There was a reverberating tang that rang out in the settlement's center. It was dark inside the workshop but the bright flame of the forge and the sparks of metalwork were sufficient to see.
Orcs seldom stay up past their bedtimes. There was nothing fun to do and trying to repopulate their numbers every night was also quite tiresome.
Fortunately, there were now some things that could be done. Sharog's new drink for example was quite a trip. But on the non-culinary side, the practice of mining, refining, and forging the metal was the most excitement they could garner.
But… realistically it wasn't actually all that fun. There was a particular reason why these orcs were prepping so much. It was all part of the real population plan.
"The armor made by Ed can't be beaten..." Dakgu thought admiring their leaders' handiwork. They would need it for the coming battles, and they probably should have for the previous ones. It was really stupid of them to not have worn them and Dakgu was willing to take responsibility for that.
Ed had entrusted him with distributing them and with theoretically ample time to boot. He just hadn't put equipping the orcs as a priority the last time. That ample time must have convinced him to continue training himself in preparation.
But was there anything wrong with distributing it and then practicing? Well, Dakgu's now deceased tribe was a prime example of orc simpleness. Getting them to wear armor wasn't easy.
Dakgu himself was still young. Although he did want to revive his clan, his childishness when it came to responsibilities was still shown.
So after the sudden assault of the humans and being bedridden by Vorgarag, Dakgu didn't actually have time to even think about the armor.
Orcs weren't ones to wear cumbersome armor and rely overly on equipment. There were reasons but the main one would have to be disinterest and savagery. Their body was the only equipment they wanted to maintain, and by maintain they meant to exercise.
Exercising to grow in prowess was what they preferred to boast, not their tribe's resources or personal wealth. Showing off the strength of their equipment seemed even more inane in that case.
To put it bluntly, the orcs liked to sell themselves.
Therefore, following Ed's absence, Dakgu had tried to break this belief of the orcs. This was in line with Sharog's previous order of distracting the orcs and the shiny armor did have their attention… for a short while.
At first, they wore it and even battled in it but the fun had died down soon after. Unlike mining, the armor was given to everyone. You couldn't brag that you had something if everyone else also did, right?
That meant that some instead started trying to beat armored individuals for style points. Those that succeeded were lauded and those that were defeated shunned. This cemented their idea that armor was for weaklings rather than dispelled it.
"How are the weapons coming along?" So Dakgu had to switch gears and have Shel work overtime to prepare weapons. Ed hadn't provided them with any.
Shel who was the master of the smithy spared Dakgu some time. She quickly oversaw everybody else's progress and then got back to Dakgu with an answer.
"It looks good" She replied with a faint brutish smile. Her muscular body was glistening with sweat thanks to the flame of the forge and Dakgu saw it as oddly fitting her image. Seeing her being goofy was a common occurrence but that goofiness didn't always come packaged with a smile.
Shel found this work to be fulfilling perhaps more so than splitting skulls. Well… not actually that far.
"Ah! Right!" Shel said abruptly remembering something.
"Where are Yerghug and his orcs? They haven't taken the few weapons we have to the armory!" Shel said to Dakgu. The young orc formed a shy and wry smile. He was feeling embarrassed in Yerghug's stead.
"Erm… He is a bit… woozy" While Dakgu's armor distraction wasn't very effective, Sharog's definitely was. The beverage had Dakgu suspecting there was some sort of poison in it. Yerghug and the other workers hardly became functional after a couple of sips.
"Graaargh!" An orc stumbled forward with a weird cry as they entered the forge.
"whrre are the things we hace to hauñ eh?" A drunken Yerghug came into the forge room with an obvious lack of decorum.
"This is… a bit woozy?" Shel asked with evident confusion. That seemed like very woozy!
Dakgu only silently assented to Shel's assessment but what could he do? This derangement poison was the plan of Sharog to keep the orcs in check. He was starting to doubt her leadership based on this sole decision.
"I wonder how that feels…" Shel muttered audibly causing Dakgu's eye to twitch slightly.
