Civilization Rate War
Become a noble king or aristocrat of a nation,
a wealthy merchant who runs trade caravans and logistics,
or a ruthless bandit who raids villages and abducts travelers.
Strategy. Management. Trade. Politics.
Rise from the bottom to the pinnacle of power through a variety of means.
[Civilization Rate War]
A first-person sandbox ARPG.
Realistic freedom and military simulation.
A low-fantasy genre that excludes unscientific concepts such as magic and divinity.
As seven factions on the Central Continent wage war, they prove the superiority of their 『Civilization Rate』. To put it simply, it was a straightforward premise: they fight wars and forge alliances over and over to prove that "our kingdom and people are the most superior and dominant on the continent."
"Heh heh...! Hahahaha!! Heh heh, hahahahaha!"
A game.
All this time, the world I'd been possessed into had been a massive ARPG.
Thirteen years.
Crossing countless close calls.
I'd survived all that without a single clue or scrap of information.
I'd killed thirteen half-brothers and nine older and younger sisters before ascending to the throne as Great Khan of the Turkic Khaganate. I couldn't help bursting into laughter at the thought that the fierce, brutal fratricidal struggles on the steppe had been nothing more than the unfolding of an ARPG's world.
"But... wasn't this an erotic game? More precisely, an ARPG with all the R-rated content unlocked."
Whether you destroyed a nation and ravished its princesses and noble ladies,
enjoyed the pleasures of prostitutes in a brothel,
or built a harem out of slave girls sold at the slave market,
love marriages.
Political marriages.
Marriage by abduction.
Every kind of romance was allowed.
And in nations that hadn't adopted Orthodoxy, polygamy was possible, too.
"O Great Khan of the Steppe."
"Yabgu Bey."
As I sat on the Sultan's throne, lost in thought,
a warrior leading the Turkic cavalry requested an audience.
A smooth, bald head.
Red tattoos shadowing his face.
And a massive upper body clad in nothing but thick pauldrons.
Yabgu Bey (commander)
A battle-hardened warrior who had burned and plundered countless desert cities in the Western Regions and Persia. He was also a tribal chief ruling over the tribes of the steppe, as well as a commander leading a cavalry unit.
"We have annihilated all the Sultanate's remnants and captured the central trading city. The loyal beys on the front lines await the great Khan's command."
"Proceed according to Turkic custom. The order for claiming the spoils shall be decided in consideration of the valiant beys' exploits, and the warrior who first scales the city walls shall be awarded the city's most valuable goods and most beautiful women."
The concept of 『annihilation』 in Civilization Rate War was a little unusual.
When a ruler died.
When there was no successor.
When there was no one of sufficient standing to inherit the faction.
For those reasons, the Karakur Sultanate's destruction had been confirmed, even though its cities throughout the region still stood. The Sultan and nobles, its leaders, had met a horrific end, their limbs torn off while they were still alive by the Turkic cavalry.
"And we captured the Sultan's concubines alive on the field. I beg Your Great Khan of the Steppe to accept the loyal beys' spoils."
"Very well. I accept."
With the last of the remnants executed alongside the final central trading city, the Karakur Sultanate was subjugated by the Turkic Khaganate.
Could that have been the trigger?
Without a single warning, countless letters appeared in the air. Just as messages announcing a faction's destruction had flooded in the instant the Karakur Sultanate's capital was captured.
[Capital] Ordu Baliq
[City] Bulak
[City] Qala Candalo
[Castle] Oddhon
[Castle] Tamatarka
[Castle] Kenesiyal
[Castle] Sulai
.
.
.
There was no way I wouldn't recognize those names.
Of course I did.
They had all been the Sultanate's territory.
And now they were territories conquered by the Turkic Khaganate.
It seemed no one but the person who received the message could see it. The Turkic tribal chief who had reported the victory could only bow his head at my sudden silence.
'What kind of faction was the Karakur Sultanate again...? Maybe my memory's fuzzy because I've only had Civilization Rate War sitting on my desktop since high school. I know they're descendants of the Saracens who came from the Middle East, though.'
The Karakur Sultanate.
A faction whose core strength came from cavalry of Saracen descent. The Saracen sword cavalry, armed with lightweight chainmail refined for mobility and curved scimitars, boasted such formidable strength that they were considered the hidden trump card of mounted warfare.
