Chapter 217

Growth

Ten days had passed since Karath brought the hidden settlers into the alliance.

“This is the capital of our alliance. Root City.”

Karath finally returned to Root with the former fugitives.

He had accompanied them all the way because they spoke only the human language, which made it difficult to leave their integration entirely to the other warriors.

“Ohhhh!”

“Th-those walls are bigger than the ones in the territory where I used to live!”

The settlers stared at Root City’s magnificent walls in amazement.

A quiet sense of pride filled Karath’s chest.

Orcs, goblins, and wolffolk had once lived little differently from primitive tribes.

Humans, by contrast, had at least come from what could reasonably be called a civilised society.

Having people from that background admire what the alliance had built was strangely satisfying.

“The Grand Chief has returned!”

As always, countless residents gathered to welcome Karath as he passed through the gates.

One familiar human was waiting among them.

“Welcome back, Grand Chief.”

It was Jean, who oversaw much of the alliance’s agricultural work.

“Yes. As I mentioned before, I want you to take care of these people.”

Karath had summoned Jean before arriving precisely because he wanted the newcomers placed under the care of another human.

“Welcome. My name is Jean.”

“N-nice to meet you.”

“There really are humans living here...”

The settlers looked at Jean with a mixture of amazement, relief, and confusion.

Jean smiled as though he understood every one of those reactions.

“Hahaha. As you can see from me, this is actually quite a comfortable place to live.”

As Jean tried to reassure them, murmuring spread among the Root City residents who had gathered nearby to see the returning Grand Chief.

By now, Jean could naturally understand the languages spoken by the orcs and goblins.

He listened for a moment, then smiled awkwardly.

“D-did they say something strange about us?”

The elderly village chief noticed the change in his expression.

Jean scratched his sideburns.

“Nothing serious. They are simply saying that you smell rather strong.”

“Smell...?”

“Yes.”

Jean laughed.

“So let us begin by washing. To be perfectly frank, the smell really is rather terrible.”

He remembered what he himself had looked and smelled like when he first arrived in Root Village.

At the time, he had been in a condition very similar to theirs.

At this rate, the alliance is going to develop a very strange stereotype about humans.

The thought made Jean slightly uneasy.

After delivering the settlers to Jean, Karath left the rest in his hands and returned to the expansion front by wyvern.

The journey to Root City had taken ten days only because Karath had travelled at the settlers’ walking pace.

On a wyvern, he could return to the eastern front within a day or two.

Once Karath departed, Jean began showing the newcomers around Root City.

“This is the public bathhouse.”

Naturally, it was their first stop.

Separate bathing facilities existed for men and women.

Jean asked his daughter Anna to guide the women to theirs.

“Please wash yourselves thoroughly with soap.”

The settlers stared at him.

“W-we are allowed to use soap?”

They had lived in human society before fleeing, so they knew what soap was.

It was simply not something serfs and slaves were accustomed to using freely.

“Everyone in the alliance may use it equally.”

Jean nodded.

“So use as much as you need. In fact, please scrub hard enough that the smell disappears entirely.”

He wisely left the words so humans will not be misunderstood hanging unspoken.

After bathing, the settlers received clean clothing made from animal and monster hides.

Once they had washed and changed clothes, the overpowering smell that had surrounded them was completely gone.

“Now I will show you where you will be living.”

Jean led them toward a cluster of empty houses.

They had been constructed in advance for new residents expected to arrive in Root City in the future.

“Are we really allowed to live here?”

The settlers stared at the houses in disbelief.

They were far better than the crude wooden homes from their hidden village.

Even compared with the homes they had lived in before fleeing their former territories, these were clearly superior.

Until now, many had still feared that the alliance might eventually reduce them to slavery again.

Seeing the houses prepared for them finally eased much of that fear.

“Yes. Each family will receive one house.”

Jean understood their unease well and explained everything with a gentle smile.

“And beginning today, whenever you have free time, I want you to study this.”

He opened a leather bundle and distributed several books.

“If there is anything you do not understand, ask someone nearby. People will help you.”

“S-study? Most of us cannot read.”

Jean laughed.

“That is exactly why I am giving you these books. They are meant to teach people how to read and write.”

The books were the literacy primers Karath had arranged to mass-produce long ago.

Jean proudly explained how they had been created.

