IT's such a fun anime, and already slated to get a Season 2

Awesome!

Gonna start some character babbling in here

Zeljka, Half-orc former slave woman broken out of captivity, either with outside influence or because she decided "fuck this" and rampaged her way out.

Takes a prized horse with her, who she names Murg, and treats the horse well (doesn't beat it like the nobleman and his staff did, positive reinforcement, does her damndest to get it the best food she can, grooms it, ect.). Thinking Ranger for her class as it would be a good animal companion. Has an obvious dislike for humans, with a particular

dislike for nobles because of her past.
She slays monsters to cook and eat them, and harvests the materials to sell in towns that won't just shun her, or to barter with passing merchants. It's taught her to at least tolerate humans in small doses, especially since barter is generally quite honest (and

she's intimidating enough to not have many try to screw with her). She absolutely has racial prejudice to get over, though because she's only been exposed to humans and other non-human slaves she might not understand why races other than humans might find her un-appealing.

I imagine she was orphaned and kidnapped into slavery, with her parents having the odd loving relationship. She has bare memories of a warm and loving home, delicious stews, her mother's and her father's voices, but I'm picturing they died of illness. She has enough motivation for personal change already baked into her backstory after all.

alternately, orc mom died in childbirth, leaving dad to take care of her until he's run out of town because of his kid (he NEVER blames her) and they have to survive in the wilderness, dad eventually doesn't make it, likely dying of infection and forcing Zeljka to learn more survival skills

... I kinda like that more actually

anyway, Zeljka is also gonna be obsessed with cooking. Not only does it ensure that the food won't make her sick, but eating delicious food is one of the few pleasures she has in life. I imagine she shared once with someone she was bartering with, and liked the feeling she got from their face lighting up because the food she made was delicious

so it's gonna make her want to be better at it, gathering spices and practicing with different materials (animal, plant, monster, ect.) to try and make the best foods

And no one truly awful would be unappreciative of her food. So it's a good vibe check for her too

Eventually she'd want to make an inn/restaurant/tavern where all of her customers are equal. "Even boar shit humans."

(another vibe check, treat her horse well and she'll be willing to at least give you a chance)

coming back to the actual anime... Yeah I've seen the scene of Shuro and Laios fighting previously, and while I'm sure I've thought this before it's brought me back to the thought of "wow, Laios for SURE is Autistically-coded and Falin might be too"

I haven't seen enough of Falin to be as sure about it but she displays some of those tendencies as well

I'm not saying it as a bad thing, as I've been diagnosed as on the autism spectrum since I was a little kid and I'm fully aware of how it can actually be a blessing at times because of how differently our minds work in comparison to allistic people. Unfortunately, it can come with a lot of sensory and social complications as well

social complications in particular are what are shown with Laios

it is very cool to see it displayed in a main character though, both the good (with his interest and therefore INSANELY COMPREHENSIVE knowledge of monsters, as well as incredibly good attention to detail) and the bad (the failure to read the room and pick up on social cues without a giant cluebat)