Interlude: Dragontan
THE day after Mynoghra decided to attend the All-Faction Conference, Takuto promptly busied himself taking care of the small tasks that had been piling up. He was currently visiting the town of Dragontan. Seldoch ranked higher in the priority list, but he figured he should get Dragontan out of the way since it’d take less time.
His objective was to assess how the town was operating and identify any issues he could resolve. Takuto’s current policy for Dragontan prioritized its stability over development.
He entered the familiar Town Hall and told the overly flustered civil servant, who’d offered to escort him, to get back to work as he headed to the mayor’s office.
He knocked on the door and heard the call of “Come in.”
“Hi there, Mayor Antelise. How are things?” Takuto casually greeted her as he slipped inside the room. Shock bloomed on Antelise’s face when she met him at the door. Takuto was pleased to see that her complexion looked significantly healthier than the last time he had seen her.
“Oh my! King Takuto Ira! If you had sent word of your visit, I would have gone to greet you myself! Please come in and have a seat right over here. Spirits take me, I can’t believe I failed to welcome our great and mighty king properly…”
“Don’t worry about it,” Takuto said lightly. “I’m the one who showed up out of the blue. And it’s not that big of a deal, anyway…”
“But as your humble servant, I must admonish you for coming without any of your entourage.”
“No worries. This is a double. I’m using this trip as a test run,” Takuto said as he deactivated Mimic on just one part of his double’s body. He’d already mastered this level of control over the Botchling double.
“Whoa!” Antelise cried. “So this is one of your subordinate’s abilities at play, I see. Now that’s a relief. Forgive me for offering unnecessary advice.”
After learning about the test run, Antelise finally understood the purpose of his unusual visit. Takuto might’ve casually dismissed her concern for his safety, but this felt like far too careless of a visit even for him—especially when Atou, his constant companion and guard, was nowhere in sight.
Did something happen? Is there a special reason for this visit I’m not privy to? Antelise had worried, but it all made sense when he explained it away as a test run for his body double.
Meanwhile, Takuto was more than satisfied with this exchange. The real Takuto was sitting in his private quarters in the Palace in the Accursed Lands. Chatting with Antelise was none other than his body double, whom he puppeted to act as much like him as possible by utilizing the full extent of his shared vision and telepathic connection with the Botchling.
The one downside was that puppeting the double left his real body defenseless. It posed no real problem, however, with Atou and the Elfuur Sisters closely guarding him.
There was a one-second delay when he puppeted the Botchling, but conversations went smoothly regardless. In that sense, it wasn’t a long shot to say that Takuto Ira himself was there in every way but physically.
I started this whole body double thing on a whim, but it’s more useful than I expected. Looks like it will have plenty of uses after the All-Faction Conference is over, Takuto realized.
It wouldn’t be wrong to say he’d gained a new power in the form of his body double. Previous battles made it clear that no matter how powerful the abilities granted by the game system were, if the Player was defeated, it was all meaningless. In other words, it was difficult for each faction to decide when and how to use their Player.
Players could use game-breaking abilities, but their defeat spelled the defeat of their entire faction. For this reason, Players needed to keep their real location a secret. In that respect, the TRPG Player, Keiji Kuhara, was a truly formidable opponent. Takuto still didn’t know what had happened to him, but he’d succeeded in keeping his location a secret until their encounter. Some may label Keiji a coward for that, but sometimes that kind of cowardice is crucial to securing victory.
I should learn from his cowardice, Takuto had thought. And it was by emulating Keiji’s cowardice that he’d added body doubles to his tactic list. Takuto was convinced that this new tactic would become an even more powerful card for Mynoghra to play in the future.
“Your Majesty, how has it been working?” a voice suddenly asked.
Takuto didn’t even need to check to know Mayor Antelise had spoken to him. He appeared to have lost himself in his thoughts once again. It’s a bad habit of mine to get lost in my thoughts in the middle of conversations, he realized.
“So-so. Still not completely used to operating it,” Takuto said, wanting to make up for making Antelise wait. “You’ve been doing an amazing job as mayor. I’m very pleased with your work. Keep it up.”
“Oh my Spirits! It is a joy beyond my wildest dreams to be of use to you. Please continue to give me orders, Your Majesty. I will dedicate my very life to governing Dragontan for you.”
“Thanks. I’ll have to go all-out with your next bonus,” Takuto smiled.
