The Big-Spending Sovereign

A few days later, Sidon sent word to Greece that it would cease all wheat imports.

A city-state that was an ally in name only — a vassal in all but title — daring to pull a stunt like this?

Helen, leader of Greek civilization, laughed in sheer disbelief.

"What an adorable little tantrum, Kira."

Even facing a crisis, her speech remained elegant. Her soft golden hair still shone brilliantly, and her blue eyes still resembled a tranquil lake. That was Helen — at least on the surface.

How should I punish this insolent Sidon... O Goddess Athena?

That was when the advisor standing beside her interjected. She waited until Helen's anger had cooled before delivering her report.

"If the rumors are true... Hannamguk has opened trade with Sidon, my lady Helen. Kira seems to believe she can simply obtain whatever food she needs from them from now on."

"Hannamguk? Surely you don't mean that backwater civilization?"

"No, I'm afraid... yes. It's the same barbarian civilization that annihilated our Hoplite legion not long ago."

Helen was silent for a long moment.

Underestimating Hannamguk and losing every last Hoplite had been her mistake, but that didn't mean she held any high opinion of a civilization whose very name sounded like a joke.

They're a small nation with barely any resources...

She hadn't expected such a tiny pepper to pack this much heat.

Winning a battle through cheap tricks was one thing. But stepping up to supply food while the entire continent languished in drought — that was something only a great civilization like Greece could do. Greece had been able to manage it because they'd stockpiled surplus grain from their own consumption plus dirt-cheap crops bought up from their vassals. The money they squeezed from selling wheat to Sidon had been quite the tidy sum, too.

Helen had planned to rebuild the temples of Athens with what was essentially tribute dressed up as export payments... but Hannamguk's interference had thrown a wrench into all of that.

She asked her advisor:

"How much tribute have we received this year?"

"A total of 3,000 gold has come in, my lady Helen. But if Sidon breaks away..."

"I see. The Athenian treasury will shrink. And Greece's prestige will... plummet all the way down to Tartarus itself."

Greece was not a kingdom but a league of city-states. They had recognized Athens as their hegemon, which allowed Helen to rule all of Greece — but she had to produce visible results to live up to that expectation.

If I let Sidon run wild...

Athens would plainly lose its qualification as hegemon. How could a woman who couldn't even keep one decent vassal in line possibly lead Greek civilization?

Of course, Helen wasn't the type to sit back and watch. After a moment of thought, she came up with a solution.

"I think it's time we taught that little brat Kira a proper lesson. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Gather the Hoplite forces, Advisor."

Even if it didn't come to actual war, planting the Greek army right outside the city would be enough to put the fear of the gods into Kira. The advisor nodded at Helen's command.

"Yes, my lady Helen. I'll mobilize the army at once— ah! Before that, would you take a look at this, Hegemon?"

"What... is this?"

"A scout who visited Sidon today stole this. The food Kira decided to import instead of Greek wheat... was this. I judged it necessary to report."

She handed Helen a glass bottle. It was white — at a glance, nothing more than ordinary milk...

"Haaang ♥ Ah!"

The moment Helen took a sip, she let out a moan that sounded like a bitch in heat. Because the liquid in that glass bottle was no ordinary milk.

"Are they... are they seriously filling their bellies with this? The women of Hannamguk and Sidon?"

It was a drink that had turned even the hegemon of Greece into a female in heat. The moment you drank it, your soft nipples went hard and your dry pussy soaked through — Hannamguk's specialty product. Breast milk.

"A-are you all right, my lady Helen?"

The advisor was thrown into a panic by the sound her hegemon had just made. She hadn't meant to embarrass her...

"I brought it because I heard all the Sidon females drink this, but aah! I never thought it might be poisoned... w-what do we do?!"

"Haaah.... I'm fine, so... you can stop making a fuss."

She said that, but Helen's face was still beet red. The advisor, still worried about her sovereign, announced she would fetch a physician and left the audience chamber.

How humiliating... to make such a spectacle of myself!

Even after the advisor left, Helen kept rubbing her thighs together. Whatever it was... the drink in that glass bottle was extremely suspicious. Of course it would taste good and fill you up — it was food they were exporting to other nations, after all. What Helen couldn't understand was the aftertaste the breast milk left behind.

An overwhelming arousal... as if she'd just spent an incredibly hot night. It wasn't an easy food to get used to, and yet she couldn't stop thinking about it.

"Hnn! At this rate, no one in Greece may eat our wheat anymore. If something like this exists in the world..."

A short while later, once ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the arousal had subsided somewhat, Helen stared fixedly at the glass bottle. And in the end, she couldn't hold back. She knew she shouldn't, but she drank every last drop of the breast milk in the bottle. And so the hegemon became a woman too ashamed to stand before others.

