Chapter 203

The Prince of the Sky and the Growing Alliance

People often described extreme happiness as feeling like they were flying through the sky.

Flying through the sky.

It sounded wonderful.

And at this very moment, Karath had finally received the opportunity to experience that feeling with his entire body.

“Ugh...”

As usual, imagination and reality were separated by an enormous gap.

The towering vegetation of the Grimwood Mountains, which had always seemed gigantic from the ground, now looked like ordinary grass beneath him.

Whoooooosh.

Then there was the wind.

It slammed mercilessly into Karath’s face with enough force to make his cheeks shake.

But even that was not the most terrifying part.

“SKREEEE!”

At this height and speed, the only thing keeping Karath from plunging toward the ground was the neck of a wyvern he had brainwashed only a short while ago.

“SKREEEE!”

Perhaps Karath had tightened his grip too much.

The wyvern flying beneath him cried out as though in pain.

“S-sorry.”

Even his voice trembled beneath the violent wind.

The wyvern was nowhere near as fast as an aircraft from Earth.

At most, it was probably travelling around eighty kilometres per hour.

Perhaps a hundred if it pushed itself.

Yet the complete absence of protection made the speed feel absurdly greater.

Travelling at a hundred kilometres per hour inside a safe enclosed vehicle was entirely different from moving at the same speed on something exposed to the air.

A motorcycle from Earth would have been a better comparison.

Except motorcycles did not usually travel hundreds of metres above the ground.

At this point, Karath was no longer sure whether he was enjoying a thrill or actively attempting suicide.

If he fell, he could survive by casting Fly.

Knowing that intellectually did absolutely nothing to erase the instinctive terror of looking down.

“F-first thing we need is a saddle.”

The same had been true with Buddy.

If he intended to ride something regularly, a saddle was essential.

While Karath distracted himself with such thoughts during what should have been the astonishing experience of flying on a wyvern, the group soon began descending.

The wyvern carrying him and the others gradually lowered themselves toward a particular area.

“Haa. Good thing I came alone.”

Karath had travelled here without any of his subordinates.

Reaching the place required riding wyverns, and not a single one of his warriors had ever ridden one before.

Karath had not either, but at least he possessed Fly as insurance.

That had sounded perfectly reasonable while standing safely on the ground.

Actually riding the beast had been another matter entirely.

Thinking about it now, even when Arnold had lived on Earth, he had never particularly enjoyed frightening amusement rides.

Attempting to ride a wyvern bareback suddenly seemed like an astonishing lapse in judgement.

At least none of his subordinates had witnessed his disgrace.

“Skree.”

“Skreee.”

“Skrii?”

The wyverns landed.

Before Karath stood two enormous nests built to accommodate creatures of their size.

Unlike the flock they had encountered before, this group had no unusual specimen such as a Wyvern Lord.

That might explain why its population was considerably smaller.

Only four wyverns remained in the nests.

Two were roughly the same size as Wyvie.

The remaining pair were much smaller, apparently having hatched only recently.

Maybe I won’t need to brainwash these.

Karath had already reached the number of creatures he could safely control.

If the young wyverns refused to follow the adults, he would have little choice but to leave them behind.

“Skreeee.”

“Skreek!”

While Karath considered the problem, the five adult wyverns began communicating noisily with the young ones.

Naturally, Karath had no idea what they were saying.

The Sigmund School’s domination magic allowed him to transmit commands to a controlled creature.

It did not allow him to understand the creature in return.

The wyverns continued their mysterious conversation for a while.

Then three of the adults suddenly spread their wings and rose into the air.

For a moment, Karath wondered whether they had somehow broken the spell and were attempting a mass escape.

Instead, the three descended carefully toward the younger wyverns.

Each used its talons to pick one up.

They were carrying the juveniles that either could not yet fly or were still too inexperienced to travel properly.

Apparently the controlled adults had managed to convince them.

Or maybe they simply gave up on convincing them and decided to carry them away.

Karath was not entirely sure whether a parent taking its own offspring could technically be called kidnapping.

“Let’s go back!”

Either way, his objective had been accomplished.

The young wyverns were coming with them.

The goblin fortress lay some distance away.

Roughly two hundred goblins lived behind its walls.

Eight separate clans had joined forces to create the settlement.

It was a small miracle made possible because the hobgoblins had awakened mana and learned how to use iron and limestone.

Goblin warriors stood atop the fortress walls, bows ready as they watched every direction.

“The lord ish taking too long.”

“What if something went wrong hunting the cockatricesh...?”

