Love Found Amidst Violence: Chapter 2 – In Over Our Heads

Chapter 2 – In Over Our Heads

The region of the world we find ourselves in is Eastern Europe or Unser Sieg, as we call it now. Once controlled by a corrupted Vicar and his legions of ratmen, it’s a toxic region of the world where no normal human can survive save for elves, men of the southern kingdom, Far East, and, of course, us orcs. Despite it appearing to be desolate, it’s a great place to mine ores to create weapons and armor from, and its poisonous vegetation is good for making cures and medicines. Matilda and I pass by one of the villages that was tasked with doing this, however, this village of orcs has long been slaughtered and is in the process of being cleaned up and repaired with the stench of death still in the air and bodies being buried or sent off to their families.

Questioning the guards and civilians to see if our prey has passed by here, they mention a group of people that passed by the town that match the description we gave them. Matilda and I thank them before immediately heading in the direction they are said to have gone. Along the way, we find fresh corpses of orcs and fiery knights of our brother kingdom, Canis, who seem to have been transporting goods, weapons, and armor at the wrong place and time. This scene only incentivizes us to move faster and catch up with our prey so they can’t hurt anyone else. Continuing on, we manage to catch up to our prey who have stopped by the ruins of another town that was recently destroyed.

Matilda and I don’t stop to come up with a strategy to fight them and just jump off our horses and start cutting and slashing. While the vermin we are killing call out for help, we see two people transform into serpentine dragons who start spewing fire at us. We cut our way to take cover behind a broken building as we tactically retreat to get some distance from the dragons.

“If I’m not mistaken, the Asians from Draco who can turn into dragons are royalty, which means these are no ordinary bandits,” Matilda points out.

“I figured. There’s something else going on here, but I’m not sure we’ll live to see it through,” I admit as jokingly as I can.

“If anything, we’ll die honorably doing our duty. Also,” Matilda says before kissing me on the cheek. “That’s for fighting with me until now and just in case we don’t make it out of this.”

An explosion of light hits the building we are hiding in forcing us to face down our enemies.

“We won’t know until it’s over, so let’s show them the might of Bernhard and the wrath of God,” I say.

Matilda nods. We then yell out as we charge at the enemy. Before our blades can clash with theirs, a hail of fire and ice spears rains down from the sky killing most of them. Out of the smoke and mist created by the spells, a single person can be made out of it who uses their spells to fight our foes. As we cautiously approach our savior, we see that this person is tough and resorts to using their fists to punch out our enemies when they get too close and uses their feet to crush the heads of those who are on the ground. The chaos of the scene dissipates revealing that our savior is not only an orc, but a half-breed orc at that.

The woman has light blonde hair, light blue eyes, and light green skin that’s lighter than Matilda’s with a hint of beige in it. From what I see, her lineage is a messy one with bits of Polypus and Canis in it because of her ice and fire magic respectively, and bits of either Leo, Serpentis, or Equus in her because of her skin, eyes, and body shape that is indicative of a “normal” human. Matilda and I keep our weapons up just in case this woman is trouble, though she seems to lower her guard.

“Thanks for the help. Who are you?” I ask.

“I can only tell you my name is Grimgothica,” she says.

“What kind of orc name is that?” Matilda says.

“It’s a code name, so I don’t reveal my real one.”

“A code name? What are you some kind of special agent or soldier?”

“Yes, I am.”

“Who are you loyal to?”

“God and my country of Bernhard, same as you. You can lower your weapons. I’ll answer every question you have and hide nothing.”

Matilda and I nod at each other and then slowly lower and sheathe our weapons since the woman seems honest and she’s been straightforward in answering our questions so far.

“What are you doing out here?” Matilda asks.

“I’m out here investigating the increasing attacks on towns and cities in the Unser Sieg region and what the foreigners from Asia and the Holy Land have to do with it. Might I ask the same of you?” Grimgothica says.

“We were chasing the traitors and their allies that our unit was sent out to eliminate. Unfortunately, we’re the only survivors.”

“That was reckless of you, but I understand why you would want to avenge your friends and finish your job. Your names?” We give our names and Grimgothica nods. “Gunther, Matilda, can I ask you to please go and report your success to your superiors? I’ll handle the rest from here.”

“No, you can’t,” Matilda and I almost say in unison.

“Heh, I thought you two would say that.”

“Our job is not done yet,” Matilda says.

“We want to get to the bottom of why there have been so many bandit attacks and what the foreigners have to do with them,” I add.

