Chapter 396
"No matter what, you have to look forward, Leeteuk."
"Well..." Lite lowered his head, not knowing what he was thinking.
After a while, Orson came downstairs. At this time, Olivia was sitting in the living room. When she saw Orson coming down, she stood up and greeted him.
"Orson, I have to go back today."
"Ah? Why don't you stay a few more days?" Orson said, looking at Olivia in confusion.
"No more." Olivia shook her head. "I received a letter from home. I have to go back to deal with something. I quite like staying here, but I can't help it."
"Well, since it's your family's wish, there's really nothing we can do about it." Upon hearing this, Orson could only express regret. "Then stay here and have a meal tonight?"
"No, I'll leave right away."
"Are you so anxious?" Orson asked doubtfully.
Did something urgent happen at Olivia's family and she had to rush back?
Thinking this way, Orson couldn't help but worry about Olivia.
"I'm sorry." Olivia said this, as if to express her apology. She put her hands on Orson's shoulders, then stood up slightly on her tiptoes and kissed Orson lightly on the lips.
This time, Orson was a little unresponsive. After a while, Orson subconsciously touched the corners of his lips.
"Wait...when school starts...I, I will make it up to you." With that said, Olivia Hong
Turn away with a stern face.
"It doesn't matter, the family must still be the main focus now, I can understand it." Orson explained hurriedly. "There's no need to feel guilty..."
On the other side, the maid Vivian stood at the door of the kitchen, looking at the intimate behavior of the two, with a happy smile on her face.
…
"Randall." Sitting in the study, Mary looked at the middle-aged man standing respectfully at the door and asked.
"Mrs. Mary, please speak."
"Has your time for activities decreased recently?"
"Ah, madam, what you said is true..." Randall nodded. "Recently, Master Orson has been responsible for taking care of the master's daily life. This is the master's request, so our servants have no chance to come into contact with the master."
"I always feel..." Mary said, expressing her guess. "Sir, is he not feeling well?"
"Madam, why do you say that? I went to the front line to comfort the soldiers some time ago."
"But, I always have a bad feeling in my heart." Mary said, frowning. "Master, why did he let Orson take care of him alone? Is there anything between the two of them that he wants to hide from the family?"
"Madam, you may be overthinking." Randall comforted. "I guess it's just because the master likes Master Orson very much that he asked Master Orson to stay with him and take care of him."
"After all, Master Orson has been with me longer than we have."
Mary only married Lucius when Orson was ten years old. In terms of time, it was indeed not as long as Orson stayed with Lucius.
"Then if that's the case, why not let Butler Albert stay with him to take care of him?"
"Maybe Mr. Butler is old."
Although Randall kept trying to alleviate Mary's inner doubts, it only made Mary more suspicious that there was definitely an ulterior secret between Lucius and Orson, which was probably related to family inheritance and power distribution.
"Randall, you are the only servant I brought from the Duke of Orleans. You have been with me for so long. You know, you are the only one I trust in this family." Mary said this and looked at Randall. .
"Yes, I am very honored to have your trust, madam." Randall saluted Mary respectfully after hearing this.
"So, there are some things that I can only tell you, and I will tell you. I hope you won't tell them."
Randall nodded and looked at Mary.
Then, Mary spoke and told Randall what she thought.
"I want to hold the power of this family in my hands."
"But... madam, Master Orson and Master Leeteuk are both good and bad. No matter who inherits the title, they are not mediocre people. It is still very difficult to snatch the power of the family from them. Especially since you told me before..."
"Master Osun and Master Li Te are probably still on the same front."
"That's right." Mary nodded. "But the inheritance rights are not limited to just the two of them."
As she said this, she touched her belly.
Seeing Mary's actions, Randall looked shocked.
"Madam...don't you think..."
"Yeah." Mary said this with a hint of complaint in her tone. "There is no other way. After all, Orson is unwilling to cooperate with me, and Li Te has been led by Orson. If he wants to get power, I can only make this decision."
"So, Randall, we are on the same front now. I can't help you even if you don't help me."
"..." Randall's expression changed again and again, and finally nodded. "Everything is at your command, madam."
…
On the other side, the desert.
It has been some time since the orcs completely retreated into the desert.
And because it retreated the slowest, Balu's army only returned to its tribe today.
When he was still some distance away from the tribe, a pungent smell of blood reached Balu's nose.
He frowned and suddenly felt bad, and then quickly ordered the army to speed up. Finally in the morning, Balu's orc army saw the tribe's wooden wall.
Before entering the tribe, Balu saw a shocking scene.
On the wooden wall at the entrance of the tribe, half of the brown wall was stained red with blood.
Many corpses lay scattered at the entrance of the tribe, and a hill was built up.
The scene in front of me could only be the work of other orcs.
Humans cannot enter the desert, and Balu knows this.
As for the specific tribes of orcs, Balu also had a clear idea. They were the group of orcs that he suppressed with strong methods at that time. They were deeply resentful of him, so they took advantage of this opportunity to attack their own tribe.
At this moment, the other orcs were still confused about the situation, thinking that humans had entered the desert, which made them angry and scared.
They are angry because humans are attacking their young, old, women and children, but they are afraid that if the human army can march into the desert, then their last line of defense will be gone.
Balu looked at the army following him, and he made a decision in his heart.
Since other tribes are unkind, don't blame Balu for being unjust.
With this in mind, he called the soldiers together.
"Warriors! Our tribe has been attacked." After the army gathered together, Balu began his speech to mobilize the emotions of the soldiers.
"They are not humans, but orcs from other tribes who fought with us some time ago!"
As Balu finished these words, the audience was in an uproar.
