Chapter 111

"No, really, no! Iron-Head Ahetanmu was only repeating hearsay, just hearsay!"

Even as dull as Ogres were, they realized the change in atmosphere; once the competition from the Greenskins was gone, the Dwarfs, whose level of cruelty before them was now somewhat off, were baring their fangs at them.

"I ain't lying to you, every Ogre who leaves the Mourn Mountains intending to head south to make a living is told not to provoke your kin living in the north! Especially Karuka, Kar-what?"

"Karak-Kadrin!" Qiangsen-Jian Dun corrected him with a voice no less loud than the Ogres'.

"Right, that place with a huge Shenkan; although you guys aren't tall, the things you build are bigger than ours! There are guys with orange hair all over the place there, and they hack people up even more fiercely than the gray runts from the Dark Lands!"

"Chaos Dwarfs?" Sinuoli muttered to himself.

Hearing Ahetanmu's words, the Ogres all reacted, swearing and vowing one after another that they had never touched a single hair on a Dwarf.

"I, I don't like eating hard things!"

"I'm most afraid of Dwarfs! The longer their orange hair, the better they can fight!"

"I swear in the name of the Great Maw, I only eat Greenskins and Gnoblars!"

Watching the Ogres express their positions one by one, Sinuoli went along with the flow; just as the conversation was wrapping up, the main force of the caravan arrived.

Sinuoli took half the deposit from the safe to pay Ahetanmu; this kind of business where one licks blood off a blade and has no capital is different from the usual, and by the rules, the money must be paid in full first.

By Twilight, Sinuoli slowed the pace of the march; he hoped to arrive at Karak-Azgalaz at noon the next day when the sun was strongest, as this would maximize the weakening of his hypothetical enemy, the Night Goblins, and also facilitate the performance of the Artillery.

According to what Sinuoli had learned along the way, Human peasants and commoners still mostly suffered from night blindness, specifically manifesting as symptoms of unclear vision or complete inability to see in dim light or at night, leading to difficulty in movement.

This symptom is generally caused by a lack of Vitamin A; foods rich in Vitamin A are mainly the livers of poultry and livestock, as well as egg yolks. Unfortunately, these are things that the peasants of Bretonnia cannot afford to consume.

Sinuoli had heard a joke at the dinner table: There was an Empire veteran who was captured by Dark Elves when he was young, but miraculously escaped and settled down in the coastal regions of Bretonnia.

One day, his grandson asked him: "Grandfather, what is the order you defended?"

The veteran replied: "When Grandfather was a slave on a Black Ark, those evil Dark Elves only gave us one piece of meat per meal, wanting us to fight over it so they could divide and control us! But we didn't fall for that; we agreed that today you eat the meat, and tomorrow I eat the meat. This way we don't have to fight or bleed, but everyone gets to eat meat. That is what is called order."

The grandson said: "Grandfather, I understand what order is. But I still don't understand what meat is."

This simple joke is enough to show the miserable life of Bretonnian peasants; as far as Sinuoli knows, in some parts of this kingdom, the tax rate even reaches the heaven-defying ratio of nine out of ten.

That evening, Sinuoli found an abandoned mine to set up camp; he first arranged for his subordinates to clear out a small group of Night Goblins in the mine, then dispatched dozens of sentries.

Due to the addition of more than twenty Ogres, the pressure on the accompanying cook for dinner was immense; these big guys could almost eat ten servings of food each.

"Partner, are you a Tyrant?" Sinuoli asked, holding his bowl and looking at the Ogre leader sitting opposite him.

"Tyrant? The Great Maw be above!" Ahetanmu cried out; he drank the meat soup in his bowl in one gulp, and Sinuoli once thought he wanted to swallow the bowl along with it—of course, with an Ogre's digestive ability, this wouldn't be difficult.

"Although the tribe Ahetanmu comes from isn't the biggest, it still has a full seven or eight thousand people! Our Tyrant, he is strong enough to arm-wrestle a Giant! He wouldn't come personally to earn this hard-earned money; he just sits in his tent waiting for Ahetanmu and his partners to go back and pay tribute!"

Listening to the Ogre's words, Sinuoli gasped; the war potential of these guys is truly terrifying! However, the Ogre Kingdoms are far away in the mountains, and it is not easy to utilize them.

"Below the Tyrant are the Bulls! In terms of pure size and stomach capacity, apart from the Tyrant, they are the most impressive guys in my tribe, and they also have a rock-solid relationship with the Tyrant! I, Iron-Head Ahetanmu, also want to be a Bull!" The Ogre leader tapped the edge of the pot to signal for more food.

"I'm just an Iron-Gut, just an Iron-Gut!" He began to slap his belly plate again, as if this huge belly plate, decorated with ornaments that were strange by Dwarf standards, was a major trait distinguishing him from his subordinates with their plain, unadorned belly plates.

"You can tell, Boss! I have sturdier armor and better gear!" Ahetanmu began to show off his equipment, which to Sinuoli looked like trash.

"After finishing this job, I want to find you Dwarfs to make something better! When I'm strong enough, I'm going back to challenge! Weikeng Sidu!" Ahetanmu brandished his weapon and shouted, which made Sinuoli's guards extremely nervous.

"Weikeng Sidu! Weikeng Sidu!" The other Ogres also began to shout along.

"This is the tradition of us Ogres! Take off the belly plate, duel to the death! The winner has the right to eat the loser, and then take everything he has!" Ahetanmu's face carried a strange light, a mixture of piety and a desire for slaughter.

"Break it up, break it up, get some good rest, tomorrow will be a big battle!" Sinuoli dismissed the crowd, who were all fired up, but he pulled Maldini aside.

"Young man, do you have the confidence to fly over Fearless Fort tonight to scout?" Sinuoli was still uneasy; he wanted to know more information about the enemy.

"Of course, no problem! I feel the Lady's gaze! My partner and I are full of energy!" The young man said, patting his chest. "Though, I might not be able to see very clearly at night."

"That won't be an issue, come, take this!" As he spoke, Sinuoli took the scope that Buluokesen had just taken off.

"Whoa! My goodness, my vision is as sharp as a goshawk's!" Bartini exclaimed immediately after putting on the scope.

"Good work, lad! When this trip is over, I'll give it to you!" Sinuoli promised; such items were not considered rare in the Engineer city of Zhufuba.

Soon, Bartini set off riding his Pegasus; Sinuoli calculated the time he needed, and it was nearly four hours later, at lights-out time, when he returned.

"Prince Sinuoli, your kin are still holding on! You can rest assured!"

This was the first sentence Bartini said after climbing down from his sweat-drenched mount.

Thanks to French Chasseur Major Yuli for the tip.