Swarming Sovereignty
Chapter 174: The Tables, Turned

“Hey everyone, it’s your favorite elven explorer, Faelyn!” Faelyn said, smiling at the camera. “Did you all go watch the video? I know a lot of you just tune into the streams and don’t catch the edits, but that one’s not an edit of a stream, and it’s really important.”

“Why aren’t you logged in yet?” Faelyn’s text-to-speech program said. “I want to see more Fae.”

“You and me both.” Faelyn chuckled. “It’s unreal how much better that body feels. I know it’s because it got juiced up with a bunch of powerful stuff when it was converted, but, when I logged off, I felt so…weak, like I’d been hit with a bunch of debuffs or something. I did briefly log back in so I could show people the video to make sure they were fine with it, but I forced myself to log off afterwards.

“Let me tell you, I really wanted to spend the couple of hours since uploading just lounging about while logged in, but I forced myself to nap in this body instead. I’m gonna need to put myself on a schedule for eating and exercising, I think. If I don’t, I get the feeling I’ll just spend all my time logged in and only do the minimum required to stay alive.

“And, no, that’s not conditioning carrying over, the Goddess of Hearth is monitoring me and making sure it’s not. That body just feels that much better. If I could permanently swap to it without it being part of the swarm, I’d do it in a heartbeat. But, anyway, I stayed like this so we could have a little chat while I’m not under the swarm’s conditioning, just to reassure you all.”

“What was going on with the Queen? She looks way different.” The text-to-speech asked.

“I think she evolved.” Faelyn replied. “I mean, she did slay the Lord of Monsters since we last saw her, it’s no wonder she’s gained a ton of experience. I’ll have to see if they have video of it somewhere, because I’m really curious to see what that fight looked like.”

“New Queen, smash or pass?”

Faelyn rolled his eyes. “Again with this? It’s a lot weirder now that I’ve met her, but if I ignore that…smash, I guess? I said I don’t mind beastkin if they’re well groomed, and her evolution helped smooth out her tail fur. And, if you ask me while I’m Fae, it’d be absolutely smash, I don’t have the beastkin hangup while I’m like that. There might be other hangups due to her being Queen, though.”

“Are there any side-effects you’ve noticed?”

“You mean in ‘real life’? That body doesn’t have any side effects that I’ve noticed while logged in, not unless you include the whole conditioning thing, and that doesn’t have any effect on me here thanks to the Goddess of Hearth. Really, the only thing is that my main body feels comparatively worse. Which…well, why don’t we continue this conversation after I’m logged in?”

Faelyn quickly turned on his equipment, and after just a moment she was back in her other body, an already-familiar feeling of power and energy coursing through her. “Feels good.” She sighed, turning and giving a peace sign, a wink, and her trademark winning smile to the camera. “So, how do I look?”

Her chat exploded, and Fae found herself surprised by just how gratifying it was to see them call her beautiful, gorgeous, hot, or otherwise praise her new body. It wasn’t like she had hated complements before, but seeing them appreciate her body just as much as Fae was appreciating it made her feel…good.

“Mommy? I mean…Mommy? Sorry, uh, Mommy?” The text-to-speech rang out.

Fae smirked, leaning forward suggestively. “Never could have done something like this before, could I?” She said, chuckling before straightening back up. “Looks like you guys that wouldn’t shut up about me playing as a woman got your way in the end, huh? Now…what should we do first? Explore the capital, or go to the dungeon underneath to test out my new abilities? I’d ask for a poll, but since we’re streaming to like a dozen different places, I’ll just be deciding based on what I think chat is leaning towards.”

She waited for a while for the messages to roll in. They were pretty split between the two options, but in the end, it seemed like exploring the capital was barely edging out going to the dungeon. “Looks like we’re exploring the capital first.” Fae said. “How about we go look at that work floor?”

She left her house, a spring in her step as she walked down the street. “It doesn’t come across in video form, but this place smells really nice.” She said. “It doesn’t…stink like most cities do. You know how there’s always the smell of fuel, or smoke, or even of people? Here it’s just a nice sort of earthy scent, like dirt after rain.”

