The orc coin festival came to a swift end before the dawn of morning. Sanctuary was littered with wasted orcs and exhausted orcs. The orcs often went to sleep at appropriate times as there wasn't much to do so they had plenty of energy going into the night.
Since they still weren't accustomed to all-nighters, however, the aftermath could only be described as pitiful. That day was forced to become a holiday where all the orcs got a day off, and at least until much later in that afternoon, there were no announcements.
With the free time, Ed assimilated various things and focused on training his mana.
[Assimilation has leveled up]
Things went smoothly and his assimilation ended up leveling which was always nice. Other than just training in general, Ed also started to make plans to attack the humans. His first thoughts were that his current troops were insufficient.
Thinking about it, the smart thing to do was to use the carcasses of orcs, bugs, and anything else that used to be living to form an undead army. Modifying some orcs was also not bad but Ed figured modifying the goblins should come first.
It wasn't that he thought lesser of them and planned to use them as lab rats but rather that if he widened the gap between orcs and goblins the chances of successfully integrating them into Sanctuary would lower significantly.
All of these things were mere thoughts, however. Currently, Ed had gathered everyone in the sanctuary town hall. It was now later.
"Hello all, I hope you had a good time yesterday" Ed started his talk with some pleasantries. The more sober orcs reciprocated the pleasantries but the ones still woozy only giggled reminiscing on their night.
Ed then got straight into the crux of the issue. It was already afternoon so he was not going to be dallying.
"These are orc coins, or orcoins" The orcs were only told what they were to be used for yesterday. Thus, the orcoins had remained unnamed. Technically, they were still unnamed as Ed couldn't settle between joining the word orc coins or not.
"From now on, these coins will be used to buy things just like yesterday and..." Ed continued and also started to explain his reasoning in small words. Surprisingly, all the orcs present in the hall didn't express any discontent as he had expected.
"Wait…! Do we still get boar meat without coins!" Someone in the crowd shouted.
"Yes, you will still get your home and food without coins" With good conditions, the orcs would be more willing to fight for Sanctuary as well as stay. For someone who was struggling to expand the population, this was the best compromise.
"Any more questions?" Ed asked the crowd who looked at one another and began to converse.
"Questions…? Hey! Will there be new boar kebabs!" Someone suddenly prompted causing the other orcs to nod and shout words of agreement. They, too, were curious about the things they would be buying.
With the orcs continuing to inquire about what things would be sold, Ed spent more time than he had anticipated just answering questions. Ultimately Ed had to close out after informing them that they could sell anything at any point in time and the others could buy it using coins.
The orcs were satisfied by the answers to their questions by this point so they cleared out rather easily. At last, only Ed and the other members of his Sanctuary council were left in the hall.
"Good work everyone, let's make this the greatest orc civilization to have ever existed!" Ed declared with a daring smile. The others couldn't help but have their emotions surge. This was definitely possible! No, they were already the best!
"This is already better than my old tribe, Sanctuary is unrivaled!" Romagod said feeling proud of his decision to ignore his tribe members at the time and come out to Ed. His father Romarod's tribe was now a part of Sanctuary so why would he feel remorse when things were obviously better?
The original members of the tribe like Shel were however the proudest of what it had become. Unfortunately, not many of them lived to see the changes.
A pleasant and playful atmosphere shrouded the meeting and all of them eventually dispersed before the sun even started to set. That included Ed who left to the alchemy garden of the dead old witch of the sacred tribe Lagakha.
Now by himself-
"Someone help… Someone help..." Ed had actually forgotten about Bob. Last time, he gave him a spiritual mark but it slipped his mind to even notice this. The current Bob looked rather weak and to an extent, delirious.
'Does this count as the fright I had intended to give him?' Ed asked himself. Truthfully, it was not. But he knew how he could make it be so.
'Bob, look at me' The human who seemed like he could die of hunger at any moment suddenly turned to look at Ed with bewilderment.
"You- Wh- What did you do!?!?" In his fit of hunger, Bob didn't even realize that what happened was just an instinctive reaction to being called out. Ed couldn't use the command sub-skill on Bob after all. Though it did help that Ed's transmission went directly into Bob's head.
'I put something into your soul, Bob' Ed transmitted to the man who was spooked beyond belief. Something into his soul?! It wasn't the first time that Ed transmitted things into him, but the earlier situation made Bob think it was so.
'Do you know what that means Bob?' Ed asked the man who shook his head.
'It means I can kill you from long distances if I need to' Ed transmitted with his intentions full out in the open.
Ed could not actually kill him using transmission but using a spell wasn't impossible. In conclusion, Ed couldn't actually do anything against Bob but as Ed didn't really lie, the latter would be none the wiser.
"Wh- What do you want?" Bob asked feeling extremely depressed. If he could… he might end it right there and then but… he couldn't. He had already accepted the fact that he lacked the will to die.
'I want you to return to human civilization' Ed didn't actually plan to let Bob go just yet but going to human civilization definitely meant identifying where his old comrades were. Once he reached their base, Bob could tell them whatever it was that Ed wanted.
"Civilization-?" Bob asked back surprised. A monster was letting him go? Sure he was treated harshly but... ! He would keep his life!
"Thank- Thank you! I- I swear I won't tell anyone about anything I've seen or heard!" Bob said crying out inside. He wouldn't dare say anything because he planned to disappear into some mountain range and live peacefully like some sort of hermit.
'No, feel free to share it with them' Ed told Bob who was instantly confused. Why would the orc want him to tell the humans that they were making potions and other sorts of things?
Bob didn't really know much else outside that but just the ability to transmit things from long distances was an ability worth hiding.
Ed's scheme in this case ran quite deep. His plan was to lure the humans in the base to attack them only to fall into an ambush.
When releasing Bob, Ed would make sure to put him close to the human base and of course, the man would try and contact the knights.
'That reminds me…' The festival yesterday had loud drum music from the Romarod's tribe orc, Bob would have likely heard this in his delirium, but that didn't mean he knew what was going on.
'I have no choice' He had to educate Bob thoroughly on the events that transgressed in the tribe. He would let him know of the more mundane things. This would most likely not bite him in the butt later. After all, Bob was just a frightened man. What could he do with this depiction of an orc as a civilized creature?
That begged the question of what Ed's goal was by doing this. What he was doing was betting on the racism of the humans. If they looked down on mobs, they definitely would not be able to accept them starting to function like a human town.
But even if the racism didn't convince them, humans would conquer peaceful human civilizations without any real reason anyway.
With these plans set in stone, Ed had Gorgo prepare many dishes for him and Bob to enjoy under the dungeon's moonlight. This was all while Bob took notes on what Ed was teaching him in good faith.
"Te- Teacher! But why did you choose to do that?" Bob asked when Ed educated him on the reason behind the elimination of the sacred tribe.
'Well, they were sacrificing others…' Ed thought it was quite self-explanatory and he was confused by the question. His initial intention in introducing this story was to tell the humans they were low in number from interspecies skirmishes.
After that, the humans would underestimate them and get cleanly swooped.
Ed felt that his genius could probably generate gravity.