Chapter 1192 – Liberation Campaign 6 – Signs of Sustainability<h1></h1>


    While the volunteer force continued their best efforts to alleviate destitution and Aclysia continued their path east, John stood over a map of the Iron Domain and rubbed his chin. In his mind, he added to the disy on the table in the war room the borders of the areas, tinted blue for where Fusion was in control, and the current locations of the three trackable groups.


    Their control over the Archduchy Merdragon was questionable, and while they controlled the heart of the Kingdom, they controlled none of the provinces within. Little was to be done about the former state of affairs, the volunteer forces were simply too few and too weak to act as a genuine upation force. At best they were the only power in a vacuum.


    As for the Kingdom of War, however, John could take it over with his little assortment of ‘broken OP pls nerf’ people. He had the Velkyrion to track his progress in taking out all of the key locations and a Quest to fulfil. The only question was how he went about this.


    Obviously the most effective strategy was to split up. That Siena was able to take out a King on her own, albeit with the advantage of a sessful surprise attack, pointed towards the only beings in the entire Iron Domain capable of stopping them being either Arkeidos himself or, potentially, his Iron Maidens. They could set out individually and liberate the countryside at maximum speed.


    Arkeidos and his Iron Maidens were still afoot though. The disy of the spirit of the Emperor on his throne was more than likely a deliberate showcase. Either it was designed to fool John into overstepping or, by thinking one step further, into inaction. The Gamer yed it safe and went with the former assumption.


    ‘We shouldn’t split up too much, but I also don’t want to waste too much time on this,’ the Gamer thought. There were so many parts of the Iron Domain that were figuratively on fire that the conquering part of it was less than half the battle. “What do you think?” John asked, turning to the woman they had invited for this very discussion.


    Everyone’s gaze was directed at Lorelei, who seemed to look off into the distance. She was in her proper attire, a grey dress dding her, ornated with patterns of roses made of golden yarn. Around her head sat a metal ring, covering her eyes and confining her blonde-white hair above the messy braid.


    “The future is clouded,” she whispered in a distant and dreamy voice. It was that very peculiar tone that people used when they let the mind itself speak, rather than trying to intonate or formte any intentions of their character. “The divergence of paths is too much to follow. Each branch of the future contains a branch of its own size. A fractal, continuing endlessly. Two giants, trying to sway fate.” Lorelei lowered her chin. A few momentster, she bowed. When she spoke, her words had the typical soft diligence to it. “I apologize, John, but I do not think I can be useful at this time.”


    “You’re doing what you can.” John nodded. “We got one of the Kings down thanks to your prophecy. Your contribution has been immense already.”


    “Thank you.” The seer bowed her head a second time.


    Their attention returned to the map. While John pondered, Eliana raised her voice, “So, obviously we are not letting my crazy fucking ass out of sight, because I might get mindfucked by the arrogant bitch of a metal elfdy.” The pretty little psycho stated what everyone thought but what no one wanted to say directly to her face. It sounded too much like she was holding them back.


    “I’m not letting your ass out of sight because what else would I stare at if I did?” the Gamer joked to take some of the seriousness out of the air. It got some decent chuckles, as much as could be asked in the situation.


    “Ya ain’t exactly spoiled for choice, tiger,” Rave remarked drily.


    “Guess that’s true,” John agreed and smacked the bottom of the nearest woman – Gnome in this case. The season elemental yelped, then pushed her butt against the palm squeezing it. Among the least endowed in the harem, she still had plenty to squish. “First things first, someone should stay behind and hold down the Bastion. I want to use this as our base of operation at the moment.”


    Momo raised her hand, a snake coiling its way around her arm, only to slither back under her poncho when the Gamer focused on it. “That’d be me,” the fairy support stated. “I don’t have a teleport, but I can fly away if it gets dicey here. Plus, I can keep scouring the libraries.”


    “Yeah, that’d make the most sense,” John agreed. “…I think it makes the most sense if the elementals and I go up to the Archduchy Reler,” he finally suggested, pointing at the green area that made up the west of the Kingdom. “It’s narrow, so the range of the elementals won’t be arge drawback. Jane, Eliana, Metra and Beatrice, you should take care of Savn.” He gestured at the province covering the savannah, directly north of them. “We reconvene in Delikt.”


