My (Monster?) Hero Life

Chapter 217: Unwanted Attention

Dhash's voice was so low when he made his request that only Shagrat, Kace and the two vampires behind him had heard it. It was customary to cremate their dead and was considered taboo to bury them. Kace was unaware of this fact and thought that Kharja's and Gyn's cremation had just been a matter of choice. Besides, keeping so many dead bodies around until they found the time and place to bury them would have most likely have led to diseases being spread. 

"I would be glad to accompany you." Kace bowed to the young goblin with respect as he gave his answer. The respectful gesture was aimed more at the memory of Durz than to Dhash. He still remembered all the good times they had together before being killed in the battle for Stonefall.

"T-Thank you!" Dhash stammered as he returned the bow. He felt embarrassed to have such an important figure show him so much respect. His brother had died to take Stonefall, which would have never happened if Kace had never appeared within their tribe. However, Durz had willingly followed the Chimera, and Dhash hoped to follow in his footsteps one day.

"Ok, let's not waste any more time." Shagrat suddenly broke the atmosphere as he studied the scrutinising gazes that the surrounding monsters were aiming at Dhash. Looks of envy were clearly written all over their faces. Shagrat was worried that they might try to manipulate the young goblin to gain some advantages.

"Please, lead the way." Kace gestured towards the centre of the town while flashing a grin at Shagrat. Fully aware that he had probably caused a bit of trouble for his friend.

Shagrat could ould sigh Kace's troublemaking antics before he took the lead. The honour guard fell in beside the entire group, they had to use their strength to restrain the crowd from approaching the VIPS in the centre. Many different names were called out from the crowd as they tried to attract the attention of those in the group that they felt were suitable matches for their own positions within their society.

A few female orcs called out to Shizran using his old name. However, they became confused when he did not answer it. The other orcs quickly took the chance to mock him using his new name, making the faces of the women in the crowd turn into looks of disgust. Shizran's face turned slightly red from embarrassment. 

"I'll definitely remove this stain from my honour!" Shizran growled at the others who were mocking him.

"It'd be better if you removed the stain from your pants first!" One of the others jeered back.

A round of laughter erupted from the group and the nearby orcs in the crowd that heard the remark. Which only served to lower his status amongst his own race even further. Sure, he had gained some merits during the expedition. However, they were not known to the crowd yet. It still remained to be seen if they would be enough to earn him another name yet.

Kace took note of what he marked as a form of bullying. However, he said nothing. After all, this was a monster society, not a human one. Only the strong had the right to live in this world. 'Maybe I should recruit him?' Kace wondered as he cast his eyes over Shizran. He quickly dismissed the idea when he thought about having to deal with the smell that the orc was likely to release. He was aware that it was most likely an idea formed from missing Kharja's presence now that he had returned.

However, Kace could not have known that his single appraising glance was enough to cause a spark of hope within the orc. 'He noticed me!' Shizran wanted to howl in delight, but he restrained himself. He silently vowed to work even harder. Hopefully, he would earn a spot in Kace's own troops in time. The other orcs noticed that there was no hint of scorn in Kace's look. Which immediately silenced their taunts.

Kace was more interested in the changes that had been made while he was gone. The streets now had some kind of device that looked similar to street lamps on Earth. Metal, rusty tubes ran through some buildings as they produced smoke and steam from the chimneys. It was clear to see that significant strides had been made in the application of magical machinery.

It seemed reminiscent of an early industrial period, so Kace assumed that the air around here would quickly become polluted. It was obvious from the smoke colour that not all of the machines hidden inside the buildings ran on just magic. 'It will probably take some time for them to reach a stable stage of using it.' Kace thought as he looked around.

If he found the chance, he might even try to warn them of the dangers that could come with abusing natural resources. However, magic was different. It seemed like it was an infinite, clean energy source. Especially since it was something created within their own bodies. They were not taking any natural resources from the world to create it, at least, as far as Kace was aware anyway.

From time to time, some of the women in the crowd began to gather enough courage to try and gain Kace's attention. Considering that they were all orcs, goblins and even two or three trolls, it was obvious that Kace would not be interested in them in the slightest. He did his best to ignore them, but there were two in his group that could not.

A cold aura was revealed, and thick killing intent was aimed towards the women that dared to shout out to Kace. It was needless to say that the two sources of this phenomena were Sophia and Vaskra. The women who were assaulted by their calm, murderous aura were not strong enough to protect themselves from it. Causing them to faint where they stood.

Kace was pleased with their performance, as it quickly reduced the threat of those who might try to seduce him. 'I thought Vaskra was enough of a threat to my mental health, but those trolls would have been even worse'