Reunion and the Orc Persuasion
Eden's Angel. After a year and three months away, I heard the news that Kyubey and Maria had returned and spent the day greeting visitors who came to see me. Not long after, I found myself sitting across from two males—Jadin and Dahgon—in a room that remained spotless thanks to the maids' regular upkeep, even after more than a year of my absence.
"Hmm... It's been a while, hasn't it?"
"Elisha, you think a simple 'it's been a while' is enough?"
"I'm sorry for disappearing without a word for so long."
Jadin shook his head. "Haa... Do you have any idea how worried we were when the person who went to help with the war went completely silent? At least a message would've eased our minds."
I bowed my head again. "I'm truly sorry. You too, Dahgon. I'm sorry."
"Krrk. I simply trusted my female and waited."
"Oh? You're speaking human language quite well now."
"I spent over a year learning it."
His speech still carried a slight awkwardness, but it was impressive that he had learned enough to communicate properly.
"Isabel must have taught you well."
"She is a good female."
"Hee, and what about you, Jadin?"
"Me? I mostly played around in the Underground City. More importantly, how many men did you meet on Earth?"
"Me? Just once, with someone I knew, right before I came back."
"Wait, you were there for months and only slept with one person? Seriously?"
"Yeah. It was wartime. The mood wasn't exactly right for that."
With refugees living in the house we used as lodging, there simply hadn't been any opportunity for intimacy. When I told them the men had been relieving themselves with other women while I hadn't, Jadin looked embarrassed and cleared his throat.
"Ahem. Then I guess we'll have to put in some real effort now that you're back. Right, brother?"
"Krrk. I agree."
"Kyaa~"
That night, I had no choice but to be thoroughly taken by the two determined males until dawn.
A few days later, at the Mare ranch office.
For the first time in ages, I was receiving business reports as the owner.
"Through breeding and the addition of new mares from the general population, our numbers have nearly doubled compared to a year ago."
"That's quite an increase."
"You left shortly after the demonstration race, so you wouldn't know, but many young women applied after seeing that event. They all completed the new training program and underwent the mare procedure before beginning their racing careers."
"Was the new curriculum successful?"
"Yes. As expected, the method of thorough hypnotic conditioning while still in human form before the procedure produced better results."
The new mare training program I had designed involved group living and gradual hypnotic conditioning before the actual procedure. Trainees were divided into rider groups for collective education, and those showing severe side effects or weak susceptibility to conditioning were deemed unsuitable and released. It was a more humane approach that selected only those truly fit to become mares while allowing the others to remain human.
"The bred mares are being handled as planned, correct?"
"Yes. They're removed from the racing rotation and given a full year to raise their foals."
Though bred mares generate no revenue during that year, they receive childcare support from the Eden racetrack. Whether they raise their children in the stables or at home is their choice, and once the children reach adulthood, they may either become mares or live as ordinary citizens, at the discretion of the mare and her breeding partner. The only requirement is administering growth accelerators so the children mature within a year.
"Of course, most girls raised watching their mothers become mares themselves and begin training in the stables. Boys are often taken in by their fathers."
"Everything seems to be running smoothly even without me. You've done well."
"Thank you."
From the top-floor office window, I watched the mares training on the track below.
"How are the other mare ranches faring?"
"They're struggling to recruit new racers. Most applicants prefer Eden Ranch because of its larger facilities and frequent races. They've requested cooperation, but since you were away, the matter was put on hold."
"Hmm..."
It made sense. As the original mare ranch with its own large stadium and abundant racing opportunities, Eden naturally drew the most talent.
"What's the status of the other ranches' stadium construction?"
"Most are small private operations with limited facilities. With so few mares, hosting regular races on their own is already difficult."
"Let's coordinate practice races for the mares currently in training with the other ranches. Also, review a plan to guarantee participation slots for their mares in our major events."
"Understood."
Maria had commercialized the mare system to expand its overall scale and diversity. If the other ranches stagnated, it would harm the long-term prospects of the entire enterprise, so Eden needed to provide support.