“Th-the Grand Chief made these?”

“That is right. The Grand Chief introduced a writing system designed to be far easier to learn and use, especially for alliance members who had never learned to read or write.”

The script itself came from Karath’s former language on Earth, but no one in this world besides Karath knew its original history.

Jean continued with obvious pride.

“And the pictures inside were drawn by my son Leo.”

After praising the great Grand Chief, Jean immediately transitioned into praising his son like an embarrassingly proud father.

Eventually, he pulled another book from inside his clothing.

“Once you have learned the writing system, make sure you read this too. It is extremely difficult to obtain even within the alliance.”

The cover bore a title.

The Life of Grand Chief Karath

It was the biography Jark and Leo had begun creating together during the winter.

Jean had brought one of the earliest copies.

Even in Root City, the wealthiest settlement and the place where new trends spread fastest, the book was incredibly difficult to obtain.

Had Karath known that copies of such a thing were spreading throughout the city, he probably would have ordered every last one destroyed for wasting resources.

Fortunately for Jark and Leo, Karath was already flying back toward the eastern front.

“What kind of book is it?”

The settlers naturally could not read the title.

“You will understand once you have mastered the script.”

Jean laughed proudly.

“As I said, this is a very rare book. I could only obtain one because my son made it. Otherwise, even I would have had trouble getting a copy.”

Demand was so great that the shamans at the paper mill were being worked relentlessly every day.

Jean had one advantage.

Because Leo was the original illustrator and one of the creators, Jean could receive a hand-copied version directly from his son rather than waiting for a printed copy.

Even so, the book was genuinely valuable.

Jean had willingly shared it only because these were the first additional humans to enter the alliance.

Between distributing the primers, presenting Karath’s biography, and guiding the newcomers through Root City, the entire day passed quickly.

The following morning, Jean began carrying out the task Karath had specifically assigned him.

He met with the glassworker among the former settlers.

“My name is Gordon. I was responsible for making glass.”

“Welcome, Gordon.”

Jean gestured toward a table.

“The Grand Chief told me that glass requires limestone and sand. Is that correct?”

“Yes.”

Gordon hesitated.

“And baking soda, the kind used when making bread.”

As he listed the materials, his voice trailed off.

His eyes kept drifting toward the massive orc standing beside Jean.

Jean noticed and laughed.

“Hahaha. There is no need to worry. This is Orga. He oversees construction for the alliance and manages our limestone.”

The orc smiled.

“Good to meet you. I am Orga Bearclaw.”

It was a perfectly gentle smile by orc standards.

Gordon nearly wet himself.

“Limestone falls under my responsibility, and the Grand Chief told me that the glass you can make should be used to produce windows. That is why I came personally.”

Jean translated Orga’s words.

Orga stepped forward and offered his hand to the man who would soon become his colleague.

“N-nice to meet you.”

Gordon forced himself to shake it.

His hand trembled violently.

Orga’s expression became concerned.

“Do you suffer from trembling hands?”

Gordon froze.

“The Grand Chief told me glasswork requires precision. Will you be able to work properly if your hands shake like that?”

Orga was genuinely worried.

Making glass and using it to install windows throughout the alliance was an important mission given directly by the Grand Chief.

According to Karath, glass windows could block wind while still allowing sunlight into buildings.

Even during winter, people would be able to close their windows and still keep their homes bright.

Karath had several other ideas for glass as well, but he had instructed Orga to begin with windows and gradually spread glassworking throughout the alliance.

If Gordon’s trembling prevented him from working, that mission might be endangered.

“If handling the work yourself is difficult, could you explain each step while I try it instead? I can learn from you.”

“N-no! I can do it!”

Gordon practically screamed.

Was it the pride of a craftsman?

No.

Gordon was still far too frightened of orcs.

To him, Orga’s considerate suggestion sounded less like kindness and more like:

If you are too useless to perform even this task, I will eat you.

And so their partnership began beneath a rather significant misunderstanding.

Chapter 218

Growth

Orga gathered every material Gordon requested.

Gordon then demonstrated the glassmaking process while the orc watched carefully.

Sand.

Limestone.

Soda ash.

The ingredients were mixed in the proper proportions, heated until they melted, then allowed to harden again.

Gordon also demonstrated how the molten material could be shaped before cooling, then finished and polished afterward.

