The next stop was the Insectar territories. It had been one of the earliest Hegemony territories and had seen quite a lot of development over the last few months, bustling with power and prosperity. Ainz arrived at the Insectar province's capital city via a gate, followed by his three consorts, Shuna, and Benimaru.
The city was unlike anything else found in his domain. There were only two types of buildings: hundreds of meter-tall spires occupied by the flyers and mounds leading underground for the non-flying insectars; deftly crafted for the insectars' unique physiologies.
The spires were made out of white, almost organic-looking, material, and their exteriors were decorated with hundreds of doors, the majority of them now filled with onlookers. The mounds were a lot more unassuming grass-covered hills with five to ten entrances, each packed with insectars staring out from within.
The procession was met by Apito, Zegion, and their personal guards. In the case of Apito, it was an elite squadron of humanoid battle wasps clad in light armor and armed with long-range guns, slightly hovering above the ground, their thin wings buzzing. Zegion's guards meanwhile were bulky warrior beetles, their humanlike exoskeletons gleaming with a dark obsidian shine, wielding long spears and hand cannons.
"We are honored by your visit, Supreme Overlord. The clans are eager to meet you." Apito was the one to speak as she kneeled alongside Zegion and their guards.
"Let's not waste time then, lead the way," Momonga urged.
Of course, my Lord. we won't waste your time." Apito sprung back up on her feet and opened the gate. "I will guide you to all the clans eager to meet you in person."
The first stop was at the top of one of the tallest spires. The dragonflies had gathered in a half circle, with a few smaller ones standing in the middle and a particularly tall dragonfly clad in priest garbs at the very center, holding a carved, long knife.
Since dragonflies were among the few insectars where size was in direct correlation to power, it was plain to see that the priest was the strongest of his kind present, probably the strongest of his kind in totality present in the Hegemony.
The winds were blowing around the tall structure but Momonga could feel a protective barrier placed around the tip of the spire, slowing down the wind to a slow pleasant breeze within before allowing it to rampage once beyond its boundaries.
Momonga watched in silence as the priest handed the dagger to one of the smaller dragonflies while speaking about the need for everyone to contribute to the tribe. The smaller dragonfly accepted the knife and then reached behind his back, cutting off two out of his four wings, which regenerated within seconds. The priest put the wings on the altar and moved on to the next participant.
One by one they repeated the same procedure, with wings piling up on the altar. When the last one was done, the priest put the knife on a stone tablet, gathered all the wings, and then approached Momonga. Without hesitation, the dragonfly priest kneeled, extending his arms and handing the wings to Momonga as he spoke, "Our tribute for the Hegemony. These are the best of the best, the purest of wings for you, my Lord."
From what Momonga knew the dragonfly wings were a rare and extremely valuable commodity, used to make very light and durable armor that in many cases could be masked as a suit or dress, making them very sought after among the human nobility and the intelligence circles. Souei had gotten a full set as a gift from Buku, who had her brother's near-infinite resources at her disposal and could spoil her future husband however she pleased, very quickly having it refined into a suit of highly durable cloth-like armor.
"Thank you for the tribute. Your efforts are noticed and appreciated." Momonga accepted the wings, putting them in his inventory. How he would use them, he was unsure at the moment, but as a personal tribute from his people, they had to be used by either him or his immediate family, especially considering the gruesome means of acquiring this rare material. Even his undead didn't do this when they needed more magical material despite their intrinsic regenerative capabilities so long as they were powered by him.
Momonga had contemplated outlawing the practice of self-mutilation altogether, but considering that the insectars regenerated at a very fast pace, most had regrown their new wings even before the ritual was over, and the whole thing was based on everyone volunteering to be part of the ritual he decided against it. As strange and unsettling as the ritual was, the wings were also a major source of income for the clans and added to their shared pride as citizens of the Tempest Hegemony, a vital part of their culture and society. However, Momonga made sure to regularly check this specific province on such ritualistic practices, to make sure they didn't grow out of moral bounds. Which was another reminder to himself that he could use some of his other agents to make sure they don't go overboard. His direct subordinates were busy as is without additional concerns.
With time being of the essence the procession moved to the next destination, which was on top of another spire owned by mosquito-type insectars which were all named by Shalltear and worshiped her as their Blood Goddess, seeing her vampiric abilities as the pinnacle of what they could aim for. The layout was rather similar, with only one difference being that instead of an altar there was a small pool in the middle of the area.
"Ohh they'll be showing the monthly ritual,' Shalltear commented.
"Blood?" Albedo inquired.
"Pool full of it. You know, bathing in blood is good for the skin. If you knew, you might have retained a youthful look." Shalltear took a jab at her peer as their bickering was still a common occurrence, gloating.
"Maybe you should stop then. Otherwise, you'll never look like an adult woman." Albedo retorted without skipping a beat.
Momonga wisely chose to stay out of it as it was unlikely they would come to blows during an official event, but there was a chance he would need to put a stop to them once again when they retired for a day. Perhaps a spa session would do both good.
The gathered mosquito elite one by one approached the pool and emptied their blood bags found in their scorpion-like tails, the metallic smell of the blood rapidly filling the air.
From what Momonga knew, blood drinking served as a ritualistic practice with blood sourced from butchered farm animals or during hunts in the vast forests. There were rare occasions when humanoids got drained by the vampiric insectars, but those occurrences were increasingly rare, and until a new likely inevitable conflict with other forces started, they wouldn't get their fill of blood sourced from sapient creatures.
