I had entrusted Jarvis with preparing the delegation, but since it was practically a newborn baby and its very first task, I couldn’t help feeling uneasy.
I ought to call it once and check on the progress.
“Jarvis. Is the delegation preparation coming along well?”
“Yes, My Queen. We are preparing primarily with warriors specialized in teeth and claws.”
What?
“With these outstanding warriors! Without a doubt! They will most certainly dismember the enemies limb from limb.”
Ah.
“Jarvis? That’s not what a delegation is.”
“I shall listen.”
It must be lacking knowledge, probably because it hadn’t been born long.
“A delegation is, well, something you send diplomatically to another nation.”
“What does ‘diplomatically’ mean?”
“?”
“?”
Jarvis tilted its head as if it couldn’t understand.
What the? Did I make its brain capacity too small when I created it?
“Jarvis. Diplomacy is—”
…
“I understand. It is the intimidation of the strong, or the desperate struggle of the weak. A means to extract what one wants without dispatching troops, and if one is weak, to beg so as not to be attacked. It is to conserve loyal warriors for more important purposes, is it not? As expected, I am convinced.”
“Huh? Uh, well… you aren’t wrong.”
The moment I explained diplomacy, it understood?—and nodded its head.
It didn’t seem to be a problem with brain capacity after all. Since that is indeed what diplomacy is? It had understood correctly.
Could it be that the fundamental nature of our species is simply belligerent? Anyway, it seemed to have accepted that our species was not waging war with the United States of Deneb.
Then Jarvis had just been gathering and preparing warriors all this time? In the end, wasn’t that the same as saying nothing had been prepared?
“Jarvis? I’ll prepare the delegation myself. In the meantime, get ready to report on our species as a whole. I’ll review it once the delegation preparation is finished.”
“Yes, My Queen. I shall do as you command.”
There was an idea I’d come up with when I decided I had to send a delegation.
I am a hive mind. Unless given a strong ego like Jarvis, everything is ultimately ‘me’. That is, no matter how many die, there is no problem at all as long as ‘I’ survive.
Taking that into account, I decided to send a delegation carrying only a few of my avatars, without an escort. If they were attacked and killed, that could be made into a diplomatic issue; if they entered smoothly, the absence of an armed escort would let me appeal to our peaceful nature.
To do that, I needed individuals to send as the delegation. After all, the creatures currently in the legion were all specialized in tearing apart or devouring other lifeforms.
There was no need to delay; I could just make them immediately.
If the diplomat creatures alone looked out of place, it would create dissonance, so I gave them appropriately monstrous heads
squelch, squelch
Since these would ultimately be bodies I controlled, wouldn’t bipedal walking be more convenient? Bipedal movement is a bit strange for a Hydralisk, but it’s not like anyone would know what a Hydralisk is, so whatever.
squish, squish
Still, they needed a basic weight class, so I packed muscle tissue in nice and tight…
Huh? Now that I’d made them the way I wanted, the weight balance seemed off. The head was too big compared to the two legs.
Then I’ll make the legs bigger.
squelch, squelch
I should attach scythes to use as crutches in case the balance collapsed.
squish, squish
It was complete. A head with a wide occiput like a Hydralisk’s—monstrous no matter who saw it. Broad shoulder blades that would pull off a suit’s fit with breathtaking perfection, and two arms extending from them with powerful muscles. A frail waist, but clothing would cover that eventually. Two sturdy legs to support this massive frame. And two scythes to serve as crutches, completing the silhouette like wings.
This was more than enough to be called a member of a monster race.
From now on, let’s call this body ‘Hirak’, taken from Hydralisk.
Except for the first unit, which I would use directly as my own body, the rest would need to be given egos like Jarvis. That would look more natural. It would be better to lower their autonomy. Because it would be troublesome if they rushed forward declaring they would dismember everyone limb from limb.
ptui
A huge, mouth-like opening formed in my main body, the cocoon, and three Hiraks sprang forth from it.
The Hiraks squirmed as if trying to adjust to their bodies, then soon stood in place.
