Chapter 440 – Orc Caravan 2

Chapter 440 – Orc Merchant Caravan 2
After Stanford had a conversation with the orc named Finn, the previously gloomy atmosphere became eased.

The members of the exploration team no longer aimed the weapons in their hands at each other, and the orc caravan drove their livestock to the vicinity of the cave.

The harnessers hammered a stake into the ground and bolted the animals in their charge to it, they just patted the camels and horses with their hands and the animals obediently lay down on the grass, then their masters took out a blanket and covered them.

The two groups, human and orc, entered the cave on guard with each other.

The members of the exploring party returned to where they had originally been sitting, which was generally near the entrance of the cave, already warmed by the fire that had been raised earlier.

The later orcs occupy an area deeper into the cave and also raise a fire.

“How did you guys get over here? It is rare to see humans from the south here. “

The orc came forward and threw Stanford a leather pouch.

Stenvor pulled the cork and a smell of alcohol filled the air.

The two just climbed into conversation.

“We have come by ship from the sea, seeking to purchase furs to bring back south for sale.”

Stanford spoke briefly, not mentioning much about his party’s true mission.

“Oh! Fur, it’s good stuff, I know, your human noblewomen are very fond of it, one of the few contraptions on our side of the world that can make you humans shell out money.”

Finn’s voice had the gruffness that all orcs have, but there was a twinkle in his eyes, “Still, it’s the first time I’ve seen one come from the sea.”

Stanford explained, “Our side …… uh …… is very remote, also in recent years the rise of sea trade, but most of them are sailing their ships to the rich south, I am a person who is more maverick, looking for the north to I’m a bit of a maverick, so I thought I’d head north and see what I could come across. I learned that a lot of people got their furs from the Rocky Mountains – that big mountain to the south, I don’t know what you call it – the north side of the mountain range, but they went east along the mountain range and then went around to the north. So with a proper ship, I’d like to try to come west by sea to your orcish territory, oh, I’m from the northwest coast of Ordo.”

Finn nodded, “I can hear it in your accent, I’ve come into contact with other Northwesterners. The caravan I was in also traveled east along the Great Mountains before turning south to trade with the humans. By the way man, you said you guys came here by sea, so where are your ships? Why did I run into you guys here, it’s not close to the sea.”

Stanford shrugged his shoulders and said with a helpless look, “Hit a reef and sank, we had to take the land route.”

Finn patted him on the shoulder and said soothingly, “Please accept my sympathy for your misfortune.”

He searched for the human in front of him guessing that he would certainly not be able to make any money guessing that he would have to lose a good amount of money.

“So, are you guys heading back south?”

“Yes, I plan to lead my crew straight over the Rocky Mountains, after all, our hometown is northwest of Aldo, it would be too far to go around the Rocky Mountains.”

“Over that big mountain? Oh! My goodness.”

The orc’s face was filled with incredulity as he listened to Stanford’s words.

“Do you know why all of us caravans traveling between the two places choose to bypass the Rocky Mountains as you call them instead of going over them?”

“Why? I guess it’s just because the mountains are rugged and the terrain is treacherous, so it’s not easy to walk, right?”

In fact, Stanford also had some questions in his heart, even if the terrain is complicated, in such a long history, has there not been a road that can be traveled, it seems that there is only the eastern section of the Rocky Mountains, occasionally there will be a small group of orcs to cross the mountain range to come to the territory of Aldo, historically, the large-scale invasion of the orcs on the Aldo has never been forced to break through the Inner Rhodian corridor located in the northeast of the kingdom to come in, and the northwest gulf has never been recorded! There have never been any records of orcs coming over the mountains.

The orcs explained, “That’s partly the reason, but mainly because that’s the land of the dwarves, a stubborn bunch who hate any intelligent creatures outside of their own group.”

“Dwarves? You mean dwarves?” Stanford asked, rubbing his head as the image of a short but muscular, bearded figure popped into his mind, a creature that existed only in legend in the Northwest Gulf.

The orc nodded and said, “Yes, it is the dwarf. Humans, I must warn you, that’s a bad bunch to mess with.”

Stanford heard a little laugh in his heart, on the bad to be messed with can still compare to you orcs?
He did not move his face, “How so?”

The orc in front of him said with a grave expression, “The Rocky Mountains, are tightly controlled by the dwarves, other races will be lost in them as soon as they enter, only a few lucky ones can get out by mistake.”

“How do they do that?”

“Don’t know exactly, the rumor is that this race uses a kind of magical magic.”

“Magic?” Stanford was very startled.

The orc said, “But I’m more inclined to think that the dwarves purposely made the terrain in the mountains complicated, knowing that the rumor is that this race is very good at cutting mountains and holes and such.”

“A mountain range of this size is no simple project.”

“Man, you have to realize that these guys have been entrenched in the Rocky Mountains for thousands of years, and there aren’t many places in the mountains where you can walk in the first place, they just have to choose the key places to modify.”

“Fair enough, but how do you guys know so much about it – at least relative to us, dwarves are practically near legendary creatures on our side of the world, I only heard from a very, very old grandpa in the village when I was young that he had seen a dwarf once when he was a child, and after that I’ve never heard of a dwarf’s exact sighting.”

The orc shook his head, “It doesn’t look like they are too keen on dealing with you. But on this side of the mountain, the dwarves occasionally come to the fringes to trade things with us, like furs and stuff. Oh, they do make some nice stuff, much finer than you humans to be fair, it’s just that they come out to trade so infrequently.”

This would be difficult!
Stanford fell silent, if what this orc in front of him was saying was true, what could his team do?
If it was just that the roads were complicated and easy to get lost, perhaps the orc was exaggerating and intentionally scaring them, their own team also had talents that were proficient in finding their way.

But if the dwarves in the mountain range have a hostile attitude towards the foreigners, will they cut off their path and capture them as slaves or kill them directly.

Seeing that Stanford was thinking things over, the orc named Finn continued to pull a few words before returning to his group.

“Finn!” A hairy, older orc called out his name.

“You talk too much for a group of strangers.”

Finn grinned a large grin, his fangs standing out, “Did you know? These humans came over the heavy seas, a group of warriors!”

“The sea?” Several of the nearby orcs, including the older one, wore stunned expressions.

“That must have been an incredibly treacherous journey.” The elder orc muttered.

“Yes.” Finn was very emotional, “The sea and that mountain range to the south are off-limits to us. “

“That mountain range won’t be a no-go zone anytime soon!”

The older man stared into the fire, a ghostly gleam in his eyes.

Outside, the snow still continued to fall, and gradually it came to night, and the two sets of travelers with different minds, after each assigned a man to keep watch, most of them went into dreamland.

(End of Chapter)