Reincarnated as a random race, of course I got goblin.

Chapter 81 - A Heart to Heart

"Ohoh, s-seems we've got a visitor." His stutter betrays him, shattering the illusion of calm. 

"I am the Great Monarch, Millibelle." I speak through both of them at the same time, hoping it will make him realize the truth of the situation. "For what reason do you distrust these soldiers? What they've told you is the truth. At least, part of it." Jax is sweating bullets, clearly not expecting this situation to arise. 

"Why are these Harmekian soldiers under your control? What have you done to them?!" He flinches at his own raised voice. He seems to be the kind of person that rarely gets flustered, and once he is, it's not pretty. 

"I saved them from certain death as that armor you'd outfitted your Hero with spread Malice onto them, transforming them into a chimeroid abomination. I was unable to save the four others, and they were swallowed up by the Malice." I state, making sure to betray as little emotion as possible. 

"Wh-wha-?" Jax is stunned. 

"Using my Skills, I secreted them away from the battle, before fighting and killing the Chimerified Hero. However, I was gravely injured in the battle, and I was infected by the Malice as well." I take a pause to reign in my own emotions, as well as those of the two soldiers.

"I just barely managed to Purify myself before I turned Hateful. Before that though, I used Hivemind to join my mind to those of Vasper and Feye here, intending to use them as spies. I sent them back to you, honestly not expecting you to resort to torture to get a version of events that don't paint your Queen as the villain who nearly destroyed all life in the World."

"I-..." Jax's face is an ashy white, and the dagger he's holding slips from his grasp as his hands shake uncontrollably. "Y-you're lying! H-how- why- !?" 

I reach my mind out to his via Telepathy. Although not a full bonding, I'm more than able to make him realize the truth of my words by sharing with him my memories of being infected by the Malice. Seems he has some form of training in preventing a two-way communication, and as such I'm only able to extract fragments of his memories in exchange, but what I learn is more than enough for my needs.

"M-Monarch, stop! You're breaking him!" Vesper cries out to me mentally. Indeed, I might have gone a bit too far. Jax's eyes are glossed over, a dribble of saliva in the corner of his mouth as he curls up into a ball in a vain attempt to escape the mental anguish I'm inflicting on him. 

"I- I didn't know- S-she didn't know... It was all that Aurellium's doing! He proposed to Her. He provides the resources, She grants the legitimacy, She gains the benefits of having removed the Parshuran Kings greatest asset." He's mumbling incoherently, but his thoughts are finally open for me to see. 

I make the most of this moment of weakness. Fully bonding my mind to his, I gain complete control of the Harmekian Spymaster. His knowledge is extensive, and I make sure to copy it and make it my own. 

I focus in on Jax's mind. Trying to emulate Shadow's ability to manifest mentally in my own psyche, I drag him into a one on one within his own mind. Let's leave the two soldiers out of these next steps, it seems the punishments, should I mess up, are quite steep.

"W-where are we?" Jax looks around bewildered. I've stabilized his mind by shutting off his fear and stress responses for the time being, so we should be able to converse without his actual state of mind interfering. The mindscape I've created mimics the floating island my real body is currently on top of, so I'm not surprised he's confused.

"We're inside your mind. I thought a little heart to heart was in order." I sit down on my haunches, having deliberately taken my monstrous form in order to disguise my true nature. "I've successfully bonded your mind to mine, and your life now belongs to me." I inform him.

Jax guffaws, perhaps it's due to him currently being incapable of feeling fear or stress, but he is quite nonchalant about the situation it seems. "Was that your plan from the start? Infiltrate the Harmekian government and undoing us from the inside?" He asks.

"My only goal is keeping those in my service safe, and to maintain Balance in the World. Your kingdoms incessant war with Parshura aren't exactly making it easy for me. Of course, I now know the reason for this war, and I intend to end it." I state, coldly.

Indeed, I've learnt the asinine reasons several tens of thousand soldiers on each side has been needlessly killed in this war that's been going on for over thirty years. Typhona Vileclaw blames the King of Parshura, or rather, the father of the current King (I don't think she's aware of that) for the death of her husband, the former King of Harmek. She's also somehow convinced that her malformed child, which died hours after birth, was also the work of the King. 

Needless to say, at this point in time, the day to day running of the kingdom is effectively that of a meritocracy with some touches of democracy. All the Queen does is force them to waste resources on a war that has alienated their former allies and killed far too many. 

"You can't! Imagine the political fallout if you were to-" Jax begins, but I cut him off.

"I won't be appearing at all. All I need is for you to get into the same room as her, and I'll do the rest." 

"H-how?" His fluster is almost cute. Knowing what I know of him now, he is the kind of man that has always prided himself on presenting a cool and collected facade. I consider for a moment whether or not I should tell him. 

"... Actually, I think it's best for everyone involved if I know as little as possible. J-just, please, don't do something that incriminates me." He solves my dilemma for me. As for his fear of getting caught, I perfectly understand. After all, the punishment of even attempting regicide in Harmek is the summary execution of the entire family of the convict.

Grandparents, parents, siblings, children, siblings children, grandchildren, siblings grandchildren. An entire lineage, wiped out. 

"I won't. Once she is dealt with, I want you to issue an unconditional surrender to Parshura." Let's see how to handle the aftermath...

"That has always been the plan once the Queen dies. Of course, it would also depend on her successor..." He trails off before seeming to realize something. "She... doesn't have one. What would we do then?" 

"Why not do away with monarchy? You're already doing ninety nine percent of the whole 'running a nation' without her. Isn't Yo'ud a democracy? Perhaps get some pointers from them?" I float the idea. 

"I- could you- please, I have so much to do now, I need to prepare everything!" Jax flusters again as his mind runs rampant with thoughts and plans of how to position himself for the coming political nightmare that will follow the death of the Queen. 

"Hm, you should rest first, after all, currently you're not feeling even a third of the emotions you do in real life." I advise. 

"Hm, yes, I suppose you're right." He mumbles as I slowly ease control back to him. 

"But what about us?" Vesper asks out loud as he and Faye stare at Jax, who has gone from gesturing and talking wordlessly with himself, to laying curled up on the stone floor, fast asleep.

"I'll get you set free, but for now, the safest place is here. Jax will look after you, and once it's safe, I'll let you go." I inform them. Of course, the fact that Jax knows that they're my spies might complicate things, but for now, let's not worry them too much. 

I retract my mind from the dimly lit cell in Harmek, waking back up in my own body. There's a patch of dead grass around me. It crumbles to dust as I move about. L-let's not forget to turn that Skill off, shall we?

I yawn and stretch before returning home to catch a few hours of sleep, these next few days are going to be busy indeed.