After the ceremony, or should I say my father's speech, a feast was organized for everyone. Uncle Uuk and other hunters have killed some reindeer and bison for today's feast. Everyone enjoyed the feast. The feast was not much different from those of humans. Male discussed their bouts and boasted about their hunts, while female discussed their children, husband, dresses, and accessories.

It was good that everyone had a good time and enjoyed their time together after such a long time. It's challenging to go through what they have gone through, but now the most important thing is to plan the next steps. Ironblood tribe was the first clan to be obliterated by the main character. Well, it is much worse than that. What happened was the Ironblood tribe attacked/ambushed the small group which was hunting magical beast for Aaron's engagement with Sabina and wandered a little too much into the forest, which resulted in the death of the duke's son and Aaron's father and his younger brother being taken as a prisoner. Enraged by this, Aaron gathered a group of warriors to find his missing brother.

It took two entire months for Aaron to find his brother's location. By the time he found his brother, it was already late. He had succumbed to his injuries and torture. Enraged from this, Aaron wiped out the Ironblood tribe and started killing nearby orc tribes. However, while fighting the Ironblood tribe, MC got his first-ever battle in which he needed to surpass his limits. And it was while fighting with the next chief of the tribe, Darg. I remember roughly the chief's younger brother that is my uncle Uuk stating during the fight that it was the humans who started the war by killing their young chief during their hunt. Aaron actually went on a hunt before his coming-of-age ceremony and killed some orcs in their way.

So it was probably me who died in the hands of MC, which triggered the second human-orc war after a decade. It was, of course, on a much smaller level, including only the Roan kingdom and orc tribes of the western continent. Orc's Guzan kingdom, situated in the east, remained silent as they had to sign a peace treaty with the human alliance for 2 decades at the end of the first Human-Orc war. The second time it was not a war but a massacre of western forest orcs. Roan kingdom found the perfect opportunity to invade the forest. They captured lands all the way to Dima lake. It was about 8000 km south of the Roan kingdom, almost doubling their territory. It was also the trigger point for MC in his quest to become the strongest on the continent.

Well, that's not important. The main point is that the encounter with Aaron can be prevented. A key problem is his fiancee and the third princess Sabina. Novel stated that her cold purple eyes see everything. She is always a step ahead of her enemy. She even settled her engagement with Aaron because he was the perfect pawn for her grand plan of world domination. Even if the trigger encounter with Aaron is prevented, she will still scheme things up.

Her ambition has no limits. Even in the novel, she was the mastermind behind everything Aaron does. She literally lays a map and makes strategies for war from her room. In the novel, Aaron refers to this habit as she is playing chess in her war room with zero regard for lives lost on the battlefield. Till she is there, war with humans is inevitable.

Also, I died at the hand of MC, and that's too just for amusement. That's really depressing. That Truck bastard must be having fun right now. He must be laughing off somewhere, eh? However, I can do something about that. I still have a few years in hand. MC will get his first holy blessing after 2 years of human-orc war, and then he will train for 2 years in the royal academy. So there should be enough time for me to do something. I need to strengthen myself and my tribe. But first I need to eat something.

In today's feast, for children, we had a magical beast for lunch. Uncle Uuk went himself to hunt it. Eating a magical beast in this world enhances the body's constitution and helps increase magical power compatibility. They especially reserved it for children. In an orc tribe, there is no distinction between children. As they are the future of the tribe. I don't know which animal it was, but it looked like a capybara. Taking first-mover advantage, I took all the juicy leg pieces for us siblings at the very starting. Few older children of the tribe tried to show their unhappiness, but I couldn't care less. My siblings come first. And When I saw them eating that piece of meat to their fullest, I knew I had done the best thing.

After finishing our meal, father gathered all the siblings in the main meeting room, where the chief held meetings. He was standing with uncle Uuk and the orc shaman. Father was standing in the middle while uncle Uuk was to his right and shaman was to his left. Unknowingly why, but I had a bad feeling about this. I don't like shamans. Seeing those old people with black robes covering their bald heads and a shaft in their hand is a little creepy. Right now, he was waiting for us with a cheerful face. He was looking in my direction. I could tell he had a great expectation of me. All of us steadily walked to father. I could sense his mood was still sour after the morning speech. He doesn't behave like a lout, but he is additional grumpy today.

"You are my children and will lead our tribe in many coming wars." Father said with a serious face. Father has continuously talked about future wars.I was getting exasperated, but he was right. Then he placed his right hand on uncle uuk's shoulder and said

"Your uncle Uuk will be responsible for your training. He will be slightly rough with all of you so that you don't die easily in war." All the siblings nodded in unison.

"Later, elder shaman will tell you about our culture and history. He will also check if any of you can become a shaman. That will further strengthen our tribe." He said as he took off his hand from his uncle's shoulder.

