Chapter 22

I entered the meeting room off the throne room, Fara trailing behind me. Hagane and Nina entered after her. They were the two monster girls that worked with my elven scholar. Nina shut the door, her devilish body looking so sexy as she leaned against it.

“We call this the Outpost Plan,” said Hagane.

“Indeed,” Fara said.

I arched an eyebrow. “Outpost Plan?”

“We think it will accomplish two of your goals, Lord Leo,” Fara said as she unrolled a map of what looked to be the northwest corner of the world. My dungeon was inked in near Astovin Village. South of us was Lord Shorvin’s estate then Myrecilla at the Myr River. That river formed the northern border of the Shaliania Forest which was home to the Elven Kingdom of Kalianiathrastia.

Not Fara’s kingdom. That was farther south in the Varmilianakiza Forest. I was starting to understand the lands. The Low Carianith Mountains ran south and merged with the Greater Carianith Mountains which headed to the southeast, forming the southern border of Myreman. Fara’s forest was on the other side of those. I never realized just how far she had to travel to get here.

“Okay,” I said. “What is this plan?”

She traced a line from my dungeon to the west. Not due west, but maybe west-by-southwest to one of the twelve shrines. It lay where Kalayna Bay met the Oncora Sea that lay to the north of all the lands. The Bay separated my part of the world from the lands Fuegin had conquered to the west. “I think this is the Water Shrine,” said Fara.

“Because it’s underwater,” said Nina. “We really have nothing more to go off of than that.”

“It’s the only one to lie beneath the ocean,” said Fara. “Perhaps that’s just a coincidence, but it is also the nearest shrine to us here. I propose you work your dungeon that way setting up outposts.”

“Outposts?”

“Towers that thrust out of the ground,” said Hagane. Places to put monster girls to keep watch over the surrounding land.”

“To find dungeons and either befriend and destroy them,” said Nina. “You need power, Leo. You need mana veins. This is the best one. We either get a new ally like Siwang, or we put down another rabid dog.”

“This is the concept of projecting power,” added Hagane. “This is why the United States has bases all over the world and the biggest carrier fleet. To project power. You can rapidly deploy Halia’s adventurers and monster girls to deal with any threats, protect the people of this world, and increase your power all at the same time. If we have any chance to reach the Shrines and to raid the cities that hold the other Blessed Blades, we must expand. Rapidly.”

“The downfall of any Empire is the slowness of communication, the inability to deploy troops quickly where they are needed, and the attrition suffered by endless border wars,” said Nina. “That was what destroyed the Romans. The dilemma is an Empire must always be at war or it dies, but that is also what kills it in the end. If you are not attacking your enemies, they are gaining in strength to attack you. But you have none of those problems.”

I nodded. Instant telepathy, teleportation of my forces, and the ability to revive dead monster girls. “So you put Level 1 Monster Girls in the towers,” said Hagane. “They patrol the areas for you. If they come under attack, you can either remove the tower before it’s breached or deploy overwhelming forces to defend them. You will reach your tendrils across the world, creating beacons of hope.”

“Okay,” I said. “I think that’s—”

The valley alarms rang through the dungeon. Someone had appeared in the valley. I turned to dash for the doors when the dungeon warnings rang. The intruder had already reached the dungeon? Was that the main entrance or somewhere else?

I burst into the throne room to find my monster girls spilling out of their orgies and rushing to the map. Lana Fulmine glanced at me and frowned. She shook her head in confusion and pointed at the map. I reached it.

A single, red dot right at the threshold of the dungeon. It flashed.

A dungeon builder wanted to connect with me. I concentrated. “Who is this?”

“Leo, it’s Fuegin, we need to talk.”

The moment Fuegin appeared outside of the cave that housed the main entrance to Leo’s dungeon, the builder closed his eyes and muttered the words to a powerful spell.

“Mirror and reflect, let the brilliance of Lady Sherida copy.”