Commotion on the Caravan

Upon seeing the orc mounting the caravan, Micheal was momentarily stunned. 'What… a figure with green skin and a distorted face? This must be the orcs I've read about! I heard they were really similar to humans but this… this sure is shocking!'

Dante got on the small carriage. It rocked as he got on because of how unstable it was. He saw the guard who was in the back change expression. The guard sighed and nodded. Dante was not shocked by this. He knew that ever since the orc hero gained enough strength to beat one of the strongest beings known to Lunalla, the Demon Lord, orcs were seen as more of a threat. The other person in the carriage was a white human. Even though he looked about the same size as Dante, he felt as if he would absolutely demolish him in a fight. He had been trained in basic spells with his Apprentice Pathway. Most people of Lunalla only get to step 1 or step 2 of their pathways, and this human in the back looked like he didn't even choose a pathway yet.

"Hi there!" Micheal exclaimed after getting rid of his shock. 'Hopefully he didn't notice my shock, it could have been seen as disrespectful.' "So, you're going to the capital too, huh?"

Dante looked down at Micheal. He sat down and sighed while looking back at Dawn town, "Yes, after all these years I am finally leaving that clown hole of a village." Dante said.

"Clown hole?" 'He must have some grievances with his village to call it so….' "Well, I'm going to the city because I have some very cool skills which, combined with my hard work and Intellect, I am going to use to make it big in the city! I love my friends back in my village and they shouldn't have to work so hard everyday just to survive." Micheal then internally thought, ' Also, with my fortune teller pathway powers… I'm practically guaranteed to make it big! And if there's anyway to upgrade them… well, I'd work my ass off for it.'

Looking at Dante, then introduced himself, "My name is Micheal Marketwire, and that was my dream. What's your name?"

Dante chuckled. "Compared to my home, that sounds like heaven. All people want to do there is drink beer, complain, and be annoying. All my friends ended up either dying or running away from that hellish village. They work their asses off just to be told they will become a carrot farmer." Dante continued "Hello Mike L. . I am Dante, and I'm going to the capital to gain a certain power so that I'll never have to fight a single person ever again."

'A certain power…? Never having to fight again sounds amazing! That would bring a life of peace!' Micheal was excited by this, but then he processed the rest of Dantes' statement. 'Mike …. Mike L? Mike L your fucking head! But he's an orc so…' Micheal proceeded to turn away from the orc and flipped a coin. 'Pointing this out is dangerous.' Tails. 'So it's not.'

"Mike L? Mike L your head! Who the fuck is Mike L?! I can't believe you've done this. I thought we were gonna have a nice carriage ride where we share our dreams and aspirations and become friends and sing songs as we dance around the campfire but no. You come at me here with these taunting words 'Mike L'.'' Micheal then crossed his arms as he humpfed and looked away from Dante.

Dante was confused. All he did was call Mike L. his name? Why would he be mad? At the same time, Dante was surprised by this human bravery. Usually orcs are seen as being dangerous and scary to other races. Dante laughed, "You're pretty brave Mike L., have you heard of the Great Lunallian Library? Supposedly there they have books of all the public known Pathways and how to achieve them!"

'.....' Micheal was visibly shocked into speechlessness.

'So….... wait. He said pathways. He knows about pathways. He then said that there's books of public known pathways? So this is actually common knowledge !? I'm not special!? This would mean pretty much everyone has special powers in the cities!' Micheal was on the verge of breaking down and just directly collapsing until a thought to him.

'Wait a minute… there's no need to despair! I, Micheal Marketwire have a dream. It was just to make it big in the city! I can still do this. I always knew that making it big in the city was a hard thing to do which would require hard work, but I have something above everyone else. I'm so smart!'

This absurd overconfidence Micheal had, which was based on literally nothing, instantly brought him back after being dealt the shock of his life.

While Micheal was thinking all this, he was just sitting there unresponsively as Dante awaited an answer.

"Well Mike L., I'll have you know that the ability I'm aiming for will put me as the king of the world, I have the natural talent." Dante said proudly. "While my village may have been shit, my bloodline is insanely strong."

Micheal heard Dante, but was more interested in this. Dante kept purposely mispronouncing his name, but he doesn't seem like he's actually making fun of me, and he literally avoided my outburst with a "your pretty brave" response. Could this orc… not actually have any social awareness? Does he not know this is rude? "Dante, before we speak any further, I need to know. Why do you keep calling me Mike L? It's actually just bad to make fun of my name unprovoked like this."

Dante was now visibly angry. "What do you mean, I'm not pronouncing Mike L wrong. Are you making fun of the way I speak, human?!" Dante was annoyed but decided to intimidate poor Michael. While normally Dante is a very passive person and would never do this normally, he figured a human with the brain the size of a walnut would be a fun person to tease.

Micheal was enraged. 'Dante was angry?! What right does he have to be angry! Even if this was his accent or something, which I'm sure it's not, he should get angry after my first outburst! Now that I've told him respectfully, he's mad and talking down to me?! Fuck him! It seems the rumors were true! Orcs are braindead creatures that only respect strength! Also, why is he calling me human! So what now, he's racist, too!? This orc needs some sense beaten into him!'

Even with the anger from this stupid orc filling Micheals mind, he didn't forget to be careful. Behind his hand he quickly haphazardly threw a coin into the air. 'Is confronting him dangerous?' The coin fell slightly to Micheals' right side. 'So it's dangerous, but within acceptable levels.'

Micheal stood up and pointed at the orc in front of him. "Fuck you! Racist bastard! Seems you're a coward who only respects strength, huh! Well, your father, I, is about to beat some sense into you!"

With this statement, Micheal grabbed his spear and turned it around so the dull handle was pointing towards Dante, and then charged towards him, sending Dante falling off the carriage.

As Dante was on the ground, the carriage driver saw the commotion behind him and sighed, stopping the carriage, as he thought internally, 'Guess I'll charge them extra.'

Micheal retracted his spear and pointed towards Dante which was on the ground. "Dante! I haven't tried to provoke you in the slightest! I've been trying to make friends with you, and yet all you've done was provoke me over and over again until no man's pride could stand such insults! Why! Next time you wonder why your race is treated differently, think back to what you've done here!"

With this, Micheal stayed standing up holding his spear as he looked at Dante on the dirt below, awaiting a response.