While they had their steeds galloping back towards the main army, Jeanny asked Captain Salem, "Why didn't they just attack us while we were still unaware? They would have had an easy win if they ambushed us. Coming all the way just to declare their intention seemed pointless."
"That is their way," Captain Salem replied. "For any orc to go into a conflict, they need to declare it to their opponents before they go into open combat."
"So they never ambush their opponents or use tricks in a fight?" Jack asked.
"Ambushes and tricks are justified after their enemies are made aware of their hostility. Attacking when the other party is unaware is a cowardly and dishonorable act to them. Especially in war, the other party will be allowed one natural night to prepare."
"That is the dumbest thing I ever heard," John commented. "How the heck did such a nation survive with such stupid rule?"
"Please refrain from insulting other's culture. Our world also has many cultures that possess rules that sometimes make no sense," Jeanny said.
"The fact that you asked him to not insult something means you don't know him well enough," Jack said to her.
"That's right. If something made no sense, it deserved to be insulted," John said.
Jack looked at him helplessly, why did he say it as if it was something to be proud of?
"Do not underestimate the orcs," Captain Salem said to them. "What they lack in intrigue and scheming, they make it up with their savagery and battle lust. To them, dying on the battlefield is an honor. You will find no race that was more eager to be in a battle than the orcs."
They united with the main army soon. Commander Quintus had stopped the army's advance after receiving the message sent by Captain Salem. He promptly dispatched several scouts to their surroundings to gather intel on the orc troops' movement.
Since the desert was mostly flat without any special terrain, they built their camp where they had stopped and deployed defensive measures around the camp's perimeter. After several hours, some of the scouts returned just before the sun was about to set. Commander Quintus summoned all the higher-ups to gather at the main tent to discuss their war preparation. To the envy of the others, Jack was again invited.
"Go, go! Leave us, lowlifes, here," Bowler said.
"Mmm, then I will leave you, lowlifes, for a while," Jack replied.
"Crap, you have given him a bad influence," Bowler said as he turned to look for John, only to find that he was not around. "Hey, where is that annoying guy?" He asked.
The Man shrugged, "don't know, he asked for two soldier escorts from the captain, then strode off to who knows where."
Jack left them and walked to the main tent. The army's camp was rather large, considering the size of the army, but the main tent's size was easy to spot from far away. When he entered, he saw at the center of the tent were Duke Alfredo, Commander Quintus, Captain Salem, Prince Alonzo, High Priest Laurent, Lieutenant Bailey, and the three NPCs who had fought with the commander against the Grim Sand Drake. There were also several other soldiers, but they stood at the side, they seemed to be the aides of the ones discussing at the center.
"What is he doing here?" One of the three NPCs who fought with the drake asked when he saw Jack entered. It was the one that used twin tomahawk axe as weapons, the one that almost got wasted by the drake before Laurent saved his life. Jack inspected him and found his name to be Samuel.
Jack also scanned the other two NPCs who had fought with the drake. The woman with the large bow was called Lucia, while the man who used the large shield was named Nicholas. All three of them had the same level, grade, and rank, which were level 55, special elite, knight captain.
"I invited him," Commander Quintus answered his question. "Everyone, this is Storm Wind. He will be joining us for the meeting."
"But he is just a civilian!"
"Careful, he is a part of our kingdom faction and he is a baron already."
Samuel glanced at Jack with a hint of surprise. "But he is an outworlder," he said.
"What's wrong with an outworlder?"
"They are weak! Look at him, he is only at level 26."
"Nevertheless, he is a part of us," Duke Alfredo spoke up. "I trust him. He is also Prince Alonzo's friend. You should do well to show him some respect."
Samuel seemed to be taken aback by the duke's words. He still denied Jack an acknowledgment, but he stopped complaining about Jack's presence.
Jack just came over casually as if nothing had happened. "So, what's the situation? Did the scouts find out about the orc's army?" He asked.
Samuel frowned at him. Letting this outworlder joined was one thing, but why did he act as if he was in charge?
Commander Quintus simply chuckled. There was a table at the center of the tent, they were all standing around the table. The commander pressed a button by the side of the table and a holographic image appeared. Jack recognized it as the 3D representation of the landscape. There were several markers on this 3D map.
"These green markers represent our troops. These red ones are the orcs'," Commander Quintus explained.
Jack reviewed the map. The green markers were represented in a triangle shape. He counted the one in green, there were thirty of them. Since their army consisted of three thousand soldiers, he deduced that each of that one triangle represented a group of one hundred soldiers.
He looked at the red markers and was discouraged to find them to be more than sixty. That meant the enemy's numbers were twice theirs.
He turned to the duke, "any chance for Your Grace to just fly over them and use your spells to decimate them?"
"See? It's a waste of time for him to be here," Samuel exclaimed.
The duke waved for Samuel to be quiet. He then said to Jack, "while it's true that it will be easy for me to obliterate the enemy's low-level common soldiers, they also have their own high-level leaders. Especially if this orc army was led by Warlord Abasi Raretooth as was declared by the orc chieftain, we cannot afford to be negligent."
"Is that orc a famous figure?" Jack asked.
Commander Quintus answered him, "his deed was known from the reports on Verremor kingdom collected by our spies. He was the youngest to have ever achieved the title of Warlord. He had made many campaigns, whether against invaders or to cull the conflict of the tribes within their nation. He had many loyal and capable officers under him."
"And more importantly, from the report, he was not weaker than me in terms of level," the duke added.
Jack mulled about it. "That means when the leaders fight, us low-level ones will become cannon-fodder then?" he said in apprehension.
"That's why there is a common custom in warfare for us, leaders, to not interfere at the first stage of the battle," commander Quintus said. "It will be the battle between the lowest rank first. The stronger ones will interfere only after the lower-rank troops suffered heavy casualties. Of course, when that happened, the enemy's stronger force will also join in."
"There is such a custom?" Jack must admit that he found such tradition strange.
"It is just what we usually do in a large-scale war," the commander said. "It is not exactly a written rule. Of course, we can ignore it and have all our high-level leaders join in from the start, but things will get too chaotic. As you said, the low-level ones will just become cannon-fodders during such a fight, it will just increase casualties unnecessarily."
Samuel added, "I bet from where you came from, you outworlders just charge at each other without any rules, did you not?"
"Are you sure you are not one of the first prince's people?" Jack retorted.
"Are you calling me a traitor!?" Samuel yelled as he slammed the table. The 3D map projection shivered a bit due to it.
"No? Because your dislike against outworlders is similar."
"Stop this! I will have you two removed from this meeting if this continues," the duke warned. "Samuel, if it is not related to the enemy at hand, please keep your opinion to yourself."
Samuel gave an apologetic nod to the duke, but he still cast Jack an agitated glare. Jack ignored him and gave his attention back to the map projection. The red markers were spread out in a wider formation at one side.
"They are positioned behind us?" Jack asked.
Commander Quintus nodded, "yes, we found it strange at first. Considering their nation is at the other end. But then we thought this conflict might have been planned. They waited until we are deep enough before they put themselves behind us to not allow us an escape route."
