Buddy and the orcs snoozed a while in the late summer afternoon…

<<Ah… when was the last time I just lay on a grassy bank and watched the lazy clouds up in the sky? Fifty years…? Yeah… when I was a kid… huh… I didn’t even notice I missed this simple pleasure while working so hard all those decades...zzzz….” [Buddy]

---

“Got fish! Look hue-man!” [Orc2]

One of the orcs shook Buddy’s shoulder after about an hour.

And indeed…

“Oy! Oy! Seven of them! And one is a real large catch! Now that's what I call abundant nature! Oy... you three - so this is how we catch them…” [Buddy]

Buddy waded into the water, and carefully stepped into the trapping area.

Before the resting period, he had woven three simple nets out of the rest of the papyrus-like reeds - at the outside edge he had woven in a few rocks to act as weights.

“Oy, watch. Just drop one of these nets over the fish… and then once it gets entangled, just gather it up, like so!” [Buddy]

Buddy repeated the process two more times, then exited the trap and walked back up onto the land.

“Now... to kill the poor fish as fast and painlessly as possible there are a couple of ways… because I have a hammer, what we do is hit the fish on the head, just enough to cause it to lose consciousness, but not crush the skull… like so. And then, we immediately bleed it out, and process it, like so - we need to get the innards out immediately, otherwise the fish meat gets spoiled.” [Buddy]

Buddy rapidly showed the process three times.

“We can throw the innards back into the trap - that will attract some other types of fish, such as catfish, who are scavengers… Now, here take the nets, and each of you take turns trying to catch a fish - I’ll process them this time for you, and we’ll practice this another day.” [Buddy]

A short while later there were seven fresh fish of various sizes laid out on the reed mat Buddy had woven as the orcs slashed around in the trap, practicing catching a fish.

“Oh, now eat?” [Orcs]

“No, we will take them back to your clan, and then we’ll cook them. When we catch more, I’ll show you also how to process them to keep for later - smoking is a good and easy way, so I think we’ll start with that - we don’t have any salt, I suspect… so, let’s go.” [Buddy]

---

After about half an hour walking through the woods, the four intrepid adventurers… oh sorry, Buddy and the three orc… made it to the cliff they had seen from the river.

There was a low cave entrance with a bit of clearing around it.

A few tree trunks encircled a firepit - on one of the trunks a scared and withered orc sat, tending the small fire with his left hand.

The ancient orc’s right arm was missing, just a short stump wrapped in dirty cloth.

4 smaller orcs of various sizes where playing around the cave entrance. 

<<Orc cubs? No, not a good idea to think like that... they are just children>> [Buddy]

On the left two female orcs were scraping the large hide of some unidentified beast to make leather.

The old orc was the first to notice the arrival and shouted loud when he saw Buddy.

“What now, mud for brain? You bring hue-man???” [AncientOrc]

“No. Bear hue-man bring us…” [Orc1]

“Hey, that’s a good one… you two could start a comedy routine!” [Buddy]

The ancient orc fell off his log in shock.

“Ehhh??? Ehhhhhh???? Hue-man talk Orculan??????” [AncientOrc]

“Yes, I speak Orculan. And yes, I heard that has never happened before. I think it was a gift from that Auntie voiced  Goddess…” [Buddy]

The female orcs had now gathered behind the ancient orc, with two more carefully coming out of the cave to see what the raucous was about. 

“Bear hue-man wants to help us. Bear hue-man very powerful - good ally to Orc-kind!” [Orc1]

One of the older female orcs helped the ancient orc back onto his log.

“Um… no idea what say now... never hue-man care about Orc-kind… Goddess… goddess… Murimuri, go get statue…” [AncientOrc]

The ancient orc patted the older female orc on the arm.

She nodded, entered the cave.

When she returned, she had a leather wrapped oblong object in her arms, about the size of a baby.

“Here... Goddess…” [Murimuri]

“Give to bear hue-man…” [AncientOrc]

The older orc woman called Murimuri shyly approached Buddy, and reached out the wrapped object towards him.

Barry accepted it and carefully started unwrapping.

“Thank you… Oy! This is… beautiful! ” [Buddy]

A shining light appeared from the wrappings.

The statue uncovered was carved out of a single crystal of quartz.

It depicted a cat headed goddess with a lithe body and… three tails.

In one hand she held a bundle of what looked to be some sort of wheat.

But...

In the other hand she held a smith’s hammer.

“Oh...not glow for many years now… never glow that strong! Goddess of Orc-kind and also Goddess of Beasts… Statue glows near you…huh...” [AncientOrc]

“Well now - I only heard her voice, and she sounds like a nice Auntie. But I suppose this statue could sort of fit my mental image of her… and she is holding a hammer just like mine… so…” [Buddy]

“Hammer? Oh… OH! Yes look husband, bear hue-man… hammer on belt!” [Murimuri]

“Looks like Auntie Goddess is also the goddess of smiths... Well that fits!” [Buddy]

Buddy carefully covered the statue again.

“Please put this back. I don’t want to accidentally drop it - this statue… is priceless. Whoever made it was a master I would love to have learned from.” [Buddy]

“Statue made by orc-kind many centuries ago - myths say orc-kind were great people, once... “ [AncientOrc]

“Oy, well, I will ask you about your history. Later… Now I want to cook you all dinner - we have fruit and fish to cook!” [Buddy]

“Ohhh! Fish!!! Rare to eat! Hard to catch!” [FemaleOrcs + AncientOrc]

---

The fish and plum feast was a great hit with the orcs.

