Building My SSS-Rank Universal Empire: From Trash to Cosmic Overlord

There are lots of things to do, but Vale must first get back his original territory. And the faster he does that, the better for him. He needs to have a good hold on the situation and know what he is going to do next.

But at the moment, he was wounded and couldn’t personally leave for war, so he sent one of his trusted people, Takoda. Although the man wished for a peaceful day where he would expand his personal territory and look after his people, he wouldn’t be having that for some time since he had already entangled himself with Vale.

Besides, it’s also better that he did not hastily leave Akatsuki and go to Athrimir territory. Who knew what the Ito Clan left behind?

"Vale. What is your next plan?" Tiber asked quietly.

It’s been hours since the meeting, and the gathered crowd had already dispersed with different ideas of their new lord. Vale then retired to his room, where he was attended by his healers.

Now there’s only him and Tiber alone, as Slya had begged to be dispatched to Akatsuki to aid in the fight.

But instead of directly answering Tiber’s question, Vale looked at him with a slight frown. "What did the healers tell you?"

Before the group of healers went away, they called him to the side and whispered some words to him.

Tiber gave him a worried look before he sighed and finally spoke. "Vale, the healers are worried about your mental state. They said there’s... something eroding your mind."

Vale raised a brow before his eyes narrowed. "They can detect the mind with just that? Are they not healers of bodies? When do they do minds?"

"I don’t know, my Lord. But they said you should be careful, that it might lead to irrationality and... madness."

Vale almost snorted a laugh, but he saw the serious and solemn look on Tiber’s face and could only sigh. He realized then how much his subordinates, Tiber and Slya most especially, cared for him and how seriously they took his matters.

"I hear you, Tiber, but there’s nothing wrong. It’s just these new powers that I’m still digesting. You must have felt an increase in your powers as well."

Tiber’s face showed excitement, clearing away the worried look. "Yes! The moment the restriction cuff was removed, everything flowed in and I got it! Not only has the amount of power I can accommodate increased, I have new techniques as well!"

Vale smiled, enjoying Tiber’s happiness. The man was even beginning to explain when he paused and blinked. "We’ll talk about this later. My Lord, you have something to tell me?"

"Right." Vale sighed. "Let me tell you the situation around the Hinterlands, what I have gathered and what’s still missing.... I think there’s something all Clan leaders, or at least influential people around here, know about...."

And so Vale told him about it all, what Kaelthorn said and what Isolde hinted at. He kept Old Man and all the stuff about the shards to himself for the time being.

Tiber’s face grew heavier and heavier the more he spoke, and at the end he kept quiet for a while. "My Lord... this is too much. So the Hinterlands have always been under someone? A Clan? The High Clans? And now they want to consolidate us under the Tachibana for a High Clan?"

Vale nodded. "What do you think?"

Tiber took a deep breath. "Can I ask what your current plan is?"

Vale paused. He knew what Tiber was asking him. He understood the unspoken question, not only from him but from others as well. His eyes flashed as he answered. "The Lord. I will be the Lord of the Hinterlands, break away from all, and form a High Clan. You know my ambition. This will be the first true step!"

Tiber smiled, his response showing that he expected nothing less. "My Lord, this brings equal opportunities and risks. For the time being, is there really anything bad in it if we work under the Tachibana Clan? At least, we need to play nice until we can control Ito, Ryujin Minor Clan, Akatsuki, and Matsumoto. Right now we don’t control these lands, nor do we have armies to hold and defend them. We need to build this, and to do this, we need to play nicely with the tiger.

"You said they want the Hinterlands and a puppet on it, right? That the Tachibana are the ones supposed to rule it? Then we pretend and go along with them, until we can deal with them!"

The idea of being a puppet really made Vale’s skin twitch, as if his very body and nature were rejecting it.

"Kaelthorn said that the High Clans use our Hinterlands for farming, and that we Athrimir supported that before my father screwed up and they began supporting the Tachibana. This means that the High Clans might have been supporting us if not for that."

Tiber understood what he was hinting at. "Are you saying that we should gain this support back? But we don’t know what it was that we were doing."

"Then we need to find out. A High Clan is an entity that we can’t beat. We don’t only have to beat them, we need to ascend to that rank and join them! I must rule over all of the Hinterlands, including the Tachibana!"

Tiber swallowed, his expression matching Vale’s. "My Lord, Vale Athrimir. You are finally taking your ambition head-on."

Vale nodded. "We need to know what the Tachibana Clan are giving the High Clans. In fact, we need to get a full grasp of events if we are to replace the Tachibana. Their strengths, weaknesses, what they are offering. All of these need to be known."

Tiber frowned slightly. "My Lord... we do not have the structure for this kind of large-scale spying. Our intelligence gathering has taken a massive dip from the previous Clan leaders, your father and brother. Now we don’t have it. We just need to rebuild everything, which means the Tachibana have the time and means to tighten up before anything we do!"

Vale smiled and nodded. "I’ve thought about it. And that’s why I did not kill Georg. Matsumoto was colluding with the Tachibana, and they’ve been gaining their support for some time now. We can take advantage of that. We need to capture some things whole and alive in Matsumoto!"

Tiber’s eyes widened. "This.... is true! They must have great channels and information networks! My Lord.... what is the plan?"

Vale smiled. "We will use Slya. Now, call this Georg and let’s talk to him. He’ll bring us up to date."

And before long, Georg was kneeling before Vale. Valtor stood nearby with his hand on his hammer. Even though the man was cuffed, his eyes narrowed to slits as he watched the other Master Knights like a hawk.

Eryndor also stood nearby. The two of them had taken it upon themselves to protect him at all times. And at first Vale wanted to disagree, but when he really thought about it, he saw no reason to. Who knew when an assassin might strike? The recent ordeal had also tempered Vale’s arrogance in his own power somewhat; he’s now more cautious than he ever was.

Vale started the discussion. "Tell me, Georg, tell me about yourself and Matsumoto."

It is said that every Master Knight is quick-witted and cunning, that they need at least that to reach the rank. Georg was the same, and in just that sentence he knew what Vale wanted. In fact, he knew what he wanted from the time he wasn’t killed.

He chose his words carefully because he knew what he said would either save him or be his death. "Matsumoto... is a great city. We have no Rift, but we don’t exactly lack work with the escort, protection, and mercenary jobs we can do. With the wilderness, we always have people who want some kind of plants, animals, beasts, and such. We also loan out our swords to those who can afford it, but our biggest contributor is the Tachibana Clan. Merchants from here, Athrimir, pass through, and we can escort them there and from there back. The wilderness is just as dangerous as the Rift environment, and sometimes we’ll even see ruins."

The wilderness he was talking about is naturally the thick forest between territories. Those inhabited lands. Although it’s left to each city to develop the roads around them, some don’t bother to put in more effort, and the reason is simple.

In the world, at least in the Hinterlands, normal humans don’t travel that much. It’s just too dangerous otherwise.

And merchants can hire protection; thus, those wildernesses remained.

Vale nodded silently to himself. Now that the territories were going to be one, he needed to deal with things like that. To beat back the wilderness so the cities and population could explode.

"Go on, Georg."

Georg nodded. "Since mercenary work is the biggest deal, the structure of the city and the people has changed to match this." :::