The courtyard still smelled of blood and iron when Knight Rotis turned to his king. Behind him, the carts bearing the strange cages stood lined against the walls, their black cloth coverings removed, exposing the trembling girls inside.
"Your Majesty," Rotis asked carefully, "what shall we do with these half-orc girls?"
Gavin Ward narrowed his eyes. His gaze lingered on the captives—petite figures, animal ears twitching slightly atop their heads, their faces pale with fear.
For a moment, he considered the possibilities. Making them servants might appear practical, but Gavin was no fool. He had no intention of surrounding himself with frightened slaves of unknown origin and loyalties. That was the kind of reckless arrogance that ended dynasties.
Sell them? Or… allow his soldiers to treat them as spoils? The thought flickered, but Gavin's lips tightened. He was a king now, not some petty raider. His rule would not be stained with such indulgence.
Inside one of the cages, a girl named Lina stared out through the iron bars. Her wide silver eyes reflected both terror and stubbornness. She was young—perhaps no older than fifteen—but the way her hands gripped the railings with white-knuckled desperation showed the depth of her despair.
Behind her closed eyelids, echoes of memory tormented her: the screams of her kin as they were hunted down, the laughter of human raiding parties who had taken pleasure in their capture. Suffering. Killing. Extinction. It seemed this was the destiny of her people.
Why? Why must the half-orcs always suffer? To humans, they were prey to be bought and sold. To full-blooded orcs, they were unwanted outcasts, despised for their mixed heritage. Trapped between two worlds, their only inheritance was pain.
Her small hands clutched the cold bars so tightly that her palms turned pale. Yet no matter how hard she strained, the iron did not yield. She was weak—and weakness meant slavery.
It had always been the same. They had been seized by human hunters, sold from master to master like cattle. When the Nord army bought them, Lina thought she had reached the end of the road. But even that army had been crushed, and now she and her companions sat in cages once again, waiting to be bartered by the new victors.
A hollow laugh escaped her lips. "Soon another army will come. They'll defeat these people too, and then we'll just be taken again… like cargo."
Her head lowered in despair.
Yet at that moment, a firm voice cut through the gloom.
"No," it said, sharp and cold.
Lina's head shot up. Standing before her cage was Gavin Ward himself, his armored figure casting a shadow across the courtyard. His golden eyes—hard and unyielding—met her silver ones.
"No army will defeat me," he declared. "No one will take my soldiers, my people, or you. You will not be bought and sold like animals ever again."
His words were absolute, spoken not as a boast but as truth carved into stone. Lina trembled. For the first time, she saw something different in a human's gaze—not cruelty, not greed, but unwavering conviction.
"Rotis," Gavin said without looking away from her, "arrange for them to be housed in the palace. Assign trusted maids to care for them. They will remain under my protection."
Rotis bowed deeply. "Yes, Your Majesty."
Lina's hands tightened on the cage bars, but this time not with despair. A faint light flickered in her silver eyes. This human… he is not like the others.
Her people had long worshiped the God of the Celestial Star, yet in that moment, Gavin seemed more divine than any deity she had prayed to. His sheer confidence radiated like a beacon, and against her will, Lina felt herself believing in him.
---
The Captive Knight
Just then, another knight approached Gavin, saluting with urgency.
"Your Majesty, the female knight has regained consciousness."
"Oh?" Gavin turned. "Bring me to her."
He strode back toward the city wall. From afar, a harsh cry greeted him.
"You bastard! Release me at once!"
Gavin's steps slowed as he looked up. There, suspended from the tower by thick iron chains, hung Lusia, the Nord Kingdom's great knight. Her iron armor rattled with each furious thrash of her body, but the enchanted chains refused to yield. Even a warrior of her caliber could not break them.
Her voice was sharp, laced with venom. "Gavin Ward! If you release me now, you might yet cling to life. But if you do not—when my master's army arrives, they will crush your city, and I will personally sever your head from your shoulders!"
Her threats rang bold, but Gavin only studied her with curiosity. He remembered the wound she had suffered—an abdominal shot that should have killed any ordinary person. Yet here she was, suspended in chains, still alive, still roaring like a lioness.
"The vitality of a great knight truly is impressive," he mused aloud.
But Lusia's own thoughts were darker. She had seen the battlefield beneath the wall, the tens of thousands of Nord corpses shredded to fragments. She knew what such destruction meant. This small kingdom's army had no more than two thousand men, yet they had annihilated fifty thousand of her countrymen.
That was impossible. No force short of a legion of magicians could have wrought such devastation. What secret weapon did this so-called king possess? Her eyes narrowed in suspicion, but Gavin only turned away from her struggling form.
"Knock her out," he ordered flatly. "Lock her in the dungeon. From this day, she is dead to the world. She will never serve us—her loyalty to the Duke of the Golden Lion is unshakable. But as a specimen for research… she may yet prove useful."
The knights saluted grimly.
---
The Golden Lion
As Lusia was dragged away, one knight hesitated before speaking.
"Your Majesty… what of the Duke of the Golden Lion?"
Gavin chuckled, sliding his sword halfway from its sheath before letting the steel gleam in the sunlight.
"The Duke? He is a sluggish man. By the time word of this battle reaches him, and he gathers the will to act, half a year will already be gone. And by then…" His eyes glittered coldly. "Half a year is more than enough."
The knight frowned. "But Your Majesty, we are still at war with the Nord Kingdom. Though their main force is broken, many of their troops remain near our borders. To challenge the Duke of the Golden Lion at such a time…"
"You still don't understand," Gavin interrupted, his voice carrying the force of a hammer. "The Nord Kingdom was never my true opponent. They are already finished. What I seek is far greater than their petty lands."
He drew his sword fully now, letting the blade reflect the sun in a dazzling arc.
"Our nation is too small. Only five hundred thousand souls call it home. Yet this continent holds billions! If I am to forge the empire I envision, I must command hundreds of millions. That requires conquest—war upon war, expansion without end."
With a sudden motion, Gavin hurled the sword. It whistled past the knight's cheek and buried itself deep into the stone wall with a resounding clang.
The knight's breath caught. His heart pounded with both terror and awe. His Majesty was not merely fighting for survival—he intended to reshape the entire continent.
"Mark my words," Gavin said, his voice like steel. "This era ends with me. I will tear down the old order. I will raise a new one in its place. And when it is done, every man and woman of my kingdom shall stand proud—a nation of dragons."
The knight fell to one knee, his voice breaking into a shout. "Swear allegiance to His Majesty the King!"
---
The Dawn of Industry
Later, as Gavin returned to his chambers, the system's voice echoed once more.
[Has the 98k rifle production line been installed?]
"In progress," came the reply. [Please designate locations for ten steam engines.]
Then a new message flashed before him:
[The Technology Tree has been unlocked. The dawn of industry begins! No limit to people, no limit to technology. Your Majesty, continue to advance. Look to the future—where every citizen becomes like a dragon!]
A thin smile crossed Gavin's lips. The game had changed.
---
Important Events in This Chapter
Gavin Ward promises the half-orc girls protection, housing them in the palace instead of selling them.
Lusia, the captured Nord great knight, threatens Gavin but is imprisoned in the dungeon as "research material."
Gavin declares his ambition—not just survival, but conquest of the entire continent, requiring a population of hundreds of millions.
The system unlocks the Technology Tree, marking the beginning of true industrial advancement.
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