103: Opinions

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"By the way... what are the rumors you were mentioning about?" I ask as Gell leads me calmly down some of the same hallways and staircases that only a few days ago we hurried through.

"There are people who say that Garnuk was defeated in a disloyal way, or even that he was killed in that very way, and that therefore the new government is not legitimate. But my father does not want to show his face before the people to disprove these rumors, although I am sure he too must be upset by the rumors. He has actually refused to talk to us unless you ask him personally; he flatly refuses to listen to us. It's pretty childish behavior, if you ask me." Gell says, sighing, as he pauses for a few moments to look out a window at the city. "But, since he's still the strongest person in the city after you, it wouldn't be wise to try to force him to listen to us."

"Has he told you what his reason is for refusing to talk to you?" I ask curiously, a little annoyed at the stupid situation that is forcing me to leave the peace of my now-cherished room.

"I think it's mostly a pretext to see you again. He seems a little frustrated that you've been secluded in your room all these days," he says, sighing again and resuming walking.

"That wasn't my doing, at least not at first," I say, irritated.

"Yeah... I know. I wasn't throwing it in your face..." says Gell, who seems confused by my attitude "Anyway, we think the rumors were spread by some of the guards there on the day of the duel for the leadership. I guess some of them are unhappy that their wonderful leader lost after taking a single direct hit."

"About that... I've been thinking," I say, remembering one of the many things I thought about during these days in seclusion "if we only had to defeat your father to take the city, couldn't you have taken me with him without making such a fuss? I mean, with our army and all."

"It's not that easy. You could hardly have gotten through the gates of my father's house without a fight since no non-orcs were allowed inside. And that's assuming no guards saw us as we traveled through the city. No, we needed the diversionary maneuver. Believe me, I know. I've had years of practice." says Gell, smiling confidently. "If we had initiated a fight, I know from my own experience that in short order we would have had the entire city guard on us. Which would have invalidated our ability to challenge the city leader. I know it was complicated, but this was the only way to pull it off."

"Hmm, ok. And now that you finally have control of the city? Aren't you afraid that Garnuk will escape and use the people to regain power?" I ask, issuing another of the questions I had been saving for when I was finally free from my captivity.

'Couldn't he himself be the cause of the rumors? That would explain why he's not doing anything to disprove them.'

At this question, Gell chuckles, 'No. Orcs aren't like that.... At least not most of us. But that's certainly not something my father would do. First and foremost, he is an honorable warrior and accepts your victory as a token of your superiority. To him, you're the boss now, at least until the empire can do something to change that... but don't worry about that; we've got it covered," he says, patting me on the back. "Besides, it's not that easy to escape from this place. The walls of this building are made of stones excavated from the challenge rooms that appear on the higher floors of the labyrinth. Even my father's strength couldn't break them easily."

"Ahh. By the way, what level is your father?" I ask, already determined to get all my doubts out of my mind.

"He's a level 139 Warrior, and a level 68 Hunter, I believe..." says Gell, frowning thoughtfully "At least that's how it was the last time I checked. And believe me, before you defeated my father, we took great care to keep this information as up-to-date as possible, as it was of vital importance to our plans. So we can be more or less certain that those are his levels."

"Ahh. And how much health does he have?" I ask curiously, puzzled that someone with those levels would have been defeated in one fell swoop.

"Erm... I think it was 329." says Gell, looking at me with confusion. "But why are you so interested in that now? I expected you to ask me those questions before we carried out our plan, not now. It really struck me as odd at the time that you didn't ask me about those things. Of course I figured maybe it was some sort of cabal, and that's why I didn't mention it."

"Simple curiosity... I don't have a cabal or anything like that. It's just that we don't have ways of measuring levels, so it would have done me little good to know Garnuk's levels before the battle," I say, lying, though the truth is I hadn't remembered to ask him. After all, it had only been a few days since this information had been revealed to me.

"Ahh, that's strange" Gell says at this information, becoming thoughtful.

