(OOC: Sorry for the long delay.  I'm currently on leave so I've been busy seeing my family)

When Gaius expressed his thanks, Icarus simply nodded, the ordeal of interrogating their adversary finished and the Orc sent back to its creator, or whatever it was these ones prayed to.  He didn't know nor care as to whom the Orcs held in highest reverence; he was more concerned with the things they were doing to carry out his or her will to include the genocide of all other races in search of their glory.  In this instance, the man once identified as the Black Swordsman was interested in finding a means of approval to enter the town and securing shelter for the night.  Although he could manage the wilderness, he'd rather not be forced to sleep out in the wilderness due to the proximity of the other parties.

Based on the locations noted and the size of the previous group they had dispatched, Icarus expected anywhere between ten and twenty more Orcs in the area.  He suspected that although this group was merely a selection of the weakest of the tribe, it was likely one of the groups had more experienced warriors to maximize their possibility of success as well as provide a group to command and control the others.  His companion explained the differences in their patterns compared to those of his world.  

In Icarus' experience, Orcs were nearly shamanistic in nature with a specific warrior caste that conducted all the fighting for them while the religious leaders were capable of communing with nature to an extent and could even bring nature's wrath to battle.  Such were the variances of these realms.  Many others saw them as war-mongering, Icarus saw them in his own world as a proud culture that had not given in to mastering nature and chose to live beside it.  It was for that reason the wars that plagued his empire in the earliest days of Cain were so incredible.  

Cain and the forces of the human empire of Carnathia systematically pushed away the Orcs when they came to exterminate the floundering kingdom in its infancy.  Their presence was nothing short of a heresy to the land in their eyes and the gods they worshipped gave them the rage they needed to press them to the brink of destruction.  Since those times, the Orcs had been banished following the human victory and only the smallest skirmishes were present near the southern border of the empire.  At least, that was the relative scheme of things until the Demon Wars nearly wiped the empire from the face of the world.

"You have my thanks then.  I am a bit winded after all the traveling and this engagement.  If you'd like, I can offer my assistance for a few hours tomorrow before I begin my journey back," Icarus offered, turning away from the other man and beginning to walk toward the village a short distance away.  For the night, at least, he would retire for the time and return at full strength in the morning.  With that, he departed, prepared for the eventuality that he may be assisting for a short time to hunt down the Orcish stragglers in the area.