Framework

Power was a very unique concept. It was the adhesive required when individuals formed groups, capable of linking the most noble emperor and the lowliest beggar in human society, even though no direct connection existed between the two. That was why human society could remain so tightly knit. Power was a complex equation, and humans happened to be the race that understood it best.

Diego spent most of the night helping Guk understand what power was. It was not that Guk was too stupid; rather, his race's naturally exuberant and disorderly nature made it difficult for them to understand a tightly organized social structure. Guk's basic grasp of it had already greatly exceeded Diego's expectations. He had originally thought he would need to explain it for at least three nights.

Was there no power within Ork groups? Of course not.

As mentioned before, Guk could order any boy to do anything, but first he had to find that boy, then personally tell him or send someone trustworthy to do so. And the other party might still refuse. Even if he launched a Waaagh!, whether the boys joined remained their own decision. Broadly speaking, all Orks were "soldiers," because they could all fight. But narrowly speaking, most Orks were not "soldiers," because they fought more out of impulse, enthusiasm, or even boredom. Their minds simply lacked the concept of orders and command. They were more like "volunteers."

Diego made it very clear to Guk that if he wanted to conquer the vast world, he would inevitably have to take the path of power. As a newcomer, his current strength was weak. Every Ork tribe was expanding, and if he continued as before, he would have to fight outnumbered battles full of risk, just as he had against the Bloodtooth Tribe. His victory this time had only come because Blood Fang was weak—though they seemed more numerous, their strange prejudices had left the tribe lacking key Orks like Weirdboyz.

But the other tribes might not be the same, especially those war bosses who had truly crawled out of mountains of corpses and seas of blood. They were all cunning, brutal bastards.

Guk's only way forward was to increase the number of his "soldiers." Thugs were certainly terrifying, but organized thugs would be even more unstoppable!

"Grak, Bucktooth, each of you go find a thousand lads who can fight and make them your boys. Remember! They've gotta be mean and tough! I'll provide the weapons and armor."

In the brightly torchlit hall, Guk announced an order before all the bosses present. Grak and Bucktooth were both rather confused, unable to understand what Guk intended to do.

"Boss! I don't want any boys. Those Snotlings and iron are already enough to give me a headache!"

"I just wanna chop people!"

So, as usual, they began yelling. The other bosses joined in, and the scene quickly turned noisy and chaotic. Normally, that would have been perfectly ordinary, but today was different.

BANG!

The enormous sound shut every Ork up. They turned to look at Guk and the strange thing behind him. That thing held an even stranger metal device in its hands, and the sound had come from it.

"Less nonsense! You'll do what I tell you! Leave the furnace to Idea Guy and One-Ear, Bucktooth, so stop worrying about it! Grak, since you like fighting so much, go find more lads like yourself. You'll get all the fighting you want!"

Under Guk's glare, the two Orks could only accept reluctantly, though their mouths did not stop moving.

"What's that Shrimp? Boss has been acting weird since last night."

"I reckon... maybe it's some new kind of Squig."

"Could be. We should go talk to Green Tooth later."

Ignoring the two idiots' bizarre theories, Guk issued his second command, the "framework" Diego had tailored for the White Hand Tribe.

"From today onward, every boy, including you lot, will be screened."

"Boss! What's screening, ya Shrimp?"

Guk frowned and thought for a while. He had forgotten the words he had memorized earlier. He wanted to turn around and ask the human, but that did not seem appropriate before so many boys. Fortunately, he truly was "the smartest among Orks," according to Diego, and immediately found a replacement term.

"It's... a brawl!"

"...A brawl?"

The bosses looked at one another. They knew what a brawl was. Even at this moment, down in the caverns beneath their feet, the boys might well have been doing exactly that. Since Orks were easily bored, they often began beating each other up without rhyme or reason, which then developed into group fights. That was a big brawl.

