Chapter 2087: Fairo, the Half-orc Lord

In a sense, the fox half-orc also acted not just as a Lord, but also like a priest of sorts.

A cult?

Althea studied the half-orc more closely.

He had a very high level, probably higher than her husband’s. However, the half-orc was hiding it well, making it seem like he was only about level 20. He might be using a suppression tool or something.

This wasn’t anything uncommon. It naturally couldn’t do anything like absorbing aether or anything. It was more like dispersing the aura that a person released, like a diffuser.

Plenty of people had the inheritance for this type of tool, and it also had several variations.

The first time she had encountered it was as early as her first trip to Ferrol. It was simply not that popular because people in Xeno valued strength so much that wearing something that would ’weaken’ them, or the perception of them, was something repugnant.

The most common version also had limited effects on level 20s and above.

This also meant the tool the fox had was an enhanced version. She wondered where he got it. She could use something like it soon...

Holding back one’s aura would continuously consume energy. Who wouldn’t want the same function working passively?

What was interesting was that level 20 was a powerhouse at village level, enough to make sure he was respected by everyone in the area, but at the same time, low enough to not cause alarm to nearby towns.

She wondered if it was on purpose.

The only reason Althea could notice the discrepancy—despite her inferior level to the other—was because her pseudo-elf blood allowed her to be more sensitive to these things.

Before, it wasn’t obvious, but after awakening one of her elements, she had indeed found herself more sensitive to aether, and not just the wood element

The sermon consisted mostly of their recent war victories. It was actually quite inspiring, but in the war-like Viking way.

"Our people have returned from another great victory! Our Clan once again faced the storm, creating strong winds that wiped away the enemies!"

"Glory to the Beast God!"

"Glory to the Beast God!" The audience chanted with him.

"The enemy banners lay broken in the mud, their weapons littering the ground. Their courage vanished long ago as their bodies fell, their survivors falling into our hands.

"Now, they are part of our resources—tools to make us stronger!"

"Glory to the Beast God!"

Althea’s eyes were narrowed. She always felt like his reference to ’resources’ was a bit different to how she usually used it.

Then the aura around the fox was tinged with something a bit more sinister.

"Those humans are no more than that."

"GLORY!"

"GLORY!"

The loud, masculine chants resounded across the square and the streets beyond it.

"Humans are just tools, in the end! Isn’t the fact that they were born weaker a testament to this?!"

"Now, they can only serve as rewards to our brethren, donors, and warriors. Glory to the beast god!"

"Glory to the Beast God!"

Althea was quiet the whole time, her expression solemn. Her stomach tumbled a bit in distaste, but she naturally didn’t show it to her face nor did she make a sound.

She was looking down the whole time, in fact. She was a ’weak’ human; if she dared act arrogant, she could tell she’d be mobbed. While she had her methods to escape, those were finite, so she had to be as careful as possible on enemy grounds.

The chanting continued for several minutes before it ended. As if to finish off the ’ceremony’, a gust of wind descended from the platform to the crowd.

The gentle tornado appeared, carrying various leaves and flowers from surrounding trees, creating a miraculous effect that caused the surrounding half-orcs to look on in awe.

"Glory to the Beast God!" the chant continued, though their fervent eyes were directed at their Lord.

Villagers generally feel awed by elementalists, and it seemed like orc-led villages were no exception.

The difference was: Althea was also gaping.

It naturally wasn’t because of the show of the element itself. This was because the source of the elemental power was someone unexpected.

It was because the person allegedly controlling the wind was the Lord himself! A half-orc!

The orcs around her roared in awe of their Lord, who continued to show off the power that had once been associated exclusively with humans.

With a glow, he even lifted himself a meter above ground, causing several celebratory roars in the crowd.

Althea frankly couldn’t believe her eyes. It wasn’t that she was racist, but this overturned what she knew about this world. As a genius who held massive information in her head and in her hands, this was a bit difficult to reconcile.

Different races just had different genetic makeup. They had access to different sources of strength. Their bodies used completely different systems to work.

Hence, a half-orc controlling an element was—in theory—absolutely not possible.

She immediately used her [Eye] skill to see it more clearly, and it indeed confirmed that the energy fluctuation originated from the half-orc.

However, it had to be noted that the fluctuations were a bit different from what she knew. She was from Alterra and was surrounded by elementalists; she naturally knew what the power looked like in its natural form.

There was something abnormal here.

She narrowed her eyes. It looked like there were a lot more hidden things in this than she thought.

...

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A/N: Imma start preparing another story for next year (or late this year)~ Just typing a bit here and there, every couple of days, while I finish off the ongoing ones~

Right now, my mood is writing either 1. Real Child FMC in showbiz, and it would have livestreaming elements along with the classic ’acting’ arcs, or

2. Multiworld story (i.e. MC can access the resources of different worlds to enrich herself and her hometown), the main tag will be #business and #farming

What do you think? Will they have a market?