As soon as Sam got back, he went to the lords study, and inside the office sat two men and a woman on individual chairs. One was a chubby pompous dressed man, the other one was a muscular man in his mid 30s wearing casual clothing, and the woman was wearing a mage outfit while looking like she's also in her mid 30s. As soon as he took a seat, he asked them what they wanted. The pompous fellow couldn't wait to start and cut the mage woman off.
"HMPH! Don't think so highly of yourself, just because you took a single town. As part of the rules of the merchant guild, if ever a foreign country takes over the ruling area of another kingdom, we must meet with the new ruler and discuss new contracts and business. Honestly, you should just go ahead and leave. Don't waste my time with paperwork. Otherwise, I can buy a mercenary army to kill you." Said the pompous man looking at Sam as he was trash.
"Actually, YOU can go ahead and leave before your dead body gets thrown into the forest for the wildbeasts to feast on. Your merchant guilds assets and products have been seized by me." Sam said, grinning at the inraged merchant, then looked at the two other people. "That goes for all of you guys, under my rule. Any guild, company, or organization will be a part of the nation. No, more individual institutions, doing whatever they please and messing with the best interest of my country and people."
"Nonsense, you are openly declaring war on three of the biggest guilds that span throughout the entire continent of Ideth! Do you really think your tiny, miserable country can contest with OUR power! Or even survive without our services!" Said the merchant guildmaster mocking Sam.
"Brat, listen to yourself, don't get overconfident just because you won against one of the lowest gold ranks in nobility. Without the Adventurers guild taking care of the local monster population, you will face not only the Vanmeister kingdoms wrath but the local monsters." Said the Adventurers guildmaster sternly as if Sam was just a green horn.
"I agree with the other guildmasters. You shouldn't go making enemies of everyone. All the guilds are independent organisations that don't interfere with a country's politics or aid during war time." Said calmly the Mages guildmaster as if Sam was just an ignorant kid.
Sam just started laughing at these hypocrites and the amount of bullshit coming out of their mouths. Seeing Sam just laugh, they just gave him angry and disappointed looks.
"Haha! You must be jesting. INDEPENDENT, then explain why the merchant guild keeps funding the local kingdoms for lower tax sales and lower tariffs on goods and exports. Is that NOT interfering?. Or maybe it's the adventurers guild acting more like a mercenary guild and then aiding a country by secretly having adventurers disguise as local soldiers. Is that still not interfering?. Or or MAYBE the mage guild, building magic academies and teaching the kingdoms nobility and some talented commoners to become mages, STILL not interfering? Cause it kinda sounds like complete hypocrisy." Sam said, smiling at all these fools. "I'll say it once. Leave before sundown, and I will make sure you keep your heads."
Without any choice, all of them left before leaving Sam with threats and insults.
"What a bunch of boomers, nothing but stepping stones in my path. Now, I have to deal with the remaining nobles, too, Christopher lead me to the dungeon." Sam said standing up and the two energy mechs that were standing behind him, following him.
"Uhh your majesty I don't want to come off as impertinent. I fully understand what you will do with the nobility, but I beg of you to pardon at least a couple of them." Christopher said while begging on his knees.
"Explain yourself" Sam said indifferently
"Before you came along, my late father who passed away. He was known by the commoners as one of the good noblemen who treated his servants well. He didn't have any slaves and gave fair wages for them to help their families. Unfortunately, he wanted to do more and met more nobility who thought the same. From all the nobility he's met in this town, only two more out of the dozens joined him. Those two noble families are in the dungeons as we speak. I implore you to pardon them, they will help your cause in any way possible." Christopher banged his head on the ground.
"I can't simply do this just by taking your word you know? What if your making this all up and your just trying to make me favor you, I can't do that. I need evidence of this, otherwise I won't do anything." Sam said.
"I understand your majesty, that's why I've had all the servants that worked for my father and the two other noble families here to testify." Christopher said standing up and leading the way to the main hall.
As soon as they got there, a crowd of servants were waiting while being watched by the mechs. They all saw Sam and Christopher and bowed their heads. As soon as Christopher was going to say anything, Sam cut him off.