The two had to then tussle with the drunk man for the next couple of hours until the dawn of morning. Realistically Yerghug had long before fallen asleep, but that was the same for them after such an unprecedented nighttime event.
"Ed is here!" Sharog yelled for the morning's scheduled unprecedented event.
"Huh?!" Shel who had been sleeping on the ground of the workshop suddenly shot up and exclaimed.
"Argh!" The sudden movement of Shel resulted in Dakgu who was underneath her to be awakened by an elbow to the stomach.
Sharog entered the workshop and beside her was a muscular tall orc that gave off both a fearsome and awe-inspiring atmosphere. With such an aura… that was definitely Ed!
'Looks like they have been working quite hard in my absence' Ed thought looking at the messy workshop. The forge was out cold and the other orcs weren't even present but Ed knew by the weapons in the back that much work had been done.
Gazing around the messy room also made Ed notice an anomaly however.
"Hey, why is Yerghug chained to the wall?" He asked with a mix of confusion and amazement. They made a chain of their own volition, how smart of them!
Shel and Dakgu could only say that sometimes desperation was indeed the driver of motivation. But since they couldn't actually say that… no one replied to Ed's inquiry.
"Anyway! Why were you out so long?" Shel said before rapidly approaching Ed and grasping his muscles. The sudden touching caught Ed completely off guard.
"What are you doing?" Ed obviously stopped her and was not aware of both Sharog and Dakgu who was secretly giving Shel a thumbs up.
"Your muscles might have grown weak…" Shel said pinching them some more realizing that they hadn't and becoming more enamored. Ed didn't stop her.
[Spiritual Mark: Shel]
'So physical contact is the only real requirement' Ed was afraid that the skill would be dependent on the system like the command sub-skill but it seemed it was a needless worry. The skill was not acquired through the system but through leveling up.
Not only that, but he had already placed another mark on Sharog who had grabbed hold of him as soon as he awoke. That was to say he had left two imprints so far. If that was the maximum, he could at least have a mark on each of his bodies.
'Since it's a skill and not tied to the system it'll grow too' The spiritual mark could grow and advance which was bound to loosen or raise any limits the skill might possess at its starting level.
After a short moment, Ed took a step back and left Shel slightly disappointed in the process. Now that his three closest orcs were gathered, it was time for Ed to discuss things with them.
"I'm very sorry about my…" How could Ed describe it, disappearance? He had technically left after all.
"Disappearance… But I can't control that sometimes" Ed said in continuation trying to be as truthful and heartfelt as possible. Unfortunately, it got him no points from any of the involved parties.
That was because they were all focused on something else.
"But… you will stay for a while now, right?" One of the trio asked. Since Ed's absence was large, so had to be his stay.
"Well, no promises" Ed said much to their disappointment. They had grown reliant on him.
There was a brief moment of awkward silence as no one spoke a word.
"So... What happened here?" Not until Ed decided to finally ask about the elephant in the room. The orcs. Where had they gone? It was morning but apart from the extra exhausted ones, most orcs were up and going about their things.
"Hiccup" Including Yerghug who just woke up and rattled his chains with his hiccup.
Sharog decided to explain to Ed everything. Starting from the goblins and their prophecy, and ended after touching on the internal strife and her solution.
Hearing everything, Ed was mildly proud of Sharog's way of handling things. The plan had some obvious flaws, such as the disregard for the sacred tribe woman but… they managed to not just hold their ground, but also to push back the humans.
As for her 'solution' to the following strife resulting from the unrest… Ed had to say it was not very noble a solution.
Sharog noticed how Ed hung onto this issue and couldn't help but fidget slightly as she opened her mouth to explain things.
"You did a great job… Where can I get some alcohol?" Ed stopped her before she could speak however and asked him a strange question.
"Th- The delirious drink?" Sharog asked back not understanding Ed's train of thought.
"Yes, the drug" Ed already had a good idea of what he could do with it.