Pig! No, Orc! Not the awesome W*W or Skyr*m Orcs, but the kind in Japanese web-novels! With potbellies and pig heads!
Was I too pretty in my last life?! Is this revenge?!
Uuu~ I want to evolve! Let's become an ogre or a demon instead! Dammit!
… Okay, okay. I've calmed down now. That was really surprising. I wasn't mentally prepared. I've accepted it already.
Alright. I live in a village of monsters. My first task with this knowledge is to learn how to run! I have no idea when this village may be attacked, and I refuse to die helplessly!
So I say, but it's more like I'm just tired of lying around all day as a squishy piglet.
… Oh my god I sound cute.
Nono. Focus. Let's test how well each of my body parts respond when I try to move them.
The results! I am a squishy, useless baby!
Begin muscle training!
Arms, legs, head! Raise everything up toward the middle and hold it! Good! Release! The head didn't rise but the effort is good! Now again!
I am already hungry!
“Uuuaaaaaa~!”
Moooooooom!
Ah, came so quickly. What a dutiful mother. I will gratefully accept your milk!
Now, back to… sleeping…
***
Day seven(I think)! I am one week old and able to crawl! This piglet body is way stronger than a Human baby, huh? My knees are squishy with baby fat, so it doesn't hurt crawling around on them. I'm dutifully practicing moving around in my little nest.
Right, orcs don't use cribs, I guess. My house is a crude clay hut, and my bed is a straw nest with an animal fur on top. It's not too bad, I guess. I can manage in almost any environment, and I'm already used to a frugal lifestyle from my previous life.
But these aren't things for a baby to worry about. I just have to do my best to grow up strong.
Midway into my practice, momma comes without my calling. Without warning, she picks me up and carries me out of the hut. This is the first time I've seen the sun in my new life. It hurts, so I block my eyes with my hands.
Without my consent, momma took me to a scary place.
It's a large clay hut with a straw roof. There’s something akin to a primitive throne in the center, where a large pot-bellied orc sits. He’s wearing dull and worn wrought iron armor and holding a great axe in one hand. Could this be the village chief?
Momma and the chief start talking in a language I don't understand. Not good. Listen closer and learn it quickly!
While listening so hard my head hurts…
“Put it down. I want to see.”
“Yes, Durghan”
Oh! I did it~
Wait, no! That was way too fast! There's no way I can learn it so fast!
… Unless… magic? Is it magic?
I'll have to think about it later. Right now, I only need to worry about why momma is setting me on the ground. I just sit there, stunned.
Should I… do something?
“... It doing nothing,” the chief murmured.
“She definitely crawling before…” momma added.
Oh! They wanted me to crawl? I feel awkward now.
Relax. I'm a baby. It's okay to be shameless. Let's show what I can do!
First I crawl up to momma. Now, for the first test run of my secret technique! Using my momma’s leg as support, I shall… stand!
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“Hehe~”
Wahahahaha~! I'm standing! Behold!
Ah. I fell on my butt. My little legs couldn't take it. Ah well, we'll just crawl around some more.
“Hahaha! Good~ Good~ Oolga, you raise strong child!” the chief congratulates my mom.
“Mm! Mine, best child!”
Uwah, I'll be embarrassed if you go bragging like that~
“Child, come. I give present,” the chief calls.
Does he expect a baby to understand? Or are orcs unexpectedly quick learners? Well, let's go see about that present.
I crawl closer to the chief, who dangles a piece of raw meat in front of me.
… The present… is it that meat?
It should be safe to eat, since he’s offering it. Maybe it will taste good? I have an orc’s taste buds now…
I crawl to the meat and sit on my butt under it, pulling on the slippery surface with my chubby little hands. The chief laughs and drops it in my lap, where I start to chow down.
Tasty!!
Can I have this instead of milk from now on? It's so much better!
I can't possibly eat all of it, since it's almost as big as I am--holy crap I ate it all! Orcs are formidable!
Uu… I'm so full. I need a nap…
***
I don't know when, but it seems momma brought me home. I slept really well after eating all that meat. Now is the time to turn it into my own muscle! I stood a bit earlier. Let's do it again!
Momma’s not around. In this case, get up on all four and push off with my hands.
I come up for a moment before losing my balance and tumbling back down. It seems hard to balance on these little two-toed hooves.
I have hooves, by the way. Also, my hands only have two fat fingers and a thumb. I've got a pig’s head and a little curly tail. If the body and mind were any less developed I would really just be an ordinary earth pig.
Also, everyone who isn't wearing armor isn't wearing anything. That's the kind of village this is.
Soon, when I can stand properly, I will go see it for myself.
***
Oh, oh! It’s day nine (I think), and I have mastered toddling! It is bumbling and inelegant, but I can walk!
I immediately leave the hut to see what momma is doing all the time she isn't breastfeeding me. The answer, she’s in a group with a bunch of other women, skinning dead animals and treating their furs and bones.
While I'm making milestones, let's try communicating in the language I heard a few days ago.
“Momma, look~ I strong~?”
I call out as I toddle toward her.
Kiddy speak? The whole language is that way. It isn't my fault!
Momma turns around and sees my bumbling step. Uwah, that proud look really makes me happy.
“See? See?” she brags to the other women. “My child, strongest!”
“Strong girlie~”
“Yup.”
“Here, girlie. Hungry? Want some?”
I see that I'm being offered meat and immediately start drooling. I've had nothing but breast milk since the chief gave me meat. Thanks, lady! Really, you're so nice!
I come over and take the small piece I'm offered. It's not big, and I basically swallow it in one bite.
“Thanks, lady~ What you doing?”
“Dress prey. Strip meat, fur, bones.”
“Important~”
“Dumb dumb boys eat it all up. So we get important job!”
“Boys dumb? Kill, eat, make babies, only that?”
The women laughed, rubbing my head and pinching my cheeks.
“Clever girlie! Make us proud~”
“Men kill. Men eat. Don't even make babies without we yelling!”
“You be strong girl, beat down strong man. Make even stronger baby!”
Woah. Are orcs a female dominated society?
Nono, that's not quite right. The men are still stronger on average, and the leader is a man. Seems like the women are smarter, more responsible, and with better self control? Or rather, male orcs are just driven by instinct? Seems like they're lead by their bellies and the sex drive is secondary.
I'm glad. If I were, say, a Goblin, would I be molested at some point? Scary to think about.
Momma calls me over and hands me a femur bone.”Clever child, strong child, maybe want to practice?”
Uu… somehow I'm touched.
“Thanks, momma!”
***
I spent the day toddling around my hut and the place where the women work, practicing keeping my balance while swinging my club. It's hard without an impact, so I pick a rock as my target. I'm such an active child.
It seems like I won't be milk fed after this. I'm allowed to join the rest of the village for dinner. We eat out in the open in a simple style. They set up a few bonfires and roast all the animals that were hunted that day. The strongest get first pick.
Orcs are seriously gluttonous. If you aren't quick you won't get anything. The strong will just keep getting extra helpings until everything is eaten. That's why, there's no preserved food in the whole village. Only chief Durghan and the woman have the self restraint to be trusted with extra food, so there isn't any point in preserving it.
I remember reading Japanese light novels and feeling that the orcs were some of the worst of the monsters, but I guess any society is decent from the inside.
Anyway, I ate lots of meat, so I will sleep well tonight and get back to training in the morning.