Chapter 111
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 111
Chapter Title: Dictator (1)
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"Your Majesty."
"It's still not over?"
After purging Prime Minister Shuber and most of the Astragon faction, Kallian—now the true master of the empire—let out a deep sigh as he reviewed the flood of reports.
They all detailed the empire's current state and the damages it had suffered.
He had finally reclaimed the throne he'd longed for, but the challenges piled up before him were brutally harsh.
A single misstep could jeopardize everything he'd just regained.
The war with the ants had scorched parts of the territory, and even now, elves and ants were locked in fierce battles in the southern regions. But that wasn't all.
"Those shameless traitors wrecked the very foundations of this nation to offer it to some unknown deity, and no one could stop them."
The systems and high-ranking positions that Shuber and his ilk had seized and sabotaged—central authority, local administration, you name it—had been damaged beyond measure.
The treasury wasn't just leaking; it was shattered. Resources and manpower that should've gone to essential needs had been diverted into their hands, leading to stagnation or outright regression in countless areas.
They weren't idiots or incompetents to have pulled off such absurd schemes for so long.
From the singular perspective of offering the nation to a deity, they were ruthlessly thorough and cunningly meticulous.
To the spies embedded within, carrying out the deity's orders, the Lucadia Empire was nothing more than a disposable pawn. Its countless citizens? Mere chess pieces.
"Your Majesty, at this rate, starvation will break out any day now."
"I don't know what to do. We can't even procure food from our neighbors right now..."
Kallian grimaced and groaned at Butler Alber's words.
The ambition and boldness he'd felt when seeking out Seira to topple the Astragon faction had long faded.
Youthful vigor, ambition, and daring alone couldn't overturn the harsh wall of reality.
An emperor's seat came with responsibilities equal to its privileges.
Kallian felt his stomach churning at having to shoulder more than he was capable of handling.
"Your Majesty, I've heard you've been quite troubled lately."
"You...!"
In the midst of it all, Seira paid an official visit to the imperial palace.
She didn't sneak in under cover of night using her disguise ability like before.
She strode boldly past the flustered palace staff and guards, standing right before Kallian on his throne.
The message was clear.
The Lucadia Empire was ultimately in the ants' grasp.
Kallian and everyone else's faces drained of color.
"I don't know why you insist on speaking privately. You've already marched in so boldly."
"It's the bare minimum courtesy. It wouldn't do for others to hear that Your Majesty is conspiring with me openly. Better they think I'm threatening you or whatever in here."
Seira had demanded a private audience, and neither Kallian nor anyone present had the power to refuse.
Left alone with her without a single guard, he eyed her uneasily.
To Kallian, who couldn't read her mind, Seira remained the mouthpiece and avatar of destruction incarnate—a demon straight out of nightmare.
"Belzahad wishes to negotiate with you—or more precisely, with the human hive you rule."
"What do you mean? Negotiate?"
"As you know, this world has long been overrun by malevolent deities. And they're converging here now, to ravage this land, your empire, and its people once more."
Seira raised her staff, projecting a shimmering screen.
It was an advanced spell left by Astragon, one his mages had favored. Seira had mastered and adapted it.
She'd even modified it further to project memories from the hive mind onto the screen.
The display was staggering: orcs and dwarves advancing from the west, elves from the south.
And the horrors they inflicted on humans in conquered lands—abuse and exploitation laid bare.
All memories the ants had witnessed and stored in the hive consciousness, now shown to Kallian, ruler of the world's largest remaining 'human hive.'
"No... this can't be..."
Kallian slumped into his seat, dazed.
He'd excised the Astragon faction at great cost, believing them the empire's tormentors—his enemies.
But the world beyond was far worse.
Enemies who wouldn't even leave the empire's name intact, circling like predators for a tasty meal.
And Lucadia lacked any power to fend off foes bolstered by divine blessings.
"The silver lining is that their goals haven't reached this empire yet. There's still a chance."
"Are you asking us to fight alongside you? But we have no strength left. We don't even have food!"
"Food? That's no great issue. The master of great Belzahad has promised aid."
As Kallian grumbled sullenly, Seira gave a wry smile, as if she'd expected it.
At the mention of Belzahad's master—Jin-hyuk—Kallian's eyes widened.
"Food for the people. Not a difficult task."
