The fire in the orc camp had gone out, and the bodies of orcs lay scattered on the ground.
The mercenaries were cleaning up the battlefield, even stripping off the leather armor from the orcs' bodies, piling up the corpses to burn them, and finishing off any that were not dead yet with a sword.
No one felt cruel, the war between humans and orcs had lasted for nearly ten thousand years, and the hatred ingrained in their blood made killing seem natural.
"Angus, how are the boys doing?"
"Not bad, we have one seriously injured and four lightly wounded. It's a pity that the female leopard escaped." The hunter leader answered without lifting his head as he wrapped a bandage around his arm.
"Forget it, it's lucky that we didn't lose any brothers." Cain still felt some fear when he remembered the female lion's desperate attack before she died.
"That female leopard is really sexy, If I could catch her and take her to bed, it would be so damn exciting!" Tony, who had been nowhere to be seen during the whole fight, popped up out of nowhere.
"Tony, you? You can't even handle the women at the Nightingale Bar, and you want to go for a female beastman? Be careful she doesn't snap your little thing off."
Angus's teasing caused the mercenaries who were cleaning up the battlefield to burst into a rough laughter.
Tony didn't care at all, his face was full of a smile that couldn't be hidden. "Boss, we have a big harvest."
Tony waved his hand and a few mercenaries brought over a dozen young orcs who were tied together with ropes. Some of the little beasts bared their teeth and tried to resist, but the mercenaries whipped them and made them lie on the ground and wail.
Kaines immediately lit up his eyes. "Be gentle with them, these little guys are worth a lot of money. Killing one would cost at least dozens of gold coins."
Many human nobles liked to keep orc guards to show off their wealth and power. Some noblewomen even secretly used them as bed toys, for reasons other than curiosity, of course, it was because the orcs' thing was more robust than human men's.
Adult orc warriors were stubborn and violent, and they would not submit even if they were captured. But young orcs were easier to train and tame. Therefore, many nobles liked to buy young orc slaves and raise them from an early age. They became hot commodities in the slave market as soon as they appeared, second only to elven women in price. And the rarer the race, the higher the value.
"Boss, do you think this one is worth a thousand gold coins?" Tony pulled over the first one in line, Leon.
"Oh, what a surprise, this little lion didn't run away?" Kains squatted down and lifted Leon's chin with a finger.
Leon's eyes were bloodshot, filled with hatred for these humans who killed his mother.
Leon's hands suddenly burst into a pale golden light, breaking the rope that bound them, and his claws pounced on Kains.
But as soon as Leon moved, he was grabbed by Kains' big hand around his neck, unable to struggle at all.
Just when Leon was about to be strangled to death, Kains threw him on the ground, but his face showed a trace of solemnity. "Tony, you should tie up such a valuable little guy more securely."
"Captain, there's another one here that's only worth one gold coin. What do you want to do with him?" A mercenary dragged out the skinny Arthur from the team.
Compared to the popular young orcs, human teenage slaves who were useless were naturally not worth much.
Kains had noticed this strange boy who appeared in the orc camp during the day, and he was even more amazed that he could defeat the little lion who had almost reached the level of a first-order warrior.
Kains also lifted Arthur's chin, but his movement was much gentler.
Arthur raised his head and showed a smile and a mouthful of white teeth. Although he was covered with dirt and his hair was messy, his face was very clean and his eyes were even purer.
"What's your name, and how old are you?"
"Leader, my name is Arthur, and I'm twelve years old."
Cairns was surprised, "How do you know I'm the Leader?"
"Isn't that what those mercenary big brothers call you?"
Cairns smiled, "You're very smart. Why were you in the orc camp?"
"Our village was attacked by orcs two years ago. My mother was killed by orcs, and I was taken to the orc camp as a slave."
"You're lying!" Tony suddenly grabbed Arthur's collar and stared at him fiercely, "Orcs don't need human children as slaves. On the contrary, some orc nobles prefer to eat human children. And, you don't look like a slave at all. How do you explain this leather armor on you?"
"Tony, you're scaring him." Adeline couldn't help but stop Tony, the boy's smile seemed to have a magic power that made her believe everything he said.
Arthur gave Adeline a grateful look, "Don't worry, beautiful and respected lady, he won't scare me, I've seen more ferocious orcs than him."
"Your mouth is pretty sweet." Tony knew his strategy didn't work, and slowly let go of Arthur's collar.
"I'm alive because I still have value. The mistress wants to find a human opponent for her son, so he can learn more about his enemies." Arthur explained slowly.
"Mistress? That lioness?" Keynes asked.
Arthur lowered his head sadly, "Actually, the mistress is very good to me. If it weren't for her, I would have been food for some orcs long ago."
Leon, who was still lying on the ground, suddenly raised his head and looked at Arthur with a surprised look.
"Untie his rope. He's no longer a slave here." Keynes said loudly.
"Thank you!" Arthur bowed and thanked Keynes, Adeline, Tony and even the mercenary who helped him out of his predicament.
Keynes laughed and waved his hand, continuing to greet the other mercenaries to quickly clean up the battlefield, not letting go of anything of value.
"You're going to take back these shabby leather armors and orc weapons?" Adeline, who had been following Keynes, couldn't help but complain in a low voice.
"Ants are also meat, throwing them to the weapon shop for recycling can always exchange some gold coins. You don't know how expensive it is to run a household, how many mouths are waiting for me to feed? And we made a mistake this time, apart from these little orcs there's nothing valuable in this noble camp." Adeline's complaint was met with a torrent of grumbling from Keynes.
"What are you going to do with that kid?" Adeline asked in a low voice.
"Let's take him back to the city first. He's an interesting little fellow." Keynes glanced at Arthur, who was helping them clean up the battlefield. In a very short time, Arthur had blended in with the mercenaries and was helping them collect the valuable things from the orcs' bodies.
Keynes might not have expected that his curious decision would change the original course of history on the Beland continent…