"Right now, the elder shaman will take you to see our heritage in the back chambers of our meeting room. Be proud of it and cherish it. You'll have to enlarge our heritage for future generations." Father said while giving those shamans an expressionless look. Shaman bowed and agreed to his command.

"Brother, let's stop it here. They are still kids. Let them pick up their things slowly. Let them enjoy their childhood a little. Once they grow up in two years, their only job will be to fight for the tribe."

For the first time, I wanted to pat my uncle's back. It is different for me, but at least he should think about his own toddlers. However, that heritage thing excited all the siblings and shamans. I looked at my siblings. They were all serious and focused.

Shaman and uncle Uuk lead us to the inner rooms of the meeting.

There is a big meeting room in front of our house, it's rectangular, and behind that, there are a few locked rooms.

I have always watched the meeting room from the front, so I don't know what it's like in those closed rooms. However, I can see those rooms back while training and playing in our garden. But I was never that curious about them.

While walking inside through the doors, I noticed there was the magic Wolf's teeth necklace on uncle Uuk's neck and wine red magic wolf's fur coat on his shoulder, which even my father, the chief, also didn't have. So all the things definitely show that my father is yet to kill a magic beast that is worth taking trophies.

Orcs love these types of trophies. It shows their strength and power. Now when I see it, a few orcs in the tribe have trophies. However, goblins are different. They are happy even after killing rabbits or squirrels. Therefore, they are never short of trophies.

Like orcs, goblins also love to fight and collect trophies. But they fight only among themselves. They surrender immediately in front of strong opponents. They stay away from orcs and immediately do whatever any orc asks them to do. Orcs consider them their smaller relatives but treat them like servants because they lack the intelligence and strength to be of any other use.

Shaman leads us to the first room. It was a small, dark room. Full of low-level magic stones. Magic stones were essential for nurturing the body and improving one's magic affinity. However, Orcs didn't have a use for them until they transformed into red orcs.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Right now, there were no red orcs in our tribe. The closest one to the red orc is my father, who still has some way to go before becoming one. However, the shaman is different. They can use these magic stones.

'These are holy stones which are used to produce magic. But, first, we need to fit these stones in these shafts; after that, we can create magic with them. But, of course, you need to be a shaman for that.'

Shaman said with a simple yet prideful tone. They have a natural affinity for magic from birth and are very rare. He had a shaft in his hand on which, most probably a human skull, was fixed with a red magic stone embedded on the forehead.

"These holy stones are rare, so we collect all the holy stones we get here. These rooms need to be locked because of that. Goblins are greedy and don't hand over these holy stones easily because of their shiny texture. Therefore, if any goblin is seen hoarding these stones, we immediately knock him and take these stones. Goblin shaman can take these stones once in a while, except for the red ones..he.he."

I really don't like shamans. They really have a creepy way of talking. I hope we have little to do with these shamans. While walking, my eyes fell on these beautiful small red magic stones. Orcs love red things. When orcs transform into higher orcs, they also turn red. So it was like a holy color for them. And me, whose favorite color was red in my previous life also, obviously wanted a piece.

Shaman noticed our gaze. Before we could demand something, he gave us one magic stone each, of course not a red one. He then took us to the second room. The next room was full of books. It was much bigger than the last room.

"These are things that only humans can make, and very few of them carry. They call these things books. We got most of these during the war when we raided one big human city and won. The Guzan kingdom and bigger tribes took most of the weapons and holy stones. So we got these things, clothes, and a few weapons." Said shaman with an indifferent look. It's only been a few months since we made all the structure, but I can already see dust piling up on books and spider webs in the corners. Clearly, he is not interested in books.

I randomly took one book and opened it. Damn, they wrote it in some unknown language. However, on a closer look, I found it was in English. The author just manipulated its form to create a human language. It was readable. Well, thank you, author. I saw through some pages and found that it was a medium-level magic book. Well, it is of no use right now. However, I decided to pay it a revisit in a few years. Just before leaving, I glanced at the book's cover. City academy library was written on it. They must have stolen them from their academy after ransacking the city.

"What are you looking at, young chief? Even we shamans cannot decipher what's written in that thing." Shaman said with a confused face.

"Nothing. I am thinking of keeping this one with me. Maybe I can see a few figures inside and get something out of it." Shaman made a skeptical face. He was clearly not impressed with my words.

"If it's you, then I can believe it. You were always ahead of others. Even now, only you took an interest in these books." I just smiled at uncle Uuk's flattery. Others didn't say a word till now. They were clearly waiting for the weapons section.

After that, uncle Uuk took us to the armory. There were many weapons. There were many sections in Armoury. From a sword to a knife, each weapon had its own section. Most of them were not for the battle. However, they can be used for hunting.

'We get most of our weapons and ironworks from the Guzan kingdom. In return, we give them holy stones.'

