Apocalypse Reborn: Demon Lord 20

Apocalypse Reborn: Demon Lord 20

…

Some people try to play the ‘Merchants’ as a clean faction, but everyone agrees they’re absolute dogshit when they’re not being a bunch of crazed anarcho-capitalists.

The majority of your population isn’t under wage slavery and trapped in hovels attached to industrial districts?

No production for you.

You’re not using all your political influence to bully higher prices for all your wares?

Your income is now awful.

You’re not subsidizing brothels and buying the children produced in them for your genetically engineered corpo-drone army?

Population growth is low, and your only decent soldiers are now twice as expensive.

Mods are pretty much necessary to make them a good faction, and even then most mods around them make them more furry, give them more variety, or just add more fetishes onto the pile. The devs adding an opt-out filter for certain tags was a godsend, though just seeing some of the tags themselves was like memetic hazards.

How does one even enjoy ‘inflation’ in a top-down strategy game?

You know what?

I don’t want to know, and I’m not going to think about it.

Thanks, superhuman brain with built-in wisdom, for having an ‘off’ switch.

Anyway, the Merchants basically have to do shitty things in order to accomplish anything. After they use all those underhanded methods, they have to drive hard for an economic victory or rush their special victory. They do this while holding or destroying their opponents with sheer numbers of mercenary or child soldiers. If they managed to send out expeditions and get actual, decent Wonders, they could make a play for a military victory, but usually everything else was out of their reach.

You need a lot of excess happiness to get enough Influence for a cultural victory, which wasn’t happening since merchants just sold whatever luxuries they produced for a massive markup. As for a diplomatic victory, no one wants to ally with them since they barely give anything back from trade routes. Religious? They had basic temples and no way to upgrade them.

Basically, the Merchants had two victories that only worked in the game, while their military victory would need them to find the best possible wonder before facing me.

So, if they weren’t willing to play ball, it was best for me to just liquidate their leadership and take control over their population.

Sure, it was an extremely ruthless move, but what were they going to do?

Stop me while I have four Citadels at my back and ridiculous amounts of power?

Especially when they don’t even have a Citadel.

Yeah, that’s not happening.

…

The Merchants of the Marsh were situated in the marshland regions of the continent. It was like in the tutorial when everyone had set starting locations according to their theme and the map generation wasn’t randomized. The Marshlands yielded a lot of food, were more likely to have spices and exotic foodstuffs generated in them, and had the largest deposits of tar. Beneath those tar deposits were, of course, massive deposits of oil that could be used for heavy industry and manufacturing.

Oil wasn’t a strategic resource in the game; instead, it was a very, very good tile to exploit with industry. It gave a flat increase to production, then a bonus 10% production rate to the city or town exploiting it. The only cost was that if it was exploited, the city would have decreased population growth and a slight decrease in happiness. For the cost, the reward was immense. A Citadel region with an oil field was considered one of the best possible starts, and it was common etiquette to tell people on multiplayer if you got it.

The Merchants using their Citadel with an oil field, worker hovel, and an industrial district can have enough production to churn out enough fodder to survive the early game until they get their money generation online.

But that didn’t matter.

The only thing that really mattered at the moment was that the marshlands smelled awful, and it was bringing down my mood.

Superhuman senses + tar pits + marshlands filled with decay + animal people baking under the sun?

If I didn’t have superhuman resilience, I’d have puked in their presence.

I was using magic to keep the smell away.

Well, just doing that would’ve made me look weak, so I did something different.

Exude magic-like pressure all around me to ward away the smell and intimidate the shit out of the merchants at the same time.

“W-we greet you, oh, Ancient King.” They arranged a ‘throne’ for me in front of a long table with nearly a dozen of them with one another. They might’ve had intentions to intimidate me, but it just backfired. The subtle pressure I was building with magic was making the room shake while I sat silent in full armor in the center of the room. They had guards with them, lining the walls, and they were pretty big… but I was sure they were doing their best to not piss themselves. “We are honored to be graced by your presence.”

Giving them a greeting would be considered complimentary, and they’ll seize that opportunity, so I just went with a direct request.

“Give me the Citadel control ring, and in exchange you will retain your people and culture beneath my laws. Those who have power and wealth will retain it, unless they infringe upon my commands.” If I were anyone else, they’d have laughed at me. But I was operating as a superpower, while they didn’t even have a Citadel. Everything and everyone that opposed me died. “Those who serve me directly, those who prove their loyalty to my will and cause, will be rewarded.”

Someone found their nerve and was ready to speak out.

I leveled my gaze at them.

“There is nothing you can do to oppose me. I can destroy everything here alone. I am not. The currency and wealth you hold mean nothing if you cannot enforce that value.” Before money came control over violence. I made that fact clear to these people who’ve toiled for money their entire lives. Its wall amounted to nothing if there was nothing or no one to impose the necessity of it. “Join me and your wealth will have meaning. Refuse, and it will all mean nothing.”

I glared at the board of merchants in front of me.

They blinked first.

…

Interlude: Harper

…

“Gather your people; you will rule over this Citadel and over the Merchants.” The ancient king spoke, and my fate was sealed. The ring he wore moments ago on his finger was placed on my palm. It felt lighter than air, but at the same time it threatened to make me fall to my knees. My new retinue of wardens cheered at his proclamation, and I could feel their stares at my back. They saw me as some sort of sacred, holy person who was blessed by a divine being. More so than they already did. “Cultivate these lands, exploit their resources, and see the end of servitude. It is too inefficient for the wars that lie ahead.”