Jin-hyuk grinned, watching rice pour into the breeding grounds.
Countless worker ants scurried to transport it.
Those grains traveled ant-made highways, swiftly crossing land, rivers, and seas to reach the Lucadia Empire.
A single grain was trivial to him, but sizable to the ants.
In areas where even the smallest workers had grown to the size of large dogs, one grain became a substantial ration.
A miracle made possible by interference power. Unlike other deities wasting it on advanced tech dissemination or hero creation, Jin-hyuk's modest use on food distribution allowed vastly greater quantities.
"Look at the size of this!"
"One of these could feed a whole family for a meal!"
Rice grains spat out by worker ants piled into mountains.
Lucadia citizens, clutching grains as big as their faces, buzzed with excitement.
Tense at first about ant-delivered food, hunger had driven them to brave it—and it was worth it.
"Distributing it fairly across the empire is Your Majesty's duty. You can manage that, right?"
"Y-yes. But really..."
Watching from beside Seira, Kallian trembled in disbelief.
For him, this was his first glimpse of a deity's miracle—naturally, he froze.
Overwhelming future tech or divinely born heroes paled against this mountain of sustenance.
"Now it's time for the emperor to pay his due."
Seira pulled Kallian back to reality.
This was the deal. In exchange for the ants' food—saving countless lives—Kallian owed equivalent compensation.
Under Seira's red-and-blue gaze, he had no choice but to nod.
Asmora orders the humans to assemble.
"Your Majesty! Spare us!"
"Please! Just kill us cleanly. Anything but feeding us to the monsters!"
"No!!!"
There were suspects. Now they were being dragged from prison to somewhere unknown.
They hadn't actively collaborated with the Astragon faction but had cooperated, willingly or not—many mages among them.
Even the ants deemed them ambiguous; voluntary surrender and pleas could clear them as unrelated to the deity, sparing their lives.
Like Seira's acquaintance, Count Merlen—a former high church official who'd survived.
Yet Kallian had kept even those the ants might spare imprisoned.
In the unresolved chaos, they could've banded together for another revolt.
Above all, he lacked justification to convince his supporters, who burned with rage against the deity and Shuber's gang.
"You're saying to use them to full capacity?"
"The enemy believes we can't use magic. We can exploit that gap perfectly."
Kallian glanced at Seira as the screaming mages—convinced the ants would devour them—were herded along.
Her plan: repurpose them into a mage battalion.
The ants, hampered by biology and physiology, only used a few adapted techniques like the Kair shield or explosions.
Absorbed magical knowledge couldn't be wielded.
Even their foes—like the elves—now knew this.
Defenses against magic were lax, and Seira aimed to shatter the battlefield balance by striking there.
"Eek..."
"No need to fear so much. Fight in the war, atone through merit, and reclaim your honor."
Maskless, Seira addressed the assembled hundreds of mages.
They trembled, eyes fixed on the surrounding ants.
This was the best even for Seira. Battlefield merit would give Kallian grounds for amnesty.
"W-we just have to go to the front and cast spells...?"
"Yes. And it's not some unrelated war. The enemies eyeing this land would enslave you even if Belzahad vanished from it."
Seira explained the situation, converting them to allies.
Like with Kallian, they had no real choices—it was a quick, simple process.
Or so it should've been.
"Huh?"
"W-what is this? Gahhh!"
Suddenly, bomb ants from all sides sprayed them en masse.
Not their usual superheated acid—the mages didn't melt but coughed and staggered.
Still, Seira panicked, urgently querying Asmora via the hive mind.
She hadn't ordered this.
Meaning it came from the sole rank above her—a saintess: the Grand Hive Queen herself.
"Queen...!"
Asmora is delighted.
In the hive mind, Seira recoiled at Asmora's antics.
Using her own hands to stretch her jaws wide, mimicking a human grin—Asmora was genuinely dying of laughter.
'Make the humans disappear.'
"Aah, aaagh!!"
"Gaaahhh!"
As intended, protrusions erupted from the drenched mages' bodies, eliciting screams.
'Then only I will...'
"S-spa...!"
"Guhk..."
Tentacle-like growths burst through their flesh, inside and out. A shocking sight that silenced all.
"Cordyceps."
Frozen by the sudden horror, Jin-hyuk recognized it and sighed softly.
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