“You really did it,” Bazarath murmured, gazing at the pile of ash that had once been considered indestructible. If the Orc Lord wasn’t skilled with earth magic, he wouldn’t have held any hopes, but even now he had half expected her to fail. In that case, he figured she would just put the location under guard, or maybe exterminate the birds whose blood was needed for the rituals. To think she could just directly destroy the altar. “What spell did you use just now?”

She grinned at him and explained while climbing back onto his shoulders. “It’s called . It’s a third level spell. Have you heard of it?”

The ex-Fomor chieftain sighed and shook his head. “I only learned earth magic for weaponsmithing; the only spells I know are and . To think you were a third level magic caster.”

The Orc Lord folded her arms on top of his head. “Wrong. I’m a fourth level magic caster.”

Bazarath dropped his jaw, stunned that a magic caster surpassing Azza had risen so quickly. No wonder Azza had fallen. But, before he could respond, the Orc Lord continued explaining. No, wasn’t she just complaining?

“Well, because I’m the Orc Lord, I can learn skills and spells forever without ever running out of skill slots. I think I have around a hundred of them right now? They just kept merging until popped out. Most of them I haven’t even used after embedding them. In fact, there’s so many that I even forget I have some of them. And with this war, I haven’t had any time to practice and experiment.”

“You could have stopped the war at any time. I wouldn’t have minded.” It was petty to bring it up now, but he couldn’t help himself.

“I know.” She knocked on his horns. “Hurry up and let’s go back. I want to eat dinner.”

***

Bazarath is my new pet. That’s how I’ve decided to treat him. That’s why it’s fine to ride him like a mount and say whatever I like. At the same time, he’s a “pet,” not a “person,” so I can discipline him however I like if he tries to act out.

I’ve always wanted to try keeping a person as a pet, like how followers work in video games. It wasn’t possible on earth, but this is a fantasy world where I’m the local ruler. It’s not illegal and it isn’t so morally reprehensible that I’ll be punished, so I want to experience it.

The best thing about continuing to live is eventually doing things that were once impossible.

I rode Bazarath to where the others had set up for dinner. We were a little late, but Fiara set aside a portion for me, so I didn’t have to fight the others for what was left. The Small Baphomet corpses hadn’t been dressed yet, so there was mostly Orc meat and Fomor meat available. In my opinion, the Orc meat tastes better. I wish we had apples or honey to roast it with; that could only make it better.

While I was enjoying my meal after a long and active day, momma snuck up beside me and leaned up against my shoulders with a pleasant expression, like she was cuddling. I swallowed the lump of meat in my mouth and blinked at her. “Hi, momma.”

She glanced up at me and grinned, then looked over the fire. When the others had stopped paying attention to us, she opened her mouth subtly, “Baby, I have something important to say, but you need to keep it quiet.”

My throat tightened up a bit, making it hard to swallow. I forced my food down and tried to keep a straight face, only moving my eyes to try and see her expression. It was hard to read from this angle. “What is it?” I kept a calm voice.

“Baby, I came to find you today because I received an oracle. The spirits told me that won’t save you the next time you face instant death.”

What was that?! I barely stopped the words from leaving my throat, and my muscles became stiff with my will to keep from jumping up and drawing attention. After the initial shock, my body and mind lost some of their tension. “Is that so? Well, it wasn’t an ability I wanted to depend on, but losing it is a little painful.”

“Yes, so baby has to make sure to keep yourself safe. I’ll protect you when I can, but I can’t always keep by your side.”

The corner of my mouth twitched, and I had to push aside the memories that wanted to come back. I was in a really bad situation this time; momma really had played the role of for me. No, for momma, at least, it’s disrespectful to compare her to a skill. I’m grateful to her for caring about me so much.

“You became stronger than I thought,” my lips parted to mutter.

Momma smiled contentedly and nuzzled her head against my shoulder. “I’m stronger than you, baby. You can charge forward as fast as you like because I will always keep up. See? Baby should be at the top, but momma won’t let you be lonely there. Promise you won’t make momma be lonely either.”

A jolt of electricity shot up my spine. “Momma…” My head started spinning. Something, something important just got put into place. The tingling feeling settled into heat. My body was both energized and relaxed at the same time, and a wide grin bloomed on my face. “I will stay with you at the top. I will reach the top.”

[[Conditions met. User Vyra is able to evolve into Rare Race Model . Assigning to user…]]

I could only mutter a curious “Eh?” before my body was wrapped in brilliant particles of light. There was an intense hot feeling that pulled my attention away from my creaking bones and joints and a deep cold that soothed my stretching flesh and muscles. I was asleep the last time I evolved, so this is my first time experiencing it. Unlike when my body was changed during the hunting ceremony, it’s hard to say this hurts.

The feeling only lasted for about thirty seconds before the lights scattered.

[[Success. User’s Race has advanced from to .]]

