Ch.106Chapter 106: Shattered Peace.

Grace’s ears perk up at Lati’s words.

“You mean that mysterious power that manipulates criminal organizations from behind the scenes?”

Being the crown princess of a fairly powerful kingdom, Grace had picked up quite a bit of information here and there.

“Yes, if you already know about them, that makes things easier. Doesn’t this smell too fishy to be a natural phenomenon?”

“Certainly…”

Continental-scale monster invasions happening one after another? This is an unprecedented event that has occurred only a few times in the continent’s long history.

Circumstantial evidence strongly suggests the Dark Society’s involvement.

“I predicted the northern invasion, but not the Orc army. Valt, where do you think the Dark Society would have focused more of their power?”

When Lati asks Valt this question, he rubs his chin thoughtfully for a moment.

“Hmm… if it were me, I’d say the Orc side.”

The Caldrian family in the north is a powerful house.

They are undisputedly the empire’s strongest family, having protected the north for hundreds of years under the name of Margrave.

The reason Count Caldrian remains just a count is largely because higher positions aren’t necessary in warfare.

Moreover, the Caldrian family isn’t of royal blood and had no need to govern multiple territories. Naturally, this kept them distant from positions like duke or marquis.

This has actually become a point of pride for the Caldrian family.

The Caldrian family lives solely as warriors, regardless of noble rank or status.

Despite their formidable military power, the Emperor doesn’t worry about rebellion because of the Caldrian family’s nature.

Therefore, the north is relatively well-prepared.

Even if a monster wave pours in, the Caldrian family has the resilience to hold out until reinforcements from other countries arrive.

So this area is just bait.

The real threat is more likely to be on the Orc side, which is considered insignificant.

Opinions are split evenly on Valt’s conjecture.

“Hmm… Brother Valt, but Orcs are just Orcs, aren’t they? I still think it would be better to go to the north?”

Victor suggests, and Robin seems to agree.

“That’s right. Human armies are strong too. If the Eastern Alliance cooperates properly, they can defeat them. The existence of the Orc King is somewhat concerning, but isn’t King Jerdin, the head of the Eastern Alliance, also a Grand Master?”

A 9th-tier powerhouse like the Emperor.

Such a person reigns as the head of the Eastern Alliance.

A 9th-tier Grand Master should be able to handle the Orc King. Essentially, the human army could comfortably hold off the Orc army while King Jerdin eliminates the Orc King.

Even if there are nearly a million Orcs, humans have various techniques and especially magic, which can counter numerical advantages with diverse attack methods, unlike Orcs who only have brute force charges.

People begin to agree with Victor and Robin’s opinions.

Compared to the relatively mundane Orcs, the monsters pouring from the north include Ogres, Yetis, Giants, Trolls, and other large beasts, making it natural for Valt’s combat-loving companions to want to head north.

However, something doesn’t feel right. Valt ultimately decides to split his forces between the north and east.

Seirun is confirmed for the north, being from the Caldrian family.

Princess Ellias also can’t ignore her country’s crisis, so she’s confirmed for the north.

Solphin, Victor, and Airine, who find Orcs boring, are also confirmed for the north.

Riduin is confirmed for the north as well, reasoning that areas with higher-level monsters are better for gathering magic materials.

Shukbil naturally goes north as a set with Riduin.

Only Valt, Lisa, Arias, and Liris remain.

Lati wanted to go east too, but said she needed to go north to catch rare monsters that only appear during monster waves.

“Alright, then we’ll go east like this. Just me, Lisa, Arias, and Liris together. Everyone else will head north.”

When Valt makes this decision, Grace looks delighted.

“Great! With Valt coming, those Orcs won’t be a problem at all!”

Valt’s specialty is, in a way, area-of-effect techniques.

What would happen if Valt’s Hurricane magic struck where tens of thousands of Orcs were gathered?

Thousands upon thousands of Orcs might be disintegrated in an instant.

“By the way, have you contacted your brother? Gerungtu should have quite a few spare troops.”

Grace answers with a regretful expression.

“It’s under discussion. It’s not a matter for me to decide. It’s different from opening up to foreign culture.”

After all, having large-scale Gerungtu combat forces cross into the Central Continent would be somewhat uncomfortable for the kingdoms of the Eastern Continent.

“I suppose it could be burdensome. Still, if Gerungtu participated, wouldn’t it greatly reduce casualties for Central Continent people?”

In fact, Grace had already been introduced to Valt’s sixth brother and asked him about participating in the eastern front.

Naturally, she expected Luktan to answer after a few days, but he readily agreed to Grace’s request for troops without even a second’s hesitation.

Rather, Luktan asked if he should depart immediately, which quite surprised Grace.

Because of this, Grace had laughed heartily for the first time in a long while.

