Monsters have no concept of helping each other. Even if a common enemy like a group of adventurers is present, they don't think of joining forces.
Monsters are nothing but natural enemies and prey to each other.
There are three exceptions. The first is when the monsters are being controlled by humans. However, there was no reason for such legendary Tamers to be unleashing monsters on these adventurers.
Then, the second exception.
「Could it be that the King has appeared or something?!」
Kachia swung her bastard sword at a speed too quick to be followed by the eyes, releasing a【Spinning Cut】that cut down two Goblin Archers.
「The King?! That's not a funny joke!」
Her shield-wielding companion dealt a killing blow to a Kobold Rogue with his trusty shield, but he couldn't deny that he had a bad feeling about the situation.
Monsters of different races cooperating happened when they were being controlled by an even more powerful monster. A stronger monster with the intelligence to dominate other monsters and greed that was even known to humans.
A demi-human-type monster dictator, bearing the title of "King".
The appearance of such a monster is widely known within the Adventurers' Guild as a disastrous event.
If such a monster has appeared, and these Goblins and Kobolds were cooperating to fight the adventurers, then –
「BUGOOOOOOH!」
As if to confirm these fears, a ferocious howl that sounded like a pig's roar sounded out and a large group of monsters appeared from within the forest.
Orcs. Orc Knights, wearing armor and holding shields. And behind them, calmly looking in the adventurers' direction –
「Shit! It's the third possibility?!」
With his pride as a shield-bearer on the line, the man used the【Stone Wall】and【Stone Shield】martial skills consecutively to buy his companions enough time to escape, but it was like a single person trying to stand against an avalanche.
Sitting on a throne made of a Treant, a three-meter plant-type monster that even a two-meter-tall Orc would have to look up at, Bugogan listened to the reports from his advisors and sons.
「Bugih, bumohjigi, bugogoh, bumoh.」
It seemed that weapon and armor manufacturing was progressing well. He was being told that equipment had been distributed to all of the Orcs and slaves, and preparations were satisfactory. But it seemed that one of the Kobolds who were making them had become useless.
「Bumoooh! Bumomon! Bugiih!」
He was being told that his soldiers' training was going well, and if Bugogan ordered it, they would destroy any enemies with no fear of death. Of course, that was a given since they were of inferior races, but having usable pawns was better than having unusable ones, so he did his best to make sure they were as loyal as possible.
「Bugogogon, bugigi, bukebubohoho! Buhohoho!」
It seemed that there wasn't quite enough slaves. Goblins and Kobolds multiplied like flies, but their numbers had decreased considerably after they had been ordered to attack a Ghoul village previously and hadn't quite recovered yet.
Bugogan ordered them to gather more from random locations away from Ghoul villages.
「Bugogogoh, bumooooh, fubooh bugigyagyah.」
And as usual, it seemed that there was a lack of females. It would be fine if the useless, low-intelligence pawns were satisfied with Goblin and Kobold females. In fact, this was mostly how wild Orcs reproduced.
However, since there were more high-quality females here, it was likely that they saw them and couldn't hold themselves back.
「Bugoh...」
Bugogan let out a sigh. If a low-intelligence creature impregnated a female, the resulting offspring would be another low-intelligence creature, whether the female was a Goblin female or the female of a more precious race. Why couldn't they understand their position?
However, he was only a ruler because he could rule these low-intelligence creatures, and since they were his pawns, it was a fact that he needed increase their numbers.
「Bugoh, Ghoul bugogobumomomoh.」
If they attacked any more Ghoul villages, it was possible that the Ghouls would notice them, but that was not a problem. As Bugogan informed them that they would soon attack more Ghoul villages and capture their females alive, everyone other than the Orc who had reported that there are not enough women gave vulgar smiles.
Even the Orc Mages, who were considered far more intelligent than normal Orcs, couldn't suppress their greed. Bugogan was exasperated by the Orcs' behavior.
Just why were these inferior races so weak, foolish and vulgar?
No, that was why they must be ruled by a high-class existence like Bugogan.
Indeed, they must be ruled by him, as he belonged to the higher class of Noble Orcs.
Patting his own golden, mushroom-shaped hair, Bugogan changed his way of thinking and excused the foolishness of his subordinates.
On very rare occasions, a leader bearing the title of "King" appears among Goblins, Kobolds or Orcs. But in such cases, this leader is only a King of the race that it belongs to.
In contrast, high-class races as a whole are superior to lower races. High Goblins, High Kobolds and Noble Orcs. Members of this race are far stronger and live much longer than those of lower races.
Their obese appearance is similar to the corrupt nobles of the past, so the Noble Orcs' race title ironically includes the word "noble", and they are Rank 6 at minimum. Considering that normal Orcs are typically Rank 3, their ability in battle is on another level.
They are highly intelligent and live about as long as humans. They can even use magic. And they possess a power that causes inferior races to obey them unconditionally. Even an Orc King that the Orcs elect themselves would bend his knee before any Noble Orc.
Bugogan came from a Devil's Nest ruled by such Noble Orcs... Not a small forest like this Devil's Nest, but a large Devil's Nest that covered the entire southern part of the Bahn Gaia continent.
However, he was the defeated loser of a power struggle that had occurred there.
Bugogan had survived and crossed the mountain range. Burning with the ambition of one who has been defeated, he turned into a conqueror.
He would have the lower races follow his rule, build his own empire and one day conquer the human nations. With that as his objective, he had put in much effort and gone through many hardships.
