Building A Human Empire By Creating A Clan [EN]: Chapter 30

Early in the morning.

The dew-kissed bushes rustled.

Parting the bushes, several Orcs appeared.

The lead Orc sniffed the air like a pig, surveying the surroundings.

“It’s there.”

The leader pointed towards the mountainside below.

A stockaded encampment was clearly visible.

They muttered, “Baguku,” and descended the slope.

“······?”

However, as they walked along the stockade, they tilted their heads.

Even though they had been to this place countless times, they felt a sense of unease.

“Something’s off here.”

“It’s too quiet? It’s never been like this.”

It should have been bustling with mining activity, but instead, an awkward silence filled the air.

The group belatedly sensed danger and lowered their bodies.

They became wary, wondering if enemies were hiding.

They silenced their footsteps and headed towards the encampment entrance.

“······!”

Several poles were erected at the entrance of the encampment.

Judging by their appearance, they were stockade posts driven into the ground.

And Orcs were impaled on the poles.

“An attack···!”

“Enemies··· It’s the enemy!”

“Quiet! Quiet!”

The leader silenced the commotion with a shout.

The leader examined the corpses of his kin with anxious eyes.

They had been dead for quite some time, and even the maggots had dried up.

However, the expressions of screaming on their faces were vivid.

“We’re going inside.”

“It’s dangerous.”

“I don’t want to go in.”

At the group’s resistance, the leader slammed his axe into the ground.

The anxiety that had been in his eyes vanished, replaced by anger.

As that fierce anger turned towards the group, they exchanged glances.

“A, alright.”

“I’ll, I’ll go in.”

The group, shrinking back, followed the leader inside.

Inside the encampment, even the wind that had been blowing outside was cut off, leaving only silence.

“It’s scary here.”

“I want to go back.”

In the silence, there were no living beings.

Instead, like the entrance, poles were erected everywhere.

The Orcs’ eyes trembled more violently than ever.

Reaching the clearing in the center of the encampment, the trembling spread throughout their bodies.

“L, Leader!”

Here, too, there were poles, but they weren’t made of stockade posts.

Spears were driven straight into the ground, and a head was impaled on each point.

That head was the reason the group had come here.

“Baguku···!”

Recognizing the head, the group screamed.

The scream turned into uncontrollable fear, and they backed away.

Even the leader, who had been leading the group, could no longer stop them.

The encampment was clearly a place where only silence existed.

However, as they turned their backs, they felt something chasing them.

The leader, too, was overcome with fear, grabbed Baguku’s head, and fled.

To the place where the master who had sent them to the encampment was.

###

“Uwaaaaaaaagh!”

Ugudash kicked Baguku’s head.

The skull, with its exposed bone, shattered like glass beneath his foot.

“Bagukuuuuuuu!”

Ugudash roared, calling out the name of his dead son.

Of course, his emotions weren’t boiling over with grief over losing his son.

Baguku was simply the strongest of his offspring, nothing more, nothing less.

To an Orc, blood relatives were merely rivals waiting to stab each other in the back.

“Y, you trash!”

The root of his anger lay in Ugudash’s dream.

His dream was to seize the gold mine and buy humans.

But Baguku’s death had greatly distanced him from that dream.

He shouldn’t have started it in the first place.

His dream was about to become a reality, but it had drifted far away, and he couldn’t suppress the seething rage.

“F, Forgive me, Leader!”

Ugudash cleaved the head of the warrior who had delivered Baguku’s head with his axe.

“I didn’t do anything!”

He then cleaved the head of the fleeing warrior.

He didn’t care about their innocence.

He was furious, tearing, smashing, and crushing everything he could get his hands on.

Only after more than ten dead warriors lay crushed beyond recognition did Ugudash calm his anger slightly.

However, his eyes were still bloodshot and resembled a raging volcano.

As if another outburst of anger was imminent, he scanned each of his tribesmen before settling on the human male sitting quietly before him.

