Dungeon of Pride, Laplace

The fear that had born within them, had appeared due to one individual, the demon that was currently smiling in a twisted pleasure looking at the work of his own magic.

How could this not frighten the orcs when a single individual had single-handedly closed this war which needed more than three hundred thousand orcs to fight?

The demon had done what was impossible for them and closed this chapter with his own two hands.

"Berigard… how do you know such an individual?" Berimond asked unable to tear his eyes away from the golden flames on the battlefield. His voice was a little shaky due to how cold his body was right now, a clear contrast to the temperature which had risen up due to the appearance of infernal flames.

"So he was this strong all along… no wonder, no wonder he wasn't at all daunted by the ogres and their king. If one possesses this much power, they sure as hell don't need to fear anyone" Berigard muttered, his dark eyes had an unknown gleam in them.

Unlike the other orcs, he wasn't afraid of the demon since he had already sworn his loyalty to the latter. The power that the demon had shown only seemed to have solidified his decision even more.

He had no qualms against submitting to a power that his own might wasn't able to best. Perhaps their tribe of orcs would have a better future if led by such an individual, Berigard couldn't help but imagine such a future.

As the flames of hell slowly died down, so did the chaos of war. The battle was finally over, none of the ogres managed to survive the flames other than the lot that ran away.

It wouldn't be farfetched to say that the orcs have won this war or did they? The outcome was yet to be known.

"Master… here, these are the remains that were left after you eradicated those ogres" Alice who went down to the battlefield to search for something, came up with an object in her hand.

When Simon looked at the thing that was on her hand, he creased his brows and grabbed them in his hand to examine. The thing on his hand was none other than the crimson horn that belonged to the two ogres that he fought.

What was surprising about these horns was that they contained an unimaginable amount of mystical energy within them and were something that even survived the corrosion of the curse energy.

Every part of the ogres had dissipated into thin air other than these crimson horns that were on their forehead. Simon did not know what use these crimson horns had, but he did realise their value and kept it in his [Inventory].

"Thank you Alice" Simon thanked Alice and patted her head. Had it not been for her eyes which were able to spot these horns amidst the dust and thousands of corpses, he would have missed it entirely.

A part of him which was a game developer before, liked hoarding the spoils of war that one got in the games after every successive clear. This habit was cultivated over the years and had become a routine for him now.

It must have been difficult to spot the horns, Alice deserved his praise. Once Simon stored his first spoils of war, he moved on to the next. The biggest spoils of war that he got from this war… the tribe of orcs.

When the gaze of the demon landed on them, the orcs couldn't help but instinctively back away. Fight? That was a stupid notion given when their spirits were broken and the one they needed to fight had single-handedly closed the war.

"We greet our new lord" Berigard was the first one to get on his knees and speak out.

The rest of the hundred and fifty thousand orcs looked a little apprehensive or lost as to what to do. Finally, after a while, those orcs that belonged to Berigard's faction, bowed their heads just like their leader while some were cowered into submission by that aura released by the demon.

Those orcs that did not bow their heads and remained standing belonged to Berirock's and Berimond's factions.

Annette was displeased by that behaviour but she knew how to hold herself back and not show her murderous intent like Bea who had no control at all partly due to being from the night amazoness race.

Simon did not bother with those orcs and went on to address Berigard—

"Berigard… I believe you will honour our agreement?" Simon smiled and said in a calm tone. He was not worried about the latter going back on his words after all that display he had put forth for the orcs.

Not to mention, given the character of Berigard, it was impossible for the latter to back down on his words after all that.

"Yes, I am aware. As I have mentioned before, in exchange for saving the lives of my clan, I will swear my loyalty to you and become your subordinate from this moment forward…" Berigard iterated.

However, Simon interrupted him in mid-sentence—"Not only you Berigard, the agreement was for your entire tribe to submit to me in exchange for me saving you guys from the ogres".

When the hundred thousand and more orcs heard that, they couldn't help but turn towards Berigard with their questioning gaze. Some of the gazes that were directed at him, were angry, some puzzled and the rest hollow.

Berigard was silent, he couldn't refute the words of the demon since they really were the truth. However, at that time he was in a desperate situation where he had no other choice but to take the demon's help and thus made the decision on his own.

Now confronted with the choice he had made previously, Berigard had no choice but to come out clean in front of everybody.

He turned towards his tribe members and explained the deal he had with the demon causing a fierce storm of retorts to come his way. Most of it came from the Berirock and Berimond's faction who did not have the mind to accept someone else's rule.

However, they were in the minority, the majority of the orcs that have witnessed the valour of Berigard and had been won over by him, were silently contemplating their choice.

<strong>Clamour... Clamour…</strong> an uproar ensued out, Berigard's faction defended their general while the other faction tried to put the blame on them.

"Are you saying that, general Berigard can take this decision for everyone? Did he forget his post already?"…

"You bastard you think you can just wipe your hands clean and avoid responsibility now that the war is over? Did you rather want to become the slaves of the ogres?"...

"What responsibility, we never agreed to such a decision and regarding the matter of being the ogre's slave, can you guarantee that it wouldn't be the same if we submit to that demon?".

Accusations were being thrown in every direction disturbing the silence that had just settled down on the battlefield.

"Silence!!" Alice shouted and took out her bow to fire a shot into the sky.

<strong>BOOOMMM…</strong> a huge explosion echoed out drowning out the voices of the arguing orcs. The shot was so powerful that the sound travelled as far as hundred miles.

Now that nobody was shouting anymore, Simon addressed Berigard once again—"So what you are telling me is that you do not have the right to make the decision for all of them right?".

"That is right" Berigard responded by bowing his head even further. Even if his achievement today made him a war hero, he was still far away from becoming their king. If Belgarious was here, he might have been able to take that decision on his own; however, Berigard was not Belgarious.

"I see…" Simon was about to say something when Berigard hurriedly continued.

"But worry not my lord, if you could give me some time, I would talk to them. I'm sure that they will come around and accept being subordinated by you".

The orc general was afraid that Simon would just vaporise the tribe of orcs just like what he did with the ogre army if they displeased him too much. Thus he uttered those words to gain some time. He hoped that perhaps if he talked it out with the other two generals, they would understand and make a better decision that wouldn't threaten the existence of their tribe.

Nevertheless, Simon simply shook his head and refused to give Berigard any time.

"There is no need for that, I'm not some usurper like the ogre king so you don't need to be so anxious. I'm not going to exterminate your tribe for just that. However, an agreement is an agreement. Let's do this… those that approve of your decision and wants to follow you, I will take them as my subordinates and you all can come with me to my dungeon. Those that are unwilling, can stay here".

Simon did not want any followers that were unwilling to serve since it would do him worse than any good. Other than that, he did not have enough mana or stamina to continue this war.

The Valkyries could probably do the job for him if he asked them to; however, that would be relying on their powers too much. Other than that, it would be a waste of experience if he just let the Valkyries kill them.

Besides, he had some other plan for them. When Berirock, Berimond and their faction heard that, they were instantly overjoyed. However, that joy on their face did not last long when they heard the next sets of words from the demon.

"Nevertheless, I'm not a Samaritan either, I cannot just allow you to stay in your territory for free after all the trouble I had to go through for you".