As for Garan’s investigation in the taverns, what he gathered was mostly related to mercenaries, hunts, and so on. This was not surprising, as the people who frequented the taverns were men.
The Taverns were mostly open-air here, since the interior of system taverns could get quite stuffy with the large average body mass of orcs and the heat emanated from their fur.
The open air format made it a bit more difficult to eavesdrop, but easier for Garan to stay close to his unwitting informants.
The most crucial piece of news he received was about the upcoming war. People had, understandably, been very nervous about the Lord’s current state. The people underneath him did not hold back from spreading news about his ’dying’ state.
For the most part, people were naturally panicking. Though this was an orc-led territory, a large portion was still inhabited by humans who depended on the territory to survive. They reacted like any human would if they found out their ’home’ was about to fall.
Half-orcs also preferred to stay in territories. Many of them tended to be more impulsive than humans as well, so they could damage some property whenever they felt anxious that they could get displaced.
Half-orcs find it most difficult to find homes, after all, being the awkward existences that they are. Things only got better when Warrior City showed its influence in this area, but the City was too far and too expensive for them.
In many cases, half-orcs’ best option was indeed this town—It was not too weak that the monsters were useless, and not too strong that they were useless. If they were useless, they would likely be made to suffer by their peers.
As for the orcs, the reaction really varied depending on their level. That said, most of those who weren’t bothered by living outside the territory most likely weren’t there anymore, so the ’indifferent’ citizens were few.
More and more voices begging for the administration to do something emerged in the territory. Combined with various ’horror stories’ of what happened when a territory fell, the thoughts and words of the masses began to twist.
It seemed like a riot had happened just a few days ago, injuring several people and orcs. They were calmed down by the deputy Lord, who actually showed the ability to control the earth!
Although it was just a small earth spike that didn’t even manage to successfully impale a single orc, an element was still an element, and it left the witnesses in awe.
This gave Plai a stronger voice than before, and many people who had been panicking would look up to him for instructions.
Like this, the off-putting idea of going to war to steal the token had become an easily acceptable course of action. Plai was even seen as a hero of sorts.
Combined with Virion’s accounts, they had a clearer view of the war about to happen.
Althea was lucky to have chosen the relatively peaceful human women doing their chores, simply because that group wasn’t privy to a lot of things. They were just expected to do their role domestically.
In this place, maids and cleaners serving orcs were fairly common. Even if nothing sexual developed, the orcs liked to be groomed by others. Rich orcs who had high levels and could kill large monsters for money usually had at least one or two groomers with them.
Some of the tavern people brought some with them, though it was rare to take them out of the house, from what he had observed.
In any case, they had confirmed that the war would indeed happen, and it would happen within the week.
...
The next day, they continued with their investigation. Althea and Garan interacted with the locals like merchants, except they did not have the bias of some human people who went there.
"Are you from Warrior City?" one of the orcs, a cute teenage deer, asked them. He was selling some of the farm produce at the marketplace.
"No, why do you ask?"
"Because only humans under Warrior City are so polite to us."
Althea and Garan were pleasant and polite, and their questions weren’t intrusive.
For example, they just asked about life in the town, whether it was comfortable, how they handled the extreme weather, and so on.
Orcs and half-orcs were far more physically resilient than humans, so while their population was extremely low compared to the highly fertile humans, their survivability was far superior to that of the humans.
Not to mention, they simply weren’t that creative; since they weren’t dying as quickly as humans, their population more or less had positive improvement in terms of numbers.
They didn’t think of ways to innovate. Rather, even if it were presented in front of them, they might not even bother to get out of their comfort zones.
Even local humans didn’t innovate much, let alone orcs whose reasoning depended on muscles.
Thus, the protective devices in the town were few and far between, and it was the humans there who suffered most.
It was really puzzling why some human merchants had their noses up so high, looking down at them, when they themselves were so weak. It was very unlike these two, who didn’t treat him any differently.
"We’re not from Warrior City, but we’re friends with them," she said. "Like Warrior City, our town is also home to orcs and half-orcs. One of my students is even a half-orc."
"Huh?"
She smiled. "He’s a medic now."
The half-orc didn’t exactly know what this implied, but he also felt a bit envious.
Althea, on the other hand, wanted more orcs to move to Alterra, or at least visit it. There was no need for them to get stuck in this town. There was a better one out there!~
Before leaving with her harvest, Althea’s peripheral vision caught a reddish fruit with semi-transparent skin.
She blinked and pointed at it, her voice a little eager. "This...this plant...where did you get it?"
It was the Elysian Plant!