Chapter 2
Chapter 2
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 2
Chapter Title: Preparing the Hirak Delegation
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I'd left the delegation preparations to Jarvis, but since he was basically a newborn and it was his first real task, I couldn't shake the unease.
I should summon him once and check on the progress.
"Jarvis. How's the delegation coming along?"
"Yes, Your Majesty. I'm focusing especially on warriors specialized in teeth and claws."
What?
"With these outstanding warriors! Without fail! They'll surely sever the enemies' limbs clean off!"
Oh.
"Jarvis? That's not what a delegation is."
"I shall listen attentively."
He must be short on knowledge since he was so newly created.
"A delegation is what you send diplomatically to another nation."
"What does 'diplomatically' mean?"
"?"
"?"
Jarvis tilted his head, clearly not understanding.
What? Did I make his brain capacity too small?
"Jarvis. Diplomacy is—"
...
"Understood. So it's intimidation from the strong or desperate flailing from the weak. Sending them without deploying full forces to extract what you want, or if you're weak, begging so you don't get attacked. It's a way to conserve loyal warriors for more important battles, right? Indeed, that makes perfect sense."
"Uh? Well... yeah, kinda."
I explained diplomacy to him, and he nodded right away like he'd gotten it.
Guess brain capacity isn't the issue. Diplomacy is kinda like that, isn't it? He understood perfectly.
Maybe it's just that our species is inherently aggressive by nature? At any rate, he seemed convinced that we weren't at war with the Deneb Federation.
So Jarvis had been gathering warriors this whole time? Which means the preparations were basically nonexistent.
"Jarvis? I'll handle the delegation myself. In the meantime, prepare a full report on our entire species. I'll review the delegation once it's ready."
"Yes, Your Majesty. As you command."
From the moment I'd decided to send a delegation, I'd had an idea in mind.
I'm a hive mind. Unless I've made them with strong individual egos like Jarvis, everything ultimately boils down to 'me.' In other words, no matter how many die, as long as 'I' survive, there's no problem at all.
Capitalizing on that, I decided to send a delegation with just a few of my clones aboard—no escort forces. If they get attacked and killed, I can make a diplomatic issue of it. If they enter smoothly, the lack of escorts would highlight our peaceful nature.
For that, I needed suitable bodies for the delegation. The ones in my current legion were all specialized for ripping apart or devouring other lifeforms.
No need to delay—I could just make them right now.
If the diplomats looked too out of place from our usual forms, it'd be weird, so I gave them appropriately monstrous heads and...
Knead knead.
Since I'd be piloting this body myself, wouldn't bipedal be more convenient? Bipedalism is a bit odd for a Hirak, but no one knows what a Hirak looks like anyway, so whatever.
Squish squish.
Still, it needed a proper build, so I packed in plenty of muscle tissue...
Hm? Once I shaped it as desired, the weight balance felt off. The head's too big compared to the legs.
Then make the legs bigger.
Smoosh smoosh.
For backup in case balance fails, add some scythes that could double as crutches.
Munch munch.
Complete. A broad-backed Hirak head that screams monster to anyone, imposing shoulder blades perfect for a sharp-suited silhouette, powerful arms extending from them, a somewhat scrawny waist that clothes could hide later, sturdy legs to support this hefty frame, and two scythes to finish the silhouette like wings (or crutches).
This was more than enough to pass as a member of a monstrous species.
From now on, I'd call this body type Hirak, drawing from that old name.
Excluding the one I'd personally inhabit, the rest should get egos like Jarvis for a more natural look. But dial down their autonomy. We don't want them volunteering to dismember anyone.
Spit.
A massive mouth-like orifice opened in my main body, the brood chamber, and three Hiraks emerged from it.
The Hiraks wriggled briefly, adapting to their forms, then stood still.
"Your name is Hunterak. Yours is Killerak. From now on, assist me as I operate in this Hirak body. You can call me... Hihirak."
The two Hiraks bowed their heads in silent, restrained submission. Perfect.
Designing the Hiraks had taken a fair bit of time, so to meet the Deneb Federation's deadline, I had to hurry. No need for gift-laden pomp for a first greeting—I loaded them onto one of the whale-like bio-ships I'd used for troop transport in space and sent them straight to the border.
While the Hirak delegation traveled to the Deneb Federation, I needed to brainstorm diplomatic arguments.
Even though it was our border region, the Solar Star System was firmly within my territory, making their action blatant internal interference. But they were probably still doubting if we were truly sapient.
Are you really sapients? Rude warning. Respond if you're offended? Please respond.
High chance they meant something like that. They'd detected fleet activity but not the details—ships that were organic rather than mechanical, no diplomatic outreach despite shared borders whether aggressive or peaceful—so they'd half-convinced themselves we were monsters and sent an aggressive warning.
If you don't properly guard against hostile alien predators, your whole civilization gets eaten.
But that's their side. Since we'd decided to pursue standard species diplomacy instead of predation, this warning was undeniably rude internal meddling.
I could protest it as interference in border-internal affairs, but since they were a nation that could advertise how safe we were, maybe gloss over it amicably?
Forgiving their rudeness outright might seem too suspicious, like pushovers. I don't care personally, but in a normal nation, such aggression would build resentment among the populace. At least on Earth, that's how it went.
Explain it as our own internal issues prompting the threatening military moves—like a leadership change from civil war. They'd have to buy that. What could they do about our country flipping upside down?
It was true a leader had changed, after all.
For now, go with that explanation and improvise based on their response.
And I needed to think of trade goods for the Deneb side. There's a difference between mere greeting relations and mutual dependence through trade.
Like how Middle East diplomacy never stops due to oil—irreplaceable resources, or even replaceable ones with overwhelming efficiency, score diplomatic points on their own.
In this vast universe, the odds of our hive producing some unique extractable resource are slim to none, so no point banking on that.
But our hive is different. Typical resources bring to mind oil, coal, iron, rare earths. Back in the day, livestock like horses, cattle, sheep were traded too.
Horses were a key medieval military metric, but on Earth, cavalry phased out with weapon advancements because human biotech didn't advance.
Look at me—I inherited game abilities somehow and created Hiraks in a day. The Hiraks were rough, focused on form and mobility, but with full effort and finesse?
Applications are endless. The galaxy has countless species, and I can capture, consume, and inherit their genetic traits.
Peaceful doesn't mean no war—it means avoiding it, no reason not to use our traits.
Thus, diplomacy with the Deneb Federation aims not just at stable borders to prevent war and becoming prime trade partners, but also scouting lifeforms with useful genetic traits.
If it's like my old game, rush essential techs then pivot to resources late-game. But Jarvis, the Hiraks—this creation ability wasn't in that game.
That's where reality hits; guess we'll advance one step at a time.
Anyway, that sets the delegation's goals and guidelines. Jarvis should have the species report ready by now. Time to check.