Lord Of Puppets

<<I want to research people.>>

<<Not like experiment on them... Well, I do want that.>>

<<But more like interact.>>

<<See myself how they live.>>

<<See how their society function.>>

<<...It isn’t for the research purposes alone either.>>

<<I’m just... Curios about it all.>>

<<How "people" are.>>

<<What I want is a humanoid body that I can use, which will blend in amongst the people.>>

<<But... Well, this isn’t really looking good.>>

<<The body which I’ve had made is... Doll like.>>

<<It obviously not very human... But it does look like it is trying to look like a human.>>

<<I’ve made it female looking, since Porai was helping me out in developing it.>>

<<But still, by just looking at it you can easily tell it is a golem.>>

<<Not only that, but its body ain’t soft, like a human flesh and skin.>>

<<Even if somehow manage to make the golem LOOK human enough, the simple thing as touch will instantly expose the golem.>>

<<This is annoying....>>

<<Ariava said once that the best way to deal with this would be maybe to research homunculus craft.>>

<<Homunculus.>>

<<A living manmade creature made with alchemy.>>

<<They can range from mindless creature, beastly creatures and real beings that possess their very own conscious.>>

<<But I don’t know anything about this this art... And I think I could only try researching it with both Porai and Ariava around... But both of them are busy with their own jobs and I’m already stuck, straight up buried with my own work.>>

<<...I have freedom but I don’t have fucking time to spare... Nice.>>

<<Still, maybe the research on the living beings may end up being somewhat useful in the future if I were to try to create that homunculuses... But then again, Ariava also told me that I need to obtain some specific skills in case we would try to do that.>

<<...>>

<<Well, there was really nothing else to talk about, so let’s move the clock forward.>>

<<Days passed.>>

<<Research continued.>>

<<The construction of the city as well as trade outpost continued.>>

<<The training of the three magic, metal, space and gravity was still happening.>>

<<The outposts and the trade routes would end up getting upgraded as well as far more secured, allowing us to start once again doing somewhat proper deals, which allowed me to get more data.>>

<<The dungeon was also developing nicely as well, which allowed me to create more dungeon’s hearts.>>

<<It was truly weird.>>

<<Normally increasing the number of the dungeon’s hearts would... Well, it would take a WHILE.>>

<<But ever since the me and the empire had the control, I was able to construct golems non stop without restriction... And now? The number of the dungeon’s heart finally reached the count of 10!>>

<<And something weird happened the moment it did.>>

<<The core... It mutated.>>

<<It was no longer a pure sphere-shaped object.>>

<<It grown something... A small cylinder from the side.>>

<<It was it.>>

<<A cylinder shaped object which was sticking out from the orb shaped dungeon core.>>

<<According to the information I’ve had, people call it the "Dungeon’s Horn".>>

<<Apparently it helps people judge how much the dungeon had grown.>>

<<Still. It isn’t the only appearance that had changed.>>

<<The territory which I could declare my own somewhat increased more than it should after the formation of the tenth dungeon’s heart.>>

<<Not only that, but the amount of generated miasma by the dungeon had slightly increased?>>

<<...There is also another thing.>>

<<I’ve... Walked outside.>>

<<And walked... And walked... And walked... Before then I’ve finally looked back.>>

<<The distance which I’ve crossed... It was nothing like EVER BEFORE!>>

<<It wasn’t a small or medium increase... IT WAS HUGE!>>

(So... It is really possible?) – thought Thauma as it stood on the small hill and looked at the dungeon in the distance, which was far away from the dungeon master’s current location.

(I can... Leave the Mevon territory?)

(This massive increase in range... Then....)

"..."

(The dungeon grown a horn after the 10th dungeon’s heart was created.)

(Does that mean that after every 10th heart, the range of my activities will increase significantly?)

(At first, I thought that maybe I would be forced to maybe use a long-range puppet to explore the outside of the dungeon... But now?)

(I think I could possibly explore the world by myself?!)

"..."

