The one who spoke to me is among the five who step out of the circle to face me. They are each wielding weapons, three only have two weapons and the remaining two have four. However, I notice that their weapons are poorly made and are not enchanted at all.

  With that being the case, I doubt that they can even hurt me with those weapons. Their armor is also subpar, it is made from the hide of beasts, but it is poorly made. I am going to have to hold back and not hit them with my full strength or I might kill them accidentally.

  ??? says “Draw your weapon and we will begin.”

  “If I draw my weapon you will all die. It is better if I fight unarmed, that way you have a chance to survive.”

  ??? says “Death in combat is our way. If you kill us, it will prove your strength and the rest of the tribe will submit to you.”

  “Dying just to prove something is pointless. If you want to die, it would be better to die while killing demons! Although, with that equipment I very much doubt that you could kill a demon. However, that is easily fixed once you join us. Now, come! Show me what you are capable of and then we can move on to more important things.”

  ??? says “Fine, let’s see if you are as strong as you think you are!”

  The five of them charge at me, their movements are simple but expertly performed. They move in such a way that they can cover each other easily and yet not get in each other’s way. I, on the other hand, keep perfectly still and let the five of them approach me.

  They quickly surround me and then they attack in unison, but I still don’t move my feet. All I move is my hands, yet I am fast enough to block all of the attacks launched at me. Even though I am blocking their weapons barehanded, I don’t take any damage from them.

  I let them attack me for a full minute, only blocking their attacks with my hands. During that minute, the looks of confidence on their faces fade away, first turning to surprise and then to despair. After the minute is up I finally attack them back, hitting each one once in the stomach.

  I only used about ten percent of my strength, but even so each of the five warriors goes flying back. They are caught by the watching crowd and I am glad to see that all of them are still breathing. Luckily, since I don’t consider them enemies, their wounds start visibly healing.

  It only takes a minute or two for the five warriors to be able to get back on their feet. Once they are all recovered, the warrior I have been speaking with steps forward again. He then bows to me and the rest of the tribe follows his lead, even the women and children.

  ??? says “King Ash, the ogre tribe swears its allegiance to you!”

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  The rest of the tribe echoes his words as they bow to me, this was easier than expected. After that, I sit down with the whole tribe and tell them about my plans for the beastmen. When I get to the available options and jobs, they aren’t interested in any of them.

  The entire tribe is only interested in joining the army, they only care about getting stronger. After hearing that, I use my medallion to contact Leonarr and ask if the training base is able to handle a sudden influx. His reply is that they can be ready for the tribe by tomorrow, which is better than I had hoped.

  Leonarr says “Your Majesty, we have run into something of a problem.”

  “Oh, what is it?”

  Leonarr says “A lot of the cities in the empire are fortified and we ran into trouble taking one because we don’t have any siege weapons.”

  “Ah, I didn’t think of that. Some of the elven craftsmen have experience with building siege weapons for the ship. I will contact Stillwater and have him get them working on some for you.”

  Leonarr says “Thank you, Your Majesty!”

  “I should have thought of it when I changed your orders. For now, just do what you can. Is the city in a strategic location?”

  Leonarr says “Yes, it is.”

  “In that case, after I bring the ogres to the training camp tomorrow, I will come help you take the city.”

  Leonarr says “Understood!”

  After ending the conversation with Leonarr, I tell the ogres to be prepared to relocate tomorrow. Come to think of it, we are going to need to make weapons and armor for the ogres as well. It looks like we are going to need to ramp up our production in several areas.

  It is too bad that most of the summoned crafters chose to go home, we could use them right now. We might be able to find some crafters among the refugees and there should be plenty in Mercy’s kingdom. We will just have to figure it out, but it shouldn’t be too hard to get things in motion.

  I next contact Stillwater and discuss the need for siege engines to be produced. Considering we will also need them for the defenses I want to build on the land bridge, I tell him to build a full workshop. He tells me that the crafters shouldn’t be a problem, but they will need a lot more lumber.

  Lumber is easily arranged, all it takes is a quick conversation with Pol and he will handle it. Then I contact Sarah and explain the need for crafters to provide equipment for the military. She tells me that even without the summoned it won’t be a problem and she will handle it.

  “Thanks. How is it going with Haab and Gruu?”

  Sarah says “It is going well. I am confident that they will both join us. Even more so now that I can tell them that the ogre tribe has joined us. That is going to be a huge factor in dealing with the rest of the tribes. From what I know, the ogre tribe is highly respected for their strength.”

  “Yeah, I have heard the same. That is why I came to recruit them. Soon, the cat clans are going to regret trying to pressure me instead of coming and asking to join us on their own.”

  Sarah says “Are you planning to punish them once they join?”

  “Nope. I will use pressure to get them to join, but after they join they will be treated just like everyone else.”

  Sarah says “In that case, what’s the plan once the beastmen are unified?”

  “We will conquer the empire.”

  Sarah says “What about The Free Union?”

  “I am fairly confident that they will join us willingly once we have unified the rest of the peninsula, if not before.”

  Sarah says “I can’t wait to see if you are right. At least things will be interesting for a while. When are you going to come speak with Haab and Gruu?”

  “I will be moving the ogres to the training camp tomorrow. After that I have a quick errand to run, but I can come talk with them after that.”

  Sarah says “Alright, sounds good.”