Chapter 15

It took a few days from the time I woke up until grandma finally allowed me to spend time sitting in a makeshift, it was boring and not conducive to anything but meditating. Well, except for the necessary preparations for food and fur treatment.

In my absence, it was Dalos who did all the heavy lifting, while Grandma and I took care of the more elaborate tasks.

During the week that we had been in the cave, there had simply been more questions from the grandmother about the mana and if it had some negative effects on my body, although insistent several of them generated certain doubts that I overlooked thinking that it would be like in the games and would not have importance beyond being a beneficial power.

So I had tried different ideas on how to repair my mana conduits, terms that grandmother and I had thought of, but none had been beneficial, I could not feel them and I could not try to heal something that I did not know how it was or where it was.

So Grandma talked about whether I could influence the mana in the environment, without having to use my body as a conduit.

That had been... strange. For a while now, it had been natural for me to be able to feel the mana and its essence wash over me, but I had never given much thought to influencing it around me as it flowed through the atmosphere. It was immense, something I could feel in every bush, every tree, every plant, and it connected everything it touched in a giant web.

I didn't think we complex organisms were the exception to that web, but somehow I couldn't reach it, but there was something that wouldn't allow me to interact beyond it, grandma theorized it was something akin to consciousness, well, it was something like consciousness.

We were about to finish the preparations, but we still needed to prepare enough food for 7 days, even if it would be less time, it would always be better than too much or too little. The weight also makes it difficult to carry more.

There has been no sign of goblins or orcs in the area yet, either they had not yet discovered that the group had not returned or they had already captured the others, still, that does not give me any peace of mind, at worst they will talk about us, but I don't think there is anyone who can understand them or care what they talk about.

"Don't worry, even if they had died they wouldn't give them any importance, orcs and goblins have clear hierarchies in their society, whoever their leader is they won't care about the death of some goblins" Grandma listening to my worries, I try to reassure myself while I sketch a confident smile. We were replenishing our medicine supplies and Grandma was in charge of making most of them.

"What is their origin" I asked with genuine curiosity, in the movies they never talked about them and the history books talked about the origin of all races in a few words, but dark creatures were never named. I couldn't get access to the best books either, but Grandma is an educated woman.

"... We do not know, they were first seen thousands of years ago, fearful and cowardly creatures, no race gave them importance, without the intelligence of the elves, without the cunning of the humans, and the strength of the humans, some rumors sounded, it was said that the Dwarves were the first to notice them, They told the Sindar that these "fallen beasts" came from the ruins of Angband and that they could also be found east of the Blue Mountains, where they bothered the Elves who lived there" commented the grandmother as she headed towards where we had been storing the rest of our supplies.

She paused as she seemed to think about what to say. "But an enemy appeared for life itself, The Dark Lord, a being that plunged the world into a war where the Orcs' capabilities were first seen. In battle, the orcs fought with reckless ferocity and enjoyed killing and torturing their enemies. However with the fall of their lord, many have forgotten their danger, thinking that the creatures have been finished, or worse that they are just cowardly creatures and were often considered inferior."

"Why not pursue them to extinction, why leave such a great danger" I said formulating my real question.

"Though weak, orcs and goblins are like rats, a pest that reproduces too fast to extinguish efficiently."

A problem I had to solve, but for that, I needed more strength both as a personnel and an army.

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These days I have tried not to damage the ecosystem of the forest by hunting a species in excess, maybe it would be stupid for the destruction that Sauron will do in these lands, but it would be worse to use that as an excuse to not respect the little of its tranquility.

After a few hours, I found a deer, a spear was enough to do all the work, I had not yet had time to create a new bow and it was not a priority.

I returned with the body to the entrance of the cave, an area where the blood evidenced that it was an area we had already designated to skin all the prey. Dalos seemed to have learned a way to hide the blood of his prey and not attract large predators, although we did so in case there were any other groups of goblins behind us.

I used a sharp razor to make an incision in the skin at the top of their hind legs. I began to separate the skin and flesh from the top of the hind legs to the lower abdomen. Carefully remove the internal organs and remove the skin and head of the deer.

Once finished, I entered the cave while thinking that this would be the last night we would spend here, although a good place, it had been a good shelter. I wasn't an idiot either, I knew there was someone out there helping us, the constant help from a bird had been a lot of coincidences, but I had decided not to occupy my head on that without knowing how or why I would do it.

"What did you get?" Grandma said, while keeping her gaze is focused on the campfire preparation and Alaia's caresses.

"A deer, they seem to be fleeing from these lands too, it seemed to be the last one."

"Well, leave the meat there, after we eat, we'll smoke the meat."

Grandmother did not take long to prepare the meat with some plants and fruits on a smooth stone griddle.

"With this we already have our provisions complete, it will be enough for the trip, we can leave for tomorrow."

"Mmm we'll do it in the morning with the first sights of the sun, we'll sleep early" said Grandma as she handed him the last of the supplies.

"Where is Dalos?" I asked after noticing he hadn't returned to the cave even as it seemed to get dark.

"He said he would try to see the sights one last time. He's a strong boy, it's not easy to lose everything that has been your life, it's best to give him some quiet time."

"We lost our home too grandma" I replied, which made her laugh.

"Dirhaël, we have never been, sooner or later we will take this road to our true home," Grandma said as she rested her hand on my head lovingly.

"To where?"

"You'll see" She replied, with a mischievous smile.