Improving the Legion’s internal structure is important, but outward expansion is also a crucial factor.
In truth, it feels a little late. When there are this many ownerless lands, like during the age of imperialism when the great powers carved out colonies, it is more profitable to plant your flag on empty land quickly than waste time competing with one another.
Matters like the horrifyingly warped maps and border problems caused by planting flags at random, or trivial factors like the natives who originally lived there, are pushed down the list of priorities for the sake of national interest.
Naturally, I wanted to leave things like the Deneb United States alone and increase the number of star systems I possessed, but more important than that was the hive mind. No, hiding the fact that we were a species that devoured other species was extremely important, so improving our internal constitution had to come first.
While the Deneb United States was at war with the Telluris Assimilate, I managed to create a society that functioned, at least roughly. And even if other species looked at us and had questions, the trait of being a purely biological species was so unique that I thought we had reached a level where they could dismiss minor oddities even if they did not fit their common sense.
If so, we needed to begin expanding immediately.
Aside from needing to seize territory before other species staked their claims first, there was another reason to hurry with expansion.
There were no more straws to stick into the Deneb United States.
As space whales, Lushaka military dogs, and various other miscellaneous creatures deeply infiltrated the daily lives of the Deneb people, the economy of the Deneb United States was increasingly revolving around agriculture.
The current president, President Lydia Moretti, seemed to want to reduce dependence on the Lushaka Kingdom and achieve self-reliant national defense, but unfortunately, democratic nations do not work that way.
Military contractors who had grown enormously during the war by supplying dedicated weapons for space whales.
Animal protection groups that could not contain their love for Lushaka military dogs, which were smarter and more obedient than dogs and even came in various appearances.
Idealists who insisted they should not be hostile to aliens, but instead foster as much friendship as possible.
Self-employed farmers and corporations that jumped into agriculture when agricultural prices soared due to the demand for importing more space whales.
Countless lobbyists and movements seeking their votes were pressuring the president. On top of that, the president herself had an exceptionally fierce personality and had a history of suffering damage from the Telluris Assimilate, so the faction opposing her was also holding firm at a formidable size.
Nevertheless, a president who wins a war is a god.
Her approval rating pierced the heavens, and since she had just been reelected and begun her second term, it was clear that over the ample span of the next ten years, she would try to defeat those many opposing forces and find some sort of answer.
But she would not be able to perform major surgery right away. The war had only just ended, so a period of recovery would be necessary. The military’s influence was also quite strong at the moment, so she would not be able to give up the space whales either.
That was why, this month as well, I was able to smoothly obtain an enormous amount of food from the Deneb United States. A normal nation that is not even a biological state running its economy around food? That means its future ceiling is bound to be capped.
Neglecting the production of spaceship alloys and mineral resources is the same as reducing investment in aerospace engineering and mechanical engineering. If weak humans want their voice to be heard in this vast galaxy, nothing is more important than those two fields.
The president and her advisers know that importance, so they are by no means letting go of them, but unfortunately, in this cold and merciless galaxy, such faltering growth is enough to leave them behind.
Before the military’s influence weakens and, after disarmament, they return to a normal economic growth trajectory, I need to widen the gap.
But the problem here is that I am also being left behind. Because of the work of sticking straws into the Deneb United States and improving the Legion’s internal constitution, I could not expand into more star systems, and as a result, I lost my growth momentum.
New genes. I need new genes.
Seeing that Jarvis’s planetary shaping work was nearing completion, I immediately ordered exploration of nearby star systems.
It was confirmed that no forces existed within a star system? Then I would immediately ram a space station near the star. From then on, that star system was mine.
But the space stations used in the game did not have space for ships to dock, nor were they really buildings. Calling them simple territorial markers made them far too inefficient. On top of that, I disliked how they used an absurdly large amount of organic matter.
No, in truth, our species never had space stations... Poor me had to drift through the vast sea of space without even a place to lay my body down for a while.
“Jarvis, clear away all the trash drifting near the star.”
“As you command, Your Majesty.”
Since our species did not have separate space stations, we needed life-forms that could remain semi-permanently near a star like structures.
