As dark clouds wandered aimlessly back and forth in the bosom of the crimson-tinged sky, a burst of laughter pierced through them and stretched into eternity.
"Finally, the day I've been waiting for has finally come!"
Another orc sitting to Alyon's right, who looked exactly like him, stood up, unable to contain her excitement. Unlike her father, her large breasts bounced, but everyone else's attention was on the weapon she had whipped off her back in a flash.
"It's been years since my axe was drenched in enemy blood; my ears are starving for the sound of snapping bones!"
Yarmagül, or Wind of Death as she had been called for a long time, unlike her father, was spilling all her emotions in response to the glorious news she had heard.
"Now that's the spirit I'm looking for! Put yourself to shame next to your daughter, you meathead. Just like you, she couldn't comprehend even a single dungeon over the Hell Realm, but look, does she ever lose her joy?"
The laughter that disturbed even the sorrows hiding in dark corners stopped at that moment, and the Wind of Death sat back down, bowing her head. They had just witnessed another one of Blood God Nafız's speeches, where it was unclear whether she was giving a compliment or throwing an insult.
"I will take part in the invasion this time too. I believe I have proven my competence by exploring the Hell Realm dungeons!"
The shadow cast on the ground by the dark figure inside the purple robe was golden, unlike everyone else's, and judging by his tone of voice, he had already made up his mind.
"Even though you couldn't manage to clear all the dungeons on the continents you set foot on like I did, you will get what's rightfully yours!"
Bookworm, who had completed all the dungeons except for the cracked duo beneath the Lake of Ice and Fire, kept his trap shut. He had been around his master long enough to know that dragging the subject out against her after getting what he wanted wasn't a smart move.
"The Elite Ten, which I lead, is ready to move out. We await your orders!"
An orc, leaning the bracers of her brown leather armor against the table, brought her two hands together in the air. Right to her left were nine more people wearing the same type of armor, but only this female orc's face was unmasked.
"Soulstealer, the unit you lead will have major roles to play while conquering the Homeland of the Mercenaries!"
"At your command!"
The wooden pieces holding up the timber table trembled along with the floor they stepped on. The energy radiating from a single word of the Elite Ten members was way more than they could bear. Fortunately, the ten orc warriors didn't say anything else; the person who spoke instead of them was sitting next to the Wind of Death.
"Wandering around the Homeland of the Mercenaries without needing to put on a human disguise is going to be a blast. I can't wait to see the looks on their faces when they see us!"
When Nafız turned her gaze to the other side of the table, she saw Hammerstriker, who had taken up the sword she had given him as a wedding gift. Husband and wife looked like little kids trying to show off their toys to the others, and Nafız couldn't keep her mouth shut at this sight.
"Loverboy, what's up with you? Since you took a break from baby-making, looks like the honeymoon fever has got you all hot and bothered, huh?"
Massive blushes appeared on the green cheeks of the duo. When they looked at each other as if on cue and then turned their heads in opposite directions, the others couldn't hold it in anymore and cracked up. If you told someone seeing them for the first time that tens of thousands of people had died at the hands of these two, they would never buy it.
"Bookworm, bust out the map!"
Her order wasn't questioned twice; barely two seconds passed before there was nothing but a map drawn on leather stretching from end to end across the food-filled table. Without exception, everyone stood up. Only Alyon stood up later than the rest, faintly hissing his breath through his teeth.
Maybe the others wouldn't notice this, but there was no way Nafız would miss it. She looked her old friend up and down out of the corner of her eye and then started speaking as if nothing happened.
"In light of the intel we gathered over five years with the help of the human-disguised orc agents we sent to the continent and the environment destabilized by our handiwork, the current state of the lands belonging to the Mercenaries is right before your eyes."
These appetizing lands, shaped like a juicy, perfectly cooked tenderloin steak, made the mouths of the orcs waiting around it like hungry wolves water. The eyes of each one gleamed, their hands involuntarily reaching for their weapons.
"Bookworm, it's on you from here! Tell us how we are going to conquer the lands that will join the Orc Empire!"
Bookworm, waving his sleeve adorned with gold embroidery, pointed to a spot on the left side of the sprawling map.
"Right here is where we will enter the new lands we are going to conquer! The Great Fishbone Mountain Range within the borders of the Holy Bone Sect will hide us from prying eyes!"
"Why don't we opt for the flat plains under the control of the orc warriors instead of this pain-in-the-ass route?"
The purple-robed orc had barely finished his first sentence, but Hammerstriker, losing to his curiosity, couldn't hold back and blurted out the first question that popped into his head.
"I'm getting right to it, impatient bro-in-law!"
While the Wind of Death shot dirty looks at her husband, whom she had grabbed by the arm and slammed back into his seat, her brother picked up right where he left off.
"When the troops sent by the Four Trade Guilds five years ago to effectively seize control of the Hell Realm were butchered by the Blood God Nafız, the delicate power balance among the Mercenaries was completely flipped upside down in a flash.
Although the Trade Guilds, having lost Four Representatives and Four Generals, were weakened equally, the real headache was that other small factions looking to take their place saw this as an opportunity. Of course, we didn't hold back our support either; be it weapons, manpower, or gold, we provided all sorts of backing and managed to severely cripple the dominion of the four giants ruling the Homeland of the Mercenaries.
We would've loved for this to be enough, but unfortunately, it wasn't; getting them to cage themselves within their own borders was the best result we got. They turtled up by enforcing a strict border policy. They were practically saying, come and try to tear us down if you have the guts for it.
Bro-in-law, coming back to your question; if they spot us crossing the border, they can trigger the traps they've rigged all along the way. Considering the minor skirmishes we've had over the past five years, we all know damn well what a slippery bunch they are, and we are dead certain they will welcome us with every dirty trick in the book."
Hammerstriker, nodding his head—which was only slightly smaller than his father-in-law's—showed that he caught his drift, while Bookworm, taking a small sip from his goblet, reached for the three orc warrior figures sitting on the side.
"To prevent this, instead of a mass invasion, we will use Raider Units advancing from three flanks. Three groups that are small in number, highly mobile, and packing destructive power will pave the way for the rest. The set timeframe is three years; in three years, the three units will meet in the Mercenaries' Capital on the exact same day.
The army will not advance until Han, the Supreme Sovereign of the Orcs, stamps his seal; the Raider Units will be entirely on their own on the massive continent.
The Northern coastline of the Homeland of the Mercenaries will be wiped clean by a group including Orc Chief Alyon, Hammerstriker, ten orcs who graduated from the Orc Military Academy, and myself. Even though the region controlled by the Golden Leaf Guild is in a more stable condition compared to the others due to being the furthest from the enemy, thanks to the inside job we'll pull off, we will be at the gates of the Golden City right on schedule!
The inner region is under the dominion of the Emerald Leaf Guild, and the most crucial factor keeping the balance is the existence of this guild. Aside from being in a position to back up both regions at a moment's notice, thanks to earning the trust of the others, we can call them the linchpin holding the balance together. This place will be cleared out by the Wind of Death, the Commander-in-Chief of the orcs who heroically defended their homeland during the Two-Year Wars, and the Elite Ten, who fight on the front lines of every battlefield."
As Bookworm, whose mouth had gone dry, took help from the blood-red wine to wet his whistle, the ones at the head of the table waited patiently. The people responsible for the conquest of the Two Regions had been announced, and the purple-robed orc, fixing his gaze on the enemy lands, looked like he was about to talk about the final region.