Day 53
The princess left me alone in the room to go speak to her brother. It didn’t take long for Kawaii to come back to normal. When she did, she wrapped herself around me while screaming. She explained to me what happened which led to me pampering her. After, I explained the situation to her and she reluctantly agreed to my plan. Kawaii really was not a fan of the princess.
She later explained that she was actually capable of using magic, unlike me. I felt that was very odd, so I would have to inquire further from the princess later. In the end, I had Kawaii sneak out of the room to go investigate further for me, leaving me alone in the room with my other minds.
We simulated the fight with Osveta over and over again, coming up with better and easier ways to beat up someone on his level. It ended up developing the skill [Battle Simulation], where we created an imaginary battlefield with a set list of abilities. It would normally take in-real-world-time to complete a simulation, but with [Multiple Minds] and [Super Thought Process], I went through 50 battle simulations in 2 hours, each simulation getting shorter after the other. My quickest battle, the last one, lasted only three minutes and twenty-six seconds, making me completely confident in my ability to overwhelm him at any point in time.
The only problem was his skill [Double Persona] which created an unknown factor in the battle simulation. So, we removed that skill from his skill set, so in case that skill ever proved to be his trump card, we were doomed. Although, the chances of that were incredibly low since he didn’t use in a life-and-death situation earlier.
Kawaii still hadn’t returned to I sent a message to Yokino asking for her whereabouts, but either she was too busy to respond or she hadn’t seen it yet. That left me with more time, so I simulated battles with Bastien. Honestly, I had 30 simulations and tied in only one of those. The tie, of course, meant we both died in the end. I failed to understand given the fact that Osveta was stronger than him stat-wise. And I knew for certain he didn’t have any unique or ultimate skills.
Maybe it all came down to experience, you know? Fighting for years in the ocean must’ve made him tougher than the average person. Either that, or raising Daxia made him the strongest thing alive.
The agent couldn’t come up with a logical reason as to why. After going over his stats and skills, it made no sense to the agent, so it had to be that or willpower. You know? Spirit can’t be calculated! Never underestimate a person’s will, unless they were cannon fodder. Then you could stomp them without a care in the world.
After a few more simulations in which I died, I got two messages. From Ulva and Reiman. I hadn’t expected that from both of them.
[Ulva: Big sister? You can see this, right? Big brother Grimm said I should deliver a message to you for him. Apparently, he can feel some weird presence in the forest. He says it reminds him of ‘The Duchess’. I don’t know who ‘The Duchess’ is, but he says, and I quote, “Some big shot vampire bitch. If she’s got her eye on you, you’re fucked. Tell your big sister that I’ll investigate a bit further, but if I confirm that it is her, I’m running away and I won’t look back.”. Yeah, something like that. Also, Sylvie and I have been working on that mana potion more. We fed it to some hob-goblins and they say they feel good, which means we’re doing good work, right? Oh yeah, big sister Shiroi said she’s going on a little trip and would be back soon. Um, um, um, the kobolds have been taking care of the house too. It’s as good as new now and the kobold cooks finally stopped putting their fur into the food! It actually tastes amazing without it. Then, t-]
After reading her message, it was obvious as day that this girl was starving for excitement. She couldn’t stop talking and had even been cut off by the system. Or did she send without realising that she had sent? Ah… knowing her she probably had a mountain of things to tell me about. Such a hyper kid. At least I knew she wouldn’t end up like me.
I looked at what I believed to be the important parts of her message.
Grimm was sensing some big-shot vampire in the forest? That couldn’t be good news. Especially with the way he was describing her as some sort of bitch. Hopefully, he was sensing wrong, although I doubted someone whose had lots of experience in the world would mess up such a key detail. Then there was Sylvie’s developments on the mana potion.
Honestly, when I first picked her up, I hadn’t expected for her to be even have such a role in the future, but I guess she was different from all sprites, huh?
Next was Shiroi’s trip to wherever. I didn’t know why she didn’t tell me, although I could infer a few reasons. One being that I literally punished her for no sensible reason. Not wanting to hurt my heart by thinking about it, I checked out Reiman’s message.
[Reiman: Lady Hinotori, it has been a while. Several of my brethren evolved into tunnellers, making our work very easy. We have managed to create tunnels going as far as the mid-point of the south and have finally managed to crack into the north. It would have taken another two weeks to get to any relevant point in the East, but with the new tunnellers, we hope to be done in the next eight days. Also, the shadow rats have already infiltrated other parts of Larm and we keep receiving in formation. Some have even managed to break into human villages that are close by, hiding in the shadows and learning what they can. In all honesty, there is nothing of great relevance at the moment to tell you, but if I may, I shall conclude my report and speak to you informally now.
Are you out of your MIND?! You chose that merciless Queen to rule in your stead?! You know she killed half of all the fanged bunnies in the west, right? She has no sentiments for the weak and fails to understand what it means to have opposing views to hers. The moment you try to suggest something, she will punish you! For some reason, she doesn’t kill any of us directly, but she has caused some of my men to die already. Good men who only thought they were doing the right thing! Please, switch her out or come back. I know you are not in a good place, but now isn’t the time for self-loathing. We need a leader now of all times.