“Would you mind if I tried?”

Orga was not satisfied with merely observing.

He wanted to learn the craft himself.

And once he began, his characteristic thoroughness quickly emerged.

He did not simply accept Gordon’s recommended ratios.

Remembering the experimentation involved in developing cement and concrete, Orga repeatedly tested different proportions.

Glass continued to be produced through those experiments.

Beginning in Root City, the finished products gradually spread to other villages.

Glass was not the only new technology introduced through the former settlers.

Some of them knew how to make candles, so candle production naturally began as well.

The growing number of human women also brought new clothing techniques.

Instead of the hide garments commonly worn throughout the alliance, they began producing clothes from linen and other woven plant fibres, similar to lightweight ramie or hemp fabrics once used on Earth.

Then another opportunity appeared during Karath’s expansion campaign.

He happened to notice moths feeding upon mulberry leaves.

When Karath saw the cocoons surrounding their young, a suspicion occurred to him.

He collected them and investigated.

They were silkworm moths.

Which meant the alliance had acquired a source of silk.

For Karath, who remembered wearing soft clothing on Earth before being reborn into a world where most garments barely deserved to be called clothes, silk was nothing short of revolutionary.

Naturally, he was delighted when women from the former hidden settlement produced silk clothing for him.

From that point onward, Karath became quite fond of wearing silk.

Every one of these stories would eventually find its way into later volumes of The Life of Grand Chief Karath.

One year passed after the alliance divided its expansion forces between east and west.

Except for the rainy season and winter, expansion continued almost without interruption.

During that single year, they constructed more than twenty additional villages.

They absorbed more than eighty new orc settlements.

Nearly two thousand goblins joined them.

Among those newcomers were three fortified goblin settlements similar to Durang’s Goblin Castle.

Five additional beastfolk tribes, as humans commonly called them, also entered the alliance.

Two were wolffolk tribes like the Silver Wolf Tribe.

Two were lionfolk.

One was a buffalo-folk tribe.

Karath noticed something unusual about their locations.

The beastfolk tended to live somewhat apart from the regions occupied by most orcs and goblins.

The Silver Wolf Tribe had been the same.

From those patterns, Karath began dividing the Grimwood Mountains into three broad regions.

First came the outer region bordering human lands.

Small monsters were most common there.

Then came the middle region, where medium-sized monsters dominated.

Most orc tribes lived within this area.

Goblin clans, meanwhile, were scattered across both the outer and middle regions.

Finally came the central region.

Large monsters were ordinary there, and unusual specimens appeared from time to time.

Most beastfolk tribes had established themselves near the border between the middle and central regions.

The alliance therefore continued expanding primarily through the middle region where most orcs already lived.

Moving too far outward risked contact with human territory.

Moving too deeply toward the centre would make newly constructed villages extremely difficult to defend.

After a year of absorbing enormous numbers of orcs, goblins, and beastfolk, the alliance’s population approached twenty thousand.

Its territory had expanded from the size of a major city and its surrounding metropolitan region to something comparable to an entire large province on Earth.

After that enormous growth through spring, summer, and autumn, Karath withdrew into the Grand Chief’s residence for the winter.

There, he devoted himself to several research projects.

The work concerned matters that would be vital not merely to the alliance’s continued development, but to its very survival.

“Haa.”

As spring approached, the results of his winter-long research finally began to take shape.

“Is it finally complete?”

Chapter 219

Spy

“That concludes today’s reports.”

As usual, the morning council ended with Krog’s final report.

Normally, everyone would have dispersed afterward to handle their individual responsibilities.

Today was different.

Karath still had an important matter to discuss.

One he had not yet revealed to any of his advisers.

“There is something I need to tell all of you.”

“What is it, Grand Chief?”

“For a while, I intend to leave the alliance.”

Every face around the table changed.

“Wh-what do you mean?”

“Leave the alliance?”

Karath’s announcement landed like an explosion.

“Exactly what I said. If things go well, I may be gone only a few months. It could possibly take as long as a year.”

“A year?!”

“Why?”

“Has something happened?”

Something happened...

“If you want to call it a serious problem, then yes.”

“Where are you planning to go?”

“Beyond these mountains.”

Silence.

Then several advisers visibly stiffened.

“I intend to visit the human world.”

