“Come on, you idiots! Bring the creature back into its cage!"

A cracking angry voice echoed through the room. It was so loud that my ears started to hurt. I stared at the female orc who the voice unmistakably came from.

How is that possible? How can I understand her?

Two new orcs entered the arena and approached me. They each had a stick in their hand, the tips of which were connected with a net. As they approached me, they framed the net to drive me further back into the box.

I ignored them and turned around. I hopped into the box by myself, which caused quite a bit of whispering in the arena. The box was shot, but I could still hear the voice of the female orc.

"Come on! Now find out where the poison comes from."

So I guessed correctly.

I suspected that I could understand all orcs because of the blue ball. It may be evident to some, but I had to rule out all eventualities. The flap on the upper side opened, and a hand-pulled me out roughly and put me in the transport box.

The orc who was carrying me and a second made their way out of the arena.

“Who would have thought that the young Ornatrk would smear poison on his ax. Do you think he used the poison in the last few fights as well?"

The orc who was carrying me asked the other. He shook his head.

"I don't think so. I think someone wanted to manipulate this fight on purpose."

"And why was the blade smeared if Ornatrk was to die?"

The other orc asked the right question.

"Hmmm... But if this rabbit should die, then..."

He lost himself in thought and didn't complete the sentence. I listened to everything they said before sounded like simple grunts, and now... It was like they were talking normally.

We reached the stable, and the orcs put me back in the cage.

“Uwa!?”

I slumped to the floor, exhausted.

"En is everything alright!?"

Si threw herself on the floor next to me and looked over to me. Grandma was also not far away and watching us.

"My opponent... was an orc..."

I was interrupted in the middle.

"An orc, you say!?"

I nodded at Grandma's remark.

"Yes, but he was still young."

"And you won?"

She asked incredulously, and I nodded again.

“That's incredible, En!?”

Si praised me.

"And how did you accomplish this?"

Grandma was curious, so I started telling everything that had happened. I talked about the fight how I stole the ax or smashed the shield and the poison on the blade. Grandma looked impressed and confused at times.

"That was all."

I finished the story. Nothing was left out except for the blue ball and the fact that I could understand the orcs. A feeling told me not to reveal it.

 

=== Ten days later

 

Ten successful days had passed. I had five fights these days, but Grandma and I weren't mixed up after the first day. My opponents had been much more pleasant because they consisted of an ash wolf cub, a lizard, half a meter long that could spit fire, and three squirrel-like beings. I didn't know these races names, but Grandma told me that these squirrels are called Tammen by the dryads.

In each of the fights against the ash wolf, the fire-lizard, and the Tammen, a ball from the dead animal was absorbed by me. A gray ball from the ash-wolf, a red one from the fire lizard, and a red-brown one from the Tammen. Nothing happened with the two following Tammen's, so I had to assume that these balls would only rise on the first of their kind that I defeat. I didn't know what they were doing, but Si could tell that I had changed, but what changed, she couldn't tell.

The past few days had not been more comfortable for Si. She only had to fight three times, but there were three ash wolves, and one of them was fully grown. Fortunately, she had no deeper wounds other than a few scratches.

But the worst thing was Grandma, who had to fight every single day. She didn't say much about them, but it had to be uncomfortable as she was regularly brought back bathed in red, orange, or yellow-green blood.

Grandma tried to cover it up, but there were scratches under her fur, whether new or already scarred, and some of them looked like wounds that would bring her to the brink of death.

"En, has your fur always been like this?"

Si stared at my fur as if something had changed.

"I don't know."

I answered her honestly as if she tossed her head over my back and buried half of her face in my fur.

“Hmm! Your fur has definitely become fluffier! Not only that, you used to be smaller than me, and now you are just as tall as me!?”

She sounded disappointed.

"Nonsense! I am only in my growth period."

I denied her claims, but of course, I couldn't wholly refute them.

It was time for the arena fights to begin. It wasn't long before several orcs came into the stable. This time there was an unusually large number because typically there were two who took one of us with them, but this time a larger group came.

"Which ones?"

One of the orcs who regularly took us out of the cages spoke to the only orc who wore noble clothes.

“Hmm… two of the younger animals for the team fight and the elderly. Prepare these three. Today's guests must be enthusiastic about our offer."

Teamfight and special guests...

I had a bad feeling when they removed Si, Grandma, and me. Grandma was put in a second cage, but Si and I were in the same.

We were carried out, but instead of approaching one of the two already known arenas, the three of us were carried towards the third arena. That was the arena where the audience consisted of rich and wealthy orcs.

One of the orcs opened the entrance, and the orc in fine clothing went in first, followed closely by Grandma's cage and then ours. There were no black boxes inside. Instead, there were several glass boxes. We were dropped into one of these boxes, but two orcs held Grandma because a third orc came over to check her fur and skin. Then he looked at the claws and teeth, as well as the horn of her. It was all reminiscent of an examination by a vet. When he finished with Grandma, she was washed and put in a box next to us. She received fresh food and water.

The orcs came to our box and took Si. The whole procedure that happened with Grandma was also done to Si. Si was placed back into the box, and they picked me up. I didn't fight back and let everything pass over me in silence because I had no other choice.