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Chapter 9: A Time of Reflection
THE day after the twins had successfully finished their first mission and returned to Mynoghra’s Imperial Capital, Takuto found himself kneeling and begging Atou for forgiveness for the first time in a while.
“King Takuto!” she bellowed. “Why did you let those girls go SOOOO far?! You were telepathically watching them, right?! You ignored your other work to watch over them, didn’t you?! Then you had plenty of opportunities to caution them!!”
Just yesterday, Atou had wondered why the girls had come home wearing Phon’kaven clothing, and it was that very morning that she’d caught the twins trying to wash the blood and gore out of their regular clothes in secret. And it was only now that she’d learned the twins and the Brain Eaters went so wild in the town of Dragontan with Takuto’s blessing that it caused the Elf mayor to soil herself from the trauma. The whole sticky ordeal was being quietly mopped under the rug by the authority of the King of Mynoghra.
Just the other day, Atou had turned into an affirm-everything-Takuto-says machine, but this situation transformed her into a nagging machine instead.
“I couldn’t do that…I mean…” Takuto started mumbling, “I don’t want them to hate me for taking them to task, you know? They’re at a sensitive age. I want to give them as much freedom as possible so they can become more independent—”
W̄ е̄ ḃn̊о v̊ е̇ l Е n ǔm̃а
“What? Are you their father or something?! Huh?!”
It was hopeless. Utterly hopeless. Everyone involved in this incident was hopeless. Atou had hoped Caria was capable of taking the extenuating circumstances into consideration, but the second she hopped on board Takuto’s little plan to cover the whole thing up, she became guilty of the same crime.
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To make things worse, the King of Ruin was the biggest troublemaker of them all. He pampered the twins so much, he didn’t interfere in their reckless behavior. This was too great a blunder to overlook.
Atou despaired that her hunch about things not going well turned out to be painfully on the mark.
“So, what are you going to do about it?!” she pressed him. “From what I heard, the town mayor had a bout of incontinence after witnessing the Brain Eaters skin a few dozen people alive! If this were a manga or an anime, we would totally be classified as the villains for that! We’re on the path of a villain who acts all strong in the first half of a story only to be easily defeated by the main character in the second half after they’ve powered up from lots and lots and lots of training!!”
“Th-This world isn’t a manga or an anime, though—”
Е̃ n̊ ŭm̊a . i d̀
“Which makes it even WORSE!” Atou snapped.
It worked out fine because the people they killed were the members of a rebellious organization working against Phon’kaven. Atou had no complaints about getting rid of them. The issue was that they had painted the welcoming mayor’s reception room walls red with blood and viscera, resulting in traumatizing the woman.
This whole mission hinged on the condition that the envoy must not behave in a disrespectful manner, per what they’d discussed in the meeting before they sent the girls. The result? Their envoys caused such a big, grievous incident it went above and beyond being disrespectful.
“I guess the Brain Eaters were a bad influence on Caria and Maria…”
Dilarang mengopy novel dari Enuma.id.
“It was those TWO who had HAPPILY sicced the birdmen on those people!!”
“Our girls strayed from the right path…” Takuto moped, his shoulders slumping.
Е̇_n um̀а̀. і d
He was acting like this was the end of the issue, but Atou was still fuming mad. In the end, all the people, including the Brain Eaters, involved in the Dragontan Recon Mission, also known as The Traumatized Mayor incident, received a stern lecture from Atou, and the matter was closed for the time being.
◇◇◇
“ALL! RIGHT! THEN! Let’s begin discussing how to handle Dragontan!”
Atou’s loud, angry voice and her hand slamming down on the documents piled up on the table signaled the meeting’s commencement. The usual members had gathered, joined officially by the twins who were steadily becoming more recognized as future leaders within Mynoghra.
“Have some candy.”
“Thank you very muchest, Your Majesty!”
Dilarang mengopy novel dari Enuma.id.
“Yippee!”
Yes, they had joined the meeting…all while being ridiculously spoiled by King Takuto.
“Have any of you reflected on your actions yet?!” Atou promptly smacked them with her complaints, her anger palpable.
“EEP!!!” Takuto and the twins gulped in unison.
