I'm not that kind of orc

After she finished speaking, she raised her hand, and her fingers drew shimmering traces in the air, and just wrote a mark like this. I can only barely recognize the style of the writing, which seems to be the ancient elven script I learned in the academy.

"Ah, yes. There is a mark on the face, it has such characteristics..." The old chief nodded repeatedly, "The corpses of the elves in the stronghold captured by the Shouya clan also had marks on their faces. We have always guessed that this is the elf's body." Some kind of organization."

"This..." Princess Alisa carefully identified the words, "Isn't it the meaning of 'sinner'?"

Roland nodded: "That's right, these elves are not some organization, but 'sinners' who were exiled by Saidian in the past. In the past, Saidian had a severe punishment of exile, that is, to engrave the sinner's face It is a special brand, which cannot be destroyed or healed. It is a binding spell. The elves who are engraved with this brand cannot re-set foot on Sidian's territory until they die. These elves will be exiled to the giant beast. The wild fends itself... In fact, to some extent, this is a kind of death penalty. The environment of the Wild of Beasts is very harsh for the elves, and it is difficult to survive. As the chief said just now, living in the Wild of Beasts at that time Wild orcs will kill elves without hesitation."

"Won't they run off into human or dwarven territory?"

"No, even if they take the initiative to seek asylum, other races will not accept them. Exile is a heavy sentence, and the crimes involved are murder, rape, etc.

Violence, treason and other serious crimes will be sentenced to exile are the heinous sinners, the most famous example is Mudar, the chief mage of Saidian more than 300 years ago, who was obsessed with the study of black magic and secretly kidnapped his compatriots as his own Study the material and torture them with various techniques.Countries of other races in the civilized world will not allow such villains to set foot on their land. In fact, their fate will not be better if they are discovered by other races than by orcs. The exiled sinners can only go to the wild of giant beasts Or wandering in the great desert in the west.Considering the most basic humanity, exile is only applicable to men, and women who commit similar crimes will be sentenced to life imprisonment and the death penalty. "

"..." I didn't say anything, because I wanted to know the logic behind the so-called "most basic humanity" that doesn't exile women to the wild of beasts.

"But I haven't heard of such a punishment." Princess Alyssa said.

"Exile punishment was abolished more than 200 years ago, and it was replaced by death penalty, life imprisonment, and other severe punishments. If there are elves in the Wild of Beasts, it is most likely because they were exiled in the past and survived until now A sinner." Roland explained for her.

"Hergia used to have a similar punishment. Male prisoners were branded and exiled to the north. It was also abolished a long time ago. I think there should be no human sinners who can live until now... But I remember the war In the future, the north seems to be haunted by human bandits who fled there, and caravans going to trade with orc tribes will occasionally encounter gangs of thieves." Arsena added.

"That is to say..." I thought for a while, "Those elves who made troubles in the Wild of Beasts are actually sinners who were exiled by Saidian in the past?"

"But it is impossible for some elf sinners who survived by chance to set off such a storm. To use black magic to erode the land on a large scale and capture giant beasts for experiments requires a considerable degree of resources and organizational capabilities. A force recruited the elf sinners from the Wild of Beasts to participate in this kind of thing." Roland touched his chin lightly with his knuckles, and analyzed it seriously, "If we say, that force deliberately provokes the orcs and Sadie with the help of sinners. Ann's contradictions are all explained, and it is not surprising that the recruited sinners will actively assist this kind of plan, they already hate the country that exiled them."

"The important thing is that if this is the truth, Sai Di'an did not participate in this matter. There is no need for the six major tribes to declare war on this country!" I was overjoyed, and suddenly saw the dawn of a solution to the incident.

That's right, as long as this misunderstanding is resolved...

But Roland and the old chief were silent. After a long time, Roland said: "No, Brock, who is the real murderer, and whether Saidian is the real murderer, is not the most important thing for the current orc tribe. Otherwise, why didn't the representatives of the orcs question the queen in the first place?"

I couldn't help but be stunned.

"That's right." The old chief sighed and shook his head, "There are actually two factions among several tribes, or within these tribes, as to whether to identify Saidian as the real culprit. This matter cannot be separated, and some people think that judgment should be cautious, but they are consistent in the point of seizing land from somewhere as soon as possible. After all, these tribes have more urgent problems to solve at present, that is, the survival of each tribe .”

"Survival?" I blinked.

