Her Majesty’s Swarm - Volume 4 - Chapter 2

Facing West

Three days had passed since we’d toppled the Popedom of Frantz. The Empire’s forces had attacked the border with the Popedom, forming a field fortification. Between the soldiers and the wyverns swooping down from above, the Arachnea were at a loss as to how to push Nyrnal back. We decided to give up on expelling Nyrnal’s forces from the Popedom and come up with another solution. There were more important issues to handle at present—namely, Sérignan’s condition.

“Sérignan! Are you all right?”

During the battle with Metatron, Sérignan had been gravely injured. I’d placed her in a Regeneration Pod so we could wait for her to recover. Her armor had been in tatters, and she’d coughed up large amounts of blood. I’d feared that she might not ever recover, but that morning, she had finally stepped out of the Regeneration Pod and presented herself to me.

Her armor was whole again, and her skin was unblemished. Is she really back to normal?

“Yes, I’m fine, Your Majesty. My apologies for causing you concern,” Sérignan said, bowing to me with solemn eyes.

“Just so you know, I’m not upset that you weren’t able to finish the job,” I assured her. “The Genocide Swarms couldn’t have defeated it without your help.”

Yes, our victory back then was all thanks to Sérignan. She had fought bravely and earnestly as a hero unit, and because of that, the Genocide Swarms were able to slay Metatron with minimal losses. That was what had allowed us to vassalize the Popedom.

“I see the war with Frantz has ended,” Sérignan remarked.

I nodded. “Yeah. It’s over, but the Nyrnal Empire is still at large.”

We had won the war with the Popedom of Frantz, but our battles were far from over. Nyrnal had appeared out of nowhere and struck us from the flank, and we still needed to beat them back.

“What is our strategy, Your Majesty?”

“We’ll open hostilities from Frantz’s territories. On the other side of the map, the enemy’s gotten as far as Schtraut, so if we only fight them from this front, they could try to attack us from behind. We’ll have to hold the line at Schtraut’s borders too. It’ll be difficult.”

The enemy had launched a blitz, occupying the former Maluk territories like a storm, then used that as a foothold to march into Schtraut. If we let them take Schtraut and pincer us from both directions, it’d be game over for us. The blame for losing those territories fell on me and my ill-preparedness. I hadn’t predicted Nyrnal would go on a frontal assault that easily.

“So we will divide our armies?” Sérignan asked me.

“It’s not an ideal move, but we’ll have to. Thankfully, we have plenty of resources stored up from taking down the Popedom. I’ll have to speed up production of Genocide and Toxic Swarms in Schtraut’s territories and have them face off against the enemy.”

When one had a surplus of soldiers, concentrating them into a single army was the go-to strategy. Sometimes, however, the situation called for a war on two fronts.

“Our army in the Popedom will be designated the First Division, and the one in the Dukedom will be the Second Division. We’ll oppose Nyrnal’s invasion that way. Still, our main army will be the one in Frantz. It’ll take time to mobilize.”

We already had large numbers of Swarms inside the Popedom, but to reach the Dukedom from there, they’d need to travel through the Indigo Mountain Range, and that would take too long.

“We’re going to have to be wary of two things,” I said, holding up two fingers. “We need to stop the enemy from attacking the elven forest, and we have to prevent them from invading the Dukedom. That forest connects Nyrnal to Maluk, Schtraut, and Frantz. If we don’t keep them out of there, there’s a chance the elves of Baumfetter might get caught up in the fighting. We must avoid that at all costs.”

“But, Your Majesty, the Empire’s forces have set up tight defenses around their border with Frantz. Is that really possible?”

“It might not be. The enemy has wyverns on their side, and their ground fortifications are strong. The Swarms won’t be able to topple them easily with numbers alone.”

Nyrnal’s army had stopped its charge into the Popedom, instead settling down to tighten their defenses. This was problematic for us; the wyverns offered aerial support, and the defensive lines easily pushed back our attacks. It wasn’t unlike the trench warfare of World War I.

“Perhaps we should conduct a more forceful maneuver this time,” I said, placing a finger on my chin. “The enemy force in Schtraut has larger numbers, but their defenses are a lot weaker. Attacking them might be an option.”

Rather than constantly throwing Swarms at the enemy and taking needless casualties, we could take our time fighting a battle we had a better chance of winning.

“There’s not much we can do without knowing what the enemy will do next,” Sérignan said, her tone grave.

“Yeah, no kidding. My guess is that the enemy’s going to place their main force in Schtraut. Then again, I could be wrong, and the enemy’s already sending its forces from the Dukedom our way. There’s no point in trying to predict the Empire’s movements.”

The Nyrnal Empire had already launched a two-pronged attack on Frantz and the Arachnea. I wasn’t sure how to deal with them. I had a feeling that defeating them wouldn’t be easy.

“Well, we’ll work something out. A narrow mountain road makes entering Schtraut from Maluk a challenge, so we can build a defensive line along the Maluk-Schtraut border. While we hold the line there, we’ll need to head west and invade Nyrnal’s mainland.”

