I stop distracting myself with my thoughts as the orcs draw closer, and I hear in my mind:

"I'm starting, my lady."

So am I.

"From the belly of the Mother we come, and to the Mother we return," I whisper, invoking the opening words of my spell.

There are more words, but from my practice during the first two months at the academy, I've realized that these few are enough.

So, I begin to visualize the earth I want to control and loosen, also focusing on its depth. The last part is simple: until the shoulder blades of the tallest orc, leaving the heads of the shorter ones outside.

Once I have it, I look towards the tree where Ronan is.

Because the branches and leaves are dense, I can't see it very clearly, but I do see that kind of dark mist I know is coming from his fingers, slipping down the trunk and across the ground toward the enemies. The mist, heavy and thick, swirls around the orcs, sticking to their riveted leather armor and to the visible green skin on their bodies. Mainly around their legs, arms, armpits, hands, neck, and head. Immediately, the orcs begin to move at a slower pace, as if each movement requires much more muscle strength to execute.

Ronan's area exhaust.

It's powerful, because my vassal has many of his spells at a higher level than mine.

Then, I hear through my ears the scream Ronan lets out, intentionally revealing his position to the enemy:

"Now, my lady!"

And with the ground area and downward volume in my mind to loosen, as well as the connection I feel with the earth, I unleash it.

"Earth control," I whisper.

I'm not foolish.

I haven't placed them in the center.

Rather, I've left the farthest orcs almost at the rear limit of that area and the closest ones in the middle. And I smile. Because I know they'll go for the spellcaster—Ronan. And that will only make them move further into my spell, sinking with every step they take. They haven't even gotten within two meters of my tree when I harden the earth I'm controlling and channel it.

Stone.

Seven strong orcs who tried to shoot arrows at Ronan, running toward him—all in vain. They're immobilized and ready to be harvested, like good XP.

"Goblins warriors, come down and kill one orc each with your spears," he tells them mentally and sends the same to me so I hear it. I understand; he has to give the order to make sure I get the influence points. "My lady, could the sacred beast take out two?" this last mental whisper is directed only at me.

"He'll be happy, especially if you leave the third for him after we interrogate them."

The little wolf loves getting stronger.

Quickly, the goblins descend and finish off their enemies. It's easy for them, since only their heads and a few arms raised and immobilized stick out of the ground, which was once dirt but is now stone.

I pull the puppy from my pocket, and it leaps from branch to branch toward the ground.

And I sigh.

Ronan is... how should I put it?

I'm not sure if he's a genius—because I would have tried to trap them in a stone cage or something—or if he's someone without empathy for others' pain.

Because they're making me feel sorry for them.

And these are supposed to be the goblins' enemies, now my protectees. In fact, Galp and his three companions take pleasure in stabbing their spears into their heads, letting out satisfied grunts.

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

I shake my head, not wanting to think about where I've ended up. But, of course, if the roles were reversed, the orcs wouldn't have hesitated to massacre us.

At least the puppy is more merciful and tries to eliminate them as quickly as possible.

By the way, both Ronan and I have gotten down from the trees while the others finish off the orcs.

As for the one still alive, one of the level 8 orcs—their leader, based on the adornments on his armor (although it's mostly buried, except for a bracer and the helmet), and because I see it on the system label above his head—he speaks without hesitation.

Can't blame him after what he's just witnessed...

Curiously, before asking the orc, Ronan moves his lips as if he were muttering something to himself.

Anyway, we find out that they are indeed, a scouting patrol. They were here to investigate because it seems the bear king would send several of the smaller bears to patrol the mountain pass every few days, without entering orc territory, but making sure they were seen. And since they hadn't seen them in days, their leader had sent the scouts to check if something had happened in the bear's territory.

"My lady, would you like to release him so he can deliver the message that his leader should come and pledge allegiance to you?"

What? No, not a chance, I flinch.

Look, one thing is the goblins that made me feel sorry for them and gave me a mission, but this?

