Her Majesty’s Swarm - Volume 4 - Chapter 17

Building a Village

We finished our vacation at the inn and returned to the Eastern Trade Union. I was satisfied to find that my skin felt a little bit softer.

“Now, we have an issue to resolve.”

While we were on our trip, the Nyrnal Empire didn’t make a move. The forces in the northeast retreated because they couldn’t maintain an effective supply chain there, but I couldn’t predict Emperor Maximillian’s next play.

I set the new Swarm unit along Schtraut’s defensive line and kept a reserve force, watching and waiting. Whether that would enable me to handle whatever came my way was another issue altogether.

For the time being, I had the Worker Swarms collect the resources we’d need for a second Dreadnought Swarm. I had one set to watch over the Phros, and I was considering positioning the second one on the Schtraut front so it could help us break through the Empire’s defenses.

Producing a Dreadnought Swarm cost a massive amount of resources. If a single Ripper Swarm cost one cow’s worth of meatballs, the Dreadnought Swarm cost more than an entire farm. Honestly, between that and how slow it was, I didn’t want to have to produce too many.

“Aren’t we going to go on the offensive, Your Majesty?” Sérignan asked.

“I can’t mobilize my forces when I don’t know if they have a trap set up for me.”

I’d sent Ripper Swarms on scouting missions, but I didn’t have enough information to gauge what they were planning. Did they have other Gregoria units besides the wyverns and lindwyrms? If they did, how many did they have? Were they capable of producing more? I had no answers.

“If only we could send more Masquerade Swarms and Parasite Swarms into their nation...”

In past wars, I had Masquerade sneak in among the refugees and infest people with Parasite Swarms. It wasn’t a possibility this time, though, since the Nyrnal Empire had closed their borders and wouldn’t let any of the refugees from Schtraut or Frantz into their land. By now, those refugees were rushing to the Eastern Trade Union. They had to live in refugee camps, and the living conditions were getting progressively worse each day.

“Right, the refugee camps are becoming an issue. We should do something about that,” I remarked.

“Are you saying we should do work for the humans? Why?” Sérignan asked, her face sour.

“They’re our allies now, Sérignan,” I chided her. “We have an obligation to help them. To prove that we’re not just a horde of monsters, but living beings with human sensibilities.”

We’d received a great deal of help from the Eastern Trade Union. They had provided us with all sorts of things in exchange for us defending their land, and if we were to keep our end of the deal, we couldn’t risk them doubting us. If the Nyrnal Empire were to try to split us up, they’d condemn us as horrible monsters so the Union would dissolve our alliance.

At least, that was what I’d do if I were them.

“The Worker Swarms have finished reinforcing the fortress line along the Phros,” I continued. “We can have them learn carpentry techniques so they can build temporary dwellings for the refugees. I’m sure that would inspire trust in our allies.”

“Very well. I suppose we cannot let the alliance fall apart.” Sérignan nodded, still bitter.

“The question is how we get insider information on Nyrnal. We need to get our Swarms through their borders...”

The Swarms couldn’t be super spies like the ones you’d see in movies or video games. They couldn’t go on action-packed missions infiltrating enemy territory. But with things as they were, I could think of one way they could sneak in.

“How about the skies?” I asked.

Sérignan shook her head. “The wyverns are patrolling their airspace. The Griffin Swarms might be capable of shaking them off, but they can’t enter unseen. Even if we did make it in, it’d be a very conspicuous infiltration...”

So swooping in from the skies was a no-go. Parasite Swarms were durable, so they could possibly survive a fall from up high, but if the skies were closed to us, we’d need to come up with another way.

“In that case, there is another way.”

If the skies are no good, we just have to go the opposite way.

“I’ve got an idea. I’ll need to think about it and experiment a little to see if it’s even possible. Either way, it’ll take a while.” I put my idea on the back burner. “For now, let’s build those residences for the refugees. I’ll have the Worker Swarms move out. They’ve got time to spare, after all... I mean, the only thing they’d have left to do once they’re done is create furniture for export.”

“I will have them move right away,” Sérignan said. “Where will we build the human residences, though? If we construct them in the wrong place, it might anger any existing residents.”

She was right. People were likely to complain if we built them on the outskirts, beyond the walls, but there were so many refugees that it was bound to create friction. That would just worsen the peace and the refugees’ standing.

“I’ll go talk to the new chairman of the alliance. They should tell us where to set up the next refugee camp.”

With that, I rose from my seat and went to meet the person in question.

♱

“A new refugee camp, you say?”

The new chairman ended up being Keralt. She’d won the election and assumed the role.

“Yes. I imagine the refugee situation is a challenge for you, so I thought we might help,” I told her. “This is an offer of goodwill, of course. We don’t expect any compensation. If you want to press me for a reason, I’ll say that all we seek is your trust.”