    “I could just do that on my own,” Metra suggested. Of all those avable, she was definitely the closest contender for a solo mission.


    “I need you to be around in case Eliana gets targeted,” John responded. “You’re the only one who could potentially hold off Arkeidos or one of the Iron Maidens in a one on one.” With a mildly mocking smile he added, “He won’t expect that after yourst showing.”


    “You trying to piss me off, you stimtion addict?”


    “A bit,” the Gamer admitted freely and turned back to the n. “This strategy is risky. We might get caught individually, so I don’t want to splinter us any further. Nia is active in the south-east at the moment, so don’t expect her to show up out of nowhere. Not even she can work that miracle.” He said that with more confidence than he had. Nia’s abilities were an enigma, even to herself. She was one of two Maidens of Null and specialized differently than Alice. Already the exact range of her capabilities was more conjecture than solid knowledge.


    “Really is irksome that Arkeidos isn’t making any moves,” Momo mumbled.


    “Yeah,” the Gamer agreed.


    In conventional warfare, an enemy not making any move was a situation to be exploited by snapping at their heels and whittling away at their resources. While the same was true here, the effect of it was greatly diminished. Every Ironborn killed was a small victory, every plot ofnd liberated hundreds of souls delivered from designed starvation, yet in the ultimate confrontation against Arkeidos, his personal power remained untouched. Where a mundane leader would eventually run out of bodies or political capital to continue a war, an Abyssal government founded on the supreme power of the individual at the head remained stable through all challenges.


    In the Abyss, the power of the people waspletely subjugated to the power of certain individuals. That had a lot of drawbacks, as the mere existence of the Iron Domain proved. ‘It’s a serious boon that Abyss and mundane are separated on Earth,’ John thought. ‘Otherwise, the principles of government wouldn’t be able to properly develop. Might makes right is prevalent enough as it is… not that it has served me poorly. I got a harem and a country to my name.’


    “Earth to pervert,” Momo said and snapped her fingers in front of him. “You still pondering ns or political philosophy?”


    “Thetter,” John admitted. “Which is probably the best sign to get moving. First, though, we need to find a bunch of bottles or other containers.”


    “Why’s that?” Rave asked.


    “Because you need to drink and eat, my dear,” John responded in an overyed suave tone. “We have no idea how long we’ll be apart andst I checked you can’t create food and water on your own.”


    “Which is so annoying… By the way, we have two more weeks before the effects of the anti-hair shampoo wear off, so we better wrap this up before then.”


    “I don’t mind a bit of stubble,” the Gamer confessed. Sure, he found the smooth shave to be the best look, for many reasons. That didn’t mean he was immediately turned off though. “Unless you’re talking other ces.” John thought back. He never actually had seen Rave with any kind of body hair before. Not something he was eager to change, even if there was a curious part of him.


    “A woman’s body is a project, ‘kay?” Rave responded. “And I don’t know what hairy legs under a bodysuit feel like and wanna keep it that way.”


    “That’s fair,” the Gamer surrendered.


    ____________________________________________________________________________


    A dayter and John was flying away from the fortress he and the elementals had just cleaned out. Each Archduchy had its own centre, typically arge fortress, where the majority of enemy forces were hanging out. The one of the Reler province was located on arge ind far off the coast. It had taken John the entirety of yesterday and part of today to just get there.


    It had still been teeming with Ironborn, in the process of preparing an assault on the ind the volunteer forces were on. With that ind cleansed, John had removed the primary threat of such naval invasions happening. He wasn’t sure if he had gotten everyst Ironborn on the ind, he only stayed a few hours. Destroying all the ships around made it so they would have to walk across the bottom of the ocean if they wanted to get anywhere. A no doubt disorienting and slow experience.


