Chapter 2: New Century (Epilogue)
“Uh, Sir Knight, regarding residency, let’s not discuss it for now. If Black River City’s environment is good, we’ll naturally consider staying, as we’ve been wandering outside for a very long time,” Pet said, not agreeing immediately. He was following Mage Layton’s instructions to be cautious in his words and actions, never making promises or agreeing to anything right away.
“Oh, Mr. Pet, I believe you’ll like Black River City. Honestly, under Your Majesty Winter’s rule, I’d call every city a miracle!” the knight said with great confidence. Many merchants and mercenaries came to Black River City, but most of them didn’t leave unless they had been to other, more prosperous and cleaner cities.
Soon, they arrived at the gates of Black River City. The knight ordered the soldiers to let them pass. He smiled and blessed the Savage Mercenary Group, “I wish you a pleasant stay in Black River City.”
***
After bidding farewell to the enthusiastic knight, the group of orcs entered the city. The first thing that greeted them was a clean and well-paved street, with the scent of grass and flowers in the air, devoid of any foul odors. This made them inwardly gasp, and they couldn’t help but feel a bit embarrassed. Orcs also had pride! They looked at their attire: smelly beast hides, rusty weapons, hair that probably hadn’t been washed since birth, likely harboring countless parasites, and bodies so dirty one could probably scrape off a layer of grime.
Walking down the clean street, people around them cast surprised and disdainful glances. “Commander, these looks make me very uncomfortable,” Samuro whispered. “It’s like they’re looking at wild monkeys from the mountains…”
“Be more confident, remove the ‘like’,” Pet frowned. He saw that everyone around them was dressed cleanly and neatly, their hair was neatly combed, and there was no dirt under their fingernails. More than ten years ago, he had visited a human city by chance. But what he saw now was completely different. At that time, the grime and disarray of human cities were almost no different from their orc tribes.
Pet had to admit that cleanliness was also a sign of development. The development of humans put considerable pressure on his heart. It seemed that after this mission was completed, he would have to report what he had seen and heard here to the Beast King.
“Commander, what should we do now?” Altai asked. They were standing on the side of the street, like destitute beggars. However, due to their tall, imposing stature and fierce expressions, no one dared to look at them with contempt. Most just cast a quick glance and hurried away, quickly taking a detour.
“The best way to understand the enemy is to blend in with them…” Pet said in a low voice. He looked left and right and found a sign at the street corner that read “Grand Bathhouse” in the common continental language. As the name suggested, this was likely a place to wash. Therefore, to integrate into human society, one must start with bathing! It was dusk, and quite a few men and women were entering and exiting the bathhouse.
“Let’s go, let’s take a bath!” Pet decisively ordered.
“What? A bath?!” The orcs’ eyes widened, and some were reluctant. “Commander, look at this layer of shell on my body. I’ve been cultivating it for over twenty years. If I wash it off, my defense against blades will decrease…”
“Yes, Commander. And my dreadlocks… it would be such a pity to wash them…”
“Just wash if I tell you to wash!” Pet said fiercely. “What are we here for?! To kill and gather intelligence, but we reek! Who would want to interact with us? If no one interacts with us, how can we gather intelligence? If we can’t gather intelligence, how can we complete the mission? Do you want to be impotence for the rest of your lives?”
Upon hearing “impotence” and “erectile dysfunction,” the orcs’ hearts tightened. Compared to lifelong impotence, bathing didn’t seem so unacceptable anymore. “Fine, we’ll wash!”
***
“Hello, we’d like to take a bath.” The owner of the bathhouse looked up. A group of burly men stood at the entrance of the shop. Each of them was like a black iron tower, with fierce and terrifying appearances. Their bodies blocked all the light, casting only a shadow on his face.
“Oh my god!” The bathhouse owner screamed and fell to the ground. He had never seen such a situation! “D-d-dear lords, I don’t have much money on me! This bathhouse is run by the City Lord. I’m just a server. Calling me the owner is just a lowly worker, sob sob… I have elders and children at home, please let me go…”
“Owner, you’ve misunderstood,” Pet said, throwing a money bag on the table. “We’re here to take a bath, not to rob you.” To help the human relax, Pet also appropriately showed a friendly smile. That smile alone almost scared the bathhouse owner to death.
“Y-you’re here to take a bath?” The bathhouse owner suppressed the urge to urinate and shakily got up from the ground. “Yes, we just arrived in Black River City, and we stink. Don’t we need to wash?” Pet patiently explained. He thought to himself that if it wasn’t for the sake of the mission proceeding smoothly, he would have split this dawdling human in half with an axe.
The bathhouse owner carefully examined the burly men before him. They were indeed filthy and smelled bad. He wondered how many days it had been since they last bathed…
Most importantly, they had actually offered money. As long as they paid, it was fine… At least it proved they weren’t robbers. As for how much money they offered, it didn’t matter. So, the bathhouse owner forced down his fear, rubbed his stiff, pale face, and pulled out a reluctant smile, “Esteemed lords, please follow me. Our bathhouse is the largest in Black River City, and we even have professional scrubbing masters. We guarantee to make you squeaky clean!”
Pet chuckled heartily. He knew that humans had a custom of tipping. So he said, “No problem, no problem. If you scrub us well and make us happy, money is not an issue!” He said this with confidence. After all, the Beast King had given them two hundred copper coins as operating expenses for this outing, and the money bag he had just thrown contained as many as twenty copper coins! They were quite rich!
***
Two hours later, the orcs emerged from the bathhouse, feeling refreshed. “Commander, I must say, after bathing, I feel like my entire orc… no, my entire person has been elevated!”
“Yeah, that scrubbing master was really good. It’s just that his strength was too little. It took him a long time to scrub off the dirt from my body!”
“Heh heh…” Pet smirked smugly. “I told you earlier, if you want to blend in, sometimes blending in isn’t a bad thing. You have to learn to accept new things!” He encountered the bathhouse owner again as he left. Pet was in a great mood and took out another money bag, tossing it to the owner, and waved his large hand, “Boss, we had a great time bathing. This is a tip. We’ll come back to patronize your business next time!”
“Alright!” the owner said with a forced smile, taking the money bag. He thought to himself, *Just don’t come back again, you’re too scary.*