Alright then, sorry about the ranting. What I was just saying is, Arisu is not the best candidate for leader and if she continues to act this way, there will be several insurrections you can’t hope to deal with.]
I could feel my heart shatter. I wish I hadn’t read that. I knew Reiman was a no-bullshit, blunt rat, but wasn’t this too much?
Was Arisu that bad? Ok, maybe I had to change the generals. Obviously, first to come to mind was Shiroi, but she was not available and had refused to take over for me. I still hadn’t spoken to her since that entire incident with me choking her. Knowing Shiroi, she would brush it off, but I wasn’t so good with doing that. I needed to apologise.
Just as I thought that, I remembered Oki’s words. Reiman’s intuition was on point. An insurrection really would happen at any point and it was going to start with the goblins whom I assumed would be the most trustworthy bunch. Guess that was my mistake. Gorm being their leader didn’t mean all of them were as honourable as he was.
So, from the get-go, all the goblins were scratched out from potential leadership roles. I didn’t know any of the timber wolves other than Shiroi, so they were out. I couldn’t trust any of Yokino’s generals either. Sure, she revealed that she was Akane, my childhood friend, but there was something different about her. It felt like she could easily flip a switch and betray me at any point. Maybe if it was Akane when we were kids, I could trust her, but since we entered high school, while being my best friend, she was also the scariest person I knew. She most likely did what she did to let my guard down, but unfortunately for her, I wasn’t the same naïve Akira!
Ah well, no point in thinking too much about that.
Then, the only logical choice fell to Reiman. He was within my ranks and had been there for me since the first time I had to take up a leadership role. And he already had a lot of experience, considering he deals with over a thousand subordinates. Yeah, he was the perfect choice to make my general.
[Are you sure you would like to replace the General Arisu with the servant Reiman?]
[YES]/[N0]
I agreed to it.
[What position would you like the servant Arisu to take up?]
[Captain]
[Servant]
[Excommunication]
I was surprised by the last option on the list. Excommunication? As in yeeting them from the familia as a whole? I felt that was a bit excessive, but it was probably made for people who would try to abuse the system. I mean, all they needed was the minimum amount of loyalty to me to access it and they could whatever the hell they wanted unless I explicitly told them not to.
Since, this was Arisu’s first offense, and I hadn’t given her proper instructions, I would make her a servant for now, so she had no power over the others.
[You have selected the servant Reiman, to be your General!]
After selecting my general, I was done for the day. That was when the princess called me to have a discussion, with some clothes. I had actually forgotten I was naked that entire time.
***
Elriek Sox Den Anon Yorul III POV
Ugly.
That was the first impression the princess had after seeing Hinotori for the first time. A very ugly creature she couldn’t really compare to anything. Elwetistch adults looked close, but they weren’t nearly this ugly. She considered Hinotori a negligible existence then. Although she didn’t understand why her Susu would bring such a creature on such a delicate mission.
Annoying.
That was her second impression on Hinotori. The creature’s voice was annoying and lacked tact. Sure, the creature avoided the princess, but there was something about it that simply infuriated her. Either way, Hinotori was now something she wouldn’t waste any more thoughts on.
Strong.
This was her third impression on Hinotori. When they got separated, she was left with Hinotori and the slime. Hinotori proved to not be a weakling, capable of providing actually safe travel back to Atlantis. The royal family never travelled without at least five royal guards at their side, yet this one creature and a slime provided the best protection the princess could have hoped for. She had to re-evaluate the creature.
Confused.
Her fourth impression on Hinotori. After a few interactions, it was confirmed that Hinotori was new to leading. She sure as hell didn’t know what she was doing and that made the princess feel a sort of connection with her. It reminded the princess of her first time learning the ropes of leading. Several people would have to rely on her and in front of those people, she had to maintain a certain level of competence. She had to appear absolutely confident in her abilities to help them even if she didn’t know exactly how to go about things. That was exactly how Hinotori looked in her eyes. This creature was getting more and more interesting by the second.
Terrifying.
This was her fifth and last impression on Hinotori. When she had abandoned Hinotori to die at Daxia’s hands, her mind instantly went to the fact that Susu told her surface dwellers couldn’t come down there. Yet, 5 years ago, two managed to do so. And in this year another three have appeared. That meant Surface dwellers clearly could come. Maybe they weren’t a lot now, but who knew? In the next few decades, they could increase exponentially. What if all of Hinotori’s people could come down there? Wouldn’t they be angry? So, she decided it would be best to try to clear up the situation. Form a sort of alliance instead.
However, in her room, after just a mere day, Hinotori had arrived.
Well, she didn’t know that was Hinotori at first. How would she know? Whoever stood there was absolutely beautiful. And their presence, horrifying. Such a powerful charisma they radiated, enough to make her flinch. The only one to do that were her parents.
At that moment, all the princess could see, was untapped raw potential.
It was then, Elriek Sox Den Anon Yorul III had made her decision.
She was going to raise Hinotori. She was going to make Hinotori a proper leader, one that owed her. She saw potential in Hinotori and she wasn’t the type to waste potential. If everything went according to her new plan, she had just discovered her most important ally in the coming future. Just thinking about it, the benefits seemed endless.
A smirk formed on her face as she looked outside, at the leylines connecting the five cities.
