Swarming Sovereignty
Chapter 180: Civil Servants

Lia stood in front of the converted noble, a displeased look on her face. “I’ve heard about the way you rule.” She said icily. “Consider yourself stripped of your position. However, someone needs to maintain the affairs of this city, so I’m going to be placing a temporary leader in charge until we can put the best fit for the position into place. To that end, I need to know who the other authority figures in this city are.

“And, of course, you and your people are not an option here. I want to know about the people who are actually out working with the people every day, community leaders, respected business owners, the like. That being said, there are two options for you here; we can either have Amelia extract the information from you, or you can give it willingly; whatever you choose, we’ll make sure people know what you picked. Being under the conditioning yourself, I think you can understand how people will feel on the subject.”

The former noble gave her a sullen look back. “Yes, my Queen.” She said glumly. “You’ll be wanting Harbormistress Anise and Bishop Dalles, then. Anise lives near the harbor, and Dalles is in the cathedral in the town square, no doubt.”

“Thank you.” Lia replied. “That’ll be all.”

“Wait!” The former noble cried. “Am I not going to be let out of this cell now that I’ve been converted?”

“Not until we finish investigating your place of residence.” Lia replied. “If we find evidence of crimes, then we’ll be trying you as we would any other person. If not, we’ll be letting you free, but regardless of what we find, you won’t be in anything approaching a position of power. Goodbye.”

Lia turned and left the room, Amelia and Rose trailing behind her. “Well? Was she lying?” Lia asked.

“No.” Amelia replied.

“Good. We’ll start by visiting the harbormistress, then. Would you two rather walk or teleport?”

“As much as I’d like to see the city, teleportation is probably best for now.” Rose mused. “The streets near here are pretty clogged right now.”

“I have no preference.” Amelia said. “Should I teleport us to the harbor, then?”

“Please.” Lia said.

A moment later they were standing on a pier, one that had been rather hastily abandoned. “Looks like there are vital signs in that building over there.” Rose said, pointing at a small warehouse a few hundred feet away. “Shall we go ask directions?”

“I don’t see why not.” Lia said, walking over to the warehouse with her lovers in tow. When she reached it, she gave the door a polite knock, then waited.

After some shuffling from within, the door opened. “Y-yes?” A man asked nervously. “Are you the – Y-Your Majesty! F-Forgive my rudeness, to w-what do we owe the honor?”

“I don’t mind at all, sorry for giving you a fright.” Lia said, giving him a smile. “I was just hoping you knew where the Harbormistress is.”

“L-likely in her office, Your Majesty.” The man said. “It’s in a huge building with a decorative anchor over the door, just down that way.” He pointed over to Lia’s right. “Can’t miss it.”

“Thank you very much!” Lia said brightly. “I appreciate it. And, again, sorry for scaring you with our arrival. We’ll have some soldiers down here to discuss your conversions as soon as we finish with the army that was stationed here, so just sit tight, okay?”

“U-Understood.” The man stammered.

“Before you go, take these, as an additional apology.” Rose said, procuring a large basket of her fruit and handing it to the man. “Some fruit of the World Tree. It tastes great, won’t spoil, and will heal you of most injuries. Conversion will heal you even better, so don’t eat it before, it’d be a bit of a waste. Oh, and if you don’t mind ending up more attuned to nature after conversion, it’ll give you a nice power bump too.

“You can even become a humanoid plant like me, which has its own benefits, but I imagine most of you aren’t willing to go that far yet. Anyway, distribute these among the rest of the people in there with you and do what you want with them, just don’t sell them, okay?”

The man took the basket from Rose. “A-Are you sure it’s alright to g-give us such precious fruit?” He asked.

Rose conjured up a fruit in an outstretched palm and tossed it into the basket. “Making them doesn’t take too much out of me, so I figured it’d be a nice thank you. Just make sure it gets distributed to rest of the people in there, I’ll know if it doesn’t.” She said. “We’ll be going now, thanks again for your help!”

Lia, Rose, and Amelia left, the sound of the door shutting audible behind them. “I could probably teleport us to the place.” Amelia offered.

“How far is it?” Rose asked.

“Quarter of a mile, maybe?” Amelia said.

“I think we should just run there, then.” Lia said. “It’ll take a minute at most, and it’ll save you some Mana.”

“Agreed.” Rose said.

