The Chase

And so, the two cowardly old men were forced to wander the wilderness. The winter nights in Avalon were brutal; although neither man was ordinary, they were still shivering uncontrollably. To make matters worse, they hadn't even eaten dinner before Granny Karom chased them out, leaving them both cold and starving.

"Tell me, who exactly is that old woman? She's fierce! She even dares to beat you, the chieftain. The way she was going at it, she really looked like she wanted to kill you." Arando was clearly just trying to make conversation.

"She is the Spirit Shaman of our clan. She's very senior and also the best midwife we have, so her prestige in the clan is immense. Plus, she's got a sharp tongue and a fiery temper. Forget me—even when my old man was still alive, he couldn't do a thing about her." Kramsh sighed helplessly. Granny Karom was a generation older than him and had bossed him around since he was a child. Things had only improved slightly after he became chieftain. While she didn't lecture him as much as she did when he was a boy, if Kramsh were ever foolish enough to actually offend her, he would be in for a world of hurt.

"No wonder. She treats you like a son when she beats you. But honestly, her strength is quite impressive. If I hadn't run fast, I'm not sure I could have taken her."

This remark infuriated Kramsh. Does he even know how to talk? That's called respect! If you couldn't beat her, that just means you're trash. You think I couldn't beat her?

"Of course she's fierce. Back in the day, she was considered a more promising shaman than our Great Elder. If she hadn't suffered a severe injury in her youth, she'd probably be a Legendary Shaman by now." Kramsh glared at Arando. You're old enough to know better, can you not speak properly? No wonder you don't have any friends. Still, Kramsh didn't dare say that out loud.

"Injured? What happened?" Arando ignored Kramsh's glare. Since he had nothing better to do, he decided to indulge in a bit of gossip.

"Oh, that. It was a stroke of bad luck. Many years ago, I went with some clan warriors to trade for supplies. Unexpectedly, a family of Carnivorous Tyrannosaurus appeared out of nowhere. The clan was leaderless at the time, so Karom had to lead the remaining warriors to surround and suppress these monsters. In the end, although she killed a few young ones, she was severely wounded by the final adult female and barely survived." Later, Kramsh had rushed back in time. To avenge Granny Karom, he went out alone and hunted down the adult Tyrannosaurus that had been driven off, and that beast became Kramsh's most glorious battle record.

"Don't look at her like that. Even though she's over 80 and hasn't become a legend, her combat power is still top-tier. In the entire clan, besides me, basically no one can beat her."

To be fair, Granny Karom was a legend in Avalon. Although the theoretical lifespan of an Avalon Orc is 100 years, most consider 60 to be a ripe old age. Yet, our Granny Karom was over 80, and the older she got, the more spirited she became. She was in great shape; judging by the energy she showed chasing them today, living another ten or twenty years in peace would be a breeze.

"..." Arando felt the pressure mounting. With a character like that opposing Solam's side job as an Arcane Knight, Arando worried his plans were about to fall through.

Kramsh saw the unease on his old friend's face and knew exactly what he was worried about.

"Don't worry, if Solam has agreed, it's fine. That kid has a mind of his own. Since he's decided to study to become an Arcane Knight, no one can change that."

"But, what about Granny Karom..." Arando couldn't help but worry, thinking of the fierce old orc woman.

"It's fine. Solam is the apple of the old lady's eye. She dotes on that boy like he's the pupil of her own eye; she wouldn't dream of hurting a hair on his head. As long as Solam insists, the old lady will eventually have to give in." Granny Karom's doting on Solam sometimes made Kramsh, his own grandfather, feel a bit jealous. Damn it, old woman, get it straight—that's my grandson, not yours! You acting like this makes it hard for me to be the real grandfather! But cowed by her tyranny, the old man didn't dare utter a single word of it.

"But don't expect the old lady to give us a pleasant look from now on. It doesn't matter, though. At worst, we'll just get a beating; it won't kill us." Kramsh was quite open-minded about it, likely out of habit.

Arando, however, couldn't take it. At his age, he could let go of many things, but his pride was becoming harder to set aside. Arando was nearly 70; asking him to get beaten up—and by an old woman at that—where was he supposed to put his face?

"It's fine, it's just a beating, what's the big deal? As long as the job gets done, that's all that matters. Everything else is trivial." Kramsh comforted Arando with shameless ease.

This statement shocked Arando. In his memory, his old friend was very concerned about his reputation. How had he turned into this?

