Chapter 58: Interlude: Latvin

“Your dick feels so good, your majesty…” Leina, the seventh princess of Vertia, said as she serviced the king. She was now the official harem of the court. She was lying, of course. All of her words were carefully crafted to bring the sense of conquest and satisfaction to the king. To earn his favor.

When the kingdom of Latvin attacked, Leina was already an outcast among the royalty. When the first symbiote user was slain by Jonathan, Vertia gave Latvin Leina as a pet to Jonathan to buy them time to reorganize. Such a heartless behavior to non symbiote users was common in this world.

Everyone thought since she was not a symbiote user, she was replaceable. Little did they know they had made a huge mistake. Leina, despite being a foxkin, despised her country more than the human supremacist Latvin. Especially now that she had been betrayed by her countrymen. So, she offered herself to betray her own country to be the king’s pet. Even with Latvin’s newfound technology and military tactics, it should take them years to conquer Vertia.

Little did they know that information about symbiote was such a precious thing. Thanks to the insider information from Leina, Latvin managed to conquer Vertia with a single campaign. They knew where the important fortress, the forest trails, and symbiote user’s key tactics were. With all of this information, Vertia fell in a blink of an eye.

Once Vertia fell, all of its residents soon became slaves. This was also proposed by Leina. At first, the king wanted to purge them. But Leina suggested turning them into slaves. With slaves, Latvin’s productivity would skyrocket.

“I thought you were a useful pet. But look now! I lost a lot of good soldiers thanks to you!” The king yanked the collar that was tied around Leina’s neck and spanked her.

“Yes, Milord. It was all Leina’s fault. Please forgive this lowly pet,” Leina begged as the king continued spanking her. It was not her fault. She even advised the king not to attack Litmus. Despite the overwhelming victory, they still suffer casualties and ammunition. Casualties among non-symbiote users are extremely high.

With the victory and momentum at hand, there is no stopping the ambitious general who wanted glory and promotions. They mostly attributed the victory to revolutionary military tactics, not insider information from Leina.

Leina had never gone to any military academy, so she was not instilled honor or discipline. So a plan as contrived and insidious such as using a dungeon break to soften Litmus before marching with their army was within her creative mind. The king particularly liked it. He was cruel and vain.

But she didn’t defend herself. She was merely a pet. Now that her kingdom had been destroyed, she had no business whether Latvin would be destroyed or not. The opposing force of love is not hate, it’s apathy.

Leina started licking the king’s foot. This spurred the king’s ego. The way she was so submissive filled him with a sense of conquest. Little did he know, he was the one being controlled. Leina, the non-symbiote, was mocking him deep inside her mind, smirking as he fell into ruin with his own accords.

“Oh yeah. We have lost one battle. I have to come to a meeting.” The king then dragged the leash that was connected to Leina’s collar.

Even when naked, she followed the king obediently across the hall. Her bountiful body was in full view. The officials who looked at her smirked in jest as they looked down on the beastkin.

It was so humiliating. Most beastkin would prefer death rather than subjecting themselves to this kind of humiliation. But Leina was unlike others. She didn’t mind, for she knew the king listened to her. With the king’s ears, she controlled what’s in the court. She had a plan. Once Latvin was defeated, she will be freed and become Litmus’ resident. That was her plan. The cunningness of a fox that was rare in beastkin. Even when people ridiculed her, she relished in the stupidity and vanity of their act.

“Now that Count Evesys has lost his only symbiote, there was no use keeping him,” the king started the meeting. “Anyone next to take the reins? Anyone here who wishes to take the chance to be the general who will defeat Litmus?”

“But, Your Highness! We have done everything you said. Thanks to Jonathan, we have conquered our Nemesis! Vertia.” Count Evesys tried to defend himself.

“Yes. You will be given your reward. But a punishment for losing so shamelessly against litmus is due. I shall take half of your prizes and give them to those who can conquer Vertia.” The king said. The king smirked. Such villainy would be unacceptable in Litmus’ court, but here, other generals who envied Evesys for racking so many achievements with Jonathan smiled gleefully, for their chance would finally come.

“Yes, Your highness.” Count Evesys gritted his teeth.

“Your highness. Our attack on Litmus will not go unpunished. They will surely send troops to attack us. I advised strengthening our defenses. Putting Captain Sheena on border duty should suffice.”

