Huh? There's a magic school here.

"Let him in!"

The military and political officials and tribal nobles standing in the palace hall were all whispering amongst themselves, but their eyes were all fixed on Kurt Elliot on the throne. He was their orc king, and his decisions could determine the rise and fall of a tribe.

In their eyes, the priest was nothing more than Kurt Elliot's lackey, given that he commanded the Empire's special department, the Dark Blade. Although the priest himself was a powerful clergyman, he lacked a foundation. Yes, the priest had no foundation; the temple he controlled, strictly speaking, worshipped the Beast God, not him. If Kurt Elliot decided to replace him, the temple would not fight against the Beastman Empire for his sake.

The priest's position here is entirely due to Kurt Elliott's trust and support, which allows him to control both the Temple and the Dark Blade. Once he loses Kurt Elliott's trust and support, replacing him would be effortless. But these nobles are different; they have tribes! They have their own bases, and although nominally they all belong to the Empire, within their tribes they hold equal sway.

Once a conflict arises between the empire and these nobles, their own tribes will undoubtedly side with them. Therefore, these nobles secretly call the priests lackeys, but the Dark Blade's duties extend beyond just ambushes and assassinations; they also include surveillance. As for who to monitor, that's a matter of opinion, but no one will outwardly show their dislike; outwardly, everyone will still respect the priests.

Seeing the priest bowing his head and conversing with Kurt Elliott, they began to wonder why everyone was already there. Why wasn't the meeting starting? Weren't they supposed to send people to Dawn Forest to attack the otherworldly invaders again? Many of them were preparing to vie for command of this operation, completely disregarding the gnoll chieftain's previous failures.

In their hearts, they could only curse the gnoll chieftain for being so stupid, unable to even handle such a small matter. Just as everyone was slightly confused, the priest walked out of the palace hall. A moment later, the priest returned, this time followed by a tall figure.

The tall figure formed a stark contrast with the priest; one was tall and robust, the other thin and short, looking extremely incongruous. However, as the nobles carefully observed the newcomer, some gasped in surprise, while others looked puzzled.

The person who exclaimed clearly knew who Samuro was.

"Hiss, how did it get here?"

"Hasn't it already withdrawn from the court to pursue the highest realm?"

"I don't know. I had been thinking of sending one of my very talented grandsons to it as an apprentice, but I couldn't find anyone. I never expected to see it here today! I'll have to pay it a visit after court."

"I'm getting old, I never thought I'd see it again! When it challenged me back then, I didn't take it seriously. Now I probably wouldn't even be a match for it."

Besides those who knew Samuro, some of the new generation of nobles didn't. This wasn't surprising, because while these newcomers were still infants, Samuro had already begun his planned withdrawal from the core of power to pursue his own martial arts.

Although Samuro's reputation had always influenced them, they had never seen Samuro in person. So when these new generation nobles saw Samuro, despite his tattered robes, being able to carry a sword into the palace, no one underestimated him; they were simply very curious about who this man was.

As these thoughts raced through the minds of the nobles, Samuro had already arrived at the center of the hall. It looked up at Kurt Elliot on the throne, its feelings a mixture of emotions, but Samuro still knelt down to pay its respects. As a powerful being, it didn't need to kneel before Kurt Elliot, but looking at the man who had led the beastmen to the pinnacle of their race, it felt immense admiration.

"Samuro, pay homage to the great king of the orcs."

Kurt Elliott was also pleasantly surprised; it hadn't expected Samuro to be so courteous. It should be noted that although it had met Samuro before, those were always in private. As the orcish swordsman, Samuro would never kneel before it.

This was the first time Kurt Elliot had publicly summoned Samuro, and he hadn't expected Samuro to be so sensible. Overjoyed, Kurt Elliot immediately rose from his throne and quickly helped Samuro to his feet. Since the other party had already shown such respect, he couldn't be presumptuous; although he was the king of the orcs, the other party was also an orc swordsman, and he had to give him the respect due to him.

And so, the two staged a scene of mutual understanding between ruler and subject within the royal palace of the orc capital. The other nobles, besides enjoying the spectacle, held them in even higher esteem. A king with the support of the orc swordsman's throne was now more secure, and a swordsman with the king's support was sure to go even further in the future.

This was exactly the effect Kurt Elliott wanted, and then Kurt Elliott patted Samuro on the shoulder kindly and said happily.

"As expected of our orcish swordsman, I never imagined your strength had reached this level! Now I feel even more at ease entrusting this mission to you."

Kurt Elliott's words immediately brought the nobles to their senses. It turned out that Kurt Elliott had summoned Samuro for this campaign. Although many were unwilling, they were helpless, as none of those present could defeat the Sword Saint before them.

These nobles were not only no match for the Sword Saint, but they also lacked Kurt Elliott's support. It seemed unlikely they could lead an army into battle, and the nobles immediately lost all interest in showing off at the grand court assembly.

At this moment, Kurt Elliott and Samuro were still putting on a show, their actions tacitly understood each other.

"Samuro will certainly not betray His Majesty's trust and will definitely defeat the humans from the other world in one fell swoop. We will exterminate them all!"

"Good! With you saying that, I can rest assured! What requests does Lord Samuro have for this expedition? Please feel free to make your request! I will do my best to fulfill it!"

"Personally, I hope Your Majesty can send someone to help me gather some secrets about the various races, especially the secrets of the ancient gods! I firmly believe that some of their stories might help me take that step!"

"Lord Samuro, please rest assured, I will entrust the matter to the priest! I believe there will be results soon! Do you have any other requests? Please feel free to make them!"

"I hope that for this expedition, the great king will provide me with enough kobold and ogre troops! If you could also allocate some wyverns or wind riders, that would be even better! And please prepare some necessary magic scrolls as well!"

As soon as Samuro finished speaking, the nobles in the palace began to whisper among themselves.