/
Ten minutes later…
Eugene entered through the wooden fence after receiving Maxenne’s invitation, and he succeeded in destroying the village’s troops in just ten minutes. The remaining troops numbered less than thirty, and the rest were females, children, and the elderly. Of course, orcs were strong and rugged regardless of their gender and age, but it was impossible for ordinary residents to put up any resistance against Eugene’s group.
“You wicked little fangs! The spirits of the earth will punish you and swallow you whole!”
“When the warriors return, they will tear your limbs apart and devour your heart!”
The remaining warriors of the Tolo family cursed their hearts out, but they were already badly beaten and were even tied up.
Eugene was unfazed by their shouts. Rather, he looked rather annoyed as he responded to their curses, “That’s funny. You have the right to kill me, but it’s evil for me to do this?
“What?” the orcs asked, dumbfounded.
“Your chief and the warriors departed to kill me, right?” Eugene asked.
“T-that means you are…” the orcs finally recognized Eugene’s identity.
Eugene nodded before responding, “That’s right. I am Duke Jan Eugene Batla. You should at least know who you’re trying to kill, you stoneheads.”
“…!” The orcs were shocked. Their fangs jutted out of their open jaws.
Eugene continued, “And if I were really evil, I would have already killed you all, right? As you know, I’m a vampire. Since I didn’t even suck your blood and left you alive, wouldn’t it be for a good reason? How are a bunch of idiots like you going to unify Brantia?”
“...” Despite the insult, the orcs remained silent. Although they were rather simple, they weren’t stupid enough to retort to Eugene’s words. Eugene was holding the blade, and he had every right to kill them. Even so, he kept them alive, and they knew he would have a good reason behind his inaction.
“Maxenne,” Eugene called out.
“E-Ehem.” Maxenne stepped out with an awkward cough at Eugene’s call. The expressions of the orcs suddenly turned fierce. Although Maxenne was a half-orc, he still possessed the blood of the Tolo tribe. The orcs didn’t look kindly upon a traitor who turned them over to the enemy.
“I-I understand. Everyone must be extremely angry. All of you must consider me a traitor. But it’s all a misunderstanding. I only accepted His Excellency Batla’s offer to save all of Tolo,” Maxenne started to explain.
“Stop shitting goblin dung out of your mouth and get ready to go to hell, you traitorous little bastard!”
“Once the chief returns, he’ll pull out your spine. Take care not to lose your head until then.”
The harsh words of the orcs caused Maxenne to turn pale. However, he stole a glance at Eugene’s icy eyes, then mustered up the courage to continue, “T-That won’t be happening. The warriors, including the chief, are dead.”
“What?!”
“What do you mean by that? You half-baked bastard, you think you can fool us with your lies?”
“It’s not a lie. It’s true,” Maxenne said while gesturing at the hunter. The hunter placed down another bag, then emptied its contents with great solemnity and respect.
“Keugh?!”
“T-T-that’s…”
The objects were none other than an assortment of colorful fangs with rings. The biggest and the most colorful of the fangs belonged to the chief of the Tolo tribe.
“The orc chief and the orc warriors died fighting against roamers while trying to cross the White Fang Mountain. Coincidentally, His Excellency the Duke had also been crossing over the mountain. So…” Maxenne continued with the story. He had practiced telling his story to the hunter dozens of times.
It was extremely realistic—so realistic that the orcs wholly focused on the story as sweat started to form on their foreheads while they tightly gripped hands.
“…And so, having confirmed Sir Kunderima’s end, His Excellency Batla decided that the first thing he would do was to destroy the roamers of the mountain. When he crossed the mountain, he discovered the chief. And despite being enemies, he fought with the chief against the monsters, but it was already too late. Everyone was killed, and only this orc and I survived with the help of the duke’s party,” Maxenne concluded, then he looked alternatingly between the orcs and the collection of fangs with sorrowful eyes before suddenly falling on his knees. “I am ashamed to be the only one to have survived. I apologize to the fangs of Tolo. It was only right for me to have perished fighting along with everyone else, but I thought that someone needed to relay the news Please… please don’t forgive this shameful half-orc! Uwahaaa!” Maxenne even burst into unplanned tears. It was due to the great embarrassment and skepticism he felt. He couldn’t believe that he had to resort to such desperate measures just to preserve his life.
‘What’s wrong with that bastard?’
‘How would I know? Anyway, he’s putting on a great performance.’
