Bastard Homunculus: Reborn in the Corpse Pit-Chapter 111: To My Liking

"Ah, you’re finally back. I was starting to think that you’d been captured or worse, I’m glad you’ve returned," Greeted Reiss with a smile.

"I apologize for taking so long, my Lord. It wasn’t easy, gathering intel while avoiding detection from the Knights," Responded Tilda, as she kneeled before him and bowed her head.

Ten days had passed since he sent her back to the Capital to gather information, it was the 8th of April, 1919, late in the evening.

"Yes, I figured as much. But I trust you were able to learn something useful?" He inquired with a raised eyebrow, while thinking to himself, "She better have, otherwise these last ten days would amount to nothing more than a colossal waste of time."

"Of course, Lord Reiss, I would not have returned empty-handed. To begin with, the Knights are in complete disarray thanks to the Commander’s demise. I managed to catch a few glimpses of the Vice-Commander, and he appears to be rather shellshocked and despaired. It was clear that he wasn’t getting much sleep, he’s in no mental condition to run the Knight Order. As a result, the Order is completely disorganized at present," She informed him.

"Excellent, that’s just what I’d been hoping for. Is there anything else of note that you’ve found out?"

"Yes, my Lord. It appears that the Queen is missing, the Knights have been looking for her. But like I said, with how disorganized they currently are, their search efforts have been far from efficient."

"I see, Jules must have hidden her somewhere safe. That works just fine for us...we don’t need to concern ourselves with her. Even if she survives and appears later, once we’ve taken control of the nation, there will be nothing she can do about it," Chuckled Reiss, starting to feel like all the pieces were falling into place.

"If I may, my Lord, I believe we should make our next move as quickly as possible, before the Knights have a chance to regroup. We must strike while they’re still in disarray," Advised Tilda objectively.

"Oh, I wholeheartedly agree, my dear. I already intended as much, we would be fools not to take advantage of this. With that said, I say we make our move tomorrow, at midnight. We shall take over the castle and then eliminate all those who resist us, one by one," Smirked Reiss in response.

"Should we not deal with the Vice-Commander, the Captains and The Irregulars before that? They are serious threats, after all, we should not take them lightly," She pointed out.

"Oh, don’t worry, I have a plan for that. I know of a secret weapon...well, I don’t know exactly what it is, but it’s sure to turn the odds in our favor. There’s a hidden vault in the castle treasury, filled with weapons and items from the Age of Ancient Magic. My brother, the late former King, revealed the existence of this vault to me while we were sharing a drink. The treasury is unlikely to be too heavily guarded at present, considering that the Knights have bigger concerns to worry about. And even if it is heavily guarded, we can overwhelm them with sheer number. If necessary, I hope to count on you to assist with that as well, my dear," Smiled Reiss with a malevolent gleam in his eyes.

"Of course, my Lord. Rest assured, I shall do whatever is required of me," She nodded without hesitation.

"Excellent, I’ve got her dancing on the palm of my hand. She is easily the strongest Knight among my followers, so I should be careful about how I use her, I can’t afford to lose such a valuable pawn," Reiss thought to himself, before adding, "This won’t be easy, but most of the pieces are in place. And once we’ve taken control of the Capital and eliminate any threats to my reign, it shouldn’t be too difficult to get the rest of the nation within our grasp. You see, there are a number of Nobles in the cities, towns and villages who are collaborating in secret with us. They should prove to be most useful when the time comes."

"I’m in awe, my Lord, you’ve really planned this out, your foresight is incredible. Still, I can’t help but feel a little uneasy relying on an unknown element...the secret vault you mentioned, do you know exactly what weapons and items, not to mention what powers they possess, are in it?" She asked him.

"I appreciate your caution, it’s a trait I wish more of my followers would have, but there’s no need to worry...items from the Age of Ancient Magic are formidable, just look at the Relic Armaments, one of which you yourself are in possession of. While my brother didn’t get into any specifics, he did mention weapons of immense destructive potential stored in that vault. It is a bit of risk to rely on it with such little information to go off of, but I believe the odds are in our favor."

