Thanks to the Human prisoner, today has become a day off for me. Well, it’s a day where I don't have to run through the forest and fight, at least. It feels like it’s been a long time since I just stayed in the village. Good, good; besides interrogating the Human, I'll do a bunch of other stuff that’s been on my to-do list.

First of all, I firmly chopped at the head of momma who was strolling around cheerfully.

“Here’s a new word for you: decorum. It’s suspicious to look so happy before interrogating someone.”

“Baby isn't excited?” she entreated with a somewhat tentative smile. “Are you nervous?”

Gathering my freshly braided hair behind my head, I shrugged with a casual expression. “I'm not particularly emotional about it either way. I mean, if his willpower is less than mine, it’ll be over in an instant, you know?”

Momma smiled warmly for some reason, and just kept agreeing whenever I threw over short comments, so I just ended the conversation and walked with her quietly. One of the slave houses had been cleared out for the Human to stay in last night. Of course, he wasn't able to run away while surrounded by Fomors.

Unfortunately, when I used :

Will: 104%

“Aha, no good. His will is greater than mine by a little bit.”

That’s annoying. It could have ended quickly. Now I'll have less time to do other things.

“Is that so? In that case, let’s start to break that will of his.”

Momma said something surprising, so I could only stare at her with wide eyes.

“Hm?” She looked at me and flicked her ears, then smiled. “Ahh, could it be that baby hadn't thought of that? Stats are fluid, you know.”

Stats are fluid… Things like Willpower will fluctuate based on the situation… Why had I never considered that?

“I'm embarrassed, but that’s really good news for me.”

The combination of and was already wonderful, but now it’s even more viable as an option. I'm seriously grateful to be hearing something like that.

“So, for wearing a person down, do you have any good ideas, momma?”

“Fheghal, Luur, Ashmhitol, ge Suutrot,” Momma held up four fingers and spoke in a language I haven't heard before. As if translating my expression into words, she answered the questions I didn't ask. “It’s a well-known phrase among Giants. I think it sounds best in their language. In Orcish, it would be: Fear, confusion, helplessness, and exposure.”

Giant language, is it? Has momma met with Giants, I wonder?

“What do they have a phrase like that for?” Though I can roughly guess.

“There’s no Orcish word for it. Humans call them “barbarians”, if that gives you some idea.”

“So they’re barbarians,” I added a new English word to the New Orcish dictionary. “Yeah, I can somewhat understand. Alright, I'll let you have fun for a little while until he’s been worn down. Is that fine?”

Momma nodded, and I sat with my back against the wall, just watching while I took it easy for a while. She continued to speak to the Human in languages he couldn't understand, while gradually removing his various articles of clothing. Every now and then, I would use again to see if he was breaking properly.

It was at the time, when the Human was stripped down to his undergarments and sweating bullets from nerves, that momma finally whispered something in his language.

“Hey, there’s only one more layer left. Can you guess what happens after that?”

When I analyzed him then, his Will stat had splendidly plummeted to ninety-six percent.

Without another word, I stood up and activated with .

“You will answer all of my questions honestly. In fact, just become my slave.”

There’s no point in doing these things halfway. Brainwashing is universally unacceptable, so I might as well abuse it to the maximum if I'm going to abuse it at all.

“Yes, master,” the Human muttered obediently.

Momma smiled refreshingly and rested a hand on her cheek. “I really am jealous of a convenient skill like that.”

I immediately replied to the contrary. “It’s not a skill. It’s a composite of two unique skills: , my racial skill as a Dominance Orc; and , which I was born with. Since it’s an ability that’s just about impossible to obtain, it’s only a matter of course that it would be amazing.”

Well, but there is the inconvenience that it’s hard to use outside of friendly territory, since every time I activate , I enter a state where any enemies within range will be automatically aggroed to me. Even in friendly territory, I try my best to quickly give an order and turn off the skill as soon as I'm done.

Now that he’s my slave, we can ask anything we want, but there’s no need to ask this person details about himself. I can already see those things clearly with . His status looks like this:

Name: Tyre Thurnold

Age: 29 years 45 days

Race: Human; Descendant

Skills (Embedded): 5/5 skill slots.

