Rising Shadows: The Fight for Freedom I

Chapter 119: The Orc Delegation

As the procession of the Saintess passed through the grand gates of the capital, Beneto, under the adoring gazes of the populace, and journeyed southward, Ceseta had just begun her training. Meanwhile, at the northern gate of the capital, another imposing group was entering the city. Unlike the reverence and admiration bestowed upon the Saintess's entourage, this group was met with disdain and hatred, concealed within the eerie silence.

Orcs! Savage orcs! Were those orcs encircled in the middle prisoners of the royal army? They certainly did not appear to be! What had transpired!?

As the curious and astonished citizens observed the peculiar procession entering Beneto, they gradually realized that the numerous human soldiers surrounding the orcs were not escorting captives but were instead safeguarding these fearsome, barbaric beings. It was as if they were escorting a foreign diplomatic delegation! Finally, someone articulated a thought that seemed to fit the bizarre scene, but this fleeting realization was quickly dismissed as absurd. The onlookers, captivated by the orc contingent's unhurried advance through the human city, felt a surge of incredulous speculation when they noticed the direction of their march was toward the Palace of Bylins.

However, when the citizens of Beneto witnessed the appearance of Chancellor Nick Chubais and Foreign Minister Dela Kumar outside the palace, accompanied by a group of heralds sounding their horns, their initial impressions of the orc delegation resurfaced with renewed clarity.

Could it be that these orcs truly came to pay a visit to His Majesty the King? With wide eyes and agape mouths, the people of the capital, on the morning of the first day of July in the year 5579 of the Isilia Continent, bore witness to the first orc delegation to visit a human kingdom in millennia, amidst a profound sense of shock.

This is a nation of humans! A realm established by my kin, deemed weak and timid!

As countless eyes fixated on the orcs dismounting from their kodos and dire wolves, forming a line that, while far from orderly, still bore a semblance of a diplomatic entourage, an elder orc clad in animal hides, adorned with a hat made from the horns of an unknown beast and wielding a cerulean staff, silently surveyed the human realm and its cities.

The strength of the individual cannot alter the fate of the collective, yet the wisdom of the individual may indeed do so. Humans, a race whose individual members are often inferior to ordinary orcs, possess not only intelligence but also the creativity to wield that intelligence, alongside the laws and disciplines that resonate deeply within the human soul.

Gazing at the orderly horn-blowers, the drummers striking in unison, the armored soldiers arrayed like blocks of stone, and the growing throng of curious onlookers who remained silent and respectful, the elder orc sighed deeply within, gaining a profound understanding of the chasm that lay between orcs and humans.

The freedom-loving orcs may never learn the discipline that humans embody! Even if we regain our king and all tribes vow to live united and harmoniously under one banner, the orc king will never wield the same power as a human monarch, nor will he ever truly command each tribe!

Turning slowly, the elder orc regarded the two human ministers who had approached him. Fluent in the human tongue and well-versed in human civilization, he looked past them toward the opulent palaces of the Bylins Kingdom, knowing that within the grandest palace in the distance, he would soon meet the first human sovereign of this journey.

"Esteemed High Priest Sazu, welcome to the Kingdom of Bylins. His Majesty King Frederick awaits you. Please, follow me!"

The words were polite, the expression warm, yet the elder orc, a high priest sent from the Sacred Mountain of Asus to represent the newly formed orc nation of the Thunder Kingdom, perceived the deep disdain and animosity in the eyes of the two human officials. This was all anticipated by the old shaman; in truth, from the moment they set foot on human soil, every member of the orc delegation had been acutely aware of such sentiments.