Orc Hero Story: Discovery Chronicles

Here we go folks, part 2 of chapter 12! Long chapter on our hands, about 2 more parts to this one.

My deeeeeepest gratitude to my latest Ko-Fi supporters, Voraguard and 123321!!

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Anyways, here we go!

The store was really close by – right next door, actually.

As soon as he passed through the doorway – by crouching, as it obviously wasn’t designed with Orcish stature in mind, he saw racks upon racks of clothing that did not exist within Orc Country.

The main colors in vogue seemed to be the typical Elven green, brown and yellow, but there were also clothes styled for more Human fashion tastes.

“So, anything catch your eye, mister?”

“I don’t know anything about Elf clothes. It it were armor…”

“Oh! Look! Looks like this shop has clothing for various races! Must be a recent thing, with all the foreigners coming in to visit. I’m sure we’ll find something that fits you perfectly!”

Just like Zell put it, the store was lined with Elven styled clothes adjusted to fit Human and Dwarven physiques.

Nonetheless, there didn’t seem to be any Orc-sized apparel.

The size range went up to XXXL-Human at most, which was appropriate of a two meter tall individual.

“Tsk, an Orc…”

As the Faerie and the Orc pondered on what to do next, the owner walked out of the back store.

He was an Elven man of an unknown age wearing a grass circlet around his forehead.

The he noticed Bash, he flinched and stood on alert, eyes filled with hostility.

However after he observed the Hero for a while, he seemed to notice something.

His face went snow white as he began to tremble incontrolably.

“Y-y-you… who let you in here? D-d-did someone allow you in?”

“Hmm. I’m not sure who it was exactly, but I met a lady at the checkpoint that vouched for me.”

“Tch… what a generous person…”

After a while of standing still, shaking in his boots from in shock and horror, the shopkeeper breathed in deeply to calm his nerves, and sighed as if he had given up.

“So, what can I help you with?”

“I came to buy some clothes. I heard that Elves don’t like exposed skin.”

“Exposed skin? I suppose that’s correct. Well in terms of style, anything I sell should be appropriate, but I don’t think I have anything in your size… wait…maybe I do, give me a second.”

The owner got closer to Bash, examining him from head to toe while stroking his chin, and headed to the back of the store.

“Well, I can’t accommodate you entirely properly if you come in last minute, but I’ve got this right here. What do you think?”

He had returned with a dark green Elven styled suit with black trim.

However, it was very clearly not meant for Elves, being sized for a much larger individual.

As the shopkeeper spread out the outfit to better show it off, it completely obscured his figure.

“Some big Beastkin man came in here once and ordered a custom made outfit, but he ended up not liking it, and just left it here. You’re on the small side for an Orc.  I’m not mocking you, but there are many larger Orcs out there aren’t there? … Oh, sorry, no offense,

“None taken.”

“Right, right. Great. So, how about you try this on?”

Bash did as the shopkeeper said and grabbed the clothes.

He then promptly removed his Orcish leather armor and put on the new suit.

The clothes were unfamiliar to him, but it wasn’t like he was a complete idiot. Male clothes all work more or less the same after all.

Unfortunately, the flaws became apparent rather quickly – this was a garment meant for Beastkin after all.

With difficulty, Bash squeezed himself into the attire, only to notice that the shoulders and thighs were too tight, and the front buttons around his chest couldn’t be closed properly.

“Ah…”

The shopkeeper looked rather apologetic when he saw how it fit.

He was the proud and latest owner of a tailor that has been passed down for multiple Elven generations.

Recommending clothes that didn’t properly suit the customer hurt his pride – a lot.

“Oh…hmm…It looks like it might need some, uh, tailoring, after a-”

“As expected from you, mister! It looks great! A man as great as you are would look good in any clothes! You know what they say! The clothes make th-… uh, the man makes the clothes! How gallant! How manly! You truly look like hunter, ready to take on the fiercest of forest monsters! No, even more then that, you look locked and loaded to go hunt for love! You look so good the forest itself might come over and ask for you to watch over it!”

His disappointment was cut short by the Faerie’s sudden barrage of praise.

It would be regrettable for him to say that it didn’t suit the Hero after he had been complimented so much by another party.

“Wait, now that I look at it again, it looks…surprisingly good?”

But the more he listened, the more his opinion began to shift.

Sure, the outfit was a little too small, but it was definitely less barbaric looking than the Orc styled armor he was wearing earlier.

In the first place, this wasn’t the first time the shopkeeper had felt discomfort when another race wore Elven clothing – he felt it when Humans and Dwarves wore them too.

Perhaps it was the way how different the attire looked on a non-Elven race, but if he left his gut reaction aside, it didn’t look that bad.

The tiny bit of exposed skin at the front of the shirt accented his thick chest, and the tight shoulders and thighs accented his race’s natural characteristics.

“Well, I’m glad you like it.”

“Hm. I’ll take it.”

“Perfect! It’ll be this much…”

Before the merchant could name his price, Bash had taken a package wrapped up in brown paper out of the bag he was carrying and presented it to him.

The shopkeeper received it and untied the string tying it together, revealing the contents.

It was fur.

A wide piece of fur, as large as Bash, maybe even bigger.

The original owner of this pelt must have been a truly magnificent creature.

“What’s this?”

“A Bugbear’s pelt.”

“Oh, pretty impressive. Did you kill it yourself?”

“Yes. It’s also a keepsake from one of my old war comrades.”

“Huh? You sure you want to trade this away?”

“What’s wrong with that?”

The shopkeeper shrugged.

He didn’t know anything about Orcish values and didn’t intend to understand them.

He had recently realized that interacting with other races didn’t necessitate understanding cultural cues anyways.

Well, unless you were trying to court them, but that’s another story.

“This fur is great, but there are large gashes in it. It’ll be just enough to pay for the clothes. No change.”

“That’s fine.”

Bash grabbed his newly bought outfit and turned on his heel.

His business here was concluded and he felt no need to interact with this Elven man any more than necessary.

His business, after all, was with Elven women.

“…”

The owner simply watched the duo leave and dashed off behind the counter to put away his payment.

After Bash left, the store was filled with nothing but silence.

There was no one else in the store, and the shopkeeper felt as if he had just woken up from a dream, yet the soft, sturdy fur in his hands showed that his last customer was definitely real.

“Hey, honey, who was that?”

It was the owner’s wife who had just come out from the back store.

She was still young, an Elf from a generation that had never known the true horrors of war.

“Oh… he was much nicer than I thought he’d be.”

“I didn’t ask you what kind of person he was. He was an Orc, right? Did you know him?”

“No, not really. It’s just that I’ve seen him on the battlefield before… Anyways, I think it’s better to contact Mr. Aconite. I’ll be going out!”

“Hey! Wait a second!”

When the owner had gathered himself, he left the store and headed down the street.

Bash in his new outfit