Chapter 115: The Fracture
The day after the lake, the camp looked the same.
The tents in the same place. The fires at the same points. The Orcs doing what they did every day.
But it wasn’t the same.
---
Kai noticed it in the morning training.
The Orcs of the rebel faction — the ones he had seen in silence during the fight, the ones who didn’t roar when Mara laughed — were training apart from the main group.
Not in the central field.
On the eastern edge, near the trees, with the intensity of training that felt more like preparation.
Not to improve.
For something specific.
A war.
---
[DraconicLegacy]: something’s happening in the camp. I feel it.
[Stephen_Summers]: the ones on the eastern edge. they’ve been there two days. I noticed too.
[Warwolf]: ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ are they preparing something??
[Martin_Wiersmar]: the body language of that group is different from yesterday. definitely different.
[Leo_Willis]: Urgo looking at the eastern edge group. Urgo wouldn’t look there without a reason.
[ShonqezThomas22]: Keth is watching them too. Keth doesn’t watch anything without a reason even more so.
---
Kai went to where Serah and Lira were on the perimeter.
"Do you see it?"
"Since this morning," Serah said.
"What do you think it is?"
Serah looked at the eastern edge group.
"The same thing that happened in wolf territory when the alpha started losing the pack’s trust." She said it without drama.
"The alpha goes soft or loses focus and the pack feels it before they know it."
Lira only stared at the horizon with disinterest at what was happening.
"I think it’s nonsense to judge someone just because you think they’re weaker for having fun in a fight." And she looked at Serah. "I think it’s better to have a fixed leader or they’ll all try to take command at any moment, causing more wars."
Serah looked at her with a face that for the first time seemed to agree.
"I don’t think it’s a bad idea, but in a territory where what matters most is strength."
"Weakness isn’t an option in that system. The one who commands has to prove it constantly or someone will prove it for them."
"And if the alpha isn’t weak?"
"It doesn’t matter." Serah kept watching the group. "What matters is what the pack perceives. And those ones perceived that Mara didn’t finish the fight when she could have finished it."
Lira looked at the eastern edge group.
"When do they move?"
"Soon."
Lira looked at Kai.
"And what will you do?"
"It’s Orc business. I highly doubt Mara will let me get involved."
"Well... It was your fault this is happening to her. You should."
"Seems like Mara grew on you?"
"More than Serah, yes."
---
[DraconicLegacy]: Serah talking about wolf territory. she lived this.
[Stephen_Summers]: "what matters is what the pack perceives" — that explains the whole camp in one sentence.
[Warwolf]: (ಠ_ಠ) they’re going to challenge Mara. they’re preparing for it.
[Martin_Wiersmar]: Serah says it without emotion. it’s a natural fact to her. that’s more terrifying.
[Leo_Willis]: Lira blaming Kai and telling him to do something... Honestly I wouldn’t expect that from her.
[ShonqezThomas22]: Kai processing all this. Seems like what Lira said did make him hesitate.
---
On the other side of the camp, beside the central fire, Mara watched them.
Not the eastern edge group — the three of them talking among themselves.
The smile was there.
She knew exactly what was happening on the eastern edge.
She’d known for two days, since before her fight ended.
And beneath it, behind the smile, there was something that wasn’t fear or worry.
"Well, that’s what I get for implementing my own laws to my liking hahaha."
She had implemented that law in the camp.
She had written it herself the first year — any warrior who believed the Warlord no longer deserved to lead could say so with their fists.
That was what made this camp different from the Orc territory where they had gone soft. Here strength was proven constantly or it was lost.
She didn’t regret it.
And besides, she wanted to see how much her people had improved.
"I wonder how strong they’ve all gotten. Although it’ll be hard, it’ll be entertaining to fight them all by myself."
She looked at the fire.
The smile stayed there.
---
[DraconicLegacy]: Mara knows. she knew from the start. and she’s smiling. (☉_☉)
[Stephen_Summers]: she WAS the first leader of this camp creating its laws with fists and blood. and now they’re going to use them against her. and she’s fine with it.
[Warwolf]: (ง’̀-’́)ง that’s a leader. that’s what a true leader is.
[Martin_Wiersmar]: "wants to see how much her people improved." three hundred forty years of Warlord in a single motivation.
