Piggy and Hideous returned. The former growled and pointed at the cage.
'Right now, they're much more suspicious of one another than they are of me. No matter what, they're convinced that I couldn't hurt a fly.'
The Orc stood and secured the cage once again, looping the rope tightly around his shoulders.
They moved.
The group resumed its march through the damp forest. The cage swayed slightly with each step.
The Elf hadn't slept at all during the night. How could she, when Hideous and Piggy were present?
'Plus I needed to make sure Dummy wouldn't come back. Based on Piggy and Hideous' reactions…'
As the cage she was in was rocked rhythmically, exhaustion started catching up her.
The Elf's head leaned forward, her blonde hair brushing against the Orc's back.
'She's falling asleep.' The Orc thought after shivers went up his spine. The shivers did not stop, as the swaying of her hair hadn't either.
"So… Why are you different from them?" The Elf asked, rubbing her eyes.
"In what way?"
"Pfft." The Elf exhaled, almost chuckling. "In every way."
The Orc remained silent for a bit. Both Piggy and Hideous were far in front of them. They couldn't possibly overhear them. Even if they could, they wouldn't understand what they were saying. In fact, they wouldn't even realize that they were actually communicating.
The Orc was reminded of the time when he couldn't understand her either. The sentences and words were nothing but random sounds turned into a melody through the sweetness of her voice. He loved hearing her talk, even when he couldn't understand a thing. Her sounds, her voice, were nothing like the sounds of Orcs, groans, grunts, and growls.
"I just am." The Orc whispered.
There wasn't much more to say. The concept of Goddess or that of Blessing didn't fully make sense in his mind just yet.
"How was it…" The Elf's head was bobbing. It was clear that she would only be able to fight the exhaustion for so long. "Being different from… Everyone around you?"
The Orc's eyes momentarily narrowed. He adjusted the cage on his back.
"Why do you ask that?" He was genuinely curious. "Why do you think about that in your current situation?"
"Why do you mean?"
"You said before that the two of us were in the same boat. Do you really have the time to worry about someone else in your situation?"
"Pfft." The Elf almost chuckled again. "I could say the same about you."
"How so?"
"I've only been stuck in this cage for a bit but…" Her lips curled upwards slightly. "I already lost count how many times you took a beating for me. They already despise you. Why worry about me when you're already stuck with them?"
"Hm." The Orc frowned slightly. "I don't know."
"You're strange. At the very least, as strange as me. No, more than me, since you're questioning it." she whispered, her cheek now resting against the bars. Her voice was softer than before, drifting.
The Orc blinked.
"Did you…" He started, before pointing. "If that's Piggy, and that's Hideous…"
The Elf was surprised. He really was listening.
"Then what am I?" The Orc asked. "Who am I?"
The Elf's eyes slowly opened at the question.
"That's a bit…" She pressed her lips together.
The answer was slightly embarrassing.
"Pfft." She exhaled. 'Is this any situation to get embarrassed in?' The Elf thought to herself, the tips of her fingers running down the metallic bars holding her captive. "Do you know what Guardian Spirits are?"
The Orc thought about it for a bit.
'A Guardian is someone who guards something. A Spirit is…' He frowned slightly. 'I'm not sure.'
He couldn't define the word Spirit. However, the image that popped into his mind when thinking about the word was that of the tanned, pink-haired beauty who had saved him from death and given him a second chance. He thought about her white-feathered wings, and about the fact that the Lust Goddess had been keeping an eye on him, something that she had admitted to herself.
The Orc came to the conclusion that Guardian Spirits were otherworldly beings that kept an eye on those they guarded, and aided them when in danger or trouble.
"Yes," The Elf smiled slightly. "It's something like that." She raised her gaze towards the bright sky above. "Us Elves believe that Spirits exist in everything. That each particle of Mana is, in fact, a tiny Spirit. It is when many of those particles assemble that a bigger, stronger Spirit is born."
The Orc listened intently.
"Back in the Elven Forest, we believed in the existence of many, many Spirits. One Spirit, in particular, used to be my favorite as a child." The Elf gulped.
The Orc noticed a slight shaking in her voice.
"Naranca is the Spirit's name. Naranca, the Guardian Spirit of all Elves. It's said that Naranca keeps an eye on all Elves and protects them from harm. When an Elf leaves the Elven Forest, it is said that Naranca would take on a different form, usually that of an eagle. Naranca, as an eagle, would then follow that Elf outside of the Elven Forest and help when that Elf… Gets in trouble. Because all Elves who leave the Elven Forest, at one point or another, run into trouble."
