Ainz Ooal Gown: Noble Knight

“I believe it,” the orc king interrupted him.

After being refuted, the captain of the guards wisely refrained from bringing up the matter again.

"Issue my decree." The Orc King raised his hand. "Send an envoy to meet with that human."

The captain of the personal guard was taken aback.

"Your Majesty, do you mean... peace talks?"

"That's right, their strength should not be underestimated."

“If he really wants to stop us from destroying the Dragon Kingdom…” the Orc King’s voice was somewhat low, “then all our previous plans will have to be reconsidered.”

The captain of the guards perked up his ears, his expression somewhat complicated. He had followed the Orc King for many years and rarely saw his lord show such a solemn expression.

“Your Majesty,” he carefully chose his words, “no matter how strong that person is, our Orcish army of 100,000 can still win even if we fight a war of attrition.”

"A war of attrition?" The Orc King gave him a cold look. "Three thousand elite bear-men couldn't even scratch him. How much do you think we'll have to pay to defeat him?"

The captain of the personal guard remained silent.

"Have the priest prepare a gift, and select a few clever messengers who will not carry weapons. Tomorrow morning, they will go to search in the direction the fleeing bear-men soldiers returned from."

He walked to the tent flap, lifted a corner, and looked out at the twilight sky.

In the distance, towards the front lines of the Dragon Kingdom, faint flames flickered.

I don't know how many rounds of siege this is, but even from this distance, I can feel the intense tension.

The fox-headed scribe peeked out from the corner of the tent and quickly jotted something down on a piece of parchment.

The Orc King closed his eyes, his lion mane falling from his shoulders and obscuring half his face.

"The offensive at the front..." his deep voice came from behind his mane, "...slow it down for now, and wait for the messenger to return."

"Yes, sir." The fox-headed scribe quickly wrote it down, then, clutching the parchment, tiptoed out of the tent.

The moment the curtain was lifted, a gust of wind rushed in, causing the oil lamp flame to flicker violently a few times.

Then everything fell silent.

The Orc King sat in the center of the dimly lit tent, no longer possessing the same sense of certainty he had a few days ago.

The morning light peeked in through the gaps between the hills.

Sebastian stood under a dead tree by the roadside, his hands behind his back, the hem of his black tuxedo fluttering slightly in the morning breeze.

His gaze fell on the distant horizon, where a small group of figures was moving toward them.

It's obvious that it's not the military.

This was a small team that didn't even carry any weapons.

Leading the way was a fox-headed beastman, thin and with grayish-white, slightly dry fur that indicated he was not young. He wore a pair of simple crystal glasses perched on his nose.

He was followed by five or six orcs of different races, carrying several boxes and cloth bags, walking hurriedly.

Sebastian stood there, watching the small team get closer and closer.

The fox-headed beastman stopped about twenty paces away from him, and his followers also stopped, some of them already panting heavily.

The fox-headed orc wiped the sweat from his brow and walked toward Sebastian alone.

He stopped in front of Sebastian, bowed respectfully.

"Your Excellency, sir," the fox-headed orc's voice was somewhat hoarse, "I have come to pay my respects on the orders of His Majesty the Orc King."

Sebastian nodded slightly: "Please speak."

The fox-headed beastman straightened up, his vertical pupils scrutinizing the old man before him through the crystal lens.

Wearing a black tailcoat, with gray hair and a kind face, if it weren't for the descriptions of the fleeing bear-man warriors, he would hardly believe that the thin old man in front of him was the one who single-handedly slaughtered three thousand elite bear-men.

He cleared his throat and began to read the Orc King's decree.

Of course, he pragmatically omitted the lofty opening remarks and conveyed the Orc King's meaning in more straightforward language.

"His Majesty says he is willing to negotiate with you. The Orc Kingdom can abandon its plan to destroy the Dragon Kingdom, but..." The fox-headed orc carefully observed Sebastian's expression, "However, the Orc Kingdom needs to enter the Dragon Kingdom's territory at a fixed time each year to carry out limited... operations."

He considered his words carefully and ultimately chose the relatively neutral term "action".

"Limited time and scale," he added, "will absolutely not shake the foundations of the Dragon Kingdom, and I'm sure it won't displease Your Excellency."

His Majesty the Orc King instructed him to abandon the plan to destroy the Dragon Kingdom, but to prolong the orcs' "hunting" time as much as possible.

Ideally, six months of the year should be available for hunting, but the minimum is three months.