'Hmm... That amount of health explains why Garnuk went down in one hit, since, compared to my current 860 health, it's a rather small amount. But those levels don't quite explain how he was able to fight me on equal footing for so long.... Anyway, this only confirms my suspicions that levels aren't everything when it comes to people's combat strength.'

As I'm thinking about this, suddenly Gell stops in front of a massive wooden and mithril door with beautifully carved engravings on it and opens it, inviting me in.

"Finally! How are you, kid? It's good to see you again. Nice pet, by the way," says the soft voice of Garnuk, the muscular, almost two meters tall orc, as he sees Gell and I enter the room.

Before me is a room that gives a completely different meaning to the word luxury.

Its bed is huge and decorated with a canopy of bright, soft-looking fabrics.

The desk, made of dark wood, is inlaid with platinum and precious stones.

The table is almost as wide as the bed in my room and is piled high with all manner of dishes and drinks.

In one corner of the room, a young orc girl plays a beautiful harp, gold and silver, the size of her own body.

On the walls are pictures of exotic landscapes and a carefully painted map of the city, with all the districts and places of importance written in fine calligraphy.

As I look at it, suddenly the map on my interface updates, displaying all the new information.

Gell's father is lying on the bed face down, and on his back he has a young orc girl sitting astride him, massaging him.

"Hello, Garnuk. This is Azur, and he is not a pet. He's my companion." I say, sitting down in one of the chairs and moving the little dragon from my shoulders to my lap. At this information, the orc's eyes widened. "It's good to see you in a situation where we don't have to end in violence. Even though I've been told that you haven't been very cooperative.... I'd like you, when they come to talk to you, to listen to what Gell, Charity, Lilian, and all the other people who are going to help me run this city have to say."

Gell, for his part, positions himself beside me as I speak but does not sit in any chair and looks at his father calmly.

"Well, if that's your wish, I'll do it..." says the orc, closing his eyes for a moment with an expression full of pleasure due to the massage.

'Wow! That was easy'

"It is. Ahem..." I say, glancing at Gell, surprised that the former city chieftain seems so helpful, "I also want you to try to do something about those rumors I've been informed are circulating. Those that say I beat you dishonestly."

"Bah... It's just idle gossip. But I'll do it if that's what you want," says Garnuk, taking weight off the matter.

"It's idle gossip that jeopardizes our position," says Gell, suddenly annoyed. "Besides, they question your and Xelean's strength."

"Our position!" exclaims Garnuk, laughing loudly, whereupon the young orc girl has to hold on to one of the bedposts in order not to fall off the orc. "Boy, you still don't understand what true strength is. It doesn't matter what other people talk about. If those people have a problem with what happened, they are free to try to defeat Xelean. He is the leader, not you... or any of the little friends you have. You would do well to remember that... Either way, if the leader's decision is for me to cooperate with you, I will do that... but you would do well to be a little more mindful of who it is that earned the right to lead this city, before you cover that person with papers like leeches to try to seize his power by devious means," the orc finishes speaking with a disgusted expression.

"Actually, I'd rather they take care of most things..." I say to try to establish some peace, as Gell is red with rage "Then I'll have more time to go to the labyrinth."

With this last, Garnuk's laughter intensifies significantly, and the young orc girl lifts off the orc chief's back, obviously annoyed, as Garnuk looks meaningfully at Gell and says, "You see, son, that's the mentality of a true warrior. Always thinking about getting stronger. You would do well to take his example."

"All right, father," says Gell, looking irritated and pretending to leave. "If you have nothing else to..."

"Wait! I want to know if there's any news about my family. Targok, Lurnuk, and Jvanka were in the labyrinth when all this happened, and I still haven't heard from them," says Garnuk, and, for the first time since we entered, he looks completely serious.

"They're not out of the labyrinth yet, but as soon as they come out, we'll let them meet you. It's funny how you care about only some members of your family, while others you live to criticize and treat with contempt," says Gell, and the resentment shows in his voice.

With these words, father and son finally begin to argue, and I resign myself to watching them as I entertain myself by sampling some of the delicacies on the table.

While I'm eating, I suddenly get a choppy message through the ring that serves as a communication device "Ma.... Ahhh... Master, a... Help!"