Chapter 22

“Ah my son and the other new swarm barons.” Swarm king Josh said. Then he seemed to start counting how many of us there were. He stopped and frowned when he got to me though. “Are you a new swarm baron?” He said giving me a look that was a mixture of confusion and curiosity.

“Yes my king. I’m from a planet that lost integration with the swarm. I was just tested last week.” I replied. I guess there went the entire plan to just blend in and hope I wasn’t noticed.

The queen rolled her eyes. “If you will recall there was an incident a few years ago with a planet the inhabitants call Earth. They started testing the inhabitants seven days ago when they started the reintegration process. It was quite the surprise to find out that they managed to find a swarm baron.” She said to the swarm king.

I couldn’t help but latch onto the fact that she had said the integration process had started on Earth. I could remember the assembly master had said that part of the reintegration process was going to disrupt electricity on Earth. I could only imagine the chaos the planet was going through right now. Suddenly I just wanted to get this ceremony completed and go see if I could dig up a status report on my home. That and see if there was a way to make sure that my family was safe.

“Yes I do recall that incident. From what I remember it’s responsible for one of the arch swarm kings being put under house arrest. He was quite fortunate that the inquisitors were unable to find any evidence he had ever had any involvement with the planet after he removed the mana nodes.” The swarm king said.

“I think that’s enough chit chat. Let’s get on with the ceremony. I have better things to do with my time.” Queen Andrea said.

“How about we have some fun with this. I think this would be a great time to make a bet.” King Josh said with a childish grin.

The queen sighed in annoyance. “What is there to bet on? I’m simply giving them each a micro core factory and having them repeat some ceremonial words.”

I was starting to get a feeling for the personalities of swarm king Josh and swarm queen Andrea. Grand swarm king Josh seemed to be a carefree gambling addict. As for queen Andrea I wasn’t as sure. One thing I did know though was that at some point she had gotten tired of king Josh’s antics.

“How about betting on if any of them have more talent than my son?” King Josh said with a laugh.

“That’s a fool’s bet. The chances of your son being stuck as a swarm baron are less than one in a million. Most likely he will be a duke or a king.” The queen said, shaking her head.

“That just means we have to set the proper odds. One in a million you say right? Our emperor recently gave me a tiny core factory as a reward for helping him with a problem. If I remember correctly those are a million times more valuable than a micro core factory. So let’s wager those. If one of your swarm barons is more talented than my son you win the tiny core factory. If my son is more talented, all you have to do is give me a micro core factory.” King Josh said.

The queen looked surprised. “Honestly, that is tame for one of your gambles. I was expecting something truly outlandish. I suppose I can agree to that gamble.” She said after a moment.

The king frowned. “You know, it is a boring bet, how about we make it more exciting? Core factories are boring things to gamble on.”

“I just had to open my mouth didn’t I, what now?” The queen said in annoyance.

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“I’m trying to think of something. But I can’t think of anything clever that has a million times the value of something else.” The king said with a frown.

I was actually finding the interplay a bit amusing. Then I thought of something. “What happens if there is a tie?” I said stupidly. Almost instantly I regretted opening my mouth as both the queen and king looked at me.

“Oh that is an interesting thought. There is a small chance that one of you will be a swarm count and that my son will also get stuck at the level of swarm count. In that case one of you will be as talented as my son but not more talented. Both of us losing in that case would be boring. Although I suppose us both winning would also be inappropriate. The odds are small but they are probably more than one a million.” The king said clearly verbalizing his thought process.

He went silent for a bit and then seemed to jerk up. “Ah ha, I’ve got the perfect bet. If it’s a tie how about we both win and you agree to have a child with me.” The king said, pointing at the queen.

The queen instantly went from annoyed to furious. “How many times do I have to tell you that I’m not having a child with you. Especially after what you did with my sister.” For a second I thought she was actually going to attack him. So did most of the guards as they backed up and reached for their weapons. Although quite a few looked like they were considering just running. The servants actually did run.

“And that’s the other half of the bet. Ever since she lost that bet with me you have been bugging me to release your younger sister from my harem. If it’s a tie I’ll also release her.” The king said giggling.

That’s right he actually giggled. Looking back at the queen I realized why. Her face exemplified being truly torn between being happy at the bet and horrified. I actually had to force myself not to laugh. Clearly she wanted as little as possible to do with the swarm king. At the same time it was clear that she wanted her sister free from his clutches. I could tell she was struggling with whether freeing her sister was worth having a child with the swarm king.

“Well? Do we have a bet or not.” The swarm king said after he finally managed to control himself.

“Agreed.” The queen finally blurted out. I could tell as soon as she said the word part of her wanted to take it back. Clearly she was still conflicted about the bet. Leaning back she schooled her face back to a neutral expression. Apparently she had decided that she would go ahead and move forward with the bet. Perhaps partially because it was such low odds anyway. Chances were the only one that would be a swarm count was Josh the third. Even if one of us was, it sounded like there was a pretty decent chance Josh would end up being a duke or lesser king.

With that said an administrator stepped forward and called out Kyle’s name and motioned him to come forward. Walking up he kneeled in front of the queen. Kyle declared his allegiance to the queen. noticeably the oaths he swore only applied if he was a swarm baron.

After the oaths were completed the queen held out a hand. Luckily the administrators had hurried back after they realized there wasn’t going to be a fight between queen Andrea and king Josh. One of them hurried over and put a cube that kind of resembled the nano factory cubes into her hand.

She handed it to Kyle. Pressing the button on top Kyle bonded himself to the cube. The process was almost exactly like when I got my nano cube. Just a bit more pomp and ceremony.

“Well? What’s the results? Did you unlock the next unit or are you a baron?” King Josh said after a minute.

Kyle looked a bit disappointed. “I’m a baron, your majesty.”

“One down, five to go.” The king said. It was a bit rude but then again he was so far above a swarm baron that nobody would dream of calling him out about it.

The queen put Kyle in charge of a couple planets and pledged to put him in charge of more if he did well managing them. Victoria and Alex were next. Both were also swarm barons and were also put in charge of a couple planets.

Then came the king’s son Josh the third. Nobody was surprised when he declared that the next unit had unlocked when he bought a micro drone. Unlike the previous barons he was not put in charge of any planets. Counts were in charge of a group of barons instead of a group of planets. Also there was a decent possibility that he would be a duke. It sounded like standard procedure was to wait until the access level of a swarm lord was determined before putting them in charge of anything.

Next up were Julie and then Beatrice. They were also swarm barons. Which left me as the final prospective baron.

“And it all comes down to the man from Earth. This will actually be quite interesting. You seem to have beaten all odds to become a swarm baron. I wonder if you will beat them again and become a swarm count.” The king said and then laughed. Apparently he really did enjoy gambling.