42 Experiment

"Welcome home, master", Madam Lariette said.

She was the head chamber maid who have taken care of the Golden Lion Villa's cleaning, cooking and gardening. She was especially talented, since she had managed to grow magical plants, earning a great deal of favourability from George.

George nodded and revealed a slightly curved smile.

In the dining room, there stood dozens of delicacies, most of which cost over ten gold coins. Plates of the highest quality and nutritious properties stood on the table. On the side, there were dragon-shaped glasses emitting a strong wine aroma.

On the side, there were a couple of musicians, servants who could play music. It was not a huge orchestra, but there were a couple of violins and flutes playing in the background, giving George a pleasant entrance. Although there was music, the room was pretty calm and relaxing. Every time George escaped his training room, laboratory or tedious meetings with influential political characters of Melvinger City, the dining room would greet him and allow him to decompress.

A huge golden chandelier hung from the centre of the large hall. It was densely packed with lighted candles that shone through the surrounding coloured crystals letting out a colourful light. At the side of this huge hall, paintings from Lady Azareth's personal collections were displayed with grace.

Although it had only been two years since George had come into this world, he could feel that it was not any less stressful than modern Earth. In fact, the increasingly more dangerous war with the orcs and their unforeseen siege of Melvinger City had made George worry for the very first time since he had transmigrated.

Until now, everything had gone like he had planned. With the help of his biochip, he took the safest routes to become stronger, and eventually became a Grand Knight, as well as a master swordsman.

However, although he had succeeded in creating a war that highly increased his value in the eyes of the other wandering acolytes in the city as well as its inhabitants, the war he had created was no longer controllable. The number of orc shamans who were thought to be extinct in the region was flabbergasting. Usually, it would be rare for an orc shaman to be born among thousands. Yet, there were twenty-two of them reported currently, perhaps even more based on the mercenaries' lack of accuracy.

Besides them, the birth of two orc kings in less than a century was something that had never happened in dozens of historic records that George had read. He had created a war after careful considerations of the past. However, there was a first time for everything, and the orcs had overcome his wildest expectations.

That's why, in the midst of stress and fear, George could finally rest for a while with pleasant meals, and music suit to his taste. On the table, a couple of people greeted him. They were not guests of the Golden Lion Villa, but rather, trusted residents.

Two of them were the head physicians of the medicine hall, helping him with the less serious casualties of the war. Talented and experienced, they were part of the reason why the Medicine Hall had grown so powerful, wealthy and influential in Melvinger City. Their administrative skills and ability to appraise whether they could save the injured was particularly useful in times of crisis.

Besides the two middle-aged men, there was two beautiful ladies. One of them was a knight resident who was in charge of supervising the Black Wolf Mercenary group: Lady Hubert, a trusted hedge knight that swore allegiance to George after he saved her life after she was bitten by a rare species of venimous snake.

The other one was the runaway Lady from a minor noble family called Pilterwood. George had accepted to shelter her in exchange for her family's heirloom, who turned out to be a broken magical artefact. Unfortunately, despite months of research, the broken magical artefact yielded no results whatsoever, and besides expanding his database slightly, this project had turned fruitless.

Still, George was a man who would not easily break promises, and continued to shelter her.

However, perhaps the most surprising person in this dining room was...Gurk.

[Beep! Scan Complete]

[Name - Gurk | Status - Healthy | Rank 2 Orc Acolyte

Attributes :

Strength - 3.2 | Dexterity - 1.0 | Vitality - 2.3 | Spiritual Force - 4.4

Spells - Wind Blade]

Gurk was an orc child. George had hired mercenaries to capture the son of an orc's chieftain. Originally, George wanted to draw the ire and wrath of the orc tribes, and turn Melvinger City as a target. His plan succeeded, a little too well at that.

However, it turns out that the orc child he had kidnapped was able to use magic. It seemed that the use of shamanism was not innate, and had to be taught. Hence, George made Gurk learn acolyte arts and meditation techniques. An orc walking the path of magi. This was definitely a rare sight.

Gurk could not speak the common human language, so George was the one who had to learn the orc language. He thought it would come in handy. Although learning the language was quite fast, learning how to pronunce the different sounds well took a long time. Eventually, he got the hang of it.

The people in the villa kept it a secret, since it would surely scare many inhabitants and knights. However, even if they all found it very weird, they had come to enjoy the presence of the cute not-so-little orc. As he wore human clothes, he looked like a gentleman with green skin and a ferocious aura. But in face of George, a Grand-Knight and unfathomable peak rank 2 acolyte, he was like a little puppy, obeying his every orders as if his life was at stakes.

Gurk was raised for the sake of an experiment.

Now, he was part of the Golden Lion Villa as one of George's most trusted companions, as well as the second strongest individual below George in the mansion.