16 Roman Empress Get's A Little Too Devious For Her Own Good
The Divided Lands.
The Land of the Damned.
Both areas were of respectable size, with the former being several times larger than Luxembourg and the latter slightly larger than France itself.
And having claimed such territories within a month is an incredible feat even by the system's standards.
However, there is a slight problem that came with it.
The Land of the Damned was... too much to manage at the moment.
With only 9006 people to go around, including an Empress, a random hobo, a big ol' overgrown puppy, three Legion Commanders, and the rest being troops, they had to get smart about how they managed things.
After several hours had passed and Jin had transported all the invaluable remains of the Ancient Sky Shrieker, which made the troops incredibly grateful, they returned to The Divided Lands.
Though, Reinhard and his brigade will soon be posted in the Land of the Damned, only after they handle their business at the main base first.
One of their main duties there will be to keep an eye on the area, you know, just in case.
Secondly, while they're overseeing the newly acquired territory, they'll also be diving into a new mega project, which was greenlit by Jin himself.
But... what about Nero?
When asked about that, Jin responded with,' No biggie fam', so the Legion Commanders trusted him.
Well, at least Lothric and Reinhard did...
Valkyra was still unaware that her Empress was respectfully snoring her ass away under a tree's canopy somewhere in their main base while a certain hobo temporarily took her place.
Thus, unfortunately, as lazy as Jin wanted to be, he had to at least try being the Empress' supposed 'Advisor.'
"..."
Standing next to the Titanhorn on top of a hill, they overlooked the newly transformed territory slowly but surely beginning to take shape.
Fancy but smooth metallic-looking roads were plastered around the terrain in an organized manner while the edge had a slight curb to it, which was probably the Maglev technology Valkyra had implemented during the construction phase.
Even without the Hyper Maglev Technology blueprint, the fact that she had the necessary data to form the foundation made things much easier.
"That'll come later."
Looking at the information panel in front of him, he looked through all the available blueprints.
...
[Available Blueprints!
↠Blueprint of a Customizable Castle (Available for continuous upgrades!)
↠Blueprint for Advanced Technological Workshops (Available for continuous upgrades!)
↠Blueprint for Technologically Advanced Automated Turret Walls (Abbreviated to TAAT! Available for continuous upgrades!)
↠Blueprint for Supercharged Railcannon Towers (Available for continuous upgrades!)
↠Blueprint for HyperMag Technology!]
...
"Hmmm."
Indeed.
"I'm lost."
{Ding! ( ≖‿ ≖ )}
'You mockin' me? Bite me.'
{(°0°)
(๑ᵔ⤙ᵔ๑)
(๑>•̀๑) 𖹭}
'Okay, bro.'
Ignoring the continuous dings from the system, he pondered on what he could do next before an obvious thought occurred to him.
His finger which had been hovering over the transparent screen unhesitatingly clicked on one of the blueprints.
POP!
...
[Claimed Blueprint for Advanced Technological Workshops (Available for continuous upgrades!)]
...
"Huff."
"Whatchu huffing at me for?"
Giving the Titanhorn a sideglance, he looked at his hands and wondered where the blueprint was.
"Uhh. Hello?"
Jin flailed his arms around, yet to no avail nothing happened.
[The command to load up your chosen blueprint is 'Schematics'.]
"No way."
'Schematics.'
In an instant, a massive blue pillar of light descended from the sky, gradually turning into a towering structure. The process resembled a scan from top to bottom, akin to a 3D printer in action.
*THUD*
The rhinoceros was jumping around in... what appeared to be a weird state of excitement.
"Why?"
Casting another perplexed sidelong glance, he observed that most, if not all of the troops had halted their work, curiously looking at the giant schematic coming into the real world.
Lothric dropped his steel rods again, looking over like an old man seeing the latest iPhone 14.
Reinhard... was just being himself, staring at him while nodding in approval.
Jin could already sense where his head was going with this, even in that thick data-filled brain of his.
And to confirm what he had just thought about, he saw the war machine give him a thumbs up.
"Dude is just chill like that."
And then he saw Valkyra elegantly flapping her metallic-like wings midair, watching in silence as this scene took fold.
"Wait a minute..."
He just realized something.
While letting the schematic continue loading up in the background, he couldn't but notice that he and Valkyra hadn't even talked once.
"Oh well."
Shrugging his shoulders, he decided to plop down on the ground while waiting.
"WUUUUUU...!"
Of course, peace was never an option. Especially if you had a thousand-ton beast next to you jumping around for no reason.
...
...
...
"PRAETOR!"
After a week of uninterrupted sleep, Nero was back in full spirits.
Of course, before this, having woken up under some random ass tree, she was confused and annoyed at the same time.
And knowing the culprit who had placed her there, she wasted no time thinking.
Just straight-up cavewoman oonga-bunga type shit, as Nero dashed over and pounced on the innocent man still seated in place.
Of course, having sensed her coming from a mile away, he slightly shifted his body and did a judo throw on her... while sitting!
"Praetor! Is that the result of the blueprint?"
As one can see, the madwoman was now shaking Jin around in excitement, shrugging off the impact from earlier with ease.
The lad himself had already accepted this reoccurring situation, as such, with a lifeless gaze, he continued staring at the finished schematic.
"Yeah, it is."
Jin's voice, lacking enthusiasm, made her pout slightly.
"Hey! Aren't you happy?"
"About what."
"We haven't talked in a while!"
"That's... true."
After all, the last thing she said to him was something along the lines of asking to hug him, which was... shit, surprisingly more than a week ago.
As such, knowing that she was speaking facts, he relaxed his body in her grasp.
"Hehe!"
Giggling in contentment, Nero gently continued swaying his body around.
"Is it that fun?"
"Well, I can't be seen shaking around my subjects now, can't I, Praetor?"
"..."
Noticing that he wasn't saying anything, she glanced at his side profile, just to see him give her that special Dwayne Johnson look.
Jin's right eyebrow was raised in a suspiciously high manner.
"Aren't I, given my administrative name, considered your 'subject'?"
Knowing where he was going with this, she gave him a sly smile.
"Well... Praetor is different."
"How so?"
"My Praetor has this lazy vibe going on, always constantly sleeping around, and only does things when he's forced to..."
Boop!
Feeling a slight touch on his nose, he noticed the ever-growing mischief in her eyes.
"Besides, Praetor is someone special, so-"
Nero closed the distance between them, her body pressing against his from behind, as she spoke softly, her voice tinged with sensuality, near his ear.
"-isn't it about time you call me by my real name~?"
"Don't know what you're talking about."
Feeling a pull on both sides of his cheeks, his expression deadpanned as he gave her a side glance.
"Oh please, as if you speaking Latin wasn't a dead giveaway. Remember? 'Salve, honor est, Imperatrix.'"
Slightly giggling, she continued to speak.
"Did you honestly believe I'd forget what you told me?"
Eyes widening in surprise, he responded.
"Man, I must be living rent-free in that head of yours."
"Hmmm, that's one way of describing it?"
Nodding her head, Nero casually leaned ever closer to him. Her hand gently cupped his chin as she turned his face towards her.
"Forget what I said... just say my name, Jin~"
...
...
...
