17 16th Move | Prelude to Destruction

It was morning when I entered the freshly completed Jura Tempest Republic's Capitol building, commonly called the 'Congressional Pyramid' by the major populace.

Unlike the US Capitol building, the Congressional Pyramid sits as the seat of both the legislative and executive branches of the government, with the Senate taking up the lower floors and the President the upper as a subtle Sword of Damocles of how the President has a bit more power than the Senates.

Walking past the short lines, I saw on my peripherals that several more hobgoblins were annoyed at how a person was budding in before realizing who they were referring to.

Normally, I would happily wait in line, but I need to alert Rimuru about this issue and cancel our hang-out together for the day. I'll be focusing on completing Project Thrones and the slime would need to alert Congress and the populace of what's about to happen.

"I'm sorry Director Scientia, but protocol states I can't let you come in while the President is in a meeting." The buff hobgoblin guard stood firm in front of the President's office, placing a hand on a sheathed stun baton, "Even if you're technically my boss, I can't let you come in."

The beginning of Tempest's Praetorian Guards: handpicked by Ririna, these were supposed to be completely politically neutral and serve as Capitol's security. They wore light body armor made from carbon nanotubes disguised as actual clothing, so from a simple glance, it would appear as if they were simply wearing a suit. Unlike normal security guards of Metropolis, the Capitol guards are permitted to wield lethal force proactively.

I can sympathize with him. His duty calls for him to defend the President while I'm technically his boss's boss.

"And why is he so busy? Who is he meeting with?"

"From what little I can gleam: they are the son of the leader of a tribe living on the shore of Lake Shisu."

Hmm, cupping my chin, I began to debate my next action. Are they planning to join the Republic? Despite having claimed all of the Jura Forest, we haven't declared our claim since the Republic still isn't fully operational.

I think Rimuru would reveal the Republic to the rest of the world by claiming responsibility for subduing the invading orcs.

"Very well." So I sat down on one of the benches that litter the hallway and heard the hobgoblin breathe out a small sigh of relief.

In the meantime, as I waited, multiple holographic panels materialized into existence all around me. Gazing over them, I saw how the Doormaker visibly counted at least 50,000 unique individual orcs, with estimations based on how widespread ecological devastation committed putting the number of orcs at around 200,000.

I should acquire one of the more complete orc bodies for testing and dissection.

Opening an animal up and studying their internal anatomy is one of the many ways to study the evolutionary path of said animal. Activities such as comparing bones of different species of animals would allow me to infer relationships.

I have a problem with this world's ecosystem, more specifically, things like orcs, goblins, and humans.

The number of species in this world that are so human-like they might as well as humans with another coat of skin makes me think there's a near-certainty of some kind of meddling by something in the past. Something, whether aliens or gods, messed around with the human genome of this world and produced multiple different species of primates.

At least... I think they are still primates. With the pig-like snouts of orcs despite their bipedal human-like body and opposable thumbs, one can never know.

The point is, I want to solve this mystery, this mystery on the level of figuring out where humans originated from in my old world.

Hearing the door open, I dismissed all the holographic displays to see who had—

""You!/You!""

Both me and the lizardmen I saw from when I crashed landed pointed at each other.

Why is he— wait, no, it can't be. Is he a royalty equivalent?

"You're the son of the leader of a tribe of lizardmen?" My tone was hesitantly disbelieving, like a person finding out their spouse was actually the descendant of some famous person through a DNA test.

"Unlike other unnamed monsters, I have a name and you shall address me as such! I am Gabiru, the Heir to the Lizardman Tribe!" The green-scaled lizard who was wearing much finer clothing than his sycophants said.

He was given a name?! By who? Well, on second thought, if anyone would have a name it'd be royalty. Still, this tribe couldn't have been too large if I hadn't even noticed them.

[Silenced Emotion: 50%]

I placed on a small smile as my posture shifted to radiate authority, "and what are you doing here, Mister Gabiru?"

