[Orc violence against protesters eager for democracy!]
[Miraculous election of candidate Liu Yiming!]
[Next day, no orc coup!]
[Democracy wins!]
-Kwazik!
The large face pad succumbs to the force of the grip. It was a sturdy military pad, made for orcs, but in the hands of the orcs' overlord, it meant little.
"I told you not to."
Murka's gaze turns to the two Black Orcs.
"I decided that now was the time to avoid a head-on collision!"
The two orcs shuddered like aspens.
The Black Orcs he's dispatched across the continent represent Murka.
Their actions represented Murka, and that was why he had demanded ample warning and caution.
"Ha, but High Khan, we are so wronged!"
"Yes, the protesters are trying to make us look like---! Even in the video, we didn't do anything like that!"
Bultan and Grokan were also guilty, but they hadn't really laid a hand on the protesters.
While Murka considered it highly likely that they had ignored his orders, he also considered the possibility that they were innocent.
"Stand down."
The two orcs backed away with a sigh of relief at Murka's congratulatory order, and Murka sat back in his seat and let out a feral growl.
"You've become a nuisance."
"Yes, it was land that should have been secured as a safe haven."
Murka looked at the map. A map depicting the vast land area of the Chinese continent shows specific points.
"Now that things are like this, we will secure everything in Jilin and get out."
"I'll leave it to Skira. But if they had taken control of Heilong, they might have noticed."
"Well."
-Click!
Murka clenched his jaw and tapped his fingers on the armrest. He looks thoughtful.
"That's not something they can guess, is it?"
Murka's crimson gaze travels beyond Kran.
There, a goblin and a human wizard trembled, smiling awkwardly.
* * * * *
"Thank you, Your Majesty, it was with your favor that we were able to win the election."
Liu Yiming, the new president of the Heilong People's Army, bowed to Leon.
To him, as a member of the TTG Temple and a believer of Arianna, Leon is a saint. Beyond politics, he is just another member of the church.
"President Liu Yiming. I have helped you because of your introduction from Lord Koo Dae-sung, but it is not free, so do your duty."
"Of course, Your Majesty, you have saved this country from the hands of those beasts."
President Liu Yiming was a politician Koo Dae-sung had gotten to know during his knighthood in the Heilong People's Republic.
He was a city councilman in a small rural city and had tried to help Koo Dae-sung, who was still hunting monsters as a knight, at the city level.
Moreover, even if he claims the name of the goddess Arianna in politics, he is not lacking in the eyes of the goddess, so it can be said that he passed the first round of screening in one go.
-Let's hope you reveal everything. Useful after proper analysis.
President Liu Yiming didn't show much antipathy toward Yappy barking orders over Ha-ri's head.
On the contrary, he seemed honored to have this mechanical genius barking orders at him.
"Of course, Lord Yakt Spinner. As President, I will release all information to the public at large, so don't worry about any opposition. My government intends to fully cooperate with His Majesty's 'Lionheart Coalition'."
"Cooperate with Lord Spinner in the governance of the country. He will give you useful advice, and you will follow it."
It was a de facto declaration of interference, but Liu Yiming didn't hesitate a moment.
Leon would not violate the rights of a legitimate ruler.
Even if it violates Lionheart discipline and common sense, even if it does so in a way that screams democracy, not god-given power.
"Well, first of all, the Korean government doesn't know about this..."
Leon smirked as Ha-ri tried to feign ignorance with an embarrassed smile.
"Isn't this a wise idea proposed by your government?"
"Well, more precisely, it was tipped off to me by His Excellency the President through the National Intelligence Service."
"Well, let's call it that."
The idea of using a proxy like President Liu Yiming to slowly and gradually build the Lionheart Federation is a plan that President Ahn Dong-gil himself directed the National Intelligence Service to create.
The South Korean government's active support for Leon is due in part to the Heilong People's Republic and its ensuing food security.
The last thing they wanted was for the Orc Continental Federation to take control of Greater China, Korea's main source of food imports.
"Your Majesty, we did manage to capture six countries in Greater China------"
"But it's nothing compared to their federation."
More than forty of the fifty-three nations of Greater China have been swallowed up by the orcs.
Most of the nations that relied on the orcs were quickly annexed.
The Heilong People's Republic was only so easily swallowed because the orcs were unusually weak.
"That's good. We'll just have to put pressure on them gradually, but is it the Lionheart Federation?"
He was mimicking the orcs. Leon arrived at a building with the Templars.
It was a building full of orcs.
"Stop!"
An orc in military uniform halted Leon and Yappy.
"This is the Heilong Defense Ministry building! You can't just let anyone in here- -What?!"
Leon glared at the orc soldiers, his aura unyielding.
His overbearing aura was enough to make most of the creatures unable to breathe.
His opponent is a creature he despises second only to demons, his arch-enemy.
So far, he has allowed the orcs to exist only out of respect for the country's rule of law and its leaders.
"President Liu Yiming has handed over all power to this king. How dare a beast stand in my way?"
The orc soldiers broke out in a cold sweat at Leon's stern gaze. They turned to their radios, waiting for instructions, but the voice on the other end of the line was nervous.
[Stop them somehow! Buy time!]
And the voice was clear to Leon.
"Shallow water------"
Leon smirked and waved, and Yappy swung the wire in a flash.
"Aah!"
"You, you---!"
With the orc soldiers surrounded in a flash, Yappy and Ha-ri entered the Defense Ministry building with the knights following behind them──
"Ugh, look at them!"
There they found the orcs destroying documents.
"Subdue them. They are traitors to the country."
At Leon's command, the Templars quickly overpowered the orcs.
The Templars are armed with Legendary Stardust weapons. The orcs and Ministry of Defense employees were no match for them, but──
-Kwah!