"Yes, you heard it right. We made a rule at the beginning of our development. The more we fight, the more we gain. We have sacrificed thousands of soldiers, and we deserve the huge amount of loot!"
"As a result, those greedy guys were jealous of our wealth. After they escaped on the battlefield, before I could settle the accounts with them, they invaded our tribe first, killed our relatives, and took away what was originally ours. something.”
"We can't just let them go!" Balu said, raising his arms and shouting. "Fighters, come with me and fight back!"
"Kill back!" In the audience, the emotions of other orc warriors were also aroused at this moment. The low morale caused by the defeat and retreat was instantly swept away, and everything turned into a passion for revenge.
After the speech, Balu walked off the stage and looked at the old orc who was chatting with him before.
"Old senior, this is enough, right?"
"Yeah." The old orc nodded. "The orcs need a king, a king who can unite all the orcs, and you are just the right person to be that person."
At this moment, in the desert, other orc tribes were also fighting over the uneven distribution of spoils. It was hard to imagine that such a large joint group turned against each other instantly after disbanding.
…
Seven days later, at the border between humans and orcs, a man in a white cloak appeared on the edge of the desert.
He raised his head, glanced at the wind and sand in the desert, then looked back at the city behind him, and then took his own steps towards the depths of the desert.
The reason why humans do not enter the desert is because of the special wind and sand climate in the desert.
In this windy and sandy climate, ordinary human soldiers are extremely susceptible to respiratory infections, which can reduce their combat effectiveness and even lose their lives.
The deeper you go into the desert, the more frequent this kind of windy and sandy weather occurs, and in the most severe cases it can even block out the sky and the sun.
At the same time, with the deepening of exploration, the harm of desert wind and sand to the human body is getting stronger and stronger.
Even high-level experts had to spend energy on protection when facing such windy and sandy weather. Under such harsh conditions, it was difficult for humans to survive, let alone fight.
Humanity had previously sent an army of 20,000 people deep into the desert in an attempt to annihilate the orcs, but failed. In the end, this army lost contact with the human side before it could penetrate deep into the desert. In the end, not even a tenth of the people who escaped returned were alive. , and they all suffered from lung disease to some extent and could not live a normal life at all.
For this reason, humans have always stayed away from deserts.
The strange thing is that the impact of the wind and sand in the desert on the orcs is almost negligible.
Orcs regard the desert as their natural barrier and usually come out of the desert to attack the border.
But as long as humans send out armies to encircle and suppress themselves, the orcs will retreat to the depths of the desert, waiting for the wind and sand to repel the human army.
And the person who headed against the wind and sand to the depths of the desert was none other than Orson.
Time goes back to a month ago, when help from the Imperial College arrived, Tris brought a gift to Orson.
"This suit of clothes is enchanted with runes that prevent wind and sand. It has a miraculous effect on the climate in the desert. Wearing this suit of clothes, you can go into the desert without worrying about the damage of wind and sand." Tris said.
"But, Teacher Tris, why did you give me this?" Orson looked at Tris and asked doubtfully.
"Don't you want to know the real reason?" Tris said, looking at Orson with a smile. "About the desert
The reasons for its formation, and why the wind and sand are effective only on creatures other than orcs. "
"Teacher Tris, do you know the reason behind this?"
"Have you forgotten my race? I am a witch with a long lifespan." Triss said, knocking on the table. "Although I can't guarantee that my professional knowledge is better than Orson, when it comes to gossip and various rumors, don't underestimate someone who is older than your grandfather!"
"Is it really okay for you to say your age so directly..." Orson complained helplessly.
"Ahem, anyway, in my memory, someone once explored the secrets of the desert. It is said that there is a palace deep in the desert. The orcs use it as a place to worship their gods. There may be the reason for the formation of the desert there."
"Then why don't you go there yourself, teacher?" Orson asked.
"Of course it's because the orcs have little to do with me." Triss answered as a matter of course. "And for Orson, you are the one who wants to solve the orc problem the most, right? Don't you want to go to the desert to take a look?"
To be honest, Orson did want to go there to take a look. After all, he designed the orcs to cause internal strife, and he also wanted to see how effective it is now.
In addition, if we can really understand the reasons for the formation of the desert and find a way to control the wind and sand, it seems that the threat of the orcs can be eliminated in one fell swoop.
"Okay." Orson nodded after hearing this, and then took the clothes from Triss.
This set of clothes looks like a white windproof cloak, nothing special to praise, but Triss told him that it has a miraculous effect on wind and sand, so Orson can only go into the desert with the idea of giving it a try.
As Orson went deeper and deeper into the desert, the wind and sand around him became stronger and stronger, but except for slightly blocking his vision, Orson did not feel anything else.
In other notes about exploring the desert, when encountering wind and sand, even if it is very small, the human body will react strongly.
It seems that this clothes really works.
Thinking of this, Orson quickened his pace.
No one has ever drawn a map of the desert. Orson plans to find an orc tribe first and ask for information about the desert from the orc tribe.
…
It was unknown how long it had been since Orson entered the desert. He only knew that he was a little tired when a wooden wall of a tribe appeared in front of him.
At this moment, the wind and sand had stopped and no longer blocked his sight.
Orson approached the tribe and tightened his collar.
In his opinion, the orcs would definitely not welcome humans, so he planned to knock out an orc and take him away, forcing him to be his guide.
But when Orson came to the edge of the tribe and climbed up the wooden wall to look into the tribe, he was surprised.
At this moment, the tribe was not the green-skinned orcs on the battlefield, nor were they like the tauren who still retained a lot of original racial characteristics.
The people in this tribe were all half-orcs.
Like the half-orc girl code-named Lion that he met in the imperial city before, the half-orcs here were all of a race that looked almost the same as humans, but had animal ears and tails.