The Only Good Orc is a Half-Orc
Chapter 23

The Return – Part 3

“So, what do you need us to do.”

“Cecelia, what are you saying?”

“Tarquin, while you can keep trying to come up with reasons they are lying, it’s clear none of them will be true. We might as well just hear them out.”

He hung his head in disappointment given that he had been unable to come out on top in this situation, and so resided himself to the doom he expected to occur from helping these two.

“Fine. What do you need from us then?”

Olivia had managed to get herself up off the floor while everyone was shouting at each other, but she still couldn’t replace the time to jump not this conversation. All she could do right now was watch Lyrika talk about their plan.

She spoke about how they needed proof that the chief’s wives were hurt and were being hurt by him. Having that would surely cause outrage amongst the tribe leaders they had been taken from. She also told them about needing to learn why he was gathering all the tribes together and how it seemed like he was creating his own personal army, taking members from each.

Tarquin and Cecelia responded by saying how he wanted to build a community, but Lyrika brought up what Olivia had said about how a man that does that to his wives is unlikely to be doing this for the ‘community’.

.....

Once she said that, both of them agreed that she might be right, assuming they confirmed he was in fact hurting his wives.

“So, you want us to ask around, see if anyone else has seen or heard about any of this.”

“Yes, but be careful of whom you trust. I know it’s a lot to ask, but those women need help, and whatever the chief plans to do with everyone may be way worse than what’s he’s already done. We all need to know before it’s too late.”

Tarquin and Cecelia looked at each other and after a few seconds, both nodded.

“We will help you. To be honest, a few people have had some doubts about his motives as well. I’m sure they can help replace out what you need.”

A massive smile formed on Lyrika’s face as she heard his response.

“Yes, thank you thank you thank you.” Lyrika then went to jump forward, likely to hug Tarquin out of impulse but managed to catch herself. When she realised what she was about to do, her eyes couldn’t help but wander over to Olivia as if she was looking for some sort of reaction from her about what she almost did. By the stoic look on Olivia’s face, she didn’t know what to feel by that. Disappointment maybe?

As she looked back at Tarquin, she noticed the glare from Cecelia meaning she clearly realised what Lyrika was about to do. She definitely made the right move by stopping herself.

Olivia’s stoic look had nothing to do with Lyrika almost jumping to hug Tarquin though. It was more the fact that since she had not spoken and was basically excluded from the conversation, she had slowly started to slip into a coma and miss most of what they were talking about.

Lyrika took her eyes away from Cecelia’s annoyed look and managed to get herself back together and continue the discussion. “We also need a place to stay. Sleeping in the forest is exhausting. Do you think you could sneak us into the village so I can sleep on an actual bed?”

Cecelia giggled at this, likely because she realised the absurdity of trying to sneak an exile and a part Orc part Goblin into a tiny village. Tarquin’s reaction was the exact opposite of this, being one who easily showed his expressions.

“What no. We can’t sneak an exile and an Orc-Goblin woman into the village. That is complexity against our laws and there are so many people in the village, that they will easily replace out. And besides… I still don’t fully trust her. What if she attacks someone.”

Olivia had an offended look on her face, but no one bothered to notice as Lyrika could kind of understand what he was saying.

Cecelia quickly whispered in Tarquin’s ear, causing his expression to change to shock and then back to anger as she spoke.

“No, they cannot go there. That is…” he trailed off mumbling the last part of his sentence.

“What. What is it?” Lyrika asked. It seemed like there was a place they could go, so what was the problem?

Cecelia turned back to Lyrika and after a sigh, reluctantly brought up her proposal. “There is a hunting cabin… not far from here. It was assigned to us to use as a safe haven in case of monsters or bandits. You can…stay there. For a while.”

“Well, that sounds good, does it have a bed?”

Lyrika was so engrossed and happy in having a proper place to sleep that she had not noticed the expressions and emotions the hunters were showing. With Tarquin’s annoyed response in suggesting they could stay there, to the pauses in Cecelia’s sentence, Olivia was quite sure she knew what this place was, and it wasn’t just a safe space to get away from monsters.

“But, no! That is our place. They will ruin it.” Tarquin cried out in annoyance.

“…”

“…”

“Wait, ‘our place’, ‘ruin it’… oh no. Is this where you to go to sleep together!”

The blush on both of their faces told Lyrika everything, which coincidently caused her to make a gagging motion.

“Ugggh, is there really nowhere else we can go.”

“Im afraid not. Now, while it is our…special place, it is clear that you need a proper place to rest. Also, the cabin it is only accessible by us, so no one will replace you there. We can even give you new… bedding if you would prefer.” Cecelia chimed in.

“Uggh.” Lyrika liked away to fake vomit after hearing that.

With no other option, aside from roughing it, once she recovered, all she could really say was ok and that they will definitely need new bedding. With that decided, the hunters took them to the cabin.

…

Heading through the forest they eventually reached the cabin. There was nothing special about it, as it was made for functionality rather than aesthetics. Simple in design, it was made out of a dark wood and blended well with the surrounding forest. The walls and the door looked strong, and the scratches they saw that looked like they came from claws, showed that it could take a beating.

As they headed inside, they gave Lyrika and Olivia a quick tour. Well, it was mainly Lyrika that received it as they wanted Olivia to keep her distance. Even though they somewhat tolerated that Olivia was a part of this, neither of them wanted to be in a confined space with her, where anything could happen.

