The next town, Sicily, raised a white flag a few days after Litmus’ army laid siege to it. Now that Litmus’ coalition army had a real symbiote user, the army’s confidence rose to unprecedented heights. The captains searched for signs of enemy symbiote users, but none had appeared on the battlefield so far.
"Greetings. I, Bar—" A messenger’s head immediately rolled the moment he approached Altair. Hiro didn’t see anything. How did she attack? When did she even move? She hadn’t so much as twitched, and yet the head was gone. The general turned toward her, aghast.
"What are you doing? You killed a messenger!" the general screamed.
"Messenger? Do we ever accept their surrender? Continue the assault." Altair scoffed before turning toward her own troops.
"Y-yes! Divine Host." While Litmus’ soldiers stood in a daze, Mutual’s symbiotes pressed the assault.
The sun soon set. Though the frightened soldiers kept waving white flags, Altair showed no hesitation. Any man who stepped outside the fortified city of Sicily was either cut by Altair or shot down by arrows.
"Altair! They have surrendered! What you did was against the knight’s code of conduct! Do you want to kill them all?" The general banged the table, his fury plain.
"General, you are not a Divine Host! Show manners!" The white knights, Altair’s aides, scolded him. He clenched his teeth and sat back down.
"I will let your rude remark slide... Hmm... Your advice had been noted. I must admit, killing them all would be counterproductive. Civilians shall be spared. However, all knights and nobles in that town must be killed. I should have demanded the heads of the previous town’s knights and nobles as well, but it would be unbecoming of me to steal your spoils."
"...But this will only prolong the war."
"I don’t care. We must eradicate them. Latvin is our sworn enemy," Altair said.
Whoa, she wasn’t this hostile before. What happened? Hiro looked at her in fright. Her beauty was untarnished, yet she showed no emotion. She spoke of genocide as casually as if she were complaining about a bad lunch.
"...We will not be a part of a genocide... Divine Host Altair..."
"Even though you are the one requesting aid? That’s unbecoming of you. Do you want to turn tail now?" Altair said.
"I will let King Angus hear of this."
"And so shall I. Let Mutual’s Divine Host of Councilors hear of this. Until you receive formal orders from both sides, you are required to support us. Doing anything less will be treated as desertion. If you don’t want to kill them, that’s fine. You’ve done quite a bit retaking the border town and Evesys territory."
"Very well..."
"May I ask why, Lady Altair?" Cecile said. She seemed so gentle before, during their lunch. The sudden killing spree caught her off guard.
"You! How rude! You must— Ah. My apologies." The white knight was about to reprimand Cecile, but he remembered that Cecile was a symbiote user and bowed. The mistake came because Cecile dressed like a mere knight without insignia.
"You need more training, Corinth. Please reflect on your mistake in the barracks. Hanuth will replace you."
"Yes, Divine Host Altair. My apologies."
"As for your answer, Cecile. Did you know about the drug that enslaves symbiotes? Apparently, such drugs were sold freely here in Latvin. It didn’t take long for me to investigate. I thought these drugs were mere rumors spread by the bishops. Lissy asked me to test it for clarification, and the effect was horrifying." Altair tightened her fist; the armrest creaked under the pressure of her grip.
"Yes. Rebecca told me."
"You guys didn’t use it, right? Sorry, but I couldn’t help but ask. Lissy has been a bit incoherent now, as if she were in a daze. I merely used a bit, so she should recover in a day or two. Since Hiro couldn’t talk, I couldn’t help but be suspicious."
"Of course not! Using it would strip Hiro of his will—he’d be nothing more than a husk! We couldn’t play together anymore!" Rebecca shouted. It was an unconscious reaction. When she realized what she had just said, her face turned as red as a tomato.
"Good. That was certainly impolite of me. Please accept my sincerest apologies. I will have Hanuth send you a written apology later. General, that is my reason. Litmus might not revere symbiotes as we do, but does Litmus permit the enslavement of holy symbiotes? If so, we must seriously reconsider our relationship."
"I understand. But killing them without cause—the crime falls upon the direct noble house that ho— that hosted the symbiote. Mere knights and other nobles are innocent of that crime..."
"The fact that they allow or permit such practice is enough to earn our ire. In addition to that, this was a bit more personal, so don’t consider this as the voice of Mutual. But Latvin is a human supremacist, right? I am predominantly human, but you see, my mother was a half-elf. So I have a personal grudge against Latvin."