The wall collapsed, revealing a huge orc.
The orc was fully armed, wielding an axe as big as my own.
"You bastards! Where are we?"
"General Groom---!"
Ha-ri drew her sword in front of Leon. He had brought the Templars with him in anticipation of a conflict, but the orc general in front of him was wary.
"Please obey our orders, we are authorized by His Excellency President Liu Yiming!"
"Shut up, you little bitch!"
General Groom's belligerent voice shut Ha-ri up.
Indeed, the legendary Orc General of the Heilong People's Republic. The one who took control of the Ministry of Defense by force of arms, staged a coup, and ran for president.
"Organize your things. Lord Spinner is coming with his luggage."
-Bam!
"Your Majesty?!"
Ha-ri exclaimed, only to see Yappy jumping from the top of her head to follow Leon.
"My opponent is General Groom, an S-class Hunter! I'm supposed to face him alone?!"
Ha-ri, who was left alone, looked at Yappy, hoping that he would stay behind, but Leon's tone was nonchalant.
"If you have the honor to carry the heart of the Orc Undertaker, Duke of Renia, then give the beast a proper burial."
Ha-ri opened her mouth to speak, but no more words came out because Groom's movement to swing the ax at Leon's back was blocked.
-Kaang!
Axe and sword clashed, and the hulking orc and the slender girl engaged in a power struggle.
"Get out of here, bitch!"
"Ew, ew!"
Leon followed Yappy through the corridors of the building where orcs and human soldiers scurried about.
"Tsk, tsk. No matter how virtuous a soldier is, he's still loyal to a bunch of honorless brutes."
-Good?
"What do you mean?"
-General Groom. Heilong People's Bureau's highest-ranking hunter. Ha-ri. It's a mess.
"That's a pretty poor assessment."
-The Data Never Lies.
I suppose you could say that. Groom, the Gate Hero of the Heilong People's Republic, is a worn and tattered S-class Hunter, and Ha-ri is the youngest, having only been promoted to S-class less than a year ago.
"She may be a kid, but she's a knight who traveled with this king on his demon hunts. She's got talent."
Following Yappy down the stairs, a few orcs try to stop them, but Yappy easily subdues them with a wire.
They arrived at the server room and Yappy was just about to capture an employee who was about to burn the server room to the ground.
"Besides, Han Ha-ri's heart is against the orcs..."
-Bam!
The ceiling collapsed and something crashed down with it.
"Hmph, hmph, hmph!"
It was the gasping Ha-ri and the charred orc general, whose breath seemed to be stuck.
"Yi, I win------"
"Well done."
Leon remembered the Ancestral War, before Vulcanus, and the Saint of Flame, how they had burned the Green Wave in their war against the orcs.
"Well, I wouldn't hope for much more than that------"
Inwardly, he was looking forward to it.
"Lord Spinner. How long will it take?"
-Seven seconds.
Yappy transformed his mechanical arm and accessed the server room. It took four seconds for Yappy to secure all the data on the independent servers in the building. It took three seconds to analyze everything.
-The last six months of data. Something strange.
"What is that?"
-The Ragnarok Plan. There's a link to a specific defense lab in the Jilin Republic.
The Jilin Republic is the country that invaded the Heilong People's Republic after an orc coup in the past.
The orcs hadn't been as strong as they had been since Yappy himself took matters into his own hands and slaughtered them.
"Hmph. So much for selling out the country."
Still, it's a country redeemed, but is it too much to hope for patriotism from beasts?
-I will dispatch an emergency response force immediately.
"Do as your lordship wishes."
Yappy immediately sent word, and the water in the middle of the Yellow Sea shook and the missiles began to surge.
* * * * *
-Kuwaaaaaaaaaaah!!!
Inside the missiles shaking wildly. Koo Dae-sung was nervous to say the least about the ride.
"Hehe, Lord Koo Dae-sung, why are you so serious?"
Lord Raihar of the Burning Sword Knights was picking at his jerky without wearing a seatbelt.
"This, this--- is it safe?"
The knight transport missile, fired from a Dominator-class submarine, was currently traveling through the stratosphere.
Soaring into space at Mach 20, carrying five knights, and then plummeting into an apocalyptic orbit didn't seem safe, even if it was an empty word.
"Well, I don't care if it's not safe, it's the best ride I've ever had."
"It's not safe?!"
Koo Dae-Sung asks in disbelief, and Raihar shrugs his shoulders.
"Sometimes you fall off, but don't worry. If you land well, you won't get hurt."
Koo Dae-sung's complexion paled even more at the mention of one in twenty.
"What, are you sure you're okay?"
"What's not to be okay? Lord Vulcanus can soar into space and fall and still be fine."
"Ah------"
Vulcanus has been known to soar to the stratosphere and back down again and again, and he never heard of him getting hurt.
"Is that a relief──?"
The room tilted sharply and Koo Dae-sung realized that the missile was falling.
I know it's safe, but it's still scary. Then again, he'd been to amusement parks as a kid and couldn't ride a roller coaster.
"Boo, Lord Vulcanus!"
"Huh? What?"
"Where is Sir Vulcanus and what is he doing!"
Regret flashes through him as the missile accelerates, so he curses the one who isn't here.
"I heard he's going to claim a piece of land he's been eyeing for a vacation home!"
"What?!"
On the way down, Koo Dae-sung looked at the screeching, shattered steel plates of the missile and shuddered.
It's safe! It's safe!
A part of the missile shell broke off and disintegrated in real time, and red flames could be seen in the distance.
-GRARARARARARA──!
The 'airspace' was so far away that even the Holy Knights couldn't see it. From there, with a booming laugh, the falling Holy Knight of War came into view.