Dungeon of Pride, Laplace

"First, I'm no longer content with just having the head of the orc king. Secondly, I have changed my mind about eliminating the orc king army" Simon answered.

The offer that he had given to Berigard before he went to the night of the moon dance, was that he would collaborate with the orc general to take the head of the orc king while at the same time he will take care of the huge orc army with his magic in return for the orcs to never step a foot in the eastern region of the forest.

On the surface, it might look like he was losing out incredibly in that exchange after all he was doing most of the work at a very less reward making even the listener Berigard suspicious.

However, what Simon was after was not any reward but the experience he is going to earn after killing a disaster class being and the thousands of orcs.

What Simon was lacking right now, was levels. To fight strong enemies in the future he needed to be strong and for that, what better way than to massacre an army of orcs oozing with juicy experience?

Fortunately for him, he was given the perfect opportunity when he arrived here. Since the incident with the Lightning Draconic Serpent last time, Simon knew that one of the orc generals with the name Berigard was trying to cook up a plan to try and overthrow the orc king.

And since he was already enemies with the orc king as he had sent one of his generals to mess up his dungeon, Simon felt it was a good opportunity to try and take advantage of Berigard.

After sticking around for a day or two using the Ice phoenix's sigh to cover his and the Valkyries presence, he was able to learn the extent of the animosity the latter had towards the orc king.

Simon arrived before Berigard one day prior to the night of the moon dance to strike up a bargain with the latter. However, the orc general was too guarded against him or rather preoccupied with the fact that he managed to invade all the way to his mountain without alerting any orc to even accept his offer.

Besides that, there were also the three maids beside him whose power level even Berigard couldn't see through. It was only right for him to be sceptical of this smiling demon.

Since Simon knew that he didn't have to press Berigard for an answer immediately, he disappeared from the place and had been monitoring the whole situation with the diluvian high orcs waiting for the opportune moment when the latter would ask for his help.

In fact, after the betrayal of Belsea, Berigard would have been hard-pressed and might have even considered his offer. However, that was when the group of ogres invaded and the situation had turned towards a totally different direction.

Now with the involvement of ogres, even Simon was a little apprehensive on getting involved. After all, the ogre tribe was much stronger than the diluvian High orcs and their ruler was one of the Seven Kings.

Simon was not yet ready to take on such an opponent yet. It is also for this reason that he only brought three Valkyries with him so as to not alert the true powerhouse of the ghastly winding forest.

It was not worth the reward to antagonise the ogre race just to help Berigard.

"What do you want?" Berigard asked.

Simon pondered for a bit before his crimson eyes radiated with a bright light.

"Hmm… that's right, I want the entire orc tribe".

"What?" Berigard was taken aback by those words. If he didn't understand wrongly, didn't the demon say that he wanted to subdue the entire orc race himself? How was it any different than what the ogre race was trying to do?

Berigard was just about to refuse the offer outright when Simon put on his business-like smile which to others looked absolutely wicked and explained.

"Don't be in such a hurry to reject my offer and hear me out first. The one that needs help desperately is you and your tribe and not me. Shutting me down will close the only way out your tribe has at this point, will you be able to take responsibility for that?".

The orc general inhaled a deep breath of air, it took all he had in him just to calm his anger down.

"Our tribe might be at our last leg; however, it does not mean that we are ready to become slaves for someone else. If it's our tribe that you want, I'm afraid that I cannot take you up on your offer".

Simon wasn't fazed by the orc general's flat-out refusal. On the contrary, his smile seemed to deepen even more.

"Is that so? In that case, I cannot help you. I have delved inside the ogre territory quite a few times, so I can tell you for certain that three days from now your tribe of diluvian High orc is destined to fall. Well, in any case, it's not my concern anymore… so good luck".

Right after saying that, Simon turned around and started walking out followed by his three subordinates who were strangely keeping quiet.

Simon was just about to exit when suddenly Berigard called out. "Wait a minute".

"Hmm? Have you changed your mind?" Simon asked jestingly.

The orc general ignored the demon's words and asked a different question "How certain are you of defeating the ogre tribe and bringing the orc king down?".

What Berigard wanted to understand was what was giving the demon noble so much confidence. From what he could tell, the aura of the demon in front of him wasn't giving him that much of a feeling of oppression which goes to say that he wasn't very high-ranked, probably a Demon Viscount.

The maids behind him did make his instinct alert the first time he saw them but since they were adept enough to keep their aura in check he wasn't getting that feeling anymore. Thus it was only natural for Berigard to doubt the demon's words.

"Absolutely certain" Simon replied without wasting any time thinking. The ogre tribe might be strong, stronger than the orc tribe. However, it wasn't powerful enough to make Simon cower to even make a move against them.

The him right now might not be strong enough to face the ogre king who was also one of the Seven Kings of this forest. But it did not mean that he had no way of protecting himself. Plus it was not guaranteed that the ogre king would be arriving in person on the Blackfield three days from now.

Simon was confident that he would be able to handle the ogre army with the help of the Valkyries. Hence he wasn't concerned much when throwing his words.

Annette, Bianca and Alice too didn't show much emotion making the orc general unable to find any faults. Seeing how confident Simon was and his words of certainity, although a little sceptical Berigard understood that the demon had the ability to avert the disaster that befell their tribe.

"Is there no other way for us to collaborate? The orc tribe has many resources, many types of exotic plants and herbs can be found in our territory. We also have all kinds of core stone that we have harvested from the various beasts living inside this forest…"Berigard said trying to see if he could make the demon settle for something else.

The demon merely smiled and turned around to leave, his attitude seemed to say that he wouldn't budge from his condition. The one that is in desperate need of help, wasn't him. If a third party was to stick his nose in this mess, at the very least he had to get something that balances out the loss he was suffering.

Since the orc tribe weren't his ally nor were they under him like the forest spring spirits, Simon found no reason to help them. That is unless they become his subordinates, that way he would have a reason to help them.

He believed that he should at least get that if he were to fight with the ogre tribe and antagonise them at this point in time.

"You better think about it carefully, Master is someone who is very protective of his subordinates. If your tribe of orcs swear their loyalty towards him, of course, he would do his best to protect you all".

"Not only that, if you are useful to him, he might even bring you to his dungeon where you would have to constantly live with the fear of other monster tribes constantly attacking you. You have three days of time, decide whether you want to be slaves of the ogre tribe or be Master's subordinate" Annette halted her steps to leave behind a few words before exiting after her master.

"Bye Bye" Bianca just like her setting was emotionless like a doll, while Alice on the other hand waved her hands in goodbye towards the orc.

Now left all alone in his quarters, Berigard sighed and flumped back on his seat. It was as the demon had said, the ones who were desperate for help, were their orc tribe.

He also understood why the demon had changed the condition for his help and demanded the subordination of their orc tribe. However, the condition was just too hard for him to accept.

"If only I was more powerful, then all of this wouldnt have ever happened" Berigard clenched his hands in frustration. He tried thinking of numerous ways to resist the army of ogres that are going to march from the blackfield three days from now.

However, he couldn't think of a single way that would save his orc tribe from being the slaves of the ogre tribe.