Cthulhu Gonfalon

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

Emperor Junero's departure shook the whole of the Orc Empire. It was more shocking to the Orcs than Sui Xiong's earlier elimination of Isis.

These past 100 years, under the leadership of this "frail scholar," the Orc Empire had expanded at an unceasing pace. They were becoming more powerful and prosperous with each passing day, and the country's administrative systems were becoming increasingly orderly and proper.

All else aside, if this were the time of Hogg Bale's reign, Sui Xiong's systematic slaughter from the westernmost to the easternmost ends of the Orc Empire would most definitely have dealt a strong blow to the empire's prestige. Possibly, it would even signal the collapse of the regime—because at the time, the Orc Empire's upper class had consisted of regional officials, most of which were Isis members.

But after Junero rose to power, his first act had been to suppress this extremist organization and to limit propagation of all kinds of extremist thoughts. Because Hogg was still around, he'd honored the previous emperor by not revoking the organization's official status. Instead, he'd used a variety of tricks to force each of its members out of all levels of government administration. He spent over 30 years in total before he was finally able to shrink Isis from having enough power to influence the empire's political situation to being a humanitarian organization with official status.

At the time, everyone had thought he was crippling his own military or breaking his own limbs, so to speak. Later, they fought a disadvantageous war against the Kingdom of Eagle, leading everyone to question even more whether this scholar was capable of controlling a kingdom.

But Junero very quickly let them all know that their doubts were unfounded.

In a word, he pushed forward three projects: the first was to strengthen their agriculture.

The Orc Empire had always been largely nomadic; this admittedly allowed its people to be proficient fighters—enough that it could even be counted as a military nation. But it also meant that their food output was rather low, leading to a nationwide famine most winters. It wasn't strange for tens of thousands of people to starve to death after a big storm.

Under circumstances like this, the conflicts and battles between different Orc tribes were also exceptionally desperate. After all, everyone was fighting not only for honor but also for their own families' survival!

Junero sent people to contact the Goddess of Bumper Harvest, and at the enormous cost of the Orc tribes' attempts to combine in armed rebellion, he finally managed to persuade her. Under the condition that they do not disturb the clergy, she bestowed great fertility upon that savannah under the Orcs' control.

In correspondence with this, he energetically promoted farming to Orc society.

Because of cultural tradition, Orcs had respected brave herdsmen and discriminated against weak farmers, but Junero believed that agricultural production could far exceed that of herding and so strongly supported it.

Attacking the problem from two angles at once, it still took over 20 years before he managed to turn the eastern part of the Orc Empire into a stable food production location, thus giving the Orcs a more reliable source of food.

It was around the time of the failed southern expedition that the farms they'd gradually built began to give back to the livestock industry, leading the Orc Empire's food production to rise little by little. For many years after that, though the Orcs still didn't have enough food in the winter, large-scale famine after a snowstorm was much rarer than before, as was the tragic sight of entire tribes dying of cold and hunger.

Because they had farms to serve as a foundation, and bumper harvests to serve as a safeguard, the Orc Empire's population gradually began to rise. It reached a point that, after the battle of Sun's Death Day, they surprisingly didn't suffer very many casualties. In fact, they still had the resources to prepare for a battle with the Country of Light.

The second project Junero put into action was strengthening centralized power.

The Orc Empire was a country formed of separate tribes; rather than the ruler of a country, the emperor could be better described as the chief of a tribal alliance. While he did hold authoritative power, the same couldn't be said of the officials below him. Especially at those times when the tasks they carried out conflicted with the separate tribes' short-term interest, most tribes wouldn't take them seriously and would continue in their own ways as before.

When all was said and done, the Orc Empire was essentially a country where its leaders ruled by divine right. Each tribe—particularly the larger ones—could construct their own shrine, contact the gods, and request an Oracle. With commands given to them by a god, who would pay attention to those of an emperor?

Targeting these kinds of situations, Junero had a long talk with Lefon, the God of Orcs. Having old former friends meet again was sure to make one sigh.

Five thousand years was a long time. When Junero stepped into the demigod realm, honestly speaking this was no small achievement, but compared to the great Divine Power of Lefon, it was barely worth mentioning.

However, Lefon greatly appreciated his insight as well as his rulership philosophy. For this, he stuck up for him, ordering all the Orc gods not to send out random Oracles thereafter. If anyone's ideals conflicted with the emperor's commands, they were told to discuss it with Lefon rather than initiate a direct confrontation.

A snake without a head was useless. As the Orc gods needed a reliable and authoritative leader, so too did the Orc Empire.

Junero's final project was a large-scale establishment of cities.

He believed the Orcs' lifestyle was too nomadic and lacked stability. This led to a decrease in the country's efficiency when it came to mobilization and also relative chaos in regards to societal order. So he chose areas of the Orc Empire that had sufficient water and weren't susceptible to floods and built a good number of cities.

The Orc Empire of course had cities in the past, but they were few in number, and all of them were large. There was generally no need for small or mid-sized cities, so there basically weren't any.

In the over 100 years that Junero was Orc Emperor, he built over 100 small and mid-sized cities. These cities were like chains, connecting the loosely-scattered Orc tribes and gradually forming them into one consolidated body.

In the current Orc Empire, their efficiency and ability to mobilize was far beyond what was possible in the past.

This series of actions naturally put all the countries—and even the God Systems—on high alert. The Human God System was especially afraid of the consequences of this development. In the years he was emperor, assassination attempts alone occurred over ten times.

These assassins were both elite and full of determination, but Junero wasn't truly a fragile scholar. Even if he suppressed his own might, there was a limit to how much he could do this. Because of this, the assassins were all forced to either retreat with their tails between their legs or lose their lives in vain.

When Sui Xiong eliminated Isis, quite a few people had waited to see some excitement. Many of those had secretly hoped that Junero would lose his head over it or be unable to stand this attack on his reputation and go out in opposition to Sui Xiong. But not only did Junero not do that, he secretly assisted Sui Xiong and led those hopeful people to be greatly disappointed. Inwardly, they cursed this guy; he didn't have a damn lick of ability, just a really clever mind.

Now, he'd finally revealed his true strength and left the Main Plane. After the shock and astonishment from other countries' leaders, there was inevitably some secret delight.

If he'd continued to be emperor of the Orc Empire, even if it was just for another 50 years, the Orc Empire would definitely have gained another level of strength. When the time came, it might even be strong enough to engulf the world.

Now that he was gone, the next Orc Emperor might continue to walk down the path he had set for them, but it was unlikely they could reach have his level of competence. The sharp sword hanging over the heads of all the countries surrounding the Orc Empire had finally disappeared.

So according to reliable sources, after news got out that Junero had left the human world, the Kingdom of Light, the Kingdom of Thousands of Springs, the Commonwealth of Gold Coins and even the barbarians of the Northern Iceland convened for an extensive celebration. They sent off this hateful bastard with as much fanfare as one might give a demon of pestilence.

"When is he coming back?" asked Sui Xiong after Morani had told him the news.

"Roughly a few tens of years from now, possibly longer," Morani said. "It's also possible… With his departure this time, if he doesn't become a god, he'll never again return to be seen by mortal eyes."

Sui Xiong was silent for a moment. He raised his wine glass, circulating his Divine Power, and the figure of Junero Tiger—who'd carelessly left in a golden beam of light—appeared before his eyes.

"A toast to you. I wish you a pleasant journey."