Jod wanted to accompany the iron mining expedition. Mafu had been against it since Jod was basically a superhero when in the territory but not outside of it.

  But Jod had argued that he still was strong outside of it, just not superhumanly so. And with Jod following, Mafu would be able to share his vision since the iron vein was not that far out of the territory boundary.

  Mafu eventually relented, and soon the expedition was underway.

  Uther and his subordinates from the slave mine had eagerly volunteered to go on the expedition. After all, even though they had hated being slaves, the skills and knowledge they had built up about mining from that time could be effectively used here.

  So the expedition set off, high in spirits and with a few makeshift wagons refitted to more easily transport ore.

  Next on the list of projects: the fire dungeon.

  In it there had spawned a few different species of monsters. At the bottom were living rocks, with lava for blood. They were not quite golems, as they did not have humanoid features. They all had a different composition for their body.

  Some of them resembled worms, slithering across the volcanic rock underneath them with ear-deafening, grinding sounds emanating through the cave.

  Others were pillars, standing perfectly still. It was hard to make them out with the background of volcanic rock that now covered the cave's walls, roof, and floor.

  Others were round boulders, rolling about arbitrarily and changing directions. What was common among all of them, when killed and dissected, was that they had a spearlike weapon hidden inside of them made out of nitram.

  Nitram was the stone they had found in Doloran's world that was denser, harder, and sharper than normal stone.

  The lava rocks would attack by extending the spear out of their body at high speeds. The spear was in pieces inside of their body but could be rearranged to shoot out of nearly any part of their body.

  Further up in the dungeon there were gnolls. Mafu had imagined gnolls to be doglike humanoid monsters, but these were closer to lizard humanoids in appearance. They did not have scales or fur, but a leathery skin that was extremely heat resistant.

  They had sharp claws and teeth and seemed to be slightly more intelligent than normal beasts.

  Further up there was another fantasy staple that Mafu had yet to discover. Slimes. Fire slimes, with a core inside of them. They bobbed around happily, but when Mafu had introduced a mushroom warrior to the dungeon, they had all attacked at once.

  They shot something similar to Mafu's firespikes at the mushroom warrior, but their firespikes seemed more like lavaspikes. They had matter to them.

  The third dungeon seemed by far the hardest of them so far. Mafu would need Jod or one of the three dukes to conquer the dungeon and then skin the gnolls so they could sew new armor for the orc warriors to tackle the dungeon.

  Mafu thus contacted Parek, and Parek was more than willing to go solo into the dungeon. Since he had become a duke, his warrior spirit had been fully reignited. It had come to the point where he shirked his official duties as warchief to go on a dungeon run.

  Mafu did not mention this, as he felt that letting the orcs deal with orc business was ideal. He did not want them to feel that they had given up any of their freedoms and ways as soon as they technically became subordinate to Jod.

  In time though, some things would have to change.

  Mafu's plan for the orcs was to slowly move their society away from their extremely hierarchal structure. The good thing was that the orcs did not abandon their weakest, but other than that, the hierarchy felt too strict.

  Even the weakest among them could be useful, and the fact that women had been given the short end of the stick for centuries irked Mafu. This change would have to be gradual, though, as old ways often die hard.

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  Even on earth, it was very hard to get rid of old ways. And on earth one would not have to account for the difference in species.

  The first step to this had been with the crafters, and they were currently in the exploratory phase of their classes. Akro and Tenia often spent 16 hours in the smithy, trying to figure out blacksmithing. Mafu could not help them much, as he only had a cursory understanding of blacksmithing.

  He helped when they asked questions about the basics of blacksmithing. Quenching, forging, and keeping the right temperature in the forge. Mafu talked about these things, but they needed to find the right way themselves.

  So far they had been using up Mafu's precious storage of ores extracted from the ground. Soon though, with the iron ore from the expedition, they would be able to experiment more easily.

  The same went for the tailors and leatherworkers. Even though they did have leather in abundance, a good version of thread was needed. Demeter had gotten a plant that was alright to use for plant fibers, but it was not as good as cotton.

