Samantha understood as soon as they teleported away from the man who she mind controlled that her ability was not defined by any distance.
Even now, being far away from the person she controlled, she could tell his exact location as if there was a radar in her head telling her where he was. While she could not sense his emotions or his own sensations, it was as if she was controlling a remote control robot and looking through a camera- the camera being his own eyes.
She could order him to perform any task in her mind, and he would do it. Samantha had kept away from using the mind control under typical circumstances, however that one man in particular was being so loud and she was tired of hearing him.
People under mind control didn't hold any thoughts, so it was a nice and quick way to get them to be silent, even if it was only temporary.
Samantha knew from where she was that the man was still sitting there on his knees, and that others around him who had stood up were gathering around him.
"Ian!! Ian!! The monsters are gone now!! What's wrong!?! Why don't you respond!?"
Samantha sighed.
'Of course they would all disturb me... everyone is so loud, even when they're nowhere near me...'
Samantha undid the mind control on the man, and the voices in her head ceased.
Garett turned to the man who was sitting at his desk with a confused look on his face.
"What was I doing again..."
"Troy, was it? It's good to see you again... though, I don't know whether you will remember us after what our comrade here has just done..."
"Oh, you all are the leaders of the neighboring nation who are supporting our resistance... forgive me, the ending of our meeting yesterday is a bit fuzzy... I cannot seem to remember what happened after a certain point..."
Trevor stood forward as if to say 'I will take care of this one.'
"My good man, leader of the resistance fighting for the noble cause to rid the corruption of Senator Brutus from the Empire... you don't mean to tell me that you've forgotten the deal we struck the other day?"
"Deal? Please forgive me, I have no idea what you're talking about. Please remind me of what the deal was."
Trevor smirked with a glint in his eyes that screamed of profit.
"We made a deal that in exchange for our backing, that you all would become a foothold within the Empire for our future expansion... essentially, you all will lay the groundwork for our takeover of the Empire when the time comes, and we will support you in doing so. Senator Brutus is a powerful man... far too powerful, in my opinion, and he has lost all sense of morality in search for profit. The Empire is on a path to chaos, and if nothing is done about it, then a split will occur... your resistance group is currently fighting to weaken the power of the Senator, however you don't have a plan to fill the gap when he is gone, no?"
"I... I do not have a plan for that scenario. I intended to allow the Emperor to figure it out."
"But what will happen to the resistance after Brutus is taken down? Surely you won't be pardoned for your crimes and for causing split within the Empire? What do you plan on doing then? Fleeing the country as unwanted heroes? Or turning yourselves in perhaps?"
"I... I have not considered that either."
"Far too much has gone unconsidered for such a resistance force to succeed. However, with the backing of our nation, all your problems will be solved. We will engulf the Empire into our nation, and you all will be pardoned of any crimes under our absolute rule.", Trevor offered.
"Not a bad deal, right?", Garett asked.
The man was thinking considerately.
"Will you allow the Emperor to keep his position and rule beneath you all if that comes to be the case? The Emperor is a kind and caring man for his people, and he would never do anything to betray them."
"That would depend on the situation, but so long as he loves his people, it shouldn't be a problem to allocate a position to him... after some tinkering of course..."
"Thank you... what should I call you?"
"Your excellency."
"Thank you, your excellency. I will do as you say, and we will work towards a better country together."
"But of course. However, for the time being you will simply act as a center of information for us, so that we may understand the movements of the Empire while building up your strength as a resistance force. Today I have with me one of my most trusted slaves, Oraguth. As you can see, he is a goblin... a monster."
When Trevor said these words, it was as if something clicked in the mind of Troy.
Troy looked around the room, back and forth between each of the antiheroes, and slowly his face became more and more filled with terror.
He had only just realized now that he was negotiating with a group of monsters.
"Agh!!! M-monsters!!! Help!!!"
Trevor put his hand over his forehead in disappointment.
"Troy, did you not just have a regular conversation with me? What part of that screams 'monster'?"
Troy fell back in his seat in fear. He did not remember the terror he had gone through recently, however he did know one thing.
The beings in front of him were monsters.
Particularly the girl who appeared to be a spirit... Troy felt as if she was about to consume his very soul at any moment.
He couldn't handle it.
He started vibrating on the ground in shock, unable to control his breathing.
"Hufff... hufff... hufff..."
"Ah, it seems I've wasted my time. Oraguth, do ensure that this man keeps his promise. Try not to terrorize him too much, but it seems he cannot handle our presence right now, so we will take our leave. Troy, I know you might not be able to hear me, but this is Oraguth, our slave. He will be joining your ranks as of today."
