Orc Hero Story - Discovery Chronicles (Orc Eroica)

Chapter 20.1: A Girl's Humiliation

Copied and pasted from my comment on the last chapter as to what’s been going in my life:

For everyone that didn’t see my announcement on Discord, I’ve been searching for an internship during my translation break and it’s been taking a ton of my time and energy. For those who have read the announcement, here’s an update: it’s been a complete bloodbath. I suppose those among you who have gone through the same process understand the struggle.

Covid hasn’t been helping things out either. The field I’m studying in generally involves a lot of in person work and being close to people. I happen to be immunocompromised, and the vaccine has limited effectiveness on me. For my safety, I’m looking at work from home jobs in similar fields, which also happen to be positions that are usually looking to be filled by engineers. I am completely fucked.

Out of over a hundred applications, only two replies. A total of three interview, two of which were with the same company. I had high hopes, cause shit, why would you interview me twice if you didn’t like me, right? But nope, in the end I’m still without an internship. I absolutely need one for my degree and I’m pretty fucking devastated. I’m still looking, but my energy and motivation to do anything are at rock bottom. Needless to say, I haven’t been able to TL properly.

For those who are still intent on reading this novel, thank you so much for your patience.

For those who dropped, sorry for taking so long, and I hope you come back once a bunch of releases are out.

Well, here’s another update – it took a while, but I’m doing much better now! I’ve regained some of my motivation, and I’ve begun learning Java to try and earn a certification. At this point I don’t have a choice unless I want to be unemployed until the pandemic is fully over, and who knows how long that’ll take with the variants and all coming out…

I wish I had gone into engineering, but nooooo, teenage me didn’t want to be just like my engineer dad and got a business degree instead and now I want to do engineering jobs and I ain’t got no qualifications.

Ffs.

Kids, go into the more difficult fields. An engineer can always be hired to do a manager’s job, but not vice-versa.

Anyways, thanks for waiting so long everyone! I really, truly appreciate it! I’ve got some of my groove back, so let’s get back on this wife-finding journey! Short release, but hey, cut me some slack.

Kofi contributors, I’ll mention you on the next release. I’m sure you don’t want your name and thanks lost in this big wall of text.

Anyways, here we go!

Do Banga’s Pit had changed a lot from when Bash had last seen the place.

The first thing that jumped out to him was the entrance.

A gigantic tunnel, whose mouth widened at its end had been cleanly dug out from the rock wall.

It was nearly as tall as a three-story castle and wide enough for three horse-drawn carriages to pass side-by-side.

This horizontal shaft extended all the way to the back of the Pit – a Dwarven interpretation of a settlement’s main “street”.

“…I heard from Zell that the Dwarves had become much more open-minded and welcoming, but this is beyond impressive.”

Dwarves were a generally anti-social people – or so the other races thought of them.

They preferred the damp, dark comfort of their caverns to the warm, crisp, surface air, and would choose to have material wealth and gold coins over any spiritual comforts.

A Dwarf’s daily routine would consist of spending all day in their workshop, followed by a night of drinking, drinking again, and occasionally, a little more drinking.

And every so often, they would be blessed with the brawl.

Unlike the Elves, the Dwarves weren’t xenophobic, per se, but they were blunt, stubborn, headstrong, and selfish.

So long as they were fine, the rest of the world didn’t matter.

From what he knew of Dwarves, it was astonishing to Bash that the Dwarves had enlarged the entrance to make their town more welcoming to foreign visitors.

“Open-minded? What are you going on about?”

An answer came from the girl who just a moment ago was trapped in the grip of a gruff and tough Dwarven woman.

Using Bash as an excuse and distraction, she had escaped her would be captor.

“This tunnel.”

“What’s up with the tunnel?”

“Hm? Well, uh, everything is, well, nothing’s “up” with it, but…”

Jumping in and interrupting Bash’s verbal fumbling, his Faerie companion began her own monologue.

“This tunnel! Wow! It’s as if the mountain itself was opening its arms to welcome us! It’s so spacious and comfortable! Man, back then, there were times when I had no idea where the actual entrance to town was until I’d stumble on a random pit and luck out! Ah, I remember those “holes” being more like hungry, threatening abysses than an entrance.”

