When the man, who was half Alyon's height, got up from his chair and started walking towards them, the burly orc, greeted with welcomes, couldn't stay still any longer.
"Stay right there, Master Leonardo, we were just about to sit down at the table!"
The two, who had first met in the utopian village on the Wild Swamp and then fought back-to-back in the ensuing war, were reuniting. The others might be seeing him for the first time, but Bookworm and Hammerstriker knew what kind of man he was.
"Michelangelo, you were here too?"
Alyon was greeting the young man whom the master had taken on as his apprentice, and whom they had once rescued from the mercenaries' camp. The person they had allowed to possess a power animal while he was just a little kid with his arms and legs cut off was now standing before them as a grown young man.
"Orc Lord Alyon, I am very glad to see you!"
When Leonardo took him under his wing, he hadn't neglected to make him new arms and legs. His appearance on the battlefield with his new limbs made of metallic parts was fresh in their minds as if it were yesterday, but it seemed there was a change in the young man's equipment.
"If you're asking about these, they were manufactured by me using Master Leonardo's new designs. They're stronger and lighter than the old ones."
No matter how much Alyon tried, he couldn't take his eyes off the pitch-black arms and legs.
"One day, I'd like to test what you said against my own body!"
"Even though I doubt they could withstand your might, it's an honor for me to share the same battlefield as you."
The strange-looking young man had also shown the utmost respect while speaking with Alyon, and this situation was confusing the ten people watching from the back. The person called Alyon, the grandfather of the current leader of the orc society, the father of the Commander-in-Chief of the Orc Armies, and the father of the person handling administrative affairs, seemed like two different people.
In the eyes of those who had known him for a long time, he was so high up that they bowed before him, thinking they could never reach him, but the inhabitants of the Hell Realm didn't mind treating Alyon like just anybody.
The reason for all this confusion was that they didn't fully know Alyon; the group consisting of the Elemental Ten and the ten orcs didn't know what he had been through after receiving his inheritance, or the dilemmas he fell into during his cultivation. They couldn't have guessed that he was a complete orc, representing the peak of his race in terms of physical strength, but could sabotage himself due to his low psychological capabilities.
Regardless of whether it was a human, an orc, or a wild beast, however a living being expressed itself, whatever energy it radiated outwards, others would define it that way. Up until the war on the Orc Steppes, he was in the position of a hero, a savior, the man who would elevate his lineage, and everyone treated him as such. With the depression he fell into after the war, there was no trace of his former self at the beginning of the days he spent on the Wild Swamp continent, but whenever he displayed the third stage of his lineage power on the battlefield, that was when the Alyon full of self-confidence emerged.
Because Dimitri, Sasha, Leonardo, and Michelangelo knew the true gem inside him and what he could do when the time came, they couldn't fault their respect for him, even if his current energy screamed "I'm a loser."
"Come in, my friends, please sit! We have enough food for all of us and fine wine to wet our whistles!"
There were twelve more people behind Alyon, but the table Dimitri had set was large enough to accommodate not only them but just as many more.
"What's with all this extravagance during wartime? Anyone seeing this would think we're the ones laying siege to the pests outside, not the other way around!"
Taking his place at the head of the table and putting the first bite in his mouth, Hammerstriker made a tactless remark expected of him once again, but the host, Dimitri, was in high spirits.
"Thanks to Master Leonardo and his apprentice Michelangelo. Thanks to the various mechanical vehicles they created, our friends on the Wild Swamp continent never left us in poverty."
The master was showing his difference once again; while he enabled the castle to resist the enemies with the weapons he created, he could also sustain the supply of people's vital needs.
"Dimitri, even though my son-in-law started eating like an animal, before sharing your table, I want to offer my condolences. I heard your father died, and although we never met, there was a good relationship between him and the orc society."
The face of the man who had been radiating joy until that moment fell, the lips adorned with his goatee drooped down, and although he tried to hide it, everyone noticed his eyes getting red.
"My father loved you very much too; whenever you came up, he expressed his gratitude for enabling his exiled son to return home. The young orcs who just joined us might not know, but my father was a merchant who served on the board of directors of the Golden Leaf Guild.
To help you understand better, let me put it this way: whatever the attendees of the annual Orc Military Meeting are, my father held that position within his own merchant guild, but things here didn't work the way they do over there for you. My father's rivals, who didn't want him to rise, rigged my merchant exam and managed to get me exiled to the Orc Steppes.
Of course, such a thing couldn't be done without the knowledge of the Golden Leaf Guild Boss, and that's why my father couldn't speak up against what happened to me. What was done was to ensure our family didn't grow even stronger and become a candidate for the guild boss position; all we could do was be patient.
For more than ten years, I tried to survive by making low-volume trades in the barren lands, trying to return home, but who would have thought that in a tiny tribe I cursed even while going there, I would meet the people who would end the torment that lasted for years.
After returning to the Golden Leaf Guild, I saw that my father hadn't remained the man I left behind, and had even been removed from the board of directors. It was time for revenge; we would manage to get back on our feet thanks to the trade we started with the Orc Steppes and the networks we established.
Things changed completely after the liberation of the Wild Swamp continent and the privilege of trading its resources was given to my Balsici family. When you set foot in the Hell Realm, we had regained our place within the Golden Leaf Guild and even risen higher.
By taking Chief Alyon and the Elite Ten who came with him by our side, disguised with potions, we were able to infiltrate the military force of the Golden Leaf Guild. After our friends took over that place too, it was our turn; we were going to take over the guild and bring the entire northern region under our dominion, but who could have thought a General Class warrior would come in person and hunt us down?"
Even though he didn't give the details of his father's death, the ten orc warriors had the opportunity to hear and learn firsthand about events they had only heard of in lessons before.
"My friend Dimitri, your pain is our pain. Have no worries, the revenge of your honorable father and the lands you want to conquer will be yours within three years."
Raising the goblet in front of him, Alyon spoke with an audacity he hadn't shown in a long time, and this gesture of his instantly changed the energy of the others too.
"Perhaps right now we might look like we're stuck inside a small castle, but haven't the greatest victories always emerged from such situations?"
After Dimitri downed the wine in the large crystal goblet in one gulp, everyone started enjoying the delicious food on the table. The orcs who had created miracles on the Orc Steppes had joined his ranks; it was no longer a time to worry, but a time to gather strength to prepare for war.
"Eat, drink, and get a good rest tonight. Tomorrow is the time to visit the pests at the door!"