“Your name is Hunterrak, and your name is Killerrak. You will assist me as I operate in the body of a Hirak. My name… you may call me Hihirak.”
The two Hiraks bowed their heads with silent, restrained movements, showing obedience. Very much to my liking.
I had spent quite a lot of time designing the Hiraks, so I had to hurry to meet the deadline the United States of Deneb had demanded. Since I wasn’t going to a first meeting loaded down with bundles of gifts, I loaded them onto a whale-like transport creature that drifted through space and sent them straight to the border.
Until the Hirak delegation arrived at the United States of Deneb, I needed to think of diplomatic grounds to persuade them.
Truthfully, though it was called the border region with the United States of Deneb, the Solar System was strictly inside my territory. It was undoubtedly internal interference, but they were probably at the stage of suspecting whether we were even intelligent beings.
Are you really intelligent beings? We’re warning you rudely? If you’re upset, answer? Please answer.
There was a high probability they had such intentions. They had likely only grasped that fleet activity existed and couldn’t confirm the details, but the fact that the ships were not mechanical but bio-ships, and that we had shown no diplomatic activity whatsoever despite sharing a border—whether aggressive or peaceful—would have led them to conclude we were little more than monsters and send an aggressive warning.
Because if they didn’t properly guard against a hostile alien predator, their entire civilization would be devoured.
But that is that. Since our species had decided to follow the diplomatic course of an ordinary race rather than that of a predator, this warning was undoubtedly a highly rude act of internal interference.
I could protest that it was interference in our internal affairs within the border, but since this was a nation that could advertise how safe our species was, wouldn’t it be better to let it go smoothly and amicably?
To do that, I could simply forgive the Deneb side’s rudeness, but wouldn’t such pushover diplomacy look suspicious? I myself wouldn’t care, but in ordinary nations, if they were warned so aggressively, opposing sentiments would inevitably build up among the populace. At least, that was how it was on Earth, where I had lived.
I could explain that there was a problem on our side that led to threatening military actions. For example, that the leadership had changed due to a civil war. If I explained it like that, it seemed they could be convinced. What could they do if our nation had been overturned?
It was true that the leader had actually changed, after all.
For now, I had no choice but to explain it like this and improvise according to the Deneb side’s actions.
And I had to think of things to trade with the Deneb side as well. There was bound to be a difference between a relationship of mere greetings and a relationship of mutual dependence through trade.
Just as diplomatic attempts aimed at the Middle East never cease because of oil, an irreplaceable resource—or even a replaceable one with overwhelming efficiency—could itself become a bonus in diplomacy.
Truthfully, the odds of a resource existing that could only be extracted within our swarm in this vast universe were so slim that it wasn’t even worth hoping for.
But our swarm was a different story. Usually, when one said resources, one thought of substances like oil, coal, iron, and rare earth elements, but in the old days, livestock like horses, cows, and sheep were also traded.
Horses in particular were one of the most important indicators of military power in the medieval era, but on Earth cavalry naturally retired as weapons systems developed—that was because human bioengineering had not advanced.
Just look at me—perhaps because I inherited abilities from a game, I could create a lifeform like a Hirak in a single day. I had made the Hirak roughly, caring only about appearance and movement, but if I devoted my full strength and made it delicately?
The applications would be endless. There must be countless creatures in the galaxy, and I could devour them and take their genetic traits.
Going the peaceful route meant not waging war; it didn’t mean there was any reason not to use the traits I possessed.
So the goals of diplomacy toward the United States of Deneb were preventing war through a stable border and making an excellent trade partner, but also finding lifeforms with usable genetic traits.
If this were exactly like the game I used to play, I could just rush for late-game resources while only taking essential tech, but abilities like creating lifeforms—Jarvis, Hiraks—didn’t exist in the game I had played.
Because it was in moments like that that I felt this was reality; I had no choice but to advance step by step.
Anyway, this way the delegation’s goals and operational guidelines seemed set. By now Jarvis should have organized a report on our species. I ought to check it.