Eugene was completely oblivious to Maxenne’s innermost thoughts. He was simply impressed with the half-orc’s excellent acting skills. However, there was someone else who deserved the title of an acting genius.
“Sir Maxenne! You did your best! So please, let go of your guilt! And please don’t ever think about killing yourself again! You must live on and continue the pride of the Tolo warriors! Kheugh!”
“Killing himself…?”
The hunter stepped out in a timely manner and provided excellent assistance by comforting Maxenne and shedding a tear. The orcs had been staring at Maxenne with sadness. But once the hunter stepped in, their eyes became tinged with a hint of surprise.
‘Kieeee. I can’t believe they improvised this. What an amazing bunch.’
‘Yeah. I gave them the orders, but I never thought they would be so great together.’
‘Anyone else would think that they are a duo of an honorable knight and his faithful aide.’
Eugene’s group also couldn’t hide their admiration. They watched on as the half-orc and the hunter held each other and shed thick droplets from their eyes.
“T-Then let me ask you one thing...” one of the older orcs said.
“Keup! Ask me anything,” Maxenne responded while wiping away his tears.
The old orc looked sideways at Eugene before continuing, “Why didn’t you tell the truth from the very beginning? Why did you trick everyone?”
“Phew! Would you have believed me if I did that? Who do you think the chief set out against? I didn’t lie because I wanted to…” Maxenne answered.
“Hmm…” The old orc was rendered speechless. It was true. If the half-orc had started with the story, no one would have believed him. The whole tribe would have fought against the vampire duke with their lives on the line.
As the atmosphere of the Tolo orcs subsided somewhat, Eugene stepped out.
“Can I say something?” he said.
“…” The orcs nodded wordlessly.
“Originally, I was going to wipe you all out. However, this proud, honorable warrior of the Tolo tribe risked his life to persuade me. He begged me to spare the rest of the tribe. But I’m not generous enough to spare the lives of those who planned to kill me. And that was when he made a suggestion…” Eugene started to explain.
The gazes of the orcs turned toward Maxenne.
Eugene continued, “He said he would continue the honor and pride of the Tolo family, and persuade the other tribes. Tolo would once again stand as the centerpiece of the Bayman Orcs and make peace with me. As such, I accepted his offer and gave him a chance.”
“…!!!” The orcs became wide-eyed after hearing the shocking story.
“H-How ridiculous!”
“That’s right! We appreciate that you retrieved the corpses of the chief and the warriors, but the Bayman Orcs will never give in!”
“We still have many brave warriors!”
The warriors started raising their voices once again.
Eugene looked over them with a cold gaze before responding, “I heard most of those warriors left on ships to kill me, right? Wouldn’t that make it so that the other tribes are in a similar situation as here?”
“…!”
“And did you not hear a single word I said? I asked to make peace. What is it? Are you having a hard time believing my words because I beat all of you up and tied you up? Should I just kill you as I originally planned?” Eugene said.
“Ah…” Even the most foolish of the naive orcs finally realized why Eugene had chosen to tie them up instead of killing them all.
“Just tell me if you want me to end your lives right now. I’ll just burn everything to the ground and go find another tribe,” Eugene stated. His voice was colder and sharper than the biting northern winds and the Origin’s fierce Fear caused the thick skins of the orcs to tremble with fear.
They were eventually forced to give in, as any other choice would lead to the demise of the Tolo family.
***
Maxenne was appointed as the temporary chief with the unanimous consent of the remaining warriors and the members of the Tolo family. He couldn’t immediately become the official chief because he was a half-orc and the children of the previous chief were still young and alive. Still, he was satisfied with this outcome.
Eugene had no complaints as well.
Once he united the rest of the tribes as well, Maxenne would become the representative of the Bayman Orcs, regardless of whether the Tolo family liked it or not.
How would he accomplish this? Simple—he was going to make sure of it. What other choice would the orcs have if he declared that he was only willing to speak with Maxenne?
It didn’t matter if some of the tribes were reluctant. From his experiences thus far, Eugene knew northern Brantia to be a barren land. It was uncivilized.
Even if he forcibly conquered the North in his plan to unite the country, he judged that he would have more to lose than to gain. Rather, it was much better to use the same tactic as he had with the Fransil family, Eland, and Brodin. He would guarantee them autonomy, as well as an appropriate title.
It was up to the orcs to beat each other up over the title. Of course, it was entirely possible that a great hero would one day rally all the orcs, but such a thing would never happen in his lifetime. That was a problem for Luke’s descendants to worry about.
