Building A Human Empire By Creating A Clan [EN]: Chapter 164

“Why did you let him get away on purpose?”

Tiamar sent a thought filled with doubt.

“You could have stopped Ethemos from escaping, couldn’t you?”

Of course, I could have.

How many gods have I devoured?

Wasn’t that much possible, even if I poured magic into the Tower?

“But why? You know how important Ethemos is.”

“Because that will create a better outcome.”

As I swallowed the rest of my words, she tried to read my mind. She was quick-witted. She realized from my calm demeanor that I had anticipated the interference of Karkas and his kind.

“Edar—”

“Before you explain, isn’t there something to confirm?”

Tiamar fell silent.

If she had eyes, she would have looked beside me.

————————————

Knight Commander

Motier

Lv. 88

Rank: A

Trait: [Familiar]

————————————

Motier, he was the Familiar I had just created.

A Familiar created at the same time as the Familiar Creation skill rose to 8 stars.

Since Mersephone came out in the previous rise, the rank was A as always.

However, there was one unexpected variable.

“Ha, now you’re even making things that aren’t human?”

There was a jewel on my palm.

A small, round, purple jewel like a candy.

A treasure given to me as the skill level rose.

It had never happened before.

————————————

[9i&@유 #*h#작[email protected]%] (Unintelligible Text)

Creates a Familiar one time only.

The Familiar created is a soul imbued with J%^@&*# (Unintelligible Text).

————————————

As expected, the letters were broken. [This refers to the game-like system messages the character sees.]

However, even broken, the content was guessable.

I chuckled briefly and looked back and forth between the two jewels.

The jewel on my hand and the jewel of the pendant where Tiamar resided.

“Why?”

Become human and be with me, or

“Edar?”

Tiamar in the pendant called me again. When I didn’t answer, she let out magic and wrapped the jewel on my hand. She looked at the jewel that suddenly appeared in my hand.

“What is this?”

She is quick-witted. By looking back and forth between the jewel on my hand and the jewel containing her soul, she must have realized that it had something to do with her.

Waaaaaaaah—

I heard the shouts and scanned the battlefield. The battle was over. Orcs and goblins began to flee, and Familiars rode horses after them.

The four old gods who remained after Ethemos escaped took too long. As the battle continued until they were captured, the undead were annihilated, and only a handful of orcs and goblins remained.

The Imperial Army also suffered considerable damage, but it was overwhelmingly better compared to the fact that less than one-tenth of the nearly 400,000 enemies remained.

“Congratulations on the victory. I’m relieved.”

Artillery Commander Titus came up to the hill and bowed to me.

“Don’t rest easy yet. Orcs and goblins are races that quickly recover their numbers even if only one survives. We must wipe them out completely.”

“Yes. So, we plan to establish a base here for a while to continue the subjugation. But what should we do if they escape outside of Pantonia?”

Pantonia is a land sandwiched in the middle of the continent. There are many ways to go: elves to the west, dwarves to the north, humans to the south, and vampires and lizardmen to the east.

“If we continue the pursuit, there is a high risk of conflict with other races.”

“Don’t cross Pantonia. We don’t need to worry about what’s outside this place.”

“Is that so?”

Who would accept orcs and goblins? They are not assimilated because they are different races, and they are monsters who only know how to breed because their nature is evil.

The old gods wouldn’t take them either. Since there are better test subjects like high elves, there was no reason to use the two inferior races.

So, we don’t need to worry about orcs and goblins who have left Pantonia. They will be taken care of on their own.

“Have Pirollini’s 2nd Regiment stationed here to finish things off. If we continue the subjugation for a while, the two races will disappear from history.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

I gave a few additional instructions and then looked at the status window.

————————————

[*@4#&(Ha^] (Unintelligible Text)

[9&[email protected]: M&@!#*] (Unintelligible Text)

[(#$*& Familiar #$성!(@$^.] (Unintelligible Text)

[JD&Y# Kwon#@*&$ race is *@&$(*.#&*jjed] (Unintelligible Text)

[The $&*#$ WDE^^$^# of [email protected]$78$&! generated from 8 stars.] (Unintelligible Text)

[r*$^) *#$ Reuse cost $*()^N6 is A hours*&@b#^.] (Unintelligible Text)

[This &h0#^$# grade performance*@^( &*^!#[email protected]] (Unintelligible Text)

[$%b2*($111*: @#&^$.] (Unintelligible Text)

————————————

As the Familiar Creation skill rose by one level, the status window changed again. It was so full of broken letters that it was now faster to find normal letters.

