A noble crusade. A righteous campaig to punish traitorous rebels who dared harm and take the life of a noble, who had led and protected them from their own foolishness and barbaric ways of living.

  That was what Barbro thought of the expeditions he was currently leading.

  He breathed in the st of smoke, waving over from a burning vilge that beloo a noble who was not part of the Royal fa. The same noble also had no e to Eight Fingers, and so had no value to the Prinbsp;

  Allowing his soldiers a little plunder fold and women was ara honey on the cake, allowing him to keep their morales high and their loyalty to him even more.

  He drew himself up with a smug expression. Everything was all going acc to his genius pn. He could simply write a short letter home announg that he had caught some traitors that had killed a lord’s son and that the vilge had attempted to hide them.

  Two birds with oone. And there were more birds for him to hunt and turn into glorious achievements that would further embellish his throne and once he took it.

  “Is my tent ready?”

  He asked one of his officers. The tall, broad-shouldered prince easily t over the armored man as he looked down at him.

  “Yes sir. And… so is Lakyus…”

  The smaller man said with a passive void bnk eyes.

  “Good.”

  Barbro nodded ao his tent.

  A slender blonde cowered at the far er of the tent. She was a little bit better fed paratively, but she was nrateful than before as she shark even more when the priered.

  He stared down at her as she groveled like a dog with her belly up and fingers folded into her palms like a dog’s paw. Her eyes looking up to him filled with fear as tears began to escape her eyes.

  “It’s feeding time. Now, beg for your supper, Lakyus.”

  He said with a smirk, and atuated the name.

  The girl was dressed in a close approximation of the adventurer’s expensive clothing and amore, though much, much cheaper. Mere red wool clothing with the cheapest red and gold dyes. A barely simir caricature to the real thing, but the significe of it as a symbol was no less in the eyes of the smirking prinbsp;

  “P-Please! Please let me eat, sir!”

  Tuare whimpered and held still when his massive foot went down to her throat, very little but still enough to inflict fear of it snapping her neck like a twig.

  “Then hadn’t you better apologize? I’m sorry I was disrespectful to the future king of Re-Estize! I’m sorry I was ag like a bitch!”

  Tuare could not have known anything about what the prince was saying, but she still screamed her apologies for the sins she did not it.

  She begged as he called her “Lakyus” and spat down into her face, the noise of his grunts apanied by r fires of the ruined vilge and crashing noises of broken homes into the ash-cround.

  When Prince Barbro finally released his hold on his pything, he felt sated and satisfied.

  He first thought of expediting this campaign so he could return home and show the entire kingdom of his achievements. But now, he thought otherwise. This enjoyment… he preferred if it would st a bit longer. Perhaps another day or two, to pletely erase this pbsp;

  ‘Yes… to teach those nobles and peasants. e or murder, and everything you ever were will cease to exist.’

  It would be a time well spent, he thought.

  Such dispy of ruling with an iron fist would intimidate the more weak willed opposition, and increase the likelihood of him asding the throne. While the more cautious ones would be even more cautious to move in fear of the swift retaliation and thh ter he would exa them.

  ‘This is how a king should rule. With an iron fist to those who opposed the , and milk and hoo those supp it.’

  He praised himself one more time, and did not let his disappoi and frustration towards his father’s rule thus far be voiced. After all, he was aged and was no longer powerful enough to rule the kingdom.

  He would bring about a new age to the kingdom.

  His chest puffed at the thought ing the age of prosperity to his Kingdom and raising it to great heights, and looked at the curled up little ball of pale flesh that was trying to look anywhere but in his dire.

  He felt his member hardening until the fines of his pants made him no longer fortable, and stepped into her view until she couldn’t avoid it again.

  Then, he unleashed his pent up frustrations and a “Lakyus” and used her holes as he reveled iure of his kingdom.

  --------------------------------X--------------------------------

  Renner sat in her quarters. Across from her sat a rotund man with pale blonde hair. Her sed brother, Prince Zanabsp;

  They shared a cup of tea. The maid that served them having been excused out of the room. Renner did not even have Climb by her side and have him guard the doors outside instead.

  “Brother. Enlighten me. What do you know about the events that took p e?”

  She asked, her face a mask of warmth and i ignorahat Zanaew well to be false, though he could not truly pinpoint the exact reason nor did he had any proof.

  “Just what we heard through the loose mouths of nobles and what word read iermath by adventurers and former adventurers who cimed to have seen remnants. Why?”

  “... And you do not think that anything wouldn’t be born out of it?”

  Renner let out a martyred sigh, almost… disappointed and bewildered at his ignorance he didn’t even know he was doing.

  “...Sister?”

  Prince Zanac frowned deeply, more in the lines of worry than offended.

  “Brother dear, let’s py a little game. You may sider it as simply a brother hum his little sister. For old time’s sake. When I was very small, you used to py games with me. Right?”

  “... Alright. What sort of game?”

  Xanax sat back, the hairs on his arms stood on end with wariness.

  “A little game I call “What if”. You py this game by postuting a sario pying out in a particur fashion, then work out what is most likely to happen given all the various i involved. Let’s start simple.