“Follow me then and keep an eye out for any stranglers and places they could hide. I’ll catch you both up on what I know.”

Matilda and I do as she says, follow her, and listen.

“Given how we’re not on the best terms with both Western and Eastern kingdoms, they’ve been disputing with us about whether or not we should have most of the land of Unser Sieg.”

“But we won it fairly during the war with Vicar Sylvatic! We sent out and sacrificed the most troops during it!” Matilda says.

“That’s right, but the other kingdoms think they should have a piece of the land as well and its resources and the sacrifices that happened a few generations ago mean nothing to the current one.”

“We’ve allowed Canis to have land here and we trade the materials to the other kingdoms, so it’s not like we’re hoarding it to ourselves.”

“Giving territory to our closest allies and trading the materials to others doesn’t mean anything to them.”

“What about having our knights act as guards in all kingdoms?” I ask.

“It irritates them more than gives them comfort because it gives the impression we want to have soldiers stationed everywhere so we can take over the world similarly to the tyrannical Vicar.”

“Comparing us to those ratmen is worse than an insult,” Matilda says.

“We’re exactly like that to some because of how much we fight.”

“But we don’t rape, indulge ourselves in drugs, kidnap, and experiment on innocent people as the ratmen did!”

“It doesn’t make a difference to them. What makes it worse for them is all these attacks by bandits and traitors. With every settlement destroyed, caravan slaughtered, and travelers robbed and killed within the territory, our kingdom looks less and less worthy of holding the territory. If this increase in destruction, thievery, and murder doesn’t stop soon, the other kingdoms will have a strong case to present to the Vatican to divide our territory between themselves.”

“So, they have something to do with these attacks?” I ask.

“Our superiors have considered it and now it seems to be confirmed because of the bodies here. Take a look at this.” Grimgothica picks up a piece of the Asian armor that was worn by the dragon. “The men of Draco who can turn into dragons are royals or come from a royal lineage. This armor is hard to get and even harder to steal, so it’s positive proof that some royals in Draco are conspiring against us and actively taking part in the atrocities done in this land.”

I punch the side of a nearby wall to relieve myself of my anger.

“We’re being betrayed by those who claim to be our allies and worship the same God,” I say.

“We have our proof then to go after them and eliminate the conspirators in their kingdom,” Matilda adds.

“We have almost everything,” Grimgothica says as she pockets the pieces of Asian armor. “The elves have also fought against us so we must find proof that these elves are not just mere bandits or at the very least have no connection with the elves in the Holy Land.”

Matilda and I agree with Grimgothica and help her search the ruined town and bodies of the deceased for the proof we’re looking for. While looking around, I find various pictures and notes in the pockets of the dead men that have faces and names on them. Many of the notes are reminders of the loved ones, kingdom, and God they’re fighting for and the letters are from loved ones wishing them well and hoping for their safe return. Misguided fools, the lot of them. I pity them and pray a short prayer for their souls. Once we’ve swept the entire area, we regroup and see that we’ve all found much of the same things.

“Is this enough proof to go after the elves?” Matilda asks.

“It’s enough to link them to certain people, but not enough to show whether or not they acted on direct orders from the rulers of their kingdoms. Nevertheless, we should bring it back home for safekeeping and report it to our superiors so they can decide our next course of action,” Grimgothica says.

“Our next course of action would be to bring their co-conspirators to justice by force, if necessary,” Matilda says.

“Force is probably going to be the best course of action for quick justice given how many royals are involved, but we must avoid force unless absolutely necessary. Thank you for your help, Gunther and Matilda. I’ll make sure you are handsomely rewarded for your help and dedication to Bernhard.”

“It’s our honor to help,” I say to which Matilda agrees. As we head back to our horses to go back home, I ask Matilda, “It looks like we will get that day together.”

“Then we were meant to be together,” Matilda says. “Honestly, this time we’ve spent together is better than any date I could imagine. So, given both facts, I’d say I’ll be expecting a ring soon after we get back home.”

Orcs like the men of Canis are quick to show the contents of their hearts to the people they have feelings for. We’re probably the most honest people in the world in our opinion, which should be obvious given how quick we are to fight for who and what we love, speak our minds, and quickest to create families with many children.

Smiling at Matilda, I return the kiss she gave me on the cheek and then say, “You’ll get it soon enough.”

She smiles at me with a blush on her face. We then head out with Grimgothica back home with our minds back on the task at hand and the hopes of getting justice for the people we’ve fought to avenge.