Cthulhu Gonfalon

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

This plan was, of course, decided after first discussing it with the various dwarven Gods.

Though he might have spared those lower-ranking Isis members from execution, Sui Xiong couldn't just let them go without any punishment at all. According to tradition, if someone was spared from execution, they should usually get a hard beating, followed by exile. He didn't feel like beating them up though, so he just went with exile.

But where they should be exiled to, was a big problem in itself.

He couldn't throw them into one of those places where only tenacious creatures like cacti could survive, nor could he send them to a dangerous place where demon beasts ran wild. These didn't conform to the idea of "sparing them from capital punishment." Plus, if these people weren't looked after, who knew what sort of trouble they would get up to!

He'd actually considered sending them to the Republic of Northwest to do forced labor under the army's supervision. But after thinking on it, he'd given up on the idea.

This group had been deeply influenced by Isis's extremist ideology; if he left them in the Republic of Northwest, who knew how much of a disturbance they would cause!

Sui Xiong absolutely did not want to look at this sort of extremist ideology. Back on Earth, a world that didn't even have real gods, extremist ideologies could build countries as strong as steel and as cold as ice. So how much trouble would they cause in a world like this one, where gods were real!

Even if these people could technically be classified as relatively conservative members of Isis, he didn't want to use the Republic of Northwest to see whether or not the conservatives could stir up headlines.

Heaven have mercy, he'd only just heard about some sort of big news caused by the conservatives in Europe not long before he space-traveled.

Seeing as how he couldn't just drop them off at some remote place or leave them in the Republic of Northwest, and he had to have them under watch to top it off—that didn't leave very many places for him to put them.

Leon had suggested that if there weren't any objections, they could send these people to Garth City. He had all sorts of ways to clean up these guys and make them obedient.

But when Sui Xiong saw the killing intent practically leaking out the corners of Leon's mouth as he talked, he gave up on this plan as well.

You must understand, Leon was from the Igor family, a descendant of the Eagle Kingdom royal family. Even the current king of the Eagle Kingdom respectfully referred to Leon as Uncle; the last king, Woods's son, had already died not long ago.

What would happen if a group of Orcs was left in the hands of the Igor Family, a family that had a deep and long-running grudge against Orcs?

This wouldn't be an honest move at all; it couldn't be done.

Sui Xiong asked Manissy for advice and was told that the Commonwealth of Gold Coins was already going through enough internal conflict. The merchant faction and the noble faction were constantly arguing with each other. If they added in an Orc faction, who knew what might happen?

"If you want to send them here then certainly you can, but I can only temporarily guarantee their personal safety," she'd said, after a round of complaints.

So, Sui Xiong had shaken his head.

He then asked Ariel if she had any interest in accepting them in her underwater city. Ariel expressed with great distress that the sea people were rather xenophobic; it would be really difficult to arrange for so many of them to come all at once.

It was for lack of a better option that Sui Xiong thought of the dwarven gods.

He tried asking the God of Runes, and rather than immediately replying, he asked, "These people… I can ensure they aren't killed, but if they come to our side, in order to avoid trouble, they'll probably spend the rest of their lives in underground mine shafts and caverns. That isn't a problem, is it?"

Sui Xiong thought on that, then asked, "Won't they get sick from long periods without sunlight?"

"We have special medicines for that."

"Then it's not a problem." Sui Xiong gave his answer before asking again, "But… aren't you afraid they'll cause trouble?"

The God of Runes let out a hearty laugh. "We dwarves have never feared anyone causing trouble before. Those with the guts can go ahead and try—if they aren't afraid to get beaten next week, that is!"

It was then that Sui Xiong remembered that the Dwarf Race all had natural-born strength. Even if those Orcs did try to cause trouble, they'd have to first consider the difference of strength between them.

So it was decided. Sui Xiong gave those Isis members who'd been sentenced to labor in the Kingdom of Dwarfs a few days to prepare, then he used his Divine Power to send them over.

What somewhat surprised him was that although there had only been twenty thousand people in his original exile plans, those who were willing to go to the Kingdom of Dwarfs ultimately numbered to almost fifty thousand.

This was because many Orc families relied on their men for support; with the man gone, unless his wife remarried, the family would quickly fall apart. In order to avoid such a huge risk, those families decided to all move together to the Kingdom of Dwarfs.

The Dwarf Race could be said to have a relatively good reputation; despite their somewhat violent tempers, there had never been any talk of dwarves bullying or murdering the weak. They'd probably be able to start brand new stable lives after moving to the Kingdom of Dwarfs.

Situations like this weren't uncommon, and Orc families often had seven, eight or even over ten people. This was how twenty thousand people became fifty thousand.

The God of Runes was very sorry after hearing about this, and asked, "Your Majesty, the Void Mask… could you send the families of those that were previously executed to our Kingdom of Dwarfs as well?"

Sui Xiong was somewhat puzzled and asked why he wanted so many people. This wasn't just three hundred or five thousand people—this was many tens of thousands!

The God of Runes let out a sigh and explained that the biggest problem for the Kingdom of Dwarfs was a low population. Because of their years' long war with the Kingdom of Thousands of Springs, they were seriously lacking people. They'd reached a point now where they would love to be able to split one person into two, one to focus on childbirth and the other to take charge of battle.

Once these Orcs came to the Kingdom of Dwarfs, whether for birth or for battle, they'd most definitely be of use.

Putting aside the birthing part, if they did become soldiers, there was no way they'd hesitate in fighting the human armies of the Kingdom of Thousands of Springs.

Even if their military force was lacking, and they were unable to be good soldiers, they could always take positions as auxiliary forces, like the military supply force or something.

There were many among the Orcs who were adept at traversing mountainous regions; they traveled over land and water as easily as walking on flat earth. People like that would definitely fit the requirements for a military supply force, regardless of their lower fighting strength.

Having received this reminder, Sui Xiong helped him announce the news: the Kingdom of Dwarfs was willing to enlist Orcs for permanent residence, with job opportunities, a stable pay and accommodation provided.

As for how many people this piece of news could recruit once distributed, the Kingdom of Dwarfs could handle that themselves.

Once he'd had these fifty thousand people sent to the Kingdom of Dwarfs and the kingdom's soldiers and civil affair officials took over, Sui Xiong count this affair as finished.

After worrying over this for many months, killing tens of thousands of people, and exiling tens of thousands more, this historical incident—called "the Destruction of Isis" by a few historians—was finally put to an end through relatively peaceful means. This led those who'd been hoping to see everyone get slaughtered all at once to be a little unsatisfied, but it led those who'd frowned upon Sui Xiong's previous massacre to secretly heave sighs of relief.

As for the negative effects, the Kingdom of Thousands of Springs expressed that the Void Mask helping the Kingdom of Dwarfs was an unfriendly action towards their kingdom; that was about it.

But that didn't matter; who cares!

Sui Xiong truly had no idea that they were the core force making connections and plotting against the Republic of Northwest!