As the human society prepared itself for the Great Mobilization, the Orcs did not idle time away either.

  Ilo, the current Emperor of Orcs, who was also known as “Iron Teeth,” held and presided over a conference where he had gathered the leaders of the various Orc tribes.

  The conference was not held in the “Golden Tent,” which was the capital of the Orc Empire. Instead, it was held in the fields outside the Golden Tent. Emperor Ilo stood on a high platform as he rode in his chariot, looking majestic and awe-inspiring.

  “The humans are coming to attack us,” he said as he went straight to the point. “It’s not going to be those petty little attacks like before. They are going all out and mobilizing all the troops that they have, deploying all the knights they can, gathering all the allies they have and sending all the gods they can find to attack us.”

  He shouted so loudly that his voice echoed in the fields, into the ears of every tribal chief and resounded in their hearts.

  “Yes, they are coming. On a scale that’s unprecedented. They are giving all they’ve got and charging their way here. I can roughly estimate it will probably be… an army of three million people or even more. If necessary, they may even double this number, or even double the doubled number. That’s not impossible either.”

  “So, are you all afraid?”

  Many of the tribal chiefs registered changes in their expressions. There were some who went pale in the face, and this was because they had been frightened by that alarming number. There were some who were flushed red in the face, and this was because they felt angry that added insult to their courage.

  Emperor Ilo did not give these tribal chiefs a chance to speak. He went on saying, “To tell you the truth, when I just heard the number, I was truly a little worried. Three million! Three million! What an alarming number that is! Not to mention the possibility that this number may become six million or even 12 million… oh gosh!” he shouted at the top of his lungs. His voice was filled with anguish as he said, “To chop off so many heads. There is not even enough money in the national treasury for bonuses!”

  The tribal chiefs burst out laughing instantly. Those who went pale no longer had pale expressions. Those who flushed red were no longer red in the face. Even those who maintained calm composures earlier on were unable to maintain their peaceful expressions as though they had facial paralysis. Laughter filled the entire place.

  \r \r \r

  “Hey! Don’t you all go laughing away! I’m serious!” cried Emperor Ilo. His scarred face showed a serious and troubled expression as he said, “I’m really serious! A soldier’s head is worth a gold coin. An officer’s head is worth 10 gold coins. A knight’s head is worth 100 gold coins. A baron or viscount’s head—assuming he’s not a knight, is worth 300 gold coins. An earl’s head is worth 1000 gold coins, while the heads of marquises, dukes and kings were all worth 10,000 gold coins each—these are rules known to all. These are the market prices. Just because there’s an overwhelming supply of goods doesn’t mean I can take the chance to markdown any of these prices. Old Ilo is not that kind of person.”

  “Are you all interested in calculating how much it will cost altogether?”

  Many of the tribal chiefs either closed their eyes or lowered their heads as they silently did the calculations.

  Regrettably, the education level of the Orcs was generally not high. They were soon confused and disoriented by the numbers. There was no way they were able to work out any results.

  “I’ve specifically found some people to do the calculations. Then finally, Old Wilder told me that if I wanted to maintain my good reputation all this time for being a man of good conduct and a man of my words, I probably would have to prepare more than 30 million gold coins!”

  Emperor Ilo shook his head. Then looking as though he had nothing left to live for, he said, “Oh my god! Thirty million gold coins! After I got this number, I went to the national treasury and checked very carefully. Twice at that. I even wanted to pry the floorboards out to see whether there were any copper coins stick in there. But all I could find was… No, this I can’t tell you. It will be too demoralizing for you to know about it.

  “In short, I’m going broke this time,” he said as he spread out both hands in a helpless manner.

  The tribal chiefs all burst out laughing again. They laughed so hard that they staggered forward and back.

  Unlike the brilliant and wise former emperor, Junero, Ilo was a veteran soldier who slowly rose through the ranks of the army. He never had much dignity to boast of and had always appeared before everyone as a frank and straightforward person. And it was no exception this time.

  An emperor like him, who would confess so candidly that there was no money in his national treasury, was probably unprecedented.

  “Everyone knows that Old Ilo is a man who follows the rules and a man of his words. So, I came up with an idea,” Ilo said. “Although I can’t repudiate a debt, I can owe a debt! Anyway, there’s only so much money in the national treasury. Those who have already contributed earlier on, I shall reward them according to the rules. Those who make contributions later… I’m sorry but the emperor, His Majesty is not welshing on your rewards. It’s just that, for the time being, he has no money to give you. Please kindly wait for a while.”

  “In other words, if you all want to get your rewards and benefits just like before, you better act fast right after the war commences. Don’t procrastinate. Otherwise, you all only hope that you live long enough, long enough for me to find enough money to pay you your bonuses.”

  Amidst the laughter of the tribal chiefs, Emperor Ilo waved his hands as a sign for everyone to quiet down.

  “Alright, done with the joke. Now, let’s get back to business—oh, that’s not really a joke, I’m serious.”

  The tribal chiefs laughed again.

  Ilo smiled, then suddenly he became serious and shouted, “My Orc brothers, are you all afraid of war?”

  Subconsciously, all the tribal chiefs shouted in unison, “No fear!”

  “Yes, we are not afraid!” Ilo roared. “We Orcs are never afraid of war. To us, war is as common as eating and sleeping. Fighting the humans, beheading them, getting our rewards, winning the favor of the ladies, carrying on the family line, and finally heading for the sanctuary of the gods—this is the Orcs way of life, from ancient times to the modern day, from generation to generation.

  “We are not afraid of war. On the contrary, we relish in war. We’re passionate about war! We Orcs are warriors created by the gods as imitations of them. The significance of our lives is to fight for the gods. When we are alive, we fight for them. After we die, we still fight for them. Other than war, there’s nothing else that we need to be bothered with!”

  “I will not promise you all anything, for I have to go to battle myself. I want to put on my armor, hold my weapon and lead my most courageous warriors as we charge onto the battlefield. I shall fight to my level best and slay as many enemies as I can. I will use their blood to stain my armor with a fresh, beautiful hue of red. I will use the heads of my enemies to add new glory to my throne. Though I’m old, I’m still a warrior! My heart that pursues honor and a vigorous battle will not lose to any young man!

  “Those frail humans, those ants that we’ve crushed and cleaned up since the day they are born, those maggots that we’ve driven helter-skelter everywhere, who do not have the courage to swing their blades at us but only dare to bully those weaker than them. What on earth are they thinking of this time? To court death by coming to attack us!

  “All this time, we can’t get rid of them because they have been running all over the place. And they run faster than anything. There are too many of them, we can’t catch them all, neither can we kill them all. They’re just like the mosquitoes in summer, buzzing about and annoying the hell out of everyone.

  “But this time, these ants, maggots, mosquitoes… They are jumping out, jumping to be right in front of us, and jumping right to where our blades will slay!

  “So, what are we still waiting for?”

  The old Emperor of Orcs revealed a hideous smile and raised his tomahawk and roared, “Crush them!”

  The roars and growls meshed together and shot high up into the sky, gradually forming clouds of war.