1 Day since the last chapter

Succubus Homeland, Outside Rex and Kira’s House

 

Rex finished packing the documents that he had prepared inside of a large plastic folder, he then closed it using a string. Today was the day that they would be writing the constitution for the island. Rex’s goal would be a democracy, but Kira had a cold pill for him to swallow. It probably wouldn’t happen, they would most likely become an oligarchy similar to the Beastmen. This was because both the beastmen and the dwarves had a similar structure of government, it was also similar to the elves before they changed it.

 

“Are you ready, Kira?” Rex asked the succubus next to him.

 

Her red top and pants were vivid on her pale skin, she wore a pair of leather boots and beadwork on her wrists and neck. Her tail shone after a good oiling, and she had a happy look on her face as she walked next to Rex.

 

“I didn’t get to finish the first ship in time for the meeting, I won’t be able to use it as a bargaining chip.” Rex muttered in sadness.

 

“Everyone already knows about them, they even know they can float.” Kira told him confidently.

 

If it had anything to do with weapons, there was a succubus somewhere on the island bragging about it. Just the other day the succubi had tested the island defenses for the first time, as a result, there were several succubi strongly considering moving their homes to the side of their pre-assigned island defenses.  What would happen if a monster, or something else that the succubus could shoot passed by and they missed it? This was their reasoning for considering a move.

 

The only issue currently was ammo for the cannons. Since plastic was already limited they decided to use brass for the artillery shells. The only problem they had was getting access to this resource, that was the main reason the fox beastmen were selected. Rex looked over and saw Kira extend out her wings, it looked like they had gotten bigger again. She gave them a flap and was propelled into the air, Rex watched her as he started climbing the ladder that led to the cliff edge.

 

 Rex had wanted a democracy to ensure that the weak were never overlooked, but he also knew that introducing something so radical right from the start would be hard.

 

I am not just convincing people like Guffrey, but everyone underneath them as well…

 

Just like Kira was getting reckless, so was Rex it seemed. As he climbed the ladder, he let his mind chew on this problem. At the moment the island functioned through a delicate balancing game of interests and trade. Each group specialized in different things, and they all came together to make the island function. The main reason that SImbad, Charlice, and Guffrey were attending was actually because of the currency. The old clay money they used wasn’t good anymore, and the leaders were worried that in the future it would destabilize the delicate balance.

 

The currency issue is easy enough to solve, we can just issue new currency made of magical metal, make it just like the Euro. Most people know that the succubi are honest idiots and won’t generally cheat anyone…

 

The succubi liked rules, and they followed them very closely. This had been the case since Rex had come to the island and none of the succubi had done anything to him since he wasn’t a prisoner that was owned by them. The Beastmen liked power, and they only respected those who were powerful or shared a connection with them. They were the simplest out of all of the races and the easiest to understand. The pride of men had taken in most of the beastmen, and Rex had observed them from a scientific standpoint.

 

To deal with their aggression and frustrations they turned to weightlifting, they had a large facility that was built right beside the ocean. The succubi also used this location to train, even Kira would go there in the mornings. They had worked out some kind of agreement between the two groups. The issue was that the pride of men had kept growing, Simbad was quite sly and seemed to be some kind of cult leader.

 

Simbad can be considered brilliant, he managed to work out an entire system once he decided what he wanted. Between his ‘deep’ bond with Charlice and his ability to still trade with the dwarves through the succubi, he has made quite the space for himself...

 

Charlice was another interesting character, his obsession came from his sister forcing him to wear her clothes when he was young. Apparently, all elves had an obsession with beauty that came from the High Elves. The worst part was that his group wasn’t even gay, they weren’t exclusive. The dresses and long flowing clothes were from their obsession with appearing as beautiful as possible. It was very difficult for his mind to come to grips with. 

