Chapter 64: Aftermath

“Logier has gone to a better place.” I tried to cheer the depressed crowd. Even after his retirement, Logeier’s prestige was still there in the hearts of his fellow orcs. His becoming a Fallen was the biggest shock to these guys.

“Lord!?” Sepi knitted his non-existent brows and looked at me with a scrunched up face. “What do you mean by that?” He further asked.

“Logier had left this chaotic world and joined all your ancestors in the next world, for eternal peace.” I felt troubled speaking about these aesthetic kinds of stuff. Being a nonbeliever didn’t help a bit at all. But still, to let these guys regain the confidence they once had, I had to speak something, right?

“That’s not it, lord! Our previous chief, he became a Fallen! It’s the biggest shame to us orcs.” Sepi gritted his teeth and started. “Ever since we are a child, we had admired Chief Logier. He was the proudest warrior among us and also the strongest. Him becoming a Fallen, it’s the biggest shame to our tribe.”

It was unexpected, to be honest. I thought they’re sad due to the loss of Logier. But I didn’t expect that it was because he became a Fallen. Just how deep was their hatred towards these Fallens?

The bigger question was, why?

“That’s right. I didn’t expect for Chief Logier to turn into that! It's humiliating!” One of the warrior orcs exclaimed with tightened fists. His emotions and sentiments were mirrored by all the orcs around him.

I couldn’t believe it. Logier sacrificed so much for them, even going as far as risking an evolution when the odds were against him. Yet these guys were badmouthing him. Back then, he was ready to sacrifice his life to secure a place for them. Had I not met him when I did, Logier would have definitely fallen to the goblin lord’s machinations. Even after losing his hand, he still fought for them. He even swallowed his fear and humiliation to negotiate with the very person that took his arm.

He sacrificed so much, and yet they were blaming him just because he failed an evolution! I felt angry. Logier was my friend. To see my friend treated like this made me blow my top. However, instead of screaming at them, I took a softer approach.

“You can’t say that.” I looked at everyone present and clenched my fist. Seeing that I have everyone’s undivided attention, I gathered my thoughts before speaking.

“From the very beginning, Logier has been fighting for you guys.” I started upon seeing I had everyone’s undivided attention. Even some of the goblins, especially those who had fought in the war, came closer to listen. “From the very first day Logier met me, he kept telling me how he wanted to find a safe place for you orcs. He fought for you, and even after losing an arm, he still fought.”

I stopped for a second to create an atmosphere.

“But just because he failed an Enhance, you suddenly started to hate him? Suddenly he became the shame of your tribe? What shit logic is this?” Towards the end, my tone was raised by a few octaves.

“Lord, what is ‘logic’?” Someone interjected in the middle.

“You shut up!” I snapped at the goblin that dared to open its mouth at this critical juncture. I wanted to scream at it, saying ‘read the mood,’ but these guys won’t even understand what a mood is. I gave up.

“Even after he became a Fallen, he still fought on our side. Don’t forget, today’s victory’s main reason was him. Had he not spread chaos on the battlefield, the humans would have been a lot more organized. If that happened, we would have been in a lot of trouble.”

I had to think for a while to speak in a language that these orcs would understand. So I oversimplified a lot of things. The orcs lowered their heads and looked conflicted. I guess it was really difficult to change their beliefs, just because I said so.

“That what should we do, Lord?” Sepi asked. He was the one who looked the most conflicted. After all, Logier was his idol when he was a little orcling. Seeing him falling from grace was a huge shock for the new chief of orcs.

“Nothing! You can’t blame him for failing his enhancement. And neither should you feel sad at his demise. He did what he could for you guys, don’t let his sacrifice go in vain by holding this contempt. Now come and enjoy the feast.”

After acting cool, what’s next?

That’s right, leave the stunned audience behind and flee.

…

Leaving behind the orcs and goblins to celebrate, I returned to my resident. After the humans fled, Urt had the goblins gather all the equipment and belongings of the fallen humans. He had also arranged for another group to scavenge the battlefield and gather anything they could find that belong to humans.

Therefore, the storeroom of the goblin lord that used to house huge earthen barrels of chemicals was now being used as an armory. I saw various sets of weapons, armors, and even weird objects strewn across the room.

I have to arrange them according to their power and utility later. I decided upon seeing them discarded all over the floor. We were using stone and wood weapons like some backward civilization. These weapons would definitely increase our overall power by a few levels.

I took a cloak among the stash, rolled it around my body, and made sure it covered me completely. I couldn’t let those humans see what I really was. After covering myself, I used Metamorph to make myself a few inches taller. It costs me 28MP now to cast the skill after the level up and 9 MP to maintain it every hour.

Shaking my head, with a smile tugging on my lips, I walked towards the Snake Pit. I had to meet my captured guinea pigs and see if they are alright. Moreover, I had to thank that blond knight. If not for his advice, we couldn’t have implemented that strategy.

The Snake Pit, as its name implies, a huge cave made by digging the ground and filled with poisonous snakes. It was the idea of the late goblin lord, meant to imprison unruly goblins and natural goblins that spawned by the dungeon.

Previously I had to follow along an intertwining path to protect myself from poisonous snakes, however now I didn’t have to do that. As a Plague Bearing Imp, I didn’t have to worry about snake bites. As a racial bonus, I became immune to poisons. However, just to make sure I was really immune to poisons, I had one of them bite me.

The result was indeed how I thought it would be.

Unfortunately, the snake died. It literally rotted to death after taking a bite at me. My body fluids were very poisonous to others. Earlier, it was only my piss. But now, even my blood had become a poison to others. Even snakes couldn’t endure that poison.

…

“Hello, humans. How are you feeling in this place?” I appeared in one of the small rooms that held the humans. They were bound to the walls by a special rope the goblin lord had in his possession before he died. These ropes were chemically altered so that it could only loosen when another reagent was added. Otherwise, it would be as hard as iron ropes.

“You! Did you win the war?” The blond knight was truly admirable. Even in the situation, he was in, he didn’t speak nonsense or that and curse. He had a calm face and peaceful countenance.

“I have to thank you for that, human.”

I came closer to the wooden cage’s door. Poisonous snakes were slithering across, making it impossible to see any wood. Unless one used the special method to distract the snakes, it was impossible to touch the door, let alone open it.

“Congratulations, then.” The blond knight said calmly. The other three knights tried to wreathe in their bonds, probably wanting to curse at me. But a look from the blond knight shut them up. “So, what do you want to do with us? Now that the war has been over, shouldn’t you let us go?” he inquired.

I smirked. If not for the hood, my shark-like teeth would have been visible to everyone. It would have looked demonic. That might have scared off these knights.

“I should. Indeed, I should now let you go.” I stopped. “But I have different plans now.”

“What kind of plan?” His face changed. Gone the previous calmness as a look of anger and fear flashed for a brief second.

I smirked again.

I already won this psychological warfare.