Her facial expression had slowly turned sadder. The Orc, carrying the cage on his back, could not see it.
"I left the Elven Forest… Who knows why. I craved adventure. I wanted to see the world. And, at first, it was a great adventure. The world was so different, so vibrant… Animals welcomed me, birds sang for me, and human children danced with me. They had never seen an Elf, and I had never seen Humans. At first, the children kept the secret. They would come and play with me. I would amaze them with my magic, and they would amaze me with their strange wooden toys. One of them brought a tiny wooden horse. The child had made it by hand and…" The Elf fell quiet for a bit. "They kept the secret for a couple of weeks. When the adults learned that an Elf had been spotted, they sold that information for a couple of coins to mercenaries and...."
Her right hand took hold of her left shoulder.
Through the cuts in her sleeve, the purple lines of the Slave Mark could be seen.
"They locked most of my magic away. Less than a month after leaving the Elves Forest, I lost my magic, and my freedom."
The Orc stopped walking for a couple of seconds.
"Yes," The Elf said, noticing that he had stopped. "I was captured by Humans, made a Slave, sold, and while I was being transported, I was captured by Orcs." She rubbed her eyes. "I was captured by you before they brought me to whoever it is that paid for me, so I haven't suffered anything too grave." The Elf let out a long sigh. "Trish and Eva are the Humans who were tasked with transporting me. Though I suppose if I am here, then they must be dead."
The Orc blinked, remembering those Humans. They were not dead.
"My hell turned into an even bigger hell when I was captured by Orcs. When they would look at me with those faces. When they would take their clothes off and… I would stick my tongue out and…" The Elf tilted her head, gazing at the ground below. "When the Humans captured me and told me of what they would do to me, I had sworn that if my first time was to happen in such a manner, I would stick my tongue out and bite it off. Some of the other Slaves… Told me that it was a method to…"
The Elf brought her shaking hands together.
"But… But… Every time that I… Prepared to do that. Every time that I thought the worst was about to happen, every time that I thought they were about to… Even when they captured me and I bit their finger, when they were about to punch me in the face… Every time…" Her head rested against the metallic bars, and her hair started sending shivers up the Orc's spine again. "Every time… You got in the way. Every time, you…"
Pushed beyond exhaustion by her explanation, the Elf closed her eyes.
"An Orc… Protecting me… Listening to me… You were… My hope… From the beginning… For an Orc to help me... It made no sense. It couldn't be... Just an Orc... You were different... And special... From the beginning... That's why..."
The Orc stopped walking.
"I thought you were… Naranca… Taking on… Another form… Taking on... The form of an Orc..."
A shaking lodged itself in his heart and lungs.
"But… Eagle or not… Naranca or not…"
The Elf fell asleep as she mumbled.
"You were my… My Guardian Spirit…"
The Orc slowly felt his arm muscles contract, his grip tightening around the rope.
"Naranca."
[Affection Gauge: 28/100 —> 38/100.]
[Affection has increased!]
[Name: (None)
Species: Orc
Blessing(s): Lust Goddess' Blessing
…
]
[You have been given the Name "Naranca".]
[Do you accept?]
The Orc stared at those words for a while.
It wasn't simply a name, but a promise.
A promise to be this woman's Guardian Spirit.
[You have accepted the Name "Naranca".]
[Name: Naranca
Species: Orc
Blessing(s): Lust Goddess' Blessing
Lust Level: 5
Title(s): "Virgin Orc"
Stats:
-Strength: 16
-Agility: 13
-Perception: 10
-Vitality: 22
-Endurance: 38
-Mana: 12
-Unused Stat Points: 3
Skills:
-Mark Of Affection[A-Rank] (LOCKED)
-Lust Aura[B-Rank] (LOCKED)
-Pheromone Pulse[C-Rank] (LOCKED)
-Pleasure Touch[C-Rank] (LOCKED)
-Desire Instinct[C-Rank] (LOCKED)
-Affection Gauge[D-Rank]
-Blessed Orcish Physique[D-Rank]
-Electric Touch[E-Rank]
-Enhanced Orcish Sexual Endurance[E-Rank]
]
'Sure. Temporarily…'
[Your Name can be changed at any given time.]
'I'll be Naranca. I'll be...' The Orc thought, his eyes burning as he stared at the groaning Piggy, threatening him with a beating if he didn't get a move. 'Your Guardian Spirit.'