Dragon Order of Flame
Volume 1
Chapter 4 Part 5
The Astal family had a fairly large domain, so it took 2 days to get to the town of Maran. As Luke was riding with the others, he began reminiscing of the past. The image he was able to see now, and those of the past, were merging together and triggering a faint feeling of longing.
"Woah, woah."
The Count continued to move forward in a relaxed manner, in order to preserve their strength. The battle may begin the moment they reach their destination. However, contrast to his concerns, there were no sign of Orcs within the town. Only those of which were villagers, hurt or exhausted.
"They've been hit quite hard."
Luke clicked his tongue. Half the buildings in the town were in ruins, and some were caught on fire. The amount of villagers gathered together amount to no more than 40 people, and there were about 10 hurt soldiers in their surroundings.
"Count Astal!"
Noticing the Count and his knights, the village head ran forth. Even though his feet were hurt, making him unstable, he ran towards the Count. A young one from the village hurried forward to help support the village head, as the village head continued to speak with tears in his eyes.
"Count Astal! You've come! This old man always believed that you would come!"
"I'm sorry I'm late."
The Count got off his horse, helped support the village head, and continued to console him.
Luke glanced at the village head for a little while, and eventually look at the villagers in the back. The eyes of the young ones, while looking at the Count, were filled with reverence and trust. Feeling their gaze, Luke could do nothing but to form a wry smile.
'Father, you really are…..'
The Count was disqualified to be the family head, since he did not take care of the family. Yet, he was an ideal Lord of his residence to those he governed. He did not exploit his citizens, gave compensation to those who were loyal, even if he had to empty out everything he had, and putting his life on the line, he relentlessly fought for his people.
This was the reason why the civilians looked at the Count with such vigor. In the past, Luke used to look at them with twisted eyes, but now he was able to understand their feelings.
Volkar suddenly spoke.
"That's right. Excluding the family, everyone else liked my father, and Marvin and I could not tolerate it."
That's why Luke was able to ignore the value and fame his father had gained, and focused only on fighting.
However, it was going to be different this time. Even just looking at the result of this subjugation, Luke was confident that he would be able to completely alter it to a different conclusion from the past.
"I'm not sure on the details, since I did not participate. I'm able to remember all the battles I personally participated in, because they were quite an imposing experience. However, those that I did not participate in………"
At this point in the past, Luke was a little chick that just began learning gangchesul and martial arts from the Count. This led to him being unable to participate in monster subjugations, and would receive countless harassment from the Count's wife.
The only thing Luke remembers about this specific subjugation was the approximate result. He did not know the finer details, but he recalled that the Count lost about 20 of his people, resulting in the Count staying home for some time and leaving a heavy atmosphere within the castle. Luke was able to remember this, because the amount of time it took for the situation to settle left an impression on him.
"I'm assuming that the Orcs were much stronger than what my father expected, that or he lost to the enemy's tactics……."
"Mm. That's true. Then there's a pretty high chance that there was another variable. Maybe there were more Orcs than what was given in the information we received……"
"Orc Shaman? Isn't that thing super rare?"
Orc Shamans were individuals that had special abilities and occasionally appeared within a group of Orcs. Generally, Orcs worshiped the spirits in nature with reverence, leading to one of them being able to actually receive power from the spirits. Well known tribes always had at least one Shaman.
Luke had fought with Orc Shamans on 2 occasions in the past. Their abilities were comparable to high ranking magic, and the last one Luke fought, used the power of the spirits to release a potent wind strong enough to topple an Ogre, and destroyed the mercenaries around it.
"I can definitely see how my father lost almost half his men if there really was an Orc Shaman."
The knights of Count Astal were all people with extraordinary skills. These knights received commands from the mighty Count, and all the weak ones were dead from previous monster subjugations.
To say that almost half of those men were killed by a mere 70 Orcs, while the majority were heavily injured? There really was no other possible explanation except the possibility of an Orc Shaman.
"I'm sure even Sir Collin, who's been with my father on many excursions and acted as his mage, would have been useless against an Orc Shaman."
Luke stared at the middle aged mage standing near the Count. Luke had once seen the magic of this person in the past, but it couldn't be considered to be great. Collin was handy due to his experience, but his magic fell short significantly from what Luke could remember.
"Sigh, this place always seems to have problems. I wouldn't want this land even if it was given to me."
"I will. It would have been different if it was me in the past, but I don't have the strength to go against an Orc Shaman right now. Volkar, you need to help me."
"Although you can't use any magic right now, you should be able to locate those with magic near your vicinity right?"
"Exactly. I should first go and tell my father that I would go scout out the area ahead of us. If I am able to tell him in advance, I'm sure father would be able to come up with a plan. What magic rank and how far are you able to sense?"
"2 km?"
