V6: Chapter 1

…

Right.

Time for my best enlightened tyrant impression.

Lights!

Camera!

Action!

The ten-year anniversary of the city's founding arrived, and a festival was in full swing all around the region of Talon Hills. From the smallest town, all the way to the capital, a great and grand celebration was surging across our land. Our new banners were being presented. Our crow went through several design iterations, but now it was redesigned to better fit our people's self-image as the good guys.

Rich, bright blue backdrop with golden lining, against which was golden crow with outstretched wings at the center. One talon held a bundle of arrows and the other held an unopened scroll.

Generic good guy banner is a go, and now it's time for a generic good-guy speech to a massive crowd gathered at the city square.

"My citizens, I am pleased to see you all in good health and in good spirits… though I am afraid that being in too good spirits will bode ill for all your health!" I got dressed up for the occasion. As close to a full black suit as I could get with current fashion trends, but with a large cape/shawl thing in deep red with a massive furred collar. My hair also got long enough to be tied back, but it wasn't. I was going for a glorious mane. Brown instead of the usual gold, but I'll take it. Ah, right. It was also my nineteenth birthday. Yeah, we didn't officially start counting months until the start of the next year of simplicity sake. Oh, and my real birthday wasn't something I knew, so I just latched the date onto the anniversary. It helped with the mythos, and one nationwide festival is cheaper than two. That's one less public holiday every year, y'know? "I hope that you'll all restrain yourselves, or at least have someone beside you that can!"

My icebreaker got a few chuckles from the crowd.

They weren't very good jokes, but I practiced, and I had Speech 101 under my belt, so I knew to swallow my disappointment and just get on it with.

"Today marks the tenth year of our city's existence. We were the first to raise our Citadel, and now we are the first to have four under our control… with no other capable of comparing to our great nation." I was jazzing things up a bit with what I remembered from in my past life. By taking all the little bits I could remember from modern history classes, speeches from leaders, and binges into the unknown on media sites at 4AM, I composed something halfway decent for a commemorative event. "We have completed great works, secured our livelihoods and that of our children, but our work is not yet done. The lives of our children's children are at grave peril for the foes of the Ancients remain and they have the world in the palm of their hand."

That caused a fair bit of electricity to go through the crowd.

We'd prepped the public with leaks of information, small articles published by the newspapers, and finally a formal statement that matters will be directly addressed today. Standard public opinion shaping operation. Little better than a small corporate business leaking that they'll have a sale, putting up some ads, and making a formal announcement. My people weren't used to the technique, of course, so they were proving to be a very receptive audience.

"However, as mighty as our foes are, we hold key advantages ourselves. Expeditions into their lands show that they have regressed immensely in terms of technology, their usage of magic is limited, and while they own the land and the seas… the skies are ours." Well, I was lying a bit, but I didn't intend for the poison-using Harpy fuckers to get what they needed to ramp up. I'm finding their creches the moment they pop up and I'm smashing them with high explosives. War crime? They melt people into soup, and that's what they and their younglings eat. Not to mention the fact that they're sadistic rapists who kept people alive just to torture them. As bad as the Demons are, they just make living horrible and feed off of you for convenience. The Harpies make you want to die and stop you from doing it with a smile on their face. "Our ancestors have given us great gifts to ensure our survival and we will make use of it all… and go beyond even their esteemed expectations!"

That statement was the cue for trumpets, for rolling drums, and for the appearance of our air force high above.

People back home loved flyovers, so I was sure they'd love this.

The skies were filled with dozens upon dozens of flying horses clad in shiny, archaic armor and gleaming weapons. Their purpose was bright, shiny, and pretty for the procession, and they did their job. When I use them again, all that armor will be replaced by explosives for them to drop on the enemy.

People in the square clamored and applauded at the sight. Children looked up with wide eyes, and their parents picked them up to see just a bit better. Even the oldest civilians, veterans of living in times of strife, couldn't help but be a little awed by the flyover.

Time to go for the throat.

"The best preparations are being made! We will fight and they will die! We will not sacrifice the future of our people! We will not be the sole generations to benefit from these wonders! All of this, for all time, shall be ours forevermore!" With our mass of flying cavalry casting shadows onto the ground, glittering and awe-inspiring, I marched my words to war as much as I was able. I yelled out and lashed out with my words for all to hear, going as far as to bring both my gloved hands onto the table and lean forward to loom and brood despite all my spirit. The usual charismatic dictator move. "We will liberate ourselves from the shackles of the past. We will bring low all those who threaten not only our lives but that of our children's children! We fight against a threat that will give us no quarter… and, so, we shall give none in turn!"

Final gesture and my signal is my finger pointed straight at the sky.

With the sound of long horns resounding, my last prop for the speech came forth from where it hid above the clouds in the Citadel's shadow.

It was half-built, but all everyone below was seeing was the shining, pure-white armored hull of the massive flying ship. In actuality, the ship-shape was just shaped armor to receive attacks from below, and it surrounded a long, elongated box-like configuration. It may as well have been a flying, long box with a tower for coordination and signaling. Everything awe-inspiring about it was a façade, just slanted and curved armor to deflect magic and projectiles form below, and all it was meant to do was carry my flying cavalry around in relative safety in the skies.

But it was big, it was bold, and it looked strong.

No one in the crowd thought otherwise.

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I had more to say, but the crowds were already finished, cheering and clapping with overwhelming intensity.

If I spoke some more, they'd quiet down, and it'd just be awkward.