“Trust,” Keralt echoed. “You already have our trust. We fought side by side to protect the Union.”

“Well, I’m sure the mercs and adventurers feel that way, but the common citizen doesn’t know how we fought for your country. If we’re going to keep dealing with you, we’ll need to gain their trust as well. Although if you don’t think building that refugee camp is necessary, we won’t.”

The mercenaries and adventurers had fought with us, so they trusted us. But for the common folk, there was still a steep wall of racial differences. There might never come a day where humanity and the Swarm truly understood each other, but if possible, I wanted them to at least learn a bit about us.

“We don’t mind at all,” Keralt said. “Go outside the walls and follow the highway. You have my permission to build the refugee camp there. But please, no quarrels or disputes. We’re still in the middle of the war with Nyrnal.”

“I see. Nyrnal might cause a stir among the refugees, so we’d best build it away from Khalkha. That way, even if they rebel, it shouldn’t influence you as much.”

There was a possibility that the Nyrnal Empire might try to incite the refugees into rebellion so they could make the Eastern Trade Union collapse from within. None of us wanted that. Civil war would only open up an avenue for Nyrnal to strike.

“Very well, you may do your construction beyond the outskirts of Khalkha.”

“Thank you.” I nodded politely. “By the way, did the Adventurers’ Guild get a hold of any new information?”

“Not yet. Nyrnal is making it hard to learn anything about their internal affairs. The guild’s power doesn’t extend there. We have a small number of adventurers hiding among their ranks and sending us information, but they can only find out so much.”

I was hoping the Adventurers’ Guild would be of help here. I’d grown to realize just how effective they were at gathering intelligence. They could use the guild’s name to enter different countries and send back whatever they learned, from the quality of a country’s food, to how they dealt with monsters, and even the size of their armies.

Information like that was useful when dealing with an opposing nation. Poorer food quality implied their economy was worsening, and an army struggling to stop monsters could indicate how much military prowess they held.

“Has your guild analyzed what little information you obtained? What did you come up with?”

“It seems the unit that invaded from the northeast, through Frantz, is preparing to retreat. There’re signs of them reinforcing it with new soldiers, though we’re not sure what it means yet.”

So they’re pulling back from the northeast, but reinforcing their numbers...? I had a bad feeling about that. Maximillian was clearly up to something.

“Can’t the guild gather information on how they’re stationing the soldiers?”

“That’d be difficult. My folks are already putting themselves on the line. I’d rather not ask them to stick their necks out any further.”

Right... The adventurers are like family for Keralt.

“Got it. For now, could you share what you know? We’ll need to prepare in case the enemy tries to cross the Phros again. And we need to know if they’re actually retreating from the northeast or if they’re just winding up for some other plot.”

“This is a matter of national defense, and we’re allies, so we can share that much.”

Keralt was as cautious as ever. She would only give me information she was confident in, filtering out any dubious or murky intelligence. That was encouraging, but it also meant we wouldn’t hear any information she decided wasn’t good enough—including things I might otherwise overlook.

“Thank you. We’ll get busy building the refugee camp, then. Can we borrow some of your carpenters?”

“Yes, go ahead. Khalkha’s reconstruction is mostly underway already, as planned. I’m just not sure if the city will end up being a center of trade again.”

That made sense. Khalkha’s scars ran deep. Once trust was broken, it took a great deal of effort to reclaim it. Buildings had burned down and thousands had died, and that had hurt Khalkha’s reputation as a safe haven for merchants. I couldn’t forgive Nyrnal for striking such a painful blow to this city.

“Anyway, I’ll make sure things start right away. It’s the least we can do, since we’re the ones who drove those people out. We’ll assume responsibility for that.”

“I never thought I’d hear the Arachnea say anything of the sort,” Keralt said, eyebrows raised in surprise.

“What, you think we’re monsters that guzzle everything up and don’t care for courtesy?” I asked dryly.

“Something like that. I mean, until now, you just destroyed everything in your path.”

Well. I guess we really made a bad impression on them.

But that was just us reaping what we sowed. We may have had reasons to exercise our violence, but it was still extreme. After we’d rampaged hard enough to wipe a country off the map, I couldn’t act like I was unrelated to the refugees’ plight and instead blindly prepare for the next war.

I had to make amends for what I’d done. I promised Sandalphon I’d act with such emotions in my heart.

♱

We began building the refugee camp.

First, we needed to secure a water source. People couldn’t live without water to drink, after all. So we dug wells to secure water while creating a drainage system to prevent pollution. The Worker Swarms observed the union’s carpenters and imitated their methods. Before long, both the wells and the drainage system were complete.

