Became the Queen of the Legion

‘It’s progressing steadily.’

To the eyes of the main body sitting quietly in the chair at the deepest part of the first nest, which could be called the headquarters, it might look peaceful as if nothing is happening, but if you close your eyes and enter the hive consciousness, you can see how passionately and busily we’re living now.

We’re in the process of reorganizing after attacking and conquering a demon race city, but that’s just part of it.

The workers, who make up half of the hive, are still bustling about, harvesting and bringing back everything they can devour, and the combat troops who have gone hunting are also hunting non-stop, drying up the seeds of all life in this northern frontier.

The newly expanding nests are increasing, and the artificial wombs and digestive organs for producing troops are also increasing accordingly, producing more soldiers and demanding more food.

We’ve instantly replenished the troops consumed in the last war, and now we have even more troops on standby in a dormant state, ready to move as reserves at any time.

“At this rate, it’s now at least at the level of a single domain.”

Players who start as the smallest faction in the game, a tribe or village, gradually expand it.

The rank of lord is only given to those who have tens of thousands of residents and multiple strongholds.

Although it’s a barren northern land of little value, the area where we’ve spread our nests and influence is not small, and the number of individuals in the legion under my command has long since exceeded tens of thousands.

This means we’ve entered the stage where we should engage in full-scale power struggles with surrounding forces.

“What do you plan to do now?”

“I should ask the ones we’ve caught a few things.”

Smirking at Seira’s question, I shifted my consciousness.

There was a hobgoblin trembling on the ground, pinned down by a common soldier’s leg.

His companions were already all killed, and he was intentionally captured.

“I plan to extract information from him. He’s probably a messenger who came to investigate after hearing that the city was attacked.”

“Then I’ll do it myself.”

“Oh? Then go ahead.”

Seira said she would interrogate the prisoner herself. I couldn’t help but smile at her proactiveness, her personality seemingly changed a bit because of me.

Since she volunteered, it would be odd to stop her, so I decided to give her a chance.

She might even be more talented than me.

“Hii, hiik…”

The hobgoblin, captured by the soldiers and dragged to where their city once stood, was overcome with fear, gritting his teeth and terrified.

The city was mostly destroyed already.

In the center of the city, a breeding ground for the legion was created inside the city hall, where countless eggs are being laid even at this moment, and the corpses that haven’t been fully digested yet are being immersed in digestive fluids one by one, turning into nutrient solution.

When he was dragged before me and Seira, sitting on the chair once used by the hobgoblin mayor Bekins, now covered with tentacles and mucus to make it mine, he trembled with a face that looked like he might faint at any moment.

“We won’t kill you right away, so let’s talk.”

I calmly started the conversation.

After all, it was up to him to decide whether to spill what he knows and suffer less, or resist and suffer more.

Completely overwhelmed by the gazes of not only me in front of him, but also the soldiers glaring at him from all directions, the hobgoblin was completely intimidated and couldn’t even think of resisting.

“What’s your name? Your affiliation?”

“My, my name is Bron. I’m a servant of His Excellency Lord Ludas, the hobgoblin lord.”

Fortunately, without Seira needing to step in, he, completely terrified, started to spill everything in response to my questions. The intentional intimidation while bringing him here seemed to have worked well.

“Count Ludas…”

As expected, Bron was a member of the hobgoblin force that ruled this city.

It was a bit surprising. Even though hobgoblins are a higher species of the goblin line, to think they could become strong enough to be recognized with the title of count.

This was a rare case even in the game. If so, it’s worth being cautious. It meant that Count Ludas was that capable.

“So, what mission did your master give you when he sent you here? Is it indeed because of the city of Luen?”

“I, I was sent by Lord Ludas’s vassal and top sorcerer, Lord Lumon. Lord Lumon said that last night, an urgent request for support came from the northern city of Luen, so he sent us to quickly find out what happened.”

‘As expected?’

They haven’t yet properly grasped the situation due to the sudden surprise attack from the north that they never expected. All they know is that the city is in crisis due to a mysterious attack.

Smiling at Bron’s satisfactory answers spilled out while trembling, I slowly stood up from the chair.

At this, Bron’s eyes, looking up at me while sitting on the ground, shook violently.

“You seem to know quite a lot, so you’ll have to tell us more. The level of your forces, of course, and things like the power relationships in the area and the current international situation. Everything.”

I looked down at that pale face with glowing eyes.

The information Bron spills now will determine what kind of ‘diplomacy’ our legion should pursue in the future.

* * *

“Based on the testimony we’ve secured, there are a total of three forces currently in contact with our territory.”

“Hobgoblin Count Ludas, Orc Baron Zieg, Wolf Duke Agar.”

I marked the information Bron mentioned on the map of the area obtained from the city. As we expanded our influence in all directions, we came into contact with these three across the west, south, and east.

None of them seemed to be blessed by players yet.

They were all natives who had been building their power since before I came to my senses here. From the perspective of players playing the game, all these natives were targets to be conquered or merged. And the same was true for me now.

“Among these, Agar’s force, which touches slightly to the east, is more of an abandoned land under his influence rather than direct territory. On the other hand, the two domains to the west and south now completely overlap with our sphere of activity.”

Seira pointed at the map and mentioned the two forces. These were possibly our next targets.

“Which ones will you attack first?”

Seira was expecting that I would naturally want to attack and devour them.

It wasn’t a wrong thought. The areas I’ve already occupied are being devastated in real-time. We have neither interest nor luxury for sustainable development.

We just keep waging war for more strength, for more nutrients. So it’s natural to find new targets and plan attacks.

“Orc Baron Zieg has a smaller force, but the only neighboring force to be wary of is Hobgoblin Count Ludas. On the other hand, Ludas has many rivals to compete with around him, as Bron said.”

Selection and concentration were necessary for us too, who need to use resources efficiently. I fell into thought for a moment, but my brain, which has become capable of much faster calculations thanks to the continuously improved auxiliary brain, quickly came up with the answer to that concern.

“There’s no need to attack the territory of the hobgoblin count, who’s a big shot in the area, first. We’ll first crush the territory of the orc baron in the northwest. And at the same time, we should send scouts to the hobgoblin territory to find out in real-time.”

“If we send the legion’s scouts as they are, the chances of being discovered are high. Most lords are serious about exterminating demonic beasts within their domains.”

“Then we can send beings that aren’t demonic beasts, right? So they can’t even suspect that they’re scouts I sent.”

Seira was flustered at the mention of infiltrating scouts into the enemy’s interior, but I smirked and transformed the body of my avatar right there.

I can rapidly divide cells to greatly increase my size, but it’s also possible to change my appearance like this.

The new appearance I took was that of a common hobgoblin.

This is thanks to the hobgoblin genetic information that I can now perfectly analyze. If I set my mind to it, I could even create a unit made up of hobgoblins. If that happens, it would be difficult to disguise them as they would obviously be soulless dolls to anyone who sees them.

“This can’t be…”

Even Seira seemed surprised, not having expected this.

I intended to send this avatar to them instead of Bron, whom I had killed.

I planned to mingle among them by mumbling that I was the lone survivor of the city, and falsely testifying that the reconnaissance team, including Bron, was annihilated trying to save me from the pursuing monsters.

“Our existence has long since spread, so it’s difficult to completely hide it, but if we mix lies and truth appropriately, the confusion will grow. I’ll go and testify about us to them while hiding important things, so Seira, don’t worry and prepare to conquer new enemies.”

Having put on hobgoblin clothes and armor I had prepared in advance, I left the nest right away.

To be honest, I was a bit excited too. It was an opportunity to see a ‘normal’ demon realm city for the first time.