Became the Queen of the Legion

‘Is this the place?’

I reached the spot where I had attacked and devoured the hobgoblin scouts, leading the body of my avatar transformed into a hobgoblin.

It was a place I already knew through the eyes of the scouts.

A place closer to the enemy’s sphere of influence than the city of Luen I had occupied. In fact, where I’m standing now, there was a proper road, though unpaved.

I already knew that if I followed this road, I would reach a village of demon races.

[Those presumed to be additionally dispatched by them are approaching]

“Perfect timing.”

In the scout’s eyes, a group of demon races coming this way was visible. It was a mixed group of hobgoblins, goblins, and others.

I could guess why they were coming here without even asking. Since the first dispatched scouts didn’t return, they’re sending a second reconnaissance.

I flashed my eyes after confirming their approach.

My plan was to pretend to be a survivor from the city, join them, and naturally infiltrate their base.

Now I should avoid recklessly sending large armies to pick fights. It’s important to be as cautious as possible and gain benefits with minimal resources.

‘They’ve almost arrived.’

They didn’t seem to think that the scouts I sent were flying above their heads observing them.

As they got closer to me, I waved my hand urgently, pretending to recognize them and sending a distress signal.

“What’s going on? Who are you?”

A hobgoblin riding on the back of a wolf demonic beast as large as a decent-sized bicycle widened his eyes when he saw me.

“I’m, I’m a survivor from the city. My name is Rox and I was working under the mayor!”

“A survivor? Then didn’t you see our allied scouts on your way here?”

“I didn’t see them. But I did find traces that seemed to be left by them.”

I started acting as prepared. This behavior would make the scout prisoner Bron, who had already died and become nutrients, flip over in shock if he saw it.

They flinched when they saw the token I took out from my chest. That token was a symbol I had torn from Bron’s body after killing him.

“We must inform the lord quickly. Terrible monsters have invaded the city!”

“We’ve already heard those rumors. It seems they’re true after all.”

Fortunately, they seemed to believe my words.

The one who appeared to be their leader pondered with a serious face, then instructed his subordinates to change direction.

“Put this guy on the back. We’ve confirmed that the scouts who went ahead were all killed, and we’ve found a survivor who knows information, so we’re heading back now!”

He offered me the back seat of one of his subordinates, then immediately started riding the wolf back the way they came.

‘This actually works.’

Honestly, I wasn’t sure until just now.

Although I had squeezed a lot of information about their ecology and habits from the hobgoblin prisoner Bron, I didn’t expect this first-time imitation of a different race to work so well.

It seemed to be thanks to the perfectly replicated body.

Even if there were some awkward aspects, it would be difficult for someone to imagine that someone was imitating and deceiving them when the outward appearance was so perfectly identical.

“Good, now I just need to find out about the orc domain in the west.”

Instead of the avatar heading towards the hobgoblin domain, I opened my eyes with my main body and smirked as I manipulated the entire hive consciousness.

While my avatar moves among them, we will steadily increase our forces and set out to find new battlefields.

* * *

“So it’s true that unidentified monsters from the north attacked Luen and turned it into a wasteland?”

“Yes. Also, this is what the monsters look like according to the survivor’s testimony.”

Lumon, a hobgoblin sorcerer and vassal of Lord Ludas who rules the area, frowned as he looked at the picture his subordinate brought.

It was a rather detailed drawing. Detailed enough to see how terrifying these monsters were.

“But how is this possible? A city falling to such strange insects? Demonic beast attacks are plausible, but a city with defense turrets and protective spells couldn’t possibly fall.”

It’s difficult to objectively analyze events that deviate from what one considers common sense. Lumon couldn’t easily believe the survivors’ testimonies even after hearing them.

“There might have been something else going on. Most of the survivors who escaped were cowards who ran away as soon as trouble started.”

“That’s true, but the one we brought this time says he saw Mayor Bekins die, so there’s a high probability his words are true, isn’t there?”

“Hmm…”

His subordinate had a point.

