"Huh?" It was the only thing that came out of Blake the moment he thought he heard something.
"What's going on?"
"No, it's nothing... I just thought I heard a voice in my head."
"Mmmm... Maybe it was Sharance welcoming you, hehe. My grandfather has always said that if you pay attention, you could hear its voice." Although Blake thought he imagined that, in reality, he had heard how something/someone was congratulating him or something similar. "If you already wrote in your journal, this concludes the tour with the basic furniture of the house... Now let's go downstairs."
"Hm? Downstairs?"
"Hehe, you'll see... You just have to go down those ladders. Please, after you." That was how Blake and Shara went down to the new area followed by a calm redhead girl who kept staring at the blonde.
"Wow, there are two huge fields down here!" On each side that was observed, you could see land designed for cultivation, they were two rectangular fields separated by a path between them, enough for you to plant whatever you wanted.
"Hehe, they are the only ones in town. The crops only grow here, under the Sharance tree."
"Just under this tree, huh?"
"Yes. They are a bit unkempt, but you can consider cleaning as part of your rent!" And it was no less, both fields were full of weeds, rocks, and small logs that made it impossible to cultivate in them.
"Uh, it looks like that is going to take a while..."
"Probably! But you have time now, right?" On Blake's face, you could see the tiredness of just thinking about having to clean the whole place. "Here, it's a couple of gifts to open your new house."
Before he asked what it was about, Shara took a small sack that was tied around her waist, and from it, she took out what appeared to be a slightly rusty hoe and an old waterpot.
"Wow, how can something so big fit in that little bag?"
"Hehe, like the chest, this bag also can store many things, but not as many as the trunk."
"It's amazing... Anyway, thank you so much for the gifts!"
"I'm sure both will be useful to you... Since we're here, why don't you try farming in the field?"
"Of course!" But before he even started to move, it was heard as something began to approach from the weeds and jump in the direction of the blond.
"Eek! A monster!"
"Shara, Raven, back off!" Heeding Blake's request, they both backed away from what appeared to be an inevitable showdown.
"It seems hostile... I have no choice but to beat it!... Shara! Do you have any weapons?"
"No, sorry, but you can use your hoe as a weapon!... Please defeat the orc!"
'Huh?! With the hoe, how am I supposed to use this as a weapon?... Sigh... I guess it's better than nothing.' "Okay! leave it to me!" After getting into position, Blake turned the orc's attention to him.
The orc was a kind of humanoid pig, its face and the visible parts of its body were covered with hair, it had a large nose and black eyes, it wore strange clothes and, in its hand, there was a kind of mace small.
'What am I doing...? I don't even remember ever fighting my whole life, how am I even going to defeat it?' But taking the thoughts away from him, just as Blake arrived in front of the creature, he realized that something was ringing inside his head.
[Species: Common Orc. Status: Aggressive.]
"What? I heard again..." But before he finished his words, he had to move at full speed to avoid the mace that was coming straight to his head. 'If that had hit me...'
But once again he had to turn his attention away and dodge a second blow that went to his abdomen, and this was repeated several more times, making him realize something.
"Actually... It's very slow."
"Orghh!" Seeing how the blonde in front of it kept dodging its attacks, the orc growled furiously, increasing its speed several times compared to before.
"Blake, watch out! I activate its ability...!" However, the warning came too late, before Blake tried to dodge, he felt a great pain in his arm. "Blake!"
"I'm fine, Shara!" 'Ugh, damn it, how did it turn so fast all of a sudden?' Right at that moment, he realized that something was appearing to the side of his vision, it was a kind of bar divided into two colors, one green with the "HP" symbol and a blue one with the "RP" symbol, and of what Blake realized is that just as he received the blow of the mace in his arm, the green bar decreased a fifth of its totality.
'Is that... Is that my life? Damn, if it hits me several more times I'll be in trouble.' Once he concentrated again, he was able to get used to the orc's speed and dodge its attacks again, which made it enrage once again. 'Tsk, if I just keep dodging attacks I won't get anywhere, I must wait for the right moment.'
As he dodged the barrage of attacks, he noticed an opening just as the mace was about to hit his shoulder, Blake dodged to the side causing the orc to bury its weapon in the ground without being able to remove it, and used the moment to connect several blows using the hoe, leaving several scratches on the orc who looked increasingly angry. Meanwhile, Blake noticed how after each blow, the body of the creature came out numerical values of -6 and -5 in white.
'Was that... Was that the damage I'm doing?'
"Orghraaaa!!!" Without letting Blake continue trying to discover what he just saw, the orc pulled out all the strength it could, dug up its weapon from the ground, and ran at full speed to pounce again.
"Well, this is all or nothing, come on!" Like the creature, Blake increased his speed heading towards it, and jumped raising his hoe above his head aiming a blow towards the head of the orc, seeing this, it also prepared a vertical blow towards Blake and it could only be seen how both blows were about to connect.
"Oghraa!!"
"Take this!!" Both blows landed on his targets, Blake's hoe hitting the orc's head squarely, and the orc's small mace struck part of its enemy's left arm. Time seemed to have stopped for a few seconds while in the background Shara could be seen covering her mouth while a look of concern and amazement was on her face.
It seemed that both of them would stay in the same place forever until a -24 symbol came out of the orc and then it began to glow and become an orb of light that flew out of sight. After that, Blake fell to the ground while holding his arm, pressing down in pain and noticing how that strange green bar next to him only had a fifth of his total left and a single thought appeared in his mind.
'Hehe, it seems that luck is on my side.'