That human male was Pinto.

“What are you going to do, human?”

“Wh-what do you mean?”

Pinto trembled at Ugudash’s growl.

He had been sitting quietly because there was nothing else he could do.

Having witnessed Ugudash’s rage several times through numerous transactions, he knew that fleeing would only draw him into the fury.

“I am angry. You must compensate.”

“Co, compensate?”

Pinto’s eyes widened.

“You are human. The one who killed Baguku is also human. Humans must compensate.”

Pinto’s expression twisted as if he had heard nonsense.

However, he quickly composed himself, put on an exaggerated smile, and lowered his body.

“Ah! That’s what you meant! Of course, that’s only natural. Humans must take responsibility for their mistakes!”

The corners of Pinto’s lips trembled.

It was a demand that he would have shouted “bullshit” to if the other party wasn’t Ugudash.

‘Th-this damn… There’s a limit to how much bullshit you can spew…!’

He was frustrated and angry that he had to compensate for something that wasn’t his fault, but he was in no position to say anything.

Suppressing his boiling anger, he told himself that this wasn’t the first time, and that it was an investment, not a loss, as long as he could get the gold mine, and he wore a servile smile.

“I’ll send double the usual tribute next time!”

He thumped his chest and shouted confidently.

However, Ugudash was indifferent.

“Double?”

“Are you not satisfied…?”

“My son is dead. Baguku’s value is high.”

Ugudash bared his fangs and glared at Pinto.

Pinto swallowed hard at that glare.

“I-It’s not just double! It’s double-double!”

“Hmm?”

“Princess! There’s a princess, the daughter of a king. Her beauty is outstanding, so you’ll really like her! Orcs and princesses are a perfect match, aren’t they?”

Pinto blurted out the words without even thinking about what he was saying in his desperation.

He realized his mistake a beat later and stammered, but Ugudash seemed pleased by the nonsense.

“Princess. I like that.”

Ugudash smiled as if his previous anger had been a mere act.

On the other hand, Pinto struggled to keep his lips from drooping.

He was heartbroken and furious because of the unexpected expense.

‘Damn it… Why do I have to because of that bumpkin [a crude, unsophisticated person]?’

All sorts of emotions boiled over at the actions of the lord of Olmus.

Surprise, bewilderment, anger… It was truly surprising that he had killed a strongman like Baguku, but he was still a weaker Orc than Ugudash.

‘That pig is just beating around the bush because he’s angry and wants me to appease him.’

Look at that face, smiling brightly at the mention of giving him a princess.

‘She was going to be sold for a high price.’

He felt sick to his stomach no matter how much he thought about it.

“But. I will kill him. He insulted me. He killed Baguku, so I must have my revenge.”

Pinto was about to agree when something came to mind, and he asked.

“What about the one who sponsors him?”

“Sponsor?”

Ugudash blinked and asked back.

“Just like you’re helping me, doesn’t he have someone looking after him? I was worried about that, so I sent my son to Olmus.”

Pinto thought that there was an Elf behind the lord of Olmus.

An Elf, that high-nosed race, sponsoring a human?

It was hard to believe, but the circumstances were pointing that way.

The late Count Dorin had angered an Elf, the idiot who succeeded the Count testified to this, and the man named Gerhard who appeared with the idiot and made him his puppet, and the sudden halt to the interspecies human hunt on the Great Plains.

These weren’t achievements that a single human could accomplish.

Pinto speculated that someone other than a human was definitely involved.

‘Rather, that’s good. Even if that bastard rebels, he’s just a human. How can he refuse if his sponsor tells him to?’

He sent his son, Sandro.

With an offer that no other species could refuse.

The incident had grown a bit because of Baguku’s death, but.

‘If the lord is held responsible and dies, I can take his place. Even if that doesn’t happen, I’ll be making a connection with the Elf, so there’s nothing to lose.’