"I'm telling you, Kramsh, how did you become so shameless? Don't you have any shame?" Arando looked at the old man with pained contempt.

"Damn it, you old bastard, that's heartless! Who do you think I'm doing this for? You think I want to get beaten? Believe me, if we don't let the old lady vent her anger, she'll find trouble for us every three days. By then, you won't even have the time to teach Solam. I'm out here working my tail off for who, exactly?" Arando had taken the old man's good intentions for granted, which infuriated him.

"Is there really no other way?" Arando wanted to salvage his dignity.

"Yes. Kneel before her and kowtow a few dozen times. She'll probably agree then."

"I think I'll choose the beating." Arando was a smart man; he knew how to choose the lesser of two evils. Compared to kowtowing, getting beaten was more acceptable.

"So what do we do now? Just standing here like idiots isn't a solution." Since he had accepted his fate, there was no point in lingering.

"I think it's better to stay here. If you go back now, you won't just be getting a beating—you'll be courting death. That old woman is still in a rage and doesn't know her own strength. If you run into her now, you'll be dead or crippled."

Hearing Kramsh's words, Arando decisively abandoned the idea of returning. But looking at the freezing wilderness, they still had to find a way to survive.

"Then what do you suggest? We can't just stand here waiting."

"Don't worry, I've got it covered."

And so, the two old men stood there chatting idly, when suddenly, a strange bird call echoed from the distance.

"Coo-coo, coo-coo."

What kind of bird is out in this weather? Arando had spent his life in the dark world and knew there was more to this than met the eye, so he immediately went silent.

The bird call grew closer. "Coo-coo, coo-coo."

Hearing this, Kramsh was overjoyed and mimicked the call toward the sound. "Coo-coo, coo-coo."

Then, they heard someone in the distance shouting, "Chieftain? Is that you?"

"It's me! I'm here! Tarik, why are you so slow? Are you trying to freeze me to death?"

Before long, Uncle Tarik arrived with several warriors, riding on Direwolves.

"It's not that I wanted to be slow. You don't know—Big Sister Karom has issued an order: anyone who colludes with you will be dealt with. I had to hide this from my wife; if she reports me, I'll be in deep trouble. I had to come up with an excuse to deal with her before I could rush over here." Uncle Tarik explained hurriedly as he reached the old men, then shouted to the warriors behind him: "What are you standing there for? Get the tents and fire started! And bring the wine over!"

Kramsh took the two bags of Milk Wine from Tarik, tossed one to Arando, and immediately opened his own, taking a massive gulp.

"Phew! Finally, I'm coming back to life. Damn, I haven't had a drop all day. I was dying of thirst."

Arando took a swig too. Although the Milk Wine was sour and tasted of milk, he was in no position to be picky. Anything was better than nothing.

"Tell me, Chieftain, what did you do to Big Sister this time? I haven't seen her this angry in years. It doesn't look like this will blow over easily." Tarik asked while directing the others, curious about why his chieftain was being hunted.

"Damn it! I'm a grown man, why would I go out of my way to provoke that old woman? It was entirely her being unreasonable! Honestly, she's so old, yet she still acts like a child. Isn't she afraid of shortening her life?" The old man had to maintain his image in front of his subordinates, so he painted himself as righteous.

But hearing this, the others didn't even dare to listen. They all lowered their heads, busying themselves with their own tasks as if they hadn't heard a thing. Tarik also looked down at his boots. Hmm, the new boots my wife made are quite nice. Her needlework is getting better and better.

Seeing his subordinates acting like cowards, Kramsh felt his anger flare up. Damn it, why do I have such a bunch of spineless men? He began to curse loudly.

"Damn it, you bunch of cowards, are you really that afraid of her?"

"She's just an old hag! What's the big deal?"

"It's because you bastards are scared to death of her that she's become so unscrupulous!"

To be honest, even Arando, an outsider, couldn't listen to this anymore. It was too shameless. Damn it, you talk big, but aren't you the biggest coward of them all? If you were so tough, you wouldn't be out here in the wilderness catching a cold in the middle of the night.

But no one retorted. They all knew what their chieftain was like. He was just taking his frustration out on innocent people again. It happened every time; he'd get furious at Granny Karom and then vent on everyone else. They were used to it. He'd just curse a bit, and it wouldn't cost them a limb, so they let him rant until he calmed down.