Swarming Sovereignty

Chapter 25: Mapping Things Out

Lia asked.

Rose stumbled for a split second before quickly catching herself. Lia probably wouldn’t have noticed if she wasn’t riding her, but there an interruption.

“F-fine!” Rose said. “Why this all of a sudden?!”

quite

“Well…my feelings on it haven’t changed from when you first asked.” Rose said, turning her head to the side and obstructing Lia’s view of her face even more.

“B-back when you had enlightened me, and asked me if I cared what I was before. I-I still don’t, and I care more about what I am now, you know?”

“F-far from it!” Rose said. “I feel !”

“Thank you.” Rose said. “I…I…just…thank you. That sentiment makes me…well, just happy, and I don’t know why.”

Lia said.

The two fell into a sort of silence after that, one which lasted until they reached the map a few minutes later. It was on a board that had been driven into the ground, and showed all the locations of the buildings on campus, which building was what, and where the map was located.

“Is…this it?” Rose asked, pointing to a spot on the map.

Lia confirmed.

“Do you mind if I take a bit and study it? I want to prepare for this campaign.”

“Pretty strong.” Rose said. “Definitely stronger than a normal person, I could lift quite a bit when I tried.”

“Oh, good idea.”

Lia began to work some earth magic, watching in satisfaction as the map was slowly pushed out of the surrounding soil and eventually fell on its side. Rose squatted down and picked the sign up with a grunt, then stood up and slung it over her shoulder.

“This…might…be a…bit tougher…than I thought.” She puffed. “I’m going…to…try to…hurry back.” She continued.

Lia said, looking into herself and seeing what magic she had at her disposal. It was…nice, being able to do that; it was something she had always wanted to be able to do but never had the talent for, so that was just one more thing she was grateful for in this second life.

andhave

Rose was silent for a moment. “Analysis is telling me it doesn’t.”

“I put a lot of focus into leveling it up, and after the raid on the goblin base I had leveled up to level three. Apparently, information about blood magic counts as “easily obtained”, which actually kind of makes sense, since you and one of the baronesses have it.”

“I realized I could strengthen myself with my magic.” Rose said, turning away slightly. Now that Lia was looking, she could see that Rose’s skin looked…brighter, and slightly more yellow. “I really should have thought about that earlier.”

Lia laughed. And, secretly, Lia was glad that Rose had forgotten. It showed that she wasn’t some untouchable being; she was…well, just a person. Or, technically, just sapient, not a person, but Lia was going to be redefining what it meant to be a person, so it was only a matter of time before they were truly people and not just sapient monsters.

“Actually, going back a little, is blood magic still frowned upon in this era?” Rose asked.

“Excellent. I…I feel like that stigma was unjust. Magic is purely a tool, and there are no good or evil tools.” She paused, putting a finger to her chin. “Except, perhaps, intelligent weapons. But I feel those hardly count as tools.”

Lia smiled, shaking her head slightly.

“The what?”

“I see. Why monster’s advocate, though?”

“Ah. Yes, go ahead then.”

Lia said.

“That last bit isn’t actually true.” Rose said. “People just tend to have a lot more blood than small animals, and that blood is pretty fresh. A herd of cows would do you just as well as a bunch of people.”

“I think that that is little different than a sword. It is easy to use a sword on people, yes, but no one calls it an evil tool. In the right hands, blood magic is a much more tool than a sword, but it doesn’t make it any more . Even if it used to attack a large group of people, that is no different from any other type of magic being used for that purpose. In fact, it is often less harmful for attacking groups of people than other types of magic, since it requires significantly more setup to do so.”

Lia said.

“What is?”

“It’s hardly anything to get impressed over.” Rose said. “It’s simply the logical conclusion, given the contents of the argument against me.”

Rose raised an eyebrow. “Did I not “rebuke the naysayers” when I was alive before?”

. Lia chuckled. weren’t

“Lia, I’m…sorry if this is a sensitive topic, but… how did I die? Surely I was strong enough to have gained immunity to aging, right?”