"If I can get my hands on this breast milk... I can reclaim hegemony, O Goddess."

Helen's pussy still wet, she swallowed hard. She had not the slightest doubt that breast milk would become a luxury every civilization would covet.

That said... since when had Hannamguk — a place that had been little more than wasteland — started producing a specialty like this? Helen, who had never even masturbated once in her life, had no way of knowing. She was a hegemon who had always put Greece before her own body.

"This is a drink fit for the gods of Olympus... how did those Hannamguk barbarians—"

Helen the civilized woman found her pride wounded. Could Greece's pastures not produce breast milk? Was ordinary milk truly the best they could manage?

"How does it taste like this...?"

Helen sank into deep thought. The goddess-like woman crossed her arms beneath breasts the size of watermelons.

I achieved satisfactory results in Sidon.

Kira seemed quite nervous, though.

"Hnn... I'm shaking. Anyway, you're going to keep our pr-promise, right? When that big-titted bitch Helen invades, you have to send troops to Sidon... okay?"

"Sure. Don't worry about that. Sidon's better off dumping Greece and siding with Hannamguk anyway."

My voice had gotten a bit loud during the negotiations with Kira, but by the time we were done talking, we'd gotten close enough that I was casually dropping the formal speech. It was a political alliance and nothing more, of course.

A girl worth looking at, standing there with her chest puffed out so proudly. Honestly.

Even if she was a trading powerhouse, Kira was just the queen of a single city-state, treating me — the sovereign of an entire civilization — like a friend. It was the beautiful girl patch's concept, so there was nothing I could do about it... but she was so tiny that the more I looked at her, the more I wanted to pin her down and pound her.

Well, as long as she doesn't get in my way, I can let her live.

That was why I was trading with Sidon. The queen might look cute, but Sidon was an excellent cash cow for Hannamguk.

Right next door sat a great power like Greece, plus unfriendly city-states and annoying barbarian camps scattered all around. If Hannamguk was going to survive, we had no choice but to develop faster than everyone else.

And the key to that was the massive pile of gold I'd pulled out of Sidon. If I whale with this, I could stamp out important facilities without committing any labor at all. It wasn't realistic, but those were the game's rules.

Getting forcibly isekai'd was already unfair enough — at least I could suck some honey out of it.

Time to show them the power of K-defense.

My choice was a barracks.

Option 1 would take way too long. Hannamguk still didn't have mines or lumber mills, so productivity was low. Option 2, on the other hand, was an extremely reasonable decision. Having just sold off ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠every last drop of surplus breast milk to Sidon, cash was the one thing my civilization had in abundance.

Not "build" but "purchase"...

Convenient idea, all things considered.

"Hnnn ♥ Wow... my lord, when did you even—"

Hyojeong was so impressed she paused mid-birth to marvel. The barracks had appeared in an instant. Even in the Paleolithic Age, with females walking around in nothing but deer hides, money really did make the world go round, huh?

"I'll explain properly later. First, finish giving birth to my kid, Hyojeong."

"Hnnn ♥ I already got it at dawn this morning and now I'm pregnant agaaain?!!"

Anyway, the plan going forward was this. Every time my stamina regenerated, I'd impregnate Hyojeong or whatever other female was around, no questions asked, to grow the population. Then immediately put them through training at the barracks.

Units that received proper regular training gained some pretty hefty combat modifiers and became professional soldiers. A whole different league from militias who only grabbed weapons in a panic when things got urgent.

Ancient Rome only became the hegemonic power dominating Europe after they started raising professional soldiers. Hannamguk would follow the same route.

Training's taken care of. Now I need more soldiers.

Using the population Hyojeong had given birth to, recruiting warriors or archers wasn't as production-intensive as building a barracks. So I could have taken my time raising an army...

"Why bother when I can just throw money at it?"

That was the thing. Even after building the barracks, I still had 520 gold left, so I could just "purchase" combat units too.

I filled in the slightly short parts with production, and combined them with the troops I'd raised last time when the Greek dairy cows invaded. The result surprised even me, the one who'd planned it all.

Eight warrior units and four archer units. They were beautiful girls covering only their private parts with animal hides, sure — but every last one of them was an elite female soldier who'd been trained at the barracks.

When I brought them to Sidon, Kira nearly fell over in shock.

"You're insane!! How did you produce this many troops in such a short time?!"

It was an achievement accomplished a mere two days after she'd paid Hannamguk. Add Sidon's advantageous terrain to my army...

I could turn every last invading Greek girl into a dairy cow.

Now all that was left was to wait for the right moment.