[Leo_Willis]: Mara sitting by the fire smiling while her camp prepares to rebel against her. scene of the year.
[ShonqezThomas22]: the law was written by her. now they apply it against her. and she agrees. (ノಠ益ಠ)ノ absolute respect.
---
Urgo arrived at Mara’s tent past midnight.
He entered without announcing himself — he was Urgo, and Mara had been there for two years.
Mara was awake.
"How many?" Mara said.
Urgo looked at her.
"Two hundred and fifty-three."
Mara processed it.
Not with surprise — with the kind of processing something has when the numbers confirm what you were already calculating.
"At dawn?"
"If it isn’t resolved before."
"It’s not going to be resolved before."
Urgo didn’t respond.
"And you?" Mara said.
Urgo looked at her.
"I’m here."
---
Silence.
Mara looked at the tent canvas.
"Brek?"
"Here."
"Keth?"
"Here."
"Gorm?"
"Here."
Mara nodded.
"How many total on our side?"
Urgo sighed. "Well, the rest, Mara, hahaha."
Less.
Much less.
The numbers didn’t add up. Forty-seven against two hundred fifty-three — not counting that the two hundred fifty-three had trained specifically for this for two days while Mara’s side didn’t know until now.
Urgo knew it too.
"Will you ask the three for help?"
Mara didn’t answer right away.
She looked at the small fire in the tent.
"No."
"Mara—"
"I’m not involving them in a camp matter."
Urgo looked at her for a moment. Fixed. Unblinking.
"The numbers don’t add up for you on paper, let alone in combat."
"The numbers never added up for me and here I am."
Urgo considered this.
It was true — Mara had left the Orc territory with fifty warriors and had built this camp of three hundred in two years.
But it was also true that two hundred fifty-three trained by herself was different from anything she had faced before.
Mara shifted her gaze toward the tent entrance.
Outside, the wind stirred the ashes of the central fire.
She knew the three — Serah, Lira, and Kai — were awake.
She knew they had heard her name them. She knew they already had their heads mentally set on this and that probably only Kai was itching to fight.
She also knew something Urgo hadn’t told her: that two of those on the opposing side had cried when she treated their wounds last winter.
That the law they were now using to challenge her, she herself had written with her own hands on the camp’s first moon.
"Do you regret it?" Urgo asked, lower.
"The law?"
"Everything."
Mara raised her head. Her eyes were fixed on the embers, but she didn’t blink.
"A warlord who regrets her laws doesn’t deserve to be warlord. If someone thinks they can make me bleed, let them come. If they can, let them take my position. And if they can’t..."
She left the sentence hanging.
"And if they can’t?"
"Then tonight I’ll have seen how far my people can go. And that’s also my victory."
Urgo shook his head, but there was something like pride in his gesture.
"You’re more stubborn than a rock."
"Rocks don’t bleed. Neither will I tonight."
"Then at dawn," Urgo said.
"At dawn."
Urgo went to the tent entrance.
He stopped.
"The three are going to go anyway."
Mara looked at him.
"I know."
And for the first time all night, her smile was the usual one. The one known to those who had been with her for two years. The one that appeared just before things got interesting.
Outside, Brek sharpened his axe. Keth watched the horizon. Gorm didn’t watch anything because Gorm didn’t need to watch to know where his fist would land.
---
[DraconicLegacy]: "the three are going to go anyway" / "I know" — Mara already knows everything.
[Stephen_Summers]: Mara said she wouldn’t involve them. Urgo told her they’ll go anyway. both are right. they like meddling and Kai likes fighting.
[Warwolf]: ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ KAI IS GOING!! WITHOUT BEING CALLED!! ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ
[Martin_Wiersmar]: 47 vs 253. the numbers don’t add up. and Mara is calm beside the fire.
[Leo_Willis]: Urgo confirming what Mara already knew. those two have been like this for two years.
[ShonqezThomas22]: "the numbers never added up for me and here I am" — quote of the arc.
[DraconicLegacy]: tomorrow at dawn. someone tell the viewers on other streams they’re going to want to see this.
---
[System — notification]
[The system notes that 253 Orcs are preparing for dawn]
[The system notes that Mara implemented this law herself]
[The system notes that Mara does not regret it]
’[The system notes that Mara is a good leader and would cry with pride if it weren’t a system]’
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