, , , ,

Skills (Learned):

,

Blessings:

(Human)

Curses:

(Human)

Status:

Body: Healthy

Heart: Calm

Mind: Brainwashed (Vyra’s Mind Slave)

Soul: Stable

allows the user to hide their presence until the moment an attack is dealt. It is listed as a first level skill: active state.

a combat skill set containing , , and . It improves the user’s Speed and Dexterity stats.

allows the user to blend in visually with their surroundings. It is listed as a first level skill: active state.

allows the user to move and breathe without producing sound. It is listed as a second level skill: active state.

allows the user to recognize signs of animal activity and identify the tracks of people, animals, Monsters, and Magic Beasts. It is listed as a first level skill: active state.

affords the user basic knowledge on the animal and plant life found within forested regions. It is listed as a second level skill: passive state.

an innate Human blessing that grants a passive bonus to all stats of all members of a cohesive group containing at least one Human. Civilizations are raised more easily.

an innate Human curse that increases fear of death. Increases Bigotry and Impulsiveness stats. Civilizations fall more quickly.

There are actually a lot of interesting things there, so for now momma is doing the questioning while I write the important stuff down. When I'm finished, I signal her and she brings me up to speed.

“He says a girl he doesn't know well from the Ranger’s Guild made a secret report about a group of Orcs trying to act like Descendants. He was dispatched with three others to take a look and fight if necessary. On the way, they discovered our old village site. There they met a Human and a half Elf who seemed to know about the Orcs, so they took them to a hidden bunker for interrogation. A pair of glasses belonging to the girl was accidentally left behind, so this person went back alone to retrieve them. He was captured by my brother, and now he’s here,” she summarized.

I have questions.

“First, what was the name of the Ranger who reported us?”

“She was called Runa,” the slave answered pleasantly with a smile. “I don't know her last name. She was short and from the lowest class.”

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“Class? No, nevermind. So will those two be harmed during the interrogation?”

“Leader will probably pretend to treat them well until they have revealed your current location. After that, evidence will be produced in order to try them legally. In that case, they will be formally executed without exception, for the crime of conspiring with Monsters.”

What the hell? Is it that heavy a crime? Did I even need to ask them to keep my village a secret? Well, that ninja-like girl still betrayed me in the end.

“Tell me about your leader.”

“His name is Balk, he’s a five star Ranger, specializing in close combat and monster extermination. I don't know much about him, to be honest.”

Alright then, time for a change of topics.

“Who among Descendants can view another person’s status?”

I noticed that brainwashing appears there, so I'm worried about what I did to Elianora’s memories getting discovered. Maybe it would be better if she was quickly executed…

“Official priests and priestesses are able to do so, but it is a paid service. Besides that, there are only those few sages with the skill. I think I heard there was a magic eyes skill with a similar effect, but I don't know how much can be seen with it.”

Hmm, so the chances are fairly low that she’ll be discovered by chance.

Well, I'm basically satisfied with this much. I leave momma to continue as she pleases while I go to finally learn those new spells I got from Balig. Really, I've been itching to learn these, but I haven't had the time. Since I got a rare day off in the middle of rushing to finish a war, I will happily use it.

***

Hours passed as the group of Adventurers waited it out in the secret bunker. Finally, Elly voiced the truth that none of them wanted to hear.

“He’s not coming.”

The black and brown clothed Ranger, Balk, lowered his head and sighed. “She’s right. We’ve waited long enough. Something must have happened to him if he’s still not here.”

“Then we have to go find him!” Runa stood up and said firmly.

“No. This mission is over,” the leader glared coldly. “A Ranger specializing in scouting and forestry met a tragedy in the forest while scouting. That’s a clear sign that we’ve come ill prepared to continue. We’ve already gotten enough from this trip.”

“But, you mean, we're going to abandon him?”

The black and brown man looked away from her and fished a rolled up parchment out of his clothes. When he unrolled it, it was clearly a high-quality map of this region of the forest.

“Miss Elianora, could you mark where this Chief Dagoran’s village is here on this map? We will have to come looking another time, it seems.”

Elly obediently drew a small circle about where she thought the village was, then spoke up quietly.

“Um, it seems dangerous to go in that far. When you do, may Patch and I accompany you?”