Krog stared at him.

“Like last time?”

He was clearly referring to the journey during which Karath had brought Jean’s family back with him.

“Yes.”

“Did the ancestors give you another prophecy? Are you going to bring someone else back?”

“I am searching for something, yes. But this time, I received no specific prophecy from the ancestors.”

Karath kept his expression calm.

“That is why I cannot say exactly how long it will take.”

“How can you leave the alliance for so long, Grand Chief?”

“The alliance without you makes no sense.”

Opposition erupted immediately.

Karath raised a hand.

“There should be no major problem even if I am absent for a while. Construction, training, and expansion can all continue without me now. You are capable of handling them.”

“Construction and training, perhaps. But expansion...”

“Last year, Krog and I already commanded separate forces.”

Karath looked around the table.

“With shamans and wyverns supporting you, we proved that expansion can continue without me personally present.”

Krog’s expression changed.

“Grand Chief...”

For the first time, he looked genuinely betrayed.

“Did you give me command of the western expedition because you were planning this from the beginning?”

That had been part of the reason.

Not the main reason, but part of it.

The primary goal had still been to increase the speed of expansion.

Yet Karath knew that explanation would not help under the current atmosphere.

So he redirected the conversation.

“I said I would be away from the alliance.”

He placed two objects on the table.

“I did not say I would completely cut off contact.”

The advisers stared at them.

“What are those?”

“Something I developed during the winter.”

Karath tapped one.

“They will allow me to continue communicating with you even after I enter human territory.”

He looked at Berners.

“Berners.”

“Yesh, Grand Chief?”

“Take this and stand at the far end of the room.”

“Understood.”

Berners carried one device into the corner.

Karath kept the second.

He channelled mana into it, turned the small metal lever on its side to the left, and spoke toward the object.

“Ah. Microphone test. Microphone test. One, two, three. One, two, three.”

“...?”

Everyone stared at him.

Their expressions clearly asked what bizarre incantation he was performing now.

Karath nearly turned bright red.

The words had escaped automatically from the habits he had developed while testing the device alone.

“Ahem.”

He quickly changed the subject.

“Berners. Has anything changed on your device?”

“Y-yesh! The glassh ish glowing blue!”

“Turn the lever on the left toward the side marked Listen.”

“Understood.”

Berners moved it.

A voice emerged from the device in his hands.

“Ah. Microphone test. Microphone test. One, two, three. One, two, three.”

Every adviser stared as though they had just seen a ghost.

“Wh-what?”

“What kind of object is that?”

“It is called a telephone.”

Karath held up his own device.

“I developed it by imitating the communication ability of hobgoblins.”

Technically, it used neither electricity nor radio waves.

Instead, mana served as something vaguely comparable to a transmitted signal.

Still, Karath decided telephone was close enough.

Though it is really closer to a radio.

The development period had been relatively short, so its functions remained limited.

Turning the lever left placed the device into speaking mode.

Turning it right switched to listening.

Both sides could not speak simultaneously.

Instead, each side had to record a message and then listen in turn.

Karath had therefore added a glass panel and used magic to create coloured status lights.

Whenever a new recorded message arrived, the glass glowed blue.

The device combined several ideas.

Sigmund School mental magic.

The long-distance communication principles of hobgoblin horns.

And magic derived from the sonic attack of cockatrices, allowing the device to reproduce sound.

“With these, I can communicate with the alliance even while travelling through human lands.”

Karath smiled.

“So you do not need to worry.”

One adviser frowned.

“But hobgoblin communication has a range limit.”

“That is not a problem.”

Karath answered immediately.

“I will create relay stations as I travel.”

“...What is a relay station, Grand Chief?”

Karath gave a strained smile.

“Just as hobgoblin communication has limited range, this device also cannot transmit infinitely far.”

He pointed between himself and Berners.

“But hobgoblins can pass messages from one person to another across intermediate locations.”

Several heads nodded.

“I intend to leave devices at fixed distances so they can relay communications in the same way.”

“Ah...”

“And if I move beyond the network’s effective range, the device will display a warning light.”

That light was red.

Karath then indicated the bracelet around his arm.

“And just like my previous visit to the human world, I will use this bracelet to conceal my appearance.”

There was one detail he did not tell them.