Building houses was also the Worker Swarms’ job. They built temporary residences with sloping entrances for the elderly, who struggled to walk up stairs, as well as larger residences for big families. Honestly, they were doing a good job, even accounting for the fact that the carpenters were guiding them. Maybe I could have them work in construction after the war.

“Those bugs do good work. If they become our competition, we’ll be out of a job!” the carpenters’ boss said, half complaining.

“Don’t worry, we don’t have any plans of stealing your work,” I told him.

I was contemplating supporting their budding careers as builders, but not in the Eastern Trade Union. We could go back to Maluk and Schtraut, the now abandoned countries we’d destroyed, and help restore them for the refugees.

We took many lives under our banner of justice, but slaughter alone wouldn’t help a civilization thrive—we’d need to raise people and cattle and crops to make our society blossom. Once we returned to those countries, we could also build newly unlocked Arachnea structures there. It would be a bit different from normal human life, but it shouldn’t be a completely foreign addition. The Swarm consumed, created, and developed, just like humans did. The process might not be entirely the same, but the results were similar.

“Keep it up, and we should have the camp ready in three or four days. Once we have lodgings set up, the refugees will need to secure clothes and food. They’ll have to work for those. I’m sure that with good houses and a large community, they’ll be able to make a steady living for themselves.”

Our wars had forced these people out of their homes. Once the conflict ended, they would no doubt demand to return to their normal lives. Only this time they wouldn’t have to live under a racist king, a cowardly duke, or a pope commanding an inquisition.

History had a way of repeating itself, however, so there would probably be more wars in the future. But now that we were allied with the Eastern Trade Union, we had to keep at least some semblance of humanity.

Should we fight our wars with the intent of crushing everything in our way? Well, when it came to defeating Nyrnal, yes. The Nyrnal Empire had threatened our allies and burned Khalkha down. They would pay for that. If someone cast a stone at me, I’d punch them right between the eyes in retribution. An eye for an eye, I say. And for what Nyrnal had done, I would destroy all of its major cities in response. Having the Dreadnought Swarms flatten them might be nice. 

Whatever the means, I wasn’t going to let the Empire kick back all smug like it was now. As leader of one of the major factions on this continent, I couldn’t give those detestable Nyrnals the satisfaction. No matter how many vassals they oppressed, I would defeat them.

“Your Majesty, construction in the western section is complete,” Sérignan reported.

I nodded in confirmation. “Great. Check the name register and start letting tenants into the camp. Try not to scare them too much, though.”

Sérignan wasn’t very pleased with the idea of us building a camp for human refugees. I could feel her discontent rippling through the collective consciousness. At the very least, she wanted them to swear allegiance to the Arachnea first.

I couldn’t blame her, really. Up until now, the humans and the Arachnea had been bitter enemies. Telling her to make nice with the enemy would be a tall order. Still, Sérignan was originally a human knight—in the game, anyway—so I figured she’d be a little more understanding of how the human refugees felt.

Apparently, she believed in Arachnea supremacy, which made it harder for her to acknowledge the refugees. At the same time, I could sense that her loyalty to her queen was her one and only justice. Did she forget her background from the game, then? She’d become a Swarm because she protected human heretics?

“Hey, Sérignan?” I asked.

“Yes, Your Majesty?”

“Didn’t you join the Arachnea after being driven out of the knights for protecting heretic children?”

“Yes. I protected children from vile knights and came under the Arachnea’s protection. I certainly remember that.”

So she hasn’t forgotten, then.

“Then you don’t have to treat the humans so cruelly, right? There are children just like the ones you saved among those refugees.”

“And yet, humans are the enemy. Even the children I saved back then were riddled with the arrows of their pursuers and died agonizing deaths. Humans are terrible, unforgivable enemies. Thus, we must exterminate them before they exterminate us.”

Oh, boy. Sérignan’s being stubborn.

“Going forward, the humans are our allies,” I insisted, putting my foot down. “Don’t you remember how Konrad’s mercenaries fought by your side? You have to trust them a little. Just think of it as a compromise that will gradually improve our relations with the humans.”

“Improving relations with the humans...” Sérignan muttered.

Just then, a tenant approached us. “You there, missy. Can we really live in these houses?”

“Wait, we need to check your name first,” Sérignan said, guiding him to his designated residence. “There’s a slope, so be careful not to trip. Her Majesty has done this out of her consideration for you, so do be careful.”

“Thank you, thank you. If we were in the Popedom, I’d have been caught by the inquisition, and who knows what would have happened to me...”

With Sérignan singing my praises, the tenants entered their new temporary residences.

“That’s the spirit, Sérignan,” I told her. “The way you treat humans is fine.”

“R-Really? I see them as hated enemies...”

