Chapter 129: Chapter 124: The Problem With Zealots

Lia couldn’t help but feel slightly intimidated as she looked over Simona. Simona, like all level three hundreds, was a living legend, a person who had reached the pinnacle of what people were supposed to be capable of, and…here she was, swearing fealty to Lia.

It was awe-inspiring in a different way than discovering Rose’s true identity or converting Nailah; with both of those, there had been buildup, but…in just the span of a couple of hours, one of the twenty or so people at the level cap had been converted, becoming Lia’s subordinate.

“Um, you may stand.” Lia said. “Thank you.”

Simona hesitated for a moment, glancing at Rose.

“Simona,” Rose said sternly, “Lia is in charge, not me. If she orders you to do something, it takes precedence over my orders.”

“No, it doesn’t.” Lia said quickly. “I want to be equals with you, not your superior. For important things, whatever Rose is having you do is likely to be far better than what I need.”

Simona frowned, glancing between Rose and Lia, but tentatively standing. “So…which is it? My instincts say to listen to Lia, but they’re all confused since you’ve given me conflicting orders. They say I should listen to Lia who says to listen to Rose, but Rose said to listen to Lia…”

Rose sighed. “If it’s important, listen to me. If my orders are trivial, defer to Lia. Does that work?”

“I suppose that’s fine.” Lia said.

“That does seem to resolve it, yes.” Simona said. “So…what are your first orders, my liege?” She asked, almost turning to Rose before pausing and turning back to Lia.

“Do whatever Rose tells you.” Lia said. “I’m sure she has some plan she needs you for.”

Rose nodded. “I need to reeducate her.” She explained. “She’s clearly quite rusty, and we can’t have that. In fact, Lia, if you have time, I think you’ll make an excellent sparring partner.”

“Me?” Lia asked.

“Yes.” Rose said. “You need to both get used to high-power battles and get used to using Alisha. To that end, I think that sparring with Simona will do you some good.”

“Using Alisha?” Simona asked. “What does that mean?”

My Queen, may I have your permission to temporarily take my old form? Alisha asked.

You don’t need my permission, go ahead.

As much as it pains me to say it, that is incorrect, my Queen. While I am acting as your equipment, I am naught but an extension of your will. To act on my own would be tantamount to going against everything I stand for.

Lia sighed internally. Fine.

Alisha, currently acting as the sash on Lia’s kimono, slithered off of her waist before morphing back into her humanoid form. “After my conversion, I have become my Queen’s dedicated equipment.” She said, a contented smile on her face. “I am able to absorb artifacts and grant the power of every single one I’ve absorbed to her at once. I also pride myself on being a multi-tool, and it is my dream to become the only tool she will ever need; weapon, construction tool, hairbrush, utensil, anything. Nothing would make me happier than to become fully an extension of her will, one she could wield with as little thought as she would give to using her own body. I would –”

“Okay, Alisha, that’s enough.” Lia said, shaking her head in disbelief. “Come back now.”

“Yes, my Queen!” Alisha said, a look of undiluted joy on her face as she morphed back into Lia’s kimono sash and tied herself around Lia’s waist.

Simona gave a questioning glance to Rose, who sighed. “Alisha is the exception to what we talked about earlier.” Rose said. “Amelia didn’t quite understand what was normal yet and went too far when trying to remove her seditious nature.”

“She’s, uh, been a bit excited since I allowed her to become my armor full-time.” Lia said. “A bit drunk on pleasure, and not quite thinking straight.”

I have never been thinking more clearly in my life! Alisha protested. I mean every word. Every moment I am not by your side is a moment in which my purpose in life is unfulfilled.

Lia just sighed, shaking her head again. Ever since obtaining Gluttony and taking a permanent place at Lia’s side, Alisha had become ever more fanatical in her beliefs, and it was getting a little worrisome. Lia just hoped that Alisha would calm down after another week or two, and stop saying things like “she wished she could be absorbed by Lia and become a part of her in every way”.

She had expressed that particular desire that morning, and now Lia was seriously considering asking Amelia to revisit Alisha’s conditioning to make it less severe. At this point, Lia would almost rather Alisha was as treacherous as she was before, if only so the problems she made were of a type that Lia knew how to deal with.

Well, not really, Lia didn’t want to have to deal with dissidents if she could avoid it, but at least she wouldn’t be grappling with trying to find the line between accommodating Alisha’s requests and keeping Alisha as a separate, sapient, person. It was hard, because most of those requests were, on their face, completely innocuous, and often Alisha presented them in such a way that they seemed reasonable and even for the best.