I glance sideways. There's no system window, right?

I turned them off during combat. I see there is one waiting in the corner of my vision, but it's related to influence points. Is there any more?

No, there isn't. No mission.

Great.

"No, Ronan, that's not necessary. I think the puppy needs more XP," I reply.

"They'll send more patrols, with more members, when they see that the others haven't come back."

"Perfect, more XP then," I repeat, simplifying it all.

And no, I'm not going to feel sorry for orcs because I'm human, I'm one of the good ones. So if what's making me feel guilty is my naive personality and some affinity for light, it can shut up.

Orc=monster=bad.

End of discussion with myself.

"Go ahead," I say to the seed.

And I don't look. Because one thing is deciding that orcs are enemies, and another is watching them die.

What we've done makes my stomach turn, it's been a bloodbath. We didn't give them a chance. At least when we fought the bears, it was hard, we could die or get hurt. But I don't want any casualties on my side, which is why I agreed to Ronan's plan. As for me, I wish the orcs had never come.

Besides, they're dungeon creatures, right?

Exactly. I'm not humanizing them like the goblins and letting them try to join me.

I don't want more problems.

And as I told myself before: End of the topic.

The goblins, on the other hand, seem pleased. Galp mutters something like the filthy orcs don't deserve to serve me.

As for me, I'd cast earth control again to avoid having a 25 cubic meter block of stone with orc remains stuck in it; but I can't. Because the only thing I can manipulate, at least for now, is the earth.

Regarding the pup, I ask to see its stats. It hasn't leveled up. It's gone from 0% progress toward level 6 to 23%. If it's like humans and needs 148 XP for the next level, that means the three orcs gave him about 34 XP.

I open the pending notification from the system.

Congratulations, you've won a skirmish with your vassal Sergeant Ronan Velbrun leading your soldiers in battle.

+8 influence points.

Ronan must've come up with a good strategy because he got the maximum score: 4. Well, it was quick, we had no casualties, and we even managed to interrogate the enemy sergeant; so yeah, I guess it was a good skirmish.

Let's see if any goblin leveled up. Honestly, from my gamer days, this is the best part.

I loved LOL for the stats, I enjoyed seeing how patch updates could influence items and runes for the characters I usually played. And in MMORPGs… well, what can I say? Leveling up my character, and also their slaves or vassals if the game allowed it, was the best.

Ronan Velbrun, level 8 Vassal Sergeant, Soul Weaver.

Galp, level 6 Vassal Soldier.

Bramp, level 5 Vassal Soldier.

Lolp, level 5 Vassal Soldier.

Scamp, level 5 Vassal Soldier.

Well, one of them leveled up, the lowest one.

I try to see if I can check their stats, but nothing, the system doesn't allow it. And Ronan, who can't even see his own stats unless he touches a stone chart, obviously can't tell me about his subordinates' stats either.

Well, this list is better than nothing. If I level up my kingdom, which is currently at the initial stage, I'll be able to name the totem as a leader, and that way, I'll have two lists with the best goblin warriors available.

By the way…

"We can head back to the cave," I say aloud.

Mentally, I ask Ronan: "Why do you only have four soldiers if you can have up to ten?"

"My lady," he replies as his bears approach. The goblins haven't been able to loot much from the bodies, just the helmets and a few weapons that were left outside when the enemy had their arms raised during the petrification of the ground. "I want to choose the best soldiers, the strongest, or the most valuable for some other attribute. For now, these four are the ones I have selected."

I understand. I won't rush him, in case he can't later reassign them as his soldiers.

"Do you consider it to be inappropriate?" he asks after a few seconds, sensing my mental silence.

"No, Ronan, it's perfect. You're doing great."

I see him grimace, which is definitely a smile, as he mounts his zombie bear. I get on mine, we wait for the goblins to finish mounting, and then we head back to the village.

Where, by the way, we are greeted with cheers as they see us intact and victorious.

Ah, I could get used to this…

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.