“So, you’re the brat who killed off so many of my men. You’re shorter than I expected.”

Nathan’s left eye twitched.

“I guess that you’re Vince?” Nathan said.

“Correct-a-mundo!” Vince cracked his neck. “Glad to see that you’re not blind. That would’ve made negotiations much harder.”

Bjorn’s hands shook, war hammer equipped. He took a single step forward.

“Ah!” Vince pulled a knife from his inventory and put it against Kason’s neck. “Not a move, buddy, or the orc gets it.”

Bjorn froze in place.

Mara, on the other hand, had no such compunction. Before anyone could react, she pointed her shotgun at Vince and fired off two slugs. A bright flash came from Vince and Nathan instinctively shielded his eyes, Bjorn knocked her shotgun to the side, causing the third shot to go wide.

“What the hell are you doing!?” he shouted.

“Trying to save your orc friend, what do you think—?

The dust cleared away. Vince stood upright, completely unharmed.

He smirked. “Did you really think that I’d walk in here without protection?”

Nathan’s eyes darted toward the man’s skin. His tattoos were glowing red.

“A gift, from the Head Hand himself,” Vince said. “Pretty sweet, huh?”

Emi watched with a look of distinct disinterest. Nathan wasn’t sure how to feel about that.

“I don’t understand how you even found him,” Nathan said.

Vince laughed.

“It was pretty incredible, all things considered,” Vince said. “We just stumbled upon the guy. It was like a gift from the heavens itself.”

“Bullshit,” Chad said. “You just found him?”

“I mean, what’s the alternative explanation? We teleported him in across time and space?” Vince shrugged. “I’m serious. He just showed up in our camp, dropped out of nowhere. It keeps on happening, it’s like something’s helping us out, I swear.”

Nathan glanced at Bjorn from the corner of his eye. Bjorn was sweating. His eyes were wide and unfocused. Nathan looked back at Vince.

“What do you want?” Nathan said.

“I want that little object your friend is holding. I want the Pandora.”

Emi’s neck snapped toward Nathan. She shook her head quickly. Chad pointed at Emi and mouthed, ‘She’s right’.

Nathan looked back at Vince.

Can I beat this guy?

Nathan didn’t think it was overconfident of him to say he could win. The big problem was the hostage.

Bjorn stared at the Pandora.

“Nathan,” he said. “I…”

Emi’s eyes widened. “Bjorn! Don’t you dare!”

Bjorn dropped to his knees and bowed his head.

“I’m begging you,” he said. “Please.”

Nathan stared at the Pandora in his hand. “Bjorn—“

“We will swear a life-debt,” Bjorn said. “Everyone in my squad will owe you. You will possess an elite squad of orc warriors when all of them are located. When he’s fully rehabilitated, Kason alone will be a great asset to you.”

Oh god, he’s really desperate.

Nathan looked over at Kason. “Are you hearing hwat he’s saying? Do you agree?”

“I hear it.” Kason bowed his head. “If you rescue me, I’ll be in your debt forever.”

Nathan didn’t know what to do. He was starting to regret not eating the Pandora when he had the chance… on the other hand, that might’ve meant Kason would’ve died on the spot. Was the Pandora worth the life of an innocent person?

Well, mostly innocent.

His fingers twitched.

It would be easy to rush in and overwhelm Vince. He’d figure out a way past the barrier, then he’d kill him, rip him to shreds and turn him into another number in Nathan’s body count.

But it would cost Bjorn one of his men.

Damn it.

Could Nathan even trust this guy to carry out his side of the deal?

Of course not. But there was no choice, was there? The best he could do was attack as soon as Kason was safe or dead, whichever came first.

Nathan nodded at Chad. “Throw it.”

“What!?” Chad’s hands tightened around the Pandora. “Are you kidding me? We’re just gonna hand it over?”

“We’ll get it back, I promise. But right now, we’ve got to do this.”

Emi’s jaw clenched. “He’s an orc, Nathan, he’s not worth it.”

“Yes, he is.”

Chad pursed his lips, then nodded.

“I’m trusting, you, Nathan.”

He threw it at Vince.

Vince snatched it out of the air and smirked. “Thanks, asshats.”

He kicked Kason in back and he was thrown forward into Bjorn’s arms. Nathan immediately tensed his legs to jump forward and attack.

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

Before Nathan even knew what was happening, a barrier appeared in front of him. Nathan pounded his hand against it once, then twice, each one caused cracks to appear across the blue wall.

