But that didn’t mean he should be lazy, couldn’t let his head get too big, at least outside the ring. Tresh approached the tent, taking it down as Lana prepared breakfast over the small fire. It didn’t take long after the tent had been packed away that Lana finished, and the two of them sat down to eat some toasted bread, topped with some dry jerky. It wasn’t exactly a meal fit for a king, but it certainly got the job done in regards to his empty gut.

“Thank you much.” Tresh told Lana, slinging her pack over his shoulder, “Let’s get goin’.”

He hadn’t been carrying her things at all until today, but he figured that the lighter her load, the faster she’d walk. She paused, eyeing him with suspicion.

“You plan on fleeing with my luggage, typical of your kind.” She sneered.

Tresh, for all his very great patience, felt a vein begin to bulge on his forehead, “No.” He replied through clenched teeth, “I just want to get to town soon and I figured carrying your stuff would help you walk faster.”

Lana paused, “Alright then.” She said after a moment, “Let us be off.”

“What, that’s it?” Tresh asked incredulously, following after her after dousing the fire.

“Is what it?” She asked, tone confused.

“You really aren’t goin’ to say sorry for that crap you just said?” Tresh questioned, a deep frown on his face.

“...Should I?” She said, sounded somewhat confused, “I don’t understand.”

“Are you dumb? You just said that I would steal your stuff when I was really tryin’ to help ya.” Tresh scolded.

“Well I think that would be a logical thing to assume, you are green after all.” She told him nonchalantly, “There is no point in apologizing for common sense.”

Another vein bulged, this one across his cheek it felt like, “How is that common sense?”

She scoffed, shaking her head, “You’ve clearly never met one of your kind before, otherwise you’d know.”

“How about you tell me then, what’s so bad about orcs?” Tresh asked, keeping his tone flat despite the building frustration he felt.

“First off, orcs take up a lot of resources, they eat three-times as much as a human can and uncontrolled populations can ruin entire ecosystems, as they are also adept as predators.” She said without hesitation, “They also are impulsive, emotion guides their actions and not much else, leading to constant conflicts with themselves, as well as other races.” She continued, holding up her hand to show two points, “This impulsivness also drives them to acts of incredible evil more times than not,” She continued, flicking up a third finger, “They’ll eat people alive, women, children, it doesn’t matter, if they’re hungry, you’re liable to end up in their stew. That, and these impulses often lead to dozens of cases of… well…” She faltered, lowering her hand.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

“Lead to what? Go on, I’m waiting.” Tresh sneered.

“Your kind, the half-breeds. Most often products of ra-”

“Stop, I don’t want to hear any more.” Tresh urged, grimacing, “Do you have any first hand experience with this, or are you talking out of your ass?”

“I’ve seen the aftermath of orcish rampages Tresh, if you had, you’d agree with me.” She told him, her voice becoming cold.

Seemed like they were encroaching on personal territory here, best to steer away from the subject. Lenny however, irritatingly wanted to pry, to learn more about what had happened in Lana’s past. Tresh suppressed the tactless spirit, instead opting to ask a different question.

“Then why travel with me, then?” He asked, “I’m a half-orc, I could have done all those things to you in your sleep, but you still hired me anyway. Maybe you aren’t too bright after all?”

Lana laughed, “I based it purely off of your behavior in the tavern.”

Tresh’s frown deepened, “What do you mean?”

“Well, the first thing you did after those rude guards barged in was to go and mock them. You attempted to convince them to leave, in a barbaric way sure, but that was still an attempt at de-escalation nonetheless.” She explained, “Then, when you had them all at your mercy, you chose not to kill them, despite your race’s predisposition for bloodshed. Sure, we were in a tavern filled with dozens of witnesses, but if your orcish side ruled you, it wouldn’t have mattered, you’d have killed them anyway. Had you chose to do so, I never would have brought you into my service.”

They lapsed into silence for a moment as Tresh considered, when he was ready, he asked, “But you were already thinking about hiring me before all that stuff happened, you’d a had no way of knowing what kinda person I was if those losers didn’t show up.”

“I had a series of character-tests I would have put you through. I would have let a coin slip out of my purse, and if you returned it, I would know that you weren’t greedy. Things like that, a complicated improvised interview.” She told him.

“Sounds like that would have been a pain in the ass.” Tresh told her, “And honestly, still a dumb plan.”

Shockingly, Lana giggled, “Not at all, I am a genius.”

“Geniuses don’t go around saying that they are.” Tresh told her snidely.

“Really?” She asked, “That hasn’t been my experience, if that’s true, then everyone of importance at Lagos University must be fools. I was merely following their example.”

“Yeah, then they’re probably not that smart. Throw ‘em to the streets and they probably wouldn’t know the first thing to do with themselves outside of school.” He told her, the veins on his face slowly deflating.

They continued on like that for a while, bantering the whole way until finally, they came across something on the cobbled road. A couple of lone men stood right in the center of the road, arms crossed. Clubs were at their belt and they both wore cloth masks that concealed everything but their eyes. They’d finally run into some bandits after a week of travel.

“Halt!” One shouted, “This here is our part of the Rook’s Road, you wanna move past it? Cough up some coin and we’ll let you pass.”

Lana opened her mouth to speak, but Tresh grabbed her shoulder. When she looked up at him, he shook his head.

“It’s just a few coins to avoid bloodshed.” She told him, “If we can avoid conflict, that would be preferable.”

“I don’t wanna give these punks anything but my fists.” He told her, “They don’t look so tough, and we need the money when we reach the next town.”

“Please, I implore you to reconsider.” She practically pleaded.

Tresh considered… should he really just let these punks take all of their gold? That’d make the trip ahead tougher, hell, he may not even be able to sleep in a proper bed tonight if he did that.