The most important thing now is for me to get a hang of the situation.

(E)

(F)

(E)

(H)

(E)

(H)

(E)

(H)

(E)

This is maybe the one good point of this country I can be really proud of.

Maybe because of its wealth there happened some terrible stuff in the past but nowadays everyone who lives here agrees that it's a bad thing to own another person like a thing and treat them like shit.

And this certainly includes children.

(H)

Okay, is this princess irritating me on purpose?

(E)

(H)

(E)

(H)

(F)

(E)

Don't think I forgot about you only because you're staying in the background.

(F)

(E)

(H)

(F)

(H)

(E)

(H)

Now I am sure.

She is irritating me on purpose.

(E)

(H)

Do you mean because they can now mind control the children?

I'm still missing the part where the kids weren't mistreated.

(F)

(H)

(E)

(H)

She didn't just say this, right?

(E)

(H)

This is bad.

This is really bad.

She pumped a small girl full of Formicea genomes.

I don't even have an idea where I know this word from, but the fact that it means her body is influenced on the most basic level remains.

(E)

(H)

(F)

(H)

This, this, this is just wrong!

(E)

(H)

Oh great!

We wouldn't want that your child experiments to turn humans into insects would be unpleasant for them, right?!

(E)

(H)

Okay, I'm at my wit's end.

Seems like there's just one solution for this.

(E)

"Oh mye, Erys!" (F)

Mum seems to be elated that I'm willing to take responsibility for them.

Honiu on the other hand stares at me.

(H)

(E)

She continues to stare.

(H)

Did I just mishear?

(E)

(H)

I... didn't consider such an answer.

The issue is, I can't do a damn thing about it.

As long as it won't endanger the swarm a princess can fare with her brood however she sees fit.

And Honiu more or less declared that this applies to the children.

I'm pretty sure the queen won't find any faults with that logic.

So it comes down to the point that those children now belong to Honiu and are under her control, out of my reach, as long as I can't get the queen to make some royal decree.

And attacking her is no option as we know all too well.

Maybe I can try a different angle.

At least prevent her from going any further with this.

(E)

(H)

I might be a bit biased.

Which makes sense after they tried to sell me as a sex slave and do unspeakable things to me.

However, joining a war is something completely different.

Naturally, I thought about how I could influence the war from my new position.

It's certainly not impossible to somehow send around ten-thousand soldiers.

This many might already be enough to decide the outcome of this conflict.

But it's not only that I care about the Formicea.

I would be lying if I'd say that I want my, urgh, children to die in a foreign conflict.

They don't deserve that.

The other point is that war doesn’t, at least not at first, affect those who are responsible.

No, war kills the weak, poor, and helpless.

The slaves Koreso uses the peasants who are in the way of the armies, or the forcefully conscripted.

All of the dead would be on me.

The Formicea would rip them apart, but not those in charge.

Well, maybe them too if ordered to do so, but that wouldn't change the general problem.

But just like this, Honiu gave them enough troops that it'll be more than possible to make it appear as if we'd fight at their side.

And Koreso wasn't directly a nation that would just overlook such a thing.

While before with apparently two annihilated troops, and yes Kyska told me all too detailed what happened during my picnic, we were hard-pressed to explain ourselves even though we were in the right, now the evidence that we're positioned on Tarsona's side is overwhelming.

It might not be possible to stay neutral anymore.

I hope that was worth it for Honiu.

(E)

(H)

(E)

(H)

Did I mention that I think it's a terrible idea to let Honiu care for children?

(E)

(H)

(E)

(H)