With the end of the meal came the end of their break.
Although many had enjoyed themselves despite the previous tension, it was time to return to serious matters.
"I have a question."
"Go ahead, Rigurd." Rimuru pointed at him.
"Rimuru-sama, with 200,000 Orc soldiers, how are they keeping them fed? What are they doing for food?"
"For that question, I have the answer." Zaydas said. "From what I've seen, they are eating those they kill along the way, even their own fallen Orcs. That made me think that their leader is an Orc Lord with the [Starved] ability."
Summarizing the conversation that followed Zaydas's revelation: the Orc Lord is a unique monster with powerful command abilities over the orcs. It appears once every few hundred years. Bringing violence to the world, a dreadful monster. And it seems to possess the unique ability [Starved].
This ability, granted to its subordinates as well, allows them to eat anything and everything in sight. A truly terrifying skill.
Zaydas, tapping his fingers on the table, said, "Rimuru."
"Yes!?"
"There's no reason to keep thinking about it. I know it might be ideal to form an alliance with other monster groups like the Lizardmen, however, I disagree."
"May I ask why?"
"It's actually quite simple." Zaydas replied. "I can't trust an unknown group, nor do I believe they'll be of much help. In fact, I only see them being more of a hindrance than an aid. Not to mention…"
"Huh?"
"We are strong." Zaydas looked directly at him. "I know you overestimate yourself a little. However, think about why you gained this human form and what one person with those powers alone could do. Now, multiply that, since you have abilities that transcend even those."
"But…"
"I know, I'm not saying you should get rid of all of them. As I said, I could easily handle half of them myself, but I won't do that."
"Why not?"
Zaydas calmly answered, "I want to allow my subordinates to have their revenge."
"Zaydas-sama…" The Onis looked at him, their eyes shining.
Rimuru gave in and said, "Then… Let's do it this way: my group will deal with half of the Orcs, and yours with the other half, but let's prioritize killing the Orc Lord. What do you think?"
"Fine by me." Zaydas smiled.
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Leveling the ground in their wake, the Orc army advanced toward the forest.
Trample them! Trample them! Trample them! Trample them!
As they raised their voices, their eyes gleaming, the Orc army advanced toward the forest. There wasn't a single normal thought in their minds. Everything their eyes saw was food. They were always hungry, and only the desire to eat kept them moving forward.
*Collapse*
Once again, a comrade fell… But they were overjoyed. More food! They thought.
Normally, he was their dear comrade. Now, he was just a piece of meat to be eaten. He was still breathing, but to them, that only meant the meat was fresh.
The lucky ones nearby immediately began dismantling the corpse. The liver was reserved for the squad leader, but the rest was up for grabs.
*Guchaguchaguchagucha*
A repulsive sound reverberated through the land. The eternal hunger. And their strength grows the hungrier they are. That is the effect of the unique ability [Starved].
As long as they continue eating their fallen comrades, as long as their hunger remains unsatisfied, their strength will keep increasing. They are the army of 200,000 orcs. Under the control of the Orc Lord, an army marching through the hell of hunger.
Never seeing salvation. Only marching to satisfy their hunger. Never being able to satiate it… An endless hell.
───────────
The preparations for war had begun, including the production of equipment and armor.
However, not everyone would be leaving. Only the most powerful Goblins and Rimuru's wolves would go.
Meanwhile, Zaydas was bringing the Onis with him, a force to be reckoned with.
Zaydas said, "The decisive battle will take place in the swamps."
Rimuru agreed and declared, "I will establish a network through [Telepathic Communication] so that we can all participate and issue orders as needed. Rigur will remain with the remaining goblins and be responsible for defending the village!"
Everyone agreed; no one objected.
Zaydas and Souei created silk threads to make clothing and armor. Rimuru could also produce steel threads and sticky threads, which contributed to the creation of clothing and armor.
The armor for the main forces was entrusted to the dwarves.
Shuna, skilled in making clothes, took charge of that. Some interested goblinas, like Haruna, joined her to learn and develop their skills under Shuna's guidance.
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In the mansion he had created a few days earlier, Zaydas lay down on the bed. He made sure to inform everyone that he was going to sleep, so he didn't want to be disturbed until the next morning.
'Now that I stop to think about it, this will be the first war I'll be participating in…'
Even though it was true, he didn't dwell on it too deeply. Getting up, Zaydas used Dimensional Jump to INN.
...
When he appeared, only a few minutes had passed.
Adjusting the time flow of the dimensions, now allowing him to stay longer in INN, he began planning.
Part of him wanted to call Shizue, but on the other hand, he wanted to give her some peace, away from conflicts.
'Maybe I'll take Asia with me,' he thought, considering naming her while in TSSDK.
But before deciding, he intended to stay in this dimension for at least 10 days. With the change in time flow, not even an entire night would have passed in TSSDK. That was the good part of spending AP to have the right to make this kind of change.
Not to mention, he was becoming more and more proficient in using Dimensional Jump, even to the point of feeling the flow of time-space.
As he headed toward the fish hatchery, Zaydas approached the sand pile.
Extending his hands, runes appeared as he used telekinesis to make all the sand float. Soon, from the runes, flames emerged, and at the same time, he used Modeling when the sand reached a high temperature, causing it to form glass droplets that were separated by Modeling, creating customized one-liter bottles he would use to store the wine.