The inside of the cabin was pretty bare. There was a table and a couple of chairs, a few chests for storage containing some well-preserved food, a very large jar-like container filled with water and two beds which were pushed together…for some reason. Why that was, was anyone’s guess.

All kidding aside, there wasn’t much, but there didn’t need to be. You had food, water and shelter. Where was this during her first day in this world when she set those as her main goals?

Back outside, Cecelia said they would head back and pick up some new bedding, which Lyrika wholeheartedly agreed on. As they watched them go, Lyrika very quickly and adamantly said “We need to air this place out.”

With the doors open they waited outside as the air did its thing, and as they waited a paranoid thought came to Olivia.

“I think we should wait for a short distance from the cabin.”

“Wha- why?”

“Well, you’re an exile and I’m a… let’s face it, a monster to them. Who’s to say they won’t tell other people about us.”

“But they’re-” Lyrika started to say something, but ended up stopping herself. While it was likely she was about to say friends, while it wasn’t untrue, the situation between them was definitely more complicated. “Anyway, I know them and they are not bad people…”

‘It almost sounds like she was trying to convince herself.’

Lyrika stood there just thinking about it and after a while, sighed as she took in the situation.

“Ok, we can wait away from the cabin. But I’m sure there is nothing to worry about.”

…

A few hours later and as far as she could see, Lyrika was right. No other hunters or warriors were following Tarquin or Cecelia as they arrived at the cabin, so it seemed like everything was fine. There was the possibility that someone would come later, but only time would tell. But she didn’t think that would be the case.

With the new bedding handed over, the hunters bid them goodnight and that they would ask around about the chief. Cecelia also said to Lyrika that if she needed anything, to just let her know and that they would be back tomorrow afternoon.

Watching them go, Lyrika brought up a question that had been confusing her for a while now.

“Why is she being so nice to us? I don’t even really know her?”

It hadn’t occurred to her that it was strange, but Olivia went ahead and pondered why this was the case as well. It could have been just her nature and that she was a nice person. The other reason was quite a bit worse as it involved Lyrika romance with Tarquin. It may have been that while Tarquin was adamant that he had only got together with Cecila after he and Lyrika parted, that may not have been true. This could have led to Cecelia feeling guilty and her being nice and helpful to Lyrika is her way to… atone, so to speak.

When Lyrika didn’t receive an answer from Olivia she looked over and asked again. Startled out of her thoughts, she quickly said she had no idea why Ceclia was being so nice, trying to just sweep it under the rug.

But she did so quite unconvincingly.

“…”

Lyrika just stared at Olivia who clearly knew something was up.

“You know something, don’t you?”

“N-no.”

“…”

Olivia didn’t hold out for long and so she told her. She told her how it might just be her usual personality or that she felt guilty.

Thankfully, she took it rather well.

“I knew it, I knew he wasn’t being honest when he said nothing was going on! The liar!” She shouted angrily while every now and then she gritted her teeth. She seethed for a while but eventually calmed down. She said that while she was angry, it was way into the past and that she had moved on, which she said while her eyes very quickly glanced at Olivia.

…

New bedding in hand they got to work changing things. Lyrika was tempted to light the old bedding on fire, but Olivia managed to calm her down enough that they just left it in storage.

They then had the final meal of the day, using the last of the Efflers and then got to bed.

The blissful sound Lyrika made as she laid down showed how much she had been looking forward to this, and how much nicer it was compared to in the forest. While it wasn’t like a modern bed, even with its simple design it was so much more comfortable that the dirt and grass.

“Thank you.”

“Huh…what for?” Olivia replied a little startled at the thanks from Lyrika.

“Everything. We only met a while ago, and it may not have seemed like much but you have helped me a lot since we met and you’re still doing so. You practically saved me from starvation, consoled me about my exile and forgave me when I attacked you… both times. You helped me come up with a plan to set things right, got me meat to eat, kept me company throughout my exile and got me back to my village.”

“They all seem quite small things to me.”

“Maybe so, but to me, you managed to help and take care of me through a very tough time in my life. You’ve been so nice and caring…even when I wasn’t always the same to you. I feel like…I feel like I should repay you in some way.”

“There is no need for that. I did what anyone would do.” Olivia said, shrugging as she did.

“Oh please, as if most would help someone who attacked them,” Lyrika mumbled, rolling her eyes at the absurdity of Olivia’s statement.

“Well, that may be, but as I said, there’s no need to repay me. It’s just in my nature. Anyway, I haven’t finished helping you yet, as we still haven’t stopped the chief or saved those girls.”

Olivia laid back and tried to get some sleep in this new bed, thinking she had laid Lyrika’s thoughts to rest.

Lyrika though was looking over at Olivia, contemplating something. She looked at her face, and her eyes then drifted down her body to where her breasts were under the fur cover, showing their contours. Even though she was unable to see them, she ended up blushing slightly. This only intensified as her eyes moved down to her body to where her abs would be, her memory going back to all the times she had watched Olivia exercising with them and her muscles on full display, with the sweat running between them. This also brought up the Effler incident and the time she had helped to ‘check’ her wound. All of this caused her to rub her thighs together.

.....

Then she spotted the slight bulge in the bedding where she knew Olivia’s package was. This sent her mind back to the second time she had attacked her and her discovery of it for the first and only time, turning her tanned skin into that of a tomato.

She then laid herself down and tried to get to sleep as her thoughts turned dirty. Part of her mind fought against this, telling her that it was a monster that was causing these thoughts. But eventually, the devil on her shoulder won and all she could think of was seeing Olivia’s package again. And hopefully doing something more with it.