However, an unsettling underbelly ran underneath those requests, one that Lia only realized after Alisha expressed her desire to somehow become a part of Lia. For instance, she had requested Lia to asked Amelia to devise a system by which Lia could take full control of Alisha’s bodies; she claimed it would be useful in combat, so that Lia did not have to verbally tell Alisha what she needed, she could just make it happen.

And Alisha had outlined all sorts of stipulations that would come with it, things that would make it completely and utterly impossible for Alisha to use this link in any way. She even went so far to as to request the ability for Lia to completely shut Alisha’s consciousness out from one of her bodies, so that Lia could take Alisha into her home without worrying about sensitive information leaking.

And, seeing no issue with those, Lia had asked Amelia about them. Amelia, too, thought it was an excellent idea; granting Lia more control over Alisha would further cement Alisha’s subservience and serve to truly make Alisha part of Lia’s own strength. So, they had gone through with it, and Lia was forced to admit that it was convenient.

No longer having to remove Alisha upon returning to her home, and instead just defining a rule that stripped Alisha’s awareness from the body within the home made the process of going home just that little bit easier, and being able to change Alisha’s form at a whim was indeed a boon in combat.

Lia’s train of thought was interrupted by Rose. “Everything alright, Lia?” She asked worriedly.

“F-fine.” Lia said, turning to face Rose. “Just have a lot to think about, we’ll talk about it after we’re done here.”

Rose laid a hand on Lia’s arm, smiling gently. “Why don’t we call this meeting here, then? Simona, please spend the rest of the day exploring the capital and relaxing as you see fit. When you feel tired, claim any one of the houses that is marked by a red board on the door; those are the empty houses, and you’re free to make any one of them your permanent residence.

“The interiors are all roughly the same, so don’t worry about amenities or anything; just find one that suits your taste aesthetically and is close to places you would like to go often, then take off the board and the house is yours. Meet us back here at ten in the morning for your first training sessions, understood?”

“Yes, Empress Rose!” Simona said, giving a salute. She turned to leave, paused, then turned back to Lia, looking at her with a somewhat expectant face.

“Um…”

“She’s waiting for you to dismiss her.” Rose whispered.

“Dismissed.” Lia said.

Simona gave another salute and then left, leaving Rose, Amelia, and Lia alone in the audience chamber.

“What’s wrong?” Rose asked. “You’re a bit more distracted than usual.”

“Let’s talk about it at home.” Lia said, hopping off of her seat and walking towards the exit. Her lovers followed, and they were soon at home, where Alisha’s senses were completely sealed. “So…” Lia began. “Alisha. She’s been, um, excited ever since becoming my equipment full-time, and I think she’s essentially drunk on pleasure.”

“She hasn’t caused you any problems, has she?” Rose asked worriedly.

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“No, I’m more worried about her.” Lia said. “This morning she told me she would like nothing more than for me to somehow absorb her, and suggested seeing if Amelia could like…make her a living Skill, like my swarm manager one, that would put her completely and utterly under my control while retaining the benefits of her having a separate status.”

“What?” Rose asked, stunned. “Where’s this coming from?”

“I don’t know.” Lia said. “But it made me realize that she’s slowly been asking for things that strip away her autonomy and individuality.”

“I think I understand.” Amelia said. “I’ve looked in her mind a lot, and she’s obsessed with power, she wants to be as high up as she can get.”

Rose frowned. “So, she wants to take over Lia via this?”

Amelia shook her head. “No, I scoured her mind after her first couple of suggestions and she genuinely wants Lia to be in charge of her. But I think if you twist your mind enough, and squint real hard, you could argue that being a part of Lia would, in a sense, make her in charge of everything. She wouldn’t be actively making decisions, but at the same time she’d be Lia, or a part of her, and that would put her above everyone else.”

“That’s ridiculous.” Lia said. “It makes absolutely no sense whatsoever.”

“I think she might have a point, actually.” Rose said. “If we assume that Alisha is, as you say, drunk on pleasure, then she’s not in her right frame of mind, and she could easily be convincing herself of something ridiculous like that.”

“I guess.” Lia said. “Either way, I was hoping that we could like…tone down Alisha’s conditioning.”

“I don’t know…” Amelia said hesitantly. “The kind of pleasure she’s feeling is addictive; what if she acts out in an attempt to get us to reinstate the heavier conditioning? I mean…I don’t think it’s possible to make her a sapient Skill, not with the way the system’s set up, but I don’t see much of a problem with granting requests that would reduce her free will if that’s what she wants.”

