Shouts were coming from the depths of the forest, from the place there ork camp was. Grey increased his pace into a light jog ordering his men to do the same. Something was up.

There in the clearing, he could see a broken fence, torn up tents and a group of ork women trying to fend off a particularly large canine monster. By the looks of it, he had made it just in time.

“Chief!” a familiar half-ork greeted.

The orks were surrounding a wooden cage as if to protect it. The monster seemed to be dead set on getting to the cage. In the cage, there was that young adventurer, the one Grey had almost forgotten about. It was a surprise the orks haven’t eaten her yet.

Grey approached the beast from behind. In his hand, he held his Fang Spear. Grey lunged to stab at the monster, however, it was aware of the small group approaching from behind. The monster lept to the side at the last moment avoiding the spear, and then it sprinted to the thick growth of the forest.

“Boss, should we give it a chase?” A beastkin sounded confident in his ability to track and kill the monster.

“No, it's too risky. It might belong to a pack.” Grey reasoned. “What did it want? I thought monsters don’t fancy ork flesh.”

“They don’t. It must have smelled the human in the cage.” The half-ork explained.

Grey was surprised at the length the orks were willing to go to protect his food. It would have been easier to just let the monster have the girl. He walked closer to the cage to inspect how well his food was faring there. The girl was even filthier then he remembered, but on the positive side, she was now plumper.

“You didn’t forget to feed her this time. Good. But there are no other captives?”

“Sorry chief, the adventurers seem to be avoiding the forest. While we noticed some humans, they would be too tough for us to capture.” The half-ork bowed her head in apology.

“Yeah with the increasing monster appearances newbies must find this place too challenging. Which is a shame.”

Even if he didn’t expect much, it was kind of disappointing to see that his investment hasn’t brought any fruit yet.

“Anyways, I’ve bought a few men with me. They’re here to help. And these…” He pointed at the captives he brought with him “… guide them to cages.”

“Oh, the chief has brought new captives! Good show of strength.” The half-ork praised.

“Are we here to stay?” The beastkin asked in surprise.

“Yes. You will teach these orks how to fight, and make traps. Also, seeing what just happened, building a better fence, no, a palisade is also a must.” Grey intended to turn this shabby camp into a small fortification.

“But…” The beastkin wanted to protest.

“You will get paid. Once we are done you can talk money with my elf, that is, If she didn’t decide to disappear on me.” Grey whispered the last part begrudgingly. “What are you looking for? Get to work, the trees will not chop themselves down.”

They started the work. Grey too wasn’t just idly observing, he grabbed the axe and began chopping the tall trees. Not only will they get the so much needed timber for the palisade but create the clearing around the camp. In the end, he had to remake something that he had destroyed before – a proper ork encampment.

Well, thinking about the number of orks present it would be a very empty encampment, but he had plans to fill it up. If not orks, a group of bandits he commanded.

Having plenty of strength and stamina Grey had made quick work of the trees. The only issue was that he had gotten hungry. Grey smiled at his own genius of bringing food with him. He went to the cages where the captives were.

“Which one of you is the most delicious?” He asked with a toothy grin.

The women looked at each other, their faces betraying terror.

“Is it you?” He pointed at the human.

She began shaking her head.

“Or is it you?” He pointed at a wolf-variant beastkin.

“No… Please.” She whimpered.

Then Grey looked at the filthy girl, the one who had already spent countless days in ork company. Her eyes were like glass beads, she was probably half insane by this point. “Definitely, not you.” Grey ruled out.

He opened the cage and dragged the screaming wolfkin. And without further ado, he began devouring her in front of everyone; just like the monster would.

The captives scuttered away to the farthest reaches of their cages and averted their eyes from the horror. The three beastkin minions also turned their sight away, while they were the ones who captured this girl for Grey, they still found the sight of their own being eaten unpleasant. Only the orks, being the flesh eaters themselves, remained indifferent.

