'That is because everyone is going to be too busy putting out the fires in their own gardens.'
They always said that the value of a man's words is tied to his integrity. Just how much do the men and women here trust the Wolfen Butcher? Would they be willing to gamble the life of their citizens? Weighing his options Hiro asked his spymaster.
'Xing, among the groups here, how many of kingdoms are part of the Rhyne's faction? How many of their subs are within five thousand meters of here?'
Hiro's plans were simple and can be summarized in two phrases.
1. Garner as much support as possible for Dylan so he becomes emperor.
2. Fuck up Starfall and Rhyne's allies as much as possible so cannot become empress.
Because of his newfound strength, Hiro learned of how powerful the battle harem system was. And upon doing so, noticed two core factors or the dark sides of the system.
One is that the power of strengthening the dom or the sub is tied directly to the trust of each. Two, either by quantity or by quality assassinating the subs are a good way to weaken the power of a dom.
Take Rhyne for example, she supposedly had four spouse ranks meaning they are at least worth 10% of her power. If Artorius, Max, Vergil or Gilthunder were killed off. That should reduce Rhyne's link by 40% and her stats by however high her husband's dowries were courtesy of the affection life cycle.
Even if Rhyne is able to take back the link before the husbands are killed off. It would take time for raven-haired beauty to find people she would willingly take in. In Hiro's mind, a hit list already began to form.
Xing and Allan who heard Hiro's trail of thought grew speechless. The butcher's question reminded them of the grave dispute within Heavenly Sword only two months ago. It all started with a question Hiro asked as they ate.
"Alan, Xing can you get me a list of all of Rhyne's known submissives? When I finish with BHR I will assassinate them all."
"Master, I…I do not believe you would need to perform such a method, it is possible but I do not think anyone but the vilest scoundrels actively hunts submissives for that purpose."
"Why would that be the case Alan?"
"Uh…" Unable to explain the Srayver merchant stammered. His wife who noticed his hesitancy knew this arose from a difference in upbringing and thus interceded on his behalf.
"It is considered more despicable than murder master. If you were to rank the vilest sins one can do the top three would be Dom to Sub assassination, NTR, and Rape.
"In the Valorious continent, only those without a shred of morality would hunt submissives as a dom. It is an implied code of conduct that subs are allowed to fight subs or doms. But doms can only fight doms."
"What kind of bullshit double standard is that?" asked the butcher.
Geo explained the matter further. Unique to their entire party, unlike Hiro who transmigrated to a body of a sixteen-year-old, Fulgeo reincarnated way earlier and thus had more time to adapt to the culture.
"Aniki, the equivalent on earth would be the double standard on women. Women are allowed to hit women and men. But men are only allowed to hit men. Following that trail of thought, what you are suggesting would be intentionally avoiding the men to beat up their women.
"Doms are morally allowed to defend themselves against subs. But they are not allowed to actively hunt them. The logic goes that once you become a dom, you are no longer allowed to bully subs.
"Even though there are subs more powerful than doms, It is considered morally wrong to avoid the dom and only go for his/her subs. The expectation is that while it makes sense, it violates about every moral fiber established by modern society. Even some assassination guilds have explicit rules on these."
Due to the unique explanation, Hiro found the meaning he wanted. The double standard on men and women was a silent agreement as old as war itself. Most people fought for their families, thus to actively avoid confrontations with the men and specifically hunt the women took a special kind of bastard to execute.
Unfortunately, Hiro never cared how he was seen. To him, morality was a luxury of the strong. The weak only had survival or death as options. From the bits and pieces, he knew of Rhyne, just from Gilthunder's sealed status the crown princess would be beyond powerful.
While Hiro understood that his task is to stop the invasion, Rhyne was pretty high on his list of priorities. As she directly worked to undermine humanity. So long as she was alive, Hiro could never succeed. Thus after Geo's explanation. Hiro only had one word as a reply. "So?"I think you should take a look at
"Master, you would be seen as a villain, and even your allies would abhor you for your actions. They will hate you for it!" Xing explained how unsightly such an opinion would be but Hiro went the complete opposite of what she believed.
The butcher then looked at the rest and asked their opinion of his dastardly plans. "Everyone. I will hunt Rhyne's submissives to extinction. Thoughts?"
Lars and Aurum looked like they ate shit from what they heard. Aurum most especially, such works went against his very moral foundations as a knight. Not everyone had the stomach for such a deed. It would be villainy of the most morally bankrupt degree.????????????????????????????????.????????????
But from a tactical and technical standpoint. Battle harem warfare is essentially murdering each other's families. The concept of bringing your loved ones into a war already set up such instances to begin with. One by one Hiro's direct subs answered.
"Husband, I agree. Even if we go to hell. We go together."
"Nii-sama my sword is yours. If that is your will then so be it."
The logical wife as well as the obsessed brocon had no qualms about violating their moral compasses for Hiro. Inwardly the man felt his heart warm up from their devotion.
"Ryuuka doesn't like it very much. I mean why can't Daddy just kill the dom? But if Daddy wants me to do the same, I will, but I do not like it."
"Hiro-sama you know I would do anything for you. And this is no exception but if possible just let me do the deed. I am more than trained for such. There is no need to dirty your hands."
The proud dragonkin and even the strider however expressed their discontent. To Hiro who had trouble understanding their hesitancy, the implications of his decision grew more apparent. Yet even with such feelings the two-valued him more.
A knight is built for war, but fighting children, even child soldiers at that sullies their honor. This case would be similar. Hiro was a knight yet told his harem that he would go after the wives and children of others. His family could understand it, but it weighed on their consciousness.
Raylene, the last to speak trembled silently. As the most upright of his family and the one who came from the proud lands of the true Valorian empire. She felt furious and crestfallen. The woman balled her fists in indignation as he rebuked the man she loved the most.
"Darling, I am disappointed in you! Is this all your power is worth? Can't you just train, grow stronger, then fight? This goes against everything my family and I stood for!
"I cannot and will not condone such an action! Are we your battle harem mere decorations? Your opponent is Rhyne! We will take care of her subs! Do not tarnish your honor for such a villainous act!"
With tears in her eyes, the feeling of contempt in her voice was palpable. Yet the ones who defended Hiro and rebuked her at the same time were Jade and Tsugumi.
"Zombie. Grow up. Chivalry is stupid. Stand in Cemetery. Ask everyone there. Did honor give them better graves?"
"Raylene-Nee-sama, virtue is good and all but the dead have no need of it. We have a war to win, I would rather be Nii-sama be labeled cowardly or despicable than mourn a righteous corpse."
"AND WHAT WOULD YOU TWO KNOW ABOUT HONOR?!" violently shouted Raylene.
As the tension between Heavenly Sword rose, Ryuuka and Vanessa stood between them to calm both sides down. Ryuuka took the blue-haired empress's hands as she tried to placate her.
"Sword-mommy, please don't cry! Ryuuka hates seeing sword-mommy in pain. Daddy is just asking! He is still a good guy! Cheer up!"
On the other side, Vanessa took hold of both her sister and her niece as she mediated. "Jei, Tsugumi-chan, please understand Lene is from the Valorious Empire. The same empire that holds its legacy above life. Do not demean her like this simply because we do not understand."
But the princess of Graceyeanor dropped a bomb that made the situation spiral out of control.
"This is why. Valorious empire fell. Defense of capital failed. Because Emperor. Choose honor above the empire."
