Ainz Ooal Gown: Noble Knight

The sight ahead made the young soldiers in the front row gasp.

Rows of corpses.

The dark brown bear-man warrior lay on the dirt road, stretching from the center of the road all the way to the gentle slope of the hill, as if some invisible giant hand had plowed the ground across it.

Their limbs were twisted at impossible angles, overlapping each other, indistinguishable from one another.

There were whispers in the queue, but everyone kept their voices down, as if afraid of disturbing something.

"This... was all done by that Lord Sebastian alone?"

"So many bear-men... and one person alone..."

"I don't even dare to think about it."

"That old man doesn't look very strong, so..."

"How dare you! What old man? Watch your mouth!"

"Yes, yes... it should be Lord Sebastian."

The veterans didn't join the discussion; they just silently watched the horrific scene before them, their fingers unconsciously tightening around the reins.

The adjutant, along with several soldiers, began to survey the battlefield.

Rune's gaze swept over the carnage.

Sebastian is no longer here.

Judging from the traces at the scene, the battle had ended some time ago.

Rune dismounted and walked toward the nearest corpse.

It was a burly bear-man warrior with a large dent in his chest, clearly having taken a punch from Sebastian head-on.

An expression of disbelief was frozen in his bear-like eyes.

Rune glanced at it only once before looking away.

"Sir." The adjutant strode forward, his face filled with an inscrutable expression. "The inventory is complete."

"How many?"

“There are 263 survivors.” The adjutant paused and added, “A small portion of them are wounded. Most are unconscious, and the severity of their injuries cannot be determined at this time.”

Rune nodded.

What about those who died in battle?

“A rough estimate is over three thousand.” The adjutant’s voice was a little tense. “The exact number is still being counted, but… it’s at least three thousand.”

The soldiers around who heard the number fell silent in unison.

Three thousand bear warriors.

If it were the kingdom's army, it would take at least 30,000 soldiers to fight against such a force of bear-men.

Sebastian accomplished it all by himself.

"Confiscate the weapons of the survivors," Rune ordered. "Integrate them into the tiger-headed orc ranks."

Rune's army already had a hundred tiger-headed orc warrior prisoners, all of whom were survivors left over from the attacks on various villages of the Steel Fang tribe.

He also kept his promise to Sebastian and did not kill them all.

The adjutant was taken aback.

"Sir, you mean...all of them?"

"All."

The adjutant frowned, glanced at Rune, and hesitated, as if he wanted to say something but couldn't.

“My lord,” the adjutant said carefully, “with this batch… the total number of orc prisoners we have in our hands has now exceeded three hundred.”

The adjutant's concerns were quite valid.

More than three hundred orc prisoners.

The cavalry of the Aindora territory numbered only two hundred men.

Even though these orcs are unarmed and a significant portion of them are wounded, if their numbers exceed ours, they are a ticking time bomb.

Rune looked at his adjutant's worried face and offered no explanation.

“Do as I say,” he said.

The adjutant gritted his teeth and lowered his head.

"Yes."

He turned around and began directing the soldiers to carry out orders.

Gehrman stood by the side the whole time, his worried expression more obvious than that of his adjutant.

"grown ups."

"Ah."

“There are too many of these beasts,” Gehrman said anxiously. “What if they…”

“No.” Rune knew what Gehrman was worried about, but he still interrupted him.

There was silence for a moment.

Gehrman spoke again, his voice even lower than before.

"My lord, perhaps... we should just kill him?"

Rune turned to look at him.

What did you just say?

Gehrman felt a little uneasy under Rune's gaze, but still stubbornly repeated:

“I said, just kill them. These beasts are only a menace if left alive, so it’s better to kill them now… I’ll make sure it’s done cleanly.”

"I promised Sebastian I wouldn't do that."

Rune's attitude made Gehrman's words catch in his throat.

“Sir,” Gehrman said, a hint of resentment in his voice, “you’ve changed, ever since you met that guy…”

“German”.

Rune's voice deepened slightly.

Looking into Rune's calm, unwavering eyes, Gehrman knew that Rune was serious, and finally just gave a muffled "Yes."

Rune looked at his pitiful expression and his lips twitched speechlessly.

"Go down."

Gehrman looked up at Rune, his eyes filled with an indescribable sense of grievance.

"Yes."

He walked towards the group, his steps much heavier than usual.

Rune looked into the distance again.

The horizon was gray and nothing could be seen.

Rune was silently pondering this in his mind.

Based on his understanding of the Orc King, even if the other party knew Sebas's strength, he would not surrender easily.

The Orc King might mobilize more troops, attempting to overwhelm the lone Sebastian with sheer numbers.

But no matter how the Orc King tries, there will only be one result: he cannot defeat Sebastian.

So, after all the positive attempts have failed...

Rune's gaze returned to the battlefield beneath his feet.

This land littered with corpses, the captured bear-men, and the cavalry behind him who never concealed their whereabouts.

Rune's expression was somewhat bitter.

This force, carrying orc prisoners, followed slowly behind Sebastian.

'What an obvious weakness.'

The Orc King will not let this go; he will definitely use it to restrain that terrifying old human.

And when the Orc King attacked...

Rune looked at Tapi Mi in the group with some reluctance.

Of course, if the Orc King is terrified of Sebastian and surrenders immediately...

Then Rune will take the backup plan and force these orc captives to rebel.

At this moment, the orcs staggered forward under the watchful eyes of the cavalry. Occasionally, they would raise their heads to look at the fully armed cavalrymen around them, and then quickly lower them again.

If the hundreds of orc prisoners were to riot, the cavalry of Aindora territory would also be drawn into the melee.

No matter which path you take, the outcome will be the same.

Rune withdrew his gaze and lowered his eyes.

'I guess we'll just have to suffer a bit with Tachimi, I'll take the guilt.'

Chapter 80 Beast King

The Orc King's tent was pitched on land that originally belonged to the Dragon Kingdom.

Huge animal hides were pieced together to form a space large enough to accommodate dozens of people. A rusty iron flag stood on the top of the tent, with a lion head totem clearly visible on it.

Several oil lamps were lit inside the tent, filling it with the smoke of burning grease and the stench of orc sweat.

The Orc King sat on the stone chair in the center, which was covered with several intact human skins.

He was a size larger than Urgov, with a golden-brown lion mane that cascaded from his head to his shoulders. On his lion-like face, his amber eyes were half-closed, revealing no emotion.

To his left stood a gaunt, fox-headed orc with greyish-white fur, a pair of simple crystal glasses perched on his nose, and a roll of parchment in his arms; he was the orc king's scribe.