The old chief nodded: "That's right, life and death. The living environment in the Wild of Beasts is very dangerous. Although it has a vast area, there are not many lands that can truly allow an entire tribe to live in peace. Every orc tribe is walking on thin ice. Living on this land. This change has eroded the settlements of many tribes, and their land has begun to be unable to support the population of the entire tribe. It will take a long time for the shamans to completely purify those lands. For a long period of time, it is also difficult to ensure that the people behind all this will not have other actions. They have to relocate part of the population to find other settlements, but you also know that in the Wild of Behemoths, There is not so much livable land anymore, otherwise our tribe would not have come to the south. Therefore, they also chose the strategy of seeking temporary resettlement land from the south."

Listen to the old man's words (5)

"That is to say... land is the highest priority of each tribe?" I reacted.

"That's right, they urgently need usable land now to accommodate the part of the population that has to be relocated, so as to ensure the survival of the tribe before the settlement is completely purified." The old chief replied, "Our Bloodaxe clan The new settlement found can still accommodate some people, but it is not enough to accommodate the emigrated population of the five tribes."

No wonder the tribal coalition sent so many troops here for a mere [-] hectares of land.With [-] hectares of land, at best, a few villages can be established after reclamation to feed tens of thousands of people, which doesn't seem to be worth the trouble.But in fact, the force of those expeditions was probably originally the part of the population that the tribe planned to move out to reduce the burden on the settlement.

"But since land is so important to them, why not take a more secure approach? Fighting for land for the survival of the tribe, but threatening with a declaration of war, isn't this putting the cart before the horse? In fact, the queen of the elves has already started They let go on the issue of compensating the Bloodaxe clan. Since they have used this excuse, why don't they really negotiate? Why did they propose..." I glanced at Princess Alyssa, "I want Saidian to bet on the throne His heir as a hostage?"

Among the orc tribes, the transfer of land is a very common means of transaction. Although Judging from Saidian's reaction, the countries of the Southern Alliance seem to be very sensitive to the land issue, but with the foreseeable war caused Compared with the huge damage, [-] hectares of land is really a problem that is too insignificant.Not to mention the fact that Saidian disturbed the Bloodaxe clan's settlement first, and the five major tribes' demand for southern land was only a temporary resettlement, not a permanent cession.As long as a trade-off is made under appropriate conditions, the two sides should be able to reach a compromise to some extent without going to war-even if in the end both sides dislike each other, at least they will not be pinched. The so-called negotiation, That's what it should have been used for.

However, the tribal alliance's demand for hostages from Saidian ruined this possibility. This request will only arouse Saidian's rebellious attitude and make their goal of relocating the land even more distant.

"The queen of the elves wants to compensate the Bloodaxe clan. It's true." The old chief muttered, "Igna and I talked about it, but I can't believe it. We talked."

"But this is indeed true. In fact, thanks to Bullock's efforts, this country has greatly changed its attitude towards orcs. Originally, the queen had already accepted the proposal to try to negotiate with the Bloodaxe clan." Roland said, adding another sentence, "Although now the threat of war declared by other tribes has almost ruined all of this."

"Brock, you really have been working hard for the tribe..." The old chief nodded approvingly at me, and immediately lowered his eyes, "In your eyes, the orc tribe's demand for hostages is unreasonable, right? But you You must understand that the two parties can resolve conflicts through sitting down and talking, and this is only from your point of view. From the perspective of the five major tribes that were forced to emigrate to the south, Saidian is still the number one person who violated their reservations. Suspects. Even if Saidian is willing to sit down and talk directly, and is willing to directly give a part of the land, it will be difficult for them to trust this, right?"

"This..." I was speechless.

In fact, I also understand this truth.

The conflict between Saidian and the tribal alliance seems to be driven by various factors, but if you go deep into the core of these superficial factors, you will find that the most fundamental reason for this conflict lies in the mutual understanding between the two sides. Mutual mistrust, that is, suspicion.

In all kinds of relationships, jealousy is the biggest devil. It can make two parties who do not have any conflict of interest fight for life and death, and it can even turn the closest allies against each other.

The orcs don't have any hatred for the elves. After all, in the past abyss war, it was the coalition forces of the alliance who conquered the demon king, which allowed the orcs to be completely liberated from the rule of the demon king.But from the perspective of the five major tribes currently on an expedition, there are elves among the prisoners who have invaded their land recently, which makes them suspect that Saidian has intentions against them.As the chief said earlier, the decision-making levels of the five major tribes are divided into two factions. The radical faction who admits that Saidian is the real culprit will definitely target the elves directly, while the cautious faction still has concerns, but they are also out of control. Yu chose to compromise considering the primary purpose of taking the land and continuing the survival of the tribe - even if it is a mistake, the land must be won. This is the direct reason why the tribal coalition threatened Saidian to hand over the land by declaring war .

