'The shamans have been busy with fever this winter,' said Durontan's father, Garrad, as he reached out and caressed the great white wolf napping by the fire. The wolf's white fur indicated that it was a frost wolf, and it groaned in pleasure. As soon as one child was healed, the other became ill again. ‘

'I can't wait for spring,' said the other man, getting up and adding a piece of wood to the fire. 'Animals have always been hard to find. When we were preparing for the festival, it took a lot of effort to find a few split-hoofed cows. ‘

'Caraja made such a delicious bone broth and refused to tell us what herbs she had put in,' said the third, staring at a woman who was breastfeeding her baby. The woman, presumably Karaja, giggled.

I'll only give the recipe to this little one, of course, when she's an adult. Karaja replied, grinning.

Durontan's mouth opened in surprise. He turned his head to look at Orgrim; He also had a look of surprise and frustration. Is this something so important, so mysterious, so mysterious that children are not allowed to sneak out of their tents and eavesdrop?

In the bright moonlight, Durotan could clearly see Orgrim's face. Orgrim's eyebrows were twisted together.

You and I can think of much more interesting things than that, Durotan. He said in a low, hoarse voice.

Durotan grinned and nodded. Absolutely. (2) ≈ Chang (2) ≈ Wind (2) ≈ Literature (2) ≈ Studies, ∞.∧x.ne☆t

The celebration lasted for two more days. During these two days, day and night, whenever two people have the opportunity to sneak out together, they launch various challenges to each other. Footrace. Rock climbing. Weightlifting. Balance as long as they can think of it, they have to try. They always take turns to win against each other, as if they had been negotiated. When Orgrim clamed out on the final day that he would try a fifth time to break the deadlock, something in Durontan's heart made him speak.

'Let's stop playing the usual challenges,' said Durotan, who had no idea where the words came from. Let's do something that has never happened in history. ‘

Ogrim's bright gray eyes sparkled, and he leaned in, 'What's the matter?'

Let's be friends. You and me. ‘

Orgrim's mouth widened, "But we're not from the same clan!" He said that it was as if Durotan had just mentioned that he wanted to make the great black wolf friends with the docile Tabu sheep.

Durotan waved his hand impatiently. 'We are not enemies,' he said, 'and look around you, all the clans come to meet twice a year, and there is no harm in that's not good.' ‘

But...... My father said that it was because we had so little contact with each other that peace could be kept. Orgrim continued, his brow wrinkled into a pimple of concern.

Durotan couldn't hide the disappointment and bitterness in his tone. 'Good. I thought you were braver than everyone else. Orgrim, son of the hammer of the ruined miè. But you're just like the average person, you're timid and shy, and you don't want to break with tradition at all. See what you can do!'

He said it without thinking, but he would say it even if he had to think about it for a few months. Ogrim's brown face turned red all at once, and his eyes were wide open.

'I'm not a coward!' He roared, 'I'm not afraid of any challenge, you pretentious frostwolf cub!'

He jumped on top of Durotan and knocked him to the ground, and the two began punching and kicking, and eventually, the shamans of both families had to be called in to treat their wounds, while reprimanding at length how indecent it was to fight in the Holy Land.

'You reckless boy,' the chief shaman of the Frostwolf Clan is a very old orc, known as the Kashur Patriarch. Then she rebuked, 'You're not old enough not to be spanked, little Durotan!' ...

Over there, the shaman who was looking after Orgrim said something similar with displeasure. But even though his nose was still bleeding, and despite the horrible gap in Orgrim's body, Durontan grinned. Orgrim met his gaze and grinned.

The challenge between them began, the last one, which was much more important than weightlifting and racing. Moreover, neither of them will be defeated lightly...... will not cowardly say that they can't be friends with different clans. Durotan had a feeling that this particular challenge would continue until one of them died. Perhaps, it will be even longer than that.

Durontan moved his young, muscular legs and ran like a flying man. He was short of breath and his reddened brown skin was covered in sweat, but he still pushed himself to persevere. With his huge, flat feet, he stepped on the soft summer grass, occasionally stepping on a bright purple dashan flower. It was a plant that had been cultivated as a healing herb; The fragrance of the crushed flowers wafted up, motivating him to run faster, faster.

He had run to the edge of the Teroka Forest, heading deep into the cold gray-green forest. He had to watch out for the tangled roots lest he trip and had to slow down. A soft glow shone from the depths of the forest, and its calm contrasted sharply with Durontan's thirst for victory. He quickened his pace, jumping over the moss-covered trunks of fallen trees and burrowing over the low branches, moving gracefully as a tarbu sheep. His long, thick, black hair flew behind him. His lungs were on fire, and his legs screamed for him to stop, but he gritted his teeth and ignored his body's protests. He belongs to the Frostwolf Clan, and he is still the heir of the patriarch, and no guy from the Blackstone Clan can

A roar that was quite close to a battle cry came from behind Durotan, and his heart sank immediately. Like Durontan, Orgrim's voice wasn't as deep as that of a grown man, but Durontan had to admit that the sound was really amazing. He ordered his legs to move faster, but they didn't listen, and were so heavy that they seemed to be filled with lead. Discouraged, he saw Orgrim enter his line of sight out of the corner of his eye, dashing violently, overtaking him.

The Orcs of the Blackstone Clan stretched out their hands and lunged forward, touching the stump of a tree in a small clearing that was the end of the race before Durotan. Ogrim took a few more steps forward before stopping, as if his strong legs wouldn't brake once they moved. Durotan's legs didn't have this problem, and the heir of the Frostwolf Clan fell forward. He lay face down on the cool, sweet, mossy earth, gasping for air. He knew he should get up, he should challenge Orgrim one more time, but he was too exhausted to do anything but lie on the ground.

Beside him, Orgrim was also panting loudly, then rolled over and lay on his back, laughing. Durotan laughed too. As the two orcs laughed, the birds and critters that inhabited the Teroka Forest fell silent. The corners of Durotan's mouth curled, and he thought to himself that the voices of the two of them were probably no different from the furious battle cries before the hunt.

'Hah,' Orgrim snorted, sat up, and playfully punched Durotan. 'It's not hard to beat a lad like you, Durotan!'

'You're just well-limbed and simple-minded,' Durotan replied, 'skill is as important as strength.' But the guys of the Blackstone Clan probably don't know about it!'

There was no malice in the banter between the two of them. The two clans were initially upset about the friendship between the two young men, but Durotan firmly argued that just because something never happened didn't mean it should never happen, leaving a deep impression on the leaders of both clans. Fortunately, both the Frostwolf Clan and the Blackstone Clan are relatively mild clans. If Durotan proposes to be friends with, say, Warsong or the Bone Eater Clan, members of a clan known for their extreme pride and distrust of others, the little spark of friendship will quickly be extinguished. And the elders of the Frost Wolf Clan and the Blackstone Clan just watched, thinking that as soon as the two young people were fresh, they would return to where they should be, and maintaining the familiar order had been established for an unknown amount of time.

They were disappointed.

The late winter of frost turned into spring, and then into the warm summer, and the friendship between the two continued. Durotan knew that someone was watching them, but no one intervened, so he didn't object. (To be continued......)