The lizardman seems to shiver before clearing his throat, "Well, since you are so fair then I guess I should also be fair and tell you why I'm here." Placing a hand on his puffed-up chest, Gabiru announced grandly as if he were a prophet from god, "I am here to propose an alliance between you goblins and us lizardmen! With me in control of this alliance, our victory against the orcs is all but assured."

I had to look away from the embarrassment in front of me. It took all of my will to not facepalm at the cringe-worthy performance in front of me. There's a difference between confidence and foolishness, it's usually huge but this lizardman in front of me just floored the pedal and raced into foolishness without a second thought.

If this person wasn't a royalty of the lizardman tribe I would've asked security to kick them out. How socially tone-deaf could this Gabiru be? How much did his sycophants poison his common sense?

Ugh, this is why I don't like to deal with brats who were born with a silver spoon in their mouths! As a proper nation, foreign dignitaries like Gabiru here have what's known as diplomatic immunity, in which they are legally immunity from the jurisdiction of another country.

As I was thinking these exasperating thoughts, my face was completely still, completely hiding how I truly felt with [Acting]'s aid.

"And why would we consider it?" my tone was neutral as I tilted my head in an inquisitive manner.

"Well obviously to defeat the orcs marching here of course!" He said with bravado, "Fair lady, you can just stand back while I, Gabiru, will gift you victory!"

Gabiru's entourage of yesmen and sycophants began to cheer him on with all kinds of praises that I didn't bother paying attention to.

Oh boy, he is going to be a great leader I'm sure of it, just like how all the leaders in history with their courts full of yesmen and similar. Oh no, he totally isn't going to drive his tribe into ruin, no sir no, absolutely impossible, definitely not gonna end up like either a Stalin or one of the many child emperors of China or even Mao Zedong.

A sudden thought struck me; is it possible Gabiru's simply doing this to push me off balance? To make me unable to predict him? Surely no one, especially not someone who's being groomed to take over as the leader of the lizardmen tribe, could be THIS socially blind.

I mean, what kind of message does this say about the leader of the lizardmen tribe? That he's neglectful? Even without [Psychology], I knew a neglected child would be starved for affection and approval and would thus look for it elsewhere.

I cast a well-hidden unimpressed look at Gabiru. If you're going to have confidence, at least be able to back it up, otherwise you're like a small dog barking incessantly at those bigger than you.

I was barely able to control myself from verbally dissecting this fool in front of me, so I directed my eyes elsewhere and passed by his entourage.

His spear and sword-wielding entourage.

"You have weapons..."

"Why of course!" Gabiru said as if it was the most obvious thing, "Wherever I go I would need weapons to beat back my adoring fans!" he did an extremely unsettling move by whipping his head up as if he had hair before striking a pose.

"Why were they allowed to bring such weapons so close to the President?" I turned my head to glare at the buff security guard, who now looked like he regretted having been born so tall.

"Well... we checked them and made sure they're just normal iron weapons. We also have security—"

"That is not an excuse. Protocols exist for a reason. There is a reason why weapons, even unenchanted ones aren't allowed near the President. We do not know what is the capacity of magic, so who's to say an enchantment or Skill doesn't exist that hides themselves and other enchantments?"

"I... I'm sorry, Director Scientia."

I thumbed the bridge of my nose. Working so long in the corporate world, my Achilles heel has always been incompetent teammates.

"Scientia!" Rimuru called out to me as he opened the door.

Before responding to Rimuru, I grabbed the collar of the buff hobgoblin and brought him close, quietly saying, "Don't let me catch you doing this again. And you're dismissed from your post for the day, show our visitors from the lizardmen tribe around the Metropolis, and make sure they're not bored. Don't disappoint me."

The hobgoblin nodded swiftly as I slipped him a small roll of cash as his budget. Shifting my attention to Rimuru, I quickly entered his office room.

Rimuru's work office was a mix of Western and Eastern design. There were dark wooden pieces of furniture all over the place, all culminating in a large bookshelf behind him... that was mostly devoid of any books. In front of his desk were two two-person sofas and a coffee table between them. On the coffee table were two teacups still gently steaming, showing that they were still hot.

Vice-President Rigurd sat on one of the sofas.