This ritual served as a devotion to their Goddess as with each kill, each butchering of an animal, a portion of blood was given to Shalltear as a tribute. And this was where he found out something new about his second consort recently.
Somehow Shalltear had found an old legend in Nazarick's Libraries about a noblewoman called Elizabeth Bathory. It was a small class quest in Yggdrasil inspired by a real-world counterpart. The notorious noble who bathed in the blood of young women, supposedly remaining young for eternity.
Considering that she came to name the new mosquito insectars once a month, there were literal pools of blood for her to consume, and thus a tradition for Shalltear to take a bath of blood was born over time. Although, unlike her historical counterpart, she didn't bathe in human blood, at least not yet.
As the last of the mosquitos added to the pool, Shalltear approached the pool and extended her hand over it. The red liquid disappeared in an instant, leaving only pristine stone blocks behind.
"I am pleased. Your tribute will be put to good use." Shalltear announced and they returned to rest.
Arachnoids, unlike the previous two clans, weren't united under a singular leader. Instead, they had a council of individual brood mothers who controlled their offspring and nothing more. Additionally, they didn't perform any religious ceremonies for the delegation. Instead, each brood mother presented robes made for him, dresses for Albedo and Shalltear, and business suits for Shion, hoping to get at least one of them as their main client. The silk was quite good at least.
With over two hundred brood mothers and arachnoids ranging in millions, it was fierce competition to get the elite to wear their products. Lucky ones were catering to each of Pero's numerous concubines, as the avian's purse was pretty much unlimited and he could spend ludicrous sums on his women, and thus the rest had set their sights on who they saw as walking bags of money.
This fact was a stark reminder that he often was too frugal and should be able to spoil his three women. Truth be told, Shalltear was unable to spend all of her own salary on whatever she wanted, Albedo shared his habits of being more on the frugal side and putting more attention on managing the hegemony over enjoying the wealth her position offered, and Shion cared only about getting weapons and making eldritch-looking meals that tasted like they were made by the best chefs due to her skill while appearing like world-ending abominations.
While his consorts went through clothes presented to them with mild interest, he was doing the same and thanking each broodmother for their contribution, as if he didn't already have a packed dresser with all the cosmetic outfits from Yggdrasil. The one saving grace was that there was nothing outrageous and most of the offerings were to his taste. Then again, from what Momonga knew, Shuna was a patron of sorts for the eight-legged insectars and thus they likely had access to the necessary information to impress him.
Ultimately, there was only one solution. He would end up making a schedule and wearing each outfit once in public to avoid playing favorites. He would not require his consorts to do the same, but he wanted to keep the image of a leader who equally saw and appreciated the efforts of all his subordinates.
Then suddenly all three of his consorts scurried over to one of the broodmothers, as if enticed by a siren's call. His curiosity got the better of him and he snooped in with remote viewing and the reason became instantly obvious. Instead of elegant dresses or sharp suits, this one had produced rather scantly lingerie and nightwear, which lured his three women like moths to a flame.
Momonga could only guess who gave the insectar the idea, but he had no doubt it came somewhere from Pero's circle. But with lure, hook, and sinker catching all three of them, he could only resign to enjoy the results later in bed.
Lastly came the insectar's military forces. The bulk was formed by the beetles and ants under Zegion and wasps under Apito. With Momonga's visit announced just hours before his actual appearance, he was met with a hastily put-together military parade. The most numerous part of the force were the ants, as they served as foot soldiers armed with both melee and ranged weaponry. Swords, spears, and maces were intermingled with guns which just recently were starting to get mass-produced.
Beetles served as officers and shock troopers, slightly fewer in number. Their metallic exoskeletons were as hard as magisteel, making them near unstoppable forces of nature that even the kijin weren't eager to face in battle. Armed with hand cannons and war hammers, they were living tanks.
Additionally, ants had dug an extensive cavern network underground that served as both living spaces and training grounds for close-quarter combat for those who didn't have access to Nazarick's military floors. Momonga had decided to have minimal oversight over the military as he could see Cocytus knew what he was doing and the vermin lord wasn't proudful by nature and didn't hesitate to ask his peers for advice when needed, particularly relying on Demiurge's sharp mind when it came to training and morale manipulation.
Above the marching troops flew battalions of wasps and harpies, who were eagerly training with Tempest's main aerial force. Roughly equal in power, the harpies had proved to be fierce opponents, some with decades or even centuries of military experience under Frey.
'It is good to see them working together,' he mused. A rivalry was unavoidable, but if it was a friendly rivalry done with the needs of the Hegemony in mind, he had no reason to complain. At least neither Apito nor Frey were fighting for the position of the sky admiral, so he didn't have to worry about the administration going astray as the position was currently sought by Frey's daughter and Apito's younger sisters. It would only grow his nation's military prowess, and that was a good thing.
With the Insectar province visited, all that remained were the southern parts of Jura, Blumund, and Falmuth, with the meeting with Manas: Michael somewhere in between.
Editing by aidan_lo.
Proofreading by Omnax, Sluethen, IAMTHEPLOKOKIOPO, Stac, mfkz_rocker, fvvck, Alassandro, and aidan_lo.
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