Chapter 957

Chapter 957: HSP

“Mother,” spoke the babe, “-been a while,” she stretched her tiny arms to be carried by the lass. “-Pope,” she turned affirmingly, “-far as stories goes, Eia died to frostbite. You’re free to do whatever with Nicola, long as the bloke doesn’t interfere. Trust me,” her vibrant stare read, ‘no mercy’. “-If the kindness returns to bite us,” she grinned and abruptly turned, “-you know the rest.” A flick of the wrist and off she was – helicopters laid on standby. 13th turned 14th as the moon spoke clear and the sky listened – a private jet landed within the secluded airfield kept at the side of the capital.

‘Done,’ Igna peered through the airlock and stretched, ‘-finally home,’ he glided down the stairs and touched firm ground. ‘Days of deliberation – being welcomed as a hero was quite the scene for Eira,’ said a jestful smugness.

“Majesty,” she followed, “-care to explain the overwhelming welcome we had?”

“Oh, that would be the years I spent in Marinda,” he added nonchalantly, “-I wanted a sort of vacation, to solve the mystery of the not so mysterious continent, yeah?”

“Looks to me the continent’s been claimed.”

“By my influence,” he smiled, “-the leadership, king and ministers, were hand chosen. I’d have remained there if the situation were different,” a car halted, “-shall we?”

An hour passed; the time came for breakfast. Castle lit as if a friction match, retainers ran to and fro – workers yawned at the castle gates. Guards squinted through drowsiness and scanned tags.

.....

“Majesty,” the warm inside felt homey – save the crude depiction of death by the romantic means of vampirism, “-isn’t it time to change?” he inquired at a passing maid.

“We like the style,” she answered, “-and thought it best to keep what’s lively.”

“As you say,” he nodded, glanced at Eira, ‘-wait?’ or so he thought, further looking back show her sharp turn towards her offices. ‘-My home,’ deeper within the castle, where the corridor’s dulled and the carpets stopped – an ominous area without much to encircle laid the famed King’s office. A pull clicked heavy golden handles – the room thudded or inhale, ‘-irony,’ briefcase over the table and face to the couch, “-I don’t have a house. I have more money than I could ever spend – Ela’s careful preparation and sometimes rash investment’s growing our economy steadily. Can’t say the same for Kreston, they’re in heavy debt.’ He sat and lit a casual cigar, ‘-being king isn’t easy.’ Days spent in political dealing, accepting or rejecting policies, making trips to construction sites and much more – King of Hidros’ repute all but grew. And then there was the space conquest – to watch over the world. A flip toggled the screen, and details pertaining to said quest wrote in bold, “-following the success of the 25th May’s launch. Researchers of the Alchemist guild, Gatesix, Midas, and scholars of the University of Rotherham, have joined hands in establishing a new faction, Hidrosian Space Program, HSP for short. Very imaginative,” said a side comment. “-All employees, including researchers to janitors, have been vetted and locked with Phantom’s non-disclosure chip. Funding in the numbers of a few hundred million has been secured jointly by Phantom, Raven, Elon’s Dynasty, and Oxshield. 30th of June – by his majesty’s overview of magical schematics – three new rockets were built. They were launched the following day consecutively and placed into orbit – Alphia, Iqeavea, and the area beyond the first. It’ll take a few months for the rest to be dispatched – the orbital surveillance system is said to be operational no later than December. Director of the HSP, after much consideration, has been decided to be placed under Lady Clarise’s direction,” signed, éclair.

‘HSP, very imaginative name. I was right in my gamble,’ a greater holographic display spawned over the coffee table, wrapping the room in a blueish hue, “-I can see clearly into the main continent. Their advancement in technology is great, greater than ours. Keeping their cities, networks, and power structures connected. What is this?’ he narrowed onto a childishly colored button, the description read, “-financial dealings of the Wracian Empire,” a subpart addressed his majesty directly, “-a press of the button runs a little devil I injected during our dealings with Alphia. Spawn of the superpower created a line for me to follow, within the first weeks, I infiltrated most of their departments. Majesty, I can imagine the look of confusion – but remember, we’re lightyears ahead compared to them in the field of intelligence. A side-product of my birth and birth of the sister system. We can’t affect the empire on a widescale, hell, haven’t scratched the surface. Our Achilles’ heel is processing power, for now, please be content with this little bottom, a press and we’ll steal a few nonchalant Exa from a population of a million.”

