Richard rose to the smell of eggs and bacon. The aroma made him happy. He didn’t like that a smell could make him happy. He dressed in his armor and strapped his axe to his back. He took in a deep breath of the smell of eggs and bacon. Today was going to be a good day.

“Chief!” yelled Bob as Richard left his tent. The other orcs stood up as straight as they could and at attention. Richard liked this. “We have breakfast ready for you.” Bob pointed to a plank of wood on top of a barrel. There were smaller barrels around the makeshift table.

“What’s this?” Richard said as she sat down on the would-be chair.

“I thought it would be easier to eat breakfast if we had a place to sit with our plates,” Rose said as she walked over to the table with two plates. She sat them both down on the table.

Richard watched as Rose took her fork and delicately began to eat her bacon and eggs. She seemed to be enjoying herself. Richard wasn’t as skillful with the fork but ate all his breakfast with little mess.

An imp appeared, “All done, boss?” Richard nodded. The imp grabbed the empty plates and forks and rushed off. Richard thought about grabbing the thief, but Rose seemed at ease, letting the little creature take her plate too.

“What was that?” Richard asked.

“That’s Mick, Rick’s brother. He’s going to clean the dishes.” Rose said.

“Why?” Richard asked, not liking that he wasn’t aware of what was happening. He was the chief. He should be yelling at orcs to do things he wanted.

“Do you want to eat on a plate that Bob, Steve, or one of the imps have eaten on?” Rose asked.

Richard watched as the line formed in front of Bob. He was beside the food cart with his chest next to him and his table in front of him. The imps were happily grabbing the plates and sitting at various other tables that had been made. Richard watched as the imps licked the plates. He shivered with disgust.

“Good idea,” Richard said. Richard moved to another spot allowing his table to be freed up for other customers. He didn’t know what that word meant, but it felt right.

The camp got into its normal rhythm. Bob took the money. Rick handed out the food. Ben and Betty cooked and surprisingly sang. It was an orcish war song, it was catchy, and the imps were humming along. Richard watched the line when suddenly he had a surge of adrenaline. He saw six taller cloaked figures standing among the imps. Humans! He placed his hand on his axe that he had sat next to him. He waited; it was time to rob some humans.

The humans stood in line and seemed to be chatting excitingly. They didn’t appear to notice the war party of orcs around them. Like the chief, the other orcs were ready to pounce. Richard was horrified when he watched each human place gold on the table and take a plate. They gathered around a table and ate. They even started laughing. It was as if they didn’t know they were in danger.

Richard walked over to Bob. He had left his ax to not alarm the humans. “Bob?”

Bob looked at Richard, “Yea, chief?”

“Why didn’t you rob the humans?” Richard asked, not taking his eyes off the humans.

“They gave us the gold. We don’t need to rob them.” Bob said.

Richard thought it over again. It was too simple. This didn’t feel orcish. He looked back at Bob, who was now staring at him.

“Remember, chief, they give us gold. We don’t have to rob them.” Bob said.

“Yea, yea,” said the chief, “keep doing this.” He went back to his place next to the shaman.

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The humans were happy. Richard could hear them talking.

“By the gods, this is the best breakfast I’ve ever had.”

“I’m glad our patrol is in this area. I’m going to eat here every day.”

“This is the best breakfast ever, but I need some coffee. Hey, great orc, Bob!” The human yelled out. Bob looked up. “Do you have coffee?”

Bob yelled back, “No, come back tomorrow. We might have coffee then.” Bob looked down at Rick and asked, “What’s coffee?”

Rick shrugged, “Don’t know, boss. I’ll ask when I go to town.”

Soon the line began to dwindle, and the food ran out. Bob was happy. Today had been an even better day. He made more gold than the first two days combined. He even counted to thirty. It felt like it had to be a new record.

“Mick!” Bellowed Bob.

The imp appeared. “Yes, great orc bob!”

“Have you finished the dishes?” Bob asked.

“Yes, boss!” The imp saluted. The chief was impressed and jealous of Bob’s leadership skills.

“Go with Rick to get more supplies,” Bob ordered.

“Yes, boss!” He saluted again and ran off.

Richard watched as Bob gave more gold than they had ever gotten from a raid to the imp called Rick. The two imps rode off to the town.

Richard approached Bob, “What if they don’t come back?”

“They will,” Bob said.

“Why? That was a lot of gold.” Richard wasn’t happy.

“They like breakfast and are afraid of me,” Bob said.

Richard thought about it. The two imps didn’t seem afraid as much as they liked Bob. All the imps were overjoyed with the breakfast. Maybe they could be trusted.

“What if they get robbed?” Richard asked.

“Why would someone rob them?” Bob asked. Something felt off, and he didn’t know what it was.

Suddenly Richard shouted, “Because that’s why I sent you here to do!”

It clicked in Bob’s mind. He was caught up in his idea that he forgot they were robbers. Bob gave the chief a blank look.

“Guards!” Shouted Richard. His guards, who hadn’t done much that day, dashed to their chief’s call. “Follow the imps and protect them.” The guards looked at each other, baffled by this order. They never protected anyone before. “Go!” The guards rushed after the wagon.

Bob shouted, “Don’t go into town! They don’t like orcs!”

Richard looked at Bob, “Why not? They take our gold.”

Bob shrugged, “Yes, but we’ve robbed them.”

Richard stared blankly at Bob, then said, “Oh right, we do.”

“Hey, chief,” Bob whispered, “It feels odd not robbing, doesn’t it?”

“Yea, Bob, it does,” Richard said.

Later the imps returned with their orc guards. They all helped in unloading the wagon and stored the food. Ben and Betty began to cook dinner for everyone. Steve and the shaman had hunted a buck after breakfast. So they made bacon, eggs, and buck steak.

“Great orc Bob,” Rick said as he saluted Bob, “We have this coffee.” Rick held out some seeds to Bob.

“What is this?” Bob took one and began to crunch on it. It was tart, but he liked it.

“You are supposed to grind them up and pour water through them,” Rick said.

Rose walked over, hearing the conversation, “Show me, little cousin.”

Rick showed Rose how to grind the coffee, use the strange pot to hold the grounds, and pour hot water. They poured the coffee into the mugs the imps had bought.

Bob, Richard, and Rose each took a mug. They each took small sips of the hot coffee. They looked at each other.

“This, this is good.” Richard said, “I like it.”

“I could drink this all day,” Bob said. “Here, chief, try a seed.”

“Bean,” Rose said, “It’s a bean.”

Bob handed a coffee bean to the chief. He ate it.

The chief hummed, “Yes, I like this too. It makes me feel,” he paused, “Good. I want to hunt and fight!”

The rest of the orcs grabbed mugs, and more coffee was made. They sat at the tables, ate their eggs, bacon, and steak, and drank coffee.

“We are going to make so much gold!” The chief shouted.

The orcs shouted, “More coffee!”