All the survivors who escaped from the city were lucky enough to escape during the battle. Somehow, not a single survivor had come out after that. That’s why Lumon suspected something else.

What if the demonic beasts were just bait, and another force was involved in pushing their city?

“We need to know more certainly. Go and bring that ‘survivor’ here directly.”

“Understood.”

In the end, Lumon had the newly secured survivor brought to him for more detailed information.

Unlike the others, he was a hobgoblin residing in the city and escaped at the last moment when the city fell, so he was a valuable witness who had seen and heard much more.

“Is that so? The administrator wants to see me personally.”

“It seems Lord Lumon thinks something doesn’t add up. The possibility of the city falling to mere demonic beasts is low.”

And the survivor who received such a call smiled meaningfully upon hearing that Lumon suspected other possibilities.

“This area is conquered by our lord, but there are certainly many shameless ones harboring rebellion against our lord, as well as external enemies eyeing our domain. So tell me properly what you saw. Were there really only demonic beasts?”

Lumon pressed the survivor, Rox. Although he said he needed to hear properly, his words clearly revealed that he already had some preconceptions.

‘Even if he dies soon, he can’t think that a demon race city fell to mere demonic beasts, huh.’

Rox’s eyes sparkled as he shifted his consciousness from his main body working to his avatar. It seemed this preconception could be used well to buy more time.

“The situation was so urgent that I didn’t see much properly either. What I did see and hear was that the defense turrets, which were clearly working at first, stopped working one by one, and that when the monsters, numbering at least 1,000, covered the castle, no one noticed it.”

Rox, who had already figured out that they had not sent any more scouts since securing him and that he was the only witness they had secured, told them a mix of facts and lies.

Even if it was true, he cleverly left room by planting elements that could be confusing, such as reducing or increasing the numbers, and saying he didn’t see clearly but it was probably like that.

“The turrets not working properly, and the protective spell collapsing in Bekins’ last moment of resistance! There must have been an insider!”

Thanks to this, Lumon made one misunderstanding.

That there was a separate mastermind behind the city attack.

Lumon believed that the demonic beasts were just a means to draw attention, and the real enemies were those unidentified foes who controlled the demonic beasts to conquer the city.

It wasn’t an unreasonable guess.

Given the nature of the demon realm, it was true that they had many enemies. Rather, it was a plausible guess from a common-sense perspective.

‘If I play this right, I might be able to make them fight amongst themselves.’

Rox grinned as he learned of these internal circumstances.

Of course, only the corners of the main body’s mouth, with eyes closed, lifted, while the face of Rox, the avatar, remained unchanged.

“I will report this fact to the lord immediately. In the meantime, strengthen the defenses of the area, and if you find anyone behaving suspiciously during intensified inspections, arrest them!”

Afterwards, Lumon hurriedly left to relay this news as if he had discovered something significant.

Only his tense subordinates and Rox, who had finished testifying, remained in the room.

“You, Rox was it? You’ve rendered quite a service by surviving and testifying to the truth. How about, shall we get you a female to embrace tonight?”

One of Lumon’s subordinates casually suggested to Rox.

There was no suspicion in his attitude at all.

“When I said I would rest without embracing a female, they looked at me with rather sad faces, wondering how much of a shock I had received.”

“…Even if they’re hobgoblins, they’re still goblins obsessed with breeding, I suppose.”

“Anyway, thanks to them starting to misunderstand on their own, we can move a bit more freely now.”

The queen gave instructions to Seira with her main body.

There was no problem having a conversation no matter how far apart they were. After all, if the queen set her mind to it, she could directly transmit her words into Seira’s mind.

“Since they’ve started to misunderstand that there are imaginary enemies controlling unidentified demonic beasts, we might as well make it a reality.”

The queen had already decided what she should do leading the legion.

The plan was to create as much confusion as possible among the forces in the area, hiding her identity as much as possible, and gradually eating away at their lands and forces to increase her size.

‘At some point, even if I reveal my identity openly, they won’t be able to stop me anymore.’

She predicted that it wouldn’t take too long for that to happen.