My villain wants to save himself, but the yandere heroine disagrees

"I don't know when peace will finally come."

"Master Orson, this may sound absurd, but do you believe that there will be a day when humans and orcs will end their hatred and achieve complete peace?"

"I'm sorry, in my opinion, humans and orcs have been holding grudges for a long time. This is no longer a problem that the upper echelons can solve. This is the hatred engraved between the two races, and it cannot be easily resolved." Orson said this and shook his head.

Seeing that even Orson gave a negative answer, Lilia hung her head, looking very lonely.

"Is it really impossible to achieve peace?"

It makes sense. Wars between humans are wars between the same race. People of the same race usually don't even have any contact with each other. There is no hatred between them. These are all wars launched by the upper class to achieve certain goals.

If there were no conflicts among the upper lords, war would hardly happen.

But the war between humans and orcs has lasted for thousands of years.

Both sides have been instilled with the idea that they are enemies since birth.

Under the indoctrination of ideas day after day, even if they have no intersection with each other in normal times, after seeing different faces and hearing different languages, both sides still choose not to seek common ground while reserving differences, but a simpler and more direct solution.

That is the struggle.

It was so a thousand years ago, and it will be so a thousand years later.

Moreover, besides this reason, there is an even more important reason.

As intelligent creatures, one of the biggest advantages humans have over other higher creatures is their strong fertility.

Other races like elves, although their average individual strength is much higher than that of humans, their total number is too small. The total number of elves on the continent may not be as large as a large human city. Therefore, the empire controls most of the land in the western part of the continent by relying on the numerical advantage of humans.

If there were no desert in the middle, even

The Eastern Continent can also be brought under the control of the Empire.

The fertility of orcs is even stronger than that of humans.

Although orcs are generally not as intelligent as humans, a ten-year-old orc is equivalent to an adult human.

Even if the number of orcs is small now, as long as they develop peacefully with humans and are given the same abundant resources, their number will become more and more, and eventually surpass humans.

Even for the sake of their offspring, humans would never allow the orcs to develop peacefully, so they drove the orcs into the desert with a harsh climate.

On this point, Orson shares the same view as the ancestors of mankind.

Just look at the current situation of the orcs and you will know that even in the desert with harsh climate, the orcs can still grow to a large scale and pose a threat to humans.

Although compared to the size of the entire empire, it is like an ant trying to shake a tree.

But for the Duchy of Antica, this war would have been quite difficult if it had not received assistance from other parts of the empire.

Therefore, if humans and orcs want to have peace, unless the orcs' genes are changed and they are not so fertile, or there is a way to always control the number of orcs to a safe level, otherwise, true peace will never come.

"It's not that peace is impossible, but the conditions for achieving peace are quite difficult," Orson corrected. "Who wants war? No one wants war, everyone wants to live in peace, but the reasons are too complicated."

"Yes." Lilia also nodded.

She is a saint, not a virgin, so she naturally knows that it is impossible to sympathize with the orcs at this time.

"But as long as the conflict still exists, there will still be soldiers dying on the border because of the conflict, right?"

"This kind of thing is inevitable. We can only increase the pensions for soldiers so that their families can continue to live well after their death. Only in this way can we slightly alleviate the social impact caused by this reason."

"Yeah." Lilia changed the subject after hearing that.

"Speaking of which, Orson, as the commander, why don't you go to the front line?"

The empire is still full of martial virtues, especially the Stranik family, which is a family founded on military virtues and has always upheld the tradition of generals personally attending the battlefield.

But since the war began, Orson has never fought and killed the enemy, let alone personally commanded the battle on the front line.

This made everyone a little confused.

Your combat skills, Orson, are not bad either, so why are you unwilling to go to the battlefield?

Orson heard this and shook his head.

"Everyone has their own responsibilities. As the commander-in-chief, I need to be responsible for coordinating the overall situation. If the battle situation reaches a point where the commander-in-chief has to step in, it can only prove that either the battle situation is unfavorable or the commander-in-chief has no one to use. Either way, it's not good, isn't it?"

"It sounds so profound." As a priest, Lilia didn't quite understand the problems on the battlefield, so she shook her head.

"This battle is over, what are you going to do?"

"Your Highness, weren't you worried about the peace issue on the border?" Orson smiled. "What we need to do next is to make sure the orcs are unable to attack humans for as long as possible."

Lilia looked surprised when she heard Orson's words.

"Master Orson, do you mean... to destroy the orcs?"

"That's not the case." Orson shook his head. "I don't think I'm that capable."

"However, although the orcs reproduce quickly, as long as we reduce the basic number of orcs to a very low number, even if they can reproduce more, it will take a long time for them to reach the current scale."

Although what Orson is going to do is not genocide, it is almost genocide.

"But... isn't it because of the harsh environment in the desert that outsiders cannot go deep into it..."

"Who says we have to do this?"

Upon hearing this, Orson showed a mysterious expression.

At this time, outside the military tent, the messenger had already rushed back.

"Your Excellency the Commander, we have won a great victory on the front lines. Our army encountered 40,000 orcs and killed 30,000 of them. Do we need to pursue them?"

"No need." Orson shook his head. "Notify the front line that from now on, the army's main task is to drive the orcs on the border back into the depths of the desert. There is no need to pursue them too deep."

"Okay." Upon hearing this, the messenger conveyed Orson's meaning.

"Master Orson, since you just said that you want to kill as many orcs as possible, why did you let them go..."

"Keep them, there are others

Useful." Orson said this and smiled.

……

On the other side, on the battlefield, Litt looked at the tragic scene in front of her and felt nauseous in her chest. She supported her body with her sword and couldn't help but kneel on the ground and vomit.

