[Rok-Hagenti front, portal entrance.]

[Master, urgent news. The adventurers led by Lily have captured Orias’s dungeon.]

"Good work. Nobody got hurt, right?"

[Of course not. We were ready to send in the Flare Pantera if things got hairy, but they really lived up to their reputation as dungeon-clearing pros. Bit cocky, though.]

"Just let it slide. Those folks have been making a living off their blades. The fact that nobody got hurt is enough."

While we were biding our time, news of victory came rolling in from one of the fronts.

The Flauros army, with Shaitan as advisor, had successfully repelled the invaders using the Flare Pantera, and riding that momentum, the human adventurers took point and stormed Orias’s dungeon.

’I deliberately sent them to the weakest spot, so that’s a relief.’

Maybe it was because they all had experience clearing dungeons, but they took down Orias’s dungeon with no trouble at all. Flauros was probably getting a system window asking him to decide what to do with Orias right about now.

[There’s one problem.]

"...What is it?"

All sorts of scenarios flashed through my head. Shaitan’s voice was serious, and my chest tightened with worry.

"Was there nothing stockpiled in the dungeon? No high-grade magic stones? Were they spies from another faction? Or did we hit the jackpot?"

[Calm down. First of all, there’s plenty of treasure and magic stones. They had a sizable amount of stuff piled up in storage. The adventurers are sorting through the high-grade magic stones right now.]

Shaitan’s calm voice helped me catch my breath and settle down. If too much loot was the problem, well, that was a real problem.

"Make sure to keep an eye on those adventurers so they don’t pocket anything."

[Already on it. We’ve dispatched some of the Flare Pantera. Lily will keep watch until they arrive.]

"Lily’s solid."

Greed at the sight of valuables. As long as the adventurers were humans and not demons, they’d naturally develop misplaced ambitions when they saw mountains of treasure.

’Lily craves power more than money, though.’

What good would it do to skim a little gold or a few magic stones off the top? As long as the legion’s economy didn’t run on currency, the most they’d get out of it would be some seed money to flee the legion and settle down somewhere else.

’And that becomes their fare for the afterlife.’

Anyone who steals loot gets the death penalty.

Lily knows my character. I know what’s in Lily’s heart, too. Lily isn’t the kind of small-minded person who’d tear up the big picture she’s painting just to grab some petty treasure right in front of her.

"Baroness Lily Virgo, huh... heh heh."

Lily isn’t from a baronial bloodline. But there are countless ways to earn a baronetcy. The preparations for it are coming together steadily at Spica Castle.

’It doesn’t have to be Lily, of course.’

She actively wanted it, made her case for it, and now she’s pulled off this brilliant feat of capturing Orias’s dungeon. She deserved a reward to match.

"The treasure goes to Ras Vegas. Eila will handle the disposal. Sort the magic stones at the main base. If there are any high-grade ones, secure them right away."

[Understood. But Master, there’s one real problem.]

"Now what?"

[Orias escaped.]

For a moment, my brain just stopped. I seriously considered whether the word "escape" I knew might mean something different from the word "escape" Shaitan was using.

"Are you telling me Orias abandoned his dungeon and bolted?"

[Yes. He used his subordinates to buy time and ran off alone. We found a secret passage, but it looks like he escaped a long time ago.]

"That son of a bitch."

Like with Gremory, if I keep recognizing Orias as the dungeon master, even after his territory’s been occupied, the dead subordinates can be brought back to life.

But to abandon them entirely and flee? That was genuinely insane, using his subordinates as meat shields and saving only his own hide.

"Did anyone survive? I want to get a sketch of that bastard’s face and put him on our legion’s blacklist."

[None. Every single one of them is dead. Because he abandoned the dungeon... the choice for the [Orias] name has been transferred to Flauros.]

"Damn it. So now we have to go around shouting ’looking for the guy who used to be Orias and abandoned his subordinates to escape!’ to flush him out. Rotten bastard."

If I ever find him, I’ll definitely break him on the wheel. I chewed on the name Orias inwardly and gave Shaitan instructions.

