Chapter 41: Where Is Murkfang?
Drekk was waiting for a response, and for the first time, he felt anxious. He knew there was no undoing what would happen once Vrognut arrived. He understood the outcome all too well because he had tried his best to keep his province at maximum capacity, but this was proving harder with each passing day.
There was no telling what would happen next, especially with the already strained relationship they had with the orcs. The balance was shifting, and though Drekk was a true believer in the King, the King himself was nowhere to be seen. There was no one to worship, and the silence from this being was deafening.
To Drekk, it was clear the orcs had prevented information from reaching him, which explained the lack of response. The only way forward was to push through the enclosement to get word out—but that would lead to massive casualties, and even then, there was no guarantee they would succeed.
The longer Drekk waited, the more he thought about the dangers this posed to the other Moguls. The orcs in other territories were already close to the breaking point, and there was no doubt they would retaliate.
He hadn’t paid Murkfang or his group a visit recently, but that was because they had shown promise. The quota he had set for them was being met. In fact, they had managed to reach heights that once seemed impossible. They smashed the quota, though this was also due to the fact that they hadn’t known until recently that the other mine hadn’t been raided.
This drove them to work even harder, desperate to make up for the imagined deficit.
Back at the mines, it had been some time since Byung had gone to explore the farms, but the mines were thriving thanks to the knowledge he had left behind. The forges were running at full capacity, pumping out tools without pause. The fact that they now had real use for their resources was a potential game-changer.
This knowledge remained mostly unknown to Drekk, even though Murkfang had sent word. But Murkfang had been clever—he left out any explicit details, keeping it vague and relying on Drekk’s dismissive nature toward trivial things. All Drekk cared about was that resources kept flowing to his stronghold.
Murkfang was glad things were proceeding according to plan, even without Byung’s presence.
But Byung wasn’t the only one who seemed to be missing, there were no signs of Murkfang, at least for the last two days.
Gribnox, on the other hand, was all but irrelevant, consumed entirely by his indulgence with the two orcs he had been given. He cared about little else beyond sex. He ate the bland food and indulged himself until exhaustion claimed him, only to repeat the cycle again.
For the orcs, keeping up with him wasn’t hard—his stamina wasn’t as impressive as he thought.
The meals in the mines were nothing to boast about, but no one cared about taste here. They ate simply to fill their stomachs.
Naz and Naruz sat watching the sleeping Gribnox. They still wondered why they had been separated from Maui, but they knew Maui had been tasked with watching over the "abnormality." It made sense in the end.
Their concern now was Murkfang. He was rarely present, always out of sight, even though they knew he was drawn to their kind. His behavior here was strange, nothing like the personality he had displayed back at the brothel.
Naz finally gestured to Naruz to follow. The two slipped off the bed, knowing Gribnox was one of the heaviest sleepers they had ever seen. He wouldn’t wake easily.
They also knew Murkfang wouldn’t be back anytime soon. He had been gone for quite a while, and they had no clue where he disappeared to.
Naz instructed Naruz to keep watch for disturbances while she searched the area.
What she found troubled her. The goblins were changing—or rather, they were showing signs of seeking to evolve. They weren’t as primitive as she had been taught, and that made the situation far more confusing.
Meanwhile, Naruz kept a sharp eye on Gribnox to ensure he didn’t stir. But this turned into a miscalculation, because on this day, something unusual broke the routine.
They heard footsteps approaching from outside.
"Naz! Someone is coming!" Naruz hissed in a hushed tone, but Naz didn’t hear her in time.
The door creaked open, and Naruz instantly stepped in front to block the line of sight, ready to intercept whoever entered.
It wasn’t Murkfang—it was Borkle.
He blinked in confusion at seeing orcs at the door, but that confusion quickly turned to lust. His gaze locked on Naruz’s exposed underboob, and his eyes darkened in an instant.
"Is there someone you’re looking for?" Naruz asked firmly, but Naz had already caught on. She quickly shoved away what she had been examining, trying her best to align it exactly as before.
But when she turned, her blood froze.
Gribnox was standing right behind her.
Naz froze completely, her mind scrambling. A hundred excuses raced through her head, but none of them would come out.
The way Gribnox looked at her—it was as if he knew everything. But how had he moved without her noticing?
He didn’t say a word, and neither did she. She had no idea how much he had seen or whether he had been awake the whole time.
Gribnox stepped closer, and Naz tensed, but she could tell Naruz at the door was too distracted to notice what was happening behind her.
"Shit! This is bad!" Naz muttered under her breath as she suddenly felt his hand grip her thighs.
"...He knows!" she panicked inwardly. But then, her leg began to rock strangely.
"Huh?" She glanced down—only to see Gribnox dry-humping her leg like a horny dog.
He didn’t care at all about what she was doing.
Naz let out a long sigh of relief, realizing he truly only thought about sex.
"Maybe not..." she muttered under her breath, though her tone carried more disappointment than relief.