With the snap of his fingers, the antiheroes disappeared from the room, leaving only Oraguth and the hyperventilating man.
Oraguth took a look at the man, and sighed before realizing that his work was cut out for him. He had to successfully mold this crude resistance into a powerful political faction, and from behind the scenes since he was a monster, all while ensuring that they would not betray the antiheroes.
'If I can do that, then it will pave the way for their excellencies to take over this human kingdom...', he thought.
However, on looking at the pathetic man in front of him...
Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.
'But just what am I going to do with this guy... well, this is only to be expected. Not just anyone can handle the greatness of their excellencies."
----
After returning to the Dictatorship quite quickly, they came to see only Claire in the throne room, once again looking over more paperwork. There was a circular desk which had the clawed legs of a feline carved into the wood which was now surrounded by the thrones, which had been arranged around it like a round table.
She seemed somewhat irritated. Right now, her devilish form had taken over a small chunk of her face, representing about 40% of her entire being right now.
"Determined, we have returned. Oraguth has been given his mission, and introduced to the people he will monitor and assist."
"Ah, I see. If you all are not busy then could you help me out with this? There is so much to do... so many reports to go over... and those birdmen working in the surveillance room have been giving me continuous updates on the actions of every person in the city.... I don't need all this information!!! Half of it is useless! I don't care about the favorite foods of every single person in the village!!! I don't care about how many steps that it takes for each goblin to travel across the city, and the rate at which they walk!!! This is all useless!! Why are we wasting effort on stupid information like this?!?"
"Uh... that I am not sure about. Perhaps I should have a discussion with those birdmen. I thought it was Coran who was in charge of them, however if they are producing useless things like this... well, not that information is ever useless, however their talents could be better focused. At any rate, they need some redirection.", Trevor acknowledged.
The antiheroes returned to their seats and spent the rest of the day filing through the massive amounts of paperwork. It was tremendous, and even somewhat impressive as to how detailed the information was in the reports. There was not a single piece of information which was left out.
"Oh, this is useful.... the amount of water which has been directed to each home through the piping system... it seems that the people closer to the pump are using significantly more water than the ones further away from it... could this be due to a lack in pumping power? Garett, you should probably take a look at that.", Samantha suggested.
Garett nodded in response while continuing to sieve through the files.
"Ah... what is this garbage?", Ashley complained. "The locations and amount of birthmarks on each member of the dictatorship!? How did they even find this out!!?? Creepy..."
"They've even got sketches of the shapes... just how much free time have these people had?", Garett asked while leaning over the shoulder of Ashley.
"Yes, without a doubt I think we need to have a talk with these birdmen... their work is far too thorough. Being able to decide what is more important and allocating your time towards that is a critical skill, and they shouldn't be wasting their efforts on information which bears no use..."
"And it's weird. I wouldn't want to live in a country where my birthmark's or scars were on file."
Samantha held her chest, recalling once more to the permanent burns she suffered. Even though she specialized in healing magic, she was not able to remove the scars she obtained back on earth. It was as if they were ingrained into her very being- a part of her.
"Ally, if you will please burn those documents.", Trevor asked.
"Got it.", she replied while producing a flame large enough to engulf the documents, reducing them to the point where not even ashes remained in less than a second, before the fire quickly shut off.
"Determined, you can leave these documents to us but could I leave the guidance of the birdmen to you?"
"Alright.", Claire said, dropping a stack of papers onto the desk in front of her. She was clearly annoyed by all these rediculous reports, and eager to give those birdmen a piece of her mind.
She stormed off with an evil grin on the left side of her face and a concerned look on her right side, as her demonic form seemed to continue taking over her.
'They're working very hard. There is no need to be too harsh on them.'
'No, they're doing useless crap. We need to show them to cut the bullshit and quit wasting our time.'
'But if we do that then we will be punishing them for working so hard!'
'Do you think I care? Just make em work harder, and on stuff that's actually useful.'
Claire seemed to be whispering to herself, and the actions and movements of her left side were completely independent of those on her right.
'Is she going nuts? She certainly seems unstable.', Trevor thought. 'Well, I suppose anyone would be like that if there were a demon and an angel living inside of them.'
The four continued their work for a while longer, until dusk. Claire never returned to the throne room for reasons unknown, however after going through report after report of information which had no sense of correlation to each other, Trevor knew one thing for certain.
'Ugh... if you want something done right, you have to do it yourself...'
----
Kyle returned to the capital in a good mood.
