Ainz Ooal Gown: Noble Knight

Demiurge paused for a moment, a hint of confusion appearing on his cunning face.

"Action? What action?"

Albedo did not answer.

She simply turned around to face Ainz, and a gentle smile returned to her stunningly beautiful face.

"Lord Ainz, you've worked hard."

Ainz nodded slightly.

"Ah."

Albedo's gaze lingered on Ainz's face for a moment before she retreated to her usual position.

Demiurge stood still, looking at his right hand that had just saluted.

The confusion on that cunning face gradually faded, replaced by a look of sudden realization.

'I see.'

He thought to himself silently.

'Albedo is jealous.'

'She's jealous that I can express my respect for Lord Ainz in this way, but she didn't have a suitable opportunity.'

Demiurge's lips curled up slightly, revealing a knowing smile.

He didn't explain anything, but simply straightened his clothes and regained his composed demeanor.

Ainz sat in his seat, his gaze sweeping over the people present.

Albedo stood beside him, Demiurge stood in front of him, and in the distance, towards the exit, Aou and Mare had completely disappeared.

The hall fell silent.

The light from the magic lamps poured down from the dome, casting long shadows of everyone onto the smooth stone floor.

“Well then,” Ainz began, “that’s all for today. Meeting adjourned.”

"Yes, Lord Ainz."

Demiurge and Albedo bowed simultaneously.

Chapter 72 Rune's Explanation

Rune used the same approach to deal with the subsequent orc villages.

The cavalry soldiers were so skilled that it was like they were performing a standard procedure.

Reconnaissance, assault, mopping up adult males, trials, confining women and children to human enclosures, and delivering those special foods...

Rune no longer personally participated in every step of the process.

Most of the time, he would simply stand on high ground, looking at the village shrouded in smoke and cries, and then wait for his adjutant to finish his report.

Judging by the timeline, the orcish high command should already know what's happening back home.

The orc women and children who were imprisoned in the human enclosure were eventually released by Rune.

Their painful accounts are more credible than any scout's report.

At the same time, cannibalism will no longer occur in these villages, and this custom will continue from generation to generation.

This is exactly what Rune wants.

That evening, the troops set up camp in a valley nestled among the hills.

Dusk painted the horizon a dark purplish-red, and several vultures circled low in the distance, probably waiting for the corpses left on the outskirts of some village to decompose completely.

Rune stood at the edge of the camp, his gaze passing over the layers of hills and landing on the gray horizon deeper in the Orcish Kingdom.

"Lord Rune."

Sebastian's voice came from behind.

“Sebastian.” Rune turned around, smiling at Sebastian. “Why are you at the front lines today? Wasn’t it your responsibility to oversee the rear defenses?”

Looking into Sebastian's determined eyes.

Rune knew that Sebastian had discovered what he had done.

This is normal, though, since he didn't deliberately restrain his subordinates' words and actions, and it was only a matter of time before Sebastian found out.

Rune had always used the excuse of guarding against the Orc King to have Sebas recuperate and be responsible for guarding the rear.

But Sebastian unusually followed along this time, presumably because he already knew something.

Sebastian walked to his side and stood beside him. After a moment of silence, he spoke.

"Lord Rune, I have a question I would like to ask you."

"Go ahead," Rune said calmly.

"I am aware of your handling of the orc village..." Sebastian hesitated for a moment before continuing, "...I have already learned of it."

Rune did not rush to deny it.

Sebastian continued, “Forcing them to eat their own kind… Lord Rune, I believe this method is far too cruel.”

For Sebastian, whose justice rating is 300, this is already a very high evaluation.

“Even if the other side is orcs that feed on humans,” Sebastian added, “fighting violence with violence will only breed more hatred. Is it really necessary to do that?”

Looking at Sebastian's serious face, Rune also became serious.

"Sebastian, are you here to persuade me?"

“I simply want to know,” Sebastian’s gaze remained unwavering, “why did Lord Rune do this?”

Rune withdrew his gaze and looked again at the hills shrouded in twilight in the distance. A breeze carried a faint scent of blood.

"This is so that humans and orcs can live in peace."

Sebastian frowned slightly.

"Lord Rune, I cannot understand." There was a hint of confusion in his voice. "Is this the kind of 'peace' you speak of, where orcs are made to hate humans?"

“Hatred?” Rune repeated the word, a bitter smile playing on his lips. “Sebastian, do you know about the Casanash City-State Union?”

Sebastian was slightly taken aback.

“And then there’s the Council of Argrand,” Rune continued. “Both of these countries are models of peaceful coexistence between humans and subhumans. Subhumans, humans… all kinds of races live together and support each other.”

"Why don't the orcs in those countries eat humans?"

Sebastian paused for a moment; he didn't know much about this world and couldn't answer.

“It’s because of education and bonds,” Rune said for him. “Orcs aren’t inherently irrational beasts. Like humans, they can form emotional connections and understand friendship and trust. When a true bond forms between orcs and humans, the desire to cannibalize is suppressed.”

Sebastian nodded slightly; this was exactly what he believed a Chinese country should be like.

“However,” Rune’s tone suddenly changed, and his voice became somber, “the Orc Kingdom does not have the soil for this.”

He looked at Sebastian calmly.

"In the Orc Kingdom, humans are merely food. From birth to death, the 'humans' the Orcs have ever seen are nothing more than naked, trembling, two-legged animals locked in human enclosures. They don't speak to humans, they don't shake hands with humans, and they certainly don't laugh with humans."

Rune's voice fell heavily.

"They only eat humans."

Sebastian's lips moved slightly, but he couldn't say anything.

“So,” Rune took a deep breath, “I need to do one thing first: get the humans of the Orc Kingdom free from the concept of ‘food’.”

He raised his hand and pointed in the direction of the village that had just been captured not far away.

“Those orc women and children, they may vomit, cry, and have nightmares today. But from now on, whenever they smell a similar odor, they will remember everything that happened today. Fear, guilt, anger... these emotions will be firmly bound to the smell of a human.”

Rune's voice returned to calm.

“They will hate me, but… they won’t want to eat people anymore.”

Sebastian remained silent.

A breeze blew from the hills, ruffling the hems of their clothes. In the distance, a campfire had been lit, its orange flames dancing in the twilight, and the faint sounds of soldiers' laughter drifted over.

After a long silence, Sebastian finally spoke.

“But, Lord Rune,” his voice was lower and less confident than before, “doing this will only make the orcs hate humans even more. Hatred… cannot bring peace.”

Rune gazed at the distant horizon.

"You're right, hatred certainly cannot bring peace."

He admitted it frankly, without offering any excuses.

"but"

He paused.

"Sebastian, do you think orcs would hate food?"

Sebastian was stunned.

"Do humans hate pigs when they eat pork?" Rune continued. "No, humans don't hate wild boars because they are injured while hunting them."

There was a hint of coldness in his voice.

"In the Orc Kingdom, the Orcs don't hate us, because in their eyes we are nothing more than prey."

Sebastian's expression changed slightly.

“Peace will only come when orcs stop treating humans as ‘food,’ even if it’s through hatred,” Rune concluded.

Sebastian stood there, silent for a long time.

Chapter 73 Guiding Sebastian

Sebastian remained silent for a long time.

The twilight etched deeper shadows on his face, and his pale gray eyes stared at Rune, filled with complex emotions.