Temptation was too great, he tapped and a money counter rolled the same to at a casino. A smaller version of Yui in a bunny’s outfit skipped atop said counter, *beep,* it stopped in the eight-digit range – ‘-what in the... we skimmed a few Exa and nearly covered the cost of manufacture. Considering we only hit a few major cities, imagine hitting Alphia or extending beyond the empire’s border. éclair realizes the scary potential of monopolizing space,’ he paused, held the eyes shut for a few instants, and looked upward, *See the unseen, feel the unfelt, knowledge deep within, awaken for I order so; Eye of Truth,* reality undid itself – he strained to focus on mana-threads, four blue colored dots – invisible in some respect, beamed at the planet, ‘-good thing I designed the internal components,’ the palm opened to see the threads joint into a single orb, ‘-the world doesn’t need to know,’ *Concealment,* he engraved the enchantment and clapped, the watchers disappeared. ‘-Should have realized that little flaw,’ an order was quickly sent to HSP for alterations. ‘-Back to my fun,’ the display lit vibrantly, ‘-light blue marks where we’ve infiltrated, dark blue means it’s unreachable. We’ve discovered 40% of the main province. What about Alphia,’ he swiped, bringing the latter to focus, ‘-Melmark. It’s green, meaning everything’s up for exploitation,’ a tap brought a jumble of uninteresting messages sent at a rate of thousand, if not greater per tick. ‘-He didn’t lie about lacking processing power – decryption will take a while.’ Another button waved with a more obnoxious icon, “-weekly summary,” it read, he pressed. “Arrival of Leon has toppled and squandered Alphian belief. The church’s taken a draconic way of suppressing individuality – to weed out heresy, they’re fighting the local religions and forcing the uncooperative into death marches. Southern provinces are controlled by the empire – the emperor demanded Leon contain their conversion. Melmark’s under stress, any false move, and civil war could erupt,” he toggled off the message, “-that’s why the empire supported Leon’s crusade and asked for us to keep the prisoners. Emperor’s wise, something has changed at the top – it’s not like before, they’re making active efforts to keep peace within their borders. Riaz saw two birds one stone. That’s why they don’t want a battle – handling Alphia’s rather complex hierarchy,” he sighed.

*Notification,* read the screen, “-Easel Run Gard’s central mine and Arda’s industrial complex have reached completion.”

‘What?’ he blinked and dug deeper, ‘-a secret project backed by the established alliance between Arda and Easel Run Gard, a venture overseen by Hidros. Just how many projects are running concurrently? Is that why we’re always on the brink of bankruptcy?’ Igna exhaled a loud cry, “-éclair’s been planning this for my eventual return. Playing the fool, he hung onto my vision and created Hidros’ foundation for the future. It came at the cost of a recession, selling information about Maicite and its technology. You sneaky devil – giving a shot, a sniff into its true potential – like the first high one gets from narcotics. éclair, éclair, éclair, you’re quite the mastermind. I shouldn’t have underestimated the abilities – you even fool I,” the visage brightened.

*Knock, knock,* “-enter,” the interface disappeared.

“Igna,” said another scary vixen, “-I’m back,” ambled Lilith.

“My,” he offered a seat, ‘-a bundle?’

“It went according to the plan,” she smiled and tapped the toddler’s cheek, “-Eia’s rage and anguish, her emotion sufficed to bring her,” red hair sat upright, stretching her arms and eating air, “-where are we?” abyssal colored eyes landed on Igna, “-who are you?”

“I could ask the same question...”

“Don’t be a brat,” Lilith tapped the toddler’s head.

“M-mother...” said a pout, “-the name’s Sathanas, Satan’s daughter and princess of Wrath. Mother, why am I here?”