"I like to make it clear that if any of you here, speak even a single lie. Even if it's the tiniest bit a lie, I will order for your execution on the spot." Sam said coldly to the different servants, all of them looked worried, but resolved themselves.
An old man dressed as a butler stepped up and spoke.
"Your majesty, My name is Francis, and I was the head butler for young master Christopher's father. I know you may have doubts about the nobility, and wish to execute them to satisfy the commoners grievances. I implore you to be lenient to the two other families we have served, they have treated not only us but the commoners with respect and care. Even going out of their way to buying slaves and setting them free." The butler said then going on his knees like Christopher did before, not only him but the rest of the servants as well.
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"Alright, you don't need to do all that, get up." He looked at Christopher. "Even if you didn't say anything, I knew about your father and some of the nobles activities of freeing slaves. A while back, I intercepted and raided a slave prison site. We later confiscated documents and interrogated some of the big bosses. Coming here we also raided all the underground organizations, including the black market. Anyways let's go to the dungeon, I got more things to do."
After entering the dungeons, the place smelled terrible. A mix of blood, rotten meat, piss and shit. Androids and hanzos were guarding the place heavily, and after going through the different metal doorways they came into the main area.
"Good sirs, I could pay as much gold as you want. Resources for you to increase your rank, even give you as many woman or men that you would want. Just let me free, my family can stay."
A mid 30s noblemen was trying to bribe the nearby hanzos, with a pleading look. Sam just thought how funny it was to bribe a mech, especially now that all his assets have been taken by him. Sam and Christopher reached to a cell door that was more heavily guarded and even had better living conditions than the rest. Inside you could see dozens of people sitting down talking, having well prepared food and proper furniture to lay on. As soon as Christopher saw a pair of woman sitting in the corner he ran up to them and hugged them together. Sam already knew that it was Christopher's fiancé and mother, he couldn't mistreat the family of his future servant, otherwise it would just build resentment.
"Thank you your majesty, I cant thank you enough for sparing my family and the others." Christopher once again bowed on the ground towards Sam.
"Calm down man, your starting to make me feel like the bad guy here. Anyways you're all free to go wherever you want, except for Christopher, I kinda need you." Sam said. "But I will say, that if you decide to stay, your noble rank will be gone. I'm planning on making an empire that will conquer the world, and if you join me. Then you will have big important positions in the future with much to gain."
The head of each family thought it through with much discussion, also the fact he didn't mistreat them like the other nobles, they ended up joining Sam's side. With that settled he allowed them to return to their Estates and wait to be called upon again. Finally having that settled he gave Christopher the day off to be with his family for a while. He then got a call from Nostromo, through the wristband.
"Sir, lab and research facility is ready to proceed with your gene mod."
With that bit of news he left immediately for the base, even skipping and singing a tune along the way. Back at the base he beelined to the lab and met up with the same research bot from earlier, entering the facility it looked quite advanced. Research counters, lab equipment, and weird looking chemical liquids. The research bot told him to get naked, then led him to a large glass tube. As soon as he stepped in, he put on a clear breathing mask. Then, small metal tentacles came from the top of the tube, injecting themselves into his body. A clear sky blue liquid started filling up the entire tank, it felt ice cold to the touch.
"Damn my nuts are going to shrink."
Now the whole entire tank was filled with the cold piercing liquid, but soon he started feeling warmth running through where all the metal needles poked through. The gene serum he was injected with started making him feel like a hot furnace, his exposed skin turned red, with muscles and veins bulging. As much as he wanted to pass out he couldn't, it felt like molten metal running through his veins. After a few moments he could feel something deep in the pit of his stomach churning. He closed his eyes and felt his mind go to a bronze ball in the middle of his abdomen. The bronze ball started to vibrate and absorb certain light particles, after enough was absorbed it glowed red hot. Then the ball of what looked like a red hot glowing core, started cooling down until it settled on a silvery shine. In the test tube, the cold blue liquid was boiling at a rapid rate until it also lowered in temperature.
"Machine monarch, I will be injecting the mark 2 gene serum. Please do try your best to stay alive." Said the research bot from outside the container. All Sam could do was curse at the bot from inside.