 

They pursue beauty beyond anything… Even succubi can join them but none of them have…

 

The succubi were one of the most unified races Rex had ever seen, they weren’t swayed by anything. They had an almost caste-based system that developed between them based on the core interests of the species. It was quite complex and based on how the succubi viewed each other.  Now as more and more succubi were gathering on the island their unique traits were starting to develop. They loved trading and bartering with other races, they made great capitalists. 

 

Even now they are trading with the Fox and Mouse beastmen…

 

Then you have the dwarves and their subspecies. They are all very practical, it doesn’t matter whether they are goblins or gnomes, they only care about their work. The city they are planning to build will be massive, and it is designed to act as a defense for the island. The hallways would continue further and further out, this way if they were ever attacked from underground it would be easy to detect and fight back. 

 

Almost all of their commodities come from the succubi, they are just as dependent on us as we are on them.

 

Climbing to the top of the ladder, he spotted Kira and raised his arm. As she passed over him the two linked arms and Rex stepped off the cliff. Two then began to leisurely float in the air on Kira’s wings.

 

-

Meanwhile…

Outside of the Demon Lord’s keep

 

“Father, why is Mother staying here?!” The little girl asked her father with shock.

 

Allyn looked at his youngest daughter as they left the keep that belonged to the demon lord. A look of hatred crossed his face.

 

“She isn’t your mother anymore, she decided to stay here on her own.” Allyn tried to lie to her.

 

“Father!” The little girl yelled angrily. “Don’t try to lie to me! Why is Mother staying here?”

 

Allyn Corvollin looked at his daughter with exasperation, right now they were walking through the large stone doors that lead outside of the keep. Unfortunately, they also weren’t alone.

 

“Hahahaha! Your Father wasn’t enough of a man for your Mother anymore, so the Demon Lord took her as his concubine! I’m sure she is much happier now!” A female laughed at him with a grating voice, she was the leader of the Banshees.

 

Allyn clenched his teeth with her interjection, but his troubles were just beginning.

 

“Tha’s not wha happened… The demon Lord say he gonna take her, and that man did nothin bout it.” A voice drawled out. “Trash is what he is.”

 

Allyn heard the man spit in disgust when he finished his interjection. This caused Allyn to pause in shock, he turned his face to the Lord of Trolls.

 

“Father, is what he said true?” His youngest daughter asked him with shock.

 

Allyn grit his teeth in rage, he took a breath to try to calm himself. This turned into a mistake as it let someone else interrupt them again.

 

“It’s not only true, it’s been going on for years.” The Wraith Lord said. “He drove out the succubi thinking he could do everything they could, but he failed at every turn. Now the wife he used as a chess piece is gone and he can’t do anything about it.”

 

Rathios looked at Allyn with disdain. The wraiths were spirits that lived on life force similar to the succubi. What the wraiths were upset about was that they were the ones being sent to clean up Allyn’s mess.

 

“Father, Anna is never going to forgive you when she wakes up! I’m not going to either!” The young girl yelled out in anger, she had feared that this was the case.

 

“You don’t understand what it means to lead a clan!” Allyn vented his anger on his youngest child.

 

In truth, he had long considered his wife gone to him, and that woman was just a shell of who she once was. Looking at his oldest daughter, some concern appeared on his face. She smelled strange, and her veins were blackening. Her outrage when she entered the throne room was also bizarre, she had never had a temper like that before.

 

“What happened to your sister, I sent her to gather information on the succubi?” Allyn asked his younger daughter.

 

She wanted to not say anything, but she didn’t have that option since he could force it out of her.

 

“She tried to take someone hostage and was attacked, they had dwarven boomsticks. She said they were capable of firing repeatedly, when she failed to take a hostage she was attacked and driven from the island.” The little girl said with hatred. “When she came back she was like this!”

 

Allyn paused as he heard the report from his youngest daughter. Looking over at Anna who was being carried by a vampire cat beastmen, he realized he would need to question her when she woke up.

 

“Let’s get out of here, we are no longer welcomed.” Allyn announced to his group.

