Twenty minutes earlier outside of the Orc Stronghold…
'What is taking Young Master so long?' Cristopher thought as he looked at the Stronghold from a distance. 'I hope he is safe.'
Suddenly, something tapped him from the back, which made the chubby boy brush it off in annoyance.
"Not now, Brutus," Cristopher said. "I'm busy."
However, a second later, he was tapped again in his shoulder, making Cristopher very annoyed.
But, just as he was about to turn around to reprimand his Avatar for disturbing him, he realized something very important.
He didn't summon Brutus to watch over his surroundings!
The chubby boy then slowly turned his head to look behind him.
There, he saw a two-meter-tall monster with grayish black skin, looking at him with an amused look on his face.
It was none other than a High Orc, which made Cristopher's fat shudder uncontrollably.
"Hi," Cristopher said with a smile that looked as if he was about to cry. "Bye!"
The chubby boy then ran faster than he ever ran in his life.
He even ran faster when he was being chased by the two Trolls.
However, he realized that there were several Orcs blocking the direction he was running from, making him come to a complete stop.
He then ran in another direction, but soon found out that there were other Orcs waiting for him there.
'I was careless, they had me completely surrounded,' Cristopher thought when he realized that there was no place where he could run.
Then, it dawned on him.
These Orcs seem somewhat familiar, and after giving it more thought, he concluded that they were the same Orc Hunting Team that they saw fighting against the Desert Wildebeests upon reaching the territory of the Orcs.
The chubby boy then remembered the orders that Thirteen had given him before he left to infiltrate the Stronghold.
"If you were discovered by an Orc, you can summon Brutus, to deal with them," Thirteen said with a serious expression on his face. "Fighting two of them is fine as well. However, if you find yourself facing more than three Orcs, and are completely surrounded, don't summon Brutus because he will not be able to help you.
"In fact, it might even make your situation worse. Orcs and Trolls don't really get along, so if they see you with one, they will automatically see you as an enemy.
"But, since you are human, and look harmless enough, they might consider letting you live if you don't resist capture.
"I know that it may be difficult, but since you are already facing many enemies at once, and death is certain, go for the path that will lead to survival. Don't worry, even if you get captured, I will find a way to free you. You have my word."
Cristopher, who was currently surrounded by these same Monsters couldn't help but want to bawl out and cry. However, if he really did that, it might annoy the Orcs making them kill him on the spot.
In the end, he completely stood still and watched as their leader, the High-Orc who had grayish black skin, approached him with a smug look on its ugly face.
"Take him," the High Orc ordered using the language of Free Humans.
Cristopher didn't resist and allowed himself to be captured.
He knew that this was the only path of survival, and hoped with every fiber of his being that his Young Master would realize that he had been captured, and would find a way to rescue him.
Orc Stronghold Present Time…
"What are you doing here?" Harry asked the seven-year-old with a dumbfounded look on his face.
"I entered a Dimensional Gate by accident," Thirteen replied.
"… You what?!"
"Shhh. Not too loud."
Harry immediately shut up when he realized his mistake.
Even the two other teenagers inside the cage glared in his direction because the only person who might help them escape might get captured because of his carelessness!
"Can you free us?" a teenage boy, who was in the same cage as Harry, asked.
"I can," Thirteen replied. "But, not now. The timing is not right. There are Orcs outside this building, so freeing all of you right now is too high of a hurdle…"
The seven-year-old suddenly stopped talking because he could hear the loud cries of someone familiar to him, followed by the laughter of Orcs, in the hallway that was leading to the wooden door.
The other teenagers also noticed this, making their faces turn pale from fright.
Thirteen, however, didn't panic and simply hid behind Harry's Bone Cage, crouching low to hide as much of his body as possible.
The cages near the door were still empty, so he assumed that the Orcs wouldn't come near Harry's cage to imprison the new person that they had just caught.
"Hahaha! This Human, funny," one of the Orcs said before pushing Cristopher into one of the cages that were still empty.
The other Orc beside him chuckled before glancing at the kids, who all seemed to be behaving properly.
After scanning the surroundings, one of the Orcs frowned.
It felt that something wasn't right, but didn't know what it was.
In the end, it just shrugged and thought that maybe he was just hungry. They had just returned from a hard hunt, and he hadn't eaten yet.
"Let's go," one of the Orcs said. "Leader is waiting."
"Right," the other Orc replied.
They gave the children one last glance before both of them left, and closed the door behind them.
Thirteen waited for exactly five minutes before leaving his hiding spot.
He then went straight towards the door and pressed his ears against it.
Hearing nothing from the other side, he tried to push it open.
The seven-year-old breathed a sigh of relief because the door wasn't locked from the outside, allowing him a path of escape.
He then went to Cristopher's cage to check if the chubby boy was fine. Fortunately, he wasn't hurt, making Thirteen sigh in relief.
"What happened?" Thirteen asked. "How did they capture you?"
Cristopher didn't hesitate to tell everything that had happened ever since his Young Master left him outside of the Stronghold.
He told him how the Orcs made fun of him, and took turns lifting him up like a sack of rice as if it was a very amusing thing to do.
"Did you see any other humans on your way here?" Thirteen asked.
"Yes," Cristopher replied. "Before I was brought here, there was this tall man, who looked like a bodybuilder, chatting with the orcs. He has these bone necklaces made from animal teeth, and the Orcs seemed to know him very well.
"He even said that I would make a fine slave after I've been trained properly. After that, I was sent here, and then I saw you, Young Master."
Thirteen nodded in understanding.
He didn't have much time to explore the Orc Stronghold earlier because he had come straight to the building where the two teenagers he had seen were taken.
'That Human he saw must be a Barbarian,' Thirteen thought. 'It seems that they still have a good relationship with the Orcs even after 300 years have passed. I can use this.'
Now that Cristopher had confirmed one of his suspicions, he understood why the Orcs only locked the children in cages, and didn't hurt or cripple them.
Thirteen then glanced at the teenagers inside the prison, who numbered less than thirty.
If he really wanted to save all of them, then he had to do it right, or else, he would suffer the same fate, which was something he wanted to avoid at all cost.
