The Hunt

The two cowardly old men had no choice but to wander the wilderness. Avalon's winter nights were brutal. Although neither of them was ordinary, they were still freezing their asses off. On top of that, they hadn't even eaten dinner before Granny Karom chased them out. Now they were both cold and hungry.

"By the way, who was that woman? She's so fierce! She even dares to hit you, the chief. From the way she was going at you, she really seemed ready to beat you to death." Arando was making conversation just for the sake of it.

"She's the Spirit Shaman of our clan, and she's been around a long time. She's also the best midwife in the clan, so she has a lot of respect. On top of that, she's pretty formidable. It's not just me—even my father couldn't do anything about her when he was alive." Kramsh was helpless, too. Granny Karom was a whole generation older than him and had been keeping him in line since he was a child. Things had only gotten a little better after Kramsh became chief. She didn't discipline him like she had when he was little, but if he ever got too big for his boots and offended her, he'd still be in for it.

"No wonder she hit you like you were her son. But honestly, she's pretty powerful. If I hadn't run fast, I might not have beaten her."

Those words made Kramsh furious. Did the man have any idea how to talk? That was called showing respect! If Arando couldn't beat her, that just meant he was weak. How could Kramsh not beat her?

"Of course she's fierce. In her younger days, she was considered a Shaman with more potential than even our clan's High Elder. If she hadn't suffered a serious injury when she was young, she'd probably be a Legendary Shaman by now." Kramsh glared at Arando. You're not a young man anymore. Can't you watch what you say? No wonder you have no friends. Still, Kramsh didn't dare say any of that aloud.

"Injured? What happened?" Arando didn't care about Kramsh's glare. Since they had nothing else to do, he might as well indulge in a little gossip.

"Oh, that. It was just bad luck. Many years ago, I went with the clan's warriors to another place to collect some trade goods. Out of nowhere, a family of Carnivorous Tyrannosaurs appeared. With no one else in charge of the clan, Karom had no choice but to lead the remaining warriors to exterminate those monsters. They managed to kill several young tyrannosaurs, but the last one—a fully grown female—wounded her so badly she nearly didn't make it." Later, Kramsh had returned in time. To avenge Granny Karom, he'd gone alone to hunt down the adult tyrannosaur that had been driven away. That beast had become Kramsh's most glorious achievement.

"Don't let the fact that she's over eighty and never became a Legendary Shaman fool you. She's still incredibly powerful. In the whole clan, practically no one but me can beat her."

Granny Karom was a legend in Avalon, to be honest. Avalon Orcs had a theoretical lifespan of a hundred years, but an ordinary Orc who lived to sixty was already considered long-lived. Yet Granny Karom was over eighty and seemed to grow more vigorous with age, still in excellent health. Judging by how hard she'd chased them today, she could easily live another ten or twenty years in peace.

"..." Arando felt rather stressed. With someone like that around, he was worried his plan would fall through if she refused to let Solam train as an Arcane Knight.

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

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

"But what about Granny Karom? Will she..." Arando couldn't help worrying when he thought of how fierce that old Orc woman was.

"It'll be fine. Solam is the old woman's favorite. She loves that kid so much, she'd treat him like the apple of her eye. She'd never lay a finger on him. As long as Solam stands firm, she'll never be able to change his mind in the end." Sometimes, Granny Karom doted on Solam so much that even Kramsh, his own grandfather, got a little jealous. Damn it, old woman, get it straight—that's my grandson, not yours. How am I supposed to be his proper grandfather with you acting like that? But cowed by the old woman's might, the old man wouldn't dare let even a single word of that slip.

"But we can forget about that old woman ever giving us a warm welcome again. Still, it's no big deal. We'll get beaten up at most. It won't kill us." Kramsh took it in stride, probably because he was used to it.

Arando wasn't so accepting. At their age, they could let most things go, but it was getting harder and harder to swallow an insult. Arando was almost seventy. How could he go and get beaten up—by an old woman, no less? Where would that leave his dignity?

"It's fine. So what if we get beaten up? What's the big deal? As long as we get the job done, that's all that matters. Everything else is trivial." Kramsh consoled Arando without a shred of shame.

Arando was thunderstruck. As far as he knew, his old friend had always cared a lot about his dignity. How had he turned into this?