The illusion spell contained within Renstein’s bracelet was approximately Fifth Circle in complexity.

A skilled Fifth Circle mage might notice something unusual.

A Sixth Circle mage would probably be able to identify the illusion much more easily.

That was precisely why Karath had modified the bracelet.

And once again, the idea came from the Sigmund School.

According to their research, every intelligent creature naturally maintained a mental barrier to protect itself.

When Karath first read that, a question had occurred to him.

If a living mind can have a defensive barrier, why not a spell itself?

His experiments eventually proved that the idea worked.

Mana patterns produced by magic could be hidden.

False mana patterns could also be layered over real ones to mislead anyone observing them.

There was a disadvantage.

Creating the false pattern nearly doubled the required calculations.

But the technique had many potential uses.

Ambushes.

Traps.

And concealing illusion magic.

Karath had overlaid the bracelet’s illusion pattern with false mana signatures, making it appear as though no illusion spell existed at all.

Even Sixth Circle mages would probably have difficulty seeing through it.

A Seventh Circle mage might still notice.

But...

There are only three Seventh Circle mages on the entire continent.

Karath had learned that during his first journey into human lands.

The mercenaries he encountered had known little about advanced magical theory, but even they knew the names and number of the continent’s Seventh Circle mages.

That was hardly surprising.

On Earth, someone could have absolutely no interest in music and still recognise the names of the most famous performers in history.

Refusing to enter human territory because he might randomly encounter one of three legendary mages would be ridiculous.

It would be like carrying paper and a pen every single day because one feared accidentally meeting the most famous celebrity on Earth and missing the chance to get an autograph.

The telephone and the upgraded illusion bracelet.

Those were the two major tools Karath had prepared for this expedition.

He had also spent years gradually ensuring that the alliance could function without requiring his direct intervention in every matter.

Krog spoke again once Karath finished explaining.

“I understand that we can remain in contact while you are away.”

His expression remained serious.

“But you still have not explained the most important thing.”

Karath met his eyes.

“Why do you intend to leave the alliance for such a long time?”

Krog continued.

“No matter how much preparation you have made, there will still be danger. I want to know why entering the human world is important enough for you to accept that risk.”

This time, Karath decided not to hide behind vague talk of ancestral guidance.

“There are two main reasons.”

He raised one finger.

“First, the alliance lacks technology.”

“The alliance’s technology is developing extremely quickly.”

Krog frowned.

“Most of that progress was possible because of you, Grand Chief.”

“That is true.”

Karath nodded.

“But what I can create from my own knowledge is limited.”

He looked around the council chamber.

“Jean’s family taught us things about agriculture, cooking, and art that I did not know. The humans we brought in last year taught us glassmaking, candle production, and weaving techniques I could not reproduce myself.”

Karath had once lived in a highly advanced civilisation.

That did not mean he knew how everything within that civilisation was actually made.

Like most people on Earth, he had generally understood only the fields he studied professionally or happened to find interesting.

Everything else had simply existed as finished products around him.

Even things like earthen construction, cement, concrete, and steel were not technologies whose exact manufacturing processes Karath had perfectly remembered.

He had taken fragments of general knowledge, formed hypotheses, and then thrown enormous amounts of labour into repeated experiments until something usable emerged.

“With enough years of experimentation, we could rediscover many technologies ourselves.”

Karath’s expression became serious.

“But I do not believe we have that much time.”

“What do you mean?”

“The alliance continues expanding.”

Karath tapped the table.

“Our weapons are improving. Our settlements are growing. Our standard of living rises every year.”

He paused.

“If we continue like this, there will inevitably come a day when humans discover us.”

Everyone fell silent.

“And when that day comes, their reaction is predictable.”

Karath’s gaze hardened.

“If humans discover that orcs, goblins, and beastfolk have formed a massive alliance and are producing increasingly advanced weapons, many of them will try to destroy us.”

Chapter 220

Spy

“If humans dare attack us, then we simply defeat them! Krahahaha!”

Kaden laughed confidently.

“This Parker will lead the charge! Krahahaha!”

Karath resisted the urge to sigh.

A direct war against all of human civilisation was not something the alliance could realistically win.

The difference in population alone was overwhelming.

And that was before considering absurdly powerful individuals such as Seventh Circle mages or Aura Masters.

