Jod and the orc dukes were silent.

  What had started out as an alliance and trade opportunity had now turned into the dwarves outright joining the orc settlement.

  Well, part of the dwarves. But 650 dwarves was no small number.

  "Accept them. This is better than an alliance." Mafu spoke to Jod.

  "Better? Even though it is sure to create a schism with the remaining dwarves?" Jod was still trying to put his thoughts together.

  "Would you not rather have 650 willing warriors in this besieged world, rather than 5000 indecisive allies hiding in a mountain?"

  Jod thought about it for a couple of seconds and then asked Mafu,

  "But can we house and feed 650 dwarves?"

  "It is no matter. I will expand our capacities for food and lumber. You simply need to have them swear allegiance to you, in the same way the orc dukes have. In fact, make three dwarves dukes to keep the balance between races."

  "Is it not premature to make them dukes? We do not know whether they are truly our allies yet." Jod was naturally more careful when it came to trusting people than Mafu. Maybe it was because he had been conscripted to the Templars in such a horrible way.

  "Giving something while expecting no true return inspires loyalty. Give them the same rights as the other races, and they will prove whether they are worthy of it in time. If they prove unworthy, then we can deal with it later."

  Mafu took a pause, letting his words sink in, and then continued.

  "The dwarves seem hopelessly honest. Their betraying our trust seems unlikely, and thus it is better to offer the same honesty and trust to begin with."

  Jod thought for a while and then nodded silently. He then spoke up to the orc dukes and the two dwarves who were waiting in what now had become quite the uncomfortable silence.

  "Yes. We will accept any number of dwarves moving into this settlement, provided that you swear allegiance to me as the king of this territory. I will appoint three dwarves as dukes of the territory, as I have with the orcs."

  The farseer and the totemkeeper exchanged looks with each other, and seemed to be a little bit worried. Warchief Parek smiled though, and exclaimed:

  "Great! More capable warriors will make that Hollow scum fall easier! I welcome you and your dwarves, Tudain!" Parek had stood up halfway through his sentence and walked over to Tudain.

  The orc warchief and the dwarven general now exchanged a handshake, and they were both smiling. Tudain then spoke up:

  "We will swear allegiance, as is only right when moving onto your land. I do wish to speak with the mushroom you have been talking about before we leave to collect our fellow kin."

  Tudain lost his balance slightly as Mafu connected to his mind. Gwarth's face lost most of its color, as he was also included in the mind connection.

  "What is it you wish to talk about, Tudain?" Mafus voice was calm and calculated, not conveying any real emotion.

  "Ah, this is a new experience." Tudain said as he recovered his balance. "I only wished to ask whether you also agreed to us moving in. We've learned from stories told by your people during dinner, and from King Jod, that you are a big part of this settlement."

  Mafu was impressed by Tudain. He recovered from the mental connection faster than anyone else had, and Mafu was not holding back any of the "creepy feelings" that transferred over the mental connection. Yet, the dwarf stood firmly now, and his mind was fully stable.

  "King Jod rules the territory, not me. Jod and I are connected deeply. When he makes a decision, I have been consulted. I do not rule; it is for the inhabitants of my territory to decide for themselves."

  Mafu truly did not feel the need to rule the people on his territory himself. He might need to correct something every now and then, but in the end all he really cared about was growing his territory.

  Having creatures living on his territory helped his goals. After all, living creatures produced compostable material.

  Tudain nodded, and the meeting continued for a while. Jod, the orc dukes and Tudain decided about where the dwarves would start building their houses, and the territory was assigned to the dwarves.

  If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

  They would have an area outside the settlement, but with the dwarves' help and the new Roman concrete, it would be built into the existing settlement walls. In the group of dwarves who would be joining, there were also two dwarves with the [Architect] class.

  That would help not only with the dwarves houses, but also with making a better settlement wall and new houses for the orcs.

  ---

  A few days later.

  Gwarth had stayed behind when the other dwarves left to collect their families. Gwarth had no family, as he was an only child and his parents had died in a cave-in.

  He had been adopted by Tudain at a young age because of that. Tudain had been drinking buddies with his father, and as such had felt both the need and want to take care of his departed friend's son.

  Gwarth had thus been raised as a warrior from a young age and was a level 70 [Heavy Axeman]. Gwarth was currently training with the orc warriors in their training grounds.

  The orcs accepted the dwarves as new friends, but their opinion of them as warriors was not high. After all, to the orcs, the dwarves' height barely reached an orc's chest.