Lia blinked. you

“It is not.” Rose said. “I may be remembering more about it, but…the more I do, the more I am sure that it was not a life I was fond of. I hold an…academic curiosity about it, and I’m going to remember anyway, so I figured I might as well ask.”

“I do.”

Rose was silent for a long moment. “What happened to her? And…also my partner, if I had one.”

Lia winced.

Rose was once again silent for an almost uncomfortably long time. “I…see.” She said eventually. “I must admit, that…hurt, more than I was expecting it to. Perhaps…perhaps my interest was not as academic as I had assumed. I…hate to press this topic further, but…how did she kill me? Surely I was incredibly strong and had survived assassinations in the past, yes?”

Lia said. why

“I…have some guesses.” Rose admitted. “I…well, I feel like I loved my family dearly. I got that emotion strongly when you talked about them. I don’t think I could bring myself to harm them. And…aside from that…I was probably tired. I did not like my old life, and I probably decided it was time to end it. A combination of those is likely what did it.”

Lia said.

“This…is an awkward request, especially since I just realized it is something I want, but…could you bring my family back? Enlighten them like you Enlightened me? I…I’m sorry to ask, but I don’t think I could forgive myself if I didn’t.”

Lia said. any

Rose nodded. “And that is all I can ask from you. Thank you, my Queen.”

They fell into a comfortable silence as they returned to their encampment. Once safely there, Rose drove the sign into the ground and wiped her brow. “Glad that’s over with.” She said. “I need to get stronger fast, so I don’t need to use magic next time.”

Lia said.

“Don’t underestimate what brute strength can do.” Rose replied. “We can’t always count on having drones around. Sometimes, we’re going to be in places that are too dangerous for the drones, and if we’re lacking in strength there, we’re really going to be hurting.”

“Besides,” she continued, giving a shrug, “it’ll come with leveling up, so it’s not like I’m going to spend a bunch of extra time working for it.”

Lia said.

Rose began staring at the map, tracing routes with her finger. “It’s a bit…out of the way,” she eventually said, “but so long as we don’t see too much resistance on the outside walkways, that shouldn’t be any trouble.”

Rose let out a groan. “I’m in charge ?” She said. “I thought I was going to have a break from being in charge of you!”

. Lia replied quickly.

Rose nodded. “That’s good.” She said. “But…may I ask why? Why not do it like we did the market, at least until you put me in charge?”

Lia let herself sink further down into Rose’s chest. She said. lotlot

“Oh.” Rose said. “I…did not think of that. Um…so…you’re just going to be staying here and messing around? Are you sure you’re not going to get bored?”

Lia sighed.

“Tell you what,” Rose said, “why don’t we meet in the middle here? You take the lead, but I’m going to formulate my own plans. Before you do anything, come and run all your plans by me first. I’ll point out any issues I can think of, and will work with you until you have something good going.

“Then, when it comes time to actually fight, I’ll command the battles, but you watch and, once the battle is over, tell me what you’ve learned. We don’t need to treat this teaching period as all or nothing, you’re fully in charge of everything or I am. We can slowly ease you in to being in charge of more and more.”

Lia replied, perking up.

“You’re too used to thinking about a rigid chain of command.” Rose said. “A rigid power structure does have its upsides, but, honestly, it’s really not necessary right now. Only three of us are even sapient, so…it’s really like there are just three of us and a bunch of tools. For the time being, we can just play things by ear and deal with any issues as they come.”

Lia said.

Rose nodded. “Alright, that sounds good. Feel free to ask me if you have any questions on anything, alright?”

Lia replied.

“Of course. Thank you, Lia.” And with that, the two slipped into a comfortable silence, staring at the map and plotting how best to go about their conquest. The silence was occasionally broken by one of the two asking the other a question, only to slip right back into that silence afterwards.

Lia was shocked when she was snapped out of her reverie by Lily walking up to the two of them. It really didn’t feel like it had been that long, but surely, it , if Lily was already here.

“We have gathered all the material and are in the process of carting it back, my Queen.” Lily said, giving a bow. “Would you like to see a list?”

Lia replied.

“Of course, my Queen. To begin with, we have all the goblin equipment not on bodies, coming in at just over one hundred spare clubs and fifty pieces of armor…”