“Oh, that’s what you mean… well, it wasn’t exactly built by us Dwarves. It’s more a matter of making the best out of a nearly disastrous situation. Near the end of the war, the Daemons got reckless, and brought out – …”

“Ahah! I’ve heard of that it! Do Banga’s Pit “Djinn Cannon”!”

Back during the conflict, during the time Bash and the Orcs had their hands full defending Siwanasi Forest, another battle was unfolding right where the party stood today, in Do Banga’s Pit.

A Daemonic General, leading a combined army of Ogres and Harpies led an assault, aiming to reclaim the now Dwarven settlement.

He had a scarce few troops left, his supplies had previously been exhausted, and he had no real hope for victory.

It was a reckless endeavor by any metrics.

However, the Daemonic General had an ace up his sleeve.

A powerful armament called the “Djinn Cannon”.

This weapon was supposed to have been put to use in the decisive battle on the Lemium Highlands, but with Gediguz’s death, those plans had been derailed, and the cannon found itself at Do Banga’s Pit.

The Djinn Cannon was a peculiar item – a construct brough to life by the minds of the most genius engineers and mages.

It used the souls of sentient beings as a projectile.

A built-in sacrificial altar had been built into the weapon’s rear-end.

As more lives were given to the altar, the more powerful the cannon became.

When it was fully loaded, it was mighty enough to be called a strategic weapon, a single shot being able to bore a hole straight through a mountain.

Which was exactly what happened, though it didn’t have the success the Federation’s side was hoping for.

Had the shot properly struck the Dwarven Army, Do Banga’s Pit might still be under Federation control today.

Or the war might have continued a little longer.

Unfortunately for the Daemon’s, the Dwarves had previously been informed of the Djinn Cannon’s presence near their fortress and had made the wise decision to retreat.

After narrowly avoiding the destruction brough forth by the weapon, they went on to the offensive and handily defeated the Daemon General and his troops.

Though most would agree that the Dwarves decision was a wise one, it was also very unlike them to turn their backs to an opponent.

Dwarven battle philosophy revolved around head-on fighting, using their innate resilience and sturdy armour to outlast their enemies.

For them, to evade or retreat was equivalent to cowardice.

However, Dwarves also had a long tradition of tinkering and engineering.

From the intel they had, it wasn’t difficult for them to understand the technology and concept behind the Djinn Cannon and estimate how powerful it was – they knew for a fact that there was no way anything they could construct or prepare in a timely manner would be able to withstand a blast from that monstrosity of a weapon.

Not even the most delusional among them dared to try.

And so, though the Dwarves won the day, the gaping hole that would eventually become the entrance to Do Banga’s Pit left an awkward feeling in their hearts and souls.

Featuring this new impromptu corridor, the settlement was now in danger of collapsing. Prideful and not wanting to let go of this historical town that stood in defiance of the challenges they faced as a race, they reinforced the hole made by the Djinn Cannon, cleaned it up, and finally turned it into an integral part of the city.

A town with a large, single main street slightly bothered Dwarven sensibilities, but this new layout was generally well received by the other races.

“Come on, follow me. It’s this way.”

The boulevard was buzzing with activity.

With the clings and clangs of Dwarven hammers striking anvils accentuating the atmosphere, various races could be seen wandering around, going about their daily activities.

Dwarves and Beastkin were especially prominent.

Humans were far and few between, and Elves were even more uncommon.

But that wasn’t all – some individuals hailing from the Federation were also present. Lizardmen, Killer Bees and others went around, browsing and shopping.

“Hmm.”

It was then that Bash’s eyes fell on an exceptionally large man.

His skin was reddish-black, and he stood at least an arm’s length taller than Bash himself. His bulging muscles matched the size of his frame, and his chin was wide and bulky.

“There are even Ogres here?”

This man was familiar to Bash.

Indeed, the two had fought side-by-side during the decisive battle of the Lemium Highlands.

His name was Gorgon, nicknamed the “Iron Giant”.