“Don’t shay ominous thingish!”

The sun was already beginning to descend.

The goblins exchanged worried looks while watching the horizon.

Lord Durang.

Lord Berners.

The Grand Chief whom every hobgoblin here spoke about with reverence.

When those figures had first entered the fortress, the entire settlement had erupted into celebration.

Life within these walls was already unbelievably peaceful compared with surviving alone in the hellish wilderness of the Grimwood Mountains.

Yet the hobgoblins repeatedly insisted that even this fortress was miserable compared with the Greenskin Alliance.

Now Berners and the Grand Chief themselves had arrived.

The goblins believed they would finally be allowed to enter that paradise.

Their expectations had reached an almost unbearable height.

Then, soon after arriving, the Grand Chief and Durang had left to hunt the cockatrices.

Far more than half a day had passed.

They still had not returned.

The greater the hope, the greater the fear of losing it.

The goblins had only heard stories of the alliance.

None of them had actually seen it.

Naturally, anxious thoughts began spreading.

“Huh?!”

One goblin suddenly shouted.

“Look over there!”

“They’re coming back!”

Beyond the vegetation, the expeditionary force was beginning to appear.

“Waaaaah!”

The goblins on watch erupted into cheers.

The returning force did not appear noticeably smaller.

That could only mean the hunt had succeeded.

“They killed four cockatricesh with only a hundred warriorish!”

“The alliance really ish incredible!”

The goblins began shouting excitedly.

Then...

“Skreeee.”

A strange and ominous cry reached their ears.

Every goblin froze.

The sound had come from above.

Slowly, they raised their heads.

“Hiiiik!”

“W-wyvernsh!”

Five enormous silhouettes were flying toward them against the orange light of sunset.

“Wh-what do we do?!”

“J-jusht aim your bowsh!”

“The alliance will help ush! They killed the cockatricesh, sho they can kill wyvernsh too!”

Near panic swept across the walls.

Goblin warriors shouted conflicting ideas while a few of the braver ones raised their bows.

The enormous creatures drew closer.

Then voices erupted from below.

“DON’T SHOOT!”

“THE GRAND CHIEF IS RIDING ONE OF THEM!”

The expeditionary force and Durang had realised what the goblins were about to do.

Berners and Durang were practically frothing at the mouth as they screamed toward the walls.

The goblins under their leadership were aiming arrows at Grand Chief Karath.

There could hardly be a more horrifying sight for either hobgoblin leader.

“Th-the Grand Chief ish on a wyvern?”

“He’sh riding that thing?”

The goblins atop the walls barely heard them.

They stared toward the sunset in a daze.

“It’sh true!”

“There’sh someone on its back!”

As the wyverns drew nearer, their shapes became clearer.

Upon the back of one of the beasts, they could make out the unmistakable silhouette of an orc.

An orc riding a wyvern through the sky.

“Ohhhh!”

“He truly ish one sent by the heavens!”

The Grand Chief they had chosen to follow was clearly a being who defied common sense.

Chapter 204

The Prince of the Sky and the Growing Alliance

Three days passed after the expedition that had begun as a cockatrice hunt and somehow ended with Karath taming five wyverns.

“Messenger of the heavens!”

“Pleashe shave ush!”

Ever since Karath had returned to the fortress through the sky because walking would have been awkward for the wyverns, the goblins’ devotion had become somewhat excessive.

They must have been too far away to see the details.

That was fortunate.

They had not seen Karath trembling from head to toe while desperately clinging to the wyvern so he would not fall off.

Had they witnessed that sight, they probably would not be calling him a messenger of the heavens.

Regardless, the incident had sent the loyalty of the fortress goblins soaring.

The alliance warriors who had accompanied the expedition looked almost equally pleased.

Perhaps seeing outsiders praise the leader they already admired filled them with pride.

They wore expressions like enthusiastic supporters watching everyone else finally acknowledge what they had believed all along.

The Greenskin Alliance really was beginning to resemble a gathering of fanatics.

Karath had no idea how things had reached this point.

After receiving the fortress goblins’ enthusiastic welcome, the expedition returned with the cockatrice meat and prepared fried chicken.

Transporting fresh meat all the way back to Root Village during such a long expedition would have made preventing spoilage extremely inconvenient.

Since Karath had known from the beginning that this would be a long journey, they had brought the necessary ingredients with them.

Flour.

Olive oil.

Salt.

And everything else required to reproduce Anna’s recipe.

We really need chickens.

Cockatrices were too rare to serve as a reliable source of meat.