Amelia nodded and broke into a run, Lia and Rose following close behind. True to the man’s word, they came across a large building adorned with a decorative anchor shortly after, and they slowed back down to a walk in front of it.

Lia cautiously opened the door, peering into the lobby as she moved in. “Hello?” She called out. “Is anyone in here?”

“A few people.” Rose said quietly. “They’re through that door at the back, all grouped together.”

Lia nodded, then strode over to the door and knocked. “We know you’re in there, we just want to talk.” She said loudly, hoping they could hear her within. “We need to take care of some administrative business.”

The door opened a crack. “Well, are ya gonna convert us or what?” A woman asked gruffly. “We aren’t exactly in the mood for ‘administrative business’.”

“Uh, Harbormistress, that voice…”

“Quiet, boy!” The woman barked. “Not now!”

“Ah, would you be Harbormistress Anise, then?” Lia asked. “We were looking for you, actually.”

“And what’s it to ya?” Anise grumbled.

“Harbormistress, I’m pretty sure that’s the Queen!” The voice hissed.

There was a pause, then the door opened wider, enough to see a woman peering out from within. After another moment, it opened all the way, revealing a rather short birdkin on the other side. “Apologies for the rudeness, Your Highness.” She said. “I’ve been trying to keep everyone from panicking after seeing those ships, it’s been stressful. Ya need me?”

“It’s fine, I don’t mind at all.” Lia said, sticking out her hand to shake. “And I’m sorry for the scare, the hope was that we’d get more surrenders with it, and it worked.”

Anise shook her hand, giving Lia a curious look. “You’re not like any noble I’m familiar with.” She remarked, then blinked and hurriedly bowed. “Apologies again, I didn’t mean any offense, it was supposed to be a compliment. I’m frazzled right now and I was never good at talking with important people.”

“You and me both.” Lia laughed. “And I took it as a compliment, I was a poor commoner before this, I know what it’s like. Would you mind stepping out for a moment? I’d like to have this talk a little more privately.”

Anise turned back to the room she had been in. “None of you make any trouble!” She ordered. “The Heroes are with her too, it’ll be your heads if you try anything weird!” She stepped fully into the lobby and shut the door behind her. “My office is just over there.” She said, pointing at a door halfway between where they were and the entrance. “It’s got magical soundproofing for making deals and whatnot, so that’ll be as private as we can get.”

“Perfect.” Lia said, beginning to walk over to the door. “This isn’t super sensitive information or anything, I just want to prevent rumors from spreading before everything is solidified.”

Anise dashed over to the door, taking out a key from her pocket and hurriedly unlocking it. “After you.”

Lia nodded and stepped inside, taking a seat in a chair near the wall. Rose and Amelia followed suit, and once Anise was inside as well, Lia began to speak again. “You seem to have your hands full, so I’ll get to the point; the lord of this city has been deemed unfit to rule.

“She’s being held in prison until we can have someone fully investigate her actions for wrongdoing, but I want there to be some authority in this city until we can arrange something more permanent. The noble told us you and Bishop Dalles were probably the next most notable authority figures that weren’t her people, so I thought I’d come to you to get your thoughts on the matter.”

Anise hesitantly sat down behind her desk. “Pardon my skepticism, but ya seem to know he…she’s not exactly the type to be honest about these types of things, why do you trust her?”

“Amelia was reading her mind the whole time.” Lia replied. “And we threatened social pressure if she wasn’t honest. Being known as someone who lied to me and undermined my efforts is a pretty good way to find yourself completely socially isolated in the swarm.”

“I see. Well, I hate to break this to ya, but I’m not exactly the kind of gal who’s good with anything but ships and trade.” Anise said. “Managing a whole city is beyond me. Bishop Dalles is definitely the one ya want, he’s sharp as nails and the people love him. People just know me as one of the city’s biggest employers.”

Lia nodded. “I understand.” She said. “Do you think you’d be able to advise him if he needs help? And remember, this is mostly a temporary measure until we can find someone more capable of managing the city, not a permanent post or anything.”

“I…don’t see why not.” Anise said. “But, if ya don’t mind my asking, how’re you planning to do that?”

“I’d ask Cedric, for one.” Lia replied. “But I’d also prefer if whoever was managing this city was a local, so I’d probably ask Bishop Dalles for help locating someone. I’m sure that, between the two of them, we’d be able to find a pretty good pick for the job.”

“Sensible.” Anise grunted.

