Ainz Ooal Gown: Noble Knight

By the time the last remaining intact team withdrew from the valley, the sun was already setting.

The Orc King stood on a high ground, looking down at the remnants of his defeated army.

The original army of 100,000 has now dwindled to only about 30,000.

This was only because the dragon chose not to pursue the fleeing army; that's how many were preserved.

The flags of the various tribes were scattered and some had even disappeared.

The groans of the wounded soldiers rose and fell, mingling with the cries of those who had lost their comrades, sounding particularly mournful in the twilight.

The Orc King was on the verge of tears.

He remembered the conditions the dragon had proposed.

At that time, he felt that these excessive demands were an insult to the Orc Kingdom.

But now that I think about it, it was clearly the dragon's mercy.

The fox-headed scribe stepped out from the ranks, his gray-white fur covered in dust, and his crystal glasses, though cracked, still hung precariously on his nose.

He stopped in front of the Orc King.

"Your Majesty... what should we do?"

The Orc King remained silent for a long time.

The twilight etched deeper shadows on his face, and the light in his eyes gradually faded.

This king, who had always maintained his heroic bearing among the orcs, now showed signs of aging.

"...Surrender."

The fox-headed clerk's body trembled slightly, but he quickly recovered.

"Yes," he replied in a low voice, then prepared to select an envoy.

at this time

A series of hurried footsteps came from the back of the group.

"Your Majesty! Your Majesty!"

The captain of the guard strode quickly from the rear of the column, followed by a group of travel-worn orcs.

The orcs were covered in dust from their long journey, and their faces were full of exhaustion.

Among them were tiger-beastmen and bear-beastmen, their fur stained with dust, and some of them were still staggering, clearly having traveled a long way.

The captain of the guard walked up to the orc king, knelt on one knee, and turned to point to the group of orcs behind him.

"Your Majesty, these orcs escaped from human prisoner-of-war camps."

The Orc King's pupils suddenly contracted as he keenly noticed the unusual word.

"Prisoner-of-war camp? What prisoner-of-war camp?"

The captain of the guard stood up and waved to the group of orcs behind him.

The orcs stepped forward and knelt before the orc king.

Many of them did not recognize the Orc King, but instinctively felt the majesty of the lion-headed orc in front of them.

“Your Majesty,” the captain of the guard said on their behalf, “these orcs escaped from that human cavalry unit. They said that the old man-like dragon was with that cavalry; the dragon led the way, and the cavalry followed behind, escorting several hundred of our prisoners.”

Looking at the bear-headed orcs in the group.

The Orc King then remembered that his original purpose in sending the Bearman tribe back to reinforce them was to eliminate the human cavalry that was harassing villages in the heart of the Orc Kingdom.

At the time, he thought they were just a few annoying flies, and that he could simply send Urgov to clean them up.

But Urgov ran into that terrifying dragon halfway there.

The Orc King instinctively did not associate the dragon with that human cavalry.

He naturally assumed that the dragon had only appeared and destroyed Urgov because the orcs wanted to destroy the dragon kingdom, which forced it out.

After all, the strength and destruction of that human cavalry were nowhere near the level of this dragon.

But now it seems that the relationship between these humans and that dragon is far more complicated than he thought.

How did these humans manage to do that?

How could they possibly get a dragon to rush to the front and do this kind of hard work for them?

Chapter 88 The Gambler

The night was as dark as ink, heavily enveloping this dull, empty space.

The routed soldiers huddled on the ground in twos and threes, emitting heavy snores or painful groans.

Sparse campfires dotted the open ground, their orange flames flickering in the night wind, casting intermittent light on the weary faces of the orcs around them.

The campfire in the open space had burned out, with a small pile of charred ash on the firewood, and the flames were much dimmer than before.

The Orc King sat on a relatively flat rock, his golden lion mane appearing somewhat dim in the dim firelight. His eyes were half-closed, his gaze fixed on the orcs kneeling on the ground.

"You mean...that dragon and that human nobleman have a very good relationship?"

He is confirming something extremely important.

The lead bear-man warrior raised his head, his dark brown face showing signs of fatigue from the long journey.

He replied in a hoarse voice, “Yes, Your Majesty. We heard it with our own ears when we overheard the guards chatting in the prisoner-of-war camp. That dragon named Sebastian… he was quite respectful to that human nobleman and listened to him in everything.”

Another tiger-headed orc quickly added, "Moreover, that human nobleman named Eindora is a nobleman from the Kingdom of Riestij, and he came to aid the Dragon Kingdom. The reason the dragons went to war with us was at his request."

The Orc King seemed to be deep in thought.

"At his request?"

"Yes... the guards said that Sebastian originally didn't intend to get involved, but it was that nobleman who wanted his help, and that's why the dragon..."

The tiger-headed orc paused, then added, "Moreover, it was because of that dragon that we had too many orc prisoners to control. The guards were too busy, which gave us the opportunity to escape."

The Orc King's eyes flickered.

How many prisoners were there?

The tiger-headed orc and the bear-man warrior beside him exchanged a glance: "There are probably... a few hundred. Most of them are still being held captive by those humans, slowly following behind."

There was silence for a moment.

The flames of the campfire flickered, sending up a few sparks.

"You may all step back," the Orc King suddenly said.

The captain of the guard gave a wink to the orc prisoners kneeling on the ground, and the group retreated into the night.

Only the Orc King remained.

He sat quietly on the rock.

But the words he had just heard were churning violently in the Orc King's mind.

The most crucial piece of intelligence we've summarized is this point.

That dragon obeyed the nobleman named Eindora in everything.

A crazy idea surfaced from the depths of his mind, initially just a faint nascent form, then grew stronger and stronger until it occupied all his thoughts.

in case……

What if he could capture that human nobleman?

Then he could use Eindora as a hostage to coerce the dragon into working for him.

The Orc King's breathing became rapid.

He recalled the dragon's formidable fighting power.

'If I could control such a force…'

The Orc King's eyes lit up.

He could then continue expanding to the other human kingdoms in the northwest, kingdoms that were richer and had much larger populations than the Dragon Kingdom.

With that dragon as his weapon, he could sweep away all obstacles.

He could even covet the powerful nations in the central region.

But then, another thought came over me like a bucket of ice water.

If he fails to capture that nobleman, or if that human nobleman isn't as important as he imagines...

The Orc King trembled slightly.

What will that dragon do?

He might slaughter the entire orc kingdom.

The Orc Kingdom will disappear completely from the map, as if it had never existed.

The thought made the Orc King's throat tighten, and he subconsciously swallowed.

He banished those horrific images from his mind and brought his thoughts back on track.

Two paths now lie before the Orc King.

The first rule is to honestly admit defeat.

They accepted the dragon's terms and then slunk back to the orc kingdom.

For the average orc, this is the best option.

When the risks of cannibalism become unbearable for them, they will naturally choose to give up cannibalism.

Whether they are low-level or high-level orcs.

The lower-class orcs could only eat human flesh a few times a year, so they were naturally unwilling to take that risk.

Besides cannibalism, the high-ranking orcs have many other ways to enjoy themselves, and they are unwilling to risk everything for human flesh.

But this logic is completely different for the Orc King.

The flickering flames of the campfire were reflected in the Orc King's pupils.