“It paid off,” commented Igna, “-I wish we had Satan instead of his brat.”

“What you say?” she glared.

“Princess of Wrath,” he calmly walked over and held her head, “-it would be wise not to flaunt that anger in my presence,” a chilling sensation ran down her back, flash images of death and destruction, complete chaos, angels having wings ripped and hearts eaten – Alfred made a lasting impression, “-understood?”

“Who are you?” she escaped the hold and scurried behind Lilith.

“Igna Haggard, a simple man with special skills.”

“Don’t listen to him,” said a jestful whisper, “-this here, Sathanas, is your new master. I’ve sworn my heart, soul, and body to him and his cause. The Prince of Lust and Gambling, Asmodeus, the Prince of Greed and Wealth, Mammon, and the prince of Envy, Beelzebub, have sworn themselves fully. Igna please show her the wings,” he obliged to summon Lucifer’s wings, “-defeated Lucifer in battle and has the blessing of powerful goddesses. We’ll spend hours if I were to give a proper introduction. Just know,” she smiled, “-Igna Haggard’s a normal man with special skills.”

“See, I told you,” he crossed his arms, “-my introduction is flawless.”

“My new master?” her inky black pupils narrowed, “-prove it to me.”

“Prove it?” *Thud, thud, thud,* the door opened, “-majesty, we need help.”

General Minerva held a pensive glare, “-lead on,” he said, quick to grab and pull Sathanas into his arms. She blinked cluelessly over his shoulder, Lilith stood in the background and waved, “-good luck.”

A report lit the interface, “-the captured army of thirty-thousand staged a coup. Castle Gris is overrun. They’ve gotten hands on vehicles and weapons and are gunning for Savaview bridge.”

“Any idea why?”

“No...”

“A rebelling army has nothing to lose. We can’t mobilize that quick, yes?”

“Sad to say, but yes. We’re stretched thin dealing with the sudden monster inflation around Oxshield. Handling Kreston’s plague and protection from bandits... not the greatest.”

“Not a problem,” they leaped outside, climbed aboard a helicopter, and darted north. Orders for deployment rang across the air force base – a squadron of armed helicopters was called into action. An airstrike was on standby.

‘Flying machines, what era is this?’ wondered Sathanas, ‘-and why does he hold me so tightly. He’s barely phased by my presence; can my elders truly be in contract with this man....’

Touch down, “-majesty,” said an officer, “-general,” he bowed, “-we’ve heard about the uprising. They should be here later tomorrow, what are your orders?”

“Push the line into Dorchester, we’ll occupy Castle Garsley – have the man erect a checkpoint. I’ve called in reinforcement from the panzer unit. We’ll show them the true terror of the mainland,” ordered the general.

By the time evening came – surveillance showed nothing, transport was lost in the Rotten Thicket without any signs of life.

“What do you make of this?” wondered Minerva fixed upon a real-time map, “-they disappeared.”

“Must have scattered,” he said, “-split their forces into the forest and move south. We might have underestimated them a tad bit. Dorchester’s not under occupation from any armies, borders were only set. And from what I see, there are many strongholds and fortress free for occupation.”

“You don’t think?”

“There is only one option I see. Someone within Kreston’s a traitor.”

“Could have easily been the empire,” returned a tense Minerva, “-we’ve fought for Kreston, and know how much the people love us.”

“A single rotten apple within a basket,” he said.

General’s concentration was interrupted quite a bit – a serious situation needed the utmost attention, and yet, the whimsical king brought along a toddler, one sharped tongue and quick to anger, “-who’s the brat?”

“Don’t know as of yet,” he replied, “-focus on the screen, Athena...”

“Hard to focus when the kid keeps on giving the death stare.”

“Just how she’s wired,” the mind played countless possibilities, “-yeah, we’re going to war again.”

“Against the broken army?”

“Yeah, they’re most likely settling in places where our eyes don’t reach. They don’t have supplies and will likely wage guerrilla warfare, take supply trucks, and capture settlements. Show us thy might, general.”

“...”