Her Majesty’s Swarm - Volume 4 - Chapter 8

Whodunnit?

We returned to the mainland on Gilbert’s ship and hurried back to Khalkha. Our carriage blitzed ahead, the horse gasping for breath. We practically stormed through Khalkha’s gates, jumped out of the carriage, and hurried into the hospital where Lysa was resting.

“We have the antidote!” I said.

“Did you really go all the way to the Nabreej archipelago?!” the doctor asked, shocked.

“Forget that. Hurry up and treat Lysa already!” I beseeched him, my shoulders trembling. “We did what we had to; now it’s your turn. Please!”

“Right, leave it to me. So long as we have the antidote, I can treat her.”

The doctor took the antidote’s bottle and injected it into Lysa’s IV drip.

“How long will it take before the antidote kicks in?” I asked.

“She should recover within two or three days. It might take longer, though, given how long she’s been under the influence of the Witch’s Blow.”

Please, Lysa... Wake up...

“Your Ma—I mean, my lady. What do we do next?” Sérignan asked.

“We find the people who did this to Lysa.”

That was the only thing on my mind. The ones who’d subjected Lysa to this suffering had to pay.

“Apparently, there’s some kind of assassins’ guild. We’ll choke them out...thoroughly. We do not need mercy. The only thing we need is the desire to crush the enemy.”

I’d already decided. We’d bury this assassin guild and find out who hired them too.

“But how will we find them?” Sérignan asked.

“I was their original target, and they never killed me, so they’re bound to try again. We’ll use that to our advantage.”

Lysa had only been poisoned because she’d protected me. So if I went around in the open, it should spur the assassins to act.

“You can’t do that!” Sérignan cried. “It’s too dangerous! There must be another way!”

“They tried to get me once, meaning they ought to reveal themselves soon. I planned for this already—I figured I’d serve as a decoy once they figured out they didn’t get me the first time.”

I could understand why Sérignan was against it, but it was the only solution. I’d already made my play, and they were bound to counterattack. All that remained was to take advantage of the situation and beat the enemy to the punch.

“Sérignan, I need you to protect me with all you’ve got and capture the ones who did this to Lysa. All right?”

“If you say so, milady...”

Our plan was set. By the time Lysa woke up, we would catch the ones who hurt her and make them pay dearly for what they did.

Everything was fine. I still hadn’t forgotten my human heart.

♱

The operation began.

Sérignan and I walked around Khalkha. We delayed our exchange with Honnoson Alphtel for his own sake. Ventura arranged the delay so as to not get Honnoson caught up in any possible assassination attempts aimed at me.

And so we meandered around Khalkha, through the eateries, commercial district, bazaars, and pleasure districts. I had Masquerade Swarms spread out, ready to protect me from any direction, while I walked around openly like I was begging to be attacked.

The enemy didn’t bite, though. They probably assumed they shouldn’t launch an attack on me so soon after their initial failure. I purposely went into crowded areas, expecting an assassin to strike there. But the enemy didn’t attack at all, making me wonder if they’d possibly given up.

That would be bad.

Eventually, I made my way back to the high-class hotel room prepared for me in Khalkha. “Nothing today, huh?” I murmured to myself.

“The enemy is exercising caution,” Sérignan noted.

Days of wasted effort were beginning to grind on my nerves. I bid Sérignan good night and got into my bed.

It was only after I went to sleep that I noticed the disturbance. I jolted awake and sat up in surprise.

“Stay quiet,” a voice told me as a dagger was held against my throat.

“Members of the assassins’ guild, huh?” I whispered.

I could see my assailants. The one holding the dagger against my throat was a young woman. The dagger was probably laced with Witch’s Blow. Even if it wasn’t, she only needed to drive it into my throat to kill me.

There was also a middle-aged man warily holding a dagger and keeping watch over the area. I could see one of the hotel’s porters lying dead on the floor. They’d probably taken his key and used it to enter my room.

“Don’t think foul of us. This is just work,” the female assassin told me.

“Who hired you?” I asked sharply.

“We can’t tell you that.”

“I’m dead either way. The least you could do is tell me,” I said, trying to buy time.

“Fine,” he sighed, folding with surprising ease. “I suppose I should listen to your last request. From what I know, it was some higher-up in the Senate. We’re talking way high up. But that’s all I know. Ready to die now?”

