Several weeks before.
With the appearance of the demigod every day hundreds had been appearing and soon that number rose to nearly a thousand a day as new Demigods started to appear in any one of the four Halrverold Kingdoms capitals.
***
The Orc cities had already received the warning messages from the Earth tribe of the Demigod threat before Varbu had returned to the Uhgabuhga Mountains and reached the capital city of Orcrock.
When he arrived in the city it was already on high alert preparing for the coming war with the Demigods.
The forges and mines were being worked all day and night to make sure that everyone had a weapon and a full set of armor to fight against the coming storm.
Each Orc city had already sent delegates to Orcrock in order to decide what the Orc clans would do as a race.
Varbu was now sitting outside of the meeting hall as he waited for the elders and delegates of each clan to come to a decision on the information he presented several hours ago.
Thunk! The doors to the meeting hall were thrown open and the elders and delegates all streamed out quietly chatting with grim faces as they left the building.
“Father what has the Council of Elders decided?” asked Varbu when his father exited the meeting hall behind the elders.
Tornok pulled Varbu to one of the darker corners of the small lobby for a little privacy before talking.
“They have decided that we are too old to travel across such a dangerous ocean by ourselves. We would rather die with honor fighting for our homes. The other clans and smaller cities have agreed to join us as we consolidate our power and build up the fortifications around the mountain pass and the city...”
“Then? What about...”
“...but that does not mean we are going to let the Demigods kill us until we are extinct. The clan elders have judged you to be a worthy successor of our clan.
As the new Warrior Chief, you will lead the young warriors of our clan along with the woman and children to the new continent and rejoin with our new allies the Earth tribe.
The other clans have also nominated their own successors to lead their clans to the new continent. Although we cannot force everyone to go to the new continent we are leaving it up to each Orc to choose whether they will go or not.
You are to work along with other Clans new Warrior Chiefs so that everything goes smoothly. I have faith in you and I believe that you will be able to fulfill your duties with honor and show the other clans what a true warrior is.”
“I am honored that the elders have bestowed such an honor on me but...you...won't be coming?”
“No, I must stay here and command the forces in the coming fights.
I have already spoken with King GobGob, and he has also had the same idea as us and is sending princess Gobalina and the young prince Gobbers to the new continent along with the young warriors and civilian goblins.
They will join you and the other Orc clans so that you all can support each other as you head for the sea. The queen of the east mermaids has assured us that she will have transportation ready for you by the time you get there.”
“Can we trust the goblins?” asked Varbu as he thought of the most recent war that was fought between the two races.
“If their father was in charge I would trust them as far as I could throw them. But the young prince is different than his father since princess Gobalina keeps a close reign on him in order to make sure he doesn't pick up any bad habits from their father. She is also in charge of the young prince's lessons making sure he does not turn out to be an idiot.”
“That is good to know since it is one thing less that I have to worry about.”
“Don't get complacent. Now that you have become the new Warrior Chief you have now have the great responsibility of protecting those under your rule.
I have already sent an order for the young warriors to gather near the barracks. They have all received new armor and weapons. They have all received their warrior's training and will do their duties with honor.
I will be sending Cargan with you as an advisor and the captain of your guards. Before leaving you need to make sure to sort out the command structure you want to use. You need to make sure you protect the woman and the children as they are our future.
Go now, you only have a few days to prepare before the other clans and the goblins arrive.”
Varbu stood tall and slammed his fist into his chest with a loud thump saluting his father before leaving and heading towards the barracks in order to sort the young warriors into a proper fighting force.
“Don't forget you still need to receive your clan tattoo of status!” shouted Tornok before Varbu was out of sight.
***
With the news of the Demigods return reaching the ears of each of the demon races on Halrverold, one could see that in each city the demon races were preparing for the worse case scenarios and were frantically making sure they would be able to protect themselves.
Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.
The scattered clans who liked to live in solitude, as well as the nomadic races, were no longer safe to roam around and live in smaller communities.
They were forced to consolidate their forces into their strongest cities, forest hideouts, mountain citadels or deep underground desert caves.
In only a few days several small and medium-sized villages and towns had been abandoned and turned into ghost towns where monsters would now roam free.
The demon races focused on upgrading their armor, weapons, and city defenses in order to raise their chances of surviving the oncoming battles that would surely come looking for them.
As new groups of people reached the new strongholds there were several rumors about fights with small groups of demigods but nothing serious had happened yet.
This further pushed the demon races to hurry up with fortifying their cities.
***
Capital city Fregoldawae.
“Excuse me. Are you guys demigods?” asked Rodger as he walked up to a group of odd-looking men who wore a mismatch of armor, clothes, and weapons, making them look rather comical.
“Yeah, who wants to know?” asked one of the demigods as he spit on the ground near Rodger's feet.
“How dare you spit at the prince!” shouted Raimund unsheathing his sword along with the other soldiers behind him.