  A farmer raises crops, and then his nds were raided by a monster aroyed along with those of his whole vilge. Then, along es a savior, a hero who destroys the monsters, provides enough food for the season, gave them ons to protect themselves, and teaches them how to use it, and then is about to leave. What do you think the peasants there are likely to do?”

  “Offer him lordship to keep him there. Offer him anything, everything, if he’ll keep them safe.”

  “Ihere’s a reason they say the first King was a lucky soldier, brother.”

  Renner cpped her hands together ond smiled softly.

  “Now imagine some dreadful force destroys your home, but safety is only a few days of hard walking away. Or, you could go into the wilderness, or somewhere not known to be safe. Where would you go?”

  “To the safe zone, of course.”

  “Right again. It is the only logical course. Now suppose you live in that safe pce. You fended off raiders, saw monsters as that threatened you destroyed. You almost lost everything, and you may lose it once again iure, but there’s o go. Then, a whole lot of new bor starts showing up asking to stay with you since you survived destru while their home didn’t. What do you do?”

  Princess Renner leaned forward slightly, her eyes narrowed and sharpened ever so slightly uhe guise of her warm, i smile.

  “A lot of bor and fear of destru… I’d prepare. Build walls, use the extra hands to make sure we prepare for a fight. It’s… basically what we struggle to do against the Empire every year. Though we mostly fail because of the nobles.”

  The prince’s round face flushed with anger as his thick fingers made a fist in his p that he cealed from his sister.”

  “Well… What if our foolish elder brother eso across that pce, full of peasants, and realized his “targets” are there. What will our stupid elder brother do?”

  This was an easy question for Zanac to ahe easiest of them all.

  “He’ll attaot in person because he’s a coward, but he’ll send his soldiers to take the walls aroy them.”

  “Wait… e… You're talking about the pce that Master Gown rescued…”

  “Very good, brother dear. Very, very good.”

  She praised him like he was a dog, but in that instant, Prince Zanac didn’t care, for he realized what dire she was going.

  “Our stupid brother will attack. He holds peasants in pt, but fets that everybody in that pce will have been survivor of at least one, probably more, terrible camity. Perhaps, even some military veterans or retired adventurers will be there too. They’ll have o go, nothing to lose, and some may believe they win.

  But, our stupid brother only knew how to burn, plunder, or order an attack to pces where nobody fought back. He won’t uand the desire for revehat lingers behind. That if you strike somebody in the m, they will dream of striking back at night, and hunt you until they kill you in the dark.”

  Renner pressed.

  “ligent brother, drunk on power and the fantasy of assured victory, would surely give them that ce, and he will probably be killed. So now… what if our brother dies? What if… the prince was killed by our very own peasants?”

  “...The peasants, who have nothing to lose, will rebel. The noble fa will also see it as a weakness in the royal fa and rebel. And with the annual war ing up, with the Empire’s at least forty-thousand knights on ates or perhaps more if he thinks he start gobbling up territories, we’ll be surrounded on all sides…”

  Xanax responded with mute horror. His hands now trembling as cold sweat drip down his babsp;

  “Exactly. You’d be the prince, but only that of a ruined kingdom. So, in this case, what do you do, dear brother?”

  “Stop our foolish brother before he destroys us. Nip this rebellion in the bud before he even spark it. Thank you, sister. I will get going right away.”

  Prince Zanac’s face paled as white as death before he even rose from his chair. His tea sat, fotten and abandoned, otle round intimate table he shared with his sibling, then he rushed from the room.

  Alone once again, the golden princess stood up, went to her end table, and flipped open a book.

  There, a message scroll sat between the pages, waiting to be sued. She removed it and waited while the blue fmes engulfed the floating scroll.

  “Lord Demiurge. It is done.”

  There was no answer. She waited a few more moments, and finally realized that his answer was silence.

  But that was fi doesn’t matter. Nothing matters. Only Climb.

  --------------------------------X--------------------------------

  Enri stood before the entire vilge. Her body was adorned in light armor, a circlet, bracers, and greeves.

  Her greeves were ented to grant her greater speed and agility. Her bracers granted her the ability to deflect missiles automatically thrice a day. Her circlet granted her enhanced vision, greater than even Lukrut’s Martial arts, while worn.

  While her light armave her resistance against sshing, pierg, and bludgeoning ons targeting the body.

  And hiddeh her shirt, she wore a neckted to grahe ability to cast “Cure Wounds” up to thrice a day. Though, sidering her mana pool, she would only be able to use it o most.

  All these were just a few of the many gifts Lown and Lord Zero had grahem. Just the ones adorned by Enri would’ve been sidered rare and precious treasures by Re-Estize and Baharuth. But Nfirea, who stood by her side, was adorned in simir protective gears as well.

  While the Swords of Darkness, who stood behind them, were all adorned and equipped with gears of the same quality.

  It was something they, even as Silver-ranked adventurers never would’ve imagihey would wear. But now, they’re adorned in what could very well be treasures on par with the royal treasures the warrior captain adorn i wars.