But the Eastern Alliance was skeptical about Gerungtu’s participation.

Even with nearly a million Orcs, they had a “why bother?” attitude.

“That’s the problem with those at the top not understanding…”

Since the Empire was a much more sensible country than Valt realized, he didn’t fully understand that the kingdom alliances divided into east, west, south, and north had quite a few member countries.

Therefore, while some kingdoms valued their soldiers, many royals and nobles viewed their troops as expendable resources to gain the eastern plains.

In fact, it would be more accurate to say that people with sensible thinking like Grace were the minority.

So for them, there was no need to risk bringing in Gerungtu just to spare expendable resources.

Seeing Grace’s troubled expression, Valt voices his curiosity.

“Hmm… then they probably wouldn’t be too happy about me going either?”

“That’s right, but no one can stop you, Valt, from going east to eliminate Orcs.”

Valt is from Gerungtu but he’s an individual and currently affiliated with the Imperial Academy.

Therefore, he can formally accept the Orc elimination request that has come down to the Eastern Alliance and cross over to the east.

“Well, I wouldn’t stay away even if they tried to stop me, but it’s better to avoid unnecessary noise.”

“Haha, that’s what I’m talking about. Our Oscar Kingdom has already formally submitted a request to the Academy. You just need to accept it and come with me to Oscar Kingdom.”

Grace had already completed all the preliminary work to bring Valt in.

“I like your efficient handling. Then let’s have meetings with our respective groups today and get some rest. Shouldn’t we depart as soon as possible?”

Everyone agreed with Valt’s words, and Victor approached Valt with a good-natured comment.

“Hehehe, it might actually be better that you’re not coming with us, Brother! This time we’ll have some worthy opponents to fight!”

Victor, who had always been unable to find proper opponents because of Valt, is full of enthusiasm at the thought of finally gaining real combat experience.

“Combat experience is part of training, so don’t get too excited.”

Even Robin, who says this, seems slightly pleased.

“With Solphin there, most monsters won’t stand a chance. Besides, Count Caldrian is there too.”

Seirun Caldrian’s father, Count Caldrian, is also a 9th-tier Grand Master.

Naturally, he’s incredibly strong, and unless a dragon appears, it’s safe to say the Count won’t lose in a one-on-one fight.

“Kyahaha! Of course! I’m looking forward to seeing some monsters! Sorry, Valt! I’m sick of Orcs too.”

It’s natural for stronger individuals to want to fight even stronger opponents. So Valt didn’t mind at all.

Rather, he wants to test how much his power can help in such a large-scale war.

Until now, he’s mostly been involved in individual duels or localized conflicts.

The most opponents Valt had fought were the Dark Society soldiers in the Vampire Kingdom.

He thought those few thousand soldiers were many, but now he’s already looking forward to seeing what a million Orcs would be like.

Everyone gathered in small groups to start their meetings, and Valt also begins discussing with Lisa, Arias, and Liris.

“By the way… I should be able to take down at least a few Orcs, right?”

Lisa, who has somehow become the group’s strategist.

Since that role was much more helpful than her original power, Lisa’s position was more or less fixed.

But Lisa wasn’t uninterested in improving her combat abilities.

Though not like monstrous humans like Valt, Lisa’s skills were steadily growing in her own way, slowly but surely.

Recently, she had achieved 3rd tier, 3rd circle, making remarkable progress.

The Valentain family had a unique way of measuring ability, expressing it as forming an “angle” by combining the auras of magic and swordsmanship.

Using Lisa as a reference point, she has now reached the level of forming a “tri-angle.”

Since this is a Valentain family-specific expression, it’s hard to gauge the standard of strength, but it can be understood as a concept similar to aura tiers.

However, since magic is involved, it’s said that a Valentain family swordsman who has achieved a tri-angle can fight without losing to an aura user of a higher tier.

This means Lisa can now face a 4th-tier aura user.

Hearing Lisa’s words, Arias also shows slight anxiety.

“C-can I also take down Orcs?”

The two undisputed weakest members of Valt’s group had joined the eastern Orc expedition.

Liris, one of the strongest members, looks at the two nervous companions and says kindly:

“You can do it. You’ve learned from me, haven’t you? Lisa, Arias.”

The three, who had become quite close thanks to Lisa’s unique sociability, occasionally learned magic from Liris.

“Y-yes! I can do it! I’m aiming for ten Orcs! No, a hundred!”

Valt smiles slightly and brings up a topic.

“Lisa, do you know anything about Orcs?”

“Huh? Don’t you know about Orcs, Valt?”

“No, I don’t mean their appearance, but their characteristics, individual strengths, techniques they use, attack methods, and other specific details.”

“For that kind of information, I’m the expert!!”

It’s time for Professor Lisa to shine.

Indeed, Lisa seems perfectly suited for the role of adjutant.