Kaldara's Joke

"How could you say that!"

Kaldara felt deeply wounded.

He had come over in high spirits to thank Malone, only for the guy to question his motives at every turn and finally accuse him of poisoning the food!

"Can you blame me? Why would you bring us food? That's like a weasel wishing a chicken a happy new year—nothing good can come of it!"

Malone said, sounding utterly convinced.

"What? I know what a chicken is. It's a bird, right? But what's a weasel?"

Kaldara asked, looking completely bewildered.

"Anyway, I don't trust you. You have to explain exactly why you're here."

Malone hadn't realized he'd let an idiom slip out in Orcish. Not only did Kaldara not understand it, but it sounded strange even to Malone himself.

"All right. Just like you told me, I did what you said, and I've resolved the dispute between the Orcs and Trolls. So I thought I'd do something to thank you."

"But I don't know what you need, and I don't have anything else, so I brought this piece of smoked meat."

Kaldara honestly explained why he had come.

"Really?"

Malone looked at Kaldara skeptically.

"A Blademaster never lies."

Kaldara answered with conviction.

That was a lie in itself—Malone didn't believe anyone never lied.

But there was nothing suspicious about anything Kaldara had said, and Malone also figured that if Kaldara wanted to hurt him, he wouldn't resort to poisoning.

"Now you believe me, right?"

Compared to other Orcs, Kaldara seemed quite good at reading people.

"All right..."

Malone sat beside Teron Gorefiend, facing Kaldara and putting himself between him and Tiffany.

"You have no reason to lie, so I'll believe you this once."

Malone said.

"You could've just believed me from the start!"

Kaldara grumbled, then took the oddly shaped, long blade from his back.

"What are you doing?"

Seeing Kaldara pick up his weapon, Malone tensed up again.

"Cutting the meat! What else, are you going to tear it apart with your hands? This stuff's harder than a rock!"

Kaldara answered irritably, then used his long blade to cut into the hard smoked meat.

Kaldara was right. Even with a Blademaster's peerless weapon, cutting through smoked meat like this was a little difficult.

But what Malone cared about more was... if the other Blademasters found out Kaldara had used this symbol of his Burning Blade Clan identity to cut smoked meat, would they punish him?

"You just said... the matter was settled?"

Only now did Teron Gorefiend speak.

"Yeah. I don't know how Zul'jin's side will react, but Kilrogg saw through my plan and thought it could work, so I doubt there'll be any trouble over there."

Kaldara cut off a fist-sized chunk of meat, speared it on the tip of his blade, and stuck it into the campfire.

First a meat knife, now a fire poker and a roasting rack. Kaldara's weapon was truly a disgrace to weapons everywhere.

"If that's the case, then that's wonderful."

Teron Gorefiend nodded.

"Hey, Maicomarlon, how'd you come up with that idea?"

Kaldara asked curiously.

Malone didn't want to brag. He didn't think helping the Orcs resolve their internal problems was a good thing, but now that it had happened, there was nothing he could do about it.

"It wasn't hard. For example, all Trolls look alike to Orcs, and it's the same for humans. Other races see things the same way. Who would care whether the guy whose head was chopped off was the real killer?"

Malone said casually.

"But how did you know the Trolls would rather preserve the treaty? How did you know their history?"

Kaldara was very curious about that.

"Well... what's so strange about that? Orgrim came to this world for the first time too, and he knows everything."

Malone brushed him off. Of course, he couldn't say he knew everything and was omniscient—he wasn't God, just a transmigrator.

Fortunately, Kaldara didn't press the matter, and Malone quickly changed the subject.

"Kaldara... you seem pretty good at starting fires!"

Malone asked.

When Malone was young, he'd never lived in an old-fashioned house with a hearth. He wasn't the outdoorsy type, either, so he didn't know how to start a fire this way.

But watching Kaldara, he seemed to be very practiced at it.

"Of course. Don't you know where the name 'Burning Blade Clan' comes from? We're called the 'Burning Blade' because we're good at starting fires and skilled with weapons."

Kaldara answered.

"Really?"

Malone asked in surprise. He really hadn't known the name "Burning Blade" came from such a ridiculous origin.

"Of course not! Hahaha!"

Kaldara burst out laughing.

"How could that be true? Hahaha! But don't be embarrassed. You're not the first person I've fooled like that."

Kaldara said with a laugh, looking at Malone's sour expression.

Is this guy crazy...? Malone glared at Kaldara, fuming inwardly.

But what Malone never would have expected was that the first person to prank him and make fun of him after he came to this world would be an Orc.

Watching Kaldara laugh so hard that tears were almost running down his face, Malone's anger gradually subsided.

Of all the Orcs he'd met so far, Kaldara was the one Malone knew best. Teron Gorefiend only counted halfway.

Through Kaldara, Malone had learned a lot about Orcs that he hadn't known before.

The longer he spent with them, the more Malone felt that these guys weren't really any different from humans.

They cried and laughed, teased each other, bled, and got angry... Though they were hot-tempered and bloodthirsty, they also had a straightforward side.

If... if it weren't for the Burning Legion's influence, and if Medivh, possessed by Sargeras, and Gul'dan hadn't made that bloody, evil pact...

If the Orcs hadn't first come to Azeroth through war, then...

Could humans and Orcs one day sit together, like Malone and Kaldara, around the same campfire, talking and laughing?

Malone knew it wasn't very likely. Every race found it hard to accept others whose customs differed so greatly from its own. Even humans and dwarves, who were allies, didn't always get along.

But in that moment, Malone truly felt that humans and Orcs didn't have to be mortal enemies.

Of course, Malone knew it was impossible. Peace was just a pacifist's fantasy; humans and Orcs were already sworn enemies.

Even if a brief peace came, as long as a radical Warchief like Garrosh Hellscream took power, bloodshed and slaughter would be inevitable.