He had made all of the Orc villages in the Devil's Nest to come under his rule, eliminated the particularly foolish Orcs who were even less intelligent than monkeys, selected slightly more intelligent individuals and placed them in higher positions. He had them abduct Goblin and Kobold females to increase their numbers, and in order to have more competent subordinates, he used an ugly, filthy Goblin female to create sons.
He hid his existence from the Ghouls and adventurers as he gathered power. And now, ten years later, his empire was now a large force.
After culling the failures, he was left with three sons, and his Orc servants who had survived training numbered three hundred. There were a hundred each of the Goblins and Kobolds who were his slaves.
If the Adventurers' Guild were aware of these numbers, they would surely send out an emergency disaster containment request. There was no doubt that adventurers of B-class and above would gather from all over the nation. That was why Bugogan was careful not to be noticed by adventurers. He had ordered his subordinates to make sure to either capture or kill every single adventurer they attacked.
The other enemies that Bugogan was tired of dealing with were the Ghouls. Ghouls were individually about as strong as Orcs, but they were intelligent. Goblins and Kobolds killed other members of their own race if they belonged to different groups, but if the Ghouls were faced with a common enemy, they would forget their past quarrels immediately and form an alliance.
Bugogan didn't believe that the Ghouls could defeat them, but there was no way to avoid large losses of his subordinates. That was why he had been eliminating one small village at a time, letting none escape.
The most dangerous of the Ghoul villages was the village of a hundred Ghouls, led by an elderly Ghoul mage. There were many of them, and each individual Ghoul was strong. Until Bugogan had taken control, the Orcs had been nothing but sources of meat for that Ghoul village that were easily provoked.
He didn't want to make trouble with such a Ghoul Mage's village. However, a Kobold slave had brought Bugogan some good news.
It seemed that the problematic Ghoul Mage was nearing the end of her lifespan.
「Bumomomomoh, fugoofugoohoh.」
Bugogan gave a command and the only non-Orc monster in this throne room, an old Kobold with white fur, stepped forward.
This old Kobold was a Kobold Shaman, a Spiritualist. Spiritualists were rare even in the large Devil's Nest to the south beyond the mountain range where Bugogan had come from.
It used its abilities to communicate with spirits and benefited Bugogan through the prophecies it made, thus protecting the position of the Kobolds in Bugogan's empire. The prediction that the old Ghoul Mage would die of old age soon was one of the prophecies made by this Kobold Shaman.
However, the Kobold Shaman's ears were drooping down and its shoulders were trembling. It was whispering in a small voice, but it wasn't communicating with spirits right now.
Listening to the Kobold Shaman's whispers, the Orc Mage translated its report for Bugogan.
『The old Ghoul Mage that was supposed to die of old age is still alive for some reason. She won't die unless she is killed. And I don't know why, but lately the spirits haven't been listening to what I tell them to do and I don't know what's happening inside the village.』
Hearing this, Bugogan stroked his own hair with his fingers as he contemplated the situation... and then picked up his beloved magic sword that was leaning against his throne and swung it down towards the Kobold Shaman.
「Gyabih!」
Wiping the blood from the blade of his sword with a cloth, Bugogan ordered that the corpse of the Kobold Shaman, which had been split in half from the top of its head down to the waist in one attack, be added to the food supplies.
Since this inferior Kobold was being useful, he had appointed it to this position, but what was that report? The one who had been going senile wasn't the Ghoul Mage, but this Kobold. These creatures were nothing but two-legged mongrels.
「Bugogoh! Bubobio, bugobuon, buhoho, buhihibumo!」
Bugogan had thought that there would be nothing but bad news today, but there was also something good.
Bugogan's eldest son Bubobio had led some slaves and servants on a mission to take some adventurers as prisoners and had safely captured them.
Among the five of them, one of the males had died, but the remaining one male and three females were injured but captured alive.
At the news that adventurers had been captured, and especially at the news that there were three females, the servants became excited.
「Bugobu, buhihibu, buhohohibuhibuhi.」
However, he would first have them spit out whatever information they had about the human society that Bugogan would conquer in the future. After all, female humans used as mothers would break after being seeded once, and there were not many of them.
「Buhohoh.」
However, after that, the three females would become mothers and the male would become food. Since Bubobio had made a great achievement, Bugogan decided that he would be allowed to have one of the females for his personal use as a reward.
Both punishment and reward were needed to rule.
One week later.
Vandalieu was breathing in the winter air that was surprisingly clear despite the humidity of the forest, while crushing medicinal plants, minerals and magic stones into powder to use as alchemical catalysts when his movements suddenly stopped.
「Boy, if you do not concentrate, who knows when you will learn the skill... Boy?」
Zadiris, who had been watching him work, she was confused to see his hands unexpectedly stop.
Vandalieu was looking into empty air, nodding and shaking his head, making noises as if responding to someone speaking to him.
「Boy, have you finished stuffing the roots? Shall we stop the lesson here for today?」
Worried that she had been forcing too many lessons on Vandalieu, Zadiris called out to him uncertainly, but it didn't seem that he was hallucinating from being too fatigued. He turned his head to face her.
「I just heard from a Kobold Shaman's spirit that there's a large village of Orcs deep in this Devil's Nest, led by a Noble Orc, and he seems to think that this Ghoul village is a nuisance to him.」
Thanks to an information leak from this spirit, Bugogan had failed to keep himself hidden.
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