Second World

Everyone stopped when they heard the yell. Hans even made a show as if he would lunge at Umeza. Jack stopped him.

"Are you insane?" Jack chided. "You should know he is a veteran orc combatant. You are not his opponent!"

"So what? I have to restore the honor of my family. I have to kill him to appease my grandfather's soul."

Hans seemed unable to be reasoned with, but he couldn't move because Jack's great strength held him down.

"Why do you bring that troublesome fellow, man?" Four Winds asked while shaking his head.

Umeza, instead of distancing himself from the vengeful man, walked closer. This caused Hans to become more uncontrollable. Jack had to use two hands to hold him down.

"Who are you?" Umeza asked. "I killed a lot of humans in the past. Some I remember, some I don't."

"My name is Hans Orline of the Orline family! You killed my grandfather and I demand vengeance!!"

"Orline…? Mm… Is your grandfather's name James Orline?" Umeza asked.

Hearing the name, Hans stopped. He never believed this savage orc would know his grandfather's name.

"Brave soldier your grandfather was," Umeza uttered. "Both your grandfather's and my platoons had an accidental encounter while patrolling the Fulgur region. We fought. Many casualties resulted from the battle. Your grandfather fought valiantly to defend his comrades, but he fell under my claws."

Hans' face scowled again. His anger returned, but Umeza's next words stopped him from taking action.

"Before he was downed, he killed many of my platoon members. One of which was my brother. A little brother whom I loved very much. One who had just taken his first patrol mission under my wings. I failed to protect my platoon members. I failed to protect my little brother. That sent me into a rage that killed many of your grandfather's platoon members in return.

"When I landed the killing blow on your grandfather, he was shielding a young squire in his platoon. Seeing that act made me regret that I didn't do the same for my brother. To honor his bravery, I let the rest of his platoon members leave and carry the bodies of their fallen comrades back."

Umeza took one step closer to Hans. Hans had stopped fighting Jack's grip, so Jack eased up on him. Jack still paid attention in case Hans made any sudden movement.

"If you wish to take revenge, come at me any time," Umeza said. "But if you do, be prepared to face the consequences. I've heard about your second son. You still have your eldest son. Don't make him come searching for me to exact revenge on your death. I don't wish for James Orline to lose all his descendants out of vengeance."

Hans seemed to want to say something but couldn't. Umeza stared at him for a few more seconds before he turned around and climbed his steed.

"Let's go! We are wasting time," He thundered.

"Move out!" Four Winds commanded.

Jack resummoned his silver horse and climbed back up as everyone started moving. Hans was still standing on his spot.

"Come on, Lord Orline. It's time to move," Jack said.

It took Hans several seconds to respond. He got back onto his steed and followed the others in silence. Jack stayed close to him. Hans was silent throughout the journey, which worried Jack. Perhaps bringing this noble was a bad idea? Jack thought.

*

The force traveled under cover of the night. None of them were carrying torches and no one cast the illumination spell. Four Winds had those who had Night Vision skills to ride at the front as guides.

The Night Vision skill was a non-standard skill that could be learned by any class that branched from the Ranger class. The skill was not that rare as they could be bought using faction points in several league factions.

It was close to midnight when they saw the outline of Giggragh Village. Four Winds first sent out scouts to check if there were any patrols around the village. They had been riding under the cover of darkness. He hoped the Raretooth tribes hiding in the village were still inside.

The scouts came back and reported that there were no patrols. There were some lookouts above the village wall, though. They couldn't tell for sure if they were the Raretooth tribes. Information from Inspect didn't show the tribe's info. They would have to see the tribal tattoo on the orcs to know, and they didn't dare to get too close to the sentries to do that.

"How are we going to make sure the Raretooth tribe is inside?" Water Lily asked. If they simply attacked and turned out there was none, then they would have a different kind of problem on their hands.

"I have something that gives me the authority to enter the village and search, but there is no guarantee they will cooperate and let us in," Four Winds said. "If that happens, we can only force our way in. I just hope that the Raretooth tribe is truly inside. Otherwise, this attack will be hard to justify."

"Leave that to me," Jack said. "I will make sure they are inside. Wait for my message before you force your way in."

"You have a way?" Four Winds asked.

Jack nodded. He took out his King Badge and summoned his nine Royal Agents. Umeza was astonished when he found one of these agents was a level 84 mythical human. That human was Eyrene, the ex-member of the Council of Charites.

"I guess even I am not your opponent now, human king," Umeza remarked.

Jack gave a brief explanation to his royal agents about the situation. He told them to protect Hans when he was away. He also told them that if a battle ensued in the village, they were not to attack the commoners.

Jack didn't summon Arlcard. The vampire was rather unruly. He was afraid Arlcard wouldn't follow his instructions and attack everyone in the village without concern.

After that, Jack flew into the sky using his gold dragon wings. He then cast Invisibility and disappeared from everyone's view.

"That guy is getting more and more unpredictable as time goes," Disco Rain commented.

"It's a good thing he is an ally," Coca said.

"Okay, we will go and greet the village, drawing the guards' attention so he can move more freely," Four Winds said. "Before that, I want to announce something."

His scouts had made sure that no one was within earshot. The village was still far away so they won't hear anything even if Four Winds shouted.

"If a fight breaks out, no one is allowed to lay a hand on the commoners. Civilians with battle power are also off-limit unless they show hostility. Please take note that I am very serious about this. If I find out that you break this rule, even by accident, I will not only kick you out of the guild but will also let you rot in jail for some time. So, do not use your AOE skills! Commoners are all level 1. They will die from a single attack. Only attack when you are sure of the target. Is everyone clear?"

Everyone nodded.

"Good! Let's go greet them," Four Winds declared and rode toward the village.