"Kramsh, why have you become so shameless? Have you no self-respect?" Arando looked at the old man with pained contempt.

"Damn it, you old bastard, that's a pretty heartless thing to say! Who do you think I'm doing this for? You think I want to get beaten up? Believe me, if we don't let the old woman vent her anger, she'll come after us every few days. Then you won't have time to teach Ram even if you want to. Who do you think I'm working myself to the bone for?" The old man's kind intentions had been treated like donkey's liver and lungs, and it made him furious.

"Isn't there any other way?" Arando still wanted to salvage his dignity.

"There is. Kneel in front of her and kowtow a few dozen times. That should get her to agree."

"Then I'll take the beating." Arando was a sensible man. When forced to choose between two evils, he'd take the lesser one. Compared to kowtowing, getting beaten up was more acceptable.

"So what do we do now? We can't just stand here forever." Since they'd decided to accept the beating, there was no point staying out here.

"I think we're better off staying here. If you go back now, you won't just get beaten—you'll be walking straight to your death. The old woman's furious, and she won't be holding back. If you run into her now, you'll be badly injured at best."

After hearing Kramsh, Arando immediately gave up on the idea of going back. But looking at the desolate wilderness and the freezing weather, he knew they had to sort out food and shelter.

"Then what do you suggest? We can't really just wait here like idiots."

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

And so the two old men stood where they were, making idle conversation, when a strange birdcall suddenly came from far away.

"Coo-coo, coo-coo."

What kind of ridiculous bird would be out in weather like this? Arando had spent a long time in the dark world, so he knew there was probably more to it. He immediately fell silent.

The birdcall drew closer and closer. "Coo-coo, coo-coo."

Delighted to hear it, Kramsh imitated the birdcall in the direction it had come from. "Coo-coo, coo-coo."

Then someone in the distance shouted, "Chief? Is that you?"

"It's me! I'm over here! Tarik, what took you so long? Were you trying to freeze me to death?"

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

"It's not that I wanted to take so long. You have no idea—Big Sis Karom said she'd make anyone who conspired with you regret it. I had to avoid my wife. If she reported me, I'd be in trouble too. I finally came up with an excuse to deal with her, and the moment I did, I rushed over." Uncle Tarik hurriedly explained himself as he came up to the old man. Then he barked at the warriors behind him, "What are you standing around for? Get the tents up and start a fire! Oh, and bring the booze over first."

Kramsh took the two bags of Milk Wine Tarik handed him and tossed one to Arando. He immediately opened his own bag and took a big swig.

"Whew! I'm finally warming up. Damn, I haven't had a thing to drink all day. I was dying of thirst."

Arando took a swig, too. The Milk Wine was sour and tasted strongly of milk, but with things as they were, he couldn't be picky. It was better than nothing.

"Chief, what did you do to Big Sis this time? I haven't seen her this angry in years. Judging by the looks of it, she probably won't let this go easily." As Tarik directed the others, he tried to find out why their chief had been chased out.

"Damn it! I'm a grown man. What, am I stupid enough to go and provoke that old woman? She's the one who's being unreasonable. Honestly, at her age, she ought to know better. Doesn't she worry about shortening her life?" The old man wanted to save face in front of his subordinates, so of course he made himself out to be completely in the right.

But none of the others even dared to listen. They all lowered their heads and went about their business as if they hadn't heard a thing. Tarik kept his head down and stared at his boots. Hmm, his wife really had done a nice job making these new boots. Her stitching had gotten even better.

Seeing his subordinates acting like a bunch of cowards made Kramsh furious. Damn it, why did he have such a bunch of gutless lackeys? He flew into a rage and started cursing them.

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

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

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

To be honest, even Arando, an outsider, couldn't stomach that. What a shameless bastard. Easy for you to say! Weren't you the biggest coward of them all? If you were so tough, you wouldn't have come running out to this desolate wilderness in the middle of the night to freeze your ass off.

But the others didn't talk back. They knew what their chief was like. He was taking his anger out on the innocent again. It always went like this: Granny Karom would make him furious, then he'd take it out on everyone else. They were used to it. It was only a few curses, and it wasn't as if they'd lose a piece of flesh. If they let him yell for a while, he'd calm down.