Devil, this is definitely a devil

Thunder Tribe.

"High priest, we've just received word."

"After the Devil Legion reached the Dusk Reef Grassland, they raised the banner of the human race's greater cause and began forcibly conscripting able-bodied men from the locals.

The Dusk Reef Grassland is home to small and midsize tribes. Their military strength is very limited, and they can't stand against them.

I expect it won't be long before envoys from the local tribes start arriving to ask us for help."

Eric delivered his report, his face full of excitement.

As one of the major tribes of the Golden Horde Khanate, the Thunder Tribe had hit a bottleneck in its development in recent years.

It wanted to expand outward, but the royal court kept a close watch on it.

At the slightest sign of movement, it would be hammered down.

The recently destroyed Demon Abyss Tribe was the perfect cautionary example.

The official claim was that it had been a plot by the Holy Glory Empire, but such a ridiculous story could only fool the ignorant herdsmen at the bottom.

The leaders of the tribes all knew that the Demon Abyss Tribe had violated one of the royal court's taboos, which was why it had suffered the undead calamity.

Before the incident, the royal court had deliberately laid a smokescreen.

It had not only agreed to a marriage alliance, but also signed a series of agreements with the Demon Abyss Tribe's leaders, promising to lift all restrictions on them.

When the Demon Abyss Tribe's leaders were at their most complacent, the royal court sent a large quantity of fine wine under the pretext of rewarding the troops.

There was nothing wrong with the wine itself, except that its effects were somewhat delayed.

The royal court's envoys drank heartily alongside the tribal leaders, and when the undead calamity broke out, many of the Demon Abyss Tribe's middle and upper ranks were sleeping it off.

Not long after the undead calamity broke out, the Northern Frontier Legion also came charging in.

As they killed the undead, they wiped out the Demon Abyss Tribe's survivors along the way.

The details were unknown, but in any case, the once-famous Demon Abyss Tribe had vanished under the royal court's schemes.

The methods had been a little despicable, but they had also shown everyone the royal court's strength.

Even after the middle and upper ranks had been ambushed, the tribe's private army had still been there!

Turning so many people into undead was not something a mere handful of undead mages could have accomplished.

Even in a direct confrontation, the royal court could have wiped out the Demon Abyss Tribe with lightning speed.

With that example before it, the Thunder Tribe naturally did not dare challenge the royal court's authority.

Now things had changed. The Devil Legion had come to the Dusk Reef Grassland, and the local tribes were inviting them to send troops. That was not the same as expanding outward of their own accord.

If they helped fight, they had to receive some payment.

As long as they did not go too far, the royal court would have little to say.

After all, the methods used to destroy the Demon Abyss Tribe had been too dirty, and they had caused a severely negative political impact on the grassland.

If the royal court continued to press so aggressively, and the major tribes under it joined forces in resistance, the khanate would immediately fall apart.

The Golden Horde Khanate was essentially a state run as a partnership of shareholders, and all its tribes, large and small, were partners in the khanate.

The royal court was the strongest, but it was still only a major shareholder.

It held the largest share, but not more than the combined shares of those ranked second through seventh.

The royal court's relationship with these major tribes was complicated. It had to join forces with them to rule the grassland, yet it also feared that they would grow strong enough to threaten its position.

While cooperating with them, the royal court had also enlisted the small and midsize tribes of the grassland to establish laws restricting the major tribes' expansion.

"Forcibly conscripting able-bodied men? It seems the Devil Legion really does intend to fight its way back through the Andorra Peninsula!"

Stuart spoke with a look of disdain.

Compared with humans, ogres were much larger, weighing five to eight times as much as an adult man.

Their size gave ogres every advantage when two armies clashed.

The common view among outsiders was that ogres grew in size but not in brains.

Ordinary ogres were indeed unintelligent, but once the population of any race grew large enough, a few exceptions would appear, and ogres were no different.

These mutated ogres were nearly as intelligent as humans and could quickly rise to power among their kind.

At their peak, the ogres had even established a kingdom.

But because there were too few highly intelligent ogres, the kingdom had not lasted long before they brought it crashing down themselves.

Ogres liked to hunt humans because of an ancient belief that eating human brains could improve their intelligence.

It did have a tiny effect, but it was not very pronounced.

They had to eat human brains over a long period, starting as young ogres, to increase the chance of mutation.

Even so, this revolting habit had earned them boundless hatred.

The major human powers had long reached an understanding on the extermination of ogres.

The ogres of the Andorra Peninsula had survived for so long not only because of its complicated terrain, but also because of their own strength.

To open a new route south, the khanate had once considered fighting its way through the Andorra Peninsula.

It had launched two major campaigns, and both had ended without success.