“That’s the World Tree for you.” Nailah said, walking up to Fae. “Can I assume you’re streaming, and not just talking to yourself?”

Fae nodded. “Yeah, I was about to go poke around the work floor. Do you have some time to talk? I’d love to interview you while we walk.”

“Is she single?” The text-to-speech asked.

“Yeah, I’m free.” Nailah replied, falling in line beside Fae. “What do you want to know?”

“What was your life like before all of this?” Fae asked, gesturing around and pointedly ignoring that last text-to-speech message. “Is it better or worse now?”

“It was exhausting.” Nailah replied. “As king, there was always something that needed my attention, and my insistence on introducing policies that would benefit the lower class meant I was constantly butting heads with the nobles.”

Fae stopped. “You were a king?!” She exclaimed.

“Oh, did Lia not tell you?” Nailah asked. “Yeah, I was King of the Glens, the nation where Lia and Amelia were born.”

“She didn’t.” Fae replied, beginning to walk again. “Sorry if I’ve been disrespectful.”

“It’s quite alright.” Nailah said, chuckling. “Technically speaking I’m still Duchess of the Glens, but that’s just a formality; I’m basically in retirement. We’re just waiting for my daughter to both prove her competence and gain confidence before we officially hand the title over. Whatever the case, rank isn’t really important in the swarm, it’s just a way to know who is watching over an area and who to go to if you have problems.”

“So…has the transition been tough for you?” Fae asked. “Going from being, well, treated like royalty to living just like everyone else?”

“Not at all.” Nailah replied. “I have everything I could ever want right now; I have my wife and one of my kids with me, and no longer needing to worry about rank has freed us up to explore our relationship with Ophelia and her wife. Between that and them forcing me to keep at least one body resting at any given time, I’ve been more relaxed than I have been in decades.”

“Only one of your kids? Are the others back in the Glens?”

“Yeah.” Nailah confirmed. “Lucia, Marica, and Meg. Lucia’s the one who’s working as regent right now, and honestly the whole reason I chose to surrender in the first place. More and more I find myself thanking her for convincing me to; it really was best for my people.”

“Ask her why she surrendered.” The text-to-speech demanded.

“My chat’s wondering what the reason for your surrender was.” Fae relayed. “Do you mind enlightening us?”

“Not at all.” Nailah replied. “We were in a rather unique position; before we had a real idea of what the swarm was, they had approached us with the offer of a peace treaty, valid up until three years after the Lord of Monsters was defeated. At the time I hadn’t yet grasped the gravity of the situation and I didn’t want to provoke Amelia, so we swore an Oath under the Goddess of Law.

“We were forbidden from sharing information about the swarm or attacking them, and they were likewise forbidden from attacking us. My daughter Meg was part of the group helping train Izumi, and was captured and converted shortly before Izumi was. They negotiated her return home afterwards, and a short time after that Lucia wanted to know more about the swarm, to see if Meg’s claims about it were true.

“We were able to come visit the capital here, and that was the turning point for us. I could see that there would be no winning a war against the swarm; with their base being here and the capability to convert others, it was only a matter of time before they defeated everyone else. This was made worse by the realization that Rose is the reincarnation of the Ruby Emperor, a former Hero and the single most important person in the history of Ratha, and that she kept all of her memories.

“She was widely known as the greatest military mind the world had ever seen, and she ruled the entire world at one point. It was a golden age like nothing we had ever had before or since. That wouldn’t have been enough if it wasn’t for the fact that, as Lucia put it, Lia is a product of my policies. She really, truly, is trying to better the world as much as she can.”

Nailah shrugged. “When it was put into perspective, the choice was obvious; I could either refuse to surrender and be forced to watch as the rest of the world crumbled before the swarm, my people terrified and powerless to stop them, or I could surrender and bring peace of mind and a better quality of life to my people.”