The alliance needed something it could raise and breed like the domesticated chickens Karath remembered from Earth.

If they could eventually raise cattle and pigs as well, their food culture would advance tremendously.

Unfortunately, ordinary wild chickens, cattle, and pigs were unlikely to survive for long in a monster-infested place like the Grimwood Mountains.

The day after their fried chicken feast, Karath contacted the alliance and began preparations to construct a road.

They already had a settlement positioned beside an iron mine and a limestone deposit.

Once a proper route connected it with the rest of the alliance, their access to resources would improve enormously.

And now Karath was leaving the goblin fortress with several wyverns to examine the wilderness where that road would eventually be cleared.

There was only one major difference from his usual expeditions.

He was not walking.

He was flying.

The first time Karath rode a wyvern, the experience had been horrifying.

Three days of practice had changed everything.

Now he finally understood why people spoke so fondly about the feeling of soaring through the sky.

“Krahahaha!”

Karath laughed from the wyvern’s back.

His chest felt completely open and free.

During the past three days, they had made him a proper saddle and reins.

Compared with his first attempt, riding had become almost comfortable.

The enormous forest that had once surrounded him like an endless wall now looked like a miniature landscape beneath the wyvern’s body.

Strong wind rushed across his face.

Rather than frightening him, it now heightened the sense of speed and added a pleasant thrill.

The sensations that had terrified him only days earlier had become exhilarating once he grew accustomed to them.

“Hehehe. I might get addicted to this.”

There had been a time when Karath had been perfectly satisfied riding Buddy.

Compared with running on his own legs, Buddy’s speed was extraordinary.

Even among Giant Wolves or horses, Buddy’s combination of speed and agility was incredible.

On Earth, riding Buddy might have felt like driving an exotic supercar.

But no matter how impressive a car was, it could not compare to taking an aircraft into the open sky.

Buddy remained unmatched when navigating a forest filled with trees, rocks, and dense vegetation.

Flying a wyvern through empty air was simply a completely different experience.

“SKREEEE!”

Perhaps sensing Karath’s excitement, the wyvern beneath him cried out.

The others following behind joined it.

“SKREEEE!”

“Krahahaha!”

Five paths streaked across the sky amid the joyous cries.

Chapter 205

The Prince of the Sky and the Growing Alliance

Once the road connecting the goblin fortress to the alliance was completed, full-scale expansion resumed.

Except for the rainy season, the campaign continued for roughly half a year until winter approached.

They fought monsters countless times along the way.

But the alliance’s warriors had become genuine elites.

They completed the expansion without any major disaster.

Unless an unusual specimen appeared, there were rarely even injuries, much less deaths.

The occasional warrior still got hurt after becoming careless.

That was about it.

Expansion was no longer a desperate war fought on the edge of annihilation.

It had become something closer to pastoral slaughter.

Naturally, progress accelerated.

By the end of the six-month campaign, the alliance had constructed seven new villages.

They gathered countless scattered orcs and goblins into their ranks.

The number of alliance settlements rose to eighteen.

Its population surpassed eight thousand.

The territory that had once been comparable to a single major city on Earth had now expanded enough to encompass the equivalent of that city and a broad neighbouring metropolitan region.

If their only objective had been travelling from one place to another, they could have crossed a far greater distance during those six months.

But the purpose of expansion was not merely movement.

They needed to gather the scattered orc tribes and goblin clans.

They needed to build defensible settlements.

They needed to search the wilderness for isolated groups and persuade them to join.

Those tasks consumed time.

Slowly but steadily, the alliance continued growing.

Then winter began approaching.

“The Grand Chief has returned!”

“Open the gate!”

Karath finally returned to Root Village to organise everything they had gained and resume governing the alliance from its capital.

“Waaaaah!”

The moment Karath and the warriors passed through the gate, thunderous cheers erupted from the residents.

They were greeted like victorious generals returning from war.

During the expansion campaign, newly absorbed orcs and goblins were sometimes left in the new settlements.

Most, however, were sent first to Root Village.

It allowed them to adapt to the alliance’s systems and way of life before being reassigned elsewhere.

As a result, aside from major strategic settlements such as Blacksmith Village and the newly acquired Goblin Castle, most villages held populations between one and two hundred.

The alliance now contained slightly more than eight thousand people.

More than four thousand of them currently lived in Root Village.

And seemingly all four thousand had gathered around the walls to welcome Karath and his returning warriors.

Now this is what returning home in triumph feels like.

He had been gone for half a year.