I decided to commit to this plan. Flip-flopping between strategies would just result in confusion. So long as there were no unforeseen changes, we would have to stick to it.

“How will we get through the enemy’s fortifications?”

“We go around them,” I replied, looking down at the map. A perfect route was laid out before me. “I know just how we can do it too: we go through the Eastern Trade Union. That will allow us to circumnavigate Nyrnal’s defensive line, and we’ll be sacrificing far fewer Swarms in the process.”

The Eastern Trade Union was a neutral power that existed between the Empire of Nyrnal and the Popedom of Frantz but was unaffected by either. This country had a paved, serviced highway leading straight into the Empire. A river cut through their territories, but a bridge had been built over it.

“Yes, we’ll contact the Eastern Trade Union,” I said. “We need to ‘convince’ them to cast aside their neutrality and side with us.”

First, we’d send Masquerade Swarms into the Eastern Trade Union. Once we had a grasp of the political situation there, we’d make contact with the appropriate people. Then all that remained would be swaying them with the Swarm’s tried-and-true persuasion techniques.

“We should get moving. The faster we do this, the better. I’m sure the enemy knows their border with the Eastern Trade Union is a weak point. We have to march before the Empire suppresses them.”

Our enemy wasn’t stupid. They would either launch an invasion on the Eastern Trade Union or ally with them before we could. Either way, they’d make some kind of move.

“Why don’t we slaughter them instead? The Eastern Trade Union is tiny and weak; the Arachnea could make swift work of them. We can take advantage of their territory as a road to the Empire after that.”

“No, Sérignan, bad,” I chided her. “We have no reason to destroy them. I want to avoid needless massacres whenever possible.”

I’d made a promise to Sandalphon; I wouldn’t forget my human heart, and I would remain calm at all times.

“Besides, making an enemy out of the Eastern Trade Union would only be in the Empire’s favor. If we make them ally with us, we avoid unnecessary battles and have fewer enemies to contend with. The more allies we have on our side, the stronger we will be. And the fewer enemies we have to face, the weaker the opposition becomes.”

We wouldn’t gain anything by launching a preemptive attack on the Eastern Trade Union. If we attacked them, the Union might abandon its neutral stance and seek help from Nyrnal. That would make it even easier for the Nyrnal Empire to use the Eastern Trade Union as an open path to march on us and invade the Popedom.

“I see,” Sérignan murmured, her expression thoughtful. “You’re probably right; picking fights may not be wise. In that case, how will we get them to agree to an alliance?”

“We’ll figure something out,” I said with a thin smile. “We have our ways, after all.”

With this, our plan of action was set. We’d hold Nyrnal’s invasion back on one front by defending the border with Schtraut. I decided to leave Roland in charge of that, as he was most familiar with the region. In addition, we would bypass the Frantz-Nyrnal border by going through the Eastern Trade Union.

“I just hope this goes well,” I muttered to myself.

I still didn’t know what kind of country the Eastern Trade Union really was. I could only hope for the best until my Masquerade Swarms returned with their reports.

♱

The Masquerade Swarms soon blended in with the refugees from Frantz and made their way to the Eastern Trade Union. Their task was to investigate what the Eastern Trade Union was like, who their leaders were, and what their diplomatic approach was. Of course, since they were presenting themselves as refugees, the Masquerade Swarms weren’t in a position to gain any in-depth information.

Back in my world, you could analyze a country with the help of intelligence agencies and open-source information. Naturally, their work was never as thrilling or action-packed as media featuring organizations like the CIA, FBI, and MI6 depicted.

We had nothing of the sort, but that didn’t hinder our ability to gather intelligence. Thanks to Lysa and Roland, whose language skills were now shared by the Swarm, the Ripper Swarms had become capable of reading. As such, I had also acquired the ability to read and write the language of this world.

“The Eastern Trade Union is torn between alliance and independence, huh?” I whispered as I read a report the Masquerade Swarms had sent me. “Ventura Breton, Chairman of the Union Senate, is considering an alliance with Nyrnal despite knowing that the Empire has aspirations to conquer them. Even so, he’s being cautious about it. Another senator, Konrad Crevlas, firmly rejects the idea, arguing that it would threaten the Eastern Trade Union’s independence.”

It seemed the Eastern Trade Union was viewing the Nyrnal Empire with some trepidation. Hmm. Not bad. If we had to hold back Nyrnal from this side, too, we’d have no choice but to build a defensive front here in the Popedom. That wouldn’t be in our favor.

One can only stay on the defensive so long as they have some kind of plan to break the deadlock. That could mean waiting until the enemy is exhausted and effectively bleeds out, staging a counterattack, using the defensive line as a decoy while attacking from another direction, or otherwise. Defending without a plan would just mean staving off an inevitable defeat.

I just had to hope things went as planned. We had to be wary of provoking the Union and to seize power there as quickly as possible. After that, we could use them as a passage into Nyrnal’s lands. That was the best plan we had, in my opinion.

While it did feel like a good idea, I couldn’t shake the feeling I was overlooking something.

Right. Would they even trust us?

After all, we had destroyed Maluk and Schtraut, and we’d taken over Frantz to boot. Would they want to ally with us? Would they let us safely pass through, or was I hoping for too much?

