Second World

The lookouts above Giggragh Village's wall were immediately concerned when they heard the sound of the incoming army. They sounded the alarm and had everyone come to the wall.

Since stealth was no longer needed, Four Winds had everyone use their torches. The magic users who had the Illumination spell cast the spell. The sight of so many troops approaching caused the lookouts on the village wall to panic.

"Call Chieftain Hasimu!" One of the lookouts called.

Four Winds divided his regiment into four divisions. Two large and two small. He led one of the large divisions to the village's main gate. While the second large division led by Violent Blizzard headed to the village's back gate. The two smaller divisions, each led by Disco Rain and Water Lily, went to the village's two sides.

Four Winds made sure each of the divisions had a proper number of Inquisitors or magic class players who had the Soar or Fly spells. This was to make sure that none of the Raretooth tribe escaped from the village.

"Giggragh Village…!!!" Four Winds yelled after he was close to the main gate. "Call your village chief! I am Four Winds, the leader of the Outworlder guild, Cipher Flight! The governor of the province under the main city, Mjiku Maba! I demand an audience with the orc in charge!!"

No one responded to Four Winds' call for several seconds. When Four Winds was about to say something again, someone from the wall yelled back, "Lord Chief Four Winds! How dare you bring your force here! This region is under the protection of the Angryfeet tribe. You have no jurisdiction here! Do you wish to trigger a war between our tribes?"

"Who am I speaking to? State your name!" Four Winds demanded.

"I am Hasimu Angryfeet, a chieftain under the Angryfeet tribe. I am in charge of this village," The voice replied.

'A chieftain?' Four Winds thought. A chieftain wasn't a high rank, but it was still high enough to make it unusual for a chieftain to be in charge of a small village.

"I have been given the authority by Grand Chief Kabaka himself!" Four Winds took out a recording stone and played it. The holographic image of Kabaka Proudtusk was soon visible for everyone to see.

The image spoke, "Village chief of Giggragh Village, this is Grand Chief Kabaka. I've tasked Lord Chief Four Winds on a mission to search your village. There has been a suspicion that you are harboring the Raretooth tribe, which has committed crimes inside our allied country, Themisphere, and caused a diplomatic problem for our nation. You are to cooperate and help Lord Chief Four Winds apprehend any Raretooth tribe inside your village. Failure to comply will have you marked as traitors and Lord Chief Four Winds will have the right to attack your village. Stand down and cooperate!"

Silence ensued following Kabaka's projection. A minute passed before Four Winds called again.

"Chieftain Hasimu! You have heard the Grand Chief's instruction. I don't see the gate opening. Are you trying to rebel?"

"The Grand Chief might be the leader of this nation, but our leader is Kusema Angryfeet. My tribe leader gave me the order to not let anyone enter this village and this is the order I intend to follow! If you want to come in, you will have to get through us!"

"… You are not thinking straight, Chieftain Angryfeet. You are directly opposing the Grand Chief's order. This is mutiny! All of you who are on the wall. Are you ready to become a traitor to our nation?"

The orcs on the wall looked at each other. A rebuke from Hasimu quickly turned them back to stern expressions.

"Don't try to create dissent on us, Lord Chief Four Winds. We are all loyal to our tribe leader Kusema Angryfeet. You will have to file a request to him if you wish to enter this village. So, I suggest you go back and make a proper appointment with him for this matter."

"… I will let you think on this for a little while, Chieftain Hasimu," Four Winds said. "But my patience has a limit. If you don't open the gate when I reach my limit, I will crush that puny gate of yours."

In his mind, Four Winds hoped Jack didn't take too long to send a confirmation that the Raretooth tribe was inside the village.

*

Since most of the guards inside the village were drawn to the wall by Four Winds' force, the streets were mostly empty. Some villagers woke up from the commotion and went to the wall to see what was happening. Some just peeked out of their houses but remained inside.

Jack surveyed everyone he had seen, no one was sporting the Raretooth tribal tattoo.

was Four Winds' intel about the Raretooth tribe hiding here accurate? Jack started to worry.

One thing alarmed him though, the soldiers who guarded this village were more than a standard village force. There were roughly two thousand soldiers here. It was too many for such a small village. Luckily, Four Winds brought twice their number. The soldiers in this village were also generally not too high level. So, they won't pose a danger to Four Winds' force. However, if a battle broke out. It would still take time to suppress this number, which meant the risk of the civilians becoming collateral damage was rather high.

He didn't have time to worry about that. He had to focus on the task at hand, which was finding a confirmation that the Raretooth tribe was inside this village.

He couldn't find any after flying around the village for a while, so he landed and started looking inside two of the largest buildings in the village. One was the village hall and the other was an inn. Both were not locked. The village hall was empty. As for the inn, many of the inhabitants were awake from the commotion. Jack made sure not to touch them. Otherwise, his invisibility would be gone.

He entered some of the rooms inside the inn, which were also not locked. He found no Raretooth tribe.

Coming back out, he started to randomly search around the villagers' houses where the occupants didn't come out from the commotion. Most of them were not locked. Some were locked. Jack could use his lockpick to unlock the door. Doing that won't remove his invisibility. He would only lose his invisibility if he was touched, got into a combat situation, or when the spell's duration ended.

He didn't use lockpicks because he didn't want to waste the time. Additionally, even though the doors were locked, the windows weren't. He could enter through the windows, which made him wonder why the orcs inside bother to lock the door. He didn't complain about this weird behavior.

Yet, he still couldn't find any Raretooth tribe. He was lost as to where to look when he noticed on his radar a group of three people walked away from the main gate.

He had heard Four Winds shouting something outside the main gate. He couldn't hear what the shout was about. It had been silent for a while after that. This was when the group walked away from the main gate.

Jack approached the group and saw that the three were soldiers, not civilians. The one on the lead even seemed like an important person. His Inspect told him this leader was named Hasimu Angyfeet, a level 70 special elite. This orc was the highest level and grade he had seen in this village.

He decided to follow this group out of curiosity. This group seemed to be heading to the central part of the village.