Netori SSS-Emperor: All Queens Shall Be Mine!-Chapter 61: The First Meeting - Part 1

To a degree, Astoria felt helpless. Her reign was slipping through her fingers, and with someone as assertive as Wolf, it had already become quite obvious. Although she was not entirely against handing him the reins just yet, he had to be vetted and trained in similar ways that she had, but with him rejecting her very first order of allowing Kayla to take his pain, trying to gain control now was proving quite difficult.

"And here are the island clusters; they form a sort of triangle that faces away from where one of our fleets can reach them." Brought out of her thoughts by Kayla's voice, Astoria shook her head lightly and focused on the map instead. Following her fingers, she noticed the three islands currently in the possession of monsters. "We have three Siren warships stationed around the islands. A few nights of cannon blowing, and we can sink those islands if we really wanted to."

"But then what will we rule over? Rubble?" Wolf interjected, and quickly looking at each other, the two women smiled. Kayla wanted to hear sound reasoning from the king, and unlike the last, who had little interest in warfare at least this time, the king was taking an interest in the matter of expansion and military.

"Exactly the point." Grabbing a handful of nail-sized bottles of red potion, Kayla placed them across the region where their smallest battleships–the Siren–were stationed. "Besides, the moment we start firing, the dragonkin starts picking off our soldiers with spells that they're not fit to counter."

Lifting his head, Wolf squinted and leaned forward. The Dragonkin, a beastman race of superior genes. They were amongst the few beastmen looked upon fondly by the people of Aestonia, and yet their actions as of late have been nothing short of barbaric.

"What's the average rank of soldiers on the Sirens?" Wolf asked, trying to gauge the difference in strength between the parties.

"B at most, and the rest are floor workers with no fighting capabilities," Kayla answered, and before she had a chance to breathe, the Wolf inquired further.

"And what of the dragonkin?"

Placing a finger under her chin, the cambion hummed to herself in her musings. It was hard to assume since not many people, especially outside the island, got themselves ranked by some official party, in spite of that if she had to guess.

"Their chieftain must be at a minimum A and the rest B, but..."

"A rank B human and a rank B beastman aren't really the same." Before she could finish, Wolf uttered the exact words she was about to. Looking at him, his eyes buried on the map, Kayla was growing slightly fond of this studied strategist.

"So they're picking our soldiers from a distance, and since they can fly and the cannons can't be pointed upwards, it's harder to deal with them than the wingless races?" Staring at the map, Wolf grabbed the potions meant to signify the blood of the Siren fleet in case they attempted an assault without proper tactics. Wolf bounced it in his hands, wondering how to minimize all casualties. "A race known for their resilient skin and agility, it would be hard to take them down, whether we manage to capture one of the islands or not."

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'What to do, what to do...' A war where the enemy can't be pushed back. Their position is rock solid, and approaching them only ends in more casualties from the allies. How to take such an enemy down? There has to be a way to bring down not only them but the rest of the monster races along with them.

"If it's any help..." Tossing a bronze coin from her pocket, Kayla placed it on the smallest island. "The smaller one is populated by orcs, as greedy as Madia's dead sons. We can try to bribe them somehow and gain their favor, possibly."

Taking out a silver coin next, she tossed it on the mid-sized island. Tapping on it, Kayla scoffed at the thought of the goblins that rule that lush place.

"Then there's goblins too, although we've heard their leader is a demi-beast, a goblin with a minotaur's head–" Leaning back into her spot again, she folded her hands and looked at Wolf's lantern-lit face. "Making a deal with them would be difficult either way. They have captured some of our women from around the mainland and are using them to boost their population."

"Do you mean..." Glancing up at Kayla, Wolf didn't even have to finish his sentence before she nodded. Looking over to Astoria next, he stared at her for a moment, expecting her to give her input in the situation if she had any.

It took her a moment to realize what his gaze meant, but once she did, her thoughts were quickly made apparent.

"We should castrate them and send them to work in the mines with the other slaves." Desensitized to most atrocities committed by these monsters, Astoria was looking at the situation from an economic basis. In her mind, the cards were already dealt, and what they were supposed to do was make the best out of their situation.

"And what about you, Kayla? I have a plan, but I would like to hear your thoughts first," Wolf asked the cambion but simply waved her hand carelessly.

"We wouldn't be having this meeting if I had any bright ideas." Moving everything off the map, she slammed two fingers on the triangle islands. "We've been in a stalemate for nearly three months at this point. I've lost a Siren ship already and the crew with it. Nobody wants to charge into that place since the last crew never made it twenty miles to the island before being picked off like fleas."

Getting heated at the fact that she'd lost an entire crew, Kayla pushed her fingers harder against the map as if doing it would sink those islands in real life.

"Our main vessels are chasing after Leviathan, otherwise I would've brought Serenity to these fucking islands by smouldering them into a giant heap of flaming shit!" Pulling her hand away with just as much aggression as was in her words, she breathed heavily to herself while looking between the other two inside the meeting room.

Catching her breath after a few seconds, Kayla heaved a sigh and fanned herself.

"I apologize, eighty fine men and women used to work on that ship–and losing them is, needless to say, frustrating." Allowing her a moment to calm herself, Wolf decided to hone in on one word that she'd uttered once she was done.

"This Serenity, what is it? I assume you're not talking about the metaphorical one, are you?" Her eyes lit up at Wolf's question. Appearing as if she'd been expecting to be asked that question her whole life, Kayla enthusiastically revealed.

"It's the name of the canons on our largest ships. Serenity, because once they are fired, that's what there will be..." The wide smile on her face reflected just how passionate she was about the ships, the canons, the people, and even the sheer thrill of conquest.

'No wonder we've captured most of our territories in only the few recent decades...' And while the king and queen played major roles in the advancement of the kingdom, it was people like her that carried out their orders and actually delivered the desired results, be they with sweat, tears or blood.

"Now, hold your horses. I still have a lot to discuss..." And for sure, this discussion between Wolf and the two women wasn't yet over.