"Director Scientia." Rigurd nodded in a curt greeting.

"Vice President Rigurd."

Rigurd was the elder of the original goblin village. But after evolving, he looked like a grandpa who had aged like fine wine.

Sitting down on the sofa opposite Rigurd, Rimuru placed a fresh teacup in front of me before pouring out a greenish liquid that I recognized as mint tea.

Although the teapot... recognition blossomed inside my mind. That's a tinkertech teapot, isn't it? One belonged to a blueprint I sold to an entrepreneur.

Sipping on the frosty-tasting mint tea, I closed my eyes to fully enjoy the refreshing taste and the cooling sensation it leaves after the liquid was gone.

"Ahhh..."

Refreshing.

Seeing how I got myself settled, Rimuru finally spoke about what he was probably wondering, "Scientia, I thought we were having lunch later. I still have many appointments until around 11."

"I... can't do lunch today, I'm sorry."

I felt the temperature on the back of my head increase rapidly as I said. Punctuality was always something important to me, both for myself and something I expected out of other people I work with both in my professional and personal life.

To cancel something at almost the last minute goes against almost everything I have, but I need to finish Project Thrones to fight against that orc infestation.

"Oh..." Rimuru sounded disappointed as his mood fell akin to a ball reaching the end of its thrown arc.

"But it's for a good reason." Reaching into my pocket, I took out three small silver balls and threw them onto the desk.

Those silver balls didn't bounce at all as if they were made from steel. After rolling for a few centimeters, three nubs extended in a triangular pattern on the balls, stopping them. Finally, the top of the spheres opened up and a large hologram appeared above the desk.

The hologram was a day-by-day collage of a goblin village.

The two grimaced when it showed the goblin village perfectly fine in one image and then destroyed in the next.

This repeated. Collage after collage of perfectly fine goblin villages that were perfectly fine was destroyed.

"These were all recorded over the past two weeks. If I include ruins from earlier destroyed villages, the total count is in the thousands."

The collage then turned into a video, and the two flinched at the brutality displayed. Completely burned down villages and burnt sticks that I predict were used to roast flesh before eating.

"I've documented at least an additional five dozen villages attacked in the past 12 hours alone—"

"FIVE DOZEN?! Who is causing this massacre?!"

Rigurd shouted.

"Orcs."

"Orcs...? Aren't they usually divided?"

This time it was Rimuru who asked, "What do you mean?"

"Most orcs usually live in the Orbic Kingdom that sits right beside Beast Kingdom Eurazania and the Jura Forest. Last I heard they were suffering a drought so severe it was said that the orcs had to consume each other to survive."

"Oh my god..." Rimuru recoiled in mute horror, his jaw hung slack, and the usual happy expression was replaced by one of grim outlook.

The slime scratched his ears, "I see, so now they're ravaging the eastern Jura Forest?"

"Indeed." I replied, "We need to deal with the orcs. They are consuming at such a rate that I can foresee they causing an ecological collapse of the Ameld's ecosystem. Based on the tracks of depopulation, I think they're moving north along the Ameld to eventually reach Lake Shisu, the largest freshwater lake in the world. If they gain access to this, they would feast like they never had and completely deplete the lake."

I looked around at their grim expression, "needless to say, that is something unacceptable."

With a swipe of my hand, the hologram changed to reveal a passage from a book. A passage about 'Orc Lord'.

"President and Vice President, I fear we may have the unfortunate luck of being near the awakening of an Orc Lord."

While Rimuru didn't react much, Rigurd gasped in shock. As he should. An Orc Lord is an individual that arises every few centuries and leads an orc to ravage the continent like locusts. Why orcs still exist and haven't been preemptively wiped out as humans tend to do against pests is beyond me.

"And... how many orcs are there?" Rigurd asked hesitantly like he was scared of the answer.

"200,000 give or take."

The mood in the room dimmed like a light bulb near the end of its life. Somberness strangled Rigurd while Rimuru grimaced.