Vince reached into his inventory and pulled out a scroll. “Our men had a great deal of time to experiment with magical artifacts in our tutorial. Fun fact, did you know that you can craft magical artifacts with preset abilities? Like, say, a scroll with the ability to teleport?”

Nathan slammed his hand against the barrier again—a flash of light appeared, Nathan shielded his eyes.

The light dimmed, the barrier vanished…

And Vince and his men were gone.

“Well,” Nathan said. “Shit.”

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

They set up a camp and wrapped Kason’s wounds. The whole time, he kept muttering words of thankfulness. Bjorn had stood watch the whole time, his back as straight as an arrow.

Kason took a drink of water and coughed. Overhead, the light of the moon shone down on them.

“So, how’d you end up under that guy’s thumb?” Chad said.

“Are you well?” Bjorn tightened a bandage. “How have you been holding up—?“

“Not well,” Kason said.

Nathan took a bit of his own fish. “Like what Chad said, how’d you fall in with that bunch? Did you really just fall out of the sky?”

Kason glanced at Nathan.

“It was just after the tutorial, Chief.”

Chief?

Kason continued on. “It was hell. There was no food. No water. I barely came out the other end—but I still made it to the first circle. Managed to survive. Made some basic weapons, shelter.”

A flicker of a smile flashed across Bjorn’s face. “Resourceful.”

“You’re the one who trained me, commander.” Kason coughed. “Anyway, I knew my priorities. I’d try to find you and the rest of our squad, then we’d get to the bottom of the Nine Circles and return home.”

“Then you came across the Harrowed Hand,” Nathan said.

“Not quite,” Kason said. “I… know this’ll sound hard to believe, but…”

Nathan narrowed his eyes. “But what?”

“I was asleep. When I woke up, I’d appeared in their camp. None of them even noticed me until I woke up. It was like I’d just been teleported in.”

“Could it have been a magical artifact?” Nathan said.

Emi—who’d been staring at her fingernails—perked up. “Oh, it’s possible. He might’ve triggered a boobytrap of some sort. I’m not sure how that would’ve happened, though. I believe he’s hiding something.”

“I would never!” Kason’s breath came in quickly. “Nathan is my Groz’ur, I owe him my life. To lie to him would be a crime of the highest order.”

The hell is a Groz’ur?

“Alright, settle down,” Chad said. “Can you just continue with your story?”

Kason’s shoulders relaxed. The fire crackled.

“Yes.” He stared at the fire. “I ran, but I was still malnourished. They caught up to me with ease and brought me before Vince.”

Bjorn’s fist clenched. “Bastard.”

“I agree,” Kason said. “At first, he was confused. He acted friendly. Said he wanted to figure out who I was, maybe even work with him.”

“What did you say?” Nathan asked.

“I told him the truth. As soon as I mentioned Bjorn’s name, he immediately took me prisoner. Since then, I’ve been his captive for the past few days.”

Bjorn stretched his hand out and patted Kason’s shoulder.

“But you are free now. And you have a new Chief,” Bjorn said.

“He is small for a Chief. But we can fix that.”

Nathan looked at his arms. They were somewhat muscular… but they weren’t logs like the orcs in front of him.

Do I need to bulk up?

He shook his head back and forth.

Wait, I need to keep talking to Kason.

“First of all, what’s up with all this chief business?” Nathan said. “Honestly, I didn’t really understand what you guys were talking about.”

“You are my Chief and we are your Bonded,” Bjorn said. “What’s so hard to understand?”

“I’m not an orc, I don’t have that context. I mean, what… are you guys my slaves or something?”

Kason’s head snapped up. “What!? Never!”

Bjorn shook his head.

“We are still free orcs, afforded all our traditional rights,” Bjorn said. “But nonetheless, you are our Groz’ur.”

“Okay, you’re going to have to start from scratch, because I don’t know what you’re talking about. Seriously, what’s Groz’ur?”

Bjorn crossed his arms.

“It seems that the translation magic is unable to understand that word.” He grumbled. “It is essentially the same word as Chief, though much of the meaning is lost.”

“We take debts very seriously, Chief,” Kason said. “Very seriously, especially compared to elves.”

“I’m right here,” Emi said.

“I know, and I’m still confused as to why.”

Emi’s eyes bugged out. “Pardon?”

“Anyway,” Kason continued. “When an orc’s life is saved, it is tradition for them to swear themselves to their savior. We become their family—members of their clan.”

“Sorry, did you say family?”

“Yes, chief,” Bjorn said. “He did. Orc clanmates consider each other family. In the eyes of orc custom and orc law, you are now one of us.”

