The Necromancer Who Was Despised - The Necromancer Who Was Despised chapter 206
“I always respond, but it’s not like I can control it.”
“If you’re too obsessed with your current state, you might ruin yourself. Don’t you know that people like that are often destroyed?”
“Aww, but to that extent… “
“Don’t be too confident.”
Artina seemed to think she was falling behind.
Especially with Valdur’s increasing activities, she felt like she was being chased.
Valdur wasn’t like Kayla, who was active around me.
However, he had received some undead command authority from me and was doing his part in a different way, practically acting as the leader of a small group, handling tasks that I couldn’t do myself.
And he was still working hard to improve himself…
Even though Valdur was forced to learn from Kayla, he had received her teachings before Artina.
Although Artina’s exceptional talent allowed her to quickly catch up and even surpass him, the gap had narrowed significantly by now.
Moreover, Artina had received much more support than Valdur.
Of course, if the two were to fight now, Artina would win.
However, Valdur was active in a completely different way, and his steady efforts seemed to be one of the reasons Artina was feeling anxious.
“It’s just that their active domains are different, and honestly, Artina’s activities aren’t lacking either.”
The praise from those around her for her talent, and the numerous supports I had provided…
I could understand her desire to respond to the expectations and produce results accordingly, so I didn’t say anything else.
“‘Kyla’s doing a great job explaining things.’
When we arrived at the Forest Shield, several mercenaries greeted us.
Luckily, since we knew Atina’s face, it wasn’t difficult to get inside.
“Is Baldur…?”
“Is he at the forward base?”
It’s a good choice.
If we help the Orcs and hunt monsters at the forward base, most monsters wouldn’t be able to come to the Forest Shield anyway.
Then, there was no reason to stay here.
Kyla and I followed Atina’s guidance and headed straight to the forward base.
The forward base wasn’t too far from the castle.
“…Is the accommodation space insufficient?”
“That’s right. So, we’re using a temporary lodging.”
Just like the previous mercenaries, the Orcs also recognized Atina immediately.
“There are many Orcs I’ve never seen before, for sure.’
At least, the ones we just met didn’t seem to be from the Dolgaebaram tribe.
Atina, familiar with them, asked the Orcs.
“Where is Rithilde?”
“The Dolgaebaram tribe leader? He’s inside.”
“Really? That’s great. Can we go in?”
“Are the two people beside you friends?”
“My friend and teacher.”
“Is that so? Then it’s okay. Go ahead.”
The common language was a bit awkward.
But, in fact, this was enough.
Communication itself was possible, after all.
As we entered the forward base, most of the Orcs didn’t know me, but occasionally, Orcs who seemed to be from the Dolgaebaram tribe would appear, and they would also recognize me, bowing their heads briefly.
Atina announced her arrival in front of a large tent deep inside the forward base.
“Atina? You’re finally back. And with Baldur too….”
The Orc who came out of the tent had a very familiar face.
“Who is this?”
“It’s been a while, Rithilde.”
Rithilde’s face lit up with a warm smile when he saw me, and I couldn’t help but smile back.
He was fluent in the common language when we met before, but now he was almost indistinguishable from a native of the kingdom.
It was a different level from the ones we saw at the entrance.
No joke, if you covered their eyes, you couldn’t tell if they were human or Orc.
Baldur, who followed, bowed his head, and I received his greeting with a slight wave.
“Yes, I heard you’ve been doing well lately, but seeing you in person is on a whole different level. You became a mage, didn’t you?”
“That’s right. And you’ve grown quite a bit too….”
“You’re like a firefly in front of the sun compared to me. Your growth is astonishing.”
Class 6.
Ritheel, who had risen to an incredible height in just a few years, stood before me.
Although the magic system itself was slightly different from that of humans, I knew that its power was by no means ordinary.
I sincerely congratulated Kaila on reaching Master level as well.
“Thank you.”
“As expected.”
Ritheel smiled slightly at Kaila’s calm response.
“By the way, I made a big decision.”
“Did you orchestrate it yourself? I just took advantage of a good opportunity.”
“I didn’t expect to lead all the tribe members back at once. That’s why I had to negotiate with the lord and the nobles as soon as I returned.”
“Hahaha. In exchange, we’re providing our military power, aren’t we?”
I nodded slightly at Ritheel’s remark and asked, “Was there a problem at the original location?”
“…….”
“I see, you didn’t just blindly follow my words.”
“…As the tribe grew, more troublesome things happened. Especially with the Earl’s family, who periodically sent people to investigate the old human lands.”
I had seen the Hippogriff come and go.
‘Was it Siglen?’
It wasn’t impossible to guess.
‘Are they still unwilling to give up on territorial expansion?’
They had shown a tendency to create new territories and indirectly control them, expanding their influence.
However, the timing was not good.
There was internal conflict, and tensions with the Empire were at an all-time high.
In such a situation, creating a new territory would be impossible….
‘Are they preparing in advance?’
It seemed that the Orcs had made a large-scale migration due to their ambitions, which had raised concerns.
“I knew we couldn’t keep running away.”
Especially as their numbers grew, they began to feel the limitations of self-sufficiency.
“If we move deeper into the forest, we can avoid human eyes, but we’ll have to endure even harder struggles. And as we reach the limits of self-sufficiency, there’s no answer.”
My proposal at the time was undoubtedly attractive.
“The fact that the relationship between the human kingdom and the interspecies alliance is good also helped with the decision.”
“But why did you come from the interspecies alliance? Isn’t it better than being with humans?”
“…But it’s not that simple. The alliance is a strong hierarchical society, and you have to give back more than you receive.”
“You have to give back more than you receive?”