"We’ll handle the accounting on the name and Orias’s true motives for fleeing after all the dungeon raids are done. Tch, this isn’t how I wanted to learn what happens when a dungeon master runs away."

I felt a little bad for Orias’s lizardman subordinates, but it couldn’t be helped. They just picked the wrong master, so I could only pray they’d be reborn under a lord like me in their next life.

"Gremory’s side isn’t done yet, right?"

[No. They seem to still be in the thick of it. Has the bond summon been used to send in any orc riders?]

"No, not yet."

She’d gone to a completely different dungeon, so it was taking some time to assess the battle situation. But considering no subordinates had died yet and she hadn’t requested any "reserves," it looked like Gremory had the upper hand.

’I might end up coming in last at this rate.’

Even though my opponent was ranked 48th, I’d adjusted my forces accordingly. Was I really going to wrap up the seizure battle last despite having the strongest forces?

’Can’t have that.’

Gremory would be insufferable if she succeeded in her conquest first, and there was no telling how cocky she’d get in bed. Sure, I was kind of looking forward to that, but even against a reincarnated Gremory, I had to take the lead.

"I need to clear my dungeon before Gremory and use it against her. Shaitan, go support Gremory’s side. I’ll get started now."

[May you all return safely without a single injury.]

Click. I cut the connection with Shaitan. I cleared my throat, turned around, and headed back to the formation the cookie elves had set up.

"Sorry! It was my wife calling!"

"An orc with a wife? How impudent!"

"Says the minotaur prick who clearly can’t get married, is going bald, and is sleeping alone. The second we resume talking, you go off?"

BOOM BOOM BOOM!

The golden-armored minotaur, Hagenti, stomped his foot on the ground to vent his rage.

"I appreciate you waiting while I talked to my wife, but does that mean you have to get jealous of another man’s woman?"

"Your woman? Hah, she’ll be mine! That bitch you were just talking to, I’ll use her as my bedroom slave!"

"This piece of shit?"

Damn it. A swear slipped out before I could stop it. Lune and Luna were right next to me, along with the other cookie elves, so I had to watch my language.

’If you start cursing, you’ve already lost.’

There were plenty of ways to get under someone’s skin without using profanity.

’In siege warfare, taunting your opponent into losing his cool is basics 101.’

So even if I was getting Hagenti riled up, I couldn’t let myself get angry and make bad calls.

"Bwahaha, bringing along a black elf and a white elf, one on each side! Such luxury for an orc! I’ll sit them on either side of me and have them suck my third horn!"

WHOOSH!

A hammer flew over Hagenti’s head. Hagenti ducked just in time, and the hammer sailed through the air past him.

I wondered where the hammer had come from, only to realize my hand was empty.

"Oops. Slipped right out."

My hand had moved faster than my mouth.

"Sorry, girls. Lost my weapon."

"No, it’s fine. We can just kill him."

"Just say the word. Or hey, should I just shoot a Luna Cannon at him like you did?"

Lune, Luna, and I were barely keeping a grip on our sanity. Maybe it was because the legion was called the Legion of Wrath, but even though I knew it was cheap provocation, I kept feeling rage bubbling up.

"I don’t like the dungeon layout, I don’t like the species. The dungeon masters are all garbage too. Fine. We’ll make this a sub-dungeon. Every single day, we’ll come in, snap minotaur necks, and chop off their horns."

Shaitan said she had thoughts on what to do with Hagenti’s name, but how could I just sit still after insults like that? What Hagenti had done was the kind of atrocity that you couldn’t endure without taking it out on the entire minotaur species.

"Bwahaha! Scared, are you?! Hand over the elves now and I might let you live! The way you’re dressed up is screaming for me to come look at your bodies!"

"Hah. We’ve got our formation set up, so now you’re trying to lure us out since you can’t strike first. Like that’s not obvious."

If we gave up the defensive advantage and charged first, we’d be at a disadvantage. But if we just sat tight, the cookie elves would be stewing in their anger.

’We need to land a hit.’