Chapter 82 Threat

Upon hearing this, Sebastian frowned slightly.

His wrinkled face lost its gentle expression, and his eyes were filled with sharp scrutiny.

“‘Limited action’,” Sebastian said, leaving no room for ambiguity, “what exactly do you mean?”

The envoy cleared his throat, his yellow-green vertical pupils observing Sebastian's reaction through the crystal lens.

“Well…” he deliberately dragged out the last syllable, stalling for time to consider a way that would save face for both sides, “It is that every year, at certain times, the warriors of the Orc Kingdom can enter the Dragon Kingdom’s territory to conduct some… free hunting.”

When the orc messenger said "hunt," he deliberately lowered his voice, wanting to gloss over it.

Sebastian's brow furrowed even deeper.

“Hunting?” His voice turned cold, and the last trace of gentleness in his eyes vanished completely. “You mean, continue slaughtering humans?”

The envoy felt a little uneasy under Sebastian's gaze, and his body involuntarily shrank slightly.

He stammered, "This... how can this be called a massacre? This is... this is a tradition of our Orc Kingdom."

"Tradition?"

Sebastian's cold eyes stared at him, making the messenger's words of sophistry stuck in his throat.

A layer of cold sweat seeped out on the orc messenger's back.

He recalled the descriptions of the fleeing bear-men warriors, who said that this thin old man could kill Urgov, that big guy, with a single punch.

So, being so close to the opponent, I definitely wouldn't survive a single punch.

The envoy's lips trembled slightly, but he immediately remembered His Majesty's instructions before his departure.

'That guy isn't confident he can defeat the entire orc army.'

He gave himself a pep talk and straightened his back again.

“Your Excellency,” the envoy’s voice had become more composed, “this is His Majesty’s greatest show of sincerity. The Orcish Kingdom can abandon its plan to destroy the Dragon Kingdom, but…”

"No need to say anything more."

Sebastian interrupted him, stating his unquestionable demand in a calm tone.

Sebastian held up three fingers.

"My conditions are very simple."

"First, the Orc Kingdom shall return all the territories it has occupied from the Dragon Kingdom."

"Second, release all the humans who are kept in captivity within the orc kingdom."

"Third, the Orcish Kingdom must legislate to forever prohibit the consumption of humans. Furthermore, this law must be effectively enforced."

The envoy was stunned.

On the thin fox's face, the expression first changed from respect to disbelief, and finally to anger.

His eyes were wide open, his nostrils were flaring, and his gray beard was trembling slightly.

"Your Excellency!" the envoy's voice rose several decibels, almost cracking, "This is not peace talks!"

Extreme anger gave rise to courage, and the orc messenger took half a step forward, looking directly at Sebastian.

"This is a treaty of defeat! It's an insult to the Orcish Kingdom!"

He clutched the parchment scroll in his arms tightly.

"His Majesty sent me to negotiate peace because of your strength. But the conditions you have proposed..."

His chest heaved violently.

"Return the territory? Release all humans? Legislate against cannibalism? Do you know what you're saying?!"

Sebastian looked at the other person in silence.

The messenger's anger seemed to have found an outlet, and he became more and more agitated as he spoke.

"The Orc Kingdom has been established for a hundred years, and the land has always been ours. There is no reason for it to be returned! Those humans are our property, the property we keep! You want me to release all the humans? What's the difference between that and confiscating our property!"

"Legislate to ban cannibalism? Ha!" the envoy scoffed sharply. "Then you might as well just make us orcs eat grass!"

Sebastian listened quietly to the messenger's roar, unaffected by the orc's anger.

"These are my only requests. I hope the messenger can convey them to the Orc King."

The envoy was stunned.

He thought the other party would try to negotiate and lower their demands, giving him a way out.

The envoy initially thought that the other side was proposing such outrageous conditions in order to secure a shorter hunting period for the orc kingdom during later negotiations.

But the old man's eyes told him that the conditions he had just made were serious.

The messenger's lips trembled slightly.

"You..." His voice trembled slightly, but he quickly suppressed it with anger, "His Majesty would never agree to such humiliating and detrimental conditions!"

Sebastian sighed softly.

He lowered his eyes, recalling what Rune had said.

“Lord Rune is right,” he murmured, his voice so low it seemed he was speaking to himself. “We still have to defeat the orcish army head-on.”

The messenger didn't hear what he was saying, but he saw a hint of regret in Sebastian's eyes.

“Then please go back,” Sebastian said.