I continued reviewing various business decisions with the vice president. One busy day, while catching up on backlog, Dahgon came to my room saying he had something important to discuss.
"What is it?"
"Krrk. I've been thinking about how to persuade the Orcs, as we discussed before."
"Did you come up with a good method?"
He nodded gravely. "Orcs are ignorant."
"Well, yes."
"More ignorant than you think. Their minds contain nothing but food, fighting, and breeding."
"Even toward their own kind?"
"I speak only the truth. And their greatest desire is sexual gratification."
At those words, my gaze drifted between his legs. Orc libido was certainly formidable.
"If an Orc's sexual needs are satisfied, he becomes docile. If not, he grows violent."
"So the persuasion method is..."
"Krrk. We must show them that coexisting with humans grants them access to females. Submissive ones, at that."
"But how do you plan to demonstrate that?"
Setting aside the question of how many submissive females were available for Orcs, I wondered how we would even show them such a thing. Dahgon met my question with a steady stare.
"Huh? Why are you looking at me like that?"
"We go to the Orc villages and show them. Show them a female who obeys an Orc."
"Eek."
He meant that traveling between Orc villages with Dahgon, demonstrating my submission to him, would be enough to persuade them.
"The Orcs in those villages have only ever encountered females who were kidnapped, resisted, or became broken and listless. Seeing a truly obedient female will make them defect."
"I never expected you to suggest something like this. I'm surprised."
It was the kind of plan only an Orc could devise. For simple, brutish Orcs, it might actually work—which made it all the more absurd.
"This method will definitely work?"
"Krrk. It will."
"Then I'll go inform Maria that Dahgon and I will persuade the Orcs to coexist. It'll just be the two of us, right?"
"Krrk. The second female comes as well."
"Isabel? Why does she need to come too..."
"Krrk... She carries my child. A pregnant female will be far more convincing."
"Eek..."
Wait... Isabel was pregnant with Dahgon's child? An Abaddon princess who could control her own fertility at will?
"Really? When did this happen?"
"About a month ago. Krrk."
"Right before I returned. Goodness, you two must have been having quite a time if it led to pregnancy..."
An Abaddon becoming pregnant meant she had done so entirely of her own will. I couldn't imagine how the rational, prideful Isabel had fallen so deeply for Dahgon, but I decided to congratulate them anyway.
"Congratulations. You're going to have a child."
"Krrk. Thank you. I wanted to plant my seed in you first, but the second female conceived before you."
"You promised to prove yourself as a male and plant your seed in me, so there was no opportunity. Who knows? Once you unite the Orc tribes and become Great Chieftain, I might give you a child."
"I will strive for it."
Dahgon's eyes gleamed with resolve and desire at my words.
Our departure for eastern Xenuma to execute Dahgon's plan was set. Maria looked skeptical when I explained that Dahgon intended to persuade the Orcs in their own way by visiting the villages, but she gave her permission. Since traveling with just the two of us felt awkward, we decided to bring Isabel along as well.
The three of us rode in an android-driven vehicle, chatting along the way.
"So, how did you end up deciding to get pregnant?"
"Because I like Dahgon."
"I mean, I get that you like him, but having an Orc's child isn't exactly an easy decision. And I hate to say it, but Orcs are closer to monsters than anything else."
"Hoho, I'm an Abaddon. I mixed Dahgon's genes with human ones to conceive a superior Orc. My child will be a new-generation Orc—intelligent like a human, yet possessing an Orc's powerful physique."
"Does Dahgon know?"
"Krrk. Yes. If there are intelligent Orcs, the future of Orcs will be bright."
"Ugh."
This was essentially a genetically engineered lifeform. Dahgon's unique mutation would be established through Isabel as a new Orc species. Isabel stroked her swollen belly and spoke.
"It's a true hybrid of Orc and human. As a new species, it needs a new name. I've decided to call them Orks."
"Orks? Orks?"
"Yes, Orks."
Orks? The same name as the Orks I'd encountered in the Earth dimension? It had to be a coincidence... right? I decided to treat it as one, though doubt lingered.
