The next day, he learned where the other Ghoul villages were. There were ten of them in total. However, they only needed to make the multiple-day journey to visit four of them.

The other six had already been attacked by the Orcs.

『Th-the men were killed and the w-women… GRRRR!』

『GAAAH! My village, it’s been burned down! THOSE PIIIIIGS!』

『It hurts! It hurts! Mother was screaming! It hurts! I can’t breeeeaaaathe!』

『We attacked! The Ghouls! Bugogan-sama’s orders! The Ghouls’ venom, because of Orc-Mage-sama’s magic, no work on us!』

Vandalieu listened to the words of the spirits of the Ghouls and Orcs who had died in battle that had followed his Undead insects back to the village. Many spirits were only capable of howling and crying because too much time had elapsed since their deaths and even those capable of speaking did so in fragmented sentences, but Vandalieu could piece together what had happened.

The Noble Orc Bugogan had apparently been attacking Ghoul villages one after another, starting with the smallest ones. Most Ghoul villages other than Zadiris’s village had between thirty to fifty members. Groups of eighty or so slave Goblins and Kobolds attacked them, with the Noble Orc’s sons in command.

There were apparently some Ghoul villages that didn’t have any strong individuals like Ghoul Mages or Ghoul Barbarians. In those villages, a Rank 4 Ghoul Warrior that might be in a middle-rank position in Zadiris’s village acted as the chief.

It wouldn’t be surprising for them to be annihilated in a one-sided battle when the Rank 6 Noble Orc attacked. And it seemed that the numerous Orc Mages were able to cast spells that granted resistance against the paralyzing venom that Ghouls secreted from their claws.

This magic would be cast on the Orc soldiers and some of the slaves before the battle.

The Ghouls’ resistance had been fierce, killing many of the Goblins and Kobolds. But since the Orcs captured Ghoul females in the process, it was a net gain for them.

And so Bugogan had killed over a hundred Ghoul men and kidnapped over a hundred Ghoul women. Ghoul women had much sturdier bodies than humans, and made excellent mothers.

It seemed that Bugogan had used the Ghoul women in addition to the female Goblins and Kobolds to further increase the number of his Orc soldiers.

The Kobold Shaman hadn’t known these things, likely because it was a Spiritualist who was never sent out onto the frontlines and because it was a slave.