However, I had seen the status window countless times, and the arrangement was not misaligned, so there was no problem in guessing the contents, but it was such a severe change that I thought there was no need to look at the status window.

————————————

[9i&@유 #*h#작[email protected]%] (Unintelligible Text)

Creates a Familiar one time only.

The Familiar created is a soul imbued with J%^@&*# (Unintelligible Text).

————————————

To that, even the jewel that appeared on my hand.

That the letters are broken, I would have thought so because it had been like that before, but the problem was that an unexpected change occurred without any signs.

‘The skill rose from 7 stars to 8 stars. Originally, there should have been nothing to gain from 8 stars other than an A-grade Familiar and an increase in skill effects.’

Whenever the skill level rose, a certain rule was seen. If the grade is odd, an S-grade or higher Familiar is given as a reward, and if it is even, an A-grade Familiar is given as a reward.

It wasn’t a codified rule, but it had been like that up to 7 stars, so I thought 8 stars would be the same. The Familiar that should have come out this time was one A-grade. And in fact, an A-grade Familiar came out with the nickname Knight Commander.

‘It’s good, but it’s difficult.’

I looked down at the purple jewel. A reward I had never received before, and a reward that was presumed to be a disposable consumable rather than a skill.

‘Creates a Familiar once.’

The status window that the jewel floated was three lines, and the first line was the name of the jewel, and the second line was clearly an explanation of the jewel’s ability. Even if the letters were broken, it was not difficult to guess the contents.

‘The Familiar created is a soul imbued with something.’

The third line seems to be a condition for using the jewel, and what it indicates was clear.

‘Tiamar, I can make her my Familiar.’

To be exact, it’s Tiamar in the pendant. Making a part of Tiamar’s soul residing in the jewel into a Familiar, making her human and establishing a master-servant relationship with me would be the jewel’s ability.

I pondered for a moment and asked.

“Tiamar.”

“Why?”

“Do you want to become human?”

Tiamar didn’t answer right away. If she had an expression, what expression would she have made? I couldn’t know because I could only read the thoughts emitted by the soul.

“Human? Me?”

There was a deep sense of bewilderment in the answer that came back after a pause. It couldn’t be helped, even if only the soul remained, she is a dragon. Asking her if she wants to become human is absurd.

“I can make you human.”

“That must be the ability of that jewel.”

I nodded.

“If I become human, I’ll become like your Familiars, right?”

“Yes.”

“Dragons are not ruled, Edar.”

Her thoughts contained laughter.

“Aren’t you already being ruled? By the you at the end of that world.”

“That’s me. I’m following my own will.”

“If you really think so, it’s not like you.”

“Not like me?”

I smiled and put the pendant on my left hand.

“Let me ask you one thing. Are you conveying the conversation we are having now to her as well? Are you conveying it intact to you who has a body, not the pendant?”

“No.”

“Why? Isn’t it the action that you far away want, to convey everything you see and hear?”

Since Tiamar didn’t answer, I continued.

“You are acting differently from what you said just now. You are acting against your will. What could be the reason, isn’t it because you are different from her?”

“No, I’m—”

“I think you are different from her. You are each different. You started from one, but because you fell from one, you are no longer one. But if you follow her words, what’s the difference from being ruled?”

The pendant trembled slightly. I knew that the shaking was her heart shaking, and that my persuasion was working.

“So? You want me to become your Familiar? Abandon myself?”

I stroked the pendant and quietly told her.

“You have three options. To be trapped in there as you are and be eaten by the main body, to disappear with the jewel that is trapping you, or to become human and be with me.”

###

In one of the many rooms used as a meeting place in the representative system, monsters with different appearances were seated. They were beings called old gods, and they occupied the room and exchanged thoughts.

“It won’t work. We have to help.”

“If Ethemos dies, our plan will be greatly disrupted.”

The 42 old gods gathered magic and flowed it towards a distant place. Soon, a haze rippled on one side of the meeting place and opened, revealing a field mixed with various groups such as orcs, goblins, and humans.

“Ethemos!”

Immediately after the field appeared, a man with a crow’s head crossed the gate with thoughts cursing him.

“You traitor!”

The gate disappeared as soon as he jumped in.

