[You now have access to Vassals subview.]

‘Oh, what a lovely surprise,’ Custodian remarked and opened the subview.

[Vassals]

[Underground Villages]

[Troglodyte (Tilapolan) Village in Mount Varangia]

Though Custodian could see the basic statistics for its organic vassals, it wasn’t able to see the villages directly except through nearby drones such as the village’s heating pillars.

[Troglodyte (Tilapolan) Village in Mount Varangia]

[12 High Troglodytes]

[59 Troglodytes]

Custodian could also build things for the troglodytes as specified by the Vassals Subview such as ‘hovels’ and ‘training grounds’. However, other than supplying Custodian with menial workers, the troglodytes didn’t really offer much to the A.I.

‘I suppose I can use the organics to expand my underground complex and use them to garrison my holdings aboveground…’ Custodian thought to itself. ‘How well can they fight against humans, though?’

For now, Custodian decided to just give the troglodytes bare minimum help so that it could focus on improving its dungeon complex from the inside and from the outside. Mount Varangia was slowly being transformed into a fortress, with cranes and platforms scattered all over the mountain. While the A.I. would’ve preferred a large flat land, it couldn’t complain much.

There were so many projects the super-factory A.I. was undertaking—from the ambitious Hetten expansion to the simple yet important optimization of the Varangian dungeon complex. Still, it hadn’t forgotten its main goal: Produce anti-mana.

By now, blocks of anti-mana had filled many of Custodian’s dungeon rooms, and it had to keep finding more space or ways to store them. The effects of the anti-mana had also started affecting the core sections of the dungeon. Slimes no longer appeared out of nowhere, and iron golems usually found within the iron mines were slowly being pushed back. The only thing keeping the giant rats and spiders extant were Custodian’s efforts to breed and farm them.

‘Do I have to find food somewhere else? How do humans produce food?’ Custodian wondered. ‘Is it the same as the troglodytes? I should check them out.’

The troglodyte village was simple, made out of mud, wood, and the occasional bio-iron habitats built by the drones. There were bonfires spread across the village, particularly around the heating pillars, and there was a wall around the artificial spawn pool.

The troglodytes themselves were as simple as their village. While most of them wore a patchwork of metal armor and leather, some were already experimenting with new materials. Wooden plates and tools were being carved while new kinds weapons were being made. Of course, they were all primitive compared to the Varangian machines, but at least they were adapting well.

Small groups of troglodyte hunters went in and out of the villages, bringing back hunted magical monsters. While most of the meat was eaten by the troglodyte, some were offered to the drones. Not only that, there were also some troglodytes foraging for berries and edible grass.

‘So the organics consume both other animals and plant matter… I should start researching on what would be the most effective source of food for my dungeon farms,’ Custodian noted as it studied the troglodytes.

Custodian continued to examine the village and noticed that there was a high troglodyte creating fire using magic to cook his food. The troglodyte thumped his large bone club against the ground, then spat a breath of fire against a stack of logs which the troglodyte hunters used to stack their meat upon.

‘Interesting. I need to study that,’ Custodian added. ‘Speaking of which… what’s going on with my magic research?’

After a quick snoop, Custodian found his magic research drone, Magus, hanging around at the Hall of Orthaem, a Vyssian magic school or magisterium, without his guards.

‘Why are you in the human territories without escort?’ Custodian asked in hivespeak.

‘Escort?’ Magus asked then pointed at the human in front of him. ‘Escort.’

'The archmage is not an escort.'

'Is not?!' Magus shouted in shock.

Magus had been recently researching human magic with the help of the archmage called Master Hetrick. For one reason or another, Magus was selling Hetrick a few iron golem cores.

“By Humanos! Where in the bloody ‘gatory did you get all these?!” Hetrick shouted as he slapped his bald head.

“Home,” Magus briefly answered.

“You just had a bunch of magic cores lying around at home?!”

“Yes.”

“Alright, alright. So I can buy one of these, aye?” Hetrick asked to which Magus nodded awkwardly by shaking his upper body back and forth. The archmage picked up one of the three crystals and raised it up against the open window. Light shone through the crystal and sparks started to pop out of the gem’s surface.

“Amazing. These could very well rival Greatian cores…” Hetrick muttered before checking the rest of the cores. “Do all of your mages have cores like these?”

“Can’t tell.”

"I suppose so…" Hetrick placed the cores down then thought long and hard. After some deliberation, he threw his hands up in the air and declared, “I’ll buy all of them!”

Across Northern Rhankia, the passing drone mercenary army caused both unease and awe among the Rhanks. While on one hand they were intimidated by the plate-clad beast-riders with their long lances, they were also relieved when they saw the banners of Archpriest Agrianos flying at the front.