“Yes. If you have the ability, you’ll be treated well, but you have to contribute to the alliance accordingly. In reality, our Orcs who have joined the alliance are currently being deployed in large numbers for monster subjugation and neutral zone defense.”
The Orcs who had joined us were dissatisfied with the alliance’s treatment and had left.
“Of course, it’s only natural to contribute when you’ve received benefits through the group. But there are also those who dislike being used for the sake of the existing privileged class.”
In reality, those who had joined the Dolgaebara tribe were mainly responsible for guarding the Elven forest.
“It’s impossible to return to our hometown, and if we exclude the interracial union, we have nowhere to go, so many people are reluctantly conforming to reality. However, they also won’t be completely satisfied.”
“It’s inevitable to conform to reality.”
“Of course, it’s not like the interracial union is bad.”
“It’s a fact that they accepted many orcs who had nowhere to go.”
“There were those who had left that place before, and even I heard stories about it, but it didn’t exactly appeal to me. Amidst all this, your proposal came.”
“At least I’m more trustworthy than the union,” Ritehil said.
“That’s a pleasant thing to hear.”
“What’s that? You’re not an ally. You also need us, but I judged that it’s better to receive better treatment from you than to surrender to the other union. That’s all.”
Ritehil’s choice was correct.
The Rheineta Earl’s family currently needed their military power, and if they contributed enough, they would receive better treatment as one of the pillars of the territory, surpassing the interracial union.
Especially, the number 3,000 was a strong force here, but from the interracial union’s perspective, it wasn’t a significant number.
Most of them were mages, which was a great advantage, but there were also many young ones, and not all of them were capable of fighting.
In this situation, it was more comfortable to live in the snake’s head rather than the dragon’s tail.
“It seems the lord wants to meet you.”
“That’s good news.”
He seemed to have noticed that the story was going well.
“Is what we need military power?”
“Yes. We might need to split it up a bit. Since there are many, some will stay here, precisely in the castle, to fight monsters, and the rest will come with me to the barren land, which is the land I rule.”
“Can’t we do something like farming?”
“…It’s not impossible. Recently, many farms have been developed. But we need to ask the lord for the details.”
“Alright. But if it’s the land you rule… “
“It was originally a land of monsters, but I’ve taken control of it. I plan to receive your help in driving out the monsters completely.”
“Hmm… “
“If you stay here, you’ll work with humans to defend this place. If you follow me, it might be a bit dangerous, but you’ll have more freedom guaranteed.”
“…I need to discuss this with the other tribe leaders. But it’s not bad. No, to be honest, it’s good. Especially the part about guaranteed freedom.”
Moreover, having the right to choose was very appealing to them.
If they had gone to the union, they would have had to follow orders without any choice for a while.
Of course, this was only possible after Preina had accepted them.
“If we negotiate well with the lord, we might receive support during the initial settlement. If there’s anything lacking, we can trade with the upper echelons separately.”
The cost of purchasing goods could be covered by hunting monsters.
After Ritehil nodded once, he looked at me and said, “I know what to do. First, we need to get the lord’s permission, so I want to meet with them right away.”
That was also what Preina wanted.
Ritehil told the other tribe leaders and his tribe members that he would leave with me to meet the lord of this land, and I left a message for Valduer, apologizing and asking him to work a bit harder.
Valduer responded with a casual “it’s alright.”
Thus, Ritehil and I returned to the Rheineta Castle, passing through the cross-shaped gate once again, and Preina had waited for us.
Ritehil and Preina had a long conversation, and Preina was pleased that Ritehil was able to understand the situation clearly and communicate well. Ritehil was satisfied with Preina’s treatment, which was better than he had expected.
Especially since I was between them, and both sides trusted me, the conversation went smoothly, and things progressed quickly.
“Alright. I’ll officially accept the Orcs in Rina’s territory.”
◈ Development
In reality, I had already made up my mind to some extent while taking Ritheil away.
Ritheil was very pleased with my decision and promised to help the territory as much as she could.
“I’ll gather the tribal leaders as soon as possible. Some have already received permission for farming…”.
Freina responded that it was possible for the Orcs to farm, given the current circumstances.
Moreover, she even promised to teach the Orcs farming techniques through separate farmers, acknowledging their lack of skills.
“It means that there are people who want to settle down and live a stable life…”.
Many people who were driven out of the Southern Great Forest and struggled seemed to be longing for a hometown.
“There might be people who want to stay in the Forest’s Shield. Let’s leave them there.”
“Didn’t we say there were people who wanted to farm? Let’s leave them together.”
I thought it would be fine to allocate some tribal members and circulate them.
After all, we could just receive the land nearby.
“It’s hard to farm in this barren land anyway.”
Although the oases exist, it’s not like we can’t do it… but the efficiency would be poor.
There’s fertile land between the two shields and the Cross, so there was no need to do it there.
“Hmm… Alright. I understand. Let’s do it that way.”
Someone has to stay in the Forest’s Shield anyway.
From noble mtl dot com
We couldn’t take everyone with us.
Ritheil immediately summoned all the tribal leaders upon arriving at the forward base and, after a long meeting, selected the tribe that would stay behind to learn farming.
In the process, we found out that there were many people who wanted to stay, indirectly realizing that their wandering and struggling lives were difficult.
Of course, there are people who enjoy that kind of life.
In fact, the Orcs are relatively calm and intelligent compared to the other Orcs, but they also have a strong fighting spirit.
So, I had doubts about their preference for stability, but the reason was quite simple.
“We have to think about the future. If we continue like this, our tribe will disappear.”
If we had stayed in the interspecies union, we would have just been surviving, but we would have become similar to the Elves’ slaves, which was a concern.