What's worse is that neither the radicals nor the prudent factions will easily trust Saidian. Even if Saidian gives the land easily, it may be a trap in their eyes, starting from encroaching on their land. One of the layouts.In such a situation, they would naturally seek some kind of assurance—that is, a hostage.

Looking at this matter from Saidian's point of view, the orcs under the rule of the Demon King once invaded this country in an all-round way, and the elves didn't have a good impression of the orcs.The six major tribes used the excuse that they had attacked the Bloodaxe clan to claim land, and even touched their bottom line and demanded that the princess be taken as a hostage.Under such circumstances, the elves would naturally start to suspect that these orc tribes came with the intention of invading the entire country, and handing over the land and hostages would have no effect, and the only way to go was desperate resistance.

In this mutual suspicion, both sides began to be dominated by their respective radical war factions, and the relationship fell into a vicious circle of escalating contradictions: demonstrations by the orcs, the elf queen agreed to the proposals of the war factions, and the negotiations arranged by the two sides became in name only. ...Both elves and orcs were blinded by this mistrust, ignoring the possible path to a peaceful solution.

"Brock, are you... determined to stop this conflict?" The old chief asked me suddenly.

"Yes." I nodded.

"This will not be an easy way to go, at least I...I can't think of any way until now. I also want to stop what is happening in front of me, but I can't do anything." The old chief looked out of the window and then at me, " But now I feel that you have the possibility to do this. I think Igna should think so too."

"Igna?" I froze for a moment.

"It should be Igna who told you I'm here? Otherwise, how could you find me in such a large area of ​​land." The old chief smiled.

"That's true, but I..." I hesitated, "I can't understand her thoughts. It seems that she has been leading the declaration of war."

The old chief was silent for a long time before he spoke slowly: "There is a reason for her doing this."

Listen to the old man's words (6)

"Why?" I wondered.

"Yes. You should also be able to see that the Shouya clan is now leading the tribal alliance. They were the first to discover the source of the mutation, and they were also the fastest to act. They were also the first to initiate the assembly." The old chief said slowly, "It was Leilogard who first initiated the proposal to send troops to Saidian. He firmly believed that Saidian had nothing to do with the land infringement incident. He originally called for sending a war directly to Saidian. The Wolf Head Clan and the Luefeng Clan directly responded to him. But Igna is actually opposed to this. She thinks there are doubts in the whole incident and she should proceed with caution. In fact, negotiate with Saidian first. It was she who brought it up first, and she thought there was a need for testing to find out if Sedian was really involved."

"Igna is a cautious faction? Then why did she threaten to declare war on the Queen herself?" I was taken aback.

"Could it be that... she was forced?" Princess Alisa guessed cautiously.

The old chief smiled and shook his head: "With that girl's temperament that will never change even if her head is beheaded, how can anyone in this world persecute her?"

I think so too.

"She changed her mind only after she learned something." The old chief continued.

"What's the matter?" I asked subconsciously.

The old chief was silent for a while, looked at me and said quietly: "It is the news of your death, Brock."

I was stunned.

"We all thought you died at the hands of the elves because of me..." the old chief sighed, "I told Igna about this, and she didn't say anything at the time, but since then she agreed with Ray Rogard's policy of taking land from Saidian."

I couldn't help but be stunned.

Igna, would agree to threaten Sedian with a declaration of war... because of me?

Only then did I remember that Igna learned that I was still in this country after she met the Queen.At that time, the threat of declaring war on Saidian had already been issued, and the army of orcs had assembled on the border of Saidian—in that kind of situation, she could only continue with the priority of fighting for the interests of the tribe, and she was The kind of person who will make a "correct" judgment according to the situation, just like what she said to me before: either don't do it, or do it absolutely.

"She knew that when you were alive, she should have tried to bring you back?" the old chief asked.

"Yes," I murmured, "but I didn't follow her choice in the end."

"The last time I saw her was the night before yesterday. She was dressed in stealth and said she was going to confirm some things." The old chief said, "She didn't make it clear to me at the time...but now that I think about it, it should have something to do with you Bar."

"Um……"

That night, Igna sneaked into the defense area and found my residence, but was unexpectedly stopped by Miria, who was led by Roland.

Was she here to confirm my thoughts at that time?