  They also did not have access to wool. Even if they did, making a good thread was not easy. Manually doing it by hand was ridiculously labor intensive and thus not fitting for the amount of thread that was needed.

  Mafu had knowledge of the existence of spindles and weaving machines, but he did not know anything about how they worked. It was yet again up to the craftsmen to figure out.

  What was good, though, was that once the craftsmen figured something out properly by themselves, a large amount of experience was gained. Innovation in any profession was considered a great feat by the system and was thus heavily rewarded.

  Mafu and Demeter kept trying to find a version of a plant closer to cotton, but it was difficult.

  ---

  Jod and Uther walked alongside a wagon in the middle of the caravan. Everyone was in a jovial mood, finally getting to travel outside the settlement. The orc warriors were especially happy, as most of them had not seen the outside of the settlement before.

  Jod asked Uther:

  "How many years did you work in the mines?"

  "Don't know. Too many, I'd say. When you are only ever told what to do, you tend to shut off any thoughts of your own. Kinda helps to not think when you are a slave."

  Jod immediately regretted asking, but Uther saw Jod's face and added:

  "I take no offense to the question; I just don't have an answer." He was chuckling a bit. He was also very enthusiastic about doing some actual work.

  The beast-kin and human refugees had not truly found their stride in the orc settlement. They mostly helped with day-to-day chores and labor. Once Uther had heard of the mining expedition, he had gone to gather his old crew from the mines.

  Doing what your class and skills were meant to do felt more rewarding than loitering around and doing chores. The whole crew felt the same, and Uther smiled as he thought about how the people he had worked with for years on end shone when he asked them to join.

  None of them had hesitated even a second.

  It was not long until they were at the iron vein, and Uther and his crew started inspecting it. They had opened new mining shafts back in the old world and knew the basics of how a mining shaft was maintained.

  They started their work about 10 meters away from the visible vein, and the orcs and Jod looked confused but did not say anything. After a few hours, they had dug an entrance, and with the help of the orcs, they had placed wooden supports to prevent cave-ins.

  Some of the orc women who had become carpenters had followed on the expedition, and they helped shave down the cut-down trees so that they fit better inside the mine.

  Most of the first day was spent on the work on the entrance.

  The second day was the first time they extracted a bit of ore. Not much, as they had only just hit the vein. But the camp seeing the first bits of ore raised their spirits. Uther laughed as he looked at an orc warrior holding a piece of ore, looking confused.

  The orc warrior asked, "What is good about this stone? It is heavy, but how is this going to make a good weapon?"

  Uther responded with, "You'll see, friend. Soon you will look upon your stone weaponry as trash."

  Uther headed back into the mine. It was now possible to have four people work on expanding deeper into the mountain, while the others extracted ore out of the walls.

  He picked up his pickaxe, one made of the metal Mafu had extracted out of the ground and the ore Otek and Oran had brought back, and swung it happily.

  ---

  Mafu had a meeting with the orc dukes, and it was as usual in the council tent. A firecap in the middle of the tent signified Mafu's presence.

  "What did you want to discuss, Mafu?" The totem keeper asked.

  Out of the three dukes, the totemkeeper was the one who was least on Mafu's side. Mafu did not mind it, as it was always good to be skeptical. Today though, he expected the orc dukes to agree with him wholeheartedly.

  "I think we will lack manpower soon. And since we decimated the attack of the Hollow, they know of my presence here. There is therefore no longer any reason for the orcs to manage your population, in my opinion."

  Mafu took a slight pause, and then continued with:

  "My presence here will evoke an attack no matter your population."

  Farseer Telim looked on the firecap with thoughtful eyes. Mafu let the dukes discuss for a while, and soon Telim responded.

  "You may be right. With the new power that came with being a duke, we can already put up a resistance. And as long as you promise your full support, as before, we agree to stop managing our population."

  The meeting was a short one, but the joy it brought to the orcs to break the old rule was immense.

  That night, there was a feast among the orcs. Couples left the feast early, but it was not because they wanted to go to bed early.

  Or, well, they wanted to go to bed. They just did not want to sleep.