[[Conditions met. Advance in Race designation has changed the user’s stats. Intelligence up, Regality up, Courage up, Willpower up, Stamina up, Charisma up, Diplomacy up, Law up.]]

[[Conditions met. Rare skill acquired.]]

[[Conditions met. Rare skill acquired.]]

My body has changed considerably. First of all, my height had increased. Previously, six foot six was the tallest I’d been in either life, but I’d suddenly grown by more than a foot. It shouldn’t be that much of a change, but I felt like I could see forever past the tops of all the other Orcs’ heads. If I compared myself to the War Orcs, who were seven and a half feet on average, I seemed to be about seven foot ten. Obviously, my armor couldn’t take such a drastic transformation. Only my underwear was just barely holding on. helped keep me from feeling too breezy.

My tan skin was more deeply bronzed, and I lifted my hand to find that I finally had a human-like nose. The tips of my ears no longer limply hung down, pointing out proudly from the sides of my head. My curly tail is finally gone… and so are my wings.

I patted my suddenly naked hips and felt deep sadness, but I remembered what the spirits had announced. I had acquired the skill, so they probably weren’t gone completely. I would investigate it as soon as I was safely back within Babylon’s walls.

A third eye had appeared on my forehead. It was small and perfectly circular, with a round pupil instead of a vertical one. I could blink it, but it was different from how my other eyes blinked. It blinked in the same way a round pupil dilated: opening and closing evenly from all sides. I’m sure it looked a little bizarre. With this eye, I was able to passively view the flow of Magic Power. This will definitely be useful. For sure.

Except that it seemed to have replaced my magic core. All the Magic Power that was carefully protected in the core on the inner face of my skull was compressed within this eye. The eye itself was about as hard as steel, but I’d still have to consider it a huge weak point. My core is visibly exposed, what a disaster.

“Phew,” I parted my lips, which had turned deep blue, for some reason, and let out a breath. “I wasn’t expecting this so suddenly.”

Momma had pulled away from me when the evolution started, and she broke out into a wide smile after it ended, holding my cheeks to turn my head and examine my pearly tusks and third eye.

“Hahaha!” she let off a half-crazy laughter. “Baby became a Queen Orc with only two evolutions! The last Queen Orc took six, you know?! Six! Haha!”

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The feast started to heat up with excitement as everybody looked on, but those flames were put out nearly as soon as they ignited. From where Irsha had been laying down to recuperate, a light started to shine, drawing everybody’s gazes. Right, she was evolving too. Finally, I would get to see an evolution with my own eyes.

The brilliance only lasted for half a minute. When it cleared, Irsha’s features had undergone a significant change. Her tan skin had bleached until it was nearly white, and two short black horns poked out from her temples. Her finger and toenails had also turned black.

“My daughter… an Oni,” The ex-War Orc Chieftain, Dagoran, seemed to be stunned (and a little bit heartbroken). He hung his head and arms and didn’t say anything else, eyes gazing blankly at the dirt.

I glanced down at momma, who was clinging to my left arm. “Are Onis bad?”

She shook her head. “No, they’re strong. There are lots of Onis among the demon-worshipping Orcs. Since she was a War Orc, it’s a bit like her spirit has abandoned her tribe. Onis are better at one-on-one combat, whereas War Orcs prioritize group combat. I think that’s saying enough.”

“Mm.” Irsha was still sleeping soundly, but the wound in her shoulder was healing much more quickly. “In this world, I think the path of the Oni is more suitable than the path of the War Orc. I suppose she realized that it wasn’t enough to depend on her allies in the heat of battle or something like that.” I don’t know, honestly. If I said any more, I would just embarrass myself.

After everyone had eaten and rested, there was no more time to laze around. I ordered all the able-bodied Orcs to start loading the carts. We had to recover everything we could from the Fomor camps before scavengers could come and steal it. We brought a lot of wagons, but there was just barely enough space for everything. For safety on the walk back, I brainwashed all the war prisoners.

“Breaking your promise already?” Bazarath asked from behind me. Even though I grew so much, he’s still huge.

“Did you really expect me to free them all right away? This is a matter of national security. I’m going to rehabilitate them slowly and carefully so that they can adjust to Babylon without causing friction. After all, if any of the freed slaves try to rebel, it will make things more difficult for everyone after them.”

“You make it sound rational, but I find it hard to believe you have good intentions.”

Any wagons the slaves pulled were full of pots and other similar goods. I’m compassionate enough to not make them carry their dead neighbors. After reducing the Fomor war camp to barren dirt, everyone began the victory march back to Babylon. I made a special chain leash for Bazarath and had fun walking him home.

***

An Adventurer Guild was a place where ordinary people could put in requests for anything from monster extermination to herb gathering. It was the kind of place where the third and fourth sons of farmers, who had no fields to inherit, could look to make a name for themselves and earn a living. But more importantly, the Adventurer Guild was a place where members of all Guilds could come together under one roof. If a task couldn’t be accomplished just with many people of the same occupation, those people could register as Adventurers and work together with people in different fields. Most people in Guilds were dual registered as Adventurers to obtain the benefits of that cooperation.