The three of them understood they were acting out of line and huddled together in silence, their bodies trembling. The twins were one thing, but even Mynoghra’s King had become a disgrace with the way he was acting.
“L-Lady Atou…you should let them off the hook,” Gia said, a little frightened.
Ѐń ũ m а
“You really should,” Emle added. “It’s more important to continue the meeting… Not that I don’t completely agree with you.”
“Nay,” Elder Moltar chimed in. “It is not my place to question the King’s judgment, but I still believe we failed to properly educate the twins.”
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The Dark Elves rushed to smooth things over in their own way. Even Atou must’ve sensed the awkwardness in the room because she shook her head and tempered the agitation showing on her face.
“HMPH! …Fine, I’ll let it pass. I am willing to admit I lost my temper a tad there. Discussing Dragontan comes first.”
Everyone understood how she felt, but they’d already covered the mistakes Takuto and the twins made. Constantly bringing up something that had already been dealt with would only waste precious time and prevent everyone from moving on. In the end, the most important thing was Mynoghra and the peaceful life Takuto aspired toward. Atou never once forgot that, and so she strove to bring them back on topic.
“All right, Elfuur Sisters, is it safe to assume your investigation’s findings were accurately covered in the report you wrote?” Elder Moltar asked to be sure.
W̆е́ b̀n̄ о̂ v́ е̂ l Е̄ nûm̈а́
“Yes, Elder. His Majesty looked over it for us already, so it shouldn’t have any mistakes,” Caria said. “You can ask us about anything you don’t understand.”
All the details of the things the twin sisters saw and heard in the town of Dragontan had been written down and turned in as a report. Everyone had already read their report, and the primary purpose of this meeting was to decide on their next policies based on that information.
“Hrm,” Elder Moltar hummed contemplatively. “The town seems to be in a state of disrepair on a people level. I must say that while our attention was mostly drawn to the twins’ radical conduct, we can’t necessarily blame them given the state of things.”
“You have a point there,” Emle agreed. “Considering the situation in Dragontan, some sort of chaos was bound to ensue sooner or later.”
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“Sounds likely.” Gia nodded along.
They were evaluating the situation in Dragontan as they looked over the documents in front of them. By staying in the town themselves, they could see the whole picture that had been limited by their long-distance scouting. This also showed them the town in question was in more dire straits than they’d imagined.
Е̌ n ū m̊ӑ .і̌d̂
“The townspeople are considerably on edge and scared for their lives, so I believe if things go well, some might even want to immigrate to our great empire,” Emle suggested.
“That reminds me, we were able to learn some of our Dark Elf clansmen reside in that country. This is most fortuitous news!” Elder Moltar exclaimed. “If you leave the task to me, I guarantee I will get them all to join our empire instead!”
Elder Moltar made promises there was no guarantee he could keep, and Gia and Emle were enthusiastic about the idea. Their desire to reunite with their clansmen made perfect sense, but things must be handled in order.
“You’re putting the cart before the horse,” Atou said, reining in the Dark Elves before they completely derailed the meeting. “I won’t deny that it is great news, though. It’s also wonderful to know of somewhere we might be able to obtain immigrants from.”
“Between the Dark Elves located in Phon’kaven’s capital and anyone who wants to immigrate from Dragontan, we might actually have a population boom.”
“You’re right, King Takuto,” Atou said. “We were able to establish a connection with Mayor Antik, so I believe future negotiations with Dragontan should proceed smoothly from here on.”
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The Dark Elves looked delighted to have Takuto agree with their assessment. His comment was essentially the same as him saying he’d welcome their estranged clansmen with open arms. All they had to do was get rid of the problem at hand. Unfortunately, the problem in question was still a complicated one for the Dark Elves to solve even after getting a motivation boost.
“What about the Barbarians?” Takuto asked.
Indeed, the biggest problem facing them right now was the sudden and random appearance of Barbarians attacking Phon’kaven and the potential threat they might eventually pose to Mynoghra.
“The Brain Eaters reported on them. At a glance, they aren’t much different from the Barbarians we know of. Goblins, Orcs, and sometimes even Hill Giants appear to attack.”