  "When Master Gown visited us, we needed saving! Now we have to save ourselves! We've worked hard, trained hard, dohings we'd never done before! Now Master Gown has given us the ce to prove we are worth his time! We know someone is ing for us to avehe death of a worthless lord! We didn't do anything… and still we're going to die for it! I'm doh that! Doh all of that!"

  Enri's fury boiled over and gave voice to the e of a lifetime. A fiery bze alight within her eyes, the same bze that had been ignited in the eyes of all those before her.

  "I reject the Kingdom! If their lords seek to destroy us, then damn them! We’ll be our own lords! Take up armor, take up swords! A's get ready to fight! This is our home! This is our nd! And they'll ake from us ever again!"

  Enri bellowed like an ed banshee, and the call began to rise up.

  "e! e! e!"

  The cries shook the ground and the air, filled with fervor, before it began to transform little by little.

  "Emmott! Emmott! Emmott!"

  And from some unknown throat another call began that took hold and would not let go.

  "Hail to Queen Et of the Kingdom of e!"

  Enri blinked in dismay when the call went up. Her heart raced like it was trying to outpace her pulse. The scale of what just happened was far beyond her expectation, but caught in the moment and uo think of what else to do, she gave her orders.

  "Arm yourselves! Everyone! Arm yourselves! We have to prepare and we haven't a moment to spare!"

  Enri shouted, and hundreds of hands began to scramble for hilts, shields, boots, and armor pieces as if these were holiday gifts being given out, and they were the children receiving them. Ead every single one of them, ented equipments greater thahat of the elite knights of Baharuth and even the warrior captain.

  Enri turned her eyes toward Nfirea.

  "What just happened here?"

  She asked as peasants began to put on armor and equip themselves like proper warriors.

  Nfirea chuckled and put a hand on the shoulder of the woman he loved.

  "You became a Queen, I think. And if you'll have me, I'd love to be the King."

  He wi her dismayed, shocked expression, and then the uanding of the meaning behind his words began to sink in.

  "That's… that's not how proposals work, Enfi!"

  She blushed a deep crimson, but Nfirea's loving expression, his broad smile and resolve did not waver.

  "I've loved you for years, more than I could ever say. I don't know what'll happe, but it'll be dangerous, and if I do have to leave this world, I want to do so married to the woman of my dreams. I'll love you for my whole life, you, only you, and no other."

  "That- That is how you propose."

  Enri's blush didn't fade, but her surprise melted into happiness and into his embra a passionate kiss that went on until the carts were entirely empty and the first 'Army of e' began to form up.

  “Hah… I’d… like to tinue. But there’s something I’d o do.”

  Enri reached into the pockets of her shirt beh her light armor and took out one of the two neckces given to her by Ainz. The remaining “Horn of the Goblin General”.

  “This is our st stand... Might as well call on for more reinfort.”

  Nfirea nodded, and Enri blew the horn.

  --------------------------------X--------------------------------

  Yuuji watched the ehing as it transpired through the Mirror of Remote Viewing.

  He sat on the couch within his room. A por pot of tea, ented to always keep the liquid within it at the optimum temperature for tea, sat oable before him, along with a tea cup with a half drunk golden brown liquid, still steaming lightly.

  Behind him, Yuri stood, slightly leaning towards him, as she massaged his shoulders.

  As a maid, she was naturally equipped with the knowledge of massages. In addition to being a Striker, who excelled in melee unarmed bat, Yuri excelled in massages even pared to her sisters.

  She massaged Yuuji with a devotion surpassing the devotion a maid should have for their master, for he was not only the master of her life, but of her heart as well.

  Her eyes were filled with a tenderness and deep affe as she gazed at him, and only him, ign what was reflected in the mirror.

  “Good. With this, we’ll have a kingdom as an ally, instead of a vilge.”

  ‘And that would be another kingdom listed as subjugated in the mission…’

  With this, even if they didn’t subjugate the Theocracy, they’d have at least three kingdoms subjugated, which would plete their mission and grant them a bonus for the extra kingdom subjugated.

  “To pnt our spy in the midst of the vilge to stir the vilgers’ se into creating a kingdom and lifting that vilge girl as their queen… Truly a brilliant move. Your fht and wisdom never ceased to amaze me, Yuuji-sama.”

  He smiled and leaned back, resting his head on her breasts, which have grown noticeable since she became a Succubus. Her transformation had turned her appearance from a stern, intelligey, to a seductive, bewitg, intelligey that could make men fall to their knees and beg for her favor.

  Though naturally, only one being iire world and universe would ever see the loving smile and gaze she was showing right now.

  “Well, they might’ve gone ahead and do either way, but we’ll have to make sure of it. They must rise as a kingdom, so others see how well a vassal state under Nazarick would flourish and prosper. Then, the rest would fall in liurally.”

  Her eyes mellowed even more in adoration and admiration to the great being before her.

  “As expected of Yuuji-sama. Your wisdom and fht is truly unparalleled.”

  Yuuji simply smiled.

  “Well, now that it is settled, would you pour me another cup, Yuri?”

  “With pleasure, Yuuji-sama.”

  She poured him a cup, and theuro massaging his shoulders. This time, she leaned in even more so he could rest his head on her breasts fortably.

  VergsX