Walking out of the tavern and towards the gate, Eduard left the town trying to get to the north faster. The moon was nearly full casting moonlight down onto the world below, not that it mattered much for Eduard he could see the same at all times of the day. "I wonder if the increased monster activity is because of me." Eduard mumbled, had they awoken because they felt his presence? As he moved further away from the town the road got worse and worse till it was only a trai.
As Eduard walked he could feel that he was going north, it was something inside him, his sixth sense maybe. Walking to the north would take him multiple months, he planned on hiring a carriage at the nearest city. Looking up at the sky he could see that during his march the sun had risen to nearly full height and there wasn't civilization anywhere in sight, deciding to take a break at the next source of water he continued on. After walking for an hour he could finally hear the sound of running water, sighing Eduard looked around.
Green leaves and plants blanketed the forest, moving in the direction of the stream he could hear talking, shrugging his shoulders Eduard continued on. Reaching the creek he could see them, orcs, maybe twelve of them sitting beside the creek dressing pray and talking amongst themselves. Walking out of the brush and towards the creek Eduard looked at the orcs, startled by his presence they looked back at him.
"Tasty human, stay right there," one of the orcs said, approaching the hooded figure with glee.
But he was suddenly stopped by the biggest orc, it was wearing beast hid leather armor with wolf fur, with an eyepatch covering his left eye, he seemed to be the leader.
"What are you, stranger?" His voice nervously drew out, the other orcs were too weak to even sense the power Eduard possessed but this orc seemed just strong enough to sense the great gulf between their levels.
Chuckling out loud, Eduard lowered the cloak covering his head, and released his hidden demonic power. The pebbles in the river shook and invisible waves of energy came off of him. Smiling at the orcs Eduard opened his mouth, "I am the next demon king if you must ask, orc."
Something deep within the orcs stirred, a sense of reverence maybe, fear whatever it was it made all the orcs lower their eyes from this demon, shivers going up their spines.
The orc chieftain spoke first, "I am sorry for the disrespect lord this humble servant is Grimble the leader of this small band."
The other orcs stood in silence, fear on their faces, not a sound leaving their bodies. Eduard smiled, orcs hmm, they may be good servants he thought to himself. "Look me in the eyes chief Grimble, are you willing to serve, or die?" Eduard asked with relish.
Grimble shivered and quickly stuttered out, "serve of course serve my lord." before any other orc could say a word he bowed before Eduard before this demon could change its mind.
Looking at the orc with his red and black eyes Eduard chuckled, "good we set out for the north at once." with a smile on his face Eduard turned and walked towards the path his new orc slaves in tow.
As he walked in front followed by Grimble, who was followed by the other eleven orcs, he could hear them complaining amongst themselves. Anyone who had been free a couple minutes ago and had become servants would be angry, but that's how this world worked, it was the law of the jungle. The strongest, the richest, the smartest, they ruled and if you were worse you followed, it isn't fair, but that is how it worked. Now with his subordinates in tow, Eduard continued north towards the elven kingdom and Lilly. The only problem is unlike him the orcs had to sleep so it slowed his pace slightly, though it gave him time to refresh himself in swordsmanship which he had not touched for over 4 years. Feeling more control over his sword, with a smirk on his face under the hood Eduard turned towards the tired orcs.
Seeing the tired orcs he decided that he could give them an extra hour of rest, so he decided to pass the time by asking what Grimble knew about the area. "Hey Grimble, how close is the nearest city to the north?" Eduard asked with interest.
"Not far my lord, I think maybe only a week out my lord is that acceptable?" the orc answered nervously, this demon had not lashed out yet but their kind were known to be cruel and evil.
"That's fine, that's fine, after we get there we will procure transportation and continue heading north." Eduard said with a smirk, while he was with the orcs he hated to hide his horns. It felt wrong, they were a demon's pride after all.
"If you don't mind my lord would you tell this humble servant why we are traveling all the way?" Grimble asked with a hint of fear.
"So that I can free some of my new servants from their confines, in the elven city." Eduard said back with a smile.
Thinking that it was unwise to question his new boss any longer, Grimble walked over to the nearby orcs and asked them to go out and catch some prey. Sitting to the side with a relaxed smile on his face he watched half the orcs go out to hunt, Grimble was a natural born leader he would be a useful servant later when he had more orcs under his command. Thinking this Eduard went back to training his sword deciding that they would continue on their journey the next day.