I almost refused the assignment, knowing full well that it would increase the likelihood of my death.

However, refusal would make my death guaranteed.

“Yes, my lord, I thank you for your trust.” Trust that was guaranteed by blades at my neck. My own bodyguards were more loyal to him than me. He was practically a prophet to them. Someone who brought them closer to paradise with every moment he existed. Each one of the Warden swordmaidens with me gave me all their wealth and assets to serve him through me. If the order came, they would kill me without a shred of hesitation. “Is the goal to accrue wealth for the whole of the continent?”

“You misunderstand. I said, Your goal is to cultivate this land, exploit the resources it has, and end servitude.” I bowed my head at his words, making it clear that I was listening, and his gaze was heavy. It felt like a blade on the back of my neck that was just short of breaking through skin. “Create markets, facilitate trade, extract from the land, and make the land blossom. Have this all be done by a free people. This land will bring joy and food to the rest of my nation.”

I felt my mouth go dry at his words.

I almost told him something that he already knew.

“The people of this land will rebel against me.” I stated.

He nodded.

“You act under my orders. My will is your command. To oppose you is to oppose me.” He spoke, and my heart lightened immensely. My guards, my employees, and those who followed me all heard him. I did not have a symbol like Morgan did, but it was heard here and now. It was a fine start. “Should the merchants resist you, I give you the authority to unleash upon them the Citadel Guardians until only the children are spared.”

Suddenly, the weight of his trust in me became like a mountain on my back.

Others would see this as me having the final say in all matters. I controlled violence in these lands; therefore, they belonged to me. The ability to destroy something was control over it. Once upon a time I yearned for as much power and strength as possible, but now it felt like it was going to crush me beneath its weight.

If they did not do as they were told, if my rule was contested and I could not achieve my goals, then these lands will become a slaughterhouse. It will become a place where only children remain, and those children will be under my control after I kill all who they knew and loved.

“Steady yourself.” The words came with a hand on my shoulder. I became aware of how difficult it was to breathe and the dullness in my vision. The ancient king loomed over me with all the power, might, and authority his kind possessed. Meanwhile, I was just a trader who made a grievous mistake. “You will not be without my explicit support.”

My breath hitched and my mind frayed at the seams trying to discern if that was for good or ill.

But there was no choice to be made, as he took a piece of his own armor and molded it with his hands. It was like when he fashioned a pin for Morgan to symbolize his authority, but this was no hand. The shard turned into a sliver of black metal, and he pinned it to my shirt. Then, he addressed the crowd around us, some of whom were of the merchants and most were of his people.

“Let it be known that Household Harper does as I will. She answers to my will and that of my highest council. No one else.” Five years ago, this was the opportunity that I dreamed of. Free from anything besides ultimate authority to do as I wished. The proclamation he gave me and the shard that I now had would allow me to do great things with words alone. Such was his influence that being his mere subordinate permitted one to stand higher than the richest of the merchants. “She rules over this land now, and if her rule is disrupted or opposed, it is with my full might that it shall be enforced.”

His voice echoed for all to hear, but a whisper came forth from his helm that only I could hear.

“That is all the assurances I will give you. Summon your courage, or I will find someone better.”

It took all that I had to bow my head and kneel at his words.

“House Harper accepts this honored position. I will not fail you, my lord!” Tears threatened to come forth from the corners of my eyes, while the crowd around us cheered. My bodyguards were ecstatic, and many of his retinue clapped. Those who watched from the Merchants looked upon me with greedy eyes. There was no choice. I would need to order their deaths within the day. I memorized their faces. I couldn’t stand idly by and allow them to oppose me and gather strength. If they gain momentum, then this land will run red with blood for generations. Blood that will stain my hands. “These lands will be worthy of the Ancients once more!”

I desperately wished to have chosen smaller, safer profit margins than I had before.

…

Harper proved that she was the right pick for the Merchants when she had all potential rivals killed or planned to have them killed overnight. Khanrow was stationed to assist her and forwarded her requests to me, and she proved herself capable of taking the lands over. While she shed a lot of blood in the process, it was necessary to consolidate control over the merchants, and so I was able to make my way back home.

Taking the Citadel for the region had been easy. The neutral army defending it was weak enough for a wandering nation of merchants to destroy.

Needless to say, a national army with me at the helm and four Citadels meant that I was able to take the place with ease.

Once the Wardens were brought into the fold, that left only the Forgers to be brought in.

Or, rather, that left the Forgers to be conquered.

I didn’t need a superhuman mind to know that they had to be handled like the Children of the Elm. Taking their skilled professionals was a goal, since I wanted their technical expertise and industrial tree, but there was nothing of the society that I wanted otherwise. Their biomechanical inventions, their caste system, and their whole national policy of subjugating others to use as resource gatherers meant that they couldn’t be safely taken in.

They’ll do everything in their power to rise to the top, and they were just as patient as the Children of the Elm, even with far shorter lives. Their whole leadership and social structure had to disappear, and I intended to make that happen myself.

Once their Citadel is under my control, I’ll effectively have eight Citadels under my command before the tutorial crisis comes around.

Eight Citadels at max level at that point should guarantee victory against any possible threat that the world could offer, but I wasn’t going to rest on my laurels.

I was going to send out expeditions, find and gain each wonder that I could get my hands on, and make sure that I would win even against the worst possible odds.