“I know how to handle Goblins and Orcs, but Hill Giants are a whole other kinda beast,” Gia groaned unexpectedly.
The Hill Giant, with its huge body and superhuman strength, was considered a big threat in this world. It was common practice to avoid battle with them to prevent massive losses to an army. But conflict couldn’t be avoided when they were coming to wreak havoc on towns and cities. Relatively weak Barbarians, such as Goblins and Orcs, could be easily dealt with by the Dragontan Town Defense Force, but losses were inevitable when they were up against Hill Giants.
E̊n̈um̌ а_
“A few to a few dozen seem to attack every day,” Elder Moltar said, looking over the Brain Eaters’ report. “There are some days without an attack, but looking at the overall trend toward increasing numbers, I believe it’s dangerous for us to idly sit by and do nothing.”
The standard strategy would be to wait for the town and its defense force to recover and then pour resources into production to further strengthen its defense capabilities, but that wouldn’t work in Dragontan while under daily raids. It was clear as day what would happen to the town if they continued not to get supplies and reinforcements from Phon’kaven, and it was practically a miracle that they’d run into Mynoghra and were able to receive aid at such a critical time.
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“With all of these factors in mind, does anyone have anything to say about how we should proceed with defending Dragontan?” Atou asked, looking around the table.
Silence reigned until Gia eventually spoke up.
“One thing’s for sure: the twins and the Medics won’t be participating.”
“Aw…”
Е n ǔma . і d̄
“Too bad…”
“Shhh!”
The girls adorably protested against Gia’s assessment. But since Takuto fully understood the precarious position he and the girls were in, he hurriedly held his index finger in front of his lips and shushed them. Takuto wanted to avoid poking that sleeping tiger all over again.
“Warrior Captain Gia is right. I’m against splitting up our forces, but we’ll run into a different set of problems if we send the wrong people…” Emle groaned. “It’s hard to find the right balance.”
Dilarang mengopy novel dari Enuma.id.
“Oh yeah, I’m participating, no questions asked, so plan with that in mind,” Atou said casually.
As Emle was stunned into silence, Elder Moltar began to rub his beard, instantly understanding why she would participate.
E nù m̈ а̌. і̄ d.
“You want to make use of your special ability, no?”
“Yes, my ability to steal my opponent’s skills. Even weaklings like Barbarians have some useful skills worth snatching. Now’s as good a time as ever to obtain them. Isn’t that right, King Takuto?”
“Yep. You can count on some great enhancements from it.”
Atou’s unique Hero ability allowed her to steal the skills of her defeated enemies. Because she has this ability, she can eventually reign as the strongest Hero. Put another way, she wasn’t living up to her potential if she didn’t snatch skills. She was only living up to the name Sludge Atou by seizing others’ skills.
Neither Takuto nor Atou had any intentions of missing out on this wonderful opportunity.
“Then we just need to pick out your retinue then,” Elder Moltar said. “Hrm…we want to refrain from overwhelming Dragontan’s townspeople, so the Long-legged Bugs are out.”
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“If we count them out, that only leaves Captain Gia’s Warriors as a proper escort…” Emle pointed out.
“Nay, they are to remain and guard Mynoghra. I plan to take these old bones out into the action.”
“Oh?”
Everyone looked at Elder Moltar. They were all surprised by his unexpected proposal.
“I’d certainly be happy to leave all the annoying negotiating and boring talking to you, but…don’t we need a few more people for this?” Atou asked.
It was a great idea for Elder Moltar to go on this mission. They were going to Dragontan to offer military aid, so there was no need to worry about the political repercussions of sending their most influential people. But, as Atou said, two people couldn’t protect an entire town on their own.
É.nüm̀ а .і̀d
“I’m thinking about bringing my apprentices along,” Elder Moltar said. “I was training them to run the Magic Research Institute once it’s finished being built, but they are as capable of fighting Goblins as they are pushing papers. If their numbers aren’t satisfactory, we could borrow a few of the Warriors too.”
“Well, I’ll basically be handling all the enemies myself, so I don’t mind a little company,” Atou said with a shrug.