"But fear not," I swiped the hologram again, "I have a solution, a final—" I turned my head before turning back, "on second thought, let's not draw that comparison. Despite the rather bleak situation, I see an opportunity. The A.A.A. alone should be enough to annihilate the orcs, but they're not flashy enough. To truly prove that we are strong on the international stage, we'll need an explosive introduction to the world, literally."

"And... how do you propose we do that?" The Vice President asked, "In the middle of an Orc Lord disaster?"

With a few hand gestures, the hologram shifted once more into a map of Lake Shisu. Pointing at it, I started highlighting certain areas around the mouth of the Ameld to Shisu.

"We'll situate our A.A.A. here around the mouth of the Ameld. In front of the A.A.A. will be our kill zone, where I'll deploy a soon-to-be-completed weapon."

"Wait." Rimuru raised a hand up as I paused, "Are... are we sure there's absolutely no other way? Can we not make peace with this Orc Lord? Like, maybe negotiate a settlement where we give them a place where they can live? I mean, the Jura Forest is huge! It takes up close to a fifth of this continent!"

I leaned on my left arm that was situated on the armrest of the sofa, "Rimuru, we do not negotiate with locusts. We exterminate them. A few days ago, I met with this one group of ogres who were running away because their homes had been destroyed by the orcs. They described the orcs as mindless and had no fear of death. These orcs are like zombies."

"But..." Rimuru struggled, "Shouldn't we help them? These orcs sound like they're under some kind of mind control, wouldn't it be morally best if we help them?"

Morality has no place in politics. There are only interests and those who align with your interests. Thinking that a foreign nation has your best interest at heart is foolish at best and suicidal at worst.

But... "fine, if any of the orcs surrender, we'll accept them as prisoners of war. If they are compatible with the Tempest way of life, we'll give them residency status within Metropolis. If they aren't, we'll give them free transport to the Orbic Kingdom."

Unless this is a type of 'kill the mothership and all other aliens fall' type of scenario, I highly doubt any of the orcs are going to surrender. But then again, this is a Tolkien-esque fantasy World, so who knows?

*Ring* *Ring* *Ring*

The phone on Rimuru's desk rang. The humanoid slime picked it up with a click and started talking to it.

"Yello... yes?... what? What do you mean there's a dryad here? ...Right now? In the lobby? ...Okay, send her in."

Rimuru returned both of my and Rigurd's gaze, his lips pursed "sooooo, there's a dryad wanting to talk with us."

"A Dryad?" What the hell is a dryad? I don't recall that being in any of Tolkien's works.

"A dryad is a form of tree spirits descended from the fairy race," this time, it was Rimuru who spoke, with an odd degree of happiness for some reason, "They serve as guardians of the Treants, immortal, and rarely leave their sacred dwelling."

Rimuru probably got that information from his [Great Sage] and repeated it to us.

Although, spirits of nature that guard these 'Treants'? Are they angry that I'm optimizing part of the Jura Forest?

The door opened to reveal the dryad escorted by two heavily armed Capitol guards wielding pulse rifles the size of a human adult's leg.

The dryad looked to be a human with fair skin wearing a dress of aqua blue with heavenly white sleeves. Her facial features were well-defined with two greenish markings right under both of her greenish-blue eyes.

In terms of looks, whereas mine felt like an alien perfection, her beauty is more organic, and more natural, as if she was the scion of two parents with 10/10 looks and hit the genetic jackpot and came out with a daughter that was a 15/10.

If it weren't for the fact that she's translucent, I'd almost certainly mistake her for a human in their 20s.

To break the ice, I uttered a joke, "You know, Rimuru, if people keep on abruptly meeting with you without any prior appointment, you might as well as get rid of it and wing everything."

Might not be a good joke, but at least it got a few polite chuckles from the slime and the hobgoblin.

Hidden well from view, three different gamma laser emitters built into decorations were all aiming at the dryad. These emitters were linked with ultra-speed cameras that refresh at a rate of three million times a second, meaning that those lasers can fire within microseconds of any hostile movements from the spirit.

The dryad bowed, "Apologies for the intrusion, I am the dryad, Treyni."