Thousands of alliance members now celebrated his return.

Karath could not stop the corners of his mouth from rising.

Immediately after returning to Root Village, his days became busy once more.

His basic routine resembled what it had been before the expedition.

Every morning, he listened to reports from the hobgoblins and his advisers before issuing instructions.

After that came research into mana cultivation methods with the alliance’s Aura Users.

Enough time had passed that they had largely completed the framework for a cultivation method designed for children.

Their research had now moved on to developing methods suited to adolescents and adults with different physiques and constitutions.

Then they tested their ideas by driving the warriors through brutal training and attempting to produce more Aura Users.

At night, Karath studied magic.

There was one difference from before.

“Then we’ll try it.”

He was no longer researching alone.

He now had assistants.

And experimental subjects.

Berners and Durang sat opposite one another in front of Karath.

“Can you shee it?”

“Yes. Only faintly, but I can see it.”

Anyone else watching might have wondered why the two hobgoblins were simply staring at each other.

Karath saw something different.

Their horns.

An extraordinarily subtle current of mana moved back and forth between them.

Just as I thought.

Few things were as satisfying as discovering that a hypothesis was correct.

Karath had wondered for a long time about the secret behind the hobgoblins’ long-distance communication.

When he thought about it carefully, however, the answer was obvious.

Most extraordinary phenomena in this world ultimately relied upon mana.

The hobgoblins’ communication ability had to be the same.

The only mystery was the exact mechanism.

“Perhaps the magic of the Sigmund School was originally modelled after creatures like you.”

“What doesh modelled mean?”

Neither Berners nor Durang understood.

“Tall people with good proportions.”

“U-ush?”

Karath casually avoided the question and returned to his thoughts.

The Sigmund School’s magic could manipulate information flowing through another being’s mind.

If that was possible, then perhaps the same principles could be used simply to transmit information rather than brainwash someone.

The idea might have occurred to Karath because Arnold had once been a programmer.

He naturally interpreted the Sigmund School’s magic through the concept of hacking.

And if their techniques could be used to invade and manipulate information, perhaps they could also be adapted for harmless communication.

Just as people on Earth exchanged information across vast networks.

That was when Karath had thought of Berners.

Hobgoblin communication.

The ability Karath had once jokingly compared to a communication network fit the theory perfectly.

Today’s experiment had proven it.

Just like Sigmund School magic, the hobgoblins produced extremely subtle mana waves while communicating.

The fluctuations were so faint that Karath could only perceive them because he had reached the Fifth Circle, unified his mana core and mana circles, and spent the past half year studying the Sigmund School’s techniques.

Those faint waves travelled between the two hobgoblins’ horns.

More precisely, only part of each wave travelled directly toward the other horn.

The rest spread outward in every direction.

Probably toward the horns of other hobgoblins nearby.

It is similar to the mana threads connecting me to the wyverns.

Karath looked toward Berners.

“Berners. You said hobgoblin communication has a range limit, correct?”

“That’sh right. I don’t know the exact distance, but communication usually worksh with someone about two or three daysh of travel away.”

Karath considered it.

In the Grimwood Mountains, travelling took considerably longer than moving across open ground.

That still represented an impressive distance.

And because hobgoblins could relay information from one to another, their practical communication range was almost unlimited as long as the chain was not broken.

If hobgoblins were stationed at intermediate points, a message could travel enormously far.

Karath’s mana threads connecting him to the wyverns were much more limited.

Only a few kilometres at most.

The hobgoblins’ horns were vastly superior to the Sigmund School’s magical connection in that regard.

“Berners. You said all you do is think about what you want to transmit and focus upon your horn?”

“That’sh right.”

“Then even you don’t actually understand what the horn is doing.”

Berners lowered his head apologetically.

“Shorry I can’t help more.”

“There is nothing to apologise for.”

Very few people understood the detailed mechanisms behind their own bodies.

Most people on Earth could walk perfectly well without knowing exactly which electrical signals the brain sent or how every muscle responded to those signals.

Why should a hobgoblin instinctively understand the internal mechanics of his horn?

Karath took out a prepared sheet of paper.

“Then send this word to Durang.”

He wrote:

Tree

Berners looked at the word.

Then transmitted it.

The instant he sent the concept of a tree to Durang, Karath carefully observed the resulting mana pattern and recorded it on the paper.

He repeated the experiment.

Ogre.

Goblin.

Root Village.

One word after another.

Each time, Karath recorded the mana fluctuation produced by the horn.

