In a short couple of hours, the large group finally reached their destination. They were currently outside of Duma's settlement, the front gate to be precise.
"Huh?" An orc who was atop the wall suddenly exclaimed. He was momentarily dumbfounded and it took him a bit to come back to reality. Why was there an army here?!? He instantly became alarmed.
Before he could alert others though, Duma left the group behind and yelled out.
"Wait!!!" He waved his arms madly to get the orc to recognize him. This young warrior was now even more confused. Did their leader bring an army to attack his own people?
Ed only secretly facepalmed as he saw the way things were unfolding. Still, he couldn't blame Duma for not having the foresight to predict they would be using his settlement, It was actually all pretty sudden.
If anything he should be the one lacking proper foresight. He should have mentioned something like this to Duma before. It was all due to his spur of the moment thinking, he himself didn't know he would be handling things this way.
It took a bit but the matter was eventually settled and, although wary, the skull tribe's residents let them all in. Sharog was forced to head towards the middle of the crowd before entering due to the previous commotion they had caused, however.
"They seem to be eyeing our boars quite a bit" Ed commented casually. This was only natural since the tribe had lost their previous battle and therefore had to rely on whatever food they had left from before.
Orcs weren't known for being thrifty, the tribe was clearly starting to show signs of starvation. If it wasn't for the fact that Ed had kept Duma preoccupied they might have switched their focus to waging wars with other tribes to erase their previous shame as well as gain some food.
Ed could only sigh in his heart, it was too cruel. The dungeon must have had a reason to do this but it still felt inexcusable. Thankfully Ed with the help of Vorgarag would be able to change this.
But alas, the dungeon might consider this as going against it… He might end up facing another penalty.
'Well… it could also see it as maintaining our combat power, right?' The previous incident with Slug showed that it wouldn't punish him so willy-nilly. The dungeon was at times capable of deliberating over things in order to find some benefits.
Changing the status quo could be beneficial with the threat of the adventurers looming closer. The dungeon might want to stop what Ed presumed to be a body farm and instead try to make them stay strong to form a resistance. Whether they would actually succeed probably didn't matter to it. The dungeon would simply send Ed away again in the worst-case scenario.
After some more walking, the main participants in the alliance were all now inside of Duma's cabin. Things like housing for the other orcs were easily arranged due to the vacancies from the previous battle.
They could now get started with war preparations. They all took a seat at a rough and dirty dining table, It clearly didn't see much use.
"Alright, let's get started then." Said Vorgarag after taking a seat opposite to Ed. He seemed a bit laid back, it was probably because thanks to Ed his burdens were lessened.
Seeing that no one immediately spoke Ed chose to lay down his plans.
"We should set up the boar farm as quickly as possible. The herded boars might end up in our stomachs if we take too long." During their march, they had killed some of the boars to get food. They couldn't keep doing that here as well before getting a stable supply.
"Who is in charge of that?" Asked Duma.
"Naturally since this is your settlement you are. Find a good location, it should have plenty of access to grass, roots, mushrooms, and the like. Vorgarag can help past that point." Ed told Duma matter of factly.
Duma was forced to think about if such a location existed. This settlement was deeper into the forest so things like mushrooms could be found here and there and the grass wasn't really an issue but he mostly fooled around so he really needed to think about this.
"Next is fortifying this place. I think you were heading in the right direction" Ed said while talking to Vorgarag. The cannons he placed atop of the settlement walls was something that Ed found interesting. It was solely because he didn't think such a thing was possible, especially not for orcs. They, unfortunately, had to leave them behind though since bringing them would delay their spontaneous march.
"We should create some more arrays to aid in defense. Obviously this task is also Vorgarags…" Ed slurred the end of his sentence as at this rate things would start to pile up for Vorgarag.
"I can help" Butted in Sharog noticing Ed's plight. She was a shaman as well so she knew a thing or two. Her tribe was much smaller though so her expertise in this area couldn't compare to Vorgarag's.
"That's great then." Said Ed genuinely delighted. It was a good idea to have her on board.
Vorgarag then put on a thinking pose before pitching in with a couple of suggestions.
"As far as what arrays we can use I think that new crystal you handed me could come in useful." Vorgarag was obviously referring to the pseudo-element crystals he had found.
Ed didn't know how to use them but that didn't mean Vorgarag didn't. These things could be used on pseudo-element spell arrays. While it was possible to simply combine two elements through the array to cast pseudo-element spells, that wasn't nearly as convenient.
Since these special crystals had already merged the necessary elements, the array would seem much smaller and could thus be more effectively used for things like traps.
"The only issue is supply, there are more of these right?" Asked Vorgarag while still thinking about the different traps he could make. If he had an ice element one for example he could use it to freeze intruders, if not it could at the very least slow their movements.
"Yeah, the cavern is two through three hours away." Ed said while remembering his own journey. He couldn't accurately keep track of time since he didn't have a watch but he felt that this measurement should be more or less accurate.
"We just need to get some of the orcs here to mine the crystals and bring back a lot then" Sharog said after getting immersed in the atmosphere.
"Hmmm, that might be a bit hard on time." It was realistically the only real option though.
Since the trip would take 2-3 hours that would be 4-6 hours for a trip back and forth. This obviously didn't include that they would be carrying crystals on the way back. If the adventurers really came in just a couple of days their preparations might end up unfinished.
"We don't have a choice. We can just make it up with manpower. We have plenty of young and strong orcs here" Sharog put the final nail on the matter.
"We should arrange that as soon as possible then. I and Ed will take part of the first expedition." Vorgarag said hoping to get to see the ancestor's knowledge as well as the dazzling cave.
Ed obviously didn't oppose either since he intended to assimilate the boulder of knowledge he instead nodded in agreement.
"That's it right?" Asked Duma who all along simply listened from the sidelines.
"No there is one more thing. Once Vorgarag and I set off for the cavern Sharog should try to get us some more allies." Ed felt that this was a logical arrangement. Not only was Sharog smart but she was also beautiful. Orc tribes are mostly led by males so her words should prove especially persuasive. Outside of that superficial reason though she was also a local of the area.
"By myself?" Sharog wasn't entirely willing to do such an arduous task by herself. She was mostly hired to help in battle, not their preparations.
"Just take some strong or smart individuals with you" Vorgarag said casually as he got up from the table. Seeing Vorgarag get up and ready to leave Duma quickly excused himself. Sharog wasn't sure what she should do right now but she started leaving as well as the meeting seemed to have been effectively dismissed.
Ed also stood up wondering what he should do until those things were arranged.
"I'll go find out where I'll be sleeping and we can then head out." Vorgarag said from the open door. He was obviously ready to leave, maybe he was anticipating the knowledge on the rock.
"We are heading out without the other orcs?" Ed asked doubtfully. Didn't being part of the first expedition mean leaving with them?
"It would just be surveying the area. Plus, by the sound of things, those herbs only grow near the mana rich cavern. We should hurry if we don't want the orcs to potentially damage their environment." While this sounded logical Ed knew it was just a reasonable excuse.
"Great then" He said with a smile in approval.
Gathering the orcs to perform manual labor was a sluggish process. With such a great excuse to test out his understanding over thought manifestation sooner, why wouldn't he agree?
"We will meet half an hour later" Vorgarag said casually before leaving.
"Got it" Ed casually responded in kind.. He could look forward to something now.