"Greetings, Miss Treyni. I take it as the member of a race who rarely meets with anyone, that you have business with us?" Rimuru said.

"Indeed." The dryad clasped her hand in front of her stomach, "As the strongest polity in the Jura Forest, I am here to ask for your aid in defeating the Orc army. Their leader is likely to become an Orc Disaster if they continue unabated, potentially dooming the entire Jura Forest to destruction."

"AN ORC DISASTER?!" Rigurd cried out. "An Orc Lord is no joke, but an Orc Disaster...? Please tell me you are joking, Lady Treyni. That is a Calamity-class monster, a Demon Lord seed."

Treyni shook her head sadly.

"Normally, if the problem wasn't so serious, us dryads would've already dealt with the threat to the Great Jura Forest. But we cannot defeat a Demon Lord Seed."

Rimuru raised a hand, "wait, what are Demon Lord Seeds?"

"A Demon Lord Seed is a monster that has the potential to become a True Demon Lord through the consumption and sacrificing of human souls in a process called the Harvest Festival." the Dryad explained, primarily to Rimuru who seemed to be lost.

Demon Lord Seeds and True Demon Lords... I see them as this world's version of Sauron. From what I read in the books Rimuru bought from Dwargon, Demon Lords are the most powerful members of a monster's race, and each one requires at least all the resources of a large nation just to subdue. Right now, after the Civil War close to half a millennia ago, there are currently ten Demon Lords that are organized into the Ten Great Demon Lords.

They are the most powerful beings in the world aside from True Dragons, and according to the book, the only reason why humanity still exists is due to the True Heroes that pop up occasionally to oppose them.

Here, in the 52nd year of the Rosso Era, the only Hero that humanity possesses is Granbell Rosso after Hero Chronoa disappeared.

Although, something stood out about the Demon Lords: Walpurgis. A Walpurgis Banquet is a gathering of all Demon Lords to discuss or plan for the future presumably. This is commonly seen as an ill omen for all non-Demon Lord nations because the Banquets are almost always done before something major happens or massive changes ripple across the world, typically on the level of another Great Tenma War.

"They are—"

"Alright I'll stop you right here," I held a hand up, causing Treyni to become puzzled, "we already have a plan in place. Just need the Senate's approval to enact the plan."

Of course, the approval is a mere political courtesy, a fiction used for the purpose of showing the public that the people who represent them have a large say in how the government is run.

With almost every hobgoblin and goblin taking nightly crash courses to familiarize themselves with the government and basic finance, they've started to become more politically and economically savvy.

So began the Social Middle Class; something vital for the continuation of any democracy.

"Oh...." Treyni's mouth went agape when she realized that she had wasted her effort.

"However, to prevent any unforeseen surprises, please tell us every important information about the Orc Lord."

I don't want to be surprised again like I did against Shizue. I want to know if the Orc Lord has something like 'immunity against nuclear weapons' or 'immunity against chemical weapons' beforehand.

"If it's information you need then I can provide it. The Orc Lord has a Unique Skill whose influence extends down to all that is subservient to him. The Unique Skill's name is called [Starved] and it's responsible for the reason why the orcs within that army are so strong." Treyni said as she looked at Rimuru. "[Starved], much like your [Predator], allows orcs to take the Skills and abilities of their fallen foes but in exchange, they will always be hungry for more food. [Starved] also grants everyone under their effect tremendous regeneration ability."

I briefly checked the ball-shaped holographic projectors and found that yes indeed, it was recording what the dryad was saying. Although... how did she know about Rimuru's Unique Skill [Predator]? Was it a special ability of hers since she's apparently a named spirit?

"Do they have any special resistances?" Like against explosions or force?

"As far as I'm aware, no. But they do have a degree of resistance against magic."

"So we're dealing with super zombies." I closed my eyes and sighed, "Well, I guess I'll retune the parameters on Project Thrones so that it'll wipe out all of the orcs in that army. No need to mobilize the A.A.A.."

"Wait! I implore you, for the sake of balance, you cannot kill off all the orcs!" Treyni cried out, "Only killing the Orc Lord is enough!"