I needed a way to piss off Hagenti enough that they’d be the ones charging at our formation first.

"Lune, Luna. One of you needs to help me out."

Hagenti’s taunts were definitely making me angry, but I had to flip those taunts around to make Hagenti charge into our formation first.

"You got a plan? Just say the word. I can snipe his heart like an arrow."

"Tell me. If the mission is to cut out Hagenti’s tongue, I’ll take it."

"...I think both of you could probably do it."

I pulled them both close and whispered.

"The answer is Ras."

***

"Hahaha, did you see that? They got so pissed they retreated into their formation."

"Boss. Every one of those elves is itching to put an arrow in you."

"That’s because they all want to get pierced by my horn. What do you think a dark elf is? They’re basically walking around announcing ’I’m not a virgin, I’ve been violated by demons.’ Total perverts. Look at how they’re dressed."

Hagenti pointed at the dark elves who still had their bows trained on him from atop the formation. They were all covered in black cloth except for their chests and groins.

"They’re protecting the chest area and below with black leather. Just flaunting their bodies right out in the open. Heh, if they think they can fluster us with their sex appeal and cloud our judgment, they’ve got another thing coming. Right?"

"Hearing you talk, Boss, makes me want to eat ’em up even more."

"Yeah, that’s normal."

The dark elves’ outfits were brazenly stoking the minotaurs’ lust for conquest. Their preconceived notions about dark elves, prejudiced or not, also played a big part in stirring up their carnal desires.

"The dark elf with the biggest tits, and the only white high elf, those two are mine. The rest are yours to use however you want."

"Boss, I’ve been dreaming of eating an elf for ages."

"Which way?"

"Both, heh heh."

While Hagenti and the minotaurs traded their crude remarks about the elves, the orc commander of the elves climbed atop the firmly closed wooden palisade.

THUD!

A railing on one side of the watchtower broke. As a result, the watchtower was now exposed from head to toe. The orc stood on the open platform and lifted his head proudly.

"Hagenti. You cannot be part of our legion."

"Heh heh, that’s the privilege of the strong. And that’s not you, lowly orc."

"Whether I’m lowly or not, you’ll find out for yourself."

FWOOSH!

The orc spread his robe wide to either side. The robe, which had been pierced by the dark elves’ arrows, billowed out behind him, and Hagenti felt nausea rising as he took in the orc’s appearance.

"Fuck."

The orc, like the dark elves, was wearing tight black clothing that hugged his body. Hagenti cursed his exceptionally sharp eyes for a moment.

He saw it, of all things.

"You filthy bastard!"

"You think it ends with just this?"

The orc smiled crookedly and clapped his hands. The wind that had been making his robe flutter stopped, and two elves came to stand on either side of him. A white elf and a black elf. The two elves Hagenti had picked out for himself.

"This is the dignity of a queen, the one who leads the elves."

"Pfft."

"Hee hee."

The two elves laughed as they knelt before the orc. Hagenti’s blood was boiling.

"I should be the one over there..."

The two elves were submitting to the orc. Hagenti vowed he’d capture them alive and make them do the same thing in front of the orc.

"Heh, what’s just kneeling supposed to..."

Hagenti’s words caught in his throat. The orc spread his robe wide to either side, wrapping the two elves inside. There was a small gap in front, but it was too dark to see anything unless you got up close.

Slip, slip.

A sound, like something coming down. The minotaurs’ ears perked up.

Slurp.

A sound, like something being licked. The minotaurs swallowed audibly.

Slurp, slurp, slurp, ahhh.

"Th-that’s gotta be..."

Slip.

The two elves hidden under the robe slowly poked their heads out. As if showing off to the minotaurs, the two elves were pressing a thick, rod-like thing between their cheeks, wearing the most blissful smiles imaginable.

Smooch.

The two elves licked the rod from both sides and then closed the robe again. The orc, arms folded, tilted his head back and sneered at Hagenti.

"You’ll have them suck your third horn? Sorry, that’s not happening."

The orc waved his palm in front of his face and gave a crooked grin.

"They’re a little busy sucking my dick right now."