  Gwarth was changing that conception now, though. As an orc warrior attacked Gwarth with a wooden stick used at the training grounds, Gwarth changed his stance subtly to take the hit.

  The orc lost his weapon as he hit Gwarths shield, and in a flash the dwarf moved in the orcs path. Gwarth twisted his body and used his shoulder to ram into the orc's stomach.

  The orc lost his breath, and Gwarth had already backed half a step and placed the wooden stick against the orc's neck as he doubled over.

  "I yield." The orc surrendered.

  Gwarth stepped back and bowed towards the orc.

  "Thanks for the duel."

  Some of the orcs looking on were surprised; they discussed the dwarfs' style of combat. The dwarf used not only his shield and weapon in combat, but also his entire body.

  Mafu thought this might be because all the dwarves wore plate armor. With an armored body, using it in combat carried fewer risks. The orcs only had leather clothes, no real armor.

  What was clear, though, from what Mafu had seen from the dwarves, was that they were not quick. They could be quick in short bursts, but with their plate armor and heavy shields and weapons, they were slow in general.

  They would be best used as a defensive line, and Mafu was already trying to think of strategies that combined the tall orcs and short dwarves.

  In theory, it would be great to train the orcs as spearmen, archers, and other two-handed weapon users. Then the dwarves could be a heavy infantry type, with one-handed weaponry and shields.

  In combat, the orcs would then use their weapons from behind and above the dwarves, as the dwarves protected the orcs' bodies from the chest and downwards.

  Any charge attack at the dwarves would be futile. They were as steady on their feet as a boulder, and although the dwarves had short reach with their weapons, that could be fixed with the orcs wielding long weapons.

  Mafu was very excited about adding the dwarves to the kingdom's ranks. They solved many issues that had been bothering him.

  They also knew of iron veins other than the one that existed in Grends mountain, so their blacksmiths would not lack ore.

  As Mafu was overseeing Demeter expanding the farming area, he felt that he lost some firecaps.

  He instantly turned his vision over to where the firecaps had died and saw the Hollow. It was a group of around a hundred of them.

  "Fuck." Mafu had forgotten about them, as they had ceased their attacks.

  Mafu alerted the orcs to the attack, and the orcs were as quick as ever to assemble. However, this time something was different.

  After ripping up every mushroom in a hundred-meter area, the Hollow then retreated before the orcs could react. They simply turned around and ran back out of the territory.

  Mafu was perplexed. The Hollow had seemed like a mindless enemy, only attacking by charging in and never retreating. Even in their previous victory against them, none of the Hollow had actually retreated.

  Jod was as surprised as Mafu.

  "They are evolving. That is no good." Jod said.

  Mafu agreed, but as he did, another attack happened. This attack was on the exact opposite side of the settlement from where the first attack had happened.

  Mafu managed to get off a few firespikes at the Hollow this time, but it barely scratched them before this group retreated in the same way as the previous one.

  Mafu was by no means a military strategist, but he thought he had had a certain grasp of the Hollow. But this time, he had to accept that he was out of his depth. How could he counter these attacks?

  His mushroom warriors patrolling the perimeter would simply lose without the support of the orcs. Even so, he put all the warriors to patrol the perimeter. The Hollow would lose some of their numbers, but it would tear into Mafu's mana at an astonishing rate.

  The orcs could not patrol the perimeter either. If they were to guard the territory, their numbers would be way too spread out. And losing one orc for every ten Hollow would still be an advantage for the Hollow.

  The only thing Mafu could think of was to let the Hollow take over the borders and encroach on his territory. He would not be able to grow his territory in that case. The Hollow had ripped up some of the mycelium along with the mushrooms.

  It went against everything Mafu was. He needed to grow; it was programmed into his soul as a mushroom. Giving that up was harder than anything else.

  But he had to. He knew that he could grow again after the Hollow was killed.

  Mafu talked to Jod and had the orcs and mushroom warriors patrol closer to the settlement. They were close enough that they would not be overwhelmed by the Hollow quickly.

  Then, reinforcements could arrive before any life was lost.

  Mafu was worried, though. The Hollows' tactic would starve him of mana, but it would not be enough to hinder him to the point of it being lethal. The dungeons could still be maintained, alongside the food and lumber farms.

  If the Hollow did not know this now, it would learn of it in time. So what would be the next strategy?

  An all-out attack, masked as one of these small incursions, would make sense. If the small incursion ripped up the mycelium, Mafu would lose vision. Then a large amount of Hollow could walk in without anyone noticing.

  Mafu informed Jod and the orc dukes of his suspicion that a larger attack was coming. But for now, all that they could do was wait and be vigilant.