“How does the swarm impact your average civilian?” Fae asked. “The Queen’s given me the pitch, but I want to hear what you think.”

“Independence.” Nailah replied. “It might seem counterintuitive to outsiders, but the average person gains so, so much freedom to do what they want when they join the swarm. With monsters essentially doing away with the need for manual labor overnight and the freedom from a caste system, people are free to pursue whatever they want in their time.”

That made sense to Fae, but Fae’s chat had mixed opinions about it. Some thought it was simply propaganda, others thought it seemed plausible, and others still were on the fence. “I’ll have to go visit some of these people myself.” Fae said. “My chat doesn’t really believe it.”

“I’ll give you a map, and we can have Amelia teleport you to the capital of the Glens.” Nailah suggested. “From there, you can explore at your leisure and see for yourself what life is like for the average person. Now, fair warning, we haven’t been able to really start focusing on the people yet, we’re still, you know, in the middle of a world war, but that should be over within half a year.”

“That soon?” Fae asked.

“Every country but one has informally surrendered.” Nailah replied. “They haven’t been able to make any progress in the war, and the swarm only gets stronger with time. Right now, they’re only resisting as much as is required to keep rebellions from popping up.”

“And the last country?” Fae asked. “Will they be that easy to deal with?”

“They built their entire image upon being Rose’s successor, and the Goddess of Hearth recently confirmed both that they were doing sapient experimentation and that Rose is really who she says she is. Their morale is completely and utterly destroyed, and the only reason they’re not part of the surrender is that their ruler is arrogant and knows that he won’t be in any sort of position of power after this. Rose doesn’t like how he’s corrupted her ideals.”

They reached the plaza that held the portals, and Nailah led Fae over to the one that had “work floor” inscribed on its side. They stepped through and were transported to an area that was filled with farms and what appeared to be large warehouses. “Where do the nutrients for the farms come from?” Fae asked.

“The World Tree.” Nailah replied. “It just generates those nutrients from nowhere. Removes the need for water and sun, too. Here, follow me, I think you’ll find them rather interesting.”

As they walked, the text-to-speech spoke yet again. “Isn’t this just watching grass grow?”

“Chat, behave.” Fae hissed quietly.

“Let me guess, they think it’s going to be boring.” Nailah said.

“You could hear that?” Fae said embarrassedly. “Sorry, that was meant for the chat.”

“It’s fine, it’s fine.” Nailah reassured her. “And believe me, this isn’t anything like the farms any of you are used to. Here, follow me.”

She led Fae over to the nearest farm, which was abuzz with activity. Small monsters with oddly humanoid hands scurried between plants, picking what appeared to be bundles of wheat off of bush-like plants…or…were those small trees? It was more like a stick growing out of the ground with wheat for branches. Whatever they were, once the wheat was harvested the monsters would put it in sacks at their waists. And, every once in a while, a monster would head away from the plants and towards a warehouse a short distance away, sacks bulging.

“Harvest already?” Fae asked. “How long has it been since these were planted?”

Nailah smirked, walking over to one of the bushes and examining it. “Seems this one was last harvested about ten minutes ago, by the looks of it.” She said.

“You’re joking.” Fae replied.

“Serious as the grave.” Nailah replied, plucking some of the wheat from the bush. “Come, take a look.”

Fae walked over curiously, and to her shock she was able to see as the wheat beginning to regrow before her eyes. “That’s incredible.” She said. “And how long can it keep this up?”

“Until the plant dies, and then we just replant it.” Nailah said. “See, Rose has the capability to create new kinds of plants, and when she’s not on the front lines, she’s been hard at work improving what we have. While in the World Tree, we don’t have to worry about being hard on the soil and we don’t have to worry about crops being in-season or disease or pests getting at them or anything like that.

“So, she was free to make crops that wouldn’t work anywhere else. We produce an absolutely staggering amount of food for how small an area we’re in, and we’re packing it up and preparing to ship it out to the rest of the world. We just need to finish making our road out of the Spine.”

