Cthulhu Gonfalon

Hopes was a student majoring in mineral processing at the New Oriental Comprehensive Technical School now. In the next few years, he would learn a lot of things. He would learn about different minerals, learn various methods to decide mineral grades, and eventually become an expert who could select fine products from a large number of ores.

There were over a dozen students like him. Most of them were dwarfs, and the others were humans and Half-Orcs. But he was the only Half-Orc that was not from the Republic of Northwest.

The other Half-Orcs were very young. They were born and raised in the Republic, so they were curious about the scenery outside the Republic and were full of yearning for the vast, grassy homeland of the Half-Orcs. When talking with Hopes, they expressed their desire to go to the grassland to visit those ancient places more than once. They wanted to find the footprints of their ancestors to see how they actually had lived.

Hopes sincerely advised them to put an end to that thought. The fact that they were Half-Orcs and they did not believe in the Orc gods would be a serious crime on the grassland. If they lived in a more extreme tribe, they would be killed directly as a sacrifice to the gods.

“What? Killing people as a sacrifice? Are the Orc gods so cruel? Oh my god! Then I’m not going there!” Sri, a Half-Orc from the Republic, was shocked at that. Sri was half leopard. He liked cooking very much, and he was especially good at making rice balls and steamed bread. However, instead of being a cook, he yearned to travel all over the world and see all kinds of places.

The reason why he chose the major of mineral processing was that he intended to be an explorer in the future; he could look for mineral deposits all over the world.

Most of the Half-Orcs in the Republic were like him—simple-minded and easy-going. That didn’t mean that they were silly. They had just grown up in a friendly environment, and their family members, neighbors, and friends were all kind to them. Therefore, they couldn’t imagine there being a place where people would be treated as criminals or even be killed just because they didn’t believe in a god.

Hopes really admired their naivety. Although he was young, he was definitely not an ignorant rookie. What kind of environment had they grown up in to have such kind characters and ways of thinking? After some thinking, he knew the answer.

On the grassland, even the life of those pure-blooded aristocrats from powerful tribes was full of calculation and disputes. Many of them began to have evil or cunning ideas since they were young, and some of them had even killed others.

As for the civilians, they lived an even harder and more embarrassing life. Every day they had to work and train hard in order to win or survive in the fights that seemed happen every day.

Other countries often envied the fact that almost every Orc could be a soldier, but how many people could really understand the bitterness behind that?

By contrast, the Republic of Northwest was full of peace and joy, just like a God’s Kingdom in the legends.

Although he hadn’t been here for very long, Hopes felt that he had fallen in love with this place. Even if he couldn’t be a good blacksmith in the future or he could only do some part-time jobs, he still wanted to live here.

Perhaps, it would be good enough to just live here all his life.

While Hopes enjoyed his peaceful life as a student here, some Half-Orc refugees from the Orc Empire made a request, and that disturbed the quiet life in the Republic of Northwest.

Those refugees thought that since they were followers of the Orc gods, they had to worship their gods wherever they were. Therefore, they asked to build altars of the Orc gods in several places in the Republic.

To be honest, it was not a big deal, but when Mrs. Teague brought it up at the high-level meeting, Sui Xiong, who had always been mild, became furious.

“Today they build altars, tomorrow they will build divine temples; the day after tomorrow they will build a food supply system that suits their habits, and then they will reject other people’s eating habits. Finally, they will reject other people’s culture and traditions…” He had no expression on his face, and his body was sending out an angry aura. “In the end, other people will either have to have the same belief as them or be killed by them, right? I will never allow such things to happen!”

The high-ranking officials of the Republic had not expected Sui Xiong to act out so fiercely, so they could not help but look at each other in confusion.

“Your Majesty, aren’t you taking this problem too seriously?” Mrs. Teague paused for a while and asked hesitantly.

“Too seriously?” Sui Xiong sneered. “Did any of you ever live in the Orc Empire?”

“I lived there for a while,” Leon said. “You know, in the western wilderness. Generally speaking, the situation over there was good. Although the Orc gods were very powerful and they pushed other divine temples to the edge of society, other divine temples still existed there at least.”

“It was because the western wilderness was full of cruel and fierce adventurers from different races. If they hated someone, they could draw their swords out to kill his whole family. And you were one of them! No matter how fierce the Orcs were, they didn’t dare to treat those adventurers in that way.” Sui Xiong sighed. “But things are different in our Republic. Here, all the good people abide by discipline and law. Many of them have never killed any living things since they were born. Some of them have never even held a knife. Most of them like to see things from a good angle. But those Orcs are different! If they make trouble here, the situation will be out of control!”

Leon nodded slightly and understood Sui Xiong’s meaning.

In the Republic of Northwest, the people were not weak. As the descendants of the pioneers, they were both brave and strong. But they were always full of goodwill towards others. Thus, if their goodwill was taken advantage of by others, it would be easy for those forces with evil intention to grow into a threat to society.

“Then, what’s your opinion, Your Majesty?” he asked. “Refuse their request or force them to change their faith?”

Sui Xiong was silent for a moment and sighed.

“I haven’t figured it out. Do you have any good ideas?”

“I don’t think it should be you who should refuse them. Let us do it,” Gerald said. “You’re in a high position. If you show up, it will develop into a bigger deal.”

Sui Xiong didn’t say anything for a moment. When he heard the report, he subconsciously thought about some things that had happened before his space-travel. Naturally, he took the problem very seriously.

But, after some careful thoughts, he began to hesitate. On Earth before his space-travel, did the absolute top leader of a country like him really need to be so nervous and worried about such issues?

“It seems that I really don’t need to show up.”

“That’s right. In fact, there is no need for any one at the level of a great governor to do that. We can just send a normal governor to criticize them severely, and it is over.” Snow used her painting to persuade the others again. She painted a group of small ants that were chittering about something, and then a huge fist fell down from the sky. She added a cross beside them. Then she painted the same group of small ants again. A big dog came to the ants and spat at them, and the ants ran away immediately in different directions. Then she drew another cross beside them.

Sui Xiong looked at the painting and couldn’t help laughing.

“You’re right. I worry too much. It’s up to you to figure it out. Anyways, don’t give those guys any chance to take advantage of us!”

“Yes, Your Majesty!” several voices answered together.