“Um, will this really be okay?” Maxenne asked. He carefully held out a parchment packed with scribble-like writing. Unlike most orcs, Maxenne was literate, perhaps due to his human father.
Eugene checked the contents of the letter and nodded with satisfaction. “Good. My knight will be satisfied with this.”
Eugen had made a request, or rather, an order for Maxenne to write a letter of apology for Lanslo. Although the chief and most of the warriors belonging to the Tolo family were dead, revenge couldn’t be called proper unless it was achieved with one’s own hands.
‘It’s only temporary, but Lanslo will be satisfied receiving the handwritten letter of the tribe’s chief and the fangs of the previous chief’s direct descendants.’
Eugene took the parchment with such thoughts.
Maxenne carefully asked, “So where will you be going now?”
“I will return to where I came from. The same tactic isn’t going to work for the other tribes anyway,” Eugene responded.
“Ah, that’s true,” Maxenne nodded. Eugene had successfully occupied the Tolo family because Maxenne, the inviter, possessed the blood of the Tolo family. There was no way the other tribes would allow a vampire to enter their territories unless they were crazy.
Although Eugene could make a plan to infiltrate the other tribes, he had already lost interest in the North.
‘It will be better to let the orcs fight it out among themselves. All the capable warriors have already departed on ships anyway.’
In addition, the North only had three evil lands. Moreover, since they had been opened a long time ago, they had been completely wiped out due to the constant, massive influx of strong orc warriors.
It was highly unlikely that Eugene would discover any monster with red mana stones in those evil lands, and as such, he completely gave up any of his lingering attachments to the North.
“Excuse me, Your Excellency,” Maxenne suddenly spoke.
“What is it?” Eugene answered.
“As long as I am the chief, I will take responsibility and prevent anyone from crossing the White Fang Mountain. I swear it on my fang,” Maxenne declared. It was the result of mutual greed and understanding.
But regardless of the reason, Maxenne was truly grateful to his benefactor for helping him become the tribe chief.
“That’s a good thing to say. But it doesn’t matter if someone tries to cross the mountain,” Eugene said.
“What?”
“No one’s going to succeed anyway,” Eugene continued.
“Ah… Y-yes, as expected, right?” Maxenne pretended to accept Eugene’s words, but he couldn’t help but wonder. If a strong warrior appeared one day, even if they weren’t as strong as Eugene…
“Tell them to cross it if they want to be ripped to shreds by a snow ogre,” Eugene declared.
“…?!”Maxenne was appalled by Eugene’s statement.
Eugene stood up, “I’ll get going. Ah, you, come with me.”
The hunter answered in confusion, “Y-yes?”
He had been soaking in his dreams of living a sweet, sweet future as the only one who was privy to the chief’s secret. As such, he was shocked by Eugene’s words.
“Why are you so surprised? Were you planning to stay here?” Eugene asked.
‘Obviously!’
Unfortunately, the hunter couldn’t voice his thoughts. He slowly raised himself from his chair while sweating.
Eugene continued with a smirk, “If you stay here, you’re going to die.”
“What do you mean…” the hunter asked with fear while looking at Wolfslaughter on Eugene’s belt and Madarazika on his back.
Eugene wrapped his arms around the hunter and slightly raised his voice as if he wanted Maxenne to hear his words. “When we leave, you’ll be the only one who knows his secret. Do you really think that the sneaky half-orc will let anyone who knows his weakness live? If I were him, I would immediately eliminate such a source of anxiety.”
“Keugh!”
The hunter slowly turned his face. He met Maxenne’s gaze, and was shocked to see an expression of epiphany on Maxenne’s face.
The hunter could easily read the ‘hesitation’ in Maxenne’s eyes.
‘What? Did that half-formed fang bastard really…?’
The burning camaraderie that formed between them during their cry disappeared like a mirage of an oasis in the desert.
“What do you think? Am I right?” Eugene asked.
‘Even an idiot could tell that you planted the idea in his head just now!’
“Y-yes. I… think so. Hehe. Hehehe…” The hunter had no choice but to follow the insidious vampire with a forced laugh.
“Here, take this. You have a very important mission. It’s also the only way for you to prolong your life,” Eugene said.
“Whatever you say is law, Your Excellency. I will follow you until the end.”
The gold coin in his hand dispelled any dissatisfaction he had toward Eugene. The vampire was slightly insidious, but he was generous.