/
“You helped me. That saved me.”
“With the border? Well, well, it was only natural! Come on! I’ll show you around.” Errol said, happily taking Bash’s hand and pulling him along.
“Wait, where are we going?”
“Where…?”
“It’s just that I have to go somewhere.”
“Really…?”
“Yes, to a place where there are a lot of people and a lot of alcohol.”
When Bash said that, Errol looked puzzled for a moment, but then he laughed as if he had come to a point.
“Haha. That’s an interesting way of putting it. But don’t worry, we’re going to the same place!”
“Mm?”
“That’s why you’re here, isn’t it?”
How did this man know where Bash was going? The question was answered by Zell, who came up to the Orc Hero’s ear.
“Mister, if you think about it, this is the man who brought us that magazine, so it’s only natural that he would have an idea where you were going.”
“Hmm, right.”
“In fact, there’s even a chance he might take us to a better place than the bar written in the magazine.”
“I see!” Satisfied with Zell’s words, Bash turned to Errol. “I understand. So, could you show me the place?”
“Sure, leave it to me.”
Bash was accompanied by Errol as they made their way to the center of Lycant.
■■■
Bash was led into the courtyard of a huge palace in the center of the Capital.
It was the most beautiful space Bash had ever seen. In the garden of the palace courtyard there was a large table and a mountain of food was laid out. The people there were also dressed in colorful cloth costumes and adorned with gold, silver and jewels. Just looking at them, one almost had to look away because of the glitter.
When Errol brought Bash over, he said, “I’ll go and give my greetings. You guys should relax and get something to eat,” and then he quickly went off somewhere. Bash and Zell were left alone.
“What are we going to do? This isn’t where we want to be, is it?”
“But the conditions are just right.”
This wasn’t the place described in the magazine. It wasn’t even a bar. But there were a lot of people. Apparently, they had all the alcohol they could drink.
“So there’s only one thing to do.”
It was the same on the battlefield. During the transfer, there were many times when they were taken to places other than the battlefield they had heard about beforehand. Bash had survived all these battlefields. So he was thinking now: The objective was still the same, what we had to do had not changed, even if the situation is somewhat different from what we had expected.
“What did the magazine say about what to do when you got to the bar?”
“Drink red berry wine at a nice bar and wait for a woman to ask you out… that’s what the magazine said to do, right?”
“I see.”
Bash looked around, saw the liquor he was looking for on one of the tables and took it. A small glass of fruit wine. It was an amount he didn’t feel like drinking, but this time his goal wasn’t to get drunk. Bash held it in his hand and settled in the corner of the room, literally taking small sips.
“This is great! I’ve been to a few human parties before, but I’ve never seen anything this spectacular! I’ve heard rumors that Beastmen don’t have money, but I guess they spend it at places like this. Maybe that’s why?”
“Maybe.”
“Well, I don’t care about the money! Come on, let’s go get some gals!”
Bash and Zell said and looked at the people around them. There was a wide variety of races, especially beast people and elves. He saw the occasional human. There weren’t that many dwarves. They all looked at Bash and sent him questioning glances. They wondered if it was okay to have an orc here.
“Hmm. Looking at it this way, it seems like there are a lot of high status people here.”
“I see.”
“Their clothes are so shiny.”
From the looks of it, many of the Beastmen were dressed similarly to Bash. However, many of the Beastwomen, elves and female humans wore cotton or silk kimonos with elaborate embellishments. They glittered in the sunlight.
Of course, Bash could not tell the difference in their clothing. However, it was obvious that this was a party place, and the men and women were chatting amicably with each other. The men surrounded the women with provocative smiles on their faces. The women also responded with smiles of satisfaction; their clothing often exposing their cleavage and thighs.
The eyes of men, especially humans, were glued to their breasts, and Bash’s eyes were naturally drawn to them as well. His nose was also active.
“With so many women, it’s hard to take your eyes off them.”
All the Beastwomen looked attractive. The reason they looked so good was probably because they wore clothes that were very open at the chest. Since their skin was visible, he couldn’t help but notice them.
“No, mister. This time we have to wait. You’re not a new recruit, and if you ignore the order to wait and rush in, the Orc Hero’s name will be muddied!”
“I know.”
But this time, he wasn’t going to go talk to them himself. The magazine said to wait patiently. So he would wait.
By the way, there was a reason for this, something Bash didn’t quite understand.
The Beastmen Country was a country where women were the top priority. Their ruler was a woman, and many important positions were held by women. Since ancient times, in their history and culture the pack leader was female. They also had a system of polygamy.
The Beastmen’s love life was very different from that of humans. The most notable difference was in the male’s approach to the female. To demonstrate their strength, they hunted outside the city, dressed in the materials of their prey and waited for a female to approach them. During the war, many of them wore the fangs of fallen orcs or the horns of Demons. It was said that the woman who married the strongest men became a better leader of her pack.