He had successfully eliminated the arrogant Emperor and his goons, who held the dastardly views of belittling those who struggled to get by, while only continuing to line his pockets with wealth, and focus on his position and prestige alone.
Kyle felt like a true hero.
However, this was not how things might seem to the king and the nobles of the court.
The Indeterminant had fled- most probably to the Empire, as he originally intended to go there anyways. However, this was actually beneficial to Kyle, as now he held the most power in the country as the one and only hero.
Even so, there may well be corruption within even his own country. The nobles may wish to sit back and grab hold of their possessions while scrambling to keep the power they have, as soon as Kyle returned.
'We cannot have that. A city lead by the corruption of the few is sure to fall, even with a hero of justice at their head. If I allow the nobles who would do something as selfish as to prioritize their own families over the many to keep their positions, then they might try to use me for their own benefit and forsake the country and it's people. Therefore..."
Kyle made his decision.
In order to become a true hero- in order to be a man who the entire country looked up to, he would have to swim against the tide.
It was time to establish a new system.
He would be hated by the powerful. They would gang up against him, and it was likely that assassins would be sent to kill him. Factions would form in order that they may keep their own power, and blood would likely be shed.
However...
This was all for the sake of justice, no? So it would be forgiven.
He was doing this for his mothers' sake, for the ones who spent years grinding at the bottom of society, patiently biting their lips and giving in to all the horrible situations that life presented them with.
If his mothers were able to live in the conditions they did, then surely these nobles could handle something as simple as no longer holding their wealth. On the contrary, if they were not willing to give it up, then it could be seen as an obstruction of justice.
"Yes... only a criminal... only a being of evil would be so attached to their material goods as to not be willing to give them up for the greater good... of course... if those nobles don't want to give up their possessions, then it must be because they are no worse than criminals! They are thieves who have been caught in the act, and are hopelessly clinging onto the purse which they stole from another! After all, my mother's never had anything, and I never once heard Irene complaining. On the contrary, she continued to give everything she had to all the others! If only everyone were like her! Then we wouldn't need a hero like me...."
Kyle frowned.
"But we do."
Kyle had headed back to the capital after taking one of the horses, leaving the collection of dead bodies there to rot in the field. After all, there was no need to give a tyrant like that nor his lackeys a proper burial.
Making his way to the capital, Kyle smiled.
"Ah... I think that I am starting to understand why I was chosen as a hero."
----
Caspus, the Legion Commander of the first legion of the Empire, was currently on his way to Githard, where the sea campaign would begin.
He stood at the head of 10,000 soldiers, 8000 of which were legionnaires, who all marched behind him as he rode on horses with his 10 Colonels, 5 riding on each side of him. The remaining 2000 soldiers were cavalry who formed units of 1000 on the left and right flanks.
Caspus wore an armor set which was a mix of a samurai and a knight, and the mask made him look almost like a welder or a baseball catcher. He shone with brilliance at the head of this magnificent force, and rode with pride.
It was his time to secure his spot at the top of the military of the Empire. And he had been given the opportunity to do so through the complete annihilation of a group of monsters.
He could not have been more thrilled to receive a task, and with 10,000 men along with however many mercenaries tagged along- which by the way, the Emperor had offered such a large bounty that every mercenary in the country would likely show up- he had essentially no chance at taking a major loss at all to his own forces.
Now, Caspus was not so arrogant or naive to believe that he should not be cautious, however the fact of the matter was that the deaths of the mercenaries would actually benefit the Empire since they would not have to pay those who died, and so this essentially meant he could send them all off to their deaths.
When one had a piece which they could sacrifice without loss in the game of strategy, it meant a complete victory no matter which way you cut it.
Why?
Because it meant he was allowed to go all out, without any worry for the risk or repercussions of his actions.
He could order the mercenaries to storm the village with not even a single hint of strategy, allowing them to create a field of chaos which would lead to equal casualties on both sides.
Then, when the two sides had almost completely wiped each other out, his organized force would jump in and steal all the glory- and all the rewards.
Caspus would typically sacrifice a group of his own soldiers for the role of tipping the battle in his favor, at the expense of their lives, however with such a large amount of mercenaries which were projected to come, he wouldn't even bother with that.
'If the mercenaries are weakened significantly after the battle, then it would be better to order my own soldiers to eliminate them... in war, there is no right or wrong. There is no human or monster. There is only us, and them. And those mercenaries, while they may be on our side now, are unpredictable, and only in it for the money. It would be better to simply take care of two birds with one stone.'
Caspus continued on his march to Githard. There was much to do before setting out for the campaign, and not a moment to spare.