He wanted to understand exactly how hobgoblins converted information into transferable mana patterns.

They used the ability without knowing the principles.

They merely thought about something and allowed their horns to do the rest.

But that meant the horns themselves possessed some natural method for encoding and decoding information.

If so...

Perhaps Karath could reverse-engineer it.

And if he could decipher that system...

He might eventually gain access to the hobgoblin communication network himself.

Chapter 206

The Prince of the Sky and the Growing Alliance

The implications were enormous.

Hobgoblin communication was not limited to simple words.

Berners had told Karath that raw memories and emotions could also be transmitted.

If Karath learned how their natural encoding worked, perhaps he could transmit his own knowledge directly.

His understanding of magic.

His understanding of martial arts.

Perhaps even memories and knowledge from Earth.

Even if we never reach that level, simply copying the communication ability would be revolutionary.

If Karath could build a magical communication network, the alliance itself would change.

What if ordinary alliance members could eventually carry some magical device capable of long-distance communication?

Information would travel vastly faster.

Coordination between villages would become easier.

The hobgoblins already performed that role, but having communication depend entirely upon them created military problems.

Every hobgoblin capable of participating in the network was also an Aura User and therefore an important combat asset.

Yet because the alliance needed them scattered throughout the territory to maintain communication, Karath could not freely concentrate all of them in one place when forming an army.

A separate magical network would remove that limitation.

Orcs and Silver Wolf warriors might also gain the ability to exchange information across long distances just as freely as hobgoblins.

Those black mages really were idiots.

They had inherited magic this valuable and could think of nothing better to do with it than brainwash people.

If they had created communication magic and built a network around it, every kingdom on the continent might have competed to recruit them.

The speed of information was critically important in both diplomacy and war.

Nature really is astonishing.

The thought came to Karath as he recorded Berners and Durang’s communication patterns.

Many useful inventions on Earth had originally been inspired by animals, plants, or naturally occurring phenomena.

Karath was now attempting something similar.

Whether nature or some god had created the hobgoblins’ strange ability, he intended to analyse it and reproduce its function through magic.

“Now transmit this word.”

The experiments continued.

One term after another.

One mana pattern after another.

Several busy days passed amid administration, warrior training, cultivation research, and communication experiments.

Then Karath temporarily set those projects aside.

Today, he was waiting in the meeting room for someone.

“Grand Chief. I brought Leo.”

A warrior Karath had sent on an errand soon returned with the boy.

“I heard you called for me.”

Leo was fourteen now.

He had also built enough muscle that his body had become noticeably larger.

Perhaps adolescence had finally reached him, because he was making a deliberate effort to speak and behave like an adult.

Karath suppressed a smile.

“Yes. Are you doing well here?”

“Yes! Everyone treats me well. And I enjoy spending time with my friends.”

Spending time with his friends.

Karath could guess what that meant.

War games.

Or perhaps one of the survival or battle royale games the children had adopted.

Karath still found it slightly difficult to imagine an ordinary human child keeping up with young orcs.

Apparently Leo had somehow adapted.

“G-good. I’m glad you’re enjoying yourself.”

“Yes. I just wish I were stronger.”

Leo lowered his head slightly.

“Even after I started training under Chief Hargan, I still haven’t managed to sense mana. Neria started at the same time, and recently she succeeded...”

His attempt at sounding grown-up disappeared as disappointment brought out the voice of a child again.

“Neria was exceptionally talented even among children her age. Don’t compare yourself too harshly.”

Despite being a girl in a traditionally conservative orc society, Neria had insisted upon becoming a warrior.

At only fourteen, she had successfully learned to sense mana.

That meant instead of undergoing the traditional path expected of young female orcs, she would eventually enter warrior training.

She would become the first female warrior in the alliance.

“I know Neria is talented. I’m not angry at her or anything...”

Leo looked down.

“I just want to become a capable warrior too. Even if I’m not as talented as she is.”

He was still young enough that the frustration on his face looked both pitiful and strangely endearing.

Karath laughed.

“Then how about we check whether you possess the talent to sense mana at all?”

Leo immediately looked up.

“Y-you can do that?”

Then he muttered to himself.

“Of course the Grand Chief probably can...”

“Come closer.”

Leo obeyed without hesitation.

Karath extended one hand and placed it gently against the boy’s forehead.

A subtle and almost imperceptible mana fluctuation formed beneath his palm.

It resembled the mana he used when casting the spells of the Sigmund School.

The faint current left Karath’s hand.

Then it slipped into Leo’s mind.