Al finally realized that as a qualified commander and ruler, one must possess the resolve and ruthlessness to treat lives as numbers and consumables to be sent forward.
He had already done this many times before. The only difference was that back then, aside from the "master-servant" link and the shared goal of the tribe's and family's survival, it had been hard to speak of any real emotion between ruler and tribespeople.
So when he ordered those people onto the battlefield there had been no hesitation — only rational calculation.
But when Al had to send his own "children," with whom he had already developed feelings, onto the battlefield, he felt a crocodile-tear hesitation and reluctance.
"I have already sent so many other people's husbands, brothers, and children onto the battlefield to fight for the Four Gods. Now that it is my own turn, am I going to paralyze myself with this hypocritical pity?"
Al warned himself. To the Four Gods this might be nothing more than a game in the mortal world, but to Al and everyone around him it was a life-and-death war that could not be lost. It was worth paying any price to win victory.
Al had to possess this awareness — to treat their lives as currency.
Misha followed Al step by step. This eldest daughter, the steadiest and most solid among the first batch of siblings, felt a deep love for her little father that matched her own character.
But this love was sometimes too persistent — persistent to the point that even Al himself could hardly shake it.
For example, the daily morning routine. Although Al had expressed many times his desire to sleep in with his head under the blanket, the stubborn Misha insisted that she and her brothers and sisters needed their little father's guidance, and that Al also needed to govern diligently and lead the tribe toward glory and so on…
Plus Al himself felt he had indeed been a little slack lately. Thinking back on how the tribe had first hacked through thorns, braved frost and dew, and carved out even a small patch of land, Al did not cherish it enough… wine pools and meat forests, wasting time, such a fine head — who knows whose blade will take it!
So every day he crawled out of bed with a God-Chosen's sullen face, let the minotaur eldest daughter carry him while still half-asleep, and was taken to the newly chosen administrative tent to begin another day of toil.
In the past Al usually solved problems on the spot or inside his own tent, and it was easy to end up busy and then suddenly busy with Goat Mom and the mare. Ever since Misha started knocking on the door every morning on time, his schedule had actually improved a lot.
The tribe's development express train sped up even more.
Then Al tried to delegate power, but unfortunately he had been God-Chosen-appointed:
"You handle it, I trust you."
Misha firmly refused to accept this burden that Al had placed on her head so early. Or perhaps if she started handling things it would be hard to find an excuse to bring her brothers and sisters every day to gently awaken their little father's sleeping heart.
Then she could openly carry her little father on her shoulder for inspection tours and enjoy the envious gazes of her younger siblings, since Misha was the tallest among all the offspring.
After contact, the tribespeople also developed worship toward Misha and the other Al's Children. After all, Al — thanks to the faith halo of the New Four Gods and the tribe's visibly rapid daily progress — was basically in a semi-deified state. Many beastmen already treated this boy who still seemed underage as a divine son or even a Fifth God to worship — not a true deity, but an object that could be venerated equally alongside the Four Gods.
Yet a living "god" seemed too great. Emotions other than faith and obedience were difficult to produce. But when Misha and the others — transformed through Al's blood and granted the God-Chosen's genes and blessings — were born and their transcendence and extraordinariness became known, even among peers and adult beastmen a feeling of reverence arose toward Misha and the other offspring.
The Eternal Champion or Fifth God rules over us, and His offspring walk among us!
When the relatively hot-tempered and easily angered Karen (wolf girl) first stepped onto the arena ground, every beastman present cheered her heroic bearing and conveyed respect.
The rational and calm Simon (female beastman) absorbed the precious life experience of the elders responsible for educating the young with super-strong learning ability. In just two days she recited the "All-Knowing True Word Book" compiled by the wisdom-tainted beasts and pointed out the contradictions and conflicts within it: for example, one part mentioned that Al had four arms and three cocks with a thousand changing appearances so everyone could see the most perfect version in their hearts, yet another part said Al supported the sky with one pair of hands and pressed the earth with the other while assisting the Four Mother Gods in creating the world and so on…
It is worth mentioning that Al had the entire book destroyed as waste drafts. From now on all scriptures had to pass three layers of review — Simon, Misha, and Al himself — before being preached to the tribe, lest the Eternal Champion one day run into a child asking him: "Eternal Champion, Eternal Champion, why do you not have two pairs of arms and three hooves?"
That would be very awkward.
Simon was also one of Al's great helpers in handling affairs. Although she never offered her own opinions and always solved things exactly according to her little father's instructions, when faced with difficult problems she could always handle them extremely well without violating Al's original intent.
Feng, the sheep girl's daughter (not Al's Goat Mom), mixed with the younger generation with seemingly inexhaustible vitality and became the most approachable and beloved offspring through her lively, people-friendly personality and inspiring qualities.
They were the most outstanding individuals among the first batch of offspring. Al had already assigned positions for them.
The warlike Karen could serve as a warlord commander, leading wolf packs and centaurs to assist her little father's legions. The meticulous Simon, who could handle matters in perfect order and would never go against Al's original intent, could serve as chief of staff and internal affairs officer. Feng, as the most popular idol and the most outstanding template among the offspring, could also become a frontline commander, using her inspiring qualities to boost the legions' morale…
And finally Misha.
Honestly, when Al looked around he found that his eldest daughter seemed to rarely show any single particularly outstanding ability. She seemed capable of everything but never liked to display it, even when Al tested her privately.
Yet she could win the trust of all her brothers and sisters, and not only because of her strength.
