Rugrats

"Seth, how do we normally report for job completion?" Tristan glanced at the fallen corpses scattered outside the tent.

"Well, I guess for a job like this, a dozen of them will do." Seth shrugged.

"A dozen… of what?"

Seth did not answer. He took out a small dagger from his pocket, walked towards the nearest corpse, and cut one of the orc's tusk, leaving even more blood and the smell of iron in the nauseating place. "A dozen of these things, as proof that we did indeed eradicate the orc camp they assigned to us."

"I understand. Can I leave that to you, Seth? I hope you don't mind." Tristan asked calmly, and Seth nodded before walking towards more corpses and cutting one of their tusk off one by one. Somehow, Seth the lancer who had always found something to complain about had become an obedient companion.

Tristan glanced at Layla and saw her taking care of the injured, half-conscious orc kid lying on the ground, while occasionally helping the other kids put on their clothes properly. Layla was being very attentive to the 8 orc kids, and it seems that the kids had sensed her intention, allowing her to help them without issues.

Barry saw Tristan staring at them, and yet again, he began to explain, just like a walking encyclopedia.

"So… Basically, orcs have limited intelligence. Most of them act like animals by following their instincts. However, the same can't be said for high orcs. They are more like humans, they understand a bit of speech, but their understanding is still limited." Barry pointed at the high orcs. "Although they look like 10 year old kids, actually the Orc body grows three times faster than human, so their intelligence is as good as kids age 3 or 4 at most"

Tristan noticed that each time Seth cut off one of the corpses' tusk, the high orc children started to tremble.

Tristan asked. "Do you think they will hate us? I mean, I realized that we probably just killed their uncles or something…"

"I don't think so." Barry glanced at the kids. "Though orcs can sense the bond of familiarity between each other, they possess no capability of hate and anger beyond the immediate moment, and they don't have the mental capacity to take revenge like humans do. I'm not too sure about high orcs, but there shouldn't be much difference."

"Alright then, that is convenient."

Layla ran towards Tristan and Barry while the two were talking. "Brother, what do you think we should do with the kids?"

"Well, I say we can just leave them alone." Tristan shrugged. "I mean, we did everything we came here for. They're on their own."

"Brother, how heartless could you be?!" Layla shouted. "We can't leave the kids like this!"

"No, no, that's not-" Tristan sighed. "Layla, remember, we don't really know much about them, and considering what Barry told me, I'm sure they will be fine. They can fend for themselves."

"No, brother! Can we just… Deliver them to another camp or something?"

"Are you crazy?! If they see us walking around with these kids, they will attack us right away!"

"Whatever happens, brother, we can't just leave them alone!"

"Yes, we can and we will!." Tristan said firmly.

Barry smiled looking at the siblings and talked to Tristan about the nearest orc city from here. It was known that humans can interact with orcs there, and they could reach the city in two days' journey. 

Tristan still felt reluctant to help the orc children, but for his sister's sake, he's willing to make a compromise. He came closer to the orc children and looked at each of them. Somehow, these 8 orc kids with rebellious appearance reminded him of a certain cartoon that is not really suitable for kids.

"Hey, if you rugrats can understand me, nod!"

The kids looked at each other in confusion for a second, before looking back at him and nodding at the same time.

"Alright, my name is Tristan. Tell me your names."

"Tris…tan… Tris… tan…" The orc kids said in unison.

"Not my name!" Tristan rubbed his forehead. "Your names!"

The kids, yet again, looked at each other in confusion. Barry touched his shoulders and said. "Sir, actually most orcs do not have a name. Names are seen as something you have to earn in orc society, and it can only be earned after they did something remarkable. Basically, for them, names function similarly to titles."

Tristan sighed, looked at the tallest boy, and said. "Okay, I will now call you Rugrats 1." He looked for the second tallest child and named him Rugrats 2… He repeated the process all the way by their heights up to the two female children named Rugrats 6 and 7. After naming them all, Tristan realized he forgot about the half-unconscious boy, but he didn't want to go through the trouble of naming them again, so he named the last one Rugrats 8.

"Okay, I will take you to see your kind afterward. Meanwhile, you all better behave or else you will be punished. Understood?"

All the kids nodded in agreement, and Tristan sighed in relief. A part of him was proud of the decision he took. Perhaps he had the making to become a good leader. Or so he thought before Barry said

"Sir Tristan, I heard elves can influence orcs better. It seems that the rumors are true."

"…"

Tristan was stunned into silence, his short happiness evaporated away with the explanation.

The next thing Layla asked Tristan as a gesture of goodwill to the kids, was to bury all the corpses. Not wanting to spend even more energy to debate with her, Tristan told Seth, Barry, and all the little rugrats all to help. Those kids might have the intelligence of three years old children, but they certainly possess enough strength to assist them in moving around the large corpses.

They dug one large hole and piled all the bodies in.

Tristan smiled, this arrangement was better for his plan.

He walked to the huge pile of corpses and chanted in his mind.

[Blood extraction]

[Received 2250 mixed-quality blood cells!]

[300 Blood Essences extracted!]