Thirteen made sure to get as far away as possible from the Orc Hunting Party, so that they wouldn’t target them.
One of his goals for coming to the Orc territory was to collect information.
Although he had many restrictions on his body, the System God had given him one Unique Ability which was the Universal Language Proficiency.
With this Unique Ability, he would be able to communicate with any kind of creature as long as they had a form of language or a means of communication.
Of course, since Cristopher was their Master, the chubby boy could also communicate with them normally, and understand their grunts, snorts, and broken Houdini Language.
Thirteen had asked Brutus and Bruno a lot of questions, but the two Brute Monsters didn’t know much about the overall balance of power in the Houdini Desert.
When he asked Brutus which race was the strongest, the Troll didn’t hesitate to tell Thirteen that it was the Trolls.
When he asked Bruno the same question, the latter told him that it was definitely the Ogres.
The two Monsters had almost gotten into a fight then, because they didn’t like the answers that the other had given.
Fortunately, Cristopher had ordered them to listen to Thirteen’s commands, preventing a brawl between the two Brute Monsters from happening.
After settling the dispute peacefully, he decided to ask them other questions to change the topic.
The seven-year-old asked them if they also knew about the Beacon of Hope, but Brutus and Bruno had no idea what that thing was.
Trolls and Ogres weren’t really the smartest of Monsters, so Thirteen needed a much more intelligent race to talk to, which was the Orcs.
Although it may come as a surprise, the Orcs and the Barbarians shared a semi-peaceful relationship with each other.
They were not openly hostile with each other, and took great care to prevent any tension between the two races.
This was why there were Half-Orcs in the Houdini Desert because some Barbarians and Orcs found love despite the difference in species.
Even so, that didn’t make the Orcs any less dangerous. Unlike the Trolls and Ogres, they were a race that specialized in working together as a group, allowing them to fend off threats in their territories.
Similar to Barbarians, the Orcs had created their own Orc Kingdom, and Thirteen wanted to visit it to gather more information about the Beacon of Hope, which would allow Cristopher to return to Pangea.
If Thirteen wished for it, he would be able to clear his First Trial by leaving the Houdini Desert.
But, he promised Cristopher that he would help him survive his First Wandering, so that he could return home safely, where his mother was waiting for him.
He had already decided to make Cristopher his own retainer and part of his inner circle.
Also, he had given the chubby boy his promise, and Thirteen always kept his promises, just like how his Hosts had kept their promises to him.
After traveling for a few hours, they found a cave, which led deep underground.
Since they had been traveling non-stop for several days, Thirteen decided to rest for a while.
Brutus and Bruno took turns standing guard, while the two teenagers rested.
Even Thirteen, who had nerves of steel, found himself feeling exhausted due to the long journey in the Desert.
Since he was still technically a seven-year-old boy, he still hadn’t fully developed, and was only enduring the hardships he faced through sheer willpower.
A day later, the two boys were feeling better, so Thirteen started to discuss their strategy.
“Unlike Trolls, and Ogres, Orcs have a more tight-knit community,” Thirteen said. “This is why I am also hesitant to kill one of them to make them become one of your Avatars. If we kill the wrong person, we might make the entire Orc Race our enemy.
“Of course, since there is a chance that they are still allied with the Barbarians, that will make the Barbarians our enemy as well. Unless we confirm these things, we will not kill an Orc for the time being.”
Cristopher nodded his understanding. He had learned to trust the seven-year-old boy, more than his former Young Master, Terence.
“Then, what do you suggest that we do, Young Master?” Cristopher asked. “Do we just go to their settlement and ask to talk to them?”
Thirteen shook his head firmly.
“Although they are sociable creatures, Orcs are still savage Monsters,” Thirteen stated. “They might not target Barbarians, but we are different from them. So, the approach we will use is different as well.
“The first thing we do is observe the common routes that the Orcs use when they hunt. Also, if we spot a lone Orc, we will move to try and communicate with it.”
“What if the Orc doesn’t want to communicate, Young Master?” Cristopher asked.
“You don’t have to worry about that,” Thirteen replied. “I have many methods to make them talk.”
Not killing an Orc and hurting an Orc were two different things.
Although he was hesitant in killing one, torturing one wasn’t a problem for Thirteen. As long as he got his answers, he would free the Orc, so that it could keep its life.
The two then went to work, and traveled in the direction where they thought the Orcs were congregating.
They left their wooden carts in the cave, asked Bruno to guard it.
It would be a very bad idea to travel with their belongings, especially if they were going on a scouting mission.
An hour later, the two stared at an Orc Stronghold that they had discovered after following an Orc Hunting Group from a safe distance.
“What now, Young Master?” Cristopher asked.
Now that they had found their objective, he wanted to know what his Young Master planned to do next.
“Now, we wait,” Thirteen replied. “If we see a lone Orc leaving the stronghold, we will follow them. But, if we don’t see any, we will wait until night time.”
“What will we do in the night time, Young Master?”
“Infiltrate their Stronghold of course.”
“Huh?!”
Cristopher knew that Zion could be daring, and even crazy at times. After the battle against the Yellow Striped Dusk Brute, he knew that the seven-year-old wouldn’t do something that he wasn’t sure of doing.
However, he was still worried because they were not dealing with a single Rank 2 Monster this time.
They were dealing with an entire stronghold of Orcs, which easily housed at least two hundred to four hundred Rank 2 Monsters and above.
This was no longer a matter of being brave or not.
This was simply bat-sh*t crazy.
The chubby boy looked at his scary and crazy Young Master, who currently had a mischievous smile plastered on his face.
Whatever the seven-year-old was thinking, Cristopher knew with absolute certainty that his Young Master was up to no good, which made him rethink his life choice of vowing to serve Zion as his new master for life.
“Don’t be like that, Cristopher,” Thirteen said after noticing that the chubby boy’s complexion wasn’t too good. “Relax. This will just be a walk in the park.”
Several hours later, Cristopher would find out that this “walk in the park” that his Young Master was talking about would turn out to be a mad dash to save his life from being taken.