Emi’s hands shook. “This isn’t very funny.”

Nathan felt like sinking into the ground.

“Like, this is just an honorary thing, right…?” Nathan asked.

“Absolutely not!” Kason leaned forward. “If we were to take you back to our homeland, you would be part of the Imperial Diet, as is your right as a clan leader! You are one of us now!”

Emi stared at Nathan. Her left eye twitched.

“Can I opt out?” Nathan said. “I already have a family.”

“Excellent! More members of the clan.”

Alright, guess I have a bunch of orc brothers and sisters now. Sarah is gonna blow a gasket when she finds out about this.

Bjorn stood up abruptly. “We must go through the blood bonding ritual immediately.”

Kason stumbled to his feet as well. “You’re right, commander.”

Nathan glanced between the two of them.

This is concerning.

Bjorn reached into his inventory and pulled out a knife and a goblet. He grabbed Kason’s hand, extended it under the goblet, then passed him the knife. Kason slashed the knife across his palm, the sharp blade slicing through his flesh, and a bead of crimson blood welled up, dripping down into the goblet.

Kason passed Nathan the knife. “Your turn, Chief.”

Nathan’s face blanched and he felt a queasy feeling enter his stomach.

I’ve been through way worse than a simple cut, but this feels so much grosser.

After a second of hesitation, Nathan slashed his palm. Blood dripped into the goblet, each drop making a soft plop when it hit the liquid inside. Bjorn took the goblet and did the same thing.

Mara peered at the goblet. “Can I join in?”

“I’m afraid that outsiders are not permitted to participate in this custom,” Kason said. “The chief and his family are a special exception.”

Bjorn swirled the blood in the goblet, then took a sip.

Oh god, I’m about to get a blood-transmitted disease.

Kason took a drink. He passed it to Nathan.

Nathan stared into the goblet for several seconds. He could feel every single eye boring a hole into his skull. Emi looked like she was about to explode. Chad was laughing under his breath. Mara… was staring at the goblet.

“Whatever,” Nathan muttered. “Bottoms up.”

He leaned the goblet back toward his throat and drank the rest of the blood. The flavor was distinctly metallic and sharp, a sensation that lingered, leaving an unpleasant and bitter aftertaste that clung to his tongue. He took the goblet from his lips and wiped his lips with the back of his hand.

Bjorn clapped him on the back. “Congratulations, Chief.”

“Yeah, thanks,” Nathan said. “Can we continue talking about Vince? Did you learn anything else about him?”

Kason furrowed his eyebrows together and stared at the ground.

“It was all a blur,” he said. “I don’t think—“

His eyes lit up.

“Wait, come to think of it, he mentioned something about odd system messages,” Kason said. “It said he had a town even though he didn’t have one.”

Huh?

“What else did he say?”

“There wasn’t much, he didn’t understand the messages himself… but he mentioned something about a failed raid against someone called ‘Gius.’”

Lightning shot down Natan’s spine. “Are you sure?”

“Yes. Again, he didn’t understand it himself. He asked for help from his men and stated that he didn’t have a town—it was like something had hijacked his system messages.”

“And he said that name?” Nathan asked. “Gius?”

“Yes. He was confused about it.”

I think Gius has been hiding something from me…

“It’s time that I had a long overdue conversation with a friend of mind,” Nathan said. His eyes flickered over to Kason. “But first…”

Nathan rested his hand on Kason’s shoulder. The orc froze.

“Chief?” he said.

Ocean’s embrace.

Life flowed out of Nathan’s fingertips into Kason’s body. His body filled out and his skeleton became less visible. His skin turned turned less stretchy and wrinkled. It was like Nathan was rewinding the clock.

By the time he was done, Kason looked in much better condition than he did before. He looked at his hands, then back up at Nathan.

Nathan almost drooped over as a wave of exhaustion slammed into him. Nonetheless, he remained standing

“C-chief,” he said. “I can never repay this debt.”

Nathan rubbed the back of his head.

“Nah, don’t worry about it. This was nothing—“

“You’ve saved me weeks, maybe months of recovery. I feel almost as strong as I did before I came here.” Kason bowed. “I swear that this debt will be repaid.”

Nathan sighed. “Ok. Whatever.”

Nathan turned his head and pointed out his hand. A shimmering white portal appeared in front of him.

Time to talk to my faithful steward and figure out what the hell is actually going on with my town.

And maybe, just maybe—I’ll be able to strike back at Vince and get back that Pandora.