Except for Li Te, most of the other student soldiers had never experienced such a brutal battle, and they all showed different states, but without exception, they were all unable to adapt to the battlefield.

The old soldiers standing by couldn't help but burst into laughter when they saw these young masters and young ladies who graduated from the academy.

No matter how superior you are in normal times, or how elegant and graceful you are in social situations, once you go to the battlefield, you will perform worse than the soldiers from the countryside. All kinds of ugly behaviors that would never appear in normal times will be exposed in front of the soldiers.

Even some of the instructors looked pale.

Some of them had never experienced a large-scale war, and some of them had never even killed a chicken when they advanced to the seventh level.

Olivia looked at Litt who was kneeling on the ground and vomiting, walked up to him with concern, and patted Litt's back gently.

After a long while, Lit recovered and stood up.

Looking at Olivia behind her, she thanked him awkwardly.

"thank you……"

"It's okay." Olivia shook her head. "It's your first time on the battlefield. You're not used to it, right?"

"Yeah..." Li Te admitted generously. "It's the first time I've seen so many corpses..."

"This is the cruelty of the battlefield." Olivia sighed. "Whose fathers, husbands, and sons are these dead soldiers?"

"It's all thanks to Orson. If it weren't for his decision, our losses would have been even greater." Olivia said.

"Yeah." As the adjutant who has been following Orson these days, Litt is undoubtedly the one who understands Orson the best.

She watched with her own eyes as Orson refined what seemed like normal military decisions to her, until they were perfected to the point of causing the fewest casualties possible before releasing them.

As a soldier, it is undoubtedly lucky to have a commander like Orson.

Even though there were huge losses of mercenaries before, Orson only used them because mercenaries were suitable for small-scale guerrilla warfare.

At this time, Lianka also staggered over.

"Sister, the battlefield... is so scary." Lianka's face was pale, and it seemed that she had just vomited.

"Oh." Olivia touched Lianka's head with heartache.

My sister is also a greenhouse flower, so it’s good for her to see the world on the battlefield for the first time.

This can also be considered a form of experience and growth.

On the other side, Arthas, as the commander of the front-line troops encountering the enemy, was counting the number of people with his men.

Although the Silver Dragon Knights and the Black Army were both elite troops, they were the first to encounter the enemy. When the losses were counted, more than one hundred of the two thousand Silver Dragon Knights were killed, which was a considerable loss for the Knights, and the three thousand Black Army also lost nearly three hundred people.

Arthas originally wanted to give chase, but the message sent by the messenger was for the army to rest for a while and then drive the orcs back into the depths of the desert. Although he was puzzled by this order, Arthas still respected Orson's opinion and did not choose to give chase.

……

Behind, the city of Antica.

In the Duke's mansion, Lucius was lying on the bed, with Duchess Mary beside him.

And at this moment, there was another guest in the bedroom.

Looking closely, it was Gero, the commander of the army sent to Antica by the Duke of Naples.

At this moment, Jello was sitting upright. After all, he was just a junior officer. He could not help but feel nervous when facing Lucius, his senior in the army and the real Duke.

"General Jello." Lucius looked at Jello and said slowly, "Your army performed very well."

"No, Your Excellency the Duke, thank you for your praise. It would be my honor if I could be of some help to the front line."

At this moment, Mary frowned and said with a hint of displeasure in her voice: "General Jello, did you really not understand what my master meant?"

She continued, "We know what your troops are doing on the logistics line, otherwise we wouldn't have recalled your troops a week ago."

A week ago, when Jello's troops were responsible for maintaining the logistics supply lines, they often withheld supplies for various reasons.

The most commonly used reason is "Our unit's material consumption is high, so we will keep some extra rations for military expenses."

To put it bluntly, it is equivalent to collecting tolls in the past.

The supplies destined for the front line will definitely be less after this section.

They could tolerate the reduction in rations, but they were even short of weapons and armor, which were supplies consumed in large quantities by the front-line troops. Finally, the troops on the front line could not bear it anymore and reported Jello to them, so Jello had to return to Antica with his army in disgrace.

"I'm sorry... There are reasons for all this. Our army is made up of peasant soldiers. This is our first time fighting a war and we don't know how to exercise restraint, so our expenses are a bit high..."

"I can understand all of this." Mary said, and then continued to ask: "Then why did you deliberately delay the delivery of the supplies?"

“This… This is for…”

"To check if there are any dangerous items in the supplies, right?" Lucius added.

"Yes, that's it!" Jello nodded quickly.

"Do you think you can believe such words?" Lucius smiled.

"This...but this is the truth."

"Oh." Hearing Jello's continued quibbling, Lucius nodded. "Then, can I tell others about your army's contact with the orcs and the leak of our intelligence?"

Hearing this, Jello could no longer sit still and he stood up in panic.

"Lord Duke Lucius, you can't say that..."

He began to talk incoherently, but later, as if realizing that talking too much would lead to mistakes, he simply stopped talking.

"Do you need me to produce some more decisive evidence?" Lucius said this. Although he was lying on the bed, his aura seemed to be condescending.

"Regardless of everything else, the crimes you committed during the war are enough to get your family exiled to the northern border, and you will never be allowed to return home."

"But now, you still have a way, don't you?"

Chapter 6: Man-Made Disasters (K)

Baru rode his mount all the way eastward. It was unknown how much time had passed before he stopped.

The orc warriors around him, from tens of thousands scattered around at the beginning, now only a few are left.

Even though he intended to gather soldiers, after suffering such a disastrous defeat, his appeal was no longer as high as before.