Bastard Homunculus: Reborn in the Corpse Pit
Chapter 188: Uneven

Chapter 188: Chapter 188: Uneven

"Unfortunately, a number of Knights were killed by the swarms of Aeroraptors. However, thanks to the lockdown we imposed, we didn’t have any civilian casualties," Remarked Jules, making a report to Lyra.

"I see. Well, at least all the Monster Queens are dead now, so we won’t lose any more lives to this mess. We must make sure that this never happens again," Replied Lyra with a grimace.

"Agreed, this was entirely avoidable, if only we’d caught up to Alphonse Plore sooner, none of this would have happened. We haven’t found any more Hero Summoning Rituals, at least, so unless we missed something, it shouldn’t happen again. Also, while all the Monster Queens detected have been eliminated, there is a slight possibility that there may be one or two more hiding away somewhere, so I’m having teams of Detectors and Teleporters sweep through the nation one last time."

It was the 25th of October, 1919, the following day after the death of the Aeroraptor Queen. The hundreds of Aeroraptors it had sent to attack the other cities and towns had also been killed, though a few had scattered once the tables were turned.

"Yeah, we can’t let our guards down yet. If even a single Monster Queen was overlooked, it could prove disastrous. Until we’re absolutely certain that there are none of them left, we’ll have to stay vigilant," Nodded Lyra thoughtfully.

"Yes, there’s also the issue of the increased number of Monsters. Before the Aeroraptor Queen appeared, while we were attacking and eliminating the other Monster Queens, some of our teams failed to fully wipe out all their offspring, some of them scattered and escaped after their Queen was killed. While this is a manageable concern, we can’t ignore it.

Those species’ populations have been significantly boosted, and their numbers will only grow if left unchecked. Therefore, I’ll form teams to hunt down and thin out their numbers. Hopefully, it shouldn’t take too long to undo all the damage caused by the Hero Summoning Ritual, things should return to some semblance of normalcy soon enough."

"Well, that’s encouraging to hear, at least. With the Kingdom of Persona finally taking steps in right direction, we can’t afford any more major setbacks like this," Replied Lyra with a wistful sigh.

"I couldn’t agree more. There is another matter than we need to address. With everything that’s happened across these last few incidents, the Knight Squads have become too unbalanced at this point. We lost the Second Squad’s Vice-Captain, Jacks Aldi, in Sylph, and more recently, the Captain himself, Fyre Mozill.

We’ve also lost a number of First-Class Knights to the Monster Queens and their offspring, we currently have only around thirty or so Knights ranked at First-Class or above, myself included. It’ll take time to build up our forces again, that’s not something we can simply rush, however, we can at least balance out the squads more evenly," Remarked Jules.

"I see, I’m guessing that means you’re going to shuffle the squads? I do agree that the balance between the squads is too uneven at present. And given that each squad has similar levels of responsibility, that’s an issue we need to rectify as soon as possible," Lyra nodded in agreement.

"I am a bit concerned about The Irregulars, one of their main conditions for joining the Knight Order in the first place was that they all be put in the same squad. But it’ll be impossible to balance the squads without splitting them up, we’ll need to convince them to agree to that somehow. As things stand, the Third Squad is our strongest squad by quite a distance, and while my own squad and the First Squad haven’t been depleted too severely, the same can’t be said of the Second Squad. To balance things out, we are going to have to divide up some of The Irregulars between the other squads. I already have an idea of some of the reassignments I’d like to make, I’ll need to discuss the matter with the Captains and other high ranking Knights before finalizing any changes, though."

"Alright, then, sounds like you’ve got that under control, so I’ll leave it to you."

"Yes, your Highness. I believe that concludes everything I needed to report. May I ask how the negotiations with the nation of Anima is going?" Jules asked her.

"Well, the discussions have been progressing steadily and positively, though things have come to a bit of a halt thanks to the issue with the Monster Queens. If things continue to progress at this rate, we should be able to meet them in person and discuss the alliance in a few months or so. The Anima government did seem fairly apprehensive initially, but thanks to the Elves speaking favorably on our behalf, they’re now open to exploring the possibility of an alliance."

Shortly after the alliance with Sylph was formed, Lyra reached out to Anima in the hopes of forming an alliance with them as well.

But just like with the Elves, the people of Anima were wary of the idea thanks to the damage done by Lyra’s predecessors. Lyra refused to give up so easily though, and with the help of the Elves, managed to finally convince Anima to at least hear them out.

"That’s encouraging to hear. We did have a better relationship with Anima than we did with Sylph in the past, until father went out of his way to ruin that," Recalled Jules with an exasperated sigh.

"Yeah, he really made an effort to offend them and then essentially cut ties. You have no idea how much I had to apologize for the disrespect he showed them, it was far from easy to convince them that our nation has really changed."

"We still haven’t fully undone all the damage that father and his predecessors caused. We always never it wasn’t going to be easy to fix all of it, and we’ve still got a lot of work to do. That said, I think we’ve made great progress on that front, it’s undeniable that the Kingdom of Persona has developed into a much better place to live over this last year or so, we’ve eliminated much of the corrupt elements plaguing our nation," Pointed out Jules encouragingly.

"Yeah, that’s true. Change isn’t going to happen overnight, it inevitably takes time. So, to have made as many changes as we have in what’s been a fairly short amount of time, is pretty great. There’s still a lot of work to be done, of course, but I think it’s safe to say that we’re on the right track," Smiled Lyra in response.

"We owe a lot of it to The Irregulars. Not only has their power been a major boost to our forces, but the fact that so many Commoners are in important positions in the Knight Order has helped change the image of the Order among the Commoners. We were despised by them not all that long ago, but that’s completely changed now. It certainly helped that The Irregulars were seen as heroes by the Commoners well before they joined us."

"Absolutely, we couldn’t have come this far without them, I can’t even imagine how long it would have taken to get to this point if they were out of the picture. Actually, we probably wouldn’t even exist, the nation almost certainly would have fallen to the Undead King if it wasn’t for The Irregulars. At the very least, a hell of a lot more people would be dead," Said Lyra, before adding slyly, "By the way, speaking of The Irregulars, I heard something pretty interesting from Siele recently. About Aster Stark, he mentioned that you’ve been getting pretty flustered around him lately. What’s going on there?"

"H-Huh? I, uh...I have no idea what you’re talking about, your Highness," Responded Jules, averting her gaze as she felt her face heating up.

"Aw, how sweet, is this your first love? I’ve never fallen for anyone myself, so I must admit, I’m pretty jealous," Smirked Lyra teasingly.

"L-Love-...?! I-I’m afraid you’re mistaken, your Highness, th-that is absolutely not the case! I-I’m not in love with him!" Jules objected vehemently, her face bright red.

"Hm, okay, I get it, you’re in denial."

"Wha-...?! No, that’s not-...!"

"I read a romance novel a while ago where a character did the same thing, denied her feelings for the person she was obviously in love with. There’s an easy way to see if it’s the same with you...first, imagine yourself in romantic situations with him, like holding hands, kissing, cuddling, stuff like that."

"I-I, uh..."

"And then, imagine a different woman in those same situations with him. How does that make you feel?"

"..."

"If imagining yourself in those situations made you feel good, and imagining him with another woman made you feel bad, then that’s that, you’re in love. So...tell me, how did imagining those scenarios make you feel?" Inquired Lyra with a smirk.

"I...I didn’t feel a thing!" Shot back Jules defensively, grimacing as she felt her heart pounding in her chest, feeling more than a little flustered...