Chapter 513: Another Great Enemy
TL: Rui88
“How terrifying could the Orcs be?”
Both Aldridge and Arvis were somewhat puzzled by MacDonald’s argument.
For those living in the heartlands of human civilization, their feelings towards Orcs were a mixture of fear and contempt. The fear stemmed from the popular image of them…a peculiar appearance different from humans, powerful and muscular bodies, an unreasonable and brutal nature, and a rapacious, raiding culture. The latter two points were also the reasons for humanity’s contempt.
Furthermore, although Orcs were powerful as individuals, their race was a scattered mess. It was quite common for the tribes on the Great Plains to break apart and reform. When an old chieftain died, it was often the time his tribe would disintegrate. This led to the Orcs being able to organise tough, small bands to raid and pillage human territory, but they could only choose to flee when faced with a large human army coming to punish them.
Moreover, their weapon-making technology was considerably backward. Ordinary Orcs could only use weapons made of bone, wood, and stone. If one was lucky enough to seize a metal weapon or piece of armour, it would be treated as a family heirloom. In large-scale army battles, it often took the lives of three to five Orc soldiers to take down one well-equipped human soldier…and this referred to a real soldier, not a militiaman who had just put down his hoe.
However, in the thousands of years of conflict between humans and Orcs, these other-folk had indeed posed a major threat to humanity a few times. When a king with powerful charisma appeared among them, the previously warring tribes would form an alliance. They would plunder human craftsmen as slaves to make up for their technological shortcomings and would even imitate human nations to establish large armies. At the height of their power, Orc forces had even penetrated deep into what was now human territory.
But once they were beaten back to the Great Plains, they would immediately regress to their pre-eminence state. The former tribal alliance would disintegrate, and they would slaughter each other to compete for the scarce resources on the plains.
The decline of a human nation often took a process of several decades, or even as long as a century, whereas the decline of the Orcs often saw them fall from their peak to their nadir in less than ten years.
Overall, the Orcs had been at a disadvantage in their thousands of years of struggle with humanity, with only a few occasional moments of glory.This was also the reason why the two scholars, Aldridge and Arvis, had not connected the prophecy with the Orcs.
But MacDonald, as a high-ranking member of the imperial army, would not see it this way. Compared to the two scholars who favoured esoteric knowledge, he paid more attention to reality and the present.
“The merchant caravans that have been to the plains have brought us back some information.”
Now it was MacDonald’s turn to expound, while the two scholars of the Tower became the listeners.
“As I just said, the Zalg clan has established a new King’s Tent. This time, they are not just plundering human craftsmen; they are also doing some unbelievable things.”
“Unbelievable things?”
“The Orcs are creating their own written language. Not only that, but they also seem to be imitating human nations by establishing various court official positions.”
Hearing MacDonald’s account, Aldridge and Arvis exchanged a glance, then burst out laughing in unison.
“Hahaha! This… this is truly unheard of.”
Seeing the two scholars so disdainful of the Orcs, whom he believed should be treated with caution, MacDonald could not help but feel a little indignant.
He stretched out his right hand and tapped the table before him with the knuckle of his index finger.
“You two, underestimating an opponent comes at a cost, especially an opponent who has posed a major threat to humanity in the past. Compared to the human-demon war, which is passed down by word of mouth and difficult to verify, the invasion of the Orcs is written in the history books in black and white.”
“We do apologise, Marshal MacDonald.”
The two scholars tried their best to stifle their laughter. Scholar Arvis said, “It’s just that the image of a group of Orc men wrapped in animal skins learning arithmetic by counting on their fingers struck me as particularly comical.”
“Alright, that is indeed a very comical scene, but don’t forget that our human ancestors also started by wearing animal skins. As scholars, you should know this better than I do.”
MacDonald said with displeasure, “The reality is that the Kingdom of Ordo’s Watcher’s Legion, which suppressed the Orcs for a hundred years, has not been to the plains to burn the Orcs’ pastures for several years. They can only hole up in the Nerodan Valley, watching the Orcs’ cattle and horses roam freely on the plains. And as for those oasis countries in the desert, it is said that they have begun to pay more and more attention to the opinions from the Great Plains. The influence of the King’s Tent is no longer confined to the traditional territory of the Orcs.”
“Hmm!” Hearing MacDonald’s account of the Orcs, Aldridge frowned and stroked his beard, feeling that he had indeed been a bit too dismissive earlier.
“The… opinions of the Great Plains? Did I hear that correctly?”
The old marshal frowned and said, “You heard correctly. In fact, on the surface, this generation’s King’s Tent is not as warlike as the previous ones. The King’s Tent sends envoys to the human nations near the plains to discuss trade matters, instead of directly attacking to rob as before. Even when they do attack and plunder human territory, they come up with a whole host of high-sounding reasons, nonsense like their envoys being insulted or robbed. The Orcs even sometimes issue declarations of war to their targets of attack; it’s incredible to even think about. And human merchant caravans that enter the plains are well protected, unlike before when they had to be constantly on edge, worrying about being robbed. According to the merchants, they have even met human officials holding important positions in the King’s Tent. Of course, they work for the Orcs. I imagine that even great scholars like you two have never read about such a strange sight in your books, have you?”
“If this continues, the rulers of the oasis kingdoms have actually started to think that the Orcs are beings they can communicate with. How naive and childish. They have become so foolish that they can no longer see through the disguise of these grassland barbarians.”
MacDonald said a great deal in one breath.
“It is indeed incredible. How are they becoming more and more like human nations?”
Aldridge stroked his beard, feeling very surprised.
“Indeed.” His junior colleague Arvis said, “Orcs like these also have the potential to become the great enemy of humanity from the prophecy. A new crop of these brutes can grow up on the plains in a dozen years or so. They can’t be completely killed or driven away. Their way of life on the plains makes them natural cavalry and hunters. If they were to gain the organisational abilities of human nations, it could also be called a great disaster.”
“I have suddenly thought of an even worse possibility.”
The expression on Aldridge’s face was extremely ugly.
“What possibility?” Arvis and MacDonald looked at him at the same time.
“What if the Demon Race and the Orcs come at the same time?”
A bitter smile appeared on Aldridge’s face.