The three orc warriors took turns being on watch at the fire pit overnight , and Buddy was invited inside the cave to sleep.

The cave entrance was low, but the cave roof quickly rose inside to about twice Buddy’s height, and led quite far back. 

At the very back a cold spring bubbled out from one wall, and the water flowed away underground.

In the middle portion of the cave a niche was carved out, where the Goddess statue was kept.

The closer Buddy came to her, the more she glowed, so the cave was quite lit up during the night.

“Ah, I am a bit tired… well then good night. Wake me when the sun is thinking of rising, please…” [Buddy]

---

In the morning Murimuri shook Buddy lightly on the shoulder.

“Sun about to rise… is OK?” [Murimuri]

“Oy, thank you yes! Very kind of you! Hm, we ate all the fish last night… so there are only plums for breakfast…” [Buddy]

“Gonragor and Harganod hunted birds with nets you gave…we cooking them now, see?” [Murimuri]

Buddy exited the cave and indeed, the orcs he thought of Orc1 and Orc3 were busy cooking three birds on sticks over the fire, turning them every so often. 

Five other unplucked birds were laid out on one of the logs.

“Caught with bear hue-man’s fish nets!” [Gonragor]

“Oy! Now that is an unexpected bonus… huh, these look a bit like chickens - guess they don’t fly? So you guys took the idea of catching fish and figured out you can do the same with birds… So... hmmm...that… that means Orcs can extrapolate, and we can get you into… well whatever century this is here… Century of the Fruitbat¹Thanks for all the great Discworld books, Sir Pterry!, maybe?” [Buddy]

This last part Buddy muttered under his breath.

---

Over the next few days, Buddy showed the orcs how to make bigger nets and various traps to catch small to medium sized wildlife.

Further down the river, as a backup they built a second fish trap.

The children were especially good at weaving baskets and mats from fresh willow tree branches and the papyrus like reeds found at the river.

The mats had various uses, and several papyrus mats on top of each other made a makeshift mattress, even.

Buddy also showed the orcs how to make simple pottery, which they baked in a primitive kiln.

As it was fall, there were a lot of fruits they collected, which they carefully dried, so as to preserve over the winter.

<<Hm… I have to figure out how to make vinegar, and then we can even pickle… maybe I can get some info on that in the nearest town? For now, let’s build a smoke hut...>> [Buddy]

And so each day’s over-catch of fish and birds ended up in the smoke hut.

After the twelve days, Buddy and the orcs had collected and prepared enough food to last them more than two months - a few weeks more, and the winter would be covered.

“Hm… wonder if we could get these chickens to lay eggs for us… we’ll need to make a hen house and some fencing - nothing fancy, sticks and mud will be plenty… so much to do still!” [Buddy]

“Eggs? We sometimes find, but… not often.” [Baradar the AncientOrc]

“Well, something for the spring, then… for now… is there any flint around? That’s a sort of shiny rock...” [Buddy]

“Shiny rock? Sometimes we see weird rock on cliff… can show where…”  [Harganod]

After a short walk along the cliff Buddy and Harganod reached a rougher looking area.

Red and green stains on shattered looking rocks reached all the way up the cliff, several stories over their heads.

“This… well it isn’t anywhere near flint… but I think…” [Buddy]

Buddy reached out, and pried a loose chunk of rock off the cliff face.

“Hm… I’m in one of those isekai situations, right? So, what was it they always did in those? Oh right...... OY! APPRAISE!” [Buddy]

“...” [Harganod]

“......” [Buddy]

“What you do…?” [Harganod]

“Apparently… nothing… well here goes the old-skool method!” [Buddy]

Buddy held up the chunk of rock to his nose and sniffed.

Then… he licked it.

“Yep, iron and copper ore… not enough to mine commercially, but… this, this could be good… this could even be great! If we could get some pick axes…. Hm… might be time to go shopping! Here, help me gather a few of the bigger chunks… I want to try something at the cave.” [Buddy]

With that Buddy and the orc previously known as Orc3, Harganod, gathered a few of the rock chunks into the wicker baskets Buddy had brought along, just in case.

---

Back at the cave...

“Bear hue-man go now?”  [Murimuri]

The older female orc looked at Buddy, her eyebrows having a slight crease.

“Only to get some tools, materials, and ingredients, such as salt. Ah, I guess I’ll need to find a way to make money first, huh… maybe they need a blacksmith? Anyway - I will try and come back before the first snow for sure - you all have enough food for the next few weeks, and you now know how to prepare more while I’m gone. And next year, we’ll even start to farm and have a garden, so that one day this will become a real village… maybe some of the other orc clans can come and join, even!” [Buddy]

“Delusion time… over now?²If you like isekai, maybe try out "Saving 80,000 Gold in an Another World for Retirement" by Funa Sensei!”  [Baradar the AncientOrc]

“Oy! I mean it! Anyway, I think there is a town three days walk from here… Shame I have no way to contact you, but…” [Buddy]

“Bear hue-man back soon, yes?” [Orc Child]

Buddy patted the child gently on the head.

“Yes, and I’ll bring you all souvenirs, too!” [Buddy]

With that, the orcs waved at Buddy as he left the small clan.

Buddy turned around a few times and waived at his new family.

<<Yes, these are now my family, and I will do whatever I can to make them strong and independent, so they don't need to raid innocent merchants anymore or get hunted as criminals…>> [Buddy]

---

 

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