Pinto smiled slyly, and Ugudash reacted with a disgruntled expression.

“I don’t understand what you’re saying. No one supports him.”

“What?”

That can’t be?

What about the Elf who killed Count Dorin?

“He is an enemy of the Grand Council. He deceived the Grand Council. That’s why he took my land. The Grand Council was insulted. No one likes him.”

“He deceived the Grand Council?”

Pinto’s jaw dropped.

‘Is that even possible? That bastard’s a human, isn’t he?’

A human deceived the Grand Council and stole land?

Pinto had learned a lot from trading with Ugudash.

He also knew how terrifying the Grand Council was to other species.

It was quite surprising that there was someone who had snatched land from such a Grand Council, and that that person was a human.

“You. Were deceived.”

What was even more surprising than that was the fact that he had been deceived.

“No… That can’t be…”

The words that he hadn’t been deceived came up to his throat but stopped.

Something more important came to mind.

“Then, what I sent Sandro for…”

“I remember your son,” Ugudash interjected.

“Pig. He’s probably dead. Like my son.”

Pinto jumped up from his seat.

His face flushed red.

Ugudash indifferently accepted Pinto’s rage.

“What’s wrong? You can always have another pup.”

“He’s not human!”

“So?”

“······.”

“Sit down.”

His clenched fists trembled.

How did he get that son when it was difficult for him to have children?

What’s more, he brought in a royal slave to give birth to reduce inferior seeds.

The cost was incomparable to the princess he was going to give to Ugudash.

To Pinto, money was everything in life.

Sandro was the most expensive thing in Pinto’s life.

“I’m going south.”

“······.”

“I’m going to kill him before the Grand Council interferes. You go back and gather your forces. How many can you gather?”

Pinto took a deep breath to calm his anger and replied.

“…If I mobilize all of the North, I can easily gather 10,000 men.”

A figure that included not only knights but also mercenaries and peasant conscripts.

The conscripts were just useless peasant rabble in battle.

Considering that the population of Olmus and its surrounding territories was less than 10,000, it was a huge number.

Similarly, the Steel Mist Tribe would only have about 10,000 warriors if you only counted pure warriors.

Ugudash grinned, baring his teeth.

“Good. As soon as you’re ready, strike immediately.”

“How many should I gather?”

“All of them!”

All of them?

Pinto tilted his head.

“Olmus has a large territory, but the population is insignificant. Even if you combine all the villages, it won’t be more than a few thousand. But why bother…?”

Even if the population was in the thousands, not all of them could be armed.

As far as Pinto knew, even the blacksmith was shared by several villages.

How many could fight even if they were armed in such a place?

“He fought the Grand Council. And he won. There must be something else.”

“Hmm.”

Pinto still felt it was excessive, but he didn’t show it.

‘It’s not like it’s costing me any money anyway.’

And he wasn’t the lord either.

No matter how many he gathered, his money and territory people wouldn’t be consumed.

Even gathering soldiers only required a word from him.

– There’s a gold mine there.

Count Dorin, who Pinto had been sponsoring, was dead.

Currently, there was no lord in the North who received Pinto’s sponsorship.

There were many who wanted to take that vacant position and become the ruler of the North.

If you add a gold mine to that, who would refuse?

“I understand. I’ll gather as many as I can.”

“I can’t leave here for long. When your forces attack him, I’ll go too.”

Ugudash spread a map on the dirt floor and pointed to Olmus.

“Attack all of his villages separately. He is short on numbers. To stop you, he will have to divide his forces and move quickly.”

“You’re trying to take advantage of the fact that his forces are scattered and his stamina is low.”

“That’s right. Have your forces lure him out.”

Even at the mention of becoming bait, Pinto nodded without complaint.

Seeing the word Olmus on the map, the anger he had suppressed boiled up again.

‘If you’ve touched my son, Sandro, even a little bit…’

Pinto gritted his teeth, vowing to make him beg for death.