 

The little girl had tears in her eyes as she sobbed silently, she could not disobey her father.

-

Meanwhile…

Succubus Homeland, The Exchange

 

A large round table had been constructed for this meeting, and at this table were all of the people who had the most sway on the island. Among the dwarves, 3 people had come Guffrey, Bernard, and a gnome named Gettle. For the Pride of Men, it was Simbad, Mallard, and Charlice, the two factions who had formed an alliance of sorts. Bob the beaverman and Doug the pugman had also participated.  Kira had come and so had Rex, this was way too many people for Shaya to handle working as a scribe, so another succubus was doing it.

 

They were also accompanied by the 20 succubi guards, all wielding different weapons. They thought this made them look much more intimidating. They stood all around the room wearing black pants and tight shirts with a front-facing synthetic vest. Just like Kira they also had belts with spare ammo and explosives. 

 

“So I called you all here for several reasons, as I believe you are aware of what the succubi and I have planned.” Rex told the group of people. “Currently the Elves are in a state to completely defeat the Beastmen, and this would not be good for anyone.”

 

Rex looked at SImbad and Mallard when he said this, but he got no reaction from the Duck or Lion, they just continued to play footsies under the table. Rex sighed out deeply as he saw this but decided to continue.

 

“We are currently in a really bad spot, although it might not seem like it.” Rex announced. “We were recently attacked by a vampire, and it is likely they will tell the location of the island to the elves and the beastmen.”

 

This news did cause a change in the three from the Pride of Men, they looked excited for a moment before they quickly tried to hide it, this caused Rex to pause and feel a sense of danger. Looking over at Guffrey and the dwarven representative, he went with a different approach instead.

 

“Our ships will soon be ready, once they are, we can also begin to start searching for your sister, we will need to send a dwarven representative.” Rex grew hesitant as he did not see any excitement in the dwarf’s eyes, just his usual smile.

 

Bernard, the dwarf with bronze skin that he had worked with before, decided to cut him off.

 

“Why do we need to involve everyone with running the island?” Bernard asked him. “You talk about representation, but most dwarves don't care who runs things as long as they run. We have used the same system for centuries, and it is going to be hard to change that.”

 

“I can second that!” Grettle the gnome said. 

 

Rex sighed out sadly.

 

“The Pride of Men also agrees with this.” Simbad said with Mallard and Charlice nodding. “Unless another faction forms I don’t think we need to change anything. Now let’s talk about the important parts, men!”

 

Rex looked up at the grizzled lion, he realized he was now trapped in his pace.

 

“You wanted to build an army of all of our forces, and this would be a joint exercise.  Our groups would each have people trained to take arms.” Simbad looked up at Rex and Kira with a serious expression. “We also need to elect leaders for the different divisions of the armies. These would be the generals.”

 

Rex realized that the Pride of Men and the Dwarves must have worked something out in the background. 

 

“I agree, if we are all putting troops up then they each need to be led.” Guffrey said. “Right, first the islan-”

 

Boooooom!

 

The sound of a cannon going off in the distance could be heard, this interrupted the meeting. Rex looked at Kira with an annoyed expression which caused her to blush, suddenly they heard a succubus voice call across the island.

 

“A large monster was sighted off of the shore, I have killed it!” She announced proudly. 

 

This would have been fine if Rex couldn’t hear other succubi excitedly talking in the background about trying to lure more of them near the island. Soon this announcement cut off, this was probably the third or fourth one of the day. It never stopped, not even at night. Looking around Rex could see bags under everyone's eyes, everyone but the succubi. This caused Rex to stare right at Kira, as a thought went through his head.

 

She said that she sleeps so much better knowing that her sisters are carefully protecting the island. Nothing can get close to the island without fear of getting trapped in the succubi’s web of bullets! 

 

“I agree, I think we also need to assign roles and ranks,” Rex said with a sigh.

