Could a person be an invincible warrior and at the same time defend herself against intrigue with her sharp wit? Although few people have accomplished this seemingly impossible job in history, Alyon and his father Brave Heart were not among them.
“Nafız, I want to take care of the girl. Can you take care of the other one?”
Even if Alyon was true to his friend’s words, he could not allow such a frail orc to hang around him as his son. As an orc chief, it seemed more desirable to him to take care of his fighter child, even if he was female.
Nafız turned towards the skinny orc, whose face he expected to be saddened by his father’s words, and, contrary to his expectation, she saw a person listening to the conversation calmly as if nothing had happened.
“Hey skinny, come here. From now on, you will train under my command.”
When the Orc, standing up and strolling with his book, came to his side, Nafız took him out of the tent as he held his arm. With a shrill scream, Nafız, who attracted the Orcs’ attention in the tribe, started to speak loudly.
“This boy’s name is Bookworm. Along with Sangre, he is one of my students. The orders he will give you after today will be deemed to have come out of my mouth.”
Before the crowd, looking towards the chief’s tent, could get over their amazement, Nafız and her disciple entered.
“The meeting is over. Pigtail escorts Miloş to the healers’ tent. Girl, I interrupted your training too; it seems appropriate for you to work with me for a while as compensation.”
With Alyon’s words, Nafız was left alone with the skinny orc after those supposed to take charge of their duties had left the tent. Nafız said to the orca, who had been watching silently for a while, “How long do you intend to keep that book you just finished?”
When Nafız realized that the orc, who had a separator in his book when they first met, was carrying the book for the second time only as a decoration, he put the bait on the hook. Nafız continued smiling while the face of the Bookworm, who was looking at her, confirmed that he had taken the bait.
“What happened; are you surprised? If you can complete the tasks I gave you, you will encounter more surprises.”
The skinny orc, who came to the fishing line when he was free, said, a little nervously, a little contemptuously, “I am inquisitive how those who only know about killing someone like you will surprise me.”
The Bookworm, who seemed confident as he finished, would be stunned the next moment. The skinny orc couldn’t believe his eyes as heaps of books appeared out of nowhere to cover the floor.
“If you’ve finished the coloring books your father gave you, it’s time to read some useful stuff.”
Watching the orc buried in the pile of books on the ground, Nafız continued her speech when she saw that the Bookworm passed out.
“Considering that you have no desire to fight, maybe I can teach you other arts in the future if you work hard.”
Nafız, who was about to finish her speech and leave the door, was startled by the voice behind her.
“Master, wait a minute! I want to give you a secret.”
The sudden change of the Bookworm, who had just spoken arrogantly, caught Nafız’s attention. She stopped her steps and said, “Speak!”
“It’s not that I don’t want to fight. I press my desire, which I hide inside me like a burning fire so that I do not embarrass my family with my inadequate physical condition.”
When the Bookworm reached adulthood, he became aware of the abnormality in himself. And when told that he was the orc chief’s son, he instinctively pretended to choose a different path instead of embarrassing his family.
When Nafız understood the situation, she did not know whether to be angry at the ignorance of the orc, who trembled before her or to appreciate his nobleness.
“You ignorant boy! Do you think that taking a big ax in your hand and shouting at each other is the only fighting style?”
The skinny Orc was shocked by what he heard, but he could not move beyond the frames that surrounded him.
“The whole tribe is fighting based on their physical strength. How can I be strong under these conditions?”
Nafız came with her to the training area to give her first lesson to her new student, who has a narrow vision as a frog living at the bottom of the well. Meanwhile, father and daughter struggling in the fighting circle, a large group of orcs watched with admiration. During the battle, axes clashed, fists clashed, and the sounds that came out caused the orcs to cheer.
“Two pigs are tossed each other, and you’re watching it as a fight!”
