Chapter Eleven: Hidden Intentions

This was exactly what Komer wanted to achieve. It must be admitted that the Light Church’s current missionary system was unmatched by any other faith on the continent—its churches and priests spread across the land, a well-developed system for training preachers, a powerful religious authoritarian institution to suppress other faiths, a large number of fanatical clergy willing to sacrifice everything for the God of Light, along with prestige accumulated over centuries and a robust magic system as support. No matter how one looked at it, it was highly unrealistic for other faiths to challenge the Light Church’s dominance. Even the major secret religions, with their solid foundations and backgrounds, could only maintain their influence in the southern regions with complex ethnic compositions, while areas dominated by mortals remained more favorable to the Light Church. As for the north, it was outright a stronghold of the Light Church. At most, there were disagreements among nations regarding the extent of the Church’s involvement in secular affairs.

Thanks to his various covert plans, Caucasus and Leon had become like an ant hole quietly gnawing at a magnificent dam, and this hole was silently expanding, attracting more ants. Although the dam’s collapse seemed far off, it was still a beginning. This was also a key reason why Xuro and Uma were willing to continue serving Komer. Otherwise, even if Komer were truly a descendant of the dark rulers, if he had no intention of reviving the dark lineage, they would likely have no hesitation in turning against him, though they might not succeed.

The special situation in Caucasus and Leon stemmed from the resentment of immigrants who had lost their homelands toward the Light Church. It was Komer who subtly used various tactics to convince them that the Church had failed to do anything to prevent the loss of those lands and had not acted as a protector of mortals. This sentiment found an audience in Caucasus. To this day, the Light Church had still not taken any effective measures against the invading orcs, and even the northern part of the Kingdom of Nicomedia suffered from such oppression, seemingly proving this point even further.

Although this is not yet enough to overthrow their traditional beliefs and customs, it can be said that the Light Church’s foundation among the immigrants in this region has been severely shaken. The local indigenous people, who are mostly a mixed race, lack even more reverence for the Light Church. Added to this is the fact that Leon, which was later incorporated into the administrative system, is primarily composed of orcish people who worship the God of War, causing the region’s beliefs to gradually deviate from the situation the Light Church hopes to control.

The arrival of Hoffman and Lenta heightened Komer’s anticipation regarding the situation in the empire’s north. Undoubtedly, important figures from the Light Church are involved in this effort to overthrow the kingdom’s rule. It is believed that sensible people in the kingdom’s center must also have realized this, but they dare not show the slightest sign of awareness and can only channel all their hatred toward the orcs and the four great lords. It is now unlikely that the Light Church will allow the orcs to continue wreaking havoc, as that would go beyond the bottom-line agreement reached between the Light Church and the orcs. If such a situation were to arise, the Light Church would likely spare no effort to unite the four great lords and even other countries in the Northern Alliance to launch a counterattack against the orcs. Right now is a particularly delicate period of calm.

The Light Church is in secret communication with the orcs, while the four great lords are clearly terrified by the orcs’ fierce and brutal attacks. On one hand, they are surely putting pressure on the Light Church, and on the other hand, they are actively preparing to deal with the worst possible outcomes. Komer can even guess that even Philip, who has always remained passive, might now regret using this opportunity to attack Leon. A decisive victory would be good, but a defeat could shake his position, especially as public fear of the orcs grows.

For now, the kingdom’s center can only try to gather small and medium-sized forces like its own to demonstrate the kingdom’s cohesion. Relying on various forces is merely a temporary measure. Once the orcs and the Light Church reach a compromise, the kingdom will ultimately have to rely on its own strength to ensure its safety.

So, what are the orcs planning now?

Shami Tagore sat calmly in the center of the tent. Although they had captured several fortresses, the orcs absolutely refused to allow the existence of such defensive strongholds that could cause severe damage to their warriors. All fortress cities were destroyed without exception. Though Queen Christine of the Fox Clan had objections to these protective measures taken by the orcs and once voiced her resistance, no one wanted to live in those cold and inconvenient stone houses. Apart from destruction, there seemed to be no other option, and in the end, it was the diligent oxen soldiers who demolished and shattered them one by one.

