The office door creaked slowly open. The sun seeped past the drawn window curtains and highlighted the papers on the desk in front of them.
Samuel Oakley was back. That was the sentiment.
"It looks like he left me a letter…" Samuel thought as he walked into the office for the first time in a long while.
Samuel then opened the drawn curtains and watched as the sunlight embraced every corner of the mundane room. The quaint Arbor Town he knew could only be found in this room. The changes outside were too drastic after all.
"Ha… This was supposed to be a way to put me down…" Samuel muttered after slouching into his office chair.
The Freedom Union hadn't thought highly of his ambition and placed him in charge of the backwoods Arbor Town. Yet, he came to like this place. His house was in its outskirts and there he witnessed his son rapidly grow into a fine ten-year-old.
Sammy's birthday had recently passed. He turned ten. To celebrate the occasion of course Samuel began to teach him swordsmanship. The kid was a sponge for knowledge.
Sometimes he had to ask himself if it was possible that he already knew swordsmanship. Sammy would always say he learned from watching.
"But I can't abandon my work" Samuel stopped slouching. He wore a solemn expression and reached out for the letter which he then proceeded to open carefully.
Sincerest of apologies Samuel but it seems I've drunk your wine collection
Samuel paused and put down the letter before shooting his wine cabinet a glance. There were bottles. He narrowed his eyes and then noticed there were empty bottles.
Samuel sighed in defeat, he didn't expect any less. Just as he was about to rumple and toss the letter, he noticed something else was written.
The Duke sends his regards
Once more Samuel froze. Duke Lansworth. By all accounts, he was a person that existed. Samuel could only say this much since he never had any interactions with the duke.
'Why would he send me regards then?' They didn't know each other and the duke hadn't been personally present. That meant that someone else had left this.
His brother was a good for nothing so it could only be Miller.
The question was then whether Miller had enough authority to speak on the behalf of the great duke. Duke Lansworth was a well-known advisor to the king which gave him a high position. Not only that but the crystal mines of his duchy were a valued resource. Though they would one day run out they hadn't at the moment and that alone was enough.
Seeing that Miller had written such bold words the answer had to be a yes. That then begged the question of why?
"I didn't imagine this was going to be what my first day back in office would be like" This sounded like a complaint but Samuel had actually said this with a smile. Miller and he weren't on bad terms, it couldn't hurt to get involved with him.
Just as Samuel was about to continue thinking on the matter he heard a couple of polite knocks.
"It's open" Samuel replied. The door opened up in response and revealed a well-dressed woman. This was Jasmine.
"Samuel, I… I missed you…" Jasmine said seemingly out of the blue while looking down at the floor causing Samuel to force an awkward smile.
"I missed you too, I'm glad you are still here" Samuel wouldn't be able to feel as if things had gone back to the way they were otherwise. Jasmine was a valuable and devout employee who he could deeply trust.
"Y- Yes…" Jasmine said still averting her gaze.
Samuel could only sigh inwardly. It hurt him to know that Jasmine was so infatuated with him when he was already taken but he let it be.
"Jasmine, did Miller leave any urgent matters?" Samuel decided to cast all worries aside for the moment and only focus on what mattered.
"Umm, there are a couple. The royal company has entered the…" Jasmine began to catch Samuel up to speed. She didn't do it all off the top of her head. She brought out a notepad which held keen notes on all matters. She was a nice secretary by all accounts.
Samuel listened carefully while thinking back to the words written by Miller.
'The duke sends his regards…' He could only attribute this to the situation in the capital.
***
Back at the new Sanctuary Settlement, Ed had reached the barracks and headed into the secret tunnel. He planned on meeting up with Sharog and Vorgarag next to the ice wall but he had run into them much sooner.
"Sharog, Vorgarag" Ed said in acknowledgment giving a slight nod. Sharog and Vorgarag nodded back in kind. These were simple greetings but there was no need for exaggerated formalities amongst friends.
"You know Ed, you should have told me about this place much sooner" Sharog was the first to speak, and of course she was referring not to the tunnel but to the boulders of knowledge. They had once been held in the center of the underground cavern said tunnel led to.
Ed only shrugged helplessly with a wry smile before hearing a dry cough from Vorgarag.