"Listen to me! From now on, every fifty boys can choose one Sergeant. Sergeants are divided into Senior Sergeants and Junior Sergeants. Junior Sergeants choose their own opponents, and if they win, they become Senior Sergeants! Senior Sergeants don't lead boys; they only follow Guards! Every hundred Senior Sergeants choose one Guard. Same rules—Senior Guards and Junior Guards. Pick your own opponent, and if you win, you become a Senior Guard! Same thing, no boys under you! Every twenty Senior Guards choose one boss. They're divided by helmet: Yellow Helmets lead Senior Guards, Grey Helmets follow me! Grey Helmets who earn merit or have followed me long enough become White Helmets! White Helmets can enter and leave my room freely, and I guarantee they'll have the best gear and weapons! From now on, only Sergeants, Guards, Yellow Helmets, Grey Helmets, and White Helmets can enter this place! Also, Junior Sergeants, Senior Sergeants, Junior Guards, and Senior Guards will all have special helmets to distinguish them! Got it?!"

...Silence.

...Deep silence.

...Absolute silence.

Dead silence filled the hall. The bosses stood with their mouths hanging open, staring at Guk. No one spoke. Their brains had probably crashed; after all, that much information was rather difficult for them to handle.

Guk turned and gave Diego a slight nod. Diego immediately pulled out a thick sheet of canvas—originally his tent—and snapped it open. Then two precise throwing knives pinned it firmly to the wall. A nearby Snotling hurriedly held a torch beneath the canvas, illuminating the diagram painted upon it.

"If you don't understand, look! If you're too stupid to understand even after looking, then I reckon you can only go deal with Squigs! Green Tooth needs some folks to shovel shit."

At those words, several bosses who had just been about to speak immediately shut their mouths. Still, the drawing was indeed very easy to understand. It was simply a rough tree diagram made of differently colored dots and lines.

It had to be said that Diego truly was an experienced Secret Guard. Setting aside the fact that he had visited most of the tribes in the Sinister Wasteland, merely being able to laugh and chat with so many war bosses, and understanding Orks so thoroughly, put him far beyond ninety-nine percent of human scholars. The core of this framework was simple: "control." Based on Guk's words and Diego's own understanding, he had roughly figured out the crude power structure of the Orks and the mechanism through which bosses emerged.

Among a group of Orks, the strongest would inevitably emerge as boss or leader. That strength was not "wealth" or "status" as in human society, but the most direct form of violence. Human society also depended on violence, but that "violence" generally needed to be transformed through wealth and status. Only hoodlums beneath even gangs resorted to this direct method of election by violence, and it was also the hardest method to interfere with directly.

The result was that, at every moment, groups of bosses whom Guk had never even seen would emerge. They recognized Guk as boss, but only because of some kind of collective consciousness that Diego found difficult to understand. This left Guk with a large number of subordinates he could see but never command. Diego's measure was to bring every Ork into a single system.

Through layer upon layer of violent selection, the strongest boys in the entire tribe would be sifted out step by step. That way, Guk would always have a group of powerful boys directly under his command. Special status and rewards would strengthen their sense of honor and loyalty, ensuring that no powerful boss capable of challenging Guk would quietly emerge.

Then there was the relationship between upper and lower ranks. Orks were usually ruled in the most direct hierarchy possible: bosses led boys, and the big boss led the bosses. But that severely limited the number of individuals a big boss could command directly. That was why Diego divided each level into upper and lower ranks. The lower rank answered directly to Guk and accepted his command, while the upper rank accepted the command of the next rank above. Yet superiors could not directly command the lower rank beneath their subordinates. This parallel command system would ensure that Guk could most directly understand the movements of his forces on the battlefield.

Of course, this system was not without flaws. Guk was only one person, and he could not possibly command every boy, even just those at the Guard level. But once power had been divided, it naturally became transferable. He could temporarily grant command authority to certain trusted followers and place one or two hundred Junior Guards under their command.

To Orks, this was an extremely complicated system. They would need time to get used to it, and ensuring that it functioned smoothly would require outside aids such as flags and insignias. None of that could be solved overnight.

Yet Guk was still determined to implement it. The fires of ambition and lust for war in his chest were burning fiercely. He was the strongest Ork—how could he hide inside a little stone hole? This world was so vast, with countless enemies waiting for him to conquer and trample. Though Diego had not told him about matters beyond the Sinister Wasteland, nor mentioned the location of the human nations, Guk was no idiot. He could sense Diego's pathetic cowardice. But for now, he still needed that pathetic fellow...