Because of its nature of gathering many different people together, the Adventurer Guild had many rooms on the second floor which could be rented out for meetings. One particularly large room was filled up with bodies. They were just standing around, for now, passing the time by chatting idly with each other.

Keeping toward the wall, as if to not get in the way of others, there was a tall man with fair curly hair. He wore a long and simple white robe and held a staff close to his body. Anyone would know this person was a Cleric with a glance. Oddly enough, for one with the power of healing, the man looked a little unwell. His expression was tense, his face was sallow, and there were dark circles under his eyes. If one looked closely, they would see that his knuckles were white from gripping his staff a little too hard.

Samael took a shaky breath and tried to calm down. Truth be told, he wasn’t fully settled on being there. The expedition he was joining wasn’t an exploit he was undertaking, but a self-imposed punishment. He had apparently committed a grave sin by being friendly with the Orc Chief Vyra. In order to make up for that, he wanted to go kill some Monsters and Demonic Beasts. But he was afraid that the sin wouldn’t be erased until he killed the chief herself, and she was much stronger than he was; it was impossible for him to kill her alone. On top of that, he still thought that Vyra seemed like a fairly good person despite being born a monster.

He had come because he had sinned, and he wanted to lighten the burden on his heart, but the act necessary to lighten that burden lowered a huge weight down on him.

He hadn’t told anybody where Vyra’s village was located. If he had, not only would he be racked by guilt, but he would be punished by the church for hiding the information before. The cleric was caught between the weight of his faith, the weight of society, and the weight of his humanity and the only method he could think of to relieve his sleepless nights was this roundabout farce.

He couldn’t keep doing nothing, or he would worry himself to death.

A man in the crowd noticed a handful of people enter and raised his voice to quiet the others. The mess of bodies created a gap, within which the wildflower of the Sartiella knights could be seen, accompanied by her sisters, the water lily, and the silver dragon. The three of them wore attractive but simple dresses, with skirts split up to their hips, and pants underneath. Silver breastplates and other guards were fitted over their clothes, and high-quality swords hung at their hips. From the tomboyish and fiery Claudia to the motherly and voluptuous Silvia to the short and thin doll-like Marilyn, the Sartiella women were all unique flowers with thorns to match. With three of them gathered in one place, they would naturally become the center of attention even if the man from earlier hadn’t shouted.

The person who had taken charge of the situation to gather everyone here was the wildflower, so she spoke to address the crowd.

“Everyone, thank you for coming. You all should know why you’re here, but I’ll give a brief recap to make sure we’re all on the same page. Because it’s rare for so many of my sisters to be in one place, we’ve decided to take this chance to train against the Demonic Beasts of the Black Mountain. This expedition is also being used to cut back their numbers and carry our current peace into the future.

The Rangers should perform the same way you would on any expedition, securing a safe path and preventing sudden ambushes. Priests should save your holy power for healing in case of an emergency. Clerics, Warriors, and Mages, your roles here are simply support. You will set up and maintain our campsites, handle the night watch, and prepare the meals. I’m confident in my and my sisters’ strength, so most of the fighting will be done by us.

With any luck, these numbers should be excessive, but no sane person would dare to underestimate the Black Mountain. There’s always the case of angering a pack of Demonic Beasts or some kind of Beast Lord, dragging us into a large-scale confrontation. In other words, we’ve gathered so many people in order to ensure that as many of us come back as possible. Do any of you have questions?”

Someone boisterously exposed their conspiracy-minded thoughts, “What’s the real secret reason for this expedition?!”

Even the man himself seemed to be half kidding around, but Claudia was more straight-laced than her namesake implied. Her narrowed eyes struck the man like a physical blow.

“It is, as I’ve said, just for training and to thin out the herd.” Her eyes flashed for an instant and her expression softened. “Come to think of it, an acquaintance told me that some kind of Orc variant with wings may have appeared. If anyone sees something like that, we may take it out while we’re at it. Of course, put most of your energy into the main task.”

Samael felt a jolt travel up his spine. There couldn’t be more than one winged Orc, right? Who had told the wildflower about Chief Vyra?! Unless something happened, Armin would keep his word and guard the secret. No matter how he looked at this, it had to be Runa’s doing. Maybe she didn’t tell the wildflower directly, but if she shared the information with the Ranger Guild or elsewhere, it could have propagated up the grapevine.

Samael had a terribly bad premonition. What if this expedition was secretly a mission to assassinate Chief Vyra?! Had the church seen through him and figured everything out already?! Samael felt his stomach churn and a stab of pain came with it. It wasn’t healthy; this worrying had to stop, but it only kept getting worse.

And if Vyra was killed by others while he could only watch, would it ever go away?

___________________

Name: Vyra

Age: 114 days

Race: Queen Orc; Monster

Titles:

Bizarre Architect

Skills (Embedded): 96/infinity skill slots.

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