A herd of monster beasts ran across the plains. At the head of the herd was a terrifying carnivorous horse, an andoryu sarkus, upon which rode the Goblin King.
The Goblin King found the strong winds pleasing as he rode. Seeing the world while mounted so high on horseback made it seem as if he had found himself in a whole new world. And as if it were expressing his own thoughts, his wild steed rode wildly like a tempest across the plains.
The winds the Goblin King normally couldn’t feel when walking cooled the heat of his body and made him feel as if he could ride wherever he wished. As he drew the great sword hanging by his waist, he brandished it up above his head and swung it to his right.
At that, Gi Ga Rax, who was riding behind him, drew a curve and went toward the direction the Goblin King swung his sword. When he swung his sword to his left, the platoon led by Hal of Paradua similarly changed course. The Goblin King kept going straight with his own cavalry unit, but when he turned his great sword over his head clockwise, all 3 cavalry units turned around.
And when the three units converged, they once again became one. Like that they went back the road they came from. After a while, trees that stood in disorderly fashion, clearly unnatural for the plains, came to view. No. These weren’t trees but dolls imitating the appearance of man. When the Goblin King saw the dolls, he pointed his great sword at them.
The Goblin King lightly kicked the body of his horse, and suddenly, the terrifying horse let out a chilling howl as it rocketed ahead. Black tigers and hipparions (three-eyed wild horses) followed suit and dashed madly themselves.
In the blink of an eye, they passed through the forest of dolls while the Goblin King swung his great sword. When the Goblin King turned around and confirmed that no one had fallen behind, he changed course for the western capital.
The leader of the orcs, Bui, was waiting for him when he arrived.
Bui wasn’t just sweating buckets when he spotted the Goblin King riding toward him with such haste, his eyes were spinning. Still, he waited patiently to be able to greet the Goblin King, whom he hadn’t met in a long while.
But when the Goblin King finally stopped before him, the dam gates opened, and the sweat pouring down his back became unstoppable. It has indeed been a while since he last saw the king, and now, the Goblin King was more terrifying than ever. His arms were no bigger than before, but they seemed much denser now, and his whole appearance emanated a strength unknown before.
Even the fangs that peeked out of the Goblin King’s mouth gave Bui the impression that they would bite at him any moment now. He intentionally averted his eyes away from them.
“It’s been a while,” the Goblin King said.
And Bui knelt before him.
He hadn’t intended to do so, but fear made him.
“I-It’s been a while, Your Majesty.”
The Goblin King got off his steed and left its care to Gi Gi Orudo. He didn’t forget to pat the area around his horse’s face and show some affection to it before leaving. Despite the clear affection in the king’s eyes, however, the pressure emanating from him was even greater than the beasts within the forest.
“It seems you’ve been preparing your race for the humans of the east. You have my gratitude,” the Goblin King said.
“Y-Yes…”
It has been 10 days since the messenger of the Goblin King’s tactician, Pale, arrived at the orc village. The messenger was Gi Ji Arsil. The orcs had tended to him before when he was hurt, so it was known among the goblins that he was very tolerant of the orcs.
The reason he came as messenger was to ask for reinforcements against the eastern human invasion. Although it seemed like a request, it was really an order.
“H-How many would you be needing?” Bui asked.
Although the front lines of the goblin-human war have expanded to the east and the south, the numbers of the orcs have been rapidly increasing. Already, their villages have increased from three to five in their stronghold at the north of the lake shore. While the goblins have busied themselves with shedding blood with the humans, the orcs have been expanding toward the north of the Forest of Darkness.
After absorbing the northern orcs, Bui already had nearly 700 soldiers. Normally, a single orc could win against 7 goblins. One reason was because of their greater stature, but another was their greater endurance and strength.
But the goblins under the Goblin King were different.
They coordinated with each other using a formation called the three-man cell. Against goblins that worked together, the orcs were much weaker. Bui has racked his head time and time again, wondering how he could take back the advantage in strength. When he finally thought up a plan, the Goblin King started attacking the south.
Bui decided to follow the goblins’ example.
Like the goblins, the orcs too would work together. He figured that as long as the orcs could learn the goblins’ three man cell, that would be enough. So, immediately, he called for representatives from the villages, explained to them the benefits, and got their cooperation. Unfortunately, he couldn’t get the results he wanted.
In the forest, the orcs were fairly high up in the food chain. Other than the giant spiders, they didn’t really have anything that could be called a mortal enemy, so there was no reason for them to need to work together. In other words, they didn’t have a situation like the goblins wherein they had to work together or die.
The orcs could hunt just fine individually. So, when they’re suddenly asked to hunt with others, their efficiency actually goes down. And so, Bui went back to the drawing board. Bui’s end goal was the independence of the orcs.
He didn’t want to spend the rest of his life under the goblins’ rule. He hadn’t forgotten the glory of the orcs during his predecessor, Gol Gol’s, heyday. As such, he needed strong warriors that wouldn’t lose out to the goblins’ teamwork.
To that end, Bui built villages and created a suitable environment to raise children to build the foundation. Next, what he needed was a way to create strong soldiers. Once he acquired that, achieving his goal should be trivial.
But then a messenger came to the village. Bui didn’t want to join the goblin-human war. Or rather, he just didn’t want to lose any orcs. Bui knew that he couldn’t forge great warriors unless they fought, but he didn’t want to let his brethren die for nothing.
“For now, 400 should do,” Gi Ji replied.
When more than half of his orc army needed to be sent out, Bui’s vision went dark. Just how many of those would come back alive? The remaining 300 could certainly defend the villages, but if he sent out that many, he would have to go out himself.
“Alright,” Bui replied.
Gi Ji, who was a friendly goblin to the orcs, happily nodded at Bui’s response.
This was the mental state of Bui, who came before the king. His real purpose here was actually to ask the king to allow his orcs to be positioned at the back, but he didn’t even have time to petition to the king before the king called out to him and they entered the western capital. The elves were calling for them now, so they will probably have to attend to some government affairs.
When the sun was setting, Bui returned to his comrades, dejected. Naturally, his comrades weren’t happy and voiced out their complaints.
Bui himself didn’t feel like going to war, so he just said, “It can’t be helped.”
But then Bui noticed that his fellow orcs had all paled, eyes swimming.
When Bui turned around, he went wide-eyed. The Goblin King was there.
“D-Did you require my service, Your Majesty?” Bui asked.
“Yes. Receive your equipment before departing. A male human called Yoshu will deliver them to you,” the Goblin King replied, then left.
“H-H-Hey, Bui. What was that!?” One of the orcs asked with visible fright.
“The Goblin King,” Bui replied with a sigh.
“T-That’s not a goblin!” An orc said.
“But he really is the Goblin King. Come to think of it, this is your first time seeing him, no?” Bui said.
“That’s a monster!” An orc pointed out.
“You’re not wrong,” Bui found himself agreeing.
After that silence filled the area and reverence filled the eyes of the orcs as they realized that their king could actually negotiate with the likes of a monster.
“Anyway, you heard the king. We’ll get our stuff, then go,” Bui said nonchalantly.
But for some reason, no one uttered a word of complaint anymore, and the orcs soon departed for the east.
