Michael woke up early in the morning and flew directly to the sparring area just on the outskirts of Neo Orcus. There were early birds already working up a sweat as he touched down on the barracks, which were chalk-filled with wooden training weapons.
As expected, Sheina was part of the morning risers, with only five arrows left in her quiver and the rest sitting squarely in the bullseye. She never missed. Not a single one.
Michael walked up next to her and picked up a bow and arrow of his own. He had very limited experience shooting with this weapon, but he did have the combined knowledge and expertise of all professional archers during the modern era. And it was all thanks to ChatJK3.
[Downloading directly to your brain…]
[Activating Critical Eye skill]
Suddenly, his posture straightened, his grip on the bow tightened, and his eye aimed down just above the bullseye which compensated for the wind and the distance of the shot…
THUMP
The arrow pierced right into the bullseye. Sheina clapped for Michael and congratulated him on a wonderful shot. But…she then proceeded to shoot five consecutive shots that pierced through Michael's arrow, splintering it into a thousand ends.
Sheina flashed a cheeky smile to Michael. "Ehem…I'm just trying to secure my job, Lord Michael."
She knew that Michael could protect himself even without anyone's help. But, it would be much safer if he had a deterrent like the Dragonborns by his side.
Michael shrugged and gave up. He didn't have any desire to perfect his fighting skills, so he would leave that up to the professionals.
As the time passed, more and more people joined the sparring session. Yuna did some light stances with her rapier, stunning everyone who looked in her direction. But like Michael, even though she was perfectly capable of protecting herself, she would rather leave that up to Agnes and her escorts. That way she could focus on her job as a diplomat.
The other Dragonborns finally showed up, with the last one being Jaku, who was still yawning despite the sun already nearing its zenith.
Michael, as always, just sat by the sidelines with Yuna and Fudge. They spent their time reminiscing about their previous life, and how much they missed certain aspects of that world.
"You still owe me an ice cream," Yuna said.
"I'm trying to," he replied, trying to appease her. "I just haven't found any vanilla as of yet. Say…you wouldn't happen to know where I could buy it in the Queens region, do you?"
Yuna teasingly glared at him. "That's not our agreement, mister. I provide you with a way to progress your business. You provide me with ice cream. There's a boundary there that cannot be crossed."
After a pause, Yuna faced Michael again.
"Speaking of which, you told me that you needed a place with a large collection of Physical Arts, right? After talking to Jimmy, I remembered that Angora City had a Knightly Court. I know a few high-ranking Knights there that could give you access to their scrolls."
Michael was ecstatic to learn this. He wasn't familiar with the Order of the Heavenly Knights, so he would have had trouble navigating a friendly conversation with them that could lead to them opening up their gates for him.
But thankfully, he had a diplomat friend.
"I have some connections with the Magic Tower there as well. Would you need my help?"
Michael shook his head. "Seberus already introduced me to their Tower Master."
"Must be nice being a prodigy of the Mystic Arts," Yuna commented.
"You're one to speak, miss Heavenly Knight apprentice."
Yuna flashed him a tongue before leaving to practice with Agnes.
Michael was going to continue laying around in the sun, when a large shadow cast over his eyes and blocked his view. He looked up and saw the Orcs approach him with a meek expression.
"Umm… sir human. We would also like to participate in the fight! No matter what you are preparing for, we are dedicated to protecting you!"
In front of him were about 16 Orcs, which were evenly distributed between the Orcupine and the Orcanine tribe.
After Michael convinced the first two 'rebels' to convince more of their friends and families to let go of their grudge against the other tribe, the number for the revolution grew bigger.
What revolution, you ask? It was none other than the undercurrent movement that aimed to convince the Orcs to disobey their Chieftain and their tribe itself to achieve unity between the two tribes.
Their numbers had grown steadily over the days. Of course, Michael wasn't denying the fact that the benefits of becoming an honorary Rebornian weren't a factor in their decision at all. But, it was clear that the Orcs were much more willing to work together with a chocolate bar in their hands.
"You want to join our sparring session?"
It seemed that the Orcs were under the wrong impression. They thought that Michael was going to war or something, especially because of the current sparring session all over Neo Orcus.
But in truth, Michael just wanted the Dragonborns to do something throughout their days. They get quite depressed seeing their fellow Rebornians hard at work while they were doing nothing because their skills weren't suited for construction.
"Well, I'm not going to stop you if you want to join the sparring."
The Orcs slapped their thighs and strummed their quills in appreciation for Michael's decision. They quickly ran over to Agnes, who was instructing the Dragonborns on their current training regimen for today.
Michael watched the Orcs approach Agnes, who paused for a second as she assessed their current level of strength. She nodded in satisfaction before giving them their respective sparring partners.
He was quite interested in how the Orcs fought, especially with the difference in fighting style between the two tribes.
And surprisingly, the Orcs were paired up against one of the elite members of the Montgomery Escorts. It was then that Michael remembered that the Orcs were originally a race proud of their dominance on the battlefield, not just their weird ritual customs.