“Chief, you should have told us. We would have made you a proper feast.”

Grey wiped the still-hot blood from his chin somewhat doubting the half-ork’s claim.

“If it’s monster meat you think of serving me. I don’t want it.”

“Ah, yes chief. Sorry. But monster cores are fine, yes?”

“You have some?”

“Only small ones. From small monsters we managed to trap.”

Grey looked with a glint of interest in his eyes.

“Bring them here then.”

The half-ork produced a woven basket from one of the hide tents. It was filled with monster cores of various sizes. They were small, and some were already beginning to crystalise.

“Huh.” Grey showed a bunch of cores into his mouth

*Crunch *Crunch – a tiny bit of mana was recovered from the cores.

“Not bad. If you can’t get the mages I will take the cores, but I kinda need them fresh.”

“Yes, chief there are ways to preserve the cores.”

“There is?” Grey asked surprised.

The half-ork nodded.

“Chief?”

Grey looked at the ork.

“The tribe is small. When will you claim your privilege as a chief?”

“Privilege?” He didn’t know there were any perks.

“Yes, to make the tribe bigger. Shall I keep you company this night?”

“Oh…” Grey understood what she was implying.

Unfortunately, Grey was positive that this wasn’t biologically possible. As far as his limited understanding went it had to be ork or a human male. Having male orks in this camp could prove too challenging, but there was another option.

“If you need mates I think we can capture some humans. That should work, yes?”

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

“Well. Yes.” The half-ork sounded somewhat disappointed. “But it’s the chief's right to claim the females first.”

“Yeah? I can’t say I am interested in that tradition.”

“I understand.”

Grey doubted that she did. Regardless, he had other matters to attend to first.

The palisade was coming along nicely. Or so would Grey like to say. In reality, it somehow turned out worse than the one in the previous ork encampment. Regardless, it will keep the mundane monsters away.

One of the three beastkin, the feline one, was training orks in scouting and ambushing tactics. He was leading an exercise where a small group of orks had to ambush a wooden dummy. By the looks of it, it wasn’t going too well.

“Bahh!” Ork roared before even springing out of the bush “Smash!” She bashed the dummy with a spear.

“No, no, no!” The frustration was clear on beatskin’s face. “This is an ambush, you have to be quiet. And you stab with the spear like this. Do not bash it, the spear is not a club.”

“Right! Club is better.” The ork continued to swing at the dummy.

The spear shaft snapped in half.

“Fuck me! This is pointless.” The feline trainer let out a defeated sigh.

“So it’s not going too well?” Grey asked rhetorically. “Too bad you will have to stay here until they get at least the basics down.”

“By the gods! I will be here for months. Boss, I have a wife and family, please.”

“Then your wife can come here too. Is she good with a spear?”

“No… forget I even asked.”

Grey shrugged. He wouldn’t mind paying for her help. Actually, it was odd that there were only so very few beastkin females working under him. He wondered why.

The orks continued to struggle with the spears. While Grey too once didn’t see the appeal of the spear, now the advantages were too hard to ignore.

“Shall I show how it's done?” Grey offered.

“Be my guest. Pah!” The bearskin snorted at the folly.

Instead of going over the same exercises, Grey had something more real in mind.

“Follow me. We will track that monster from before.”

Grey sniffed at bite marks left on the leather of the wrecked tent. The monster's saliva had dried off but the smell was still there. Of course, the monster left tracks, but Grey trusted his nose more than his tracking ability.

A few orks sniffed at the tent, mimicking what Grey did. He doubted they could pick the smell up.

“Chief! I will join you on your hunt.” The half-ork appeared suddenly.

She was his second in command here and she had other duties to addend. Grey wouldn’t expect this ork to lead any hunting trips. Didn’t she want to lounge somewhere comfortably while the minions did all the work? But judging from her keen look, apparently not.

“Suit yourself.”

“Into the threes now. Quietly.” Grey instructed.