“The problem is it’s not what she wants, not really.” Rose said. “She’s not in the right frame of mind to actually consent to any of this.”

“But her ‘normal’ frame of mind would have her want to overthrow the government and ruin everything we’ve worked for.” Amelia pointed out.

“Um, I couldn’t help but overhear, and I have a suggestion.” Connie said, stepping into the room shyly. “Why not give her what she wants, just temporarily? I’m sure that, after a couple of weeks, she’d realize that it’s really not what she wants.”

“But her conditioning will make her feel happier than ever.” Amelia said. “What’s to stop her from slipping into a pleasure coma and staying that way forever?”

“Just tweak the conditioning so that this sort of thing provides slightly less happiness than being aware and active.” Connie said. “Problem solved.”

“Okay, but how do give her what she wants? We can’t exactly make her into a Skill.” Rose pointed out.

“I might be able to do something.” Amelia mused, rubbing her chin. “I can put her into a trancelike state where she is effectively running completely autonomously in accordance with her state of mind at the time of the spell being cast. She’ll have a vague awareness of things, but be lacking in any manual control over herself. And then I can feed her a very, very vague sense of how you are feeling and it’ll be…close enough.”

“Let’s go with that, then.” Lia said. “We’ll tell her we’re doing some testing, and that this will be a trial run to see if she actually wants to be assimilated into me.”

“What do we do if she still says she wants to afterwards?” Rose asked.

“Uhh…I don’t…know.” Lia said. “We can think of something in the meantime.”

“We could just let it happen.” Amelia said. “At that point she’s making an informed decision, and will have been given plenty of time to cool her head while in less…stimulating circumstances.”

“I don’t want that, though.” Lia said. “It’d be uncomfortable for me, regardless of what she wants.”

“Oh.” Amelia said. “Why didn’t you say so earlier? I thought it was just an ethical thing. In that case, I’ll make extra sure her pleasure is toned down to a small level during that time and make it so she’s just a tiny bit uncomfortable after long enough. That way there’s no way she’d prefer it over normal life.”

“Please do.” Lia said, relieved. “Hopefully this should get her to lay off on the whole…whatever she’s doing right now. Should we go break the news to her?”

Amelia nodded. “Yeah. I can perform the spellwork while we’re at it, it’s pretty simple.”

“Only you would say that.” Rose said, giving her a smile. “Come back soon, okay? I’d love to have some bonding time with everyone now that we’re back from the battlefield.”

“Will do.” Lia said, stepping out of the portal, Amelia in tow. Lia led the two into one of the meeting rooms, locking the door behind them so they could have some privacy while they worked. “Alisha, we need to talk. Could you shift to your human form?”

“You can just do it, my Queen.” Alisha said, slithering off of Lia’s waist and taking her old form. “There is no need to ask for my permission.”

“Uh, right.” Lia said. “Well, Amelia and I talked about what you asked for this morning.”

Alisha’s eyes lit up. “And?”

“It’s impossible to make you a Skill, even Amelia can’t do that. However, we do have some alternative options that we would like to test out.”

“By all means!” Alisha said eagerly. “What does it entail?”

Lia looked to Amelia, who gave a nod. “I will be effectively instilling magic in you that will have your forms outside of here act as they always do. Your body here, however, will be completely controlled by Lia. Much like if you were a Skill, you would only be somewhat conscious, but you would also have a deeper connection to Lia’s emotions.”

“Do it.” Alisha said immediately. “It sounds wonderful.”

“A moment, first.” Lia said. “This is only one potential avenue, so we wish to trial it before we commit to anything permanent. So, we’ll be trying this out for one week, and at the end we’ll revisit the subject. If it turns out this is not what you want, or if I find it to be too much, then we’ll explore other options.”

“That is perfectly fine.” Alisha said. “When do we begin?”

“Now.” Amelia said. “Please return to your spot at Lia’s waist, and I’ll begin the magic from there.”

Alisha, grinning with delight, did as she was told. And, after only a few minutes, Amelia finished her work, standing up straight and giving Lia a nod. “Done.” She said. “She should wake up exactly one week from now.”

“How much will she remember?” Lia asked.

“Most of it,” Amelia said, “so we’ll still need to block her senses inside our home, but she’ll also be fully ready to discuss the experience right as she wakes up.”

“Right.” Lia said. “Let’s be on our way, then.”

Amelia linked arms with Lia, resting a head on her shoulder. “That sounds like a wonderful idea.”