“There’s one more thing I want to know,” I said. “How much did your client pay you?”

Buy more time. Even a second longer.

“They paid the guild 500,000 rupinas, I believe. Not to us specifically, though. The two of us are just the ones sent to kill you.”

“Is that right? Then what if I offer you a million rupinas to call off this hit, then?”

I could only hope buying them off would get me out of this.

“Sorry, but no. Breaking a contract would sully our guild’s reputation. I do feel bad for you, but you’re gonna have to die.”

“I see. Well, that’s a pity.” I smirked. “A pity for you, that is, since you’re the ones who’ll be dying here.”

The assassin woman eyed me suspiciously for a moment but tore her eyes away as a battle cry echoed throughout the room.

“Haaaaah!”

The male assassin’s head went flying.

“What?!”

“Get your filthy hands off Her Majesty, you vulgar assassin!” boomed a familiar voice.

It’s about time, Sérignan.

The woman cursed under her breath. “Dammit! You still had guards?!”

“Enough,” I said.

Pulling a Toxic Swarm’s stinger—a lovely little thing full of paralyzing poison—from under my pillow, I stabbed it into the assassin. The woman collapsed to the ground, convulsing as the paralyzing toxin circulated through her body.

“Now then, we have our assassin. What do we do with her now...?” I murmured, eyeing the quivering body.

♱

We discovered the assassins’ guild headquarters thanks to Sérignan’s merciless interrogation techniques. The assassin remained tight-lipped at first, but after we employed torture methods a human never could, she eventually broke down in tears and exposed the location of their HQ.

She was of no use to us after that, so we used a Toxic Swarm’s stinger to reduce her to a puddle of molten flesh.

The assassins’ guild headquarters was hidden in a restaurant. It was a pretty aged building that looked like it could crumble any day now. It hardly saw any foot traffic, and it didn’t look like a place that turned a profit. Using such a dilapidated business as their front actually felt like a poor move to me. It looked so bad that it begged the onlooker to question how it functioned as a business.

“What do we do now, Your Majesty?” Sérignan asked. “Do we storm their base?”

“Not yet.” I shook my head. “We need definitive proof of who sent them after us first. Then we crush them. Once we have the proof we need, we can take our time to find the right way to cook them alive.”

An assassins’ guild getting cooked in a restaurant, eh?

“Then for now we focus on gaining that definitive proof?”

“At all costs.”

Crushing the assassins’ guild meant we’d be safe in the immediate future. But if we left the person who’d hired them at large, it wouldn’t be long before they got adventurers desperate for money or Nyrnal operatives to attack us. We needed that proof to snip those attacks in the bud.

“Well, for the time being, let’s have the Masquerade Swarms keep watch. The enemy’s bound to make a move now. They failed to get me twice, after all.”

With that said, I had the Masquerade Swarms handle surveillance on the enemy. We rented a room in a nearby inn and continued waiting for the enemy. Ventura did ask us why we changed inns, and I told him we had our reasons. I didn’t tell him something serious happened, though.

“Your Majesty, a man has just entered the restaurant. It’s our target.”

“Good work, Maska. All right, the target moved, so let’s get going. It’s time to launch our raid.”

I thought to myself that we should leave his judgment to this country’s people.

♱

We closed in on the assassins’ guild base. Maska joined us along the way, offering us extra protection. Three thugs stood in front of the building. As we approached, they turned to look at us.

“Hey, ladies. Sorry, but the place is rented out for today. Hit up somewhere else.”

Oh?

I was under the impression that the guild knew what we looked like, so I thought they might try to attack us on sight. Apparently not, though.

“No, I think we’ll stay here,” I said. “Sérignan, go get us a seat.”

“Very well, Your Majesty,” Sérignan said, drawing her blade.

The next moment, the three thugs sank to the ground in a pool of blood. Sérignan had slashed at them as she drew the blade, an impressively swift technique that had cut them dead before they even realized what happened.

Sérignan turned to me, continuing our little charade. “Now then, please take your seat.”

“Yes, I think we’ll have dinner here today,” I replied coolly.

With nasty smiles on our lips, Sérignan and I kicked down the doors to the restaurant. That was our way of giving a hearty hello.