The fleeing monster left broken branches and other signs so one might think that Grey sniffing at the tent was quite pointless; obviously, this was what the feline beastkin thought. Later, however, the signs were not so obvious.

“Can you still track the monster now?”

“No, I have lost the trail.” The beastkin admitted.

“Shh!” The ork shushed the beastkin. “The chief said quietly.”

The beastkin glared at the idiotic ork.

“Anyway, I still have its smell. We are in its territory. There should be a lair close by.”

“Shh!!!”

Grey sniffed for traces. He let his nose guide him. And after a short while, a loud growl came from behind the trees. The small hunting party, except for the feline beastkin, were not as quiet as they liked to think.

“Whah…Bah?” Someone was about to shout and charge but was bonked on her head instead.

“No!” Grey still wanted this to be an ambush. But obviously, they had already failed. “Ah, Okay, charge at it.”

“Boss?” The beastkin questioned the decision.

“What!”, “Rah!”, “Bahh!” The orks exclaimed such and alike charging towards the trees.

The monster unafraid, and why would it be, jumped at the orks from a tree. Earlier the orks had struggled to fend off this monster, so now nothing really changed apart from the fact that Grey was there too. But it was a detrimental change. Grey threw his Fang Spear towards the canine monster. The monster unexpecting the throw was unable to dodge in time, and the spear sunk into its back.

It howled In pain and turned to flee.

“Don’t let it escape!”

The orks continued their charge at the monster. The wounded beast was slower than it normally would and in no time at all the orks caught up.

“Surround it.”

The orks did just so. The monster growled at snapped at the orks defensively. The women swung their spears sideways at the beast but obviously failed to inflict any real damage. The beastkin slapped his own face at the display of idiocy.

“Spear is a thrusting weapon, you morons! Stab at it. Poke! Poke it!” He was unable to contain his frustration.

“Poke? Poke!”

The orks finally understood. One by one the spears found their way into the thick hide. Prodding the monster, angering it. The monster tried to counter, tried to break the encirclement, but in the end, it was one against the many.

Its bloodied body sank to the ground, but the orks kept stabbing at it.

“Amm, it's enough. It is already dead.”

Grey approached closer. Its pelt was ruined, but there was value in its teeth and core.

“Not the ambush I wanted, but I guess well done.” Grey shrugged.

“Chief, your weapon.” The half-ork presented Grey’s spear back to him. “The hunt was amazing. Thank you for leading us.”

Grey took back his weapon.

“Boss, should we clear the nest?” The beastkin asked.

“Ah, yes, almost forgot about it.”

The lair wasn’t that far off. Grey was cautious of other monsters, but it was unlikely there were more since they would have come to investigate the sound. So in all likelihood apart from a half chewed bones and the like the lair would be empty.

But it was not. There were four little monster cubs nested together and yelping for their mother.

“Oh?” Grey looked surprised.

But maybe he shouldn't be, monsters had to come from somewhere. The feline beastkin aimed his spear at the cubs.

“Wait.” The half-ork interrupted him in the midswing. “They are small, we can take them.”

“What for? To eat for later?” Grey asked curiously.

“Wargs can be tamed. That is, only by orks.” The beastkin smiled. “I’ve forgotten we are working with orks.”

“Can you really tame them?” Grey turned to the half-ork.

“Well… A tamer could, but our tribe didn’t have one.” The ork looked away. “But I can try!” She looked back at Grey with shiny eyes.

“I guess. If not you can eat them. Win – win.” Grey concluded.

The pups were scooped from their nest and hauled away. On their way back they picked the mother’s corpse, no need to waste good meat for orks to eat.

“Hey! I can see you enjoyed your little trip.” The wolf-like bearskin commented to the feline snarkily.

“Yeah, while you were out having fun we were stuck baby siting these retards.” The other wolf-like beastkin motioned at his group of orks.

“We can swap groups anytime you want. They all morons.” The feline shot back.