Misha seemed very satisfied simply staying by Al's side. It appeared to make her extremely content, but she had no intention of letting her offspring waste their talents. At the very least they had to undergo training before returning to his side.
Because of her mysterious ability to convince everyone and her lack of obvious shortcomings, Al planned that after a further period of personal teaching and cultivation he might let Misha command an army independently as a general and become her little father's right-hand and left-hand aide?
Although he felt Misha might not be willing, this was Father's order.
She was a good daughter.
Sometimes very stubborn, but overall the very obedient kind.
Thinking about his children's future, Al suddenly felt a green dot far away in the All-Knowing blessing becoming extremely active, trying to request a link with him.
The rabbit girl!
Al immediately focused his mind on the map.
Beside her little father, Misha — who always wore a faint, seemingly ever-present smile — sharpened her gaze and stood behind Al.
The offspring habitually spread out around them to guard their father. Although danger to Al inside the tribe was almost impossible… unless Alina went black.
In the mental space, the rabbit girl's devout call came through.
"My lord!"
Inside a small inn in the port of Bilbali north of the Pina Forest, the core members of the beastmen group gathered together. When they saw the rabbit girl suddenly open her eyes with divine light shining in her pupils, they knew the ruler of the distant tribe in the great Pina Forest had descended.
"The human legions have been badly defeated by the greenskins!"
"Out of tens of thousands of troops, fewer than one in ten who fled back north survived. Magritta remains under siege. The greenskins seem to have launched no large-scale assault on the city."
"Reports say many greenskin warlords have already taken their followers across the Gedaaz River to sweep northward. The humans are concentrating their forces, planning to hold the main cities firmly, and the human council has already announced they have requested reinforcements from the northeastern Bretonnians."
"In the city where we are, refugees from the south have been pouring in these past few days. Grain prices have nearly doubled. Fortunately we had the troll stomach fluid you prepared in advance to sell, and the money earned is still enough for our expenses."
"Also, on the huntress's side, she seems to have found traces of that group of mages and asks me to report it to you."
"…"
The rabbit girl reported every important piece of information collected in the past few days to Al in exhaustive detail. The boy on the other end asked a few questions from time to time. Before the link ended, a single word of praise — "You have done very well" — and "In a little while I will let you return to the tribe" made the rabbit girl's spirits soar.
"The God-Chosen has praised our contributions!"
"Loyalty is its own reward!"
The beastmen whispered, their eyes fervent.
In the forest, Al opened his eyes, slapped the table (slapped Misha's large arm), and stood up.
"The time I have been waiting for has arrived!"
A beautiful duel ended. The charging Rage-Horn Beasts knocked down four opponents in succession and sent the ball into the scoring zone!
Cheers erupted all around the arena.
At that moment Al climbed to the highest point of the arena and shouted: "My compatriots! My people! My legions!"
"A greater glory and a brighter future is coming!"
"The Four Mother Gods have turned their gaze upon the mortal world, watching over the God-Chosen's children. We must leave the forest! We must step into the world! We must march toward our destined — our victorious End Times!"
The Eternal Champion raised his arms and cried out.
Even the most rational Simon among the offspring realized that their father's words were opening the curtain on a great future. They answered Al with fervent shouts.
"Mother Gods~ Ula!"
"Al~ Ula!"
"Blessed offspring Ula!"
"Ula! Ula! Ula!"
First the arena, then the surroundings, and finally the entire tribe would learn the will of the Eternal Champion and the New Four Gods.
The legions could finally free themselves from the long hunting and extermination campaigns. Their scarlet and icy beast eyes began to look beyond the forest. Rivers of blood would flow, enemy corpses would litter the ground, and with victory and glory the dust would settle. The Bloodmother was already impatiently urging every one of Her believers in visions to offer savage combat and glorious victory as sacrifices for the Black Iron Throne!
The wisdom-tainted beasts preached the scriptures and spread the blessings even more fanatically. The All-Knowing power had already arranged every future and left the perfect one for the Eternal Champion to seize.
The followers of the Kind Mother and the worshippers of Reveler laughed and celebrated together, encouraging their kin. The Eternal Champion had decided not to stand aside from the mortal world's struggles any longer but to personally step onto the battlefield and wield the blade of war. Then His believers should follow — all the way to death!
Fervor and blessings surged in every beastman's chest. Even the clumsy trolls felt their master's passion and became obedient yet more restless.
While Al had been racking his brains (and exhausting his body on Goat Mom) to develop the tribe, tame fierce beasts, and expand territory, the beastmen had also understood that one day the God-Chosen would lead them to develop enough strength and need to step out of the Pina Forest. At that time challenges and glory would arrive one after another.
This was a mission every beastman understood. The four-sided and five-colored banners flew high. The All-Knowing Eye, the reversed Khorne mark, the winged heart, the ouroboros, and the eight-pointed star shone brilliantly under the sunlight, foretelling that Chaos would once again walk into the mortal world.
Al's heart surged with heroic spirit.
"This time, we are different from them!"
"He said: 'I have come into this world to bring blessings, and I have also come to wield the blade of war. Only because I wish to free them from ignorance and let them understand the great power of the Four Mothers, thus knowing the path of salvation;'"
"'I deeply love all things, yet all who love me must become estranged from those who do not love me.'"
The wisdom-tainted beasts held the scriptures and chanted in ecstasy, while the beastmen listening to the teachings were equally entranced.
Al suddenly pinched his arm.
Oh no — I've fallen into it—
I've become a crusader!