"Very well, if you’ve determined it as such, then I shall trust your judgment, my Lord," Responded Tilda with a bow of her head.

"Hm, I should reward her loyalty, that should serve as some effective added motivation. Ah, I know just the thing," Reiss thought to himself, before standing up and approaching her, before speaking as he placed a hand on top of her head, "I must say, you’ve served me excellently so far, Tilda, I truly appreciate the efforts you’ve expended in the name of our cause."

"You honor me, my Lord, I feel undeserving of such high praise," She smiled gratefully in response.

"She may have more common sense than most of my other followers, but ultimately, she’s just as easy to manipulate as the rest of them," Smirked Reiss, before sliding his hand down to her cheek and lifting her head up slightly as he traced his thumb across her lower lip and spoke, "I believe you are worthy...yes, when I ascend to the throne, I shall grant you the great honor of being my first Queen."

"I-I don’t know what to say, surely I’m not worthy of such an honor," She responded as her eyes widened in surprise.

"Ohh, I beg to differ. Not only are you competent, but you are quite the striking beauty. If anything, I’m the one who should be honored to have such a lovely young woman by my side...," He smiled salaciously, as he reached around with his other hand and grabbed her butt, giving it a firm squeeze, "Hm, it’s a shame she has such a flat chest, but the rest of her body is just to my liking. If only she had bigger breasts, she’d be absolutely perfect."

"M-my Lord, I-...ohh, it just occurred to me, we should make sure that we have enough Teleport Spell Cards on hand. We used a lot during the last attack, and we should prepare for the possibility that things go wrong and we end up needing to retreat...how many do we have left?" She asked him, as he reluctantly took his hands off her.

"While I appreciate her dedication and prudence, she’s a bit too serious, way to kill the mood. Well, no matter...I’ll have all the time in the world to have my way with her once I take the throne," He thought to himself, before responding, "Er, no, I’m not quite sure. Go and check how many there are, there should be enough but it’s better safe than sorry. And once your done with that, head back to the Capital. Keep an eye on the Knights, just in case they try to make any sudden or unexpected moves. Return here tomorrow at 11 PM, one hour before we make our move."

"Understood, my Lord."

She then excused herself and left, making her way through the hideout to where the group’s Spell Cards were located.

As she reached the spot, she raised her hand and knocked on the door, before staring in bemusement as it fell off its hinges and crashed onto the ground with a thud.

She let out a couple of coughs as puffs of dust burst out from the ground, scrunching up her face in disgust as she inhaled a bit of it.

"S-sorry about that," She muttered as she entered the room.

"Oh, it’s you, Miss Tilda. Don’t worry about the door, I already noticed that it was about to fall off, the hinges were too decrepit to repair, I’m honestly surprised it stood for this long," A man greeted her inside the room, the individual in charge of creating Exalt’s Spell Cards.

"Sorry to bother you, but Lord Reiss sent me to get a count of our remaining Teleport Spells. How many do we have left?" She asked him.

"Uh, let me think...I believe we have about twenty Teleport Spells that are linked to the Capital, and another twenty linked to this place. And as for ones linked to the locations outside of the Capital, there’s only a small handful of those left, maybe around three or four of each."

"That’s fine, we don’t need any teleports to other location, only the ones to the Capital and to our hideout. If it isn’t too much trouble, could I get an exact count of both such Spells?" She requested in response.

"Of course. Let’s see here...one, two, three...," He began counting as he opened a couple of boxes.

"Well?" Tilda prompted him as he finished counting.

"Exactly thirty-three of each type left."

"I see...a bit more would have been ideal, but we should be able to manage with that much. I believe we have around two hundred members left, if we divide them into groups of six or seven, that should be just enough. It won’t be much longer now, before a glorious new age dawns upon our great nation..."