190 Chapter 187 Harem Crusher (2/2)
”Fair enough,” he chuckled, shaking his head.
It took another ten minutes to finish the slaughter. 500 had surrendered out of the 80,000 strong army that marched south. Many of them were women who had been conscripted by the more powerful of warriors, and the very weak in the very front of the army.
(YOU HAVE EARNED THE t.i.tLE: HAREM CRUSHER.)
(IT IGNORES DIVINE PROTECTION AROUND HAREM LEADERS AND THEIR MEMBERS.)
(MOST PEOPLE CONSIDER IT PLOT ARMOR, BUT IT'S REALLY DIVINE PROTECTION FROM A G.o.d WHO DOESN'T WANT TO BE NAMED.)
(MOST OF THEM WHO DO IT, ARE MARRIED AFTER ALL. THEIR WIVES WOULDN'T APPROVE.)
Notifying Daisy, Joseph instructed that the 500 be stripped, cleaned, clothed and fed, before being put to work. They would be workers of the kingdom, and put to work where ever there was a need. Then he told her that the mess could be cleaned up by the beast-kin who enjoyed human flesh. He would clean up what ever was left after a couple of days.
Daisy broke contact very quickly, that surprised him for a moment, then he shrugged. Stella was right in that he needed to have another meeting. He could already feel the messages from his dad weighting down his mind.
x.x.xxX
William was waiting for him, outside the door of the meeting room.
”Why did you feel a need to put their souls in stones?” asked his dad, still not understanding.
Joseph sighed. ”I already told you, their souls would have gone straight back to NURKONG, which would then have been revived as something more powerful and dangerous to us, and sent back. This way they are trapped in a fantasy of my choosing. If they break free from that fantasy, I doubt any of them will realize they're in a soul stone, to try and break free of that, with the box making them think they are trapped in a black nothingness.”
”And the one you twisted with magic?” his dad asked.
”I turned her soul into a very powerful spell, that hurt NURKONG a lot when he sucked it back to him. She deserved it, though, she led the attack after they realized their target was children.”
”Why didn't you do the same thing to the other souls? Can't you reform them or something so that they weren't evil?” asked his dad.
”Dad, not everyone can be saved. Once touched by evil, it leaves a stain. I doubt there's anything more evil than NURKONG. I didn't turn the other souls into BLACK SUN, because I didn't want NURKONG returning the soul to this realm before it blew up. That would have caused way more damage than I am prepared to fix.”
”I don't know how I am going to explain this to your mother,” his dad said.
”Then don't. She doesn't understand magic either.”
William gave him a look, then gave up. It wasn't worth the effort to argue.
”Do you know what we are going to do with the slaves you just got?” he asked, changing the subject.
”Not yet, but I didn't see a reason to kill them, when they followed orders so well. If they ever cause any trouble, they can always be killed later.”
”Joseph!” cried William in surprise. ”These are people that didn't have a choice in whether they wanted to fight or not. How can you be so cruel?”
”Cruel? Did you see what happened to those children? Did you see the joy on the faces of my people when I brought them back from the dead? What about those who had died, slowly crushed by the buildings they were in? The looks of pure pleasure, when they realized they had been saved? These people definitely had a choice. Granted it may have been their deaths, but I guarantee you, I will take no pity on anyone who goes against my kingdom, and my people.”
William struggled against the push of his Wizar template, and the desire to follow the rules that Joseph had already placed into being. He had been through too much, trying to save those who were in the wrong place at the wrong time, to just roll over and accept Joseph's words. He had always had someone over him, trying to go against him, and there were always more to save, then he physically could.
”Dad, I understand that you have saved people your whole life,” said Joseph, placing a hand on his father's shoulder. ”But these slaves are not your people. They are the enemy. The fact that they gave in to my demands, means they get to live another day. If they do as they are ordered, then there won't be any problems. I don't intend to intentionally cause conflicts for them. The odds against them are already far greater than they can endure. The difference is that I can guarantee that others won't storm in and kill them, as the leaders of that army obviously couldn't do.”
William nodded slowly, and turned to open the door for him to enter the meeting room. Joseph knew his father was struggling, and he hated to think that he was the reason for that struggle, but he had fought too hard to get to where he was, to let things crumble around the edges because of inequality. He understood that if he was to be king, he needed to be strong enough to make the decisions that would ensure the happiness and well-being of his people, even if those decisions were callous to those who were not his people.
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