[Silenced Emotion: 70%]

I raised my right eyebrow, and the gears inside my head began to turn.

I have the ability to terminate the Orc Lord alone, but at the same time, that wouldn't be explosive enough. That wouldn't warn the other nations of our capacity.

They say that the best weapon is one you never have to fire, but I agree more with the saying 'The best weapon is one you only have to fire once'.

I want the world to know there's a new geopolitical superpower in the Jura Forest. I want them to know that we have the capacity to neutralize a threat such as the Orc Lord. I want to do a field test of Project Thrones.

But more importantly, I want there to be no nation daring to attack Tempest, even when it is eventually revealed that I'm a Perfect Homunculus. Just as how America becomes unconquerable thanks to nuclear weapons, I'm going to detonate our 'Trinity' and become a 'nuclear power'.

The Orc Lord is going to be an example of what happens when you invade Tempest. I don't doubt that if there are people like Shizue going around the nations of this world definitely have their own 'superweapons'. Project Thrones is just going to make sure the Jura Tempest Republic stands on equal footing.

"Scientia, we're killing only the Orc Lord." Rimuru's tone was authoritative. Hearing it was like hearing a normally very serious person joke.

Looking around me, I saw the room grow so tense one could almost grab it.

"Rimuru, but we need to show the entire world what we are capable of! We're a small nation of fewer than ten thousand people and we currently have only a single city."

I didn't verbally mention my current status as a Perfect Homunculus, but it was implied.

"Yes, but we don't need excess deaths."

I felt annoyed, "They are military targets. We're slaying the entirety of an invading army. I refuse to believe that the 200,000 marching orcs were all of the orcs that exist."

"Actually," This time, Treyni budged into me and Rimuru's argument, "that IS all of the orcs."

Wait— what?

I had to blink several times at that, my mouth was agape once I realized the dryad was serious.

That's all of the orcs?

THAT'S all of the orcs?

Every last orc was unified under a single leader?

"Are you fucking kidding me?" I couldn't help but curse out as I stood up. "What kind of bullshit is this? What kind of ethnostate-like bullshit is this? An Orc Lord emerges and somehow every orc in existence just automatically falls under their control?"

A single organism ruling its entire species has no precedent in nature before now. Animals like tigers can be excused because they're too dumb whereas in humans it's due to tribalism and built-in xenophobia.

[Psychology] said how I didn't fully grasp the implication of 'mind-controlled orcs'. I dehumanized, or I guess, 'depersonalized' them into mere pests.

"Indeed." Treyni nodded her head. "Many monster nations start out as the strongest members of a race uniting every member of their race under them."

I had to rub my forehead, internally lamenting at how [Silenced Emotion] doesn't touch upon headaches.

Ethnocracy describes a type of political structure where the government is run by the dominant ethnic group. Change the 'ethnic' part and swap it for 'species' and you got exactly what Treyni is describing to me. Unfortunately, none of the books brought by Rimuru contained too much information about the monster nation's inner politics, and there's only so much data one can extrapolate from satellite images of another country.

If ethnostate is the most common type of government for monster nations, I have a long road ahead of me to bring modernity into this world. The goblins must be a fluke with how quickly they adapted to modern laws and practices.

"And..." I felt like I wanted to lie down, "you're sure that killing only the Orc Lord will end Unique Skill [Starved]'s effect?"

"Yes."

Still, I was about to continue to try and advocate for Weapons of Mass Destruction that was Project Thrones before Rimuru finally convinced me.

"Scientia, other nations seeing our mass-produced tank equivalents piloted by hobgoblins slaying the Orc Lord is probably more striking than using your Project Thrones. Besides, I think if we could strategically assassinate the leader, wouldn't that make other leaders less likely to take to the field?"

I guess that's right. It'll be like seeing cockroaches killing a human.

But, "I'm still going to deploy Project Thrones just in case the A.A.A. fails."

The room was bathed in silence as I mentally changed what I was going to do.

