“You little brat.” Lord Luden chuckled, pointing at Adolf. “Since I know your intentions, can I stop you?”
“You know he doesn’t mean that,” Shao Qian took the bag from Adolf’s hand and handed it to Lord Luden. “This is a pair, take a look.”
Adolf took off his gloves and held them out to Shao Qian. “This old fox never makes a losing deal, we need some assurance from him.”
“Just now Lord Luden already assured us,” Shao Qian lightly tapped Adolf’s forehead and smiled. “He didn’t say he would stop us.”
“But he didn’t say he supports us either, did he?” Adolf was clearly dissatisfied with this ambiguous answer, he looked somewhat displeased at Lord Luden, who was fondling his blade.
“You little brat,” Lord Luden pretended to be annoyed. “Do you think I would go back on my word?”
“Alright, just tell us when we can set off,” Adolf was never polite to Lord Luden. Of course, his lack of courtesy wasn’t entirely without restraint. Adolf wasn’t foolish; he knew how to speak without irritating Lord Luden.
“Within half a month, news of the Zerg Queen will spread across the continent, so take the opportunity to head straight to the desert region,” Lord Luden said seriously, looking at Adolf and Shao Qian. “When you go to the battlefield, you’ll be risking your lives. The zergs won’t show any sympathy for orcs or half-orcs; in their eyes, there’s only food and death.”
“Uncle Luden, I can’t say grand words about protecting the planet’s greater good, and besides, the orcs wouldn’t want a bunch of half-orcs to protect them anyway. What we want is just a chance for the planet to accept half-orcs,” Shao Qian chuckled. “We’re also selfish; we don’t want to live our whole lives in the underground city, and we certainly don’t want future half-orcs to live in hiding.”
“If you’re going, be prepared to die,” Lord Luden’s brows furrowed tightly. “Before orcs go to war, they leave behind a letter. Before you go, have every half-orc write one too, and leave behind an item and where their hometown is. If they die, I’ll have someone send the letters and items back to their hometown.”
“Of course,” Shao Qian nodded. “Also, I hope you can help me gather some pig iron; I need to make some weapons for the half-orcs.”
Not all half-orcs capable of fighting have claws. Those without claws need to learn to use weapons. And the blade set Shao Qian brought this time was specifically for those half-orcs without claws.
“I have plenty of pig iron in my warehouse; just have someone come to collect it when the time comes,” Lord Luden thought for a moment before speaking again. “Oh yes, I sent a letter to Marshal Derek earlier; if nothing unexpected happens, he should go.”
Shao Qian and Adolf both looked pleasantly surprised at this news. Although they often exchanged letters with Grandpa Derek, they hadn’t seen him in three years. Hearing this news now made them very happy.
“Hmph, what’s an old man like him doing on the battlefield?” Adolf is the typical type who clearly cares but has to act awkwardly. “Isn’t he afraid of breaking his old arms and legs?”
“You little brat,” Lord Luden pretended to scold Adolf. “Marshal Derek is in great shape; he’s the undefeated war god of my empire.”
But can Derek, without the beast soul, truly still be called the undefeated war god?
“Just make sure we don’t have to protect him when the time comes,” Adolf said, though his eyes couldn’t hide the joy.
“Alright, alright,” Lord Luden laughed and scolded. “Half a month’s time, if you don’t have enough supplies, let me know, you can go now.”
“Let’s go.” Adolf pulled Shao Qian up. “We didn’t want to come to your place anyway, it’s so hot here, much cooler in our underground city.”
“Hurry up and leave,” Lord Luden waved them away with disdain.
As Shao Qian was being dragged to the door by Adolf, just as they were about to leave, he stopped Adolf and turned to Lord Luden, solemnly bowing. “Uncle Luden, over these years, thank you for taking care of us.”
“Why suddenly so formal? I’m just doing this for Marshal Derek’s sake. Do you think I enjoy cleaning up after you?” Lord Luden still had a disdainful look. “Hurry up, or I won’t let you use my warehouse.”
“Thank you.” Shao Qian patted his chest firmly. “We’ll never forget that we came out of Red Shield City1Refers to the Underground City.”
“Get lost, you little rascal.” Although Lord Luden’s tone was not good, his voice softened considerably. As he watched Shao Qian and Adolf disappear completely, he blinked his eyes vigorously. If he had listened to General Derek’s advice back then and stayed away from that old immortal a bit more, would his children and partner still be alive? If his children were still alive, would they be as grown-up as Diudiu?
“Honey, you didn’t let me speak just now.” On the way back, Adolf had a serious expression on his face, but his tone was full of grievances. “You were chatting happily with old Luden; you didn’t talk to me at all.”
“We were visiting Uncle Luden; should I only talk to you?” Shao Qian grabbed Adolf’s hand and shook it. “And how many times have I told you? You should be nicer to Uncle Luden.”