"She cares about you, Brock," said the old chief again.

"She raised and raised me, and I am very grateful to her...but I have never seen through her thoughts." I lowered my eyes and shook my head, "She is very indifferent to everyone, including me. She trains very harshly. Me, like it doesn't matter if I die. When she finally left, she didn't say goodbye to me."

"I was a student of your great-grandfather, and I was a life-and-death friend with your grandfather who died young. I watched your father and you grow up." The old chief shook his head lightly, "Igna, she really never I thought about getting close to you, that's because she knew that sooner or later she would part with you, she didn't think being close to you would be good for you, but it didn't mean she didn't care about you at all. On the contrary, she trained very strictly You, it is because she witnessed your father's serious injury and death in a dangerous hunting... We orcs live in a dangerous land, and death is always with us, she just doesn't want you to die young like your father .”

I was stunned.

"Before she got married and left the tribe, she came to me specifically. She recommended you to me, hoping that I could train you well, and she did train you to be outstanding... Maybe she really doesn't care what you think of her, but she really has Miss your safety. She only wants you to live safely in a certain place, which is enough for her, even if you may never see it again in this life, it doesn't matter."

"Igna..." I pondered for a while, and couldn't help but wryly smiled.

There is no need for any close feelings, even if they will never meet again in this life, as long as they are safe somewhere, that's enough - this free and easy feeling really sounds like her style.

That time she sneaked into Helgia's camp to find me, she must have come to confirm my determination.We didn't talk at all, she just saw Angelica and Feilan blocking her in order to protect me, and then I let her go.

Just based on that scene, she believed the fact that I had worked hard in this country... Did she believe my unrealistic determination to stop this dispute?

That's why she didn't hesitate to be a traitor to the tribal camp once, and tell me the truth of the matter through the old chief.

This is the last chance she gave me.

Now that I think about it, the sentence "either don't do it or do it absolutely" is probably not only expressing her own position, but also telling me deliberately - that means, since she is determined to stop her...to stop them, Stop this stupid dispute, then don't regret it, let's go all the way to the dark.

You are such a young boy, Igna... After deceiving so many people, you are obviously like me in the end.

"Brock, I want to apologize to you." The old chief said suddenly.

This apology caught me off guard: "Chief, as I said before, you don't have to worry about it. I did it voluntarily for you..."

"No, that's not the only thing I want to apologize for." The old chief interrupted me. "During this turmoil, I wanted to stop other clans from threatening to declare war on Saidian. Their arrival seemed to be a reinforcement. In fact, it will only greatly intensify the conflict between us and the civilized world. Once they move back to the north one day, the remaining Bloodaxe clan will be in an extremely embarrassing situation. The Bloodaxe clan is forced to get involved in this matter, but But I can't do anything... I know that even if I attend the negotiation, I can't change the decision of other tribes. Up to now, I can only hope for you with this old face, and I want to apologize for my incompetence."

"No, chief, you don't have to belittle yourself, you have done your best."

"Among the several tribes, a few people have considered the possibility that Saidian has nothing to do with that incident...but they need the land too much, and they don't care about the consequences of declaring war with Saidian. They...don't understand the real What will the war bring to them.” The old chief paused, “Brock, would you like to hear a story that I have personally experienced? A story about your great-grandfather, the legendary hero Azak.”

Listen to the old man's words (7)

"A story from your personal experience?" I sat up subconsciously.

The old chief used to tell stories to the young people and the children of the tribe around the campfire, old stories, famous legends... He is a good storyteller and we all enjoyed hearing those stories from him.

"About Azak..." Roland opened his eyes slightly.

The old chief looked at her and was a little surprised by her reaction, but he didn't say anything: "I have never told this story, but it is the most unforgettable memory in my life. I have never told it to anyone. , because that matter was too heavy for me. Nowadays, there are very few people in various tribes who have experienced the abyss war like me. Not many people survived from that era. In the middle of the war, we resisted Demon King, this move almost wiped out all the tribes. Most of the people who survived by chance have passed away now."

"Have you experienced the abyss war?" I was a little surprised.