"... Very well. We shall support you. Mutual’s army may do as they wish until official orders arrive. But please spare us from killing surrendered soldiers and nobles. And do not kill civilians. That would cross the line."
"Thank you. As you wish, we will not kill civilians. For the moment. But I must ask for all alchemists in Latvin to be captured. Anyone who possesses knowledge of that vile recipe will be put to death."
"They are civilians!!"
"... I am sorry. My emotions must have gotten the better of me. I am not saying we will kill them now. I will write a letter. They will be captured and put on fair trial by both nations. Litmus still acknowledges the death penalty, right?"
"Yes. That is acceptable." The general slumped in his chair. He knew this war would be a pain in the ass to clean up later. Not everyone was as forgiving as Litmus. The Elven nation bordering Mutual, and another beastmen nation with lizardmen and birdmen as their main populace bordering Litmus, would all scream for Latvin’s death if they knew what Latvin had done.
"As long as it goes through a proper trial, it’s not my business. They reaped what they sowed," the general said. He didn’t want to play the all-loving hero who forgives all villains for their crimes. He just wanted a proper trial. The meeting was soon dismissed.
The siege in Sicily continued. After three failed attempts at surrendering—each messenger killed by the Altair—they understood that Mutual and Litmus accepted no surrender. Fueled by desperation, the defenders fought bravely, like cornered rats.
Two weeks later, the army occupied Sicily. True to her word, Altair slaughtered all the knights and nobles. She didn’t even spare them a single word.
"Divine Host Altair. Here is your dish. It has been tested for poison," a knight said as he approached.
"H-h-here is your dish," a waiter and several cooks stammered as they set the tray before Cecile, Rebecca, and Nana. They fled as soon as Altair glared at them.
"Come on, dine in. They might be heretics, but the food is innocent. Knights, give us some space, please," Altair said, and the knights took two steps back. Hiro definitely didn’t want to make an enemy out of her. He had seen her kill countless knights and citizens, and he still couldn’t figure out how she killed them.
It only looked like a golden flash to him, and the next moment, their heads rolled. A soldier tried to shoot her with a gun, but even though he fired at point-blank range, all Hiro saw was a golden spark. The bullet never reached her.
"...Yes, Divine Host Altair."
"We are fellow symbiote users. No need to be that tense. Though you might be a lower rank, the fact remains that you are beneficial to humanity—similar to symbiotes." Altair then grinned. "I also heard that you played with your symbiote."
"W-w-what are you talking about!" Cecile and Rebecca soon turned red as tomatoes.
"Ara! Did you consummate with your symbiote as well, Lady Altair?" Nana, who was not one to shy from sexual acts, hopped into the conversation.
"Yes! Most divine hosts simply lend their bodies to their symbiotes. I feel that was a bit... transactional. It’s not like they hate their symbiotes—in fact, some of them treat their symbiotes like brothers or close friends. But it was rare to see hosts who considered their symbiotes romantic interests! So, when I heard that you played with your symbiotes all night, I grew interested in you."
"W-w-w-we a-a-a-re..." Cecile, now red as a tomato, had lost her ability to speak. Through sense-sharing, Hiro felt she was truly embarrassed. Rebecca as well. A golden tentacle soon slithered out from Altair’s hair, taking form as a beautiful lady—like Altair’s twin. The beauty was a bit tarnished, though, as they looked like conjoined twins with two heads.
"W-w-we do not have that kind of relationship!" Rebecca huffed. Her cheeks were similarly red. She was cute. Hiro nudged her cheeks with his tentacle at her tsundere attitude.
"Symbiotes technically do not have a gender. But Hiro couldn’t help imagining Altair doing it with her twin—even if the other was her symbiote. That would be hot.
Now that Hiro had an image, he wondered whether he could use his metamorphic tentacle to create another Cecile and then have Cecile do it with another Cecile. Or maybe create a Rebecca instead and have her do Cecile—or punish Nana.
A new gameplay for Hiro soon opened up. It was all thanks to Altair. His impression of her skyrocketed despite the bloodthirsty actions she had done earlier.
The discussion soon turned into a night’s play. Only Nana was actively answering the questions. Meanwhile, Cecile and Rebecca had become useless, tongue-tied.
The heavy atmosphere soon turned pink. But tonight, Hiro had no intention of playing. They needed to march toward the capital tomorrow. He didn’t want to tire his girls, so the clone play Hiro had meticulously designed would have to wait.
Little did he know that Litmus and Mutual were going to get a major surprise tomorrow.