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“Combined military operations between allied nations are likely to be fraught with complications. Please use my apprentices for all the tedious miscellaneous matters, my lady.”
In other words, they were trying to make it look like they had the numbers to match the devastation Atou could inflict on her own. Takuto and Atou held firmly to the policy that they wanted to avoid casualties at all costs, especially while they had a limited population.
Atou felt there was no problem if they were just coming along to handle the tedious things, so she glanced at Takuto to see how he felt. Judging by his satisfied expression, she determined her king was of the same mind as her.
“Very well. I’m counting on you to make things easier for me.”
Еnu m а́
“Then please leave Mynoghra’s defense to our Warriors!”
“But I have concerns about our defenses…”
They had finished selecting who they’d dispatch to Dragontan, but Emle felt the need to voice her concerns about their defenses. Atou eagerly nodded as if she were waiting for someone to bring that up and flashed a confident smile that seemed to say “All eyes on me!”
“We have naturally already thought that through. We will make the Hero Isla the cornerstone of our defense.”
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“Ooooohhhh!!!”
The room was filled with oohs and aahs.
Еn̈ u̇m а̇. ї d
Isla, Queen of Bugs was the name of one of Mynoghra’s Heroes who stood alongside Sludge Atou, and now it was finally time to bring her into the conversation.
“Isla’s production is nearly finished at the perfect time,” Atou continued. “It’s almost as if everything lined up perfectly for us! You were right to speed up her production, King Takuto! That’s our genius king for you!”
“A new Hero, eh? We can rest easy with her around! His Majesty’s discernment has paid off once again!”
“His Majesty is amazing!” Caria cheered.
“Hip hip hooray!” Maria clapped her hands.
While it was a complete coincidence, Isla’s production was finishing at the absolute best possible time. Atou could leave Mynoghra to hunt Barbarians exactly because they had sped up Isla’s production. Of course, it was Takuto who’d made that call, and he was who they praised for it. He felt kind of shy being so grandly praised for something he hadn’t actually put much thought into, but he still made a big show of it by confidently nodding along.
Dilarang mengopy novel dari Enuma.id.
Takuto had recently learned that role-playing as the Absolute was necessary sometimes. He risked getting found out later, but he lived by the rule not to worry about future problems—also called postponing a problem until it hits you in the face.
“We will enhance our forces by pairing Isla, who strengthens any insects, with the Long-legged Bugs. We will also have the Warriors stationed here, so I think that should be a strong enough defense.”
Mynoghra’s military might would increase tenfold with the addition of Isla. In addition to her physical prowess as a Hero unit, all Bug units would gain buffs to their Strength with her present. Naturally, the several Long-legged Bugs they already had would also benefit from these buffs, transforming them from weak scouting units to powerful, speedy units with high mobility.
They also had the upper hand with their city being built upon Cursed Terrain that gave massive bonuses to evil-aligned units. Dark Elves gained bonuses in Forest Terrain too. With all these factors put together, any half-baked attempts at an attack would end in failure before their various defenses.
After that, they discussed a few more things in detail, but their overall policy didn’t change.
“What do you think, King Takuto?” Atou asked him. “Please let us know if you have any suggestions or pointers.”
Wӗ.b nоv̄ѐl Еnùm a
Takuto’s approval was needed to finalize anything, but he had no complaints about the decision they’d come to. He was especially glad that Elder Moltar suggested his apprentices join Atou. Now he could redirect some of the Warriors he’d planned to send with her toward defending Mynoghra. Takuto was further convinced of the value the Dark Elves provided by participating in these meetings because of the different ideas that came out of it, like this one.
“Hmm, sounds perfect to me. It’s a good strategy.”
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With his approval, everyone bowed and immediately moved to make their plans a reality.
“In that case, I will sortie the moment Hero Isla is complete,” Atou said.
And so, they had decided which troops to dispatch to Dragontan.
“I’m looking forward to how many skills I’ll be able to plunder.”
Web̈ ń о v́е l Е̌n̂ ümа
Atou becoming stronger would make Mynoghra stronger, which in turn would help them achieve Takuto’s aspirations.
Atou giggled with glee, for she couldn’t hide her excitement at the potential powers the Barbarians might net her.
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