“Why don’t we just press on with the attack? If we keep on the aggression, Litmus wouldn’t have the chance to attack us. They are a small kingdom with barely three dukedoms, right?” Leina muttered to herself on the floor. Her words carry persuasion across the court. This was how Leina manipulated the court in her favor despite being a king’s pet with no dignity. She knew how to stroke their ego.

“Yeah! The pet was right! We have a good momentum going on! We can’t let it go down because of Evesys’ incompetence!” another general who wanted to press on with the attack to prove himself argued. The selfish behavior was apparent to see, but none criticized him.

“Shut up, pet! I see you need more discipline!” The king stepped his dirty feet down on Leina’s head.

“I am sorry, King Luthor! This lowly pet has talked too much.”

The submissive Leina immediately kneeled, begging for forgiveness. Hiro might enjoy such a play with Nana, but this kind of behavior had certainly crossed the line. After all, Hiro wanted to bring pleasure, not degrade others. Their motives are different.

“Good. Don’t mind the pet. We shall continue with the assault on Litmus. Is there anything else?”

“Sir, from the reports of our fleeing soldiers, we have learned that the enemy had employed multiple symbiote users. Ones that we do not have the information of”

“Unknown symbiote users? How many?”

“Apart from Seraphine, we recognize 4 other symbiotes, recognized by tentacles sprouting from their body. One soldier also said that symbiote was the main reason Jonathan lost, as it identified him during stealth missions in the middle of the battle, giving Seraphine the advantage.”

“Three? They almost doubled their symbiote users!” The king exclaimed.

“These symbiote users are the ones that Evesys let go.” The general glanced at him. It was obvious he wanted to smear Evesys’ name through the mud.

“Count Evesys, your blunder really is inexcusable.” The king sighed. “You will be removed permanently from the court. To pay for the losses because of your incompetence, the taxes in your territory will be increased by 30%.”

“... Yes, your highness.” Count Evesys could only nod in indignation. The night where he let Hiro, Rebecca, Nana, and Cecile run away replayed in his mind.

“So, this new symbiote. What is its power?”

“We know nothing about these new symbiote users at the moment, your highness. I heard he was a production type symbiote. But somehow, Litmus deployed them in battle.”

“Find out. Use our intelligence officer to find out about this new symbiote.”

“Yes, sir.”

“What about Shadow’s lineage? Does he fancy anyone?”

“Yes. he seemed to take a liking to Count Boris’ daughter. However, unlike Jonathan, his stealth ability was lacking.”

“Level him up. Don’t forget to use the drug.”

“Yes, sir.”

It was difficult to level up symbiote users. Some symbiote simply won’t level up. In a sense, symbiotes were like Hiro’s cousins. They have special criteria for leveling up. None knew for certain what is the criteria for leveling up a symbiote were.

Seraphine, for example, could level Ralph by offering a duel against powerful foes. Jonathan, for example, gained experience by assassinating foes. Hiro, for example, gained experience from sex. If they gained exp by other means, it would be severely diminished. It’s up to their users to understand what their symbiotes need to level up. Like Hiro, the symbiotes themselves might not be aware of how they could level up.

“Alright. That should conclude the meeting for today.” The king said languidly. “I trust you will bring victory to the kingdom. Now, I must excuse myself. I need to take care of my pet.”

The official smirked at the vulgar comment by the king. Some of them even commented that they also wanted to play with their pet. Leina smirked inside her heart as she crawled away while being naked. The court had been corrupted. They are now not a proper country, a mere collection of brigands that flaunted their nonexistent power.

It won’t be long before they buckle. Even if they won against Litmus, with this kind of attitude, civil wars were bound to occur. Leina could see how Latvin would destroy itself. Many officials leered at her lascivious body. King Luthor grinned as a sense of superiority filled him.

Leina knew what these guys wanted. All she needed to do was wag her tail at them and they would pamper her. Men were simple creatures. All she needed to do to gain their favor was to act submissively and praise them.

And so, the war against the Litmus kingdom continued.

As both countries strategize against each other, Hiro was busy playing with Rebecca and Leafa. Unlike King Luthor, Hiro didn’t fancy degrading women. He only wanted his host to be happy, and sexual pleasure was the easiest way.

Hiro’s training against Rebecca and Leafa had borne fruit, but that is the story of another time.