Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
Connie's stance was very forceful.
If the Roth Empire didn't respond right now to the war that invaded the Twilight Forest and make an appropriate compensation, perhaps another war between the Roth Empire and the orcs would happen before the invasion of the Army of the Dead.
This seemingly weak maiden was the first to challenge the powerful Roth Empire after she took the position of the orcs' chieftain.
Of course, a woman who could kill Auster and take over the Aug Tribe shouldn't be underestimated.
All of them looked at Andre. As the king of the Roth Empire, he could make any decision for the Roth Empire.
Meanwhile, everyone was also reminded of another matter. If the orcs were under Auster's control instead of Connie's, then the orcs would have missed today's meeting and invaded the Roth Empire suddenly, while the meeting was in progress as revenge.
In comparison, Connie was already considered a very calm and reserved ruler.
Mag looked at Connie with appreciation. She had made great progress in a short period of time and should be treated differently. This lass's ability at controlling the situation was not bad. She could already pull her own weight.
Andre also stood up and nodded at Connie. "I express my deepest regret and apology to the innocent orcs who died in vain. This matter was caused by the devil. My son, Josh, has lost his soul and many of my courtiers and their families were massacred too. It was obvious that the devil is very vicious and dangerous.
"Of course, our Roth Empire is undeniably responsible too. I'm willing to apologize to the orcs on behalf of the Roth Empire and make some compensation to the orcs who died.
"However, I hope the orcs can battle the devil and the Army of the Dead together with the Roth Empire to avenge your people who had died innocently and protect those who are still alive."
"She… is simply not his match." Mag was rather amazed.
Andre's words were really smooth at pushing away his responsibility. Anyway, this matter had nothing to do with the Roth Empire. It was all the devil's fault.
Because of the devil, he had lost a son, some of his courtiers and a batch of brave soldiers.
As a victim, he was even willing to give the other victim some compensation.
What was more important was, the two victims should work together to deal with the devil and seek revenge.
See, the party that started the war became the poor victim in a few words.
Moreover, he even sounded so reasonable, making people unable to refute him.
In comparison, Connie's words seemed negligible and even a little unreasonable.
Connie was slightly taken aback and a hint of anger could be seen on her face.
If they were talking about negotiation techniques and saying respectable words, she naturally wasn't this sly old fox's match.
She even had to practise repeatedly in the past two days in order to say her earlier words so steadily.
Now, Andre had steered the topic away and shirked his responsibility with just a few words. Obviously, he didn't want to take on too much responsibility.
However, to the orcs, this was unacceptable.
Although she was the orcs' chieftain now, to really convince the orcs, she had to seek justice for her people even if they couldn't start a war with the Roth Empire.
"The devil is our common enemy, but the butchers who have massacred hundreds of thousands of orcs have not repented even now," Connie said in a low voice, "We only have three requests. One, hand the commanding officers of those three Northwestern troops that invaded the forest to us. Two, compensate the orcs with 1,000,000 copper coins per orc killed. Three, promise to hand Josh over to us for punishment when we catch him."
Andre nodded and gravely said, "1 can accede to your second and third requests.
Even a compensation of 1,000,000 copper coins per person is hardly enough to appease the orcs who had died innocently, and I will hand over Josh, who has lost his humanity and committed all these sins under the devil's manipulation, to you orcs too.
"However, the soldiers only acted upon orders. This matter is solely Josh's responsibility and not on the soldiers. The Roth Empire will amass all our troops to go up north to stop the Army of the Dead. The Northwestern Legion will be sent onto the battlefield as the vanguard to fight for the Norland
Continent.
"Therefore, I cannot accede to your request to give you those soldiers. I hope you can understand that."
Connie looked at Andre in silence.
The meeting hall became silent too.
Both parties had made their stands, but they both wanted to insist on the other party conceding to their requests.
Mag frowned. It wasn't hard to understand why Andre wanted to protect the Northwestern Legion soldiers. Just as he said, the soldiers acted upon their orders and an obedient army was proof of strict military discipline. Moreover, fighting all the way in to reach the Aug Tribe was the proof of the Northwestern Legion's intrepidness.
It would definitely demoralize the soldiers and the troops if Andre handed them over to the orcs.
Even though Josh was under the devil's control, the one who gave the orders was the Second Prince, and he even did it in the king's name.
Hence, Andre would never back down on this matter.
As for the orcs, the accumulated anger needed a vent for release. If Connie couldn't resolve the internal conflict, her position as the chieftain wouldn't be stable.
It was an intractable stalemate.
But, this was all within his expectations.
However, they didn't have much time left. Xi had already sent him the information regarding the Army of the Dead and Cthulhu assembling. The Army of the Dead's number was rising rapidly and they might soon travel southwards.
If the orcs and the Roth Empire continued to argue over the war compensation, causing a delay in the sigmng of the treaty, the Army of the Dead could already have marched southwards while they were still in the meeting.
Mag stood up and gravely said to Connie and Andre, "We'll have to use many lives to stop the Army of the Dead from moving southwards and this number will far exceed the number of people who died in all conflicts and wars among the races in the past 100 years.
"We don't have much time left, so I hope both parties can put down your feud for the moment and work together to face the huge impending crisis.
"I know you all have seen the Photostone, but you may not know how powerful that devil is before you face it personally.
"But you guys have previously seen that devil that was sealed beyond Chaos City. The devil that has escaped from the seal is even stronger, at least I have no chance at all to defeat it. I can't even hold it back to buy time for the formation masters.
"As for the Army of the Dead that are in the millions, they can't sense pain and are beings that have no life. They're not afraid of death, they don't tire and they don't need replenishments. We have to stop them at the edge of the iceplain before they move southwards, or else we will pay a tragic price."
"The orcs who died aren't simply a number." Connie looked at Mag.
Mag nodded and said, "I know, but if we don't react fast, more families are going to lose their husbands, children or even every member in their families.."
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