"Ahem, you should have really consulted me. I still can't believe you are so reckless" Vorgarag added while shaking his head with an annoyed expression. He was of course referring to triggering a trap that froze and everything and now had him stuck in a cold tunnel working alone.
"Hahaha… Any plans for humans?" With an insincere laugh, Ed brushed off the topic and switched towards the main course.
"Well, there are too many holes to fill…" Vorgarag replied while in deep thought. Sharog nodded and both she and Ed waited for Vorgarag to continue.
"The settlement is simply too large, we can't defend all of it" Vorgarag's words were actually something that Ed had also thought might be a problem. Seeing that Vorgarag brought it up he could now be certain.
The issue with the large settlement was that it meant either leaving lots of vulnerabilities or thinning out their capabilities.
"The humans only pushed us from one side last time though, can't we use that?" Sharog pitched in and said. She was speaking about the only conflict they had with humans.
Ed however shook his head while making a troubled expression.
"Humans are too cunning, they won't face us directly anymore" Ed knew this since he himself was one. The first time could be considered a fluke for two reasons. One, the adventurers were likely overconfident.
The technology he and Vorgarag employed to put the adventurers at the edge was unlike that of regular orcs. A floor filled with nothing but goblins and orcs, how could they not be overconfident?
The other orc settlements they surely met along the way would only reaffirm this stance.
Two, they lacked information. This was directly correlated to the first point. The adventurers were overconfident precisely because they didn't know of the real dangers Ed and the orcs posed.
The path they had walked was littered with arrays and traps, the cannons at the end of this path then forced them to stand their ground and maintain a defensive position. If it was that alone there shouldn't have been many problems but they then had to deal with the strength of Ed.
They now knew these things existed and they now knew that these things should be avoided. Rather than walk on the path full of traps, it was much wiser to scout out the entire perimeter and search for vulnerabilities, and then coming up with a proper plan.
"I see…" Sharog replied with a defeated sigh.
At this point, the three of them stopped to think silently in the cold dark tunnel.
"...Maybe we should get out here first" Ed said after realizing that he had stopped Sharog and Vorgarag from exiting with his intrusion.
The three of them then made their way out of the tunnel and up into the barracks. From there they went off to eat something as a way to refresh their memories.
"Can't we just build another wall?" Ed then suggested as they finished their portions of boar meat with a side of orc blood fruit salad.
Ed was not the first to consider this question. The only real issue was the cost of doing so. It was time-consuming to build a good wall especially if it was intended to last.
"That works but… I'm not sure if we have the time…" Perhaps Vorgarag was a pessimist but he wasn't keen on the thought.
"I think we should go with it" Sharog on the other hand thought more positively on the matter.
"The first wall can be used to keep them in and the new wall to defend ourselves. The houses that will be littered outside are also ideal to hide orcs or even traps." Sharog said pensively.
"I suppose it can- Urgh…!" Vorgarag was just about to give in before he suddenly clutched his head in pain.
"Vorgarag are you ok!?" Ed shot up from his seat and asked.
"Do I look f*cking okay?! Argh" Vorgarag replied.
"With those witty comments, you ought to be…" Ed said begrudgingly before taking his seat again.
[Vorgarag (Strained)]
{ The formerly dead orc tribe leader of the Angakok tribe. He is now possessing the body of Herewaruk. }
He didn't forget to run a quick assessment of his friend and found that he did seem to be suffering from something. Unfortunately, the system did not help him find out what exactly.
Ed couldn't tell if it was due to losing a level of it to his other self or what but the system did not mention much about Vorgarag. This was a surprise since Ed would assume it knew a lot about him.
After a couple of seconds, Vorgarag's short episode stopped and he sat calmly on his seat acting as if nothing happened.
"What?" Vorgarag said irritated after feeling the stares of both Sharog and Ed.
"This is normal" He replied seeing that they had no intention to respond to his question.
"How can that be normal!?" Sharog yelled angrily hearing this nonchalant response.
Ed could not help but worry slightly. His plans for facing the humans were unclear and now Vorgarag seemed to be suffering from an unknown ailment.
'Is this going to be ok?' Ed felt uneasy.