"Yes, I haven't mentioned it to you. I have mentioned to you many times that Azak won the chieftainship in the war and led the entire tribe to resist the demons, but I didn't say that I saw it with my own eyes. At that time, I was only 13 years old, but I was already a soldier... Don't be surprised. Although we established our own civilization at that time, we were still under the slavery of the devil. You can't imagine that era How dark it is to us. Every orc is a slave, a war weapon of the devil. The significance of the existence of the orc tribe to the devil is to continuously reproduce and produce this kind of regenerable war weapon. Crops, once harvested, will continue to grow. At that time, the orc army had as many young soldiers as I did. We followed other soldiers in that war to conquer the civilized world in the south. Bullock, Have you ever wondered why I did not hesitate to move the tribe to this valley after the drought? In fact, I knew that there was such a piece of land here a long time ago. I have been here before—during the war In the middle, we followed this route from the Great Desert to the Northland Mountains, and established a base in this valley to attack Saidian."

Everyone felt the weight of the sigh in his voice, and the entire conference hall fell silent, only his voice was left to speak.

"At that time, the demon king poured all his strength into launching a general attack on the south. We followed the order and invaded the civilized world together with the demons. Some tribes attacked Helgia's fortress in the mountains on the eastern battlefield, while the Bloodaxe clan It was assigned to the western battlefield and was responsible for attacking Saidian. In the early stage of the war, we broke through the cities of the elves. At that time, our civilization already had the concept of glory, but we kept killing ——Not only to the enemy soldiers, but also to evacuate the civilians. This is the order of the devil. We implement this order, because everyone knows what will happen to resist the devil. This is an aggression that completely violates the glory , that period of time is the scariest memory in my life. We kept fighting bloody battles with the enemy, broke through the city, and slaughtered the residents in the city. We trudged through the blood—this is not an exaggerated metaphor. The scene where more than a dozen civilians hiding in a room were massacred, and their blood accumulated in the room can overflow the feet... At that time, young soldiers like me were assigned relatively low-risk chores ’, we are often assigned logistics and the work of searching for those who slip through the net after the massacre, so I have stepped into many of these rooms, wading in the blood, the blood soaked in the heads and severed parts of the elves, and we confirmed in it Whether the bodies were dead or not, and whether there were any survivors was left out. I almost never wore shoes during that time, because the blood water soaked in the shoes and eventually became very smelly."

The expression of the old chief is still hard. This horrifying story is just a background, but it has already made us as listeners unable to keep calm.Roland closed her eyes solemnly. She also experienced that war firsthand. Although she stepped onto the battlefield at the later stage of the war, when the orcs had already resisted the Demon King, but in the early stage of the war, she and Feilan's father Died in the attack of the orcs.Princess Alisa covered her mouth, her eyes wide open with a trace of horror, while Arsena hugged her arms tightly.And I obviously felt my heartbeat and breathing speed up involuntarily. This story is different from those told by the old chief in the past, with a heavy darkness and a strong smell of blood. This is a story he experienced personally, and he was in hell at that time.I once saw an imaginary battlefield in a dream, thinking that it was hell, but the real hell is far beyond my imagination.

"It was a certain day that we attacked an elven village under the command of the chief at the time. As usual, we slaughtered the rebellious guards and unarmed residents without discrimination. I was also assigned to search for survivors as usual. In a bloodbathed The old chief paused, took a deep breath, and then continued, we all heard the trembling in his voice, "I saw an elf child, a little girl, with our eyes Look, maybe only four or five years old. She was very young and hid in a cabinet that adults couldn't hide, so she escaped the initial massacre. When I opened the cabinet and saw her, she was terrified, but covered her I can't make a sound, I can remember every detail of her movements and expressions...I think her parents taught her not to make a sound no matter what, and at that time her parents' bodies fell In the corner of the room. I was also surprised, this is the first time I saw elf children. In the past when we attacked the city, the elves would often withdraw the women and children from the city, leaving only the soldiers defending the city and a small child Some residents were determined to stay. But that day we suddenly changed our route and attacked the village, and they didn’t have time to evacuate.”

This development lifts our hearts.

"I was overwhelmed, the child was clearly not a threat, but I was ordered to kill her or call someone else to kill her. That's when our then chief came in and asked me what I was doing there .I stood there and didn’t answer for a while, I just felt that my whole body was completely cold. The chief had already found out that something was wrong, but he didn’t come to confirm. He just asked me over and over again, “What did you find?” At that time, I was ruled by the devil We follow the bloody rule in the army, if you lie to the chief about your military situation, you will have your hands and feet cut off, that was the most tormenting time in my life..." Speaking of which, the old chief's face as hard as iron twitched twice , At the same time, he avoided our sight and squeezed out a hoarse voice from his throat, "I was completely stunned, my mind was blank, and when I came back to my senses, I had already pointed to the inside of the cabinet ...I identified the child."