It's the Murloc Life for Me [A Warcraft Isekai]

Chapter 4: An Ounce of Prevention

Turns out, the murloc way of training for battle was not too different from the human way — exercises and discipline, followed by a bit of weapons training here and there. I was excused from the later half of the day due to my healer apprenticeship under Mrgglr, but that didn't mean I got a pass from the exercise. Every day I would come into his hut tired and sweaty, and he would let me have 5 minutes to catch my breath before giving me a task.

Most of it was pretty standard stuff. "Pass me the wraps" or "hold him down while I sew his wound." The kind of thing a stereotypical thug with more brawn than brains could do. But I did learn some pretty useful knowledge, like how to set broken bones. He even had me find sticks of the right length that were sturdy enough to be used as a splint.

When there wasn't anyone to treat, he would sit down and teach me what he knew. It was much like when he talked in the circle, but more personal, with more time to answer questions. Unfortunately, there was often a patient to treat. More people were getting injured with the intense exercise trainees were doing every day. I even had to carry another trainee that had broken his foot to Mrgglr's hut in the second week.

It was like this that almost two months passed. I would attend the morning lesson, then accompany Mrgglr for the rest of the day. I learned much from him, about healing and the world as a whole. Most of it lined up with what I remembered from playing World of Warcraft, although I had never met this murloc before in the game. When I asked him about his history, he started on a long tale that took three separate nights to complete.

One weird fact about him was that the Redfin were not his first tribe, as he had grown up in another, one that he had almost completely forgotten. It had been attacked, and he was carried away and brought to the Redfin's parent tribe, the Murkfin, as a child. He was over 50 years old, which was practically ancient for murlocs.

He had also migrated up north with the tribe, being in one of the first waves to reach the new lands. From his tale, I got a better idea of where we were. Specifically, his mention of a lighthouse they attacked sounded similar to the Westfall Lighthouse. If that was true, then we were currently in Westfall, the zone adjacent to Elwynn Forest, the human starting zone. It would help explain the gnolls, as they had a presence in both Westfall and Elwynn Forest.

As he was telling me about a particularly delicious fish he once caught, a familiar sound echoed through the village. It was a cry, the same one that was taught to us to be used in times of emergency. "Aaaaaughibbrgubugbugrguburgle!"

One of the main things taught to us during training was to always respond to a cry for help. It had been reinforced so much that it was practically an instinctual reaction at this point. I jumped up from my sitting position on the floor and started for the door before Mrgglr stopped me.

"We must wait and prepare. Remember, we are healers. You can do more for the tribe after the battle than during it."

"If I wasn't there during the gnoll attack, you would have been dead."

"Yes, but that was because I was forced to stand and delay them. Now that the children have had some training, they will be able to act much faster. I'm sure by now they are all safe in the water, and the hunters can handle themselves."

It took a couple of minutes for Mrgglr to don his armor with my help, which was nothing more than a leather chest piece. When he stepped out of his hut, a huntsman was already outside waiting for him.

"Oracle, the fighting has stopped. It looks to be another scouting party, only five this time. No one was seriously injured, but we managed to capture one of them alive. What should we do?"

"Bring the captive to the chieftain's hut. Brgllgllrm, go and check on anyone who is wounded. Make sure they are given the proper treatment. If you need to find me, I will be with the chief."