"A new Searing has been called!" Agrianos’ crier at the front of his army announced every time they reached a settlement. "The demons and undead must be pushed back!"

As Agrianos passed through a northern village, men joined him and his army. It was not only the fanatics and duty-ached warriors that took up their arms, but also the minor lords and knights eager to make a name for themselves. All across Northern Rhankia, groups of soldiers flocked to the holy banner of Humanos.

However, one rugged group of knights didn't come to join Agrianos. At the head of the riders was a man wearing a battered set of chainmail, and he had a sour face as he approached Agrianos.

"Archpriest Agrianos, who in the Purgatory are those?" the man asked as he pointed at the drone army.

"If it isn't Count Marcoir! I heard you lost your castle to the northmen, so this might be a little awkward," Agrianos greeted back.

"Bah! Just tell me why you're giving those northmen bastard a tour of Rhankish lands. While you're at it, why don't you show them where Count Hollherd's castle is at? That pighead owed me silver and still hasn't paid me!" Marcoir said.

Agrianos laughed then waved his hand. "Lord, you jest! These aren't raiders. These are mercenaries who are going to fight with me at the Kojan Walls. Just in case you didn’t hear it already, a new Searing has just been announced. Would you like to join us?"

"A Searing has been called?" Marcoir sarcastically asked as he scratched the side of his face. "I would join you if I had plenty of time to go merrymaking, but given how I lost my castle, I doubt I could help you for now. If only the bastards behind you would give it back to me!"

"There's that, then. Count Marcoir, if you're not going to join me, please move aside. The Kojan Wall could fall any minute now," Agrianos said with a wave of his hand. “The undead are attacking the Kojan Wall, and we faithfuls must do our duty to put the dead back to rest.”

“The undead?” Marcoir glared at Agrianos, then looked back at the drone army. Without saying anything else to the archpriest, Marcoir moved towards the leader of the drone army.

"We meet again, northman," Marcoir greeted Exarchi.

"Hello, Rhank. It seems that you kept your promise that we would meet on the field. Pleased to meet you," Exarchi greeted back.

"What a brilliant jest, northman. I hope your army gets torn apart by the undead. You'd find the undead to be quite a challenge, I assure you," Marcoir cursed with a smile.

"The undead are no challenge to us, Rhank.”

“Why? You northman had already fought with the undead?” Marcoir asked with a genuinely surprised face.

“I had not heard of this. This is such an interesting news,” Agrianos interjected as he rode up towards the drone and man. “Where did you encounter the undead?”

“I cannot tell you that,” Exarchi replied which caused Agrianos to raise his brows in amusement.

“Count, I suggest you forget about the grudges you have with our new allies. They might even be sent by Humanos himself.” Agrianos chuckled then rode back to the front of his army.

Marcoir clicked his tongue then muttered, “Then let Humanos take the bastards back.”

[Building constructed: Hovel]

Older and less efficient drones worked around the clock making new improvements to the troglodyte village. Instead of recycling or upgrading the outdated drones, which would cost time, Custodian opted to use the drones to help its organic vassals.

Basket drones hauled items while constructor drones built simple hovels made from mud and stone. Equipment and tools from fallen human enemies and from the ruined city under Mount Varangia were given to the troglodytes, giving them a slightly better chance at surviving aboveground. After all, it would be a shame to spend so much resources acquiring the troglodytes, only for them to die because they couldn’t build proper shelter or fight off the oversized magical monsters living in the forests.

[Constructed 5 Hovels.

+0.5% growth rate for Troglodyte vassals in Troglodyte (Tilapolan) Village in Mount Varangia.

+1 LOYALTY to current Troglodyte vassals.

+0.5 LOYALTY to future Troglodytes from Troglodyte (Tilapolan) Village in Mount Varangia.]

‘What is loyalty used for?’ Custodian mused as it searched around its database. Unfortunately, other than its definition, there were no other indications on what loyalty exactly does. At the very least, Custodian could understand that the increased growth rate was beneficial to it since it would give Custodian more workers.

‘I’ll set the name of this village to Mount Varangia Village for simplicity. As for the Underground Villages…’

[Underground Villages]

[6 High Troglodytes]

[166 Troglodytes]

‘Interesting. The number of high troglodytes increased greatly. Not only that, I could see more options and statistics for this particular holding.’

[Status]

[+10 LOYALTY to future Troglodytes from Underground Villages.]

[+20% growth rate for Troglodyte vassals in Underground Villages.]

[+25% spawn rate for High Troglodytes.]

After looking through the options and stats, Custodian had an idea. Many of its projects were still underway, but most of them required little attention for now. Upgrading the two troglodyte villages would make for an interesting side project in the coming months.

‘Let’s get to work, then,’ Custodian declared to itself.