Conscription and Inspection

On the way back, Guk carefully sniffed the pungent smell in the air once more. He confirmed it was exactly like the smell of gunpowder. He spent quite a while wandering around that scorching place before finally discovering that the source of the smell was a kind of yellow crystal. These crystals were scattered throughout large pits, surrounded by scorching currents and poisonous smoke.

Guk had the boys take some away. Though he was not sure whether gunpowder referred to this stuff, the two were definitely related. As for what Diego had said before? Guk no longer trusted him at all. That human had hidden too much.

This vicious battle earned Guk enormous prestige among the Stone Fist Tribe. The boys greatly admired the boss who had taken down a monster by himself. When Nug announced that he wanted to be Guk's boy, all the boys cheered and said they wanted to join too. Guk was very pleased with the result, so he gave a brief but stirring speech inside the fort.

"You bunch of cowardly trash! I oughtta chop every last one of you up!"

According to Bucktooth afterward, all the boys present had been filled with fighting spirit and vowed to follow Boss Guk's lead in becoming brave Orks. Of course, that was after a thousand unlucky fools had lost their heads.

"Better to make 'em fear ya than make 'em happy."

That was what Guk said afterward. These Stone Fist Tribe boys had actually feared a beast! He could not tolerate such a thing. So they could only fear him instead.

Thus, simply whipping a few unlucky fools to death was not enough. After that, Guk stirred up another massive brawl. He even joined in personally, beating them until only one-tenth of the boys could still stand.

From then on, the Stone Fist Tribe completely vanished, absorbed into the White Hand Tribe. Since that big creature was not dead yet and the fort was already so ruined, Guk decided to bring most of the boys back to Blackstone Fort with him. He left only a few Yellow Helmets and their boys here to carry out recruitment work. In the future, this place would only serve as a recruiting point. The surrounding area still produced plenty of boys.

There was also the matter of the colored patterns the Stone Fist Tribe painted on their faces. Guk asked about them, and Nug said it was an old Stone Fist Tribe tradition. They often dug up yellow and white stones beneath the fort, and when the boys saw them, they ground them into powder and smeared them on their faces.

"This stuff?"

Guk looked at the large white stone and yellow stone in his hands and suddenly felt as if he had seen them somewhere before. The two stones had a distinctive gleam in the firelight.

"Right! That human!"

He suddenly remembered. He had once seen something of the same colors in Diego's hand. They were two round things, very thin, with a head stamped on them. Guk had asked what they were, and Diego had said they were like Ork teeth, things his people used for trading.

Guk was not sure whether they were the same thing, but he decided to bring some back and see if they were metal, and whether they were any good.

The next stretch of work lasted several more days. While the boys hurried to pack up everything that could be taken away, Guk made another special trip to the volcano. Unfortunately, that thing seemed to have gotten scared and never appeared again, leaving Guk slightly disappointed.

When the mighty procession returned to Blackstone Fort, it was not only the White Hand Tribe's strength that had grown, but Guk's formidable prestige as well. Tales of how he had defeated a monster dozens of meters tall alone spread widely among the boys, eventually turning into absurd versions where he had "beaten more than a dozen hundred-meter-tall beasts to death with his bare hands."

Guk did not care how the boys talked about him. As his territory expanded, it became harder and harder for him to appear before most of them. But that was not what he wanted, because he clearly remembered the two core words Diego had repeatedly mentioned regarding power—strength and control.

Strength without control would eventually dissipate. Control without strength was a fortress made of sand, collapsing at the slightest touch.

So after only two idle days, Guk summoned all the Yellow Helmets before him and announced a decision.

"I reckon just running around outside won't bring in many boys. So here's how it goes: any of you willing to build a camp outside, I'll supply the stuff. Whoever recruits a thousand boys gets a suit of armor!"

This was the idea Guk had spent a long time thinking up. Wandering around and grabbing recruits still did not feel fast enough. Even now, the White Hand Tribe had, at most, only a bit over three hundred thousand boys. That was still somewhat short of his expectations.

He felt that his control over the territory was still insufficient. It was indeed too empty for such vast wastelands to be supported by only two or three strongholds. There were scattered tribal camps outside, but because of the boys' natural tendency to gather together, those tribes were easily absorbed into settlements around the forts, so their numbers could not rise. Guk decided to establish camps himself. On one hand, they would recruit boys; on the other, they could monitor what happened within his territory.

Though the Red Eye Tribe had not launched another large-scale attack, small harassment parties had never stopped coming. At one point, some fools had even sneaked right outside Blackstone Fort.

"I reckon this... can work!"

"Boss! Can we come back after going out? I still wanna get promoted to White Helmet!"

"How're we supposed to build the camps?"

The bosses responded quite enthusiastically. A tough suit of iron armor was worth a big sack of teeth in the White Hand Tribe's market. And because weapons were given priority in production, the White Hand Tribe workshops did not produce much iron armor. The boys could not even find many chances to steal it. So this was extremely tempting to the bosses. Even if they did not use it themselves, they could trade it for good stuff.