"This! Once you become a White Helmet, you can wear it!"

Before his words had even faded, two Snotlings eagerly carried a huge helmet before Guk. It was an iron helmet with a movable visor. A pair of long white horns extended from either side. The sight made the bosses below stare wide-eyed, because it was simply...

So damn stylish!

Helmets were troublesome to make, so few Orks actually had them. With such an extravagant thing suddenly appearing, every boss wanted to snatch it, jam it onto his own head, and strut outside to show it off.

And from a practical standpoint, Orks were an exceptionally hardy race. Unless their heads were blown apart or their hearts smashed, they basically would not die. Their wounds healed quickly, and regenerating lost limbs was commonplace. To an Ork, there was only death and life. Injury merely meant living uncomfortably for a while. So no Ork would refuse something that could protect vital areas.

"And this."

Diego then produced, as if by magic, a ragged red cloth printed with a white Ork totem: a huge snarling face.

"Boss! I've got a question!"

A boss suddenly stepped forward.

"Say it. I'm listening."

"We also have to start from... uh?"

The boss got halfway through speaking, then seemed to forget what he wanted to ask. Scratching his head, he looked back at his close mate. That Ork rolled his eyes and could only step forward himself.

"Boss! Do we have to start selecting from the beginning too?!"

"No! You're bosses, but only Yellow Helmets!"

As he spoke, Guk crooked a finger toward the right. Two more Snotlings came panting over, carrying an iron helmet. Its design was identical to the previous one, except its two large white horns had been replaced with one upward-curving yellow horn.

"Take it!"

With that, Guk tossed the helmet into the crowd. The bosses immediately howled and began fighting over it.

"Boss! What about me?!"

Grak shouted loudly from the side. Guk directly slapped a leg bone into his face and lowered his voice.

"What are you yelling for?! I've got something better for you! But you have to wait a bit."

"Oh."

After placating the loudmouth, Guk clapped his hands hard. Once all the Orks had quieted down, he began making the final arrangements.

"Starting now, spread this around. The first selection begins in thirty days! Bloodfang Fort will do the same! You might not understand, but I gotta tell you, there are plenty of tribes around here. If we don't fight them, they'll come fight us! So we gotta become the toughest! Smash every last weakling flat!!!"

"SMASH THEM!!!!!!"

Such a direct and brutal rallying cry truly surprised Diego, giving him a deeper understanding of the behavioral patterns of these warlike creatures.

I hope... I haven't made a mistake.

Hidden in the shadows, Diego's gaze was as sharp as a razor as it constantly wandered over Guk's back.

If such a keen and intelligent Ork were allowed to grow, would the consequences become even worse? Would he be committing an unforgivable mistake? Such questions churned repeatedly through his mind, but he no longer had many choices.

Ten days ago, word had arrived from Aswan Fortress. Small groups of Ork scouts had begun appearing outside the fortress. They were not scattered stragglers, but organized and disciplined infiltration units. They often moved through various points along the defensive line under cover of darkness, apparently intending to map out the human defensive deployment.

War was already imminent, but the Imperial Military Affairs Department had rejected every request for reinforcements. The unrest in the Western Province was growing worse by the day, while the Taihenu people in the east had launched another rebellion. The Imperium could no longer spare more troops. Yusuf was mobilizing Aksum's reserve militia, but that would take time, and the militia also needed training. Otherwise, many of them would not even be able to remain on the battlefield.

Time—everything was racing against time. If they could hold out until the Imperium suppressed the Taihenu rebellion, then an army three hundred thousand strong could come to reinforce them.

That was why Diego had devised such a dangerous plan: using Orks to restrain Orks.

"Human, when will those things arrive?"

After all the bosses had dispersed, Guk asked the question he cared about most. Diego returned from his thoughts to reality, walked to Guk's side, considered for a moment, then bent down and whispered into his ear.

"I've arranged it. The first batch of steel should arrive in about ten days. Ten tons, but it can only be delivered to the edge of the wasteland."

"Good! In ten days, you and I will go get it ourselves!"

Guk grinned happily. Behind him, Diego also revealed a smile, slowly retreating into the shadows...