Chapter 2079: Rescue Mission
Soon, they arrived just beyond the city’s scope of influence. It was near Virion and the other’s destination, but still far away from Garan and Althea’s. However, they joined in the mission for experience, and also to get to know more about the orcs.
They were near the target village, but they did not set up camp too close. After all, they were not planning on direct engagement. They didn’t want to be penalized.
The group set up camp at an outcropping a kilometer away from the village walls. The rock formation was quite large and contained one of the known camping spots among adventurers in this area.
They didn’t set up directly at the popular camping spot—what if other people went there on purpose? Rather, they chose another well-hidden section that only a handful of people like Virion knew of.
Before settling down, their people spread out quickly just in case, and only when they confirmed there were no others around that they truly settled down.
With expertise, the wood elemental guard summoned the plants to create a cover for them. They fell a few trees and connected them, creating an elongated line covered with trees and vines, hiding their group from plain sight.
They then spread a potion called the Wood Scenter, which was a potion that would use the scent of the surrounding forest to cover the scent of anything else in that area.
Althea took note of this one. She already had some theory on how to make it, though it would require some trial and error. If she could obtain the formula, then it would be good, but it was also fine if she didn’t.
As for why they were doing so many things to hide from villagers, it was because Orcs could be walking around. Usually, it’d be hard to fool so many orcs for so long.
They had far greater senses than humans, and it wouldn’t do to get into a conflict even before they get information about the states of the slaves. It would only work if they used the forest itself to cover for them.
Of course, if it were in other terrain, the effectiveness wouldn’t be as good.
Using the binoculars, Althea went to look at the village. With her sharp eyesight as a passive for becoming an archer, she could see more of the village.
It was a typical village, but there were a lot of manual sheds and the like right outside the walls. Was the area inside so dense already, Althea wondered.
"Oh, you also have those things," someone from the team, the goat half-orc said, as he looked curiously at her binoculars. He then took out their own copy.
Althea studied the item. Generally speaking, binoculars and anything that could be directly used for war and espionage were not sold to the public.
For a moment, she thought that they had a few copies, probably bought by someone using contribution points, but then saw the casing was different.
"Is that from Crystal City?"
They nodded, and then looked at the ones on Althea and Garan’s hands, looking much more intricate and clean looking. "Perhaps it is a premium version."
"Want to try?"
The guards nodded simultaneously, like children, and she was there to provide them with toys.
Althea wanted to laugh. Ordering every member around was quite funny.
Soon, they could hear exclamations. "Wow! I can see so far away!!"
It was safe to say people liked the product. She wasn’t surprised when she was approached by someone. "Can you tell me about where you found this? I went to Crystal City last year and hadn’t seen this." Did they release a new product so quickly?
"No, these are not from Crystal City," she said. "These are from Alterra. Want to try?"
"In Alterra, but can only be purchased if you work there for a bit."
"Ohh..."
"There are a lot of unique things there. You should consider a month or two off and going there for vacation, it’d be a fruitful trip.
Virion looked at her in amusement. "Is Lady Althea grabbing precious people from the city?"
Althea chuckled. "I’m just offering a vacation spot. You do allow your guards to go on vacation, right?"
There was a crackle of competitiveness between them and, in the end, it was Virion who gave way.
"Fine! If you do well here and contribute well, I can approve a long-term leave for each of you!"
The guards thought that outside of wars and mobs, they had never fought so hard!
...
The mission was to rescue women from their kidnappers in the Taron Village, which was one of the remaining ’extremist’ orc territories.
This might just be a village, but the orcs and half-orcs there were far from village level. Before taking over the token, most of these started as nomads who found the villages created by humans and the system.
Orcs—along with other non-human races, for that matter— weren’t granted the tokens due to some limitation. At some point, who knew where it started, but they got the idea of procreating with humans to deal with their dwindling population.
This must be corrected. It had roused the hatred directed to an entire race, after all.
Outside of most territories like Alterra and Warrior City, if one were to grab a passerby and ask what their impression of orcs, 99% would say they abhorred them. As for most of the rest? They were indifferent with similar negative impressions.
Of course, even if all the extremist orc villages were dealt with, it didn’t mean the prejudice would go away. For one, a lot of locals would perpetuate it regardless of the truth.
It was such a pity for most orcs because they were innocent in this. Orcs were generally simple-minded. Some tribes were more aggressive than others, but those that acted like the extremists were far and few in between. They weren’t like that at the start either.
For things like this, making changes required a lot more integral strength than others.
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