"It's voluntary. Whoever goes gets a share! If ya don't know how to build a camp, find someone who does and bring 'em along! Do I gotta teach ya everything!!"

After patiently answering these idiots' questions for once, Guk had not even managed to say another word before nearly every boss shouted out.

"I'm goin'! I'm goin'!"

They had been bored stiff these days. Since they had a chance to go out, have some fun, and make a big profit, naturally no one wanted to miss it. But Guk's next words were exceedingly cold.

"Good. Then I'll say this first: if any of ya loses yer camp, or gets beaten flat by someone! Even if ya survive, I'll take yer helmet! And chop off yer head!"

"Yes!"

"One more thing. When ya go, remember to take Beast Smoke with ya."

Beast Smoke was something Truf had tinkered up. He said he had accidentally set fire to a dried pigment Squig, and it had released extremely thick green smoke that rose high into the sky without dispersing.

"If some enemy shows up that ya can't handle, light one! Everyone nearby who sees it goes to support! If a really dangerous enemy shows up, light two! If a big force of those Red Eye bastards shows up, light three! Then I allow ya to retreat! Every camp that sees three trails of smoke has to light theirs too! Remember it good!"

This warning system had been proposed by Truf. Since he truly did not have enough boys under his command to scout everywhere, he came up with a similar plan to prevent sudden Red Eye attacks. Guk improved it a little.

Corresponding to that was another new item Guk was about to add to his schedule: inspection.

The territory had grown, and there were more boys. Even boys at the rank of soldier or guard rarely saw Guk anymore. But just because he could not see the boys did not mean the boys could not see him. So he decided that every so often, he would make a circuit through the territory and let the boys know who the real boss was.

This would have been somewhat difficult before Beast Smoke. After all, those Red Eye bastards could attack at any time, and Blackstone Fort needed him there to command it. But with Beast Smoke, he could learn at any time whether enemies had appeared. The road from the Red Eye Tribe to Blackstone Fort was already filled with Truf's boys. Any little disturbance would draw their attention.

"Standard-bearer!"

After the bosses had all dispersed, Guk called over his standard-bearer. That was what Diego called Crooked Mouth, and Guk thought it suited him well enough, so he used it in place of Crooked Mouth's original name.

"Here, Boss!"

Amid clanking sounds, the increasingly large Crooked Mouth ran in from outside. He wore a thick, sharply angular suit of battle armor, currently the finest armor in the White Hand Tribe. Guk's own armor was not finished yet.

Because Diego had suddenly disappeared, the half-forged armor had reached a deadlock. The main issue was the joints and the movable plates around the abdomen. Only Diego knew how they worked. Idea Bro, One-Ear, and even Bucktooth had nearly wrung their brains dry without figuring it out. But they could not just waste an armor that was already half made. There was only so much steel, and Guk was reluctant to waste it.

"Everything ready?"

"All ready, Boss. The boys are waitin'!"

"Let's go!"

With Dragon Tooth slung across his back, Guk and Crooked Mouth walked down to the lower level of the fort. There, a group of heavily armed White Helmets had been waiting for quite some time, along with rows of sturdy Squiggoths.

"Mount up!"

Guk swung himself onto the Squiggoth Green Tooth had led over for him. At his command, the White Helmets mounted their own Squiggoths as well.

"Raise the flag! Sound the horn!"

"Yes!"

Riding his Squiggoth, Crooked Mouth rested the heavy flagpole against his shoulder, then took a curved, coiled horn from his waist and blew it with all his strength.

Toot toot toot~~!

Amid the strange call, the procession slowly left the fort. Guk's first inspection of his territory had begun...

Just as Guk left the fort, while the boys and Snotlings gathered at the gate to watch the excitement, a large rock suddenly shifted in the dark space deep underground.

Clack!

Soon, the rock was pushed aside by a force from beneath, revealing a deep opening. The Snotlings had discovered it earlier. Though Guk had ordered One-Ear to send Snotlings down to investigate, at least a hundred Snotlings and Black Snotlings had gone in, and not one had returned. To prevent any accidents, One-Ear had temporarily sealed the entrance with the rock.

"Huh?"

After a long while, a pitch-black head emerged from the hole. Its yellowed eyes blinked, seemingly unfamiliar with everything around it.

"Where am I?"

Slowly crawling out of the hole, the creature shook the tattered scraps of cloth on its body. Its drooping ears and thin frame revealed its identity—a Snotling.

"Where're my mushrooms?"

It patted itself down, only to find nothing. Thoroughly discouraged, it sat on the ground and began feeling around everywhere.

"Mushrooms, mushrooms, mushrooms..."

Suddenly, its ears twitched, as if it had heard something. Its gaze turned toward the outside, toward the place where faint light shone.

"Over... there?"

It hesitated for a moment, then crept toward the light on tiptoe...