Did it take days to make, practice, and pull this event off?

Yeah, but I can read the crowd just fine.

…

"Jackie, that was absolutely wonderful! You had everyone wrapped around your fingertips." Khalai gushed, thankfully only with words, and came forward to give me a hug and a big, sloppy kiss with purple lipstick all over his lips. Instinctively, I took hold of his skull and held him back, while he reached for me and tried to drag me in. Nope. "Aw, no kisses even on your birthday?"

"From you, no." I didn't bother putting the guy down gently and gave Sirena a grateful nod as she pulled him back and away from me. "It's nice to see you again, Khalai. It's been a long time."

"It wouldn't have been so long, if you accepted my invitations. I even offered to meet you halfway in the cold, cold Citadel of Scholars' Fall where we'd have no choice but to warm each other up~." Flirt is really the only dialogue option this guy chooses. I'd like to say that he was better dressed for the occasion, especially since we were holding the celebrations outside and it was nearing winter. Nope. Dude was rocking a tube top, gogo boots, furry armbands, and some fluffy earmuffs all in white and pink. No. I'm not acknowledging his crotch area. Boyshorts? Skirt? A goddamn sling? Don't care. That part doesn't exist. "But I am glad that you invited me to your birthday. I've got a lot to give… and receive."

I ignored him, he pouted, and we eventually both laughed.

"I'm still after you, Jackie."

I ignored that.

"I'm happy to see you here as well, Khalai. I've heard great things from your lands. Well done." Khalai preened at my praise, going as far as to flick back ponytail hanging off his shoulder, and standing proud with chest puffed, shoulders squared, and hands at his waist. In the corner of my right eye, I saw two people walk into each other. In my left, a woman dropped her plate and nearly tripped. Sorry for the memetic hazard, guys. He's kinda my closest ally. "How goes the research on the corruption that we sent your way? Have your miracles found purchase as I predicted?"

Khalia nodded at that, almost appearing like the pope-equivalent of this world for a second, until he opened his mouth.

"It was rough and hard work, but my priests and priestesses worked all through the night without any hint of rest, until the beast was subdued. It all happened just as you planned, Jackie." Everyone's overhearing, and everyone's thinking I set up some debauched orgy or something. It was tough keeping my face completely placid… and it might've been the wrong move, since that just egged Khalai on. He pouted, he made his voice husky, and leaned forward to give the rest of the information in a whisper that passerby strained to hear. "But, yet, in the end we purged that Conqueror of corruption and brought him back."

Revival after the body was purged of corruption.

Just like in the game, it was an event that popped up for the Wardens after they fought against Demons. Corruption, at first, horrified them as it ripped them from their ability to revive. So, they got a mini-quest chain than involved crises of faith, questioning of how resurrection worked if mortal bodies could affect it, and maybe even lead to a schism and civil war.

All of that would've interfered with my own plans and made too much of a mess to control, so I pointed them in the right direction. Remove all traces of corruption from the body, keep it under constant healing in a blessed shawl, and sanctify it as much as possible. Holy magic was tailor-made and passed down through religious doctrine to counter corruption and other key assets of the Ancient's enemies, so of course it would work. All the factions could use it, even the Children of the Elm, but the Wardens were the best at it without a doubt.

"If the Deliverer's body is given to us, we can surely return him to his people."

"I'll extend the offer to Crusher and Conquest." They were busy rebuilding. However, with all our help and the fact that most of their outlying villages were untouched, the devastation of my bombing campaign was easily fixed. It was the loss of their military force that was the issue. They were handling that, while we took up the other sectors of their society. I was hoping to get as few Conquerors working in factories and agriculture as possible and focus them on being our main military force. Projections showed it'd take more than three decades, even under the best conditions, for them to replace our whole military… but until then, I hoped to have a few thousand or so with every army group to act as heavy cavalry. "They will probably refuse, though. They don't believe in bringing warriors back to fight once more. One life is more than enough, in their eyes."

"But you don't think so, do you, Jackie? We should be giving our utmost to face the accursed creatures that inhabit the rest of the world, no?" There it was. Even though Khalai was leaning forward with his hands tucked against the small of his back, pretty much acting perfectly cute, I saw it in his eyes. Complete zealotry. In his mind, keeping someone dead when they can fight against the enemy that threatened their paradise was nearly unacceptable. "Can't you convince them, so that we have another great leader to aid us in our struggle?"

Thankfully, I saw this coming.

"I will ask the dead for aid when we need it. Beyond death is paradise, as you said, and I loathe the thought of pulling people from there unless they are truly needed." Khalai's eyes brightened at my words. It was a perfect response. I didn't belittle his belief. In fact, I used his own beliefs to carry my argument forth. "Let us hope that we can carry this struggle on our own backs first, then call upon them for aid. Your saints, like Sirena, made vows to return, but such is not the case for the Deliverer and many others. Such is not the case for others."

"I see, I see. We must spread and have more follow our path and understand, before having them join us. That is true perfection, indeed." Khalai nodded and smiled. Those thoughts were going to change the moment they finished the final iteration of the Endgame wonder. From reports made by my people there, they were hard at work at the Cathedral. In a decade, they'll unlock their victory condition and become an endless army hell-bent on turning this world into a peaceful tomb. "But, you are right. Let us ask for help when we need it first and not disturb those who have found paradise already."

Mhmm.

Good.

Khalai won't be desecrating the grave of the Conqueror's version of Moses.

That's great.