“You're also turning back for today?”

“Yeah. Without a proper escort, even I know not to go into War Orc territory.” Because they rape Human women, she swallowed the words.

“Fine. At that time, we will send you a notice. Feel free to accompany us.”

While Runa was still clenching her fists in frustration, the Balk stood up and handed out orders. “You two make sure these two leave the forest safely.”

“Eh? What about you?” Elly asked what Runa was thinking.

“I still need to recover your glasses,” he stated. Of course, his real intention was to discover what had happened to Tyre. Although he was lacking in stealth and information gathering skills, his movement, resistance, and combat skills were all superior. As long as he showed some caution, there was nothing to fear from just a quick investigation.

Runa and Paula could only follow the words of their group leader. Functional Rangers had to be able to do at least that much, since Guilds would collapse if the chain of command was ignored so easily. So they took the two Adventurers and left, while their leader ran in the opposite direction.

Given an hour or so, he arrived at where the half Elf had tried to drug them. There was no sign of either Elly’s glasses or Tyre. However, what even Balk could recognize were the heavy hoof prints in the grass. He entertained the idea that it was an unrelated hunting party, but threw it away when he found wagon trails a short distance away.

After one last glare to the East, he turned around and set a course for civilization.

***

I had gathered up all the notes Balig had given me and found a cozy spot in one of the houses to curl up in. I'm truly excited to see what kind of earth magic a Dwarf uses, but analyzing every Spell Pattern is considerably exhausting--mentally, that is. A lot of information gets shoved into my head every time I do it.

Because I needed to take breaks every now and then, and I also had to move outside to test a few of the more powerful spells, it took a fair amount of time to learn and embed all twenty-four of them. In the end, I added these to my repertoire:

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , and .

Of course, since a lot of new skills came in at once, several of them merged together to form higher level skills. The first level needle spells for all four types became the second level spell . The second level spell came from the four first level wall spells.

The appraisal skills were immediately absorbed into , so I had to relist them.

, , and were a bit more tedious, since I had to relist , , , , and each of their various wall spells for each of them to merge with.

There was no second level spell to be learned from , but I was able to learn the third level spell by using the four shape spells.

The same kind of thing had to be done for the destroy spells too, with , , and , forcefully merging them into a new type each time. Although I tried, there was no , or a for that matter.

Instead, the four create spells became the second level spell . The level two destroy spells became the third level spell . After I relisted them all, the create, destroy, and shape spells for each type merged respectively into the third level spells , , and . After that, the purify and transmute skills were absorbed into those, so I had to relist them. This whole thing is just a mess.

I unconsciously held my breath as I waited for , , , and to merge. The first fourth level spell I’ll have seen in my entire life: . Just using on it drained a huge amount of my Magic Power.

allows the user to exert their Law onto the earth. It is listed as a fourth level spell: active state.

Yup. I don’t understand at all.

On a hunch, I checked again and:

allows the user to create an area around their body where their Law can be enacted. Has a synergistic effect with unique aspect . Has a synergistic effect with unique skill . Has a synergistic effect with the fourth level spell . It is listed as a ruler class skill: active state.

I'm seriously tired. My soul fractured by another 0.04 percent. It’s only just passed noon, but I think I need a nap. Although I "activated" each spell twice to embed them, I didn't actually use them. I'm too drained to have even paid attention to their effects, so there's no way I'd just fire them randomly.

While lying down in a warm sunny spot, an unrelated thought drifted into my brain, promptly ruining the sweet sleep I was about to enjoy.

Wasn't momma acting strangely today?

***

Meanwhile, Elsewhere in Babylon:

“Uwah! My eyes feel so much better!” Fiara cried out in relief when she slipped on the freshly enchanted glasses. They were a little small on her face, but still perfectly wearable.

Gula, who was tragically pondering how she had ended up in this position two days in a row, tried to respond in a lighthearted manner. “I'm glad, miss Fiara.”

“Now I can work harder than ever!”

Spirits save me!

[[Request is invalid.]]

Fobs feet… “M-moderation please, miss Fiara.”

---------------------------

Name: Vyra

Age: 98 days

Race: Dominance Orc; Monster

Skills (Embedded): 93/infinity skill slots.

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,