Livestock production increased by 30%.
Cost of recruiting cavalry and strengthening units reduced by 20%.
Caravan movement speed increased by 20%. Trade bonus increased by 15%.
Civilization Rate War had a special rule.
You absorbed the traits and troop types of any faction you destroyed.
If the Sultanate's Saracen sword cavalry and the Khaganate's Turkic horse archers were trained to coordinate as one, they would demonstrate overwhelming strength.
"We have come to pay our respects to the Great Khan!"
"All the beys under your command have returned."
"Glory to the steppe of our ancestors! Glory to Ashina's Great Khan!"
Chark.
The tribal chiefs, clad in Turkic armor, dropped to one knee.
They were the steppe's elite, the ones who had destroyed the Sultanate.
Moreover, all the soldiers who had joined the expedition were heroes who had distinguished themselves in the steppe's wars of unification. That was why, even though they had left their homes and families behind to come all the way to a foreign land, they had displayed keen courage and loyalty.
"Listen, beys of the steppe, who have shown the Great Khan's wrath and majesty. The distant lands and treasures won in today's expedition are all spoils for the descendants of the Turks. So rejoice in this victory in a distant land, and freely ravish and seize the Sultanate's widows and maidens."
"We are overwhelmed by your grace!"
Fight and plunder.
Then ravish.
It was an ancient custom and unwritten law among nomadic peoples.
The Turkic had no regular pay in particular, so it was imperative to provide the steppe warriors who won on campaign with tangible rewards and entertainment from time to time. That was why they had been granted the freedom to satisfy their desires, along with spoils that could make them rich overnight.
The Karakur Sultanate, which had unlawfully occupied the eastern lands of the Burgund Star Empire and committed tyrannical outrages, had been destroyed in the East by an unknown force from the Orient.
Like a mirage in the desert.
Like mist over a lake.
The brown-skinned barbarians had quite literally 『vanished』.
How much blood had they shed fighting the barbarians who invaded the Star Empire? In the middle of killing those wicked Saracen bastards and reclaiming cities and villages in the name of restoring the Empire's lost lands, an unforeseen situation had arisen.
"I heard His Majesty the Emperor claims to be the guardian of the Orthodox faith who came from the East. Apparently, the descendants of the saints finally appeared and destroyed the barbarian faction."
"No! The people who came from the East... were terrifying demons on horseback!"
"Then are they centaurs from mythology or something?"
"Ugh...!!"
Saints.
Or demons.
The beautiful maids who attended the imperial baths were caught in a lively debate.
It was only natural.
Their trembling fear was understandable.
An unknown faction had appeared out of nowhere and destroyed the Saracens in a single day. It was an unprecedented situation.
"Your gossip is always delightful to listen to, but... would you bring me some champagne?"
"Yes, Your Majesty!"
As the maids' banter went on,
a naked beauty, who had been absorbed in her bath, held out one hand.
Lustrous golden hair, rich as honey.
Violet eyes, reminiscent of dazzling spinel.
And a full, alluring figure, its curves visible above the bathwater.
She inspired such reverence that it was as if they were receiving the benevolent Mother Earth descended from heaven. Then the golden-haired beauty rose, and her large breasts bounced like ripe watermelons.
Charureuk—
Bathwater streamed down her snow-white skin.
The maids in the bathhouse gazed at the Empress's beautiful naked body, lost in rapture.
Hermine Aurelia Burgund.
Former Empress.
Current Emperor.
And a noblewoman praised by every citizen of the Empire as the 『Golden Empress』.
"We should summon Silia and the commanders of the East."
"Are you preparing for war...?"
"War is always a last resort. Whether they're saints from the East or demons from the East... we have to persuade them somehow and bring them over to our side. Ah, unlike those stupid, inferior Saracens, I hope these barbarians can at least understand what they're told."
"......"
The Burgund Star Empire, the sole hegemon of the Central Continent, had declared its ultimate goal: to recover all the lands it had lost during the reigns of previous emperors.
They had to reclaim them.
Even if those lands had been seized by an unknown faction.
But Hermine was planning to propose negotiations to the unknown faction. As she had just said, war was only a last resort, and the Golden Empress had actively employed the strategy of pitting barbarians against one another to control the barbarian factions surrounding the Star Empire.