“Oi... Are you trying to pick a fight with the Toothpick feather Guild?” asked one of the demigods that had a tricorne hat on his head with several large fluffy feathers sticking out of it.
The two sides bristled ready for a fight as they glared at each other.
“I only wanted to ask if you could do something for me. Not to start a fight,” said Rodger trying to calm everyone down.
“I the great Peacock, have no time to deal with the likes of you. Get lost or we'll make you disappear,” said Peacock with a look of disdain before turning away from Rodger.
“Ha! Weaklings like you and your pathetic guild sure know how to bark loud. If you were to do something as stupid as that your time in civilized society would be over,” mocked someone from behind Rodger.
“Who said that!?” asked the angry Peacock.
“I did,” said a demigod with a black and white half-face mask covering a part of his face.
“Captain...look it's him! Scar, from the large guild 'Demon Hunters!”
“Scar...? Ah! Yes well... our clan is small as you say. I'm sorry to have bothered you but we have other things that we need to do so we will be going now,” said Peacock before turning tail and running away.
“I couldn't help but overhear that you have something you want done. My name is Scar. I may be able to help you depending on what it is you need. If you would like we can talk about such matters in the comfort and privacy of one of the new VIP boxes at the new arena that was opened a few weeks ago,” said Scar with a slight smile on his face.
“My name is Rodger and I am the prince of Beorin. Isn't the VIP box a bit expensive just to talk about such a small matter?”
“It is an honor to meet you the prince of Beorin. I recently won a month-long access pass to the VIP box so I might as well use it while it lasts,” said Scar as if it was nothing.
“Alright then, let's continue the discussion there,” said Rodger.
“Follow me I'll lead the way.”
Rodger and his guards were led to a brand new large arena that had been recently built outside of the city.
This arena was far larger than any arena he had ever seen before built with large granite stone blocks. The arena shot into the sky several stories high and was extremely wide allowing it to hold over a hundred thousand people.
As they reached the entrance that led to the VIP boxes, Rodger read the name of the arena that was posted above the entrance. [The clinic].
There was a second sign under the first that read: [Only demigods are allowed to fight at 'The clinic' chain of arenas].
After walking up several sets of steps they were able to reach one of the private VIP boxes to watch the fights that were already happening on the sandy ground below them.
“You should be careful with who you ask to complete your tasks. There are too many small nobody Guilds that are popping up like weeds and die out just as quickly. You should always look out for one of the bigger guilds to make sure that whatever task you need is completed without delay,” said Scar.
“A large guild like yours?” asked Rodger as he sat down in one of the large cushioned chairs to watch the current fight.
“That would be preferable but I can also introduce you to a few other large clans. Purgatory, Forsaken warriors, Cunning Shadows, Banished Knights, or the Gentle fallen are just a few of the 7 major guilds that you should keep an eye out for. Depending on what your task requires you will want to ask one of them if I can't help you.”
“How can we trust you? The people from before seemed to be fairly afraid of you...” asked Raimund.
“You might say I am a bit of a celebrity among the other demigods. My guild is not in the habit of hiding behind words and we follow through with or full strength to punish those who get in our way.
So, what is this task that you want done and what will be the reward?”
Rodger was so engrossed in watching the fight on the field below that he did not hear Scar's question.
Seeing the demigods using strange and wondrous skills that he had never seen before made him forget all about Scar and the reason he had come here in the first place.
The current fight was between a demigod that wore leather robes and held a wooden twig in on hand and a book In the other he was continuing to run while shouting out words and pointing the wooden twig behind him to shoot out several skills at his opponent who was a swordsman in cheap leather armor equipped with a rusty sword and wooden shield.
It was really embarrassing to even call them a sword and shield but the powerful skills that shot out from the sword was no laughing matter.
Raimund coughed and nudged Rodger to break his trance.
“What? Oh sorry, I was just shocked at how powerful those skills look,” said Rodger.
“Ha... those are nothing. Just some nobodies playing around. If that guy with the wand continues training he will be able to receive skills that are maybe even 10x stronger, but his defense will always be crap.”
“Ten times...If all demigods are like this then I am very confident that you demigods will be able to take care of the task that I must have completed,” said Rodger a bit frightened at the power of the demigods.
'It seems the only way to protect Beorin against such a threat is to employ some of them in the future to keep others from causing any problems,' thought Rodger.
“Don't misunderstand me, we demigods are not all the same. We have different...traits that we receive when arriving in this world. Those traits allow us to pick one of the many ways of fighting known as classes.
That guy down there with the wand is just a basic low tier class known as a Wizard. They have high attack skills but low defense. The other guy is also a basic low tier warrior known for fighting mainly with the sword.
Last I heard there were hundreds of classes not including the rumored hidden classes. Some even have nothing to do with fighting like merchants and people who create certain items.”
“What is your class?” asked Rodger.
“That's a secret,” said Scar, “ So, what is that you want me to do?”
“I want you to kill a person... His name is... Akira.”