<<I’ve returned to the dungeon... With hope.>>

<<I could see it!>>

<<The possible future where I can SEE the civilization! See the people how they live!>>

<<This brough my joy! This possibility enough gave me a power to push forward even more! To not give up!>>

<<...>>

<<However....>>

<<It also gave me despair.>>

<<Dungeon.>>

<<It is my house.>>

<<It is my origin.>>

<<But it is also the very prison that binds me.>>

<<There will be always on how far away I can move from it.>>

<<Not only that, if the dungeon core is destroyed, the dungeon will die too... And in turn me, since the dungeon is my very own "heart".>>

<<...I will be always prisoner.>>

<<For all eternity.>>

<<...>>

<<Is it really not possible?>>

<<For me to gain the true freedom?>>

<<This despair... It is suffocating... To say the least.>>

<<...>>

<<But even so, I walk forward.>>

<<I’ve made countless discoveries and conducted countless researches.>>

<<I’ve created Forget Skills, something that had never ever before existed in this entire world.>>

<<There maybe answer to this despair, or maybe not.>>

<<Who knows?>>

<<But if there is none, then I will make it.>>

<<I will create the answer that never existed before.>>

<<I will create my own true hope.>>

[Meanwhile: Warmur kingdom]

"WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU MEAN HE IS DEAD?!" – shouted duke Karol Dun as he and his knight as well as several nobles were having a private meeting amongst each other in the duke’s mansion.

"ANSWER ME!"

"WHY THE FUCK GUDON GOWU IS DEAD?!" – shouted the duke as he threw documents and reports at the nobles as well as knight, which contained the reports of the margrave Gudon Gowu death, burning of his own mansions as well as several other nobles’ deaths.

"...S-sir... I-I know you are angry." – said the beast-human nobleman.

"B-but please! We need to do something now!"

"Our information network which we had built... Was burned down."

"Not only that, it seems the enemy had stolen a lot of the key information as well as data that belonged to our faction"

"We-"

"I FUCKING KNOW THAT! WHY THE FUCK DO YOU THINK I’VE CALLED YOU ALL FOR?!" – shoted the duke as he swung his fist, punching the beast-human noble right in the face and knocking him down.

"..."

"That fucking information network, which we build over the years and invested fortune in it... It was the fucking thing that let us take over the entire Warmur kingdom!"

"And now? IT IS FUCKING GONE!"

"Not fucking only that."

"BUT THAT BASTARD IS STILL ALIVE!" – shouted the duke as he grabbed the knife and stabbed the wanted poster of the Justice Of Warmur.

"HOW?! WE LOST SO MANY ELITE ASSASINS TO HIM! AND YET NON-WERE ABLE TO EVEN SCRATCH HIM!?"

"THERE IS NO FUCKNIG WAY THAT THIS NOBODY COULD SURVIVE AT ALL!"

"..."

"Mobilize the army."

"!?"

"WAIT!" – shouted the knight suddenly.

"Are you sure about this?!"

"OF FUCKING COURSE, I’M SURE!" – shouted the duke.

"I’ve tried to do in the somewhat calm way! So, there wouldn’t be way too much of mess we would have to clear afterwords."

"But this?"

"THIS?!" – shouted the duke as he slammed his fist on the table.

"YOU REALLY FUCKING THINK WE ARE ALLOWED TO HOLD BACK ANYMORE!?"

"..."

"Mobilize the entire kingdom official army."

"Hunt down those rebels."

"SLAUGHTER THEM TO THE LAST!"

"YOU HEAR ME!?"

"SHOW NO MERCY!"

The situation for the Warmur kingdom started looking extremely bad for the Noble and Royal factions, as the Rebel factions were not only growing stronger with more and more people joining them, but also they started attacking some of the key locations of the Warmur kingdom.

Not only that, but the rebels had recently did something that caught the noble faction completely off guard.

One of the dukes of the Warmur kingdom was assassinated by the rebels and he was also the person who held high ranking position in the noble council.

With his death, a void was created amongst the nobles.

Not only that, but the second strike that the rebels did was far more powerful than losing a duke.

The margrave Gudon Gowu, a noble who also held one of the highest positions in power amongst the council and was in charge of the information gather as well as assignation work... He was eliminated.

Not only him, but the entire network that the noble faction heavily depended on to control the Warmur kingdom was straight up burned.

This was the devasting blow that gravely wounded the noble faction.

But they didn’t even knew, that the margrave Gudon Gowu was a traitor.

Ariava knew exactly who to target, and so she hunted this noble, took over his mind and position, before then bit by bit corrupting the network, taking control over it and sabotaging it from inside out.

And when her preparations were over, she snapped her fingers, and let it all burn.

She destroyed the entire network and even worse, she stole everything from it.

Information which held so much power that it made the entire noble council panic.

That made the nobles snap in panic, causing them to finally deploy an army to deal with the rebels head on.

And with that, the true civil war of the Warmur kingdom had begun.