But Karath could hardly stand before his warriors and simply declare that the alliance would lose.

That argument would not work on these battle maniacs anyway.

They would simply insist that effort, courage, and fighting spirit could overcome everything.

“Even if we win, there will be casualties.”

Karath spoke firmly.

“How many of our brothers, sisters, and families would die?”

The laughter faded.

“I want to prevent that.”

He continued.

“And there is no reason every human must inevitably become our enemy.”

Karath looked toward them one by one.

“Think of Jean. Anna. Leo. Think of the humans who joined the alliance last year.”

In the past, many of the advisers would immediately have rejected the idea of cooperating with humans.

Now they had already become accustomed to living beside some of them.

“I am not saying we should become friends with every human.”

Karath raised a second finger.

“My second objective is to determine which humans we can work with and which humans we must fight.”

He leaned back slightly.

“To distinguish allies from enemies.”

Naturally, few human rulers would willingly embrace an alliance of orcs, goblins, and beastfolk simply because they liked them.

Karath was not searching for people who felt affection toward the alliance.

He was searching for people who might need it.

The enemy of my enemy can become an ally.

Humanity was already divided among separate nations and factions.

There had to be cracks Karath could exploit.

If the alliance could secure even one human state as a political ally...

Then we can move beyond being merely an alliance.

We can establish ourselves as a nation.

Karath intended to enter the territory of what might one day become an enemy and begin laying the foundations for that future himself.

In other words, he was going to become a spy.

Once Karath succeeded in convincing his advisers, he began preparing to leave the Grimwood Mountains.

As with any long journey, the first step was transferring responsibilities.

“Krog. Berners. Doltz. Buddy.”

Karath looked at each of them in turn.

“You are responsible for the orcs, goblins, and beastfolk respectively. Work with the rest of the advisers and resolve matters through council discussion.”

He paused.

“If you encounter a problem you cannot resolve, or something too complicated to decide safely, contact me through the telephone.”

“Understood, Grand Chief.”

“I’ll do my besht!”

Doltz bowed solemnly.

“I will faithfully convey Lord Buddy’s wishes.”

Karath slowly looked toward Buddy.

He had summoned Doltz as the beastfolk representative.

But Karath knew the truth perfectly well.

The actual representative of the various beastfolk was Buddy.

Ridiculous as it seemed, that was reality.

Buddy had also become the representative of the alliance’s beasts.

During the expansion campaigns, he had absorbed additional Giant Wolf packs into his influence.

The alliance now possessed nearly five hundred Giant Wolves.

Even the wyverns had effectively submitted to Buddy by now.

None of the captured wyverns had been unusual specimens, so the result was perhaps inevitable.

That wolf is a representative now...

Karath had picked Buddy up years ago thinking he might make a useful companion animal.

Somehow, Buddy had grown far beyond anything he had imagined.

Still, reality was reality.

Karath completed the handover to three people and one wolf.

After that came the wyverns.

During the previous year’s expansion, the alliance had domesticated several more.

At the same time, some shamans had improved enough to learn the magic required to control adult wyverns.

Karath transferred authority over the controlled wyverns to those shamans.

Once that was done, there was surprisingly little left to hand over.

For years, Karath had gradually transferred more and more of his daily responsibilities to capable subordinates.

With his preparations complete, Karath finally set out toward the human world.

This time, however, he chose a different route.

Returning through Lindberg territory, where he had caused trouble during his previous journey, would have been foolish.

Karath left Root City and travelled east.

Along the way, he deposited relay devices in several villages to extend the range of the alliance’s new telephone network.

After several days, he reached the easternmost settlement within the alliance’s newly expanded territory.

“If you travel north for around five daysh from here, you should be able to shee a human castle below the mountain.”

A hobgoblin who had accompanied him as a guide pointed north.

Karath resumed his journey.

Several hobgoblins and orcs travelled with him under the pretext of escorting and guiding the Grand Chief.

Karath did not truly need the additional fighting strength.

They had another purpose.

Once Karath separated from them, they would remain near the outer edge of the Grimwood Mountains and maintain the relay station he intended to establish there.

Five days later, the group reached a high cliff.

Beyond it stretched dense vegetation.

Farther still, barely visible in the distance, stood a human castle.

Karath stared at it for a long moment.

“So that is the place.”

The location where his espionage would begin.