Cleansing all his fatigue by swimming in the icy waters, Alyon had a few visitors waiting for him as he emerged from the river. The human warriors of the tribe were standing outside the tent together with the person appointed as their leader.
"Chief!"
The group, seeing Alyon arriving, shouted in unison.
"I assume there is a matter you wish to discuss with me; please, come inside the tent."
Alyon, showing the way by holding open the leather door of the tent, entered after the last warrior had passed. The chief, taking his seat with calm steps, looked at the human warriors and spoke.
"Whatever trouble you have, tell me without hesitation!"
As the soldiers who were taken prisoner in the first battle where Nikonya troops and the tribe faced each other looked at one another, the human appointed as the group's leader that same evening stepped forward.
"Chief Alyon, you did not allow us to take part in the fights that took place the day before yesterday. You said that everyone in the tribe would be evaluated and rewarded based on their skills, but you took this opportunity away from us."
Alyon understood where the human continuing his speech wanted to lead the conversation. After wandering his gaze over the group inside the tent, he turned to the leader and began to speak.
"You were members of the unit sent by the Nikonya army to destroy a small orc tribe, weren't you?"
Faced with the chief's words, the leader began to speak hastily.
"Chief Alyon, we swore an oath of loyalty the evening the battle ended, and we haven't taken any action to break our word since then!"
Seeing the panicked state of the human in front of him, Alyon burst into laughter.
"That topic is long closed, my human friend. You are the glorious warriors of our tribe. What I meant is that you were low-class soldiers sent to help bandits loot an orc tribe."
The heads of the humans present to convey their complaints bowed down. When they thought about it, they had indeed been sent to aid a disgraceful bandit. They waited in silence until one of them shouted excitedly as if something important had come to mind.
"The head of the bandits said he and the City Lord were brothers. Maybe that's why we were sent!"
"You ignoramus! You were there to protect the City Lord's share during the looting the bandits would carry out. Moreover, you are naive enough to believe that the brother of someone with a powerful background like Godfrey would be a bandit."
The humans who appeared before the chief with passion and a bit of anger were now wishing the ground would open up and swallow them whole. In the seconds when the environment surrendered to deathly silence, Alyon stood up and addressed his soldiers.
"The competitions held yesterday were for the orcs to receive the ancestors' grace. If you continue to serve as you have until today, you can receive your own ancestors' legacy when you return to Nikonya."
While clarifying what happened yesterday in their minds, the chief made a great promise to his human warriors. Glory and honor would be waiting for them upon entering the city gates they left as nobodies.
When a light flashed in all their eyes, the human leader bowed and gave his greeting.
"We will wait patiently for the day you take us back to our homeland, Great Chief Alyon."
The warriors leaving the tent crashed into each other and fell to the ground when their friend walking in front suddenly stopped. The soldiers, standing up in anger, felt as if a bucket of cold water had been poured over their heads when they saw the three orcs who won yesterday, Commander Miloş, and Nafız.
"Miloş, take these sacks of shit to punishment training immediately. If anyone disobeys your orders, execute them at once!"
Although the human warriors dared to complain relying on Chief Alyon's solemnity, the female orc was another matter entirely. Without uttering a single word, they quickly lined up behind Miloş.
When the unit causing the noise in front of the tent left, Nafız shouted angrily.
"Alyon, it's time for us to hit the road! Get your ass up, we're leaving!"
Although Sangre and the two orcs with him were amazed at the way Nafız spoke to the chief, they waited in a corner without making a sound. A little later, Chief Alyon, in his matte black armor, exited his tent.
"Don't explode, I'm here! We're going on a two-day journey; what's the rush?"
The fact that the always calm and solemn chief acted completely out of character while talking to Nafız surprised the orcs, who were amazed just a moment ago, once again. Alyon seemed to have built a wall around himself. He only spoke informally and from the heart with Nafız.
"Son, you already kept the whole tribe, including me, awake all night; are we going to run like horses too? The mechanical vehicle is prepared. If we leave now, according to your calculation, we will reach our destination before night falls."
Sangre had learned to use the mechanical devices in their possession as per his master's order. When they entered the coordinates of their destination into the machine, everyone would have the opportunity to rest while proceeding in defense mode.
When the group of five came to the side of the machine they would travel in, Domuzkuyruk, who was effectively acting as the tribe's chief, was waiting ready to see them off. As the team boarded the vehicle one by one, Alyon gave a piece of leather he took from his pocket to Domuzkuyruk.
"Deliver this message to Miloş without reading it, and tell him I will kill him if he acts to the contrary."
The aura Alyon emitted while speaking surprised Domuzkuyruk greatly. The de facto chief, who was a father himself, could more or less guess the content of the message.
Thinking to himself that being a father was indeed very difficult, he nodded his head quickly, indicating to the chief that he understood the seriousness of the matter.
In the group traveling with the mechanical vehicle, Sangre and the other two orcs were examining the surroundings carefully, trying to recognize the various wild creatures they saw. Traveling comfortably inside the vehicle in defense mode, Nafız and Alyon had already nodded off and fallen asleep.
Before the sun called back its rays and left its place to the moon, our team managed to reach their targeted point. While looking towards a massive cave entrance, Alyon turned to the orc warriors and called out.
"Once inside, do not leave my side, and keep your mouths shut no matter what happens."
While the orcs were alert with the warning from their chief, Nafız cast a glance at Alyon out of the corner of her eye. When the speech ended and they entered the cave, they saw that its size increased as they walked. At the end of the road shaped by the slope going deep into the ground, a wide square and three tunnels appeared.
While Nafız and the other orcs were focused on the tunnels, Alyon was looking around in astonishment. While Nafız was trying to make sense of her friend's state, who had visited this dungeon before, a harshly blowing wind swept the group from where they stood.
"A few small pests have dared to enter my cave. How nice that you timed this visit to coincide with my lip-painting time!"
While the sound coming with the wind strained their eardrums, the orcs were hurled violently and hit the cave wall. During this event, there were two people who didn't budge. One of them, the female orc, looked in the direction the sound came from and shouted.
"Cut the empty talk and show yourself. I will apply the necessary care to you, darling."
THUD!THUD!THUD!
As the cave shook with footsteps, a massive shadow began to enter the orcs' field of vision. A black tortoise, thirty paces long and ten paces high, with bright red lips and nails, was walking slowly towards the group. Even Nafız couldn't hide her astonishment.
"My children, the four male orcs are yours. I will personally deal with the shrewish female."
When the orcs, hurled by the effect of the wind a moment ago, looked carefully around them, they saw that they were surrounded by thousands of tortoises of the same size as themselves.
Trying to rush from where they were and reach Chief Alyon's side in panic, the group formed a circle with their shields when they realized they couldn't reach their target due to the creatures blocking their way.
"So, you will deal with me alone. You big-assed, ugly-faced, crooked woman, come and let me tear that mouth of yours from ear to ear."
The massive tortoise went crazy at Nafız's words. As it increased its speed and started running towards its enemy, rocks were falling from the ceiling to the floor.
"Shrewish orc! You can't drag me down to your level; I'll flatten that ugly nose of yours as soon as I step on you."
The fuse of war had been lit inside the cave. While it was expected to explode at any moment, the environment had already turned into a bizarre scene from the movie There is a Revel in Gırgıriye. Just as the herd of tortoises and the orcs were about to make first contact, a flirtatious voice rang in their ears.
"Dilber! How quickly you have forgotten me!"