So here's what I'm going to do: I'm going to keep the parameters of Project Thrones as it is, and then I'm going to use the A.A.A. as gunships that fly around the Orc Lord and focus their fire on it. If the A.A.A. does succeed, I can use the video of them annihilating the Orc Lord as a warning to other nations.

If they don't, well, I'll make sure at the very least, those mind-controlled orcs around the Orc Lord will be given a quick and merciful death

"Should we contact the lizardmen tribe for support?" Rigurd finally asked after the apparent end of the conversation.

I waved his suggestion off.

"We'll annihilate the Orc Lord ourselves to claim full credit. It might not be as flashy as I'd have liked, but... it'll do."

And so, the first of many drops of blood that the Grand Army of the Republic would spill was decided.

_____________________________________________

Days later. Evening

The Lizardmen Chief was very happy to see that none of his tribesmen would have to die to fend off the attack from the orcs. Gabiru on the other hand was extremely annoyed that we 'stole his thunder'. Ah the burst of ego when the kid discovers that the world does not revolve around them... brings happiness into my mind.

The A.A.A. were configured into gunship mode with additional thrusters, making them look even bulkier. They could hover, but they can't walk anymore.

They don't need to walk. The 300 deployed A.A.A.'s job was to focus fire on the Orc Lord and to immediately evacuate if the usage of Project Thrones was required.

I'm currently within a temporary command center 50 kilometers away from the front lines, in the command chair surrounded by darkness and a curved, interactive glass screen right in front of me, with dozens upon dozens of tabs and windows opened that each show data about things like the weather, the enemy location, and among others. Around me are Ririna and her direct subordinates that are coordinating and making sure everything was fine.

Since we accepted many refugees from the eastern part of the Jura Forest, most already know about something being up with the orcs. Rimuru's job was to announce that a new Orc Lord has risen and that the Grand Military of the Republic was already in the midst of a military operation with the goal of neutralizing this Orc Lord.

Once the Orc Lord walks into the preplanned kill zone, a live broadcast would start showing the A.A.A. in action and neutralizing the threat. And if that failed, the first field test of Project Thrones.

[Tactics] was going ham on giving me enough information to write a 500-page book on the Art of Air Gunship Warfare, I'm— that thought stopped when I saw on a tab how one of the A.A.A. detected erratic movements among the orcs.

"Break formation and give me a visual on those erratic movements, Unit-131."

"Yes, Commander."

A minute later, a new tab popped up on the screen.

The ogres...?

Looking at the map on another window, I saw that the ogres from a few days ago were situated inside the stray fire zone.

Continuing with my silent observation, Security Chief Ririna barked out, "Orc Lord has been spotted! I repeat, UAV-10 has spotted the Orc Lord."

The ogre groups contained the red one who seemed to be on his deathbed and is being carried by the purple one, the pink one, and finally the black one. Behind them, orcs ran on four legs like rabid dogs in an attempt to catch up.

Ririna walked up beside me and saluted before dropping, "Commander, the Orc Lord is nine kilometers away from the kill zone. Expected time to reach 30 minutes at the earliest."

I cupped my chin and thought about it for a moment. Turning to face Ririna who was standing tall and displaying absolute discipline, "Ririna, take over for me for now."

Ririna saluted again, "Yes Commander!"

As I got up, I took out my graphene phone before gesturing at the graphene monitor. With a single swiping gesture towards the phone, the tab containing data about the ogres was transferred over. Ririna sat down and spoke into the mic, declaring how she was taking temporary control.

I think after this, I'm going to promote Ririna to Field Marshal.

_____________________________________________

"—that traitor Gelmud! Knew we shouldn't have trusted him!" The purple ogre yelled out as she continued to run through the forest, weaving between tall trunks of trees that the orcs later then bash right through like a runaway train.

"Where do we go?" the pink ogre yelled out as the group continued to run, the orcs gaining on them.

The pink princess ogre turned around to look at the black ogre, who slowed down.

"What are you doing?!"

Deep down, the princess knew what the black ogre was doing, but she didn't want to face it. Already, the dark blue ogre and the elder have died getting them four out of that ambush, the pink ogre couldn't bear the thought of another one of her companions dying.