Of course, before that, all weapons and armored cavalry in each fortress were looted by the orc soldiers, and even all farming tools were taken away, leaving everything completely empty.

For the orcs, a lack of iron was always their greatest pain. They could never understand how mortals and dwarves could extract tough and malleable iron from ores that appeared no different from ordinary stones. It was harder for them to distinguish between ores and ordinary stones than to commit suicide, let alone refine those ores into wrought iron, which was far beyond their capabilities.

They were not unaware that there might be numerous mines in the Mogan Wasteland, but exploring and selecting mines, as well as smelting them, were undoubtedly hurdles they could never overcome. Even the spies from the Fox and Snake clans, after great effort, only managed to steal a little knowledge from the dwarves—how to remelt wrought iron into ironware of different shapes. This already represented a historic breakthrough for them after hundreds of years. It also became one of Shami Tagore’s greatest achievements after he became the leader of the Bimon Kingdom, inscribed in history on Tianwang Mountain in the Arctic Wasteland. For them to learn how to explore and select mineral ores would be far too difficult; according to the scholars among mortals and dwarves, it would take them hundreds or even thousands of years of progress to achieve that.

But the pain of iron scarcity continued to plague the orcs. The huge demand for weapons and the special needs of burials forced them to find ways to obtain iron from other sources. Smuggling was the most important route, though it was affected by many factors. Although mortal merchants never stopped smuggling, exorbitant prices and huge profits drove them to take the risk of losing their lives for this trade. Various gems, magical crystals, gold, and other specialties from the Mogan Wasteland also attracted merchants to engage in this dangerous business at all costs.

“Wolff, have we emptied all the military supply stores in the castle?”

“Don’t worry. Everything we could use has been taken away. It’s a pity these mortals are very cunning; they store only a limited amount of weapons in these places. Although we’ve captured many fortresses this time, what we’ve obtained is still far from enough. Fortunately, there are still a few blacksmith shops. I’ve ordered them to be dismantled and taken back.” Wolff stuck out his tongue and licked his lips dissatisfiedly.

“Hoh, no wonder my sons say your wolf cavalry are going crazy—even dismantling those old shops. So it’s to take those blacksmith shops back too.” Muni Ox bulged his eyes and snorted.

“Hmph, it’s my suggestion. The techniques we stole from the dwarves are still weak, and the smelting furnaces we built don’t work very well. We can only carry out minor repairs. Since we have this chance now, we certainly can’t miss it. The rainy season is approaching soon, and those rusty tools need to be properly reheated. Otherwise, after one rainy season, we’ll lose more of them.” Christine Fox’s bright red eyes scanned the faces of the leaders in the tent. “We must learn—learn from mortals, from dwarves, from elves, from any race that has something worth learning from. We Bormons have stronger bodies, more enduring vitality, a more united tradition, and better discipline than other races. Perhaps the only thing we lack is history and civilization. As long as we’re willing to study hard, I believe we can catch up. By then, maybe we won’t need to destroy everything in the next war.”

Kristin had always regretted not destroying all those buildings, but she was also well aware that if they remained intact and fell back into the hands of mortals, they would once again become deadly tools to claim the lives of Bimons. Mortals excelled at using these fortifications to kill Bimons—whether through their trebuchets, crossbows, bows, or their terrifying magic, all of which could be most effectively deployed within these fortresses. This was precisely Bimons’ weakest point. Kristin had been striving to change this weakness among the Bimons, but it seemed this idea had not yet gained consensus among all six Bimon tribes. Seeing the varied expressions on the leaders’ faces, Kristin knew her somewhat forward-thinking and abrupt words had provoked different reactions among them. Yet she saw it as a good opportunity. She would never give up any chance to instill this idea in her kind. Among the Fox tribe, this had already become a unified belief, and the Wolf tribe, which had always been on good terms with the Foxes, was gradually adopting this idea, as could be seen from Carter’s slight nod.