Epic of Caterpillar
chapter-1617

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Hahh… I remember those times I would sit down with my family around the Yggdrasil tree branches.

I can't believe those daily times which I took for granted would be so missed now.

Life can really give its twist and turns.

But for now, I should really just enjoy the moment right now as well.

I'll have a delicious feast for all of you.

I'll trust Rimuru and the rest of my wifeys, that they'll use the power I give them to protect our children and the rest of my family…

And for now, I will concentrate myself into what I have in front of me.

"Hahaha! Don't worry about it guys! I've got a lot of ingredients, let's have a feast!"

I quickly decided to join them. There was no real point in getting sad. I was really sad still, quite depressed. Almost suicidal at this point, but I had no use for such feelings in front of all these people I've given some new hope.

I wanted to do what I can right now and then advance to my goal, and well, without Elfina I can't really keep going so I need to get her back and quite possibly kill the Genie as well, while we are at it.

A feast quickly started, I shared the bountiful harvests I got from the Elven Kingdom, meat from my monsters and then a big feast started. The villages had never eaten this much before in their lives and felt completely shocked by the deliciousness of the food.

It was just grilled meat and a lot of salad and fruits, but for these people who had been living on dried food and barely any water at all, if not just the bitter blood of hunted monsters for drinking, they really felt enchanted by everything.

Ariant and Eriant, the new friends and companions I made along the way, were quite happy while celebrating with their people. I smiled faintly as I let them have their fun and enjoy a day without having to worry so much about the threats of this world.

Thinking about those two, they're pretty frontliners. Both use a combination of their Sand and Fire Magic to invoke small Sandstorms, Fireballs, or combine both to create lethal flying Glass Attacks. They also use big scimitars to fight and defeat foes by slashing them with flames. They rely on their speed and manipulation over the elements to fight and surprise their foes with interesting tactics they can only pull off in environments surrounded by sand.

They're pretty strong, and I guess as long as we stay in the Ankh Desert they'll stick with us as new temporary party members, like getting into a new zone inside a game and all. Well, it is not so bad, but I don't think I'll force them to come with me after that, they're the heroes of this place, so I'm sure they just want to stay here and protect their village.

Though… there's another problem here, the country. Apparently they're very corrupt, and while I spoke with them, I learned about how things were. Apparently the previous King was killed by poison and his corrupt son took over with his government. There is also a young son everyone loved who seems to be intelligent and gentle hearted, but he was imprisoned so he wouldn't get in the way of his corrupt brother.

Since then, he had increased taxes and extortion all of his people for funds and seems to be not able to empathize at all with his population. If he keeps this up he'll only end in the ruin as he leaves everyone starving to death, he wont have anyone to produce for him any longer.

Worst part is that his soldiers wander the smaller villages and try to drain them from everything they got before leaving them to die. The cowards escaped from the monsters and didn't even protected the people. They probably think this entire village is destroyed and has disappeared already, especially with that big sandstorm.

Now… there's a few things I could do myself.

Maybe I could go to that King guy and brainwash him using my Illusion Attribute Magic. Though Bubu's Hypnosis would come in handy, I can manage on my own anyways.

The other would be to hide the entire village and leave many protections, and just let the country never know they lived and are fine, but the village would be living in seclusion and it would be overall pretty weird way to resolve it.

Even more now that I am a bit depressed, I kind of want to let out some steam, and what's better than beating the crap of some corrupt idiot?

"And that's exactly what I did!" I laughed, looking at a brainwashed King sitting over his bed.

He was half-naked as I caught him having sex with like five prostitutes… Damn he got some good stamina though, I guess.

It was easy to locate the place and fly using my amazing speed. Although I ended having to unlock the [Spatial Blink: Lv1] Skill which is a lesser Teleportation to get through the sky at night quicker, it only costed 100 Skill Points and it will be useful from now on to dodge attacks, so it was worth it.

"Ooohhh…"

"What's wrong buddy? Did a rat bit your tongue? Can't you speak?"

"Ahhh…"

He was completely stupefied by the power of my [Illusion Ray]!

And well, now that we are at it…

Ding!

[You have exchanged 50 Skill Points]

[You learned the [Mind Bending: Lv1] Magic Skill!]

"[Mind Bending]!"

FLASH!

This was a special Skill, it did just what it implied. By merely activating it, I was able to bend the mind of this corrupt rich boy and made him my slave.

And done! His mind was so simply it was super easy to brainwash him. This Desert Country named Golden Sand was easily taken over by yours truly, how wonderful!

"Alright big guy, stop being overly corrupt and… if any noble allied with you complains, cut their heads. Free your brother, tell him you've changed, try to convince him if possible. Work with him, improve your country for the better, and apologize to the people. Also, lower the taxes to how they used to be and give back some of the riches you got."

"Very well…"

He was very obedient!

"Good boy! Now, bye bye!"

I flew back to the town by repeatedly using Spatial Blink and then slept over the branch of the Lesser Yggdrasil Tree… Damn, that was strangely satisfying. Brainwashing can totally be used for good things as well, hehe…

The next morning, as I woke up by the brightness of the sunbathing my face atop the tree, I noticed a big group of soldiers coming back to town. They were all suddenly prostrating themselves in front of the people.

"B-By a decree of the King, we are forced to… apologize for everything we have done and… give back the money we took from the overpriced taxes…" Said the commander while feeling strangely nervous.

Wow, that was too effective…

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