"By the way, the Ork in your belly—is it a boy?"
"No? It's a girl."
"Huh, a girl?"
"Hohoho, I know what you're worried about. Don't worry. Orks are much closer to humans in appearance. Their skin is green and they're muscular, but otherwise..."
"Ah... I see."
They were starting to sound even more like the Orks I knew. Was this really just coincidence?
While I was lost in thought, Isabel smiled and said, "When you conceive Dahgon's child, I'll share the genetic map with you. We need to establish Orks as a single species. And for the sake of reproduction, you should have a girl too, Elisha."
"Ugh."
Under Isabel's enthusiastic leadership, the idea of me bearing an Ork child had somehow become a foregone conclusion.
"Ahem. Anyway, let's set that aside for now and talk about the plan. When we reach the Orc villages, Dahgon will approach first and try to negotiate. If they refuse coexistence outright, he'll challenge and defeat the chieftain, then force acceptance. That's the first stage."
"And if they're willing to consider coexistence, we step in to demonstrate that living with humans brings access to good, submissive females. That's the second stage, right?"
"Yeah. Dahgon and I discussed it and prepared two approaches."
Dahgon had originally wanted to show the females right away, but we'd decided that would attract Orcs interested only in females rather than true coexistence. So we changed it to first gauging their willingness.
"If it's Dahgon, he should be able to defeat any chieftain easily."
"Thanks to you, he's regained his youth and is at the peak of his strength. His stamina too, of course."
"Was it that good?"
"Hoho, how could anyone resist a male who pins you down completely and fills your womb to the brim?"
"Dahgon does have an overwhelming presence when he's on top. Mm-hmm."
The sheer pressure from his massive frame was truly something else. At that moment, Dahgon, who had been silently gazing out the window, spoke.
"The first village is in sight. I'll go ahead."
"Keep the communicator on."
He got out of the car at a suitable distance and approached the Orcs standing guard. After exchanging words in the difficult-to-understand Orc language, their voices began to rise.
"Hmm, doesn't seem to be going well. They'll fight, won't they?"
"They're drawing weapons. Now they'll—oh, it's over already."
The chieftain, marked by ornaments on his head, had barely drawn his weapon before Dahgon's lightning-fast axe strike sent the Orc's head flying. The remaining Orcs stood frozen in shock until their headless chieftain's body hit the ground, at which point they began kneeling and chanting Dahgon's name.
"This is my first time seeing Orcs besides Dahgon. Are they normally this weak?"
"No, Dahgon is just abnormally strong. Among Orcs, only he truly understands how to channel power through movement and applies it in combat."
Isabel, with her ordinary human body aside from being an Abaddon, probably hadn't noticed, but even that single lightning-fast axe swing contained a precise sequence: weight transfer starting from the planted leg, controlled hip rotation to transmit force, relaxed arms to maximize speed during the swing, and a sudden concentration of power at the exact moment of impact for a clean cut. Though this was my first time witnessing Dahgon fight, his movements were on par with a god's.
"Even with an aged body, he slaughtered monsters. That wasn't an exaggeration. He's truly strong."
"Fitting for the male chosen by Elisha."
I wasn't sure about unarmed combat, but facing Dahgon with an axe while he was serious... without Overclock, victory without injury seemed impossible.
Isabel, who had been watching Dahgon gesture and issue orders to the Orcs, suddenly looked puzzled.
"But if Dahgon is this strong, why hasn't he been known among humans?"
"He knows how terrifying humans can be, so he probably survived by avoiding battles as much as possible. He's a wise Orc."
"He'll be well known now. As the Great Chieftain of the Orcs."
After overseeing the Orcs as they organized the village, Dahgon's voice came through the communicator.
"I'm going with them."
"Won't that slow us down?"
"Krrk. The larger the force, the easier it is to persuade others. Orcs follow the strong."
"Alright. Do as you wish, Dahgon."
"Thank you, female."
After all, this journey to persuade the Orcs was Dahgon's story to lead.