“He always calls me a little brat.” Adolf let go of Shao Qian’s hand and wrapped his arm around his shoulder. “He even said I look like a dog-type orc.”
Shao Qian couldn’t help but laugh when he saw the wolf ears and tail that Adolf revealed. If you just looked at those features, he did resemble the Siberian Husky.
“You’re laughing at me again.” Adolf pulled Shao Qian closer, one hand pinching his furry ear, the other arm around his waist, leaning in. “Honey, are you still laughing at me?”
Shao Qian’s ears were very sensitive, and when Adolf touched them, he felt a softness all over his body. The tingling sensation in his ears made his breathing a bit erratic.
“Let go.” Shao Qian’s voice was a bit unstable. “We’re in the street.”
“Let’s go back.” Adolf bent down, picked Shao Qian up, and ran quickly.
Shao Qian felt uncomfortable being carried on his shoulder, the solid shoulder pressing against his abdomen caused some discomfort. Irritated, Shao Qian forcefully patted Adolf’s back. “It’s uncomfortable.”
“Then hold onto me.” Adolf acted quickly, not waiting for Shao Qian to protest, he simply turned around and held him close.
Shao Qian, being held by the prince, wrapped his arms around Adolf’s neck, burying his face in his shoulder. He felt that this wasn’t any better than being carried just a moment ago.
Adolf carried Shao Qian back to the underground city, ignoring greetings from others, and quickly ran back to their room, locking the door for two whole days without going out.
Two days later, Shao Qian walked out of the room with a black face, while Adolf followed behind with a satisfied expression. His long-cherished wish had finally been fulfilled, which made his mood very good.
However, his honey seemed to have a thin skin, unwilling to let him stay in beast form. Otherwise, there was no way he would come out in just two days. Adolf clicked his tongue regretfully, but he wasn’t worried. There would be plenty of opportunities in the future to convince his honey to agree to let him stay in beast form.
As soon as Shao Qian and Adolf arrived at the training ground, they were intercepted by a half-orc with an anxious and dark complexion. He looked at Shao Qian pitifully. “Where’s the pig iron you promised? You said you’d give it to me. I haven’t seen any movement in the past two days. I thought you, as the Legion Commander, had eaten all the iron.”
“Do you think I’m made of iron and steel?” Shao Qian rolled his eyes. “Why didn’t you ask Martin for it?”
“Martin said he couldn’t get so much, so he told me to ask the Legion Commander.” The dark-skinned half-orc felt wronged. He had been promised iron, but why was there no progress?
“Tonight, I’ll have someone go to the City Lord’s Manor to get it.” Shao Qian patted the shoulder of the dark-skinned half-orc. “Pete, we only have thirteen days left, let’s work hard.”
“We’ve wasted two days of our only thirteen.” Pete looked at Shao Qian accusingly. “Our stock ran out an hour ago. If you don’t come out soon, I’ll barge into your room.”
As soon as Adolf heard this, he couldn’t help it. He grabbed Pete by the collar and threw him to Reed, who had just rushed over. “Take him back to his workshop.”
Thinking about barging into their room, he really had guts.
Shao Qian couldn’t help but laugh as he watched Pete being carried away by Reed and still struggling. “What a bunch of living treasures.”
“Living Treasures?” Adolf seemed unsure of what living treasures meant, but that didn’t stop him from feeling a bit jealous. “Honey, I’m the only treasure you need.”
Shao Qian laughed heartily at his distressed expression. This guy really got jealous over nothing. “Alright, let’s go find Martin and let him arrange everything properly.”
Adolf felt relieved seeing Shao Qian smile, thinking it would take a long time for his honey to speak to him after being kicked away with a black face.
Martin was easy to find; he was usually in the training room. After Shao Qian found him and explained the situation, he quickly got to work.
For the next half month, everyone in the underground city was busy. Most of the half-orcs involved in production were almost entirely focused on forging weapons. Although the half-orcs didn’t make as sophisticated items as purebred orcs, they had enough strength to forge out impurities from pig iron.
During this half month, not only did every combat-capable half-orc have a weapon, but there was also extra time to make many chest shields as requested by Shao Qian, fixed onto their clothes.
Thirteen days later, Shao Qian gathered the half-orcs and orcs, all dressed and armed, on the training ground. “This is the last chance. If anyone wants to withdraw…”
“Commander, at this point, you saying this is just not trusting us.” Shao Qian was interrupted by one of the half-orcs holding a weapon. He looked at Shao Qian seriously. “We want to fight, not for anyone on this planet, just for ourselves. To carve out a path of blood for ourselves, to make the people of this planet value our existence. Let them know that we are not slaves, but warriors capable of picking up weapons and slaying the Zerg race.”