Once again, he was subjected to extreme amounts of pain. This time, the tank glass was foggy and letting off large amounts steam. He reached his point of pain tolerance and passed out. Feeling like he had the worst fever dream of all time, he woke up in a hospital bed somewhere in the lab facility.
"Good morning machine monarch, how are you feeling. Are you tired, dizzy, dehydrated, or maybe experiencing nausea?" Said the research bot checking his vitals next to the bed.
"Actually, I feel really good. How long have I been asleep for? Any new-" said Sam, standing up at an abnormal speed, then crashing head first into a wall.
"Hehe, it's been 5 hours, and please do try to adjust to your new strength. It would be a shame to see you go."Said the bot next to him
"I can't tell if you're being serious or not. Whatever, better get some training in then. Call Zal-urk to the base training grounds."
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POV Scout soldier
A heaving horse could be seen galloping at top speeds throughout the open plains. It was already exerting itself to the limit, and the rider wasn't doing too good either. He has been riding and taking as little amount of breaks to let the horse rest for about five days now. All over his body, he had cuts and bruises, even a bloody shoulder. He had to keep going, because the fate of the kingdom relied on the information he had. It was just a peaceful day until the strange army and its powerful siege weapons tore through the towns defenses like paper. At first, they requested for the city lord to surrender, but a nobles pride is as strong as a sword. Hes been on multiple battlefields for the kingdom, and even then, they should have been able to at least withstand a couple of days, not minutes.
"May Lord Gilmar save this kingdom."
Off in the distance, he can finally see the outline of a town in the next county. In all of the Vanmeister kingdom, their was a total of 20 county's, each one governed by high nobels with multiple military achievements. Each county, depending on size, could have 2 to 8 towns and any amount of villages.
On the rampart walls, an archer lookout spotted the scout riding its horse. He quickly noticed the badly injured man almost falling off. He signaled for some men to escort him to the infirmary.
He later woke up after a few hours of rest. He realized he fell asleep and grabbed the nearby soldiers collar, demanding to see the city lord immediately. Frantically screaming and yelling that it was a matter of life and death for the kingdom. It took 4 men to hold him down to finally restrain him. The captain of the city guard came into the infirmary after being notified of the situation.
"My name is Gabe dirno, I heard you were found badly injured, coming from Viscount Conners County. Tell me what happened. Was it the Dwarven kingdom or Kalimbor empire who attacked you?" Said the captain.
"SIR, IT WAS NEITHER! THEY CAME UNDER NO FLAG AND THEY WERE RELENTLESS, THE LOWEST OF THEIR RANKS WAS BRONZE RANK! NO NON AWAKENED AT ALL, THEY EVEN SENT MULTIPLE GOLD RANKS! AND THEIR SIEGE WEAPONS LAID WASTE TO OUR DEFENSES IN SECONDS! YOU HAVE TO CONTACT THE CAPITAL IMMEDIATELY!" Said the soldier pleading with tears and fear visible in his eyes.
"I understand your concern soldier, but please explain the events in order and try to calm down." The captain asked, trying to get as much out of the scout.
"It was just a regular day patrolling around the surroundings. The Viscount had asked us to be on alert. Then these large moving metal boxes appeared from the direction of Bryxton, and out of them came thousands of strange metal soldiers. They asked for the surrender of the town, and the city lord fought back. All I could remember were the explosions and fire, soldiers turning into chunks of meat and paste. The town fell in less than 15 minutes. It was a one-sided massacre." The soldier recounted.
Letting the traumatized soldier settle down and have some rest, he returned to the city lord and informed him about what he's heard from the soldier.
"Do you believe it's true, Gabe?" Asked the city lord
"I've already sent my subordinates to check with the local guilds of the area, and they've received word that all communication from the Viscount branches have been cut off. This is more than enough proof that a foreign enemy has invaded, and we must immediately start preparing for the worst, my lord." Said the captain in a serious tone.
"Alright, I will send a letter to Viscount Olmar and the capital immediately, start reinforcing our defenses. I can already hear the sounds of war fast approaching. May Lord Gilmar save this kingdom." Said the city lord in a grave tone.
"May Lord Gilmar save this kingdom, sir."