“Do I need to remind you that you’re staying in this camp? Keep talking like that and one of these morons will eat you in your sleep.” Grey stated the obvious.

“Sorry, boss.”

“Chief, however tasty they might be, no one will eat your men. Not on my watch!” The half-ork looked threateningly at the other orks.

“No eat, we know!” The ork waved panickily.

“Anyway, if hungry you can eat this monster..” Grey looked at bloodied carcass four orks were carrying. “Should be enough for everyone. Now, it’s getting late, which tent is mine?”

“The chief’s tent is yours.” The half ork pointed at the biggest tent.

Grey began to walk towards a big leather tent. It didn’t look like much but it indeed was the least shabby tent in the entire camp.

“Hey, boss? What are we supposed to eat?”

“Yeah, I haven't had anything since we came?”

His minions were complaining. Normally the she-devil dealt with such mundane things, but she wasn’t here.

“Look at the orks. They don’t complain.” Grey waved it off.

“We can’t eat monster meat, it's too tough!”

“Boss?”

Grey ignored his spoiled minions.

The inside of the tent surprised him. The orks did their best to decorate it. There were various trinkets made of bone and monster skulls prettying up the place. In the corner, there was a woven chest presumably to keep his belongings. And for the bed, he had fluffy monster pelts draped over some leaves and grass. One thing the orks got right was the size of his bed. The air smelled slightly herbal, medicinal even. All in all, it was quite basic but probably the best the orks could offer now.

Grey laid down on the pelt, he was due for some good rest. His mind drifted away for some time, only to be woken by a flowery scent and a presence in his tent.

At first, Grey couldn't tell who it was standing by the entrance. The half-ork didn’t smell like her usual self. He looked at the woman slightly annoyed by the interruption.

“Chief, I came to join you in your bed.” The half-ork whispered.

“It’s not necessary.”

“Do you not find me appealing?”

That wasn’t true. He did wonder how she would taste on numerous occasions.

“That’s not it.”

“Then I will lay next to you.”

She invited herself on the pelts right behind him.

“You know if you don’t claim me the others will start thinking that I am unworthy of the position. Am I not doing a good job?”

Ah, so that is what this is about.

“You are obedient and useful to me.” He admitted.

“So why not do it? It’s just sex.”

“I have no such desires.”

There was a moment of silence. Then two squishy lumps the size of melons pressed on his back.

“Chief I want you.” She whispered in his ear.

Grey was thinking. He could run an experiment but…

“I need you to fuck me. I want you.” She begged.

… but will her body hold? And she was no succubus, she had no core, so the likelihood of his drain skill working was slim. Not to mention the other requirements.

“Do you want me that bad?” He asked finally.

“Very! Very, very bad. Look!” Half-ork guided his hand in between her legs.

“Oh.”

Grey rolled over trapping the half-ork underneath him.

“I won’t play around then.” He lifted her legs up. “And I won’t stop.”

“Mhm, but…” The half-ork didn't get to finish. “Ahh!” A sweet voice escaped her mouth.

Grey pushed in and willed his mana core to probe the ork’s defences. The ork squirmed underneath him moaning and screaming like a feral animal. She was very loud. But Grey could understand, she wasn’t as stretchy as a succubus so the process couldn’t be all too pleasant. And unlike a succubus, she failed to provide him with any mana, in other words, his Drain skill failed to engage. That didn’t mean he had to stop trying.

From convulsing ork underneath him it was clear the finale was close. And then it came Grey too had almost lost to it. However, a small tickle of mana entered his core. As soon as it started it was over. No more than a single point, but this was a move in a positive direction. Actually, this was great, it meant that his Drain skill could be used on other races than succubi. And that he could use this to restore the mana. He only needed more practice and more willing subjects.

“Ah… Ah…” The half-ork finally stopped panting. “You haven’t finished. Give me a moment and we can go again.”

Grey smiled wickedly. The training only had begun.