Little information about those two campaigns circulated in the outside world, but the Thunder Tribe had detailed records.

Both campaigns had been extremely brutal, with more than a hundred thousand troops lost.

If they had been willing to pay any price, they could indeed have swept the peninsula clean, but they would have lost the ability to continue south.

Much the same factors accounted for the Holy Glory Empire's three failed campaigns.

No one wanted to fight the ogres until both sides were crippled, only to benefit the neighbors watching from the sidelines.

Even a whole nation would feel the pain of the cost. For a single army to accomplish such a feat was nothing but a pipe dream.

"High priest, this opportunity is hard to come by!"

"The royal court has offered a bounty. Whoever exterminates the Devil Legion will be rewarded with..."

Eric had only gotten halfway through his sentence when he fell silent under Stuart's stare.

"Eric, where's your ambition?"

"Does the Thunder Tribe lack that little reward now?"

"Although the rumors going around are exaggerated, the Devil Legion's combat strength is beyond doubt.

As far as I know, the khanate sent the Seventh Tumen to encircle and wipe them out.

Together with the tribal troops from nearby tribes, they must have numbered thirty or forty thousand at the very least.

Yet in the end, fewer than one in ten of the allied forces survived, while the enemy's losses were negligible.

Against such a tough opponent, how much do you think we would have to pay to wipe them out?"

"Would we have to sacrifice ten thousand, twenty thousand, or thirty thousand, forty thousand?"

Stuart rebuked him at once.

War served politics. Wiping out the Devil Legion would certainly bring great prestige, but it would also make the royal court wary of them.

If they lost, things would be even worse: the tribe itself would be gone.

From a political standpoint, no matter how the war went, they would be the losers.

By comparison, choosing to turn a blind eye was the best option.

The Devil Legion would not stay here forever, and weakening the surrounding tribes would indirectly increase their own strength.

"High priest, if we refuse to send troops, I'm afraid it'll be hard to answer to the royal court."

Montgomery, an elder standing nearby, spoke up to remind him.

"The royal court is easy enough to deal with. Just write a letter to the Great Khan, saying that we're devising a plan to lure the enemy to the Andorra Peninsula and have them perish together with the ogres."

Stuart answered with a smile.

The same thing, put differently, became something entirely different.

They could not answer to the khanate for sitting back and watching the Devil Legion wreak havoc, but if they killed with a borrowed knife, no one could find fault with them.

If they lured the enemy into a bloody battle with the ogres, the Thunder Tribe would be the ultimate winner, no matter which side prevailed.

If the Devil Legion lost, they would have completed the task the khanate had given them.

If the Devil Legion fought its way through the Andorra Peninsula, there would be another route south for future raids, and the western tribes like theirs could get a share of the spoils too.

Unlike now, when they had to travel ten thousand miles to join the fighting, and even if they seized a great deal of loot, the cost of transporting it was staggeringly high.

On the grassland.

"Warriors of the grassland, no matter who you were before, we now share one identity-the Human Allied Army!"

"The ogres have defied all reason, hunting humans for food, and the tribes of the grassland have suffered greatly at their hands.

Today, their good days are over!"

"For the eternal prosperity of the human race..."

"Eternal prosperity for the human race!"

"Eternal prosperity for the human race!"

After the soldiers of the Third Supplementary Army began shouting, the other Tuwu People joined in.

On the raised platform, Victor, having finished an Iron Curtain speech, looked at the fervent crowd below with a faint smile.

The facts proved that using a cheat was still the most effective approach.

If another imperial officer had been up there, giving a speech to these Tuwu People, his greatest concern would probably have been whether he would be assassinated.

For Victor, that concern did not exist at all. As long as they acknowledged him as their commander, they would instinctively accept his orders.

"Silence!"

"We are fighting the ogres for the sake of the human race, yet some people care only about fighting for power and profit, knowing nothing of the greater cause of our race!

They secretly collude with the ogres, exchanging the flesh, blood, and souls of our people for their own wealth and glory.

Can you tolerate such disloyal, unfilial, cruel, and unrighteous scoundrels?"

As soon as Victor finished speaking, the crowd erupted in cries to strike and kill.

The representatives of the various tribes observing from the side had all gone deathly pale with fright.

When they had just arrived, the Tuwu soldiers below had been gnashing their teeth in hatred of Victor. In the blink of an eye, everything had undergone an earth-shaking reversal.

Judging by what they saw, even if the soldiers were told to turn around and attack their own tribes, they would probably obey the order.

Even though they had seen it with their own eyes, they could not accept this reality.

"Devil!"

"This is definitely a devil!"

In an instant, everyone concluded that Victor was a devil. Only a devil could be so skilled at bewitching people.