She said that, but I got the feeling Sérignan would blend in just fine in human society.

“Wonder how Lysa’s doing?” I mused.

Lysa had grudges against humans too, after all. Knights who’d advocated human supremacy had taken Linnet’s life, and she likely still hated them for that. Besides, that memory was much more recent than Sérignan’s, so I expected her hatred to be much greater.

That being said, when I pried into the collective consciousness, I didn’t sense any hatred from her. Did that mean she didn’t resent the humans?

“Look! This is how you do it!”

Just as that concern crossed my mind, I found Lysa playing with the refugee children. She was using the legs growing from her back to skillfully juggle beanbags. Professional jugglers would pale in comparison. As they watched her, the children cheered, eyes aglitter. They didn’t reject her for being a Swarm or an elf.

“How are you doing, Lysa?” I asked, walking over to her.

“Oh, hello!” she replied cheerfully. “I’m doing great! I finished guiding the tenants to their new homes. Now I’m just entertaining the kids.”

“Don’t you resent humans, though?”

“I...still hate the fact that Linnet was killed, but it’s not like every human is at fault for that. The knights and the king of Maluk were responsible for that. Now that they’re dead, my heart’s lightened a little.”

Right... Lysa doesn’t want all humans dead.

Still, that was enough to trigger a war. It was what drove me to declare my first.

“I don’t forgive Nyrnal’s people yet, though,” Lysa continued. “We had so much fun in Khalkha, and they burned it down with their wyverns. That’s terrible, not to mention inhuman.”

“Agreed.” I nodded. “I hate them too.” Enough to want to wipe them off the map.

“I just wish a day would come where people wouldn’t have to go to war over things like this,” Lysa murmured as she touched her hair, which was still hiding her elven ears. “Like being an elf, or a Swarm, or a human, or a pagan...”

“I’m sure that wish will come true, Lysa.” Leaving her with that note of hope, I headed elsewhere.

Sérignan was gradually blending in with the humans, and Lysa was doing fine too. What about the rest of the Swarm? Dipping into the collective consciousness, I didn’t sense any general hatred toward humans at all. I did feel their resentment toward the Nyrnal Empire clamoring through the consciousness, though. It was like a chorus of loathing.

“We have to destroy the Nyrnal Empire...”

I couldn’t tell what Emperor Maximillian was thinking, but he’d already done more than enough damage to justify painful retribution.

You’d better be ready to see a city or two burn, Maximillian. Remember that you were the one who started this damn war.

Still, I had no idea what he was planning. The northeastern detachment that had attacked the Popedom of Frantz was retreating and, at the same time, receiving more troops. I thought it reasonable that they’d try to invade by crossing the Phros River. Still, I didn’t think Maximillian would resort to such obvious tactics. If he were that simpleminded, I wouldn’t be having so much trouble. He always employed strategies I didn’t expect.

It made sense—Maximillian had all the smartest people in the Empire on his side. He had a gaggle of generals offering him all sorts of ideas, which he could carefully consider and pick from. But that meant...

“Right... If he’s consolidating his forces in the northeast, then they might try to...”

With the worst-possible scenario coming to mind, I immediately tapped into a Ripper Swarm’s consciousness and had it hurry into the Adventurers’ Guild.

“Where’s Keralt?!” I asked, flustered. The Ripper Swarm transmitted my question.

“Th-The guildmaster is on the second floor!” a receptionist hurriedly replied.

I had it hurry up to the second floor and open the door to her office.

“Keralt!” I called out, throwing all politeness to the winds. “Do you have any adventurers near the elven forest?!”

“I was just thinking of talking to you about that,” Keralt said coolly. “A large force of Nyrnal soldiers is invading the elven forest. They’re using those monsters—the lindwyrms, that is—to level the ground and carve a path open. Their army is 450,000 strong, with 80 lindwyrms.”

I knew it! I knew they’d try to go through the elven forest!

But I’d realized it too late. The elven forest had no paved roads, so I initially thought a large army wouldn’t be able to cross it. But of course, they had heavy machinery of sorts in the lindwyrms. They could use those to clear a way through the forest.

“We have to handle it right now,” I declared. “Thankfully, we have a base in the elven forest. Using that, we might be able to...”

Can we really do something about this, though? No, we have to do it! I couldn’t let the elves get overrun by this war. I’d promised them our protection, and they believed in me.

“We’ll mobilize our army,” I told Keralt. “Could you continue scoping things out with your adventurers?”

She nodded. “Got it. What about the mercenaries?”

“Have them protect the home front.”

I finished my hurried exchange with Keralt, and we each departed for our respective battlefield. I had sworn an oath to protect the elven forest. I couldn’t allow it to fall so easily.