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It was located southwest of Krassel, in the opposite direction of Orc Country.

Other than the gigantic Siwanasi Tree at its centre, it was nothing more than a common forest.

But for Bash, this was a place rife with old memories.

During the war, Siwanasi Forest was a savage battleground.

It was where the strongest Orc clan had set up their headquarters and was the last Orcish line of defense.

If it fell, the Orcs would no longer be able to safely link up with the Faerie stronghold to their North.

And thus, the Elves fiercely attacked this place, and the Orcs and Faeries defended it with just as much fervor.

Bash himself had fought here more times than he could count.

He had run himself ragged in these woods so much that he knew exactly where all the trees and plants grew, and every single details of the terrain.

Thanks to their efforts, the Orcs were successful in defending Siwanasi Forest, though they had to sacrifice many of their own to do so.

The Orcish clan leader of Siwanasi Forest was killed, and most of the fortification were burned down after the repeated battles.

Even through the damage and deaths, Siwanasi Forest belonged to the Orcs until the end of the war.

Had this place been destroyed and taken, the Orcs and Faeries might have not survived until the signing of the peace treaty.

Unfortunately, war was a cruel mistress.

As part of the peace treaty’s stipulations, Siwanasi Forest, which the Orc bled and died to protect, had to be turned over to the Elves.

And not just Siwanasi Forest either – 60% of all land owned by the Orcs became Elven land.

The Humans took a 20% slice for themselves, and the remaining Orcs were left to live in squalor in the remaining 20%.

Though in the end, this was hardly a problem in matter of space, as most of the more than 30 Orcish clans had been destroyed…

“Ah, how nostalgic…”

“Yeah, it really is.”

Bash was steadily walking towards Siwanasi Forest.

The pair was getting further and further away from the Orcish homeland, but it couldn’t be helped – the quest took precedence above safety and familiarity.

“Mister, mister! Do you remember this spot? Look! It’s the hole where you bunkered up when you were busted up and bleeding and bruised!”

Zell pointed towards a nearby cave opening.

It used to be a bear den, where the animal would hibernate through the winter, and it was also where Bash had once holed up to escape from his pursuers while he was grievously wounded.

“I’ll never forget that day. If it wasn’t for you, I would have died.”

“No, no, no, how could you say that? No way you would have died from just tiny scratches like that, Mister!”

It was the dead of winter back then, and there was a whole family of bears living in the cave.

And so, as a matter of course, Bash killed the bears, ate their meat, covered himself in their pelt, smeared his body with their feces and guts, and pretended to be a bear to throw of the Elves who were trailing him.

However, his wounds were deep and his blood loss severe. Furthermore, he had been separated from Zell during the previous engagement. Left alone, he would have eventually died.

Had the Faerie not desperately searched and found him, we might not have had an “Orc Hero” today.

“We should be there soon.”

As soon as Bash said so, the sea of trees opened up into a wide river.

A large, rapid current about 20 meters in width.

This was the Ammet River, which marked the border between Human and Elven territories.

Crossing this river would mark their entrance into Siwanasi Forest.

Incidentally, if you go North following this river, you will reach its confluence with its tributary, the Berg River.

Sandwiched between the Berg River and the Unmet River was the current Orcish territory.

“Now then…”

Without hesitation, Bash stepped into the river.

There were several areas in the water that were shallow enough to be crossed safely on foot.

During the war, most of this kind of information was classified, but nowadays, it wasn’t particularly kept under wraps.

Even Lizardmen maps containing detailed information on various bodies of water were now freely available for sale on the market.

Even so, only a few people in the knew by heart the location of these river crossings.

Bash was one of them.

Therefore, he began zigzagging through the water, threading on only the shallowest and safest parts of the riverbed.

“Huh? Are you crossing here, Mister?”

Zell stopped him.

“Is there an issue?”

“No, not really a problem…”

The world was now in a period of hard-earned peace that followed the longest of wars, and everyone was preoccupied was their own affairs.

So far, no countries were thinking of invading another.

The Elves weren’t an exception.

Right after the signing of the peace treaty, they vigilantly guarded their borders, staring at the Orcs with bloodshot eyes, but once they realized that the Orcs had no intention of coming out, they loosened up.

Of course, this didn’t mean that they didn’t have any guards at all, to keep out the occasional stray Orcs.

The Ammet River, being the border between Humans and Elves, was particularly lax in terms in protection.

They were allied with each other and were both rather well off in terms of quality of life.

Bash and Zell could probably enter Siwanasi Forest without being spotted, even if they didn’t try to hide themselves.

“You know, if you have a house, and someone entered through the window, you’d be mad, right? The Elves have checkpoints we need to go through! We need to politely knock at the front door!”

“…They have checkpoints?”

“Yes! That’s how it works now!”

No matter how relaxed their guard, borders were borders, and laws were laws. Not to mention that Elves were particularly wary of Orcs.

It would probably already be hard for the pair to lawfully pass through a checkpoint, not to mention illegally entering through the river.

“Well… what should we do?”

Bash had lived his entire life with very little experience navigating mainstream roads and entering cities the “right” way.

He had always traveled through the wilderness, using animal trails and hidden passaged.

Naturally, he instinctually tried to take a path that was out of sight.

“There’s a bridge a little bit further South. We’ll go in from there.”

“Alright.”

Bash nodded, returned to dry land and started to head South along the river.

If Zell said so, it must be right!

“…This place has changed a lot, hasn’t it?”

After a short while of walking, Zell spoke up.

Bash looked around as well.

The trees were lush and full of life. The river was crystal clear, and the only sounds they could head were the running water and chirping of birds.

This would be a perfect place to sit down, fish and take a nap.

“It has.”

However, the Ammet River that Bash and his friends knew was nothing like this.

In order to curb the flow of Lizardmen reinforcements, the river was dammed upstream, and the volume of water was less than half what it was now.

The water used to run black and cloudy with ash, and bodies would float down once in a while.

The trees too, were withered, burned and broken.

There was always a hellish cacophony ringing through the forest.

Orcish warcries, Elven incantations, explosions and the clanging of metal.

There was no way to hear the murmur of the running water back then.

“It hasn’t changed. It’s back to normal.”

“Oh! Mister, you’re feeling poetic today, huh? But you’re not wrong! This is how forests should be! Bright, green trees! Ah, except for the dead ones. But dead trees are normal too! And I can see the rocks at the bottom of the water right there! And flowers! There are flowers now too! And the sun is nice and warm. Just the right temperature! Way nicer than fireballs! Ah, it’s nice to fly around in a forest like this!”

“Heh, so you do act like a normal Faerie sometimes.”

“Wait, what? Mister, that’s not true! You say that as if I’m not a normal Faerie! I’m definitely a Faerie! The Faeriest of Faeries! If I’m not a normal Faerie, than who is! Well…I am here because I’m tired of living like a normal Faerie though…”

“Hmmm…?”

As they were conversing, Bash’s sensitive nose picked up an unpleasant smell.

It was the smell of flesh.

Not just ordinary flesh though.

It was a scent he was familiar with, but definitely not one that evoked pleasant memories.

The stench of carrion – rotten, putrid carrion

Here’s a highly detailed map of the area :