The black ogre stopped running and turned around. He readied his bloodied hammer as a baseball batter would right before swinging.

The two female ogres also stopped.

"Go, Princess!" He yelled out. Even if his instincts are desperately begging him to continue running, the black ogre made peace with himself and fully embraced how this was his final moment.

"RAH!"

The black ogre swung his hammer at a lunging orc. The hammer smash was a brutal attack, with the face of the hammer causing the entire orc's face to deform like a water balloon hitting the ground. Jets of blood erupted and shards of broken teeth went flying.

The orc squealed out unintelligible things, their entire jaw and part of their skull were broken.

"Go and find that woman who offered us the contract! She will be able to heal the young master!" The black ogre grunted before punching another pouncing orc away while hurting his knuckles immensely. Quickly, he raised a hammer to smash into the head of the first orc he had downed.

Frightened, the Princess seemed to freeze in fear, before breaking into a sprint once more as the black ogre yelled "GO!" even louder.

Seeing his handy work, the black ogre turned around to find many different orcs now circling around him like a pack of direwolves searching for a weak point.

Hearing movements, the black ogre whipped his head around to find an orc less than a meter away, having lunged at him.

Using his forearm, the black ogre stopped the orc's advances. Still—

"Argh!" The ogre could not help but scream out in pain. "Damn you orcs!"

Raising a hammer, the black ogre quickly bashed the head of the orc that was biting his forearm with his own forehead while another had lunged.

The pink ogre princess and the purple ogre who was carrying the young master were running away quickly with their superhuman strength. But it wasn't quick enough as they heard the screams of the black ogre, someone they knew their entire lives.

As the pink one ran, she could not help but break out into a sob.

Within the span of less than a year, her life had been uprooted and burned away.

She was born as the daughter of the ogre village's chieftain, so she lived a rather privileged and sheltered life. She was often called a 'princess', so she made sure to be demure and graceful to be worthy of that title. Oftentimes, the pink ogre would play with her older brother, the heir to the ogre village, the red ogre.

Her life was a dream. She would study how to read and write under the elder, then, after lunch, she would play with her brother, the blue ogre, and the black ogre. While it was simple, it was a dream she never wished would end. Yet, it had, having been torn apart by the harshness of reality when the orcs came.

It wasn't fair.

If they had accepted that woman's offer, the blue ogre and the elder would still be alive! If they ignored that Majin named Gelmund, both of them would be alive! But her brother, desperate for a way to avenge the village, took his shady offer.

It wasn't fair!

"Why is life so unfair?!" The pink ogre sobbed out.

As if responding, the world let out many cracks of thunder.

"That sound..." The purple one recognized that sound, it was the same as that woman's thunder weapon.

The sound of the black ogre's screaming stopped, and the pink one fell to her knees.

"I can't... I can't anymore!" One of her oldest friends definitely just died if the silence was anything to go by. So the princess gave up and awaited death, "I'm sorry brother but I just can't!"

"Speak of the devil and he shall appear." A hauntingly perfect voice said and was quickly followed by a 'thump' as if something heavy had been dropped.

The princess's eyes were on the shiny black boots of the individual. Slowly, her eyes trailed up as she raised her head. The being wore strange, black garbs that looked like they belonged to the forces of the Eastern Empire, yet there was enough difference for it to be obvious that it wasn't a copy. Eventually, the princess reached the being's face and found her mind blanking at the sheer perfection that was the person's face, underneath an odd cap.

The person's face was like a light of hope that chased away the darkness.

Scientia; the one who was willing to stab herself to keep her secrets. But at the same time, their only hope.

Her blood-red crimson eyes whispered amusement but her face remained neutral. With the professional, high-quality garb she wore, Scientia was the only thing the pink ogre could focus on.

The unsettlingly perfect face of Scientia shifted into a smile.

"I take it you all regret not taking the contract? Let's negotiate."

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[Untainted Perfection]- Perfection should not be touched by those with imperfections. In practice, this means that Perfection will have an unbreakable will that nothing, not even the worst tortures, can break.