It took almost as long to get back to Eldenvale as it did to get to where we fought the orcs. Mainly because I now had to physically push the trees out of the way. Though most of the time I did use earth magic to at least help me push them. On the way back they even joked about building a house on my back. I can't argue with the fact that there is plenty of room. I just don't know what would happen to it when I grow. Chopping down trees to use the lumber would certainly help clear a path but it would also take a while. It wasn't that I wanted to destroy the woods or that I didn't care about nature I just didn't know where any closer exit to the woods was, and my companions didn't think there was a closer exit.
Soon enough though we were outside of the woods, and I was able to pick up speed. Unfortunately, I had to slow down again almost immediately. With my new sized the city is now just a handful of steps away from the edge of the woods. After creating dirt stairs to help them get down I found myself once again waiting around. Not that I could do anything else. anything high enough level to give me experience for killing it isn't going to be anywhere near any city thanks to the city guards. I guess technically I could leave and go find something to fight but the whole reason I started working with Yuna and the others was so that I didn't have to rely entirely on fighting to level up.
Fortunately, thanks to my telepathy range being determined by my size I was now able to stay in contact with them. Through this I was able to learn that the guild master and the governor both shared my concern about that something is driving creatures north. As for what to do about it I am disappointed to find out that the higher ups would rather just defend the city. To that end they even sent a messenger to the capital requesting reinforcements to brace against whatever might be coming. To her credit, Yuna is able to talk them into sending three more teams with her team to scout ahead and see what's causing this, so they know what to prepare for.
Once the teams are actually gathered, they decide to leave out first thing in the morning. I tried to tell them they could leave now and just sleep on my shell but a few of them were adamant about spending one more night in their own bed. I guess when adventuring is literally your job spending a night at home is a rare luxury.
If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
Soon enough morning comes, and we set off. This time though I chose to go around the woods. While we travel the four healers working in tandem are able to cut my healing time from a week to just a few days and soon enough I'm back to full health. The healers are happy about the free experience as well.
We do manage to encounter small groups of orcs here and there along the way. The fights have become a bit one sided though. Orcs don't seem to use a lot of magic, or any magic for that matter. Combining that with the fact that my mirror shield can now easily block their attacks, and I almost feel sorry for them. The ranged guilders on my back are able to fire arrows and magic alike without fear. I don't even need to actually do anything beyond keeping mirror shield active during the encounters. Not that I could get any experience for fighting such low-level beings anyway.
After a few more days of this one of the new guys, a fighter named Jake, mentions that we should have run into at least one group of goblins by now. The others soon agree that even without going into the woods we should have encountered at least a few goblin scouts. This sudden realization seems to get everyone's attention. They are suddenly taking things much more seriously. Not that they weren't serious before, but it feels different now.
Through Yuna I found out that goblins and orcs have been around for as long as any others race. The main difference was that they did not continue to improve their technology and overall knowledge like the other sapient races. Orcs did learn to forge iron and they both started building primitive mud houses. Beyond that they didn't improve as a species. This led to the belief that they aren't truly sapient and are just copying what they saw the other races do. The other races it seems regard goblins and orcs as existing somewhere along the line between sapient and non-sapient.
As for me I tend to think that a species is either one or the other. I'm not so sure it's possible to exist on the line between the two. I don't bother sharing that opinion though. The last thing a want to is lose friends over such a debate. Besides it's entirely possible they're right. Much as that idea doesn't make sense to me. Simply put I don't have enough information. I start to ask about their creation myth intending to compare the various myths from the sapient races. Hoping to gather more information by teasing out the nuggets of truth common to all of them. Before I can however, I spot I huge army of orcs in front of us. This one is many times larger than the one we faced before.
Scanning the approaching orcs, I am both pleasantly surprised and horrified to learn that there are a wide range of levels. The levels that I can see range from 10 to 23. While I am curious how many experience points I can get from something seven levels higher than me. I'm also hyper aware of the fact that orcs of the same level as me and even slightly below my level were able to seriously injure me.