“Wh-What?!”

“It’s that woman and her guard! Charge ’em!”

The men huddled inside the restaurant panicked upon seeing us. All of them were armed.

Talk about a shady establishment.

“Sérignan, Maska, handle them,” I ordered.

“By your will, Your Majesty!”

Sérignan blitzed through the restaurant faster than the eye could see, cutting down the men filing into the place. Blood splattered, painting the walls with a layer of red ink. The Masquerade Swarm used a shortbow to shoot them down. It used the arms of its Mimesis form to accurately wield the bow, and each of its arrows pierced through the chest of an assassin.

“Maska, undo your Mimesis.”

It gave a solemn nod. “Yes, Your Majesty.”

Maska’s head split open into a pair of large fangs. Insectile legs burst out of its back, and its human legs turned into a pair of stingers. The assassins’ guild members watched its transformation, their faces turning a hilarious shade of blue.

“M-Monsters! Monsters are coming!”

“Goddammit, no one said they used monsters!”

Once they lost their composure, the battle was all but over. To think I was ever frightened of these people... That these people were the ones that had hurt Lysa. It would have been funny if it weren’t so infuriating.

“H-Help!” one of them called out.

“Don’t falter! They’re just using monsters; this doesn’t mean—”

The other man never finished his sentence. Sérignan lopped off his head, and the Masquerade Swarm sank its fangs into his stomach.

It was a massacre. A one-sided slaughter. The assassins’ guild members were helpless to stop Sérignan and the Masquerade Swarm. Maybe it wasn’t that surprising. After all, they’d made assassination their livelihood, so they might not be skilled at close-quarters combat. The only thing these filthy assassins were good for was stabbing people in the back.

“We’ve taken care of them, Your Majesty,” Sérignan reported.

“Good work, Sérignan. But this is a bit of a pickle. We don’t have anyone to take our orders, do we? I might have to file a complaint to the management about the service here.”

With Sérignan and the Masquerade Swarm in tow, I headed to the back of the restaurant, where we found the manager’s room. This was the place for sure.

“Just don’t kill them, Sérignan. Capture them alive,” I reminded her.

“Understood, Your Majesty.” Sérignan swung her leg to kick the door open.

“Aah!”

“How did you get in here, you bastards?!”

Inside the room, we found a hulking bald man—and one other.

“Hey there, Ventura.” I greeted the familiar face. “Fancy running into you in a place like this.”

The chairman of the Senate, Ventura, was in the assassins’ guild’s headquarters.

“So, what were you discussing?” I asked, my voice laced with sarcasm. “Picking the method for your next attempt on my life?”

“N-No!” Ventura stammered. “I came here on...on business! Other business!”

Oh, Ventura. You can’t hold a poker face to save your life.

“Well, I’m sure this bald guy here can back up your story and tell us what business you have with this guild. You’ll talk, won’t you, big baldy?”

“Who’re you calling bald?! I won’t say a word! The assassins’ guild takes pride in—”

A severed head rolled in front of him, and he immediately fell silent. The moment my question had left my lips, Sérignan had pitched it his way. Old Baldy stared at the disembodied head of his comrade, his eyes wide with disbelief.

“Your scummy friends are all dead,” I told him. “Keeping your mouth shut won’t get you anywhere. If you won’t talk, we’ll force you to talk. And then we won’t lend an ear to your circumstances, and you’ll end up being a severed head, just like this.”

I’d have loved nothing more than to kill this guy where he stood, but he was just a tool, a means to an end. My real target here was the man using him. If I wanted to take revenge for Lysa, I needed to get back at both the assassins’ guild and the man—or rather, the dwarf—who had hired them. Ventura.

“You can keep quiet, and then Ventura will foist all the responsibility onto you. Only you’ll end up hanging if that happens. If you’re fine with that, you can stay quiet.”

“Goddammit,” the bald guy cursed. “This guild’s done for anyway... Fine, I’ll talk. He hired us to assassinate you.”

I’m glad you catch on quick.

“Th-That wasn’t what we agreed on!” Ventura squeaked. “You promised full, unconditional confidentiality!”

“Well, you’re out of luck. Nothing more I can do for you,” the bald man replied matter-of-factly.