The only silver lining was that, while we had conquered the Popedom of Frantz, we hadn’t destroyed it altogether. We’d signed a peace treaty with them and brought the war to an end, which should have boosted our reputation. It gave the impression that we—or rather that I, leader of the Arachnea—could be reasoned with. Even though they had become our vassals, the conflict had ended peacefully.

“Your Majesty, it’s time to eat,” Sérignan called out, pulling me out of my thoughts.

“Oh, thanks. I kind of got caught up in my work.”

I headed to the dining hall of the frontline base built at the Union border. With Frantz’s permission, we had made use of a fortress that belonged to the Popedom. They had also allowed us to set up a Fertilization Furnace and Conversion Furnace inside the walls.

I had bases set up all across the land, but I would never have done something so inefficient in the game. At the very least, I had a nice, fluffy bed in my room here. The Worker Swarms had made it from real feathers; it was a premium product.

Worker Swarms didn’t appear much during battles, but they proved to be considerate in all sorts of ways outside of the battlefield. They were good Swarms, and I liked them quite a bit. If it were peacetime, I could start a furniture store and sell the things they made. That was a real market we could potentially tap into.

With those idle thoughts in mind, I walked into the dining hall, where Lysa was waiting for me. Having been made into a Swarm, she didn’t need to eat for sustenance. Regardless, she, Sérignan, and Roland had grown accustomed to eating before they had become Swarms. Roland wasn’t here, though, since he was commanding the battles in Schtraut.

“So what’s on the menu today?” I asked.

“Icefish meunière and elf-style white stew!” Lysa replied cheerfully. “Oh, and salad too! I made the stew, so look forward to that.”

“I see. You made it yourself, eh? Good on you,” I praised her. “Maybe I should cook something next time.”

“Oh, no, I couldn’t possibly have you do that!” Lysa gave a gentle shake of her head. “Let us handle the chores!”

I just wanted to help, but she insisted on taking care of things. Then again, I had never heard of a queen handling the cooking. If I walked into the kitchen, everyone might freeze up from the shock.

Maybe it’s for the best.

“You hear that, Sérignan? Lysa cooked today. I can’t wait.”

“Yes. Though to be honest, I helped her a little.”

Grr. Now I feel left out.

“I suppose I’m glad you get along,” I said as I took a seat. “I think the Arachnea are about the only ones who are on such good terms with one another. The other countries are plagued by treachery and scheming; it’s just awful. Thank goodness we don’t have to worry about any of that.”

“Have you decided how we’re going to handle the Eastern Trade Union yet, Your Majesty?” Lysa asked me.

“Not yet. We’ve gathered enough information, but I’m honestly not sure when to make contact with them. If we don’t time it right, we could cause serious mayhem. The Union is different from us, for better or worse. Their senators are chosen through elections, and they’re the ones who handle politics. Basically, in their country, the leadership has to listen to what the people say.”

Right now, many of the members of the Senate held a negative view of the Empire, but if I contacted the Union at the wrong time, they could feel threatened and turn to Nyrnal for help. It was like walking a tightrope; with everything balanced so precariously, I wasn’t sure whether to move.

“I’m not sure who to send into the Union either. The other side’s more likely to trust Arachnea that look human, but we’ll need someone who can handle negotiations too. Should things get dicey, we should feel comfortable leaving them deep within enemy territory.”

This was a real conundrum. It felt right for me to go there personally, but if the enemy thought they could stop the Swarm by killing me, the queen, I’d just be marching to my grave. Pain—let alone death—was not something I was too keen on trying.

Then again, I wasn’t sure if sending Sérignan or Lysa would be much better. They were unique and irreplaceable units. I cared for all the Swarms, of course, but they were particularly special to me; they were my friends. I couldn’t just throw them into enemy territory as though they were expendable.

“If it’s Lysa and myself, we’d be able to fight back even if we were surrounded,” Sérignan suggested.

I shook my head. “You don’t know that for sure. What if they have some secret weapon like the Popedom did?”

Frantz had commanded the hero unit for the Marianne faction, the Archangel Metatron. Just like the Arachnea, the Marianne had been in the game I once played—yet its hero unit had appeared here, in this mostly realistic world. With that in mind, who knew what other units from the game might be hiding. After all, the Nyrnal Empire used wyverns, an aerial unit that belonged to the game’s Gregoria faction.

“Anyway, enough about that; let’s eat. I’ll put my thoughts of work and war aside so I can focus on enjoying lunch.”

Sérignan agreed. “An excellent idea. You shouldn’t let anxiety and concern weigh so heavily on you, Your Majesty.”

The icefish meunière was exquisite, and Lysa’s stew conjured pleasant memories of our times together in that underground base. I made sure to eat the salad too. Gotta stay healthy.

“By the way, who made this meunière?” I asked Lysa.

“I think it was one of the people we control with the Parasite Swarms. Eli...something?”

She meant Elizabeta.

“Ah, right. We could use her.”

With that, our path to success came into view. As it turned out, I just hadn’t been looking in the right places.