There was a momentary pause, then Lia spoke up again. “That’s all we needed from you for now. Once things have settled down in a few days, I’ll be dropping by to oversee the conversion of the ships into shipgirls, so I’ll impose on you again then.”

“What do ya mean by that?” Anise asked confusedly.

“What I said.” Lia replied, smiling back at her. “In essence, I just reconvert someone with a ship in the cocoon and a few fish, and you’ve got yourself a person who’s a ship. We’ll leave a few in town for you to talk to, so you can feel out who would want to volunteer. And, if this is anything like the other ports I’ve done this at, I think you’ll find that you’ll have no shortage of volunteers.”

“It’s that easy?” Anise asked. “I figured you’d need something more…grandiose.”

“It’s that easy.” Lia confirmed. “You can pretty easily do it all on your own, if you want. But I like to do the initial conversions myself, though, since I more than double the power of the result.”

Anise leaned back in her chair. “You have me curious. What’s it like?”

“Are you interested?” Lia asked. “For the most part, people tend to liken it to using scrying magic, but more comfortable. They also generally enjoy the feeling of power and connection with the water that being a humanoid version of a boat gives you. I’ll bring one in and you can interview her, and depending on what you decide I’ll make you into one with your initial conversion.”

“That sounds nice.” Anise said.

“Perfect. I’ll grab one and direct her to you, then I’ll come back after I’ve talked with Bishop Dalles to hear your thoughts.” Lia said, standing up. “It’s been a pleasure talking with you, Anise.”

Rose stood up, procuring another basket of her fruit and handing it to Anise. “This is fruit of the World Tree.” She said. “It’s got powerful healing properties, tastes great, and won’t spoil. And if you don’t mind getting aligned towards nature, it’ll give you a hefty boost during conversion. Hand these out to the people who were in the back with you, and make sure they don’t eat it until after they’ve been converted; conversion will heal their injuries better than this, so using it now would be a waste. Just consider it an apology for the scare we gave you.”

Anise gazed down at the basket, nodding dumbly as she took it. “Understood, Your Majesty.”

“Thanks for your time.” Rose said, giving her a smile. “We’ll be back soon.”

As they left, Lia turned towards the sea and waved over the nearest shipgirl, who was standing atop the water and looking around intently. The moment she saw Lia beckoning her, she skimmed over as quickly as she could. “You need me, my Queen?”

“The harbormistress in there is thinking about becoming a shipgirl, would you mind answering any questions she has about it?” Lia asked.

“Of course, my Queen!” The shipgirl said, saluting. “Would you like me to oversee the conversions of anyone in there who does not wish to become a shipgirl?”

“If you would.” Lia said. “Thank you!”

“It is my pleasure.” The shipgirl replied. “Anything else you need from me?”

“Take this.” Rose said, tossing her a fruit. “It’s one of my fruits, do whatever you like with it. And then, no, we don’t need anything else from you, good work.”

“Thank you very much!” The shipgirl said happily. A moment later the fruit disappeared, no doubt stored within her hold. “I’ll keep it for an emergency.”

As she left, Lia turned to Rose and raised an eyebrow. “You’re giving out a lot of fruit today.” She noted. “What brought that on?”

Rose shrugged. “I realized that I might as well be generous with them, it’s not like the basic ones take much to make. It’s only a few hundred Mana and Stamina, so I made some magic that’ll automatically generate one and store it when my resources are full. Our bindings got somewhat lifted after your last evolution, meaning my regeneration rate has increased, and with that much passive income I’ve already got a huge stockpile.”

“I see.” Lia said. “Uh, Amelia, think you’ve got the leeway to teleport us into the cathedral? We…probably should have started there, since it was close, but…”

“Eh, we’d have had to teleport here and back anyway.” Amelia said. “Doesn’t matter the order too much.” She snapped her fingers, and the trio found themselves on a walkway overlooking a large open area filled with people. The feeling of magic and the slight haze of her lovers’ outlines informed Lia that Amelia had also given them some form of invisibility spell, too.

“Lots of people in here, they probably took shelter when everything started happening.” Rose observed. “It’s pretty common, churches are known sanctuaries against invading armies. We should probably be cautious so that we don’t cause too much of a stir as we track down the bishop. Amelia, I can take over those invisibility spells, that should help save on Mana.”

“Thanks.” Amelia replied.

“Alright…now, let’s go looking for the bishop, shall we?” Lia asked.