At the same time, they needed to be large enough for other life-forms to dock, and they needed wide storage spaces to stockpile organic matter.
So, for the first time in a while, I personally used the power of my main body to create a new entity.
A huge size with storage space? That could only be a space whale.
I selected three large whales and merged them together, evolving them into a Lair Whale.
Indeed, the sight of three whales attached in the shape of a pinwheel, when seen from afar with my eyes half-closed, was something anyone would have no choice but to call a structure.
Is it a little small? If I end up making medium-sized ship-class life-forms later, I can just make a new one then.
With such a fine space station created, I began expanding recklessly without restraint.
Since I had plenty of organic matter received from the Deneb United States, I produced space whales without obstruction and deployed Lair Whales.
Once the honey from the Deneb United States runs dry, such radical expansion will become impossible, so I need to make the most of it while I have it. If the United States no longer provides food, then I will have to sustain the entire Legion solely with the food produced on Earth.
It would be even better if, within the expanded star systems, I discovered planets where Earth-like agriculture was possible.
But contrary to that hope, habitable planets could hardly be found.
I can roughly guess the reason. It is probably because of how things were back when I played the game. The computer I used was a crappy one, so to reduce the computational load, I played with the number of habitable planets lowered.
The fact that I had no money on Earth is coming back as karma even here? This is so unfair I can hardly live as a monster.
But hardship is followed by fortune. Just as my expectations for a new habitable planet had dried up and disappointment was swelling within me...
At last, I succeeded in discovering a planet that seemed habitable.
And it was not an ordinary planet either.
From cold regions to hot regions across its latitudes, diverse ecosystems were distributed everywhere, with a rich atmosphere and actively flourishing flora and fauna. A hidden planet that seemed to breathe and live, adjusting its environment for its inhabitants, entered the scouting fleet’s field of view.
To think I found something here that was hard to find even in the game. How lucky.
No need to drag things out. I just need to install a Lair Whale and begin occupying the planet.
Now then, this place is mine too—
“Halt!!!!!!!!!!!!”
A psionic thought wave blocked the movement to install the Lair Whale.
“Who are you, that you would defile this sacred land! Leave at once!”
From the hyperlane on the opposite side, having crossed over at some unknown moment, a fleet was approaching our fleet.
At last, after the Deneb United States, this was the second species the Lushaka Kingdom had officially encountered. As for their appearance, they were riding ships that looked as if they had been carved from wood, practically announcing, “I am a plant-type species~” to anyone who saw them.
The problem was that their technological level was not at the early corvette stage like the Deneb United States. They had already surpassed small-ship tech and were accompanied by medium destroyers.
No matter how tough a space whale’s hide was, it was obvious that if it took a proper laser shot from one of those destroyers, its fate would be sealed.
This was a first encounter with a species that clearly possessed military power more advanced than the Legion’s, and they seemed hostile because they disliked that we had intruded upon their sacred land. It seemed we had not made a very good first impression.
I want to simply say, Okay. I’ll give up one planet. There’s plenty of empty land, so let’s not get upset with each other for no reason, and withdraw confidently.
Normally, I would have done exactly that. I also want to maintain friendly relations with every species I meet from now on.
But I cannot do that.
Because there is no empty land anymore.
To be precise, the star system where this hidden planet exists is an extremely important strategic point.
Right now, there are a total of eight hyperlanes connected to this system: four leading into our territory, and four in the opposite direction. The hyperlanes of the nearby star systems are all connected to the star system containing this hidden planet, so unless one passes through here, one cannot expand to other star systems.
If I fail to occupy this place, then when attacking, I will have to capture this perfectly defended star system, and when defending, I will have to block all four star systems connected to our side by hyperlanes. After all, I will not know which direction they will attack from.
But of all things, there is a competitor.
Against a species I have just met for the first time, one with whom I have no diplomatic exchanges and cannot trust at all, I am already behind in military strength—and I am supposed to meekly withdraw from the most important strategic point?
“Withdraw at once, monster! Do you not fear the wrath of god!!”
Ah, what should I do?