Luke clicked his tongue. To be able to sense an individual 2kms away, ignoring even the geographic features and pinpointing the individual with magic. Isn't this a completely unfair advantage?
"Are you saying that your maximum is even further? Oh dear, does that mean I don't even get to feel any danger?"
Luke was resolutely planning on getting within a few hundred meters of the Orcs while hiding his body. However, with what Volkar said, there would be no danger to Luke and he would just have to pretend that he's actively scouting.
Luke approached the Count and asked.
"Father, can you tell me what the situation is?"
"Mmm, after plundering for a bit, it seems like the Orcs blockaded themselves into the mountains, and haven't had any movements since."
After gathering information from the soldiers and villagers of Maran, the Count was trying to analyze the power of the Orcs. There were about 70 Orcs that raided the town, in which 17 of them were killed by the village soldiers and vigilantes. The rest of the Orcs plundered food and wealth, kidnapped some villagers, and disappeared into the mountains.
All of this happened 4 days ago, and since then, the Orcs haven't made any additional movements. It felt as if they didn't see any worth in a village that was already plundered into.
"Are you sure of their current location?"
"The village scouts have been scouting the area for the past 2 days. It seems like Sir Darim has done his job perfectly."
Sir Darim is the commander of Maran's soldiers. He himself has been said to have taken down 5 Orcs by himself.
Following the teachings of Sir Darim, the soldiers continued to observe the Orcs movements, and proceeded to send out warnings to the town of Haum and Zilan. These 2 towns were very close to the Orcs' base.
"The Orcs are 4 km away from here. As you've heard, they're very close to Haum and Zilan, so we have no idea on when they might attack."
"I see. Father, I would like to offer a proposal."
"A proposal?"
Asked the Count, in a tone filled with wonder. Luke stared straight into the Count's eyes.
"Please let me scout their base out. There might be a variable there that the scouts may not have noticed. As I learned how to utilize the gangchesul, I've gained the ability to sense certain auras and will be able to locate anything that seems amiss."
"Is there a need for that? Do you have the ability to deal with the enemy? Even if there was a chance that there might be something extra within their base, at most there will be 20-30 more of them, and that's something I've already taken into account."
"What you're saying is absolutely true. However, there might be an Orc Shaman amongst the enemy. If they were Gnoll's or Goblin's, it would be a different story, but it's good to take precaution if they're Orcs."
"Orc Shaman? Are you saying that there might be a possibility of one that's able to use the nature spirit's power?"
"I think it's highly unlikely, and hope there isn't, but it's best to take precaution."
"In my whole life, I've only heard of them and have yet to even see one."
"It would definitely be the worst case scenario if you were to run into one for the first time during this excursion. It won't take me long, so how about trusting me and allowing me to do this?"
"Hmmm…"
After some thought, the Count nodded his head.
"Alright. Just as you've said, if there's even a slight chance of something like that being there, it's best to take precaution. Sir Collin, are there any magic buffs you can use on Luke?"
"I don't need any."
Luke spoke out before Collin had the chance to respond, and the Count and Collin stared at him in wonder. They were unable to understand why Luke was rejecting the thought of receiving magic buffs, when he was going in close to the enemy's base.
"Orc Shaman's are very sensitive to magic. Because they can't use magic properly, they must be able to interpret magic on instinct. I've trained myself to mask my aura with Gangchesul, so I'll be fine"
The reason why Luke was rejecting Collin's magic was because Collin's magic wasn't really up to par. If a high ranking Magician was to apply concealment magic on him, it'd be easy to avoid the Orc Shaman. However, it would make things more dangerous if Collin was to apply it instead.
The Count frowned, then spoke.
"Luke, you're speaking as if…….you've actually seen the Orc Shaman yourself."
"2 years ago, I ran into one with my teacher."
"Are you telling the truth?"
Everyone around them looked over with a surprised expression. Luke smiled and replied.
"Because I was able to personally feel the fear of meeting an Orc Shaman, I am now able to be more cautious around Orcs. The Orc Shaman I met had the ability to control ice, and even during the hottest of summers, it was able to freeze anyone that came near it – almost immediately. If that type of guy is amongst the Orcs, we need to be able to come up with a countermeasure."
"Alright."
As the Count nodded his head, it was then that it happened. Marvin came forward from the gaps of the knights.
"Father, I will also go."
"Marvin, you too?"
The surprised Count stared at Marvin, as Marvin stared at Luke with a burning glare. Seeing those eyes, the Count laughed and nodded his head.
"Go ahead and do that then. It's good if you brothers work together."
"Ah…."
Hearing that, Luke gave a troubled look and tried to change the Count's mind, but the Count continued to support his previous statement. Seeing that the situation wasn't in his favor, Luke shot a glare towards Marvin.
Chapter 4 Part 5 Completed.
1 Comment SFcipher May 12, 2017 at 8:56 pmThank you for the chapter.
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