When the struggle was heating up, all the excitement of the environment was dissipated with a shrill voice. While Nafız was walking towards the middle of the square with extraordinary steps, the sides of the fight were also separated.
“Nafız, what are you doing here? Can’t you see we’re in the middle of training?”
Alyon, on the one hand, was angry that his enjoyment from the fight was spoiled, and on the other hand, he wondered why Nafız was here.
“Big orc chief, is he talking about his struggle with Yarmagül here as training? I never knew you loved entertaining children so much.”
When Nafız finished her words by turning to the female orc, a short answer awaited her.
“You can’t call me whatever name you want, skinny creature!”
”Wow! What a loud sound! Do you think you can scare me when you shout like that, Yarmagül?”
Although Alyon did not understand Nafız’s purpose, he wanted to intervene before things got out of control anymore, but his daughter’s words would spoil his dreams.
“I’ve heard your stories, but I’ll bet they’re nothing more than cowards’ exaggeration.”
Seeing that her opponent had come to a boil, Nafız picked up a hand-sized piece of a shield and lifted it into the air.
“You heard it too; she publicly challenged me! If I use a weapon to beat such a brat, I’ll be tainting my name. This piece of the broken shield is enough to teach Yarmagül a lesson.”
Humiliated three times by nicknames, the chief’s daughter, unable to control her anger, ran onto Nafız like a lightning bolt.
The skinny female Orc with red hair at the ends stood calmly, unlike her rival, who rushed like a death-god, with her ax in hand and big muscles swollen with nerves.
Nafız, who got rid of the ax that came on her with an agile movement, scratched her opponent’s calf. With the impact of the blow, the weapon in her hand was thrown, and the piece of metal returned to where it came from.
The chief’s daughter, who suffered an insignificant scratch due to the first collision, laughed with delight as her enemy was unarmed.
The big orc, who attacked her unarmed opponent with her ax, was gasping at the nose because of Nafız, who avoided all her blows, as she said it was complete every time. Meanwhile, the blood flowing from the small cut in her leg had reached her ankle, and the wound had prevented her movements.
“Nafız, that’s enough!”
When Chief Alyon saw that his daughter’s reputation and life were in danger, he shouted sternly to end things. When the attention of Nafız, who was turning in the direction of the voice, was distracted from her, she thought that the chief’s daughter had caught the opportunity she was looking for, and she attacked to make one last move.
Since victory meant life and defeat meant death during the war, any cheating on this road could be permissible. The chief’s daughter attacked his opponent, who was distracted and suddenly fell to his knees, realizing that there were changes in his body that he had never felt before.
She collapsed to the ground as she lost all control of her body, and then her eyes followed the footsteps of her opponent walking towards her head.
“Generally, warriors focus on protecting their head and upper body. Fools! One of the largest veins runs through a person’s calf. Did you realize how long it takes for a poison entering the system from here to take effect?”
Lying motionless on the ground, the chief’s daughter squirmed in pain as she remembered the reckless blow she had received at the beginning of the battle. With what she had learned in her short life, she couldn’t guess that such a wound would put her in this state.
“Nafız! Quickly give my daughter the antidote; you’re starting to miss the joke.”
Alyon was trying to control the situation when he realized he couldn’t stand his daughter’s pathetic situation anymore. As Nafız pours the potion into the mouth of the female orc lying on the ground, “I’ll address you like this, Yarmagül. If you can get stronger and beat me, you can change that,” he whispered.
Nafız, leaving the head of the girl lying on the ground, calmly walked past his student. The Bookworm was running after him excitedly.
“Master, wait for me, master! Can I fight like that too?”
“As I told you before if you do the things I gave you properly, anything is possible?”
“Master, you don’t have to wait long; give me my first mission now. You can be sure that I won’t disappoint you?”
As the emotional state started to attract Nafız’s attention, she said it was time for her to go through a trial and declare his first mission.
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Don’t be ashamed or bored by your behavior; all life is an experiment.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