“Huh, huh…”

Ethemos opened his crow’s mouth wide and exhaled. His legs gave way and he collapsed because he was so relieved that he had crossed the gate by a narrow margin. He was so nervous that he was sweating all over his body.

“You overdid it, Ethemos.”

The old gods joked and laughed.

“I almost fell into the abyss again.”

“I told you not to be too greedy.”

“You pretended to be good, but you couldn’t even get the materials.”

Ethemos still panted among them and lowered his head. There was no unpleasant feeling. As the tension left, regret took its place.

“I should have caught them!”

The Emperor’s creations, beings who are human but not human. The adventure to obtain them became a miserable failure and stabbed Ethemos in the heart.

“Damn it.”

“There will be another chance.”

One of the old gods approached him and patted him.

“Karkas…”

The old god, Karkas, was shaped like a cloud of smoke. The hazy smoke had one face, two arms, and legs like a person. The face was smooth like an egg, and the fingers were sprouting joints.

“Don’t worry. It will come bigger soon.”

Karkas reached out to Ethemos with a hand made of smoke.

Thud…

Something he was holding fell and rolled to Ethemos’ feet. He blinked at it and made a sound, huh.

“Vlad?”

Vlad von Holstein.

It was the head of the Emperor of the Mycenae Empire.

It was rotten, but it was clear.

“Did you take care of it?”

“Unfortunately, only the body.”

Ethemos nodded.

He knew that part of Tiamar’s soul was dominating the body of a vampire named Vlad. He heard it from Aleon, and some of the old gods moved to hunt Vlad.

“Her soul residing in the relic moved to another body just before the body died. Because of that, we can’t say that we completely caught the mosquito that bothers us.”

“But you won’t get a better body than this.”

“That’s right.”

Vlad was the father of the bloodline. It was almost impossible for the bloodline and servants to refuse his orders, so they had no choice but to do their best in a losing battle against the representative system.

Even if they failed to dispose of the relic containing Tiamar’s soul, the remaining vampires would not be easily controlled as before, as they would lose the means of control called Vlad.

The Mycenae Empire was as good as over.

“Now we’ve taken care of one gnat.”

Bang, Vlad’s head exploded.

“Now that we’ve caught one, we have to catch the other.”

The other one referred to humans.

“Humans… Animals that we didn’t even know existed when we fought Lord have grown their power. Orcs and goblins are worthless races, but starting with Barmet, more than ten groups have already been defeated.”

Ethemos nodded several times.

“Don’t underestimate them. He’s not the Lord’s successor for nothing.”

“You even lost your work in vain.”

“The materials were bad. There wasn’t enough time either. If there is enough time and materials… my work can’t be inferior.”

“Do you really think so?”

Ethemos was silent.

“Follow me.”

Karkas led the old gods underground.

In addition to the abyss where the old gods were sealed in the basement of the representative system, there was another space, the nest of the Dragon Lord Aylettrione.

Grrrr…

A sound like a beast crying.

“Looks like he’s having a bad dream.”

The Lord was crouching in a wide, dark nest. Not in the form of borrowing anyone else’s body, but in his true form, closing his eyes and breathing roughly without consciousness.

Karkas approached the Lord. When he touched the Lord’s scales with his smoky hand, there was a crackling sound that tore his ears.

“Be careful.”

Ethemos belatedly sent a warning.

“The seal is still being maintained.”

The area below Karkas’ right elbow disappeared and then smoke rose and grew back.

“The soul is wounded and the heart is cut out, but it’s still this much.”

“He’s the Lord. It’s natural that he’s strong even if only the shell remains.”

“But it won’t last long.”

Ethemos nodded. The Lord’s magic was fading more and more. The seal surrounding the body was taking away the magic and weakening it.

“There’s not much time left. The time when I take this body.”

Karkas looked at the Lord from a distance.

Even though there were no eyes in the face of the smoke mass, Ethemos thought he was smiling.

“We don’t know what you were thinking when you chose the seal yourself. We don’t know why you left your body behind.”

Perhaps he wanted the old gods to perish with Tiamar, or perhaps he wanted it to be a trial for his successor to make him stronger.

Either way, it felt bad to be playing on the plate of an opponent he considered an enemy. But the bait was too sweet to reject the plate.

The Dragon Lord’s body was the bait.

“I’ll accept your trick. Considering the value of your body, I should accept this much generously. And I will trap your successor in the abyss. Just like we experienced.”