 

Kira looked at Rex and nodded, this was already planned from the start. No matter what, he would not be able to build an army from just the succubi. They were already ready to make some concessions as long as Kira was ultimately in charge of the army.

 

“I propose a High General who has command over the joint military, then we can place a General in charge of defense and an Admiral in charge of the navy.” Rex said. “Our military is going to be small, and we will have to rely on our weapons. We need to be prepared to be attacked by the Demons, the Elves, or the Beastmen at any time. This is until our comrades on the mainland can take control of their areas, then we won’t be under as much pressure.”

 

“Are you sure that we could be attacked by any of the three groups?” Guffrey asked him seriously.

 

“I am very serious about it; while the cannons are annoying, they are necessary, I even prepared grapeshot for them. If they come we will be prepared, and I don’t plan to stop there either.” Rex said. “The ships I originally designed are going to change as well, they are getting the same 50 caliber machine guns as well as 2 additional small cannons as well and a large anti-ship gun. I originally just wanted them to be scary, but now I want them to be very deadly.”

 

Guffrey and the dwarves nodded solemnly at his words, their lives would also be affected if something happened to the surface of the island. The Pride of Men and Charlice also nodded at this.

 

“Let’s discuss numbers and representation. The succubi will provide 300 members to provide the start of our forces. I would like to take the position of High General.” Kira announced flatly. 

 

Guffrey and the dwarves nodded at this, the dwarf with bronze skin spoke up next.

 

“I can dedicate 50 of our brethren for the defense.” Bernard said, and Guffrey nodded. “However, we are expecting you to get our brethren out of the Elves' hands.”

 

“I already promised, did you not want to take a rank?” Rex asked but the dwarves shook their heads.

 

“Our fights are underground, they aren’t something you would have experience in.” Bernard began but the gnome cut the dwarf off.

 

Rex had to nod and concede this point, it was not a battleground that humans had ever fought in. Guffrey had already taken control of this position by default.

 

“I have spotted a large monster off of the coast!” A succubus announced using the loudspeaker enchantment Rex had created.

 

Booom!

 

“Wow! She remembered to announce before she shot the cannon!” Rex said in amazement. “They are finally learning!”

 

“Right, the Pride of Men will be offering 120 men to captain and crew our island's navy, and I will be the Admiral!” Simbad cut in.

 

Rex’s excitement instantly vanished and turned into horror.

 

“I second this.” Guffrey announced solemnly. 

 

What, why?

 

Rex looked at Guffrey in shock, he was going to nominate Doug. Looking at the pug beastman who was staring at Rex with sorrow, he could only smile sadly at him.

 

“Can I ask why you are interested in this?” Rex asked the lion.

 

Simbad smiled at Rex like the cat who caught the canary.

 

“While the Democracy thing is a bit hard to swallow at the moment, I do know how to increase my pride.” Simbad said. “If we are fighting the Elves and the Beastmen, then that means we can ‘capture’ prisoners, and expose them to our culture!” 

 

“We will be the gatekeepers! We will be able to control who comes to our island!” Charlice announced happily.

 

Looking at Charlice, a thought crossed his mind.

 

This is why they allied, they wanted to take this position since they knew they would get forced into it if they didn’t willingly concede. 

 

“And the nonsense will be off the island!” The dwarves all nodded and agreed.

 

They are shortsighted…

 

Rex was just thinking of the horrors he would face if the navy was completely controlled by the Pride of Men, looking back to Doug he could see a look of horror on his pug face.

 

120 people… even if I dedicated my entire workforce to it I would barely have any control of the navy, I originally planned to drop half of them into it!

 

Rex was trapped in this situation now, 300 succubi were all they could afford to lose without dropping production lines. 

 

“I will dedicate half of our trashiest workers to the navy.” Bob said without mercy. “I am sick and tired of having to clean up after people! If you don’t want to sleep with the Pride of Men then you best get your shit together! Make that known to the entire workforce!”