Doling out just rewards and punishments is an important aspect of governing any kind of organization—whether on the business or national level. Antelise was particularly fond of liquor, so that made Takuto’s job of rewarding her especially easy. He’d raise her salary as well, naturally. People who work hard should be lavished with rewards and bonuses—that line of thought was only natural to Takuto.
“Hehehe. I’m looking forward to it!” Antelise let out a giddy laugh. “So, what are your plans for today, Your Majesty? Fortunately, the administrative side of things has finally stabilized, so I don’t believe there are any problems I need to waste your time with…”
“Like I said, my main objective for today is putting this double through its paces. I also wanted to get a more detailed look at how things are faring in Dragontan. We’ve had a parade of problems lately, which have led to me neglecting things outside the Accursed Lands. I want to be more proactive about management whenever I have the time.”
That being said, there wasn’t much for Takuto to inspect. As far as buildings were concerned, there weren’t any urgent projects after what he’d already taken care of with Emergency Production.
Keeping everything running smoothly. Takuto’s goal was for the town to be stable, and his primary purpose for this visit was to confirm everything was going accordingly. At the end of the day, just like he’d casually come to see Antelise, his true intention for this visit was a casual inspection of Dragontan.
“I see. So that’s what you have in mind. Then, allow me to show you around. With the new buildings constructed at your orders, this city has developed to the point where it’s hard to remember what it was like before,” Antelise explained.
“You sure you have the time? If you’re too busy, you can leave it to someone else,” Takuto offered.
“It’s all right. As I previously informed you, things have settled enough for me to step away. Besides, showing Your Majesty around is a great honor I would never entrust to another if I have the choice!” Antelise leapt from the sofa with a determined blaze gleaming in her eyes.
Takuto had heard about her tendency to slack off, but it seemed like she really had extra time rather than just a desire to skip out on work this time. With that settled, Takuto readily entrusted the role of his guide to her.
Considering the current problems plaguing Mynoghra, he wouldn’t be able to inspect his cities very often. One of the real pleasures of 4x strategy games is checking on your empire’s cities. This was a rare opportunity. Takuto was excited to get a good look at the town of Dragontan, which he had developed from the ground up.
“Oh, and…if possible…I wanted to personally consult you about matters pertaining to Lord Vittorio and the Cult of Ira,” Antelise began.
“P-Please go easy on me…” Takuto’s voice cracked.
The Cult of Ira, which Vittorio had founded, was rapidly gaining traction. It had spread throughout the Dark Continent to the extent that there was no one who did not know its name. At the same time, this rapid spread was bound to bring about its own share of big problems. The cultists were so devoted to Takuto that the word fanaticism could not even begin to describe them. Even Takuto didn’t know how far they’d go…
“Oh, I know, why don’t I summon Miss Yona’Yona?” Antelise suggested. “I’m sure she would be happy to receive your summons, Your Majesty.”
“Oh yeah, she was left in charge of the cult, wasn’t she? How is she doing?” Takuto asked.
Lector Yona’Yona was the proxy leader for the Cult of Ira. She was the unlucky beastgirl Vittorio had discovered and dumped all the annoying cult work upon. However, since she was such an earnest girl, it was easy to leave her as the leader of the cult.
Takuto felt terrible leaving everything to her, but he didn’t object either. It’d be a nightmare if his objection led to Vittorio volunteering to lead the Cult of Ira himself. Yona’Yona carried Takuto’s hopes of keeping Vittorio in check entirely on her shoulders, and she was doing everything in her power to live up to expectations.
“She has a promising future when it comes to the practical side of the work, but what’s really impressive are her tactics when it comes to leading and managing people,” Antelise explained. “When I go through her, things get resolved immediately, so I’m really grateful to her. This town has more or less established itself as a religious city, so I would say it’d be nigh impossible to run as smoothly without her acting as Lector.”
“Good to know. It sounds like Vittorio picked the right woman for the job.”
“So, would you like me to summon her then?”
“Yeah, please do since it’s a good opportunity.”
The Cult of Ira was a huge religious organization Vittorio had created from nothing. It was no longer confined to the framework of religion alone—it had a variety of influences across the continent.
Thinking about the Cult of Ira, which had strangely become inseparable from Mynoghra, Takuto absently pondered the best direction to take it in the future.