I could tell by his face that he was sad about these transactions. It's a complete ripoff. But right now, our clan is not in a position to negotiate. We don't have orcs who can use these mana stones, and as of now, we lack even basic necessities. It's good, by the way. I got my first target. We must have a few men who have special skills. At least basic things like weapons should be made locally. Depending upon others for even weapons seems suicidal.

"We get weapons for those useless stones… Guahaha. It's a win-win situation for our Ironblood tribe. Haha.. you kids must learn negotiation from your elders.. haha."

Yeah? Seriously, uncle? Anyone with little knowledge can see that he is trying to downplay the situation. He doesn't want us to show that our tribe is in such a bad state.

"We use an iron sword, spear, axe, hammer, and clubs, while goblins use wooden clubs and spear. We have some bows and arrows that those cowardly humans use, but we just keep them as trophies. Who uses those things? They never hit the target and are emptied easily?"

Uncle Uuk kept ranting in an angry voice. Clearly, his mood deteriorated when talking about bows. He must have had a hard time with bows. All the siblings were already mesmerized after watching that many weapons. Daru had already picked up his weapon. When I saw him, he was already trying to lift an axe that was almost thrice as big as him.

"Daru, what are you doing? Do you think you can use that?."

I asked as I thought there was no way he'll be able to use that. It was a hefty double-bitted axe. He can use it if he uses it as a shield.

"Why, brother? Can't I use it? I like this very much."

He lifted the axe with both of his hands as he spoke. I was shocked after watching his monstrous strength. He was having a problem lifting it a little, but where does a three-month-old get that strength from? I know Orcs develop fast as their life span is only twenty years unless they transform and become higher orcs.

Just as I was admiring his strength as he fell down as he could not maintain balance while lifting it. Axe fell down on his opposite side, making a loud noise upon impact, gathering everyone's attention. Dabi and Darg, who were also playing with weapons bigger than their size, quickly got away from those weapons. Everyone was shocked, first at his strength and now because they realized how dangerous it was.

That axe could have easily fallen on Daru. Daru knew he messed up and could be reprimanded. With his eyes filled with water, Daru was looking at me as I had just warned him about it. He was expecting a good scolding, but at the same time, his eyes were screaming for consolation. Then I picked him up and saw dust on his brown pants. I dusted his pants with my hand as he stood still there.

" Labrys is an excellent weapon for fighting, but you must be able to control it. This one is way too big for you right now. Train hard and become strong. Come back when you are a year old. I will keep it for you till then." Uncle Uuk, standing behind Daru while everything happened, placed his hand on his head and comforted him.

"Really? You'll keep it for me?" Uncle Uuk nodded in agreement with Daru. Daru got excited, trying to control his smile while wiping his tears. He is still a child. Afterward, we spent a few minutes on weaponry and got our weapons.

Darg looked around and picked up a sword. He took up a spear in his left hand and a sword in his right, trying to compare which was better. He made a few slashes with both of them and ultimately chose the sword.

Dabi was sprinting through the room, trying to find something her size, but she couldn't do so. Finally, Uncle Uuk grabbed Dabi by her clothes and dropped her on a bench.

"You little imp, I told you it's unnecessary to pick a weapon today. Using a bigger weapon than yourself will only weigh you down."

She bowed her head down, disappointed at the fact that she didn't get to even try a weapon today.

I was confused about what to take, so I took one sword, one halberd, and a few throwing axes.

Uncle Uuk saw that almost everyone was done picking up their weapons and then stood on the pavement and made an announcement.

"Now, you little brats will get to see where me and Umok trained our asses."

Then uncle Uuk took us to a glade behind our house, a small one, though. It was indeed a training area for orcs. Other orcs were not allowed in here. It was filled with many types of equipment used for training and a small pyramidical structure which was most probably used for meditation.

I was indeed surprised after learning about it. I didn't know these old fucks meditate and shit.

"You all will do light training for three months. After that, I will drill you to make excellent warriors just like me.. haha." He was all cheered up for training us.

"Our tribe has lost most of the warriors in war with humans. After that, even our own subordinates betrayed us." Uncle Uuk was again upset.

"You bunch of young orcs need to grow up quickly. It is hard to hunt, train and protect the tribe with only 40-50 warriors."

Finally, uncle is talking some sense. It is challenging for a small orc tribe like us to survive in a never-ending orc tribe struggle., it's a miracle that this tribe survived for 8 years. Only to get wiped out by Aaron. I need to strengthen not only myself but my tribe as well. Haah, how I am gonna survive that disaster? I should have read 'Aaron's Quest' with extra focus.

I have roughly 8 years to prepare myself and my tribe for that event. I remember when Aaron fought uncle Uuk and Darg, there were about 300-400 warriors after getting reduced by the duke. So there must be at max 500 orc warriors before everything started. That's too few. I need at least 5000 to be safe. Even then, I must prepare to run if the situation worsens. That Truck bastard has really done me hard. But for now, let's start our training.