 

Wow, that is vicious! No wonder Bob has issues with worker morale. 

 

“Alright, SImbad. You will need to properly learn how to run a navy, if you cause us losses then we will need to find a new Admiral.” Rex began but Simbad held a hand up to him.

 

“Do you think I would risk my brothers if I wasn’t fully confident?” Simbad asked with a hurt expression. “I plan to use this opportunity to spread our culture across every single ocean! As we cannot have children we can only pass on our values through converting others to our way of thought!”

 

Simbad stood up and brought his fist down on the table.

 

“While I may not have any faith in this idea of democracy, I do have full faith in our bond. No matter where we go or where we fight we will be unshakable!” The lion announced with pride.

 

“Okay… I get it, please sit down!” Rex said angrily.

 

As the Lion was fantasizing about all of the men he was going to add to his harem a large bulge had formed at the front of his tight black pants, this was made clear when he stood up! Everyone breathed a sigh of relief when he sat back down and they moved onto the next topic.

 

“We need a new currency, these clay coins are no longer cutting it, we also know the succubi have given up eating people.” Guffrey said, and Simbad nodded.

 

“Since we are not formally joining, and are staying as three separate entities. I believe the best option will be to create a neutral group run by members of the three factions who will maintain a certain level of currency on the island,” Rex announced “I plan to introduce a type of metal coin that will use Zinc, tin, and copper. It will be unique and come in denominations of 1, 5, and 10. It should work much better than what we are currently doing.”

 

“I can get behind that.” Guffrey nodded as what Rex suggested was reasonable.

 

“That is reasonable.” Simbad nodded.

 

Currency was something that modern people had already proven was arbitrary, just look at bitcoin. As long as people agreed it was worth something then it was easy enough to use. They had already used it for over 7 years, and now it was considered normal. As long as the people in the room agreed everybody below them would follow along. Bob and Doug lead Rex’s faction for him, and he considered himself a partner of Kira. To keep things stable he needed both Guffrey and Simbad.

 

Maybe in time, I can make this place a proper Democracy, oh well I guess I can wick my tears with the corpse of the swamp monster.

 

“Great builder, a word, if I may.” Bob said.

 

Rex looked over at the beaverman with a confused expression.

 

“We are limited by the size of our dry dock on the kinds of ships we can make. I have come up with a solution for this.” Bob proposed.

 

“And that is?” Rex asked.

 

“The mousemen are near a large settlement of the beavermen. I want you to send all of them here.” Bob looked at Rex seriously. “I plan to dam a section of the ocean off around the island, and then we can use it to build ships in, and when they are complete we can flood it! To perfectly build it I need more people like me!”

 

Bob looked up at Rex seriously, and this time Rex was seriously considering his words. The image of a large rectangular dock built into the ocean appeared in his mind, it had large metal doors holding back the water, and various pumps to pull out any water that managed to make it over the walls and gate. When a completed ship was done the entire dock would flood, then the metal gates would open allowing it to sea. This was the first time Bob had said something rational when it came to his hatred of the ocean.

 

“Do you think that this is possible?” Rex asked him seriously.

 

“The beavermen love building, we even built the walls for the mousemen. If we had a bigger area to build and deploy ships then we could get past our current size limitations.” Bob said confidently.

 

“We can discuss this more after we get the first ships deployed, but I can send word to Greko.” Rex nodded to Bob.

 

I didn’t get the democracy I wanted, but I agree that things are too small at the moment. I might get another chance once the island's population has expanded a few more times.

 

Rex was a bit disappointed that the direction they were going was towards an oligarchy, but he felt like it was still a positive outcome. Simbad being in charge of the Navy was also really unpleasant to think about, he still needed to get Shaya's help machining the engines for the ships, he also needed to mount and test the weapons. 

 

At least the succubi can help keep them in check! I am going to feel really bad for their prisoners...