    Smander was carrying him back to the maind. Wind whipped his face, his body supported by nothing but the arms of the elemental, her height almost equal to his. In terms of travel options, it was awful in every aspect except speed. Smander was fast, faster than amercial airne. The distance between the ind and the shore was about that between Estonia and Find. Making that trip in an hour was impressive and John was still incredibly thankful when he finally had ground under his feet again.


    “Alright, simple strategy,” the Gamer reminded his five elemental girls. “You swarm out and clean out the area, while I advance north and check out the local wildlife and other points of interest.”


    “Roger, roger!” Sylph babbled and immediately darted off. The other four of his present haremettes did the same, spreading out in every direction to cover as much ground as possible. On the map, Reler had looked like a narrow strip, especially in the south. With boots on the ground, a narrow strip was still over a dozen kilometres wide, ascending up the slope of the mountain range that prevented the air currents from the west from making it to the desert. It all got stuck here, along the shore, turning the air humid and the nt life thrived.@@novelbin@@


    This was a secondary reason why John had decided to go for this area personally. ording to all information that he was privy to, this was the lushest area in the entire Iron Domain. Rivalling it were the forest around the Iron Domain and the Archduchy Epant in the southwest. Both of those were in areas that saw more sun and were less humid, so scanning them could have also been worth it.


    As for what he was searching for, the answer was obvious: anything and everything that could have served as a native food source. Through his initial expedition and the volunteer source, John had introduced several crops already. Primarily popr fruits such as apples, pears and oranges alongside the staple vegetables like potatoes, beans and carrots had been carried over. As they were already fully domesticated nts, selectively raised to producerge yields as fast as possible through centuries or even millennia, they would undoubtedly oupete what eager wild food was avable in the Iron Domain. To spread them around, however, would take a while and there was no guarantee that, without magic involved, those nts would survive the particrities, like the long nights, of this world.


    Any native species they stumbled upon would greatly put John at ease.


    He jogged northwards and tracked the progress all around. Sylph and Smander were scouting the area, Siena infiltrated what structures they found, Gnome broke down any fortified positions, and Undine hung back to take care of stragglers. A configuration both basic and effective. Across the mountain range, in the savannah, the other half of their group moved out of the fortress at the heart of Archduchy Savn and began their sweep. Without eyes in the sky, they would have to rely on data Momo fed them about the area. A good source to lean on.


    asionally, he stopped and threw an Observe at a tree or other kind of nt he hadn’t seen before. He found several nts that were edible. Feral, therefore offering little in terms of size, but nevertheless present were varieties of roots, fruits and vegetables. He collected them in his inventory, to experiment with furtherter.


    The presence, abundant by Iron Domain standards, of food was easily exined by the nature of the Kingdom of War.


    From what he and Momo were able to glean, each Kingdom had a different selection mechanism. The Kingdom of Oppression in the west held its people in absolute squalor, forcing them to take the most desperate measures, perish at a young age or live an illness ridden life. To the south, the Kingdom of Gold forced its poption into hardbour, allowing those that showed craftiness and skill to rise above the rest. Of the four major areas of the Iron Domain, that one may have been the fairest. East was the Kingdom of Trials, which apparently awarded Mettle as prizes in games. That one was a bit odd to John and information on it was scarce. He would see more of it soon, since Aclysia had made it to the Archduchy Labyrinth.


    The Kingdom of War found its potential associates through tribal warfare. The more powerful a tribe, the betternds they could migrate to between the three provinces. Those that made a tribe truly great were taken away by the Ironborn as potential initiates, eventually facilitating its copse. On first nce this was barbaric, which was an improvement from dystopian as far as John was concerned. Digging deeper revealed that the Ironborn prevented any sort of entityrger than 500 people from forming by systematically smashing any alliances, burning down cities, ughtering the excess, or demanding tribes to turn on themselves.


    Among all of that, the only real question John had was how the Iron Domain sustained its poption in the first ce. A lot was to be said about the capability of humans and human-esque beings to withstand adversity, but a millennium of misery certainly had to have some kind of depressing effect on the birth rate. The sanitary conditions for the babies were disastrous as well.


    As John advanced north, he only found more questions he wanted answers to.