The initial process was slow. He had to use the knowledge he had learned from books, and only now was he putting it into practice in a somewhat unorthodox way.
...
Later, Zaydas finished with 23,169 glass bottles. He made sure that each one had a 3D design resembling a golden fruit in a golden color.
'This should last for some time…' he thought as he stored them all in the storage dimension.
Heading to the darkroom, he spent 2 AP this time—first to go through the process before bottling, then to rest in the cellar.
While waiting for time to pass, he went to the cellar to organize the shelves for the new wines.
...
Another 4 AP were spent because he used them to alter the time flow of the cellar after having 900 bottles of golden wine.
'900 bottles… That's a good amount, but…' he thought, 'I want more, much more.'
He enjoyed the feeling of having his own signature wine. Not to mention, being able to bring golden wine whenever he wanted was something he began to crave.
'Alright, I will produce more golden wine!'
The amount of golden fruits was not small, and he had everything necessary to create more.
...
For the next three hours, Zaydas continued producing wine with the golden fruits that had already been harvested. There was enough to make 23 barrels of 100 liters each.
'In this little venture, I spent 17 AP…' Zaydas thought with a strange smile. 'Why does this feel like one of those MMORPGs where you can spend real money to speed up the waiting time for something to be ready?'
The good part was that he only needed to wait for the golden wine in the barrels to rest a little longer before transferring it to the bottles.
'Okay, I've done everything I had to do here. I'll stop by the orchard.'
...
When he arrived at the orchard, his presence was immediately noticed by Rurushi.
Wiping the sweat from her forehead, she smiled as she approached. "Finished everything you had to do?"
"Pretty much," Zaydas replied. "Since I have nothing else to do, I'll help in the orchard."
Asia, Ria, and the elves waved at him, and he waved back.
"What a lively group~" Rurushi said.
Her smiling expression was a bit hard to decipher, but he could feel the sincerity in her words.
"So," Zaydas asked her, "do you think you can get used to this place?"
"Yes, it's a magical place~" she replied with an even brighter smile.
"That's good," Zaydas said. "If you need anything, just let me know."
"Those clothes you made before…"
"Are you interested?"
Rurushi nodded.
"Alright, I'll make some for you and the others," Zaydas replied.
"Thank you~"
Walking away happily with her hands behind her back, Rurushi was almost skipping as she moved.
Smiling a little, Zaydas went to help while also increasing his stock of golden fruits in his storage dimension.
───────────
At night, after dinner, everyone was in the living room playing video games.
"Wow, this is something from another world. Not even nobles have this!" Rurushi said as soon as she saw the video game, along with the other technological things in the house.
At this point, the elves completely agreed.
Meanwhile, Asia remained silent about it. Perhaps this was also the moment she realized the difference between the dimensions.
Touching her head, Zaydas asked, "Are you having fun?"
"Yes, very much~" She smiled cutely.
Well, it had been one of her dreams to be able to plant and make lots of friends.
Since the elves were very welcoming, even Rurushi, Asia felt completely at ease in their presence.
Suddenly, someone fell onto his lap… It was Rurushi, who had been playing a racing game. As she turned, she followed the car's movements and… well, she overdid it and lost her balance, ending up with her head resting on Zaydas's lap.
"S-Sorry," she said, embarrassed, but she still didn't get up.
"It's okay," Zaydas replied, unfazed.
Well, even for him, having a beautiful vampire girl lying with her head on his lap was a bonus.
When Rurushi sat back up, she didn't play like before, and her face had an obvious blush—even her ears were red.
"..." Beside him, Asia had puffed-up cheeks.
"What's this, Asia? Are you imitating a pufferfish?" He laughed, poking her cheek.
"It's nothing…" She turned her face away.
Zaydas chuckled a little, then focused on the TV, watching the girls play.
Besides playing, they were also eating sliced golden fruits.
"By the way, I produced another 900 bottles of wine."
When Zaydas said that, everyone stopped what they were doing.
Then, they all approached him with shining eyes.
"So, so, you can give me a bottle, right?" Risu asked with sparkling eyes.
"I want one too!"
"Me too!"
Beside him, Asia tugged on her shirt. "I really liked the wine…"
Rurushi didn't say anything, but she didn't need to—her eyes staring at him said everything he needed to know.
"Okay, relax, I'll give each of you a bottle later. However," he said, "for now, it will be one bottle per week for personal enjoyment. I'll keep some for myself, and we'll drink a maximum of two per day until I increase the stock. Understood?"
"Yes~!"
"Thank you~"
What he said was even more generous than they had expected. After all, they were talking about the golden wine!
Smiling, he handed a bottle to each of them.
"It's so beautiful~"
Seeing that it was different from the other bottles, they gasped in admiration.
"As you've noticed, these bottles are different. I personally customized them to be the signature brand of our golden wine," Zaydas explained.
As they nodded, some of the elves hugged their golden wine bottles as if they were their lovers.
Seriously, seeing them like that was starting to make Zaydas jealous… Okay, joking aside, he was happy to see their smiles.
...
Later that night, while most were asleep… The elves invaded Zaydas's room.
"We came to repay you for the golden wine~~"
They were all half-naked, wearing only sexy lingerie.
'Is this an invitation for…? I see. I'll do my best.'
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