replied politely.
"Oh! I have already sent someone to send a letter to your mother and father. They know that you're with me now. Don't worry. By the way, this is what your mother asked me to give to you." Via looked shocked, and the man immediately handed him a dagger that was about one foot long, its cover was full of shiny little diamonds.
Via was even more surprised. He remembered seeing this dagger once, but he hadn't realized what was inside the cover…he could recall the way his mother was holding it as if it was the most precious thing in the world. He didn't expect his mother to give him such a beautiful dagger. All this time, his mother wished that Via could live like her, he could spend as much as he wanted, but he could never touch a dagger. Via's eyes were flashing, "teacher, my mother…did she leave a message?"
"Well, it seems that nothing has been said. However, since Mom gave you a dagger, I am assuming that she wanted you to be a good student. See, your mother loves you a lot." The man was staring at the beautiful dagger, and he didn't realize that the family of Ed Broy had a "Nirvana Blood Dagger." And it once belonged to Via's mother. Well, taking into consideration who she was, it was not entirely impossible.
Thinking of this, little Via couldn't help but tried to pull the dagger out of its cover with both hands. After a long while, he still couldn't take it out, but his face was all red already. The man was laughing, "this skinny little boy is so lovely! I think he doesn't know that taking out this kind of dagger requires someone with a corresponding level!"
At this moment, the whole ground seemed to be shaking suddenly. There were screaming sounds everywhere, just like the horses running without control on a battlefield. Via's face turned instantly pale. Shadow was still holding his half-eaten fish and slightly frowned. There was a slight change on the man's face as well, but little Via did not notice it.
"Shadow, take Via out of here first! Wait for me at the junction of the Shane Valley and the Prairie!" Without waiting for Shadow to respond, the man vanished into nowhere. It seemed that Shadow had already got used to living like this. He took Via with one hand. Then he waved his other hand, and the few tilapias left above the fire all disappeared in a second. He rushed and hurried forward without thinking to use the carriage, as the horses were already lying on the ground at this moment, with foam in the mouth…
The man did not leave immediately; he chose a bigger tree to help him fly upward. He was now standing on top of the tree, watching the smoke coming from afar, and frowned even more. "Damn! These goddamn orcs took this place as their tribe; they even dared to approach a human's place with thousands of them! Now, this is getting more fun. They even came to the territory of the Reynolds…I really want to see what Reynolds and Kay would think now! But now, let me take down these bastards first, as they had the nerves to scare my little boy…" He smiled lightly, and a light blue mage staff appeared on his hand. An almost transparent wind surrounded the man's body and lifted him in the air. If a human being saw this, he would scream undoubtedly. In a short while, the air surrounding the man was getting thinner and thinner, and many streams of blue light were flowing to the mysterious man…
The heaps of orcs were approaching; their hands were holding rusty and broken axes, the upper part of their bodies was full of thick hair, while the lower part was covered by something similar to an apron that was made by a kind of animal skin. The mysterious man could smell them from far away since they were too stinky, and with the way they roared, they had an extraordinary kind of arrogance. If ordinary civilians or an army had met these orcs, the only thing they could do was to run. But this day…this day was different, of course.
The mysterious man made a loud noise - almost like a roar, and those streams of blue light surrounding him were forming as a big blue circle, then slowly faded away. A crystal blue ocean appeared underneath the man, and many ice cones, ice bombs, and ice swords were flying toward the orcs which were now completely scared…the orcs cried out loudly.
The seemingly arrogant and proud orcs were now falling like harvested wheat in the autumn…their green blood was frozen immediately even before it came out of their wounds. Then, they were crushed by the ice cones and bombs that were behind them. Before the other orcs had time to react, they were already facing the worst nightmare ever. The mysterious man was chanting at this moment, but it was more like a kind of singing with different rhythms - sometimes high, sometimes low. It almost sounded like a messenger from Hell. After just a short while, a big black circle appeared behind the man, and what was surrounding the black ring were different mysterious runes. "Call…the Pterosaur." After these few words were said, an even bigger black light came out from the circle, a dozen-meter tall green pterosaur flew out from the circle, it had a scary-looking pair of horns and wings of a bat, which were 30 meters long after being extended. "Lord, what is your order?" The Pterosaur asked. "Go! Take off these disgusting bastards. They affect my mood too much." Before he finished and waited for the Pterosaur to do its job, he walked off to the direction of the Shane Valley…
Soon after, there were rumors on the continent. And poets who were running across the different restaurants and pubs also began to sing and spread the story. People only talked about one thing - there was an army of orcs at the Shane River of Reynolds. The orcs came to the human world after crossing through the grey mountains. Then, the orcs had met a giant and robust creature at the Shane River and were beaten so hard that they had to escape. The number of orcs had dropped from a few thousands to less than five hundred, which were now fleeing back into the grey mountains…