“Let’s get going, then, Chairman of the Senate. We’ve got so much to talk about.”

He’d pay after what he put Lysa through.

♱

“Ventura got arrested?!” balked the members of the Senate.

Thanks to our “investigation,” Ventura and Old Baldy—who was named Kinnit—were apprehended by Khalkha’s local militia. Their charges were homicide, being an accomplice to a homicide, et cetera.

“That’s right,” I replied. “Ventura’s behind bars. I mean, he tried to get me killed.”

“Ventura tried to have you assassinated? What was he thinking?!”

“Oh, that’s simple,” I explained. “In his mind, teaming up with the Arachnea was such a bad idea that he preferred to join forces with Nyrnal instead.”

From what he’d said, Ventura hated nothing more than the idea of joining forces with the Arachnea. He didn’t believe an alliance between humans and monsters like us was possible, and the moment it failed, Nyrnal would take over. He preferred going turncoat for Nyrnal and securing their position as an ally over that.

There was some logic behind his actions. The Arachnea were inhuman monsters. We didn’t quite count as a nation, and allying with us made him anxious. But if that was the case, he should have just refused our offer outright.

However, there was a reason he didn’t. After investigating his estate, we discovered a letter from Nyrnal addressed to him. He’d probably forgotten to dispose of it. The letter said that if Ventura were to successfully assassinate the Arachnea’s queen, the Nyrnal Empire would accept the Eastern Trade Union as their vassal while allowing him to govern it under favorable terms.

In other words, he decided to have me assassinated in the name of securing his status in this country.

“That conniving bastard! He tried to sell the Union off to Nyrnal!” Konrad shouted.

Keralt sighed. “And we believed him without suspecting a thing...”

At first, I’d thought Keralt was behind the assassination. She had accepted the alliance begrudgingly, and her guild’s adventurers had died while trying to investigate us. It wouldn’t have been strange if she’d tried to get back at us for that. But my suspicion was off the mark, and I felt guilty about it.

“Now, then. We finally get to meet, Honnoson Alphtel,” I said, turning to face the one person I didn’t recognize here.

“Yes, a pleasure to meet you, Queen of the Arachnea.”

Like Ventura, Honnoson was a dwarf with a bushy mustache. He was a banker and president of the major Alphtel Bank, which granted him a great deal of influence over the Senate. With Konrad and Keralt willing to ally with us, I only needed Honnoson to agree, and I’d basically have the Senate’s approval that our alliance was in effect.

“Honnoson, is there anything you’d like to ask? I’m sure you have your doubts about us and what kind of creatures we are.”

“There’s a lot I’d like to ask, yes.” He nodded. “Despite appearances, I’m very much a bookworm, and I’ve read quite a few books on insect biology. I’ve read that insects live in caste-like societies. Is that also true for the Arachnea?”

“Well, to an extent,” I replied. “I, the queen, stand as their core. Each strain of Swarm has its own skill sets and aptitudes, which gives them different roles within the collective. Some Swarms act as builders, while others are optimized for different kinds of battle. I’m not sure if this division of roles counts as a caste society, though.”

“So they have no freedom of choosing their professions,” Honnoson said pensively. “I suppose that alone makes it close enough to a caste system. I wonder how the Swarms regard that...”

“All Swarms are born into their roles. But they’re not denied future possibilities per se. They simply use the abilities they’re born with. The Arachnea isn’t one to deny individual freedom.”

Swarms fulfilled the roles appropriate for their natural capabilities. I had no intention of preventing them from being something else if they so desired, but they simply complied with the division of roles dictated by the game’s logic.

“I would love to believe your words, but how can you back them up?” Honnoson asked.

“There’s a girl called Lysa. She’s a relatively new member of the Arachnea, but we treasure her for her skills. Once she wakes up, you can talk to her and see if the Arachnea cares for castes and classes.”

“I’ll believe your words...for now,” he replied, his tone grave. “We don’t have the time to delay our decision until this Lysa wakes up. We’ve received reports that Nyrnal’s army has begun moving toward our borders.”

“The Nyrnal Empire...” I muttered.

They were finally marching on this country, it seemed.

“What do you want in exchange for allying with us, Queen of the Arachnea?”

“The right to pass through your territory and to trade with you. That’s all.”