“And…why bushes, or small trees, or whatever these are?” Fae asked. “Why not just regular wheat? Uh, this is wheat, right?”

“Yeah, it’s wheat.” Nailah replied, tossing the wheat she had picked to a passing monster. “And we use this form for a few reasons. Primarily, it’s so we don’t have to replant as often; the bushes die of old age every week or so, but until then they produce constantly. But, other than that, this sort of bush-slash-tree thing is convenient since we can make them grow taller to fit more production in a smaller space.”

“I see. Where are the monsters taking all of this?”

“Follow me, I’ll show you the command center.” Nailah said, beginning to walk again. “It’s just over here.”

Nailah led Fae down to the building that the monsters were bringing the harvest to, a large-open ended warehouse of sorts. It was packed to the brim with huge bins, catwalks running over the top of them that the monsters used to reach the tops of the bins. As they entered, Nailah brought Fae over to the side, where a woman was sitting at a desk.

“Hey, Kaitlyn.” Nailah said. “I’m here to show Fae the farms.”

“Oh, how the tables have turned.” The woman said, smirking. “Feels like just yesterday that you and Lucia were being given the tour yourselves.”

“Doesn’t it?” Nailah laughed. “Fae, this is Kaitlyn, she’s our farm manager of sorts.”

“Manager is a strong word.” Kaitlyn replied. “I mostly just sit here and read while the monsters fill the bins. Then, when one is full, I give the orders to bring it to the storage and mark it in the inventory report. The process has gotten pretty streamlined over the past couple of months.”

“Are you not worried that the monsters will mess up?” Fae asked.

“No, they’re pretty good at repetitive tasks like this.” Kaitlyn said. “You just tell them to harvest and they will.”

“They can even make simple furniture like stools.” Nailah added. “As long as they have clear instructions and the task isn’t complex, they can do it. Lia has this Skill that passively helps all non-sapient members of the swarm with stuff like this.”

“Huh. By the way, what are these monsters? I haven’t seen anything quite like them.”

“They’re monsters that were made for this purpose. We’re using a sort of queen bee-like thing to make more, but if you need something with hands you can just throw some sculptures of hands into the cocoon and that’ll usually give you an option that has hands or something similarly dexterous. You’d be surprised what they can do even without hands, though.”

“Well, I don’t think I’ll take up too much more of your time.” Fae said, the Queen’s reminder to not bug the workers too much fresh in her mind. “Thanks for humoring me.”

“Yes, my vigorous, incredibly time-consuming work.” Kaitlyn said dryly, waving a book around. “It was a welcome diversion, if anything. Don’t hesitate to stop by if you have any other questions.”

“So, where to next?” Nailah asked as the two walked away. “The farms are the most exciting part of this floor, if I’m being honest; everything else is relatively normal, just done by monsters or sped up by them.”

“Do you have any recommendations?” Fae asked.

“We could stop by the tailor.” Nailah suggested. “My girlfriend works there and tailoring is a bit different since we have to accommodate so many different body types now.”

“What about the dungeon?” Fae’s text-to-speech asked.

“One moment.” Fae told Nailah, taking a bit to look over her chat. Quite a few of them were insistent on doing the dungeon now, so she decided she might as well humor them. “My chat really wants me to check out that dungeon in the roots.” Fae relayed. “I think I’m going to go and do that.”

“Sounds good. Would you like me to come with?”

“What level range is the dungeon?”

“Level ranges don’t really work anymore, now that evolutions reset your level, but it’s pretty low-level, we train kids in there.” Nailah replied.

“I think I’ll go on my own, then; I want to fully test everything and don’t want to worry about catching people in the crossfire.”

“Sounds good.” Nailah replied cheerily. “This body will be back at my house if you need me!”

She left, and Fae headed back towards the portal, eager to test out her new body. She wouldn’t be able to test it against monsters that would actually challenge it, but she’d be able to fully test out her new movement capabilities, and she could hardly wait.