Chapter 902 (1/2)

Chapter 902: The Great Mobilization (Part 2)

As the human society prepared itself for the Great Mobilization, the Orcs did not idle time away either.

Ilo, the current Emperor of Orcs, who was also known as “Iron Teeth,” held and presided over a conference where he had gathered the leaders of the various Orc tribes.

The conference was not held in the “Golden Tent,” which was the capital of the Orc Empire. Instead, it was held in the fields outside the Golden Tent. Emperor Ilo stood on a high platform as he rode in his chariot, looking majestic and awe-inspiring.

“The humans are coming to attack us,” he said as he went straight to the point. “It’s not going to be those petty little attacks like before. They are going all out and mobilizing all the troops that they have, deploying all the knights they can, gathering all the allies they have and sending all the gods they can find to attack us.”

He shouted so loudly that his voice echoed in the fields, into the ears of every tribal chief and resounded in their hearts.

“Yes, they are coming. On a scale that’s unprecedented. They are giving all they’ve got and charging their way here. I can roughly estimate it will probably be… an army of three million people or even more. If necessary, they may even double this number, or even double the doubled number. That’s not impossible either.”

“So, are you all afraid?”

Many of the tribal chiefs registered changes in their expressions. There were some who went pale in the face, and this was because they had been frightened by that alarming number. There were some who were flushed red in the face, and this was because they felt angry that added insult to their courage.

Emperor Ilo did not give these tribal chiefs a chance to speak. He went on saying, “To tell you the truth, when I just heard the number, I was truly a little worried. Three million! Three million! What an alarming number that is! Not to mention the possibility that this number may become six million or even 12 million… oh gosh!” he shouted at the top of his lungs. His voice was filled with anguish as he said, “To chop off so many heads. There is not even enough money in the national treasury for bonuses!”

The tribal chiefs burst out laughing instantly. Those who went pale no longer had pale expressions. Those who flushed red were no longer red in the face. Even those who maintained calm composures earlier on were unable to maintain their peaceful expressions as though they had facial paralysis. Laughter filled the entire place.

“Hey! Don’t you all go laughing away! I’m serious!” cried Emperor Ilo. His scarred face showed a serious and troubled expression as he said, “I’m really serious! A soldier’s head is worth a gold coin. An officer’s head is worth 10 gold coins. A knight’s head is worth 100 gold coins. A baron or viscount’s head—assuming he’s not a knight, is worth 300 gold coins. An earl’s head is worth 1000 gold coins, while the heads of marquises, dukes and kings were all worth 10,000 gold coins each—these are rules known to all. These are the market prices. Just because there’s an overwhelming supply of goods doesn’t mean I can take the chance to markdown any of these prices. Old Ilo is not that kind of person.”

“Are you all interested in calculating how much it will cost altogether?”

Many of the tribal chiefs either closed their eyes or lowered their heads as they silently did the calculations.

Regrettably, the education level of the Orcs was generally not high. They were soon confused and disoriented by the numbers. There was no way they were able to work out any results.

“I’ve specifically found some people to do the calculations. Then finally, Old Wilder told me that if I wanted to maintain my good reputation all this time for being a man of good conduct and a man of my words, I probably would have to prepare more than 30 million gold coins!”

Emperor Ilo shook his head. Then looking as though he had nothing left to live for, he said, “Oh my god! Thirty million gold coins! After I got this number, I went to the national treasury and checked very carefully. Twice at that. I even wanted to pry the floorboards out to see whether there were any copper coins stick in there. But all I could find was… No, this I can’t tell you. It will be too demoralizing for you to know about it.

“In short, I’m going broke this time,” he said as he spread out both hands in a helpless manner.

The tribal chiefs all burst out laughing again. They laughed so hard that they staggered forward and back.