“Oh, so you want to trade with us?” Honnoson raised a brow. “That’s unexpected. Do you have anything to sell us? Items you’ve pillaged from the countries you conquered?”

“That’s part of it, but we can also produce new things on our own. For example, this dress I’m wearing was made entirely by the Arachnea,” I told him, showing off my ensemble.

The Worker Swarms had spun the threads that made this dress, making it as soft as silk, but at the same time difficult to tear. It sold very well in the town of Leen, so I hoped I could sell it here too.

On top of that, the Worker Swarms had recently mastered carpentry. I had them learn it so they could make furniture for me, and they’d produced some promising results. They were also capable of processing the gemstones we mined across the continent. I truly believed their products could open up all sorts of business chances for us.

Once everything was peaceful, we wouldn’t need to pillage or barter. We could really start running an economy. And to do that, we’d need to produce things of value, things people would be interested in buying.

“That’s a fascinating prospect,” Honnoson said. “Would you accept an investment from us?”

“We’ll consider it. Once we get to the point of distributing our goods, we’ll probably need the extra capital.”

After all, we’d need a storefront of some sort to sell our merchandise and connections with other merchants. We’d require a lot of funds to finance that. But right now, any gold we had needed to go toward unlocking new buildings, so we couldn’t afford it.

Honnoson gave a satisfied nod. “I think it’d be quite profitable.”

“So, do you agree to be our allies?” I asked, bringing the conversation back on track.

“Of course. I’m still curious as to your societal structure, but that’s not the matter at hand.” Honnoson chuckled. “All right, we will join hands with you monsters—no, with the Arachnea—and try to thrive together. It’s surely better than joining forces with Nyrnal.”

“Then our alliance is decided,” Keralt said firmly.

“So long as you don’t try to eat us. That wouldn’t be funny!” Konrad joked with a bit of black humor.

“We won’t eat you. We only devour our enemies, and right now, that’s the Nyrnal Empire. If the Empire falls, we won’t have to devour anyone else. Unlike me, the Swarm doesn’t need to eat to survive.”

The thought that I’d finally managed to form an alliance was a calming, comforting one.

“Who’ll be taking over Ventura’s place as chairman of the Senate?” I asked.

“That’ll be Vice-Chairman Paul. He’ll devote himself to running the Senate. Our alliance is as good as confirmed.”

Great. Now we have a way into Nyrnal.

Or so I thought.

Suddenly, one of Keralt’s adventurers burst into the room. “This is terrible!” he cried, hysteric.

“What happened?” Keralt asked him.

“The Nyrnal Empire’s invading! Their army crossed our border and attacked our country! They broke through our border defenses and have reached as far as the Granite Mountain Pass!”

“The war has finally begun,” Honnoson muttered under his breath.

“I suppose we sealed this alliance at just the right time,” Konrad said and turned his eyes on me. “Surely you’ll help us out, ally?”

“Naturally.” I nodded. “The Arachnea won’t allow Nyrnal to occupy your country. We’ll leap to your aid, as per our agreement.”

“Then let’s fight this war,” Keralt declared, rising to her feet. “We can’t avoid it any longer.”

“Leave the mercenaries to me,” Konrad said. “We’ll show them the Eastern Trade Union won’t fall that easily. I’ve fought those Nyrnal bastards plenty of times, and I won’t lose now.”

“I’ll manage the Adventurers’ Guild and gather the nearby mercenary bands,” Keralt said. “Guild contracts include special wartime stipulations we can apply at times like these. Adventurers aren’t suited for fighting other people, but they’ll be useful for reconnaissance.”

“I’ll take care of financial aid,” Honnoson added. “We’ll put all we’ve got into military funds. Nyrnal will just seize all that money anyway if they occupy us.”

I cracked a smile. “You’re a reliable nation.”

“And you’re a reliable ally, Queen of the Arachnea. We’ll be counting on your reinforcements,” Konrad replied with a smirk.

The war in the Eastern Trade Union was finally getting started. At this point, I was feeling pretty attached to this country, and I wouldn’t let Nyrnal destroy it.

Let’s give them a fight they’ll never forget.

“Sérignan, it’s time for battle. Let’s go.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

Come at me, Nyrnal Empire. I’ll kick your sorry asses to next Tuesday.