The hivemind is conquering for me? Chapter 969: The Speech

"A thousand victories." Sigismund spoke simply to start off his address. No flair, no theatrics

"A Thousand victories!!!" The crowd below roared back. The roar gave me chills. The belief in those simple words roused the hearts of the masses.

In the screen out ahead of us, I could see Sigismund smiling, nodding his head as he looked out amongst everyone.

"My People!" He said, stretching out his arms. "My beloved children of Spartari, I speak to you today with pride for I wish to share good news!"

The crowd roared again. Sigismund waited for the yells to die down before he continued.

"I stand before you today, a proud king. Not proud of myself, but of your courage. Your honour. Your ability to go above and beyond to preserve this, our most perfect empire!

On a planet on our southern border, a simple resource world called Lleon T1, The disgusting foe, the Drakoshi descended upon it months ago to claim our resources! Our land! They tried to take what belongs to us!"

The crowd began to curse the Drakoshi name, hurling insults to an invisible foe.

"But they failed! As all aliens fail before the might of humanity! Our forces held back a threat that was... Well, let’s just say the Drakoshi threw a lot of forces at the planet, more than we usually deal with.

But did that stop our military? Did our brave phalanx flee? Cower? NO! Because we are Spartari! We fear no aliens! No threat to our empire!

No! They held out! They won and won and won! The phalanx scared the Drakoshi so badly they sent Warlords, their ’greatest’ warriors. Not one, not two. But three Warlords were present on that planet.

Our brave Phalanx stood their ground, held the line until my forces arrived with reinforcements. I Killed all three Warlords and committed righteous genocide against the filthy aliens, cleaning their taint off the planet! We are victorious this day as we will be victorious for all days to come! For Spartari!"

The crowd were losing their shit at the King declaring he had committed genocide of a species.

Kat had told me the common masses were, for the most part, heavily conditioned in the name of compliance, this was nuts. They were basically frothing at the mouth in patriotic excitement.

Sigismund seemed to give them a moment looking around those on the balcony, I did the same and realised I was the only one not applauding.

’Whoops!’

As I began to applaud, he seemingly picked up on it and flashed me a grin before turning around again. He then raised his hand into a fist and I got chills as the entire planet ceased to make any more noise.

He then grabbed the stone of the balcony and leant against it, his face turning sombre.

"I shared the news of this great victory with you, my people, for I also come bearing dire news... Although we won that battle, the truth is, we are still at war with the threats that want to take our empire and force their alien regime unto us!

The Drakoshi still send fleets packed to the brim with their clones into our southern borders. The Coalition and their alien schemes also force our eastern borders into constant conflict and to our north, the pest known as the scourge bites at our fringes...

For a long time, we have had the strength to deal with these threats all at once, but the Drakoshi, as I mentioned, are sending even more fleets now than seen in the past few decades and the scourge... It has begun wrapping around the fringes of our empire and is currently attacking our less guarded eastern colonies. Simply put, we are stretched thin."

Murmurs began to spread, the king allowed them for a minute before he continued.

"However, The Alien Coalition has reached out to us in their weakness. They are also facing insurmountable forces of both Drakoshi and scourge. They have decided to ask us for aid. They cannot deal with all three threats as well as our empire can.

While we will state and continue to state we abhor their way of life. How they restrict the freedom of their own myriad of species, council of many nobles of our empire have decided that, after a great amount of terms that weigh heavily in our favour, we will engage in a temporary peace with the pathetic aliens.

We will take this ’peace’ for the little tactical advantage it is to us to divert troops to the east and south where we can begin decimating our other enemies with trivial ease."

I resisted the urge to chuckle. It was just a peace treaty, but Sigismund made it out like they were doing it from a place of strength and the peace was just a means to an end to deal with the Drakoshi and the hive.

Of course, I was not sure why Jewel was being a cute little glutton and breaking her word of scouting strength only, but I am sure she had her reasons, and if not? Well she would get a spanking.

A mild punishment as I knew like me, she really likes nom noms.

The crowd seemed pleased though. Peace while in a place of strength was preferable than being on the losing side of things. Most would probably think Sigismund was being tactical.

Another few moments passed before Sigismund continued.

"Now, while the majority of the terms of this peace will be made public shortly after this speech is finished. There is one subject that needs to be addressed first.

The last peace we had with the Coalition ended after a few decades due to them attempting to claim a ’neutral’ human world. This is due to us having no communication between us during that time.

As a result, although I still have strong feelings on the matter, both parties involved had announced to create a formerly abolished position, A coalition diplomat. One of our brave and most loyal has to be forced to leave the safety of our empire and traverse into the treacherous Coalition space."

’Oh no, here it comes...’ I suddenly realised I was about to be up. Even worse, the speech had now slipped out of my mind. ’Are you fucking kidding me!?! I remember things from literally a past life, but this goes bye bye? Fuck my life...’

"I will not lie to you, my people. I do not like this part of the treaty, but despite our position of power, some give was needed. Now, who have I chosen to partake in this most daunting task?

I will tell you. We looked for the most loyal members of the empire. The most virtuous. There were many contenders that fit the description, but one stood out. A young Sentinel with a bright future in our empire.

A young man whom I personally consider a war hero and a man I trust to complete this task laid upon him with the strength and dignity of a true Spartari citizen.

Sentinel Apollo Lambdason."

Sigismund then turned and gestured to me and the lights started again. They were so bright I couldn’t even see the large screens that were now showing my face.

I gave a polite wave before Sigismund used his hand to beckon me towards him.

’This is it... Oh I’m going to be sick.’ I thought to myself before all of a sudden a burst of familiar energy suddenly awakened in my chest.

I approached him swiftly, my body exuding a confidence I had never had in public speaking.

My sudden shift must have been noticed by Sigismund as he raised an eyebrow. He took my arm and gave me a handshake before whispering away from the cameras.

"You alright lad?"

"I’m fine." I replied, honest.

"Good. Now wait a moment and the mic will transfer over to-"

"-Actually I have a better idea. Though prepare to give me a pardon if anyone gets pissed." I said before approaching the place Sigismund was when he was speaking.

The crowd was still cheering as I pulled up.

I raised my head and prepared the Psionics in my throat before speaking.

"Citizens of Spartari!"

My voice boomed with power, startling those behind me, but I continued.

"This task given to me I accept with honour. My name should not matter, my status irrelevant for the mission. For I am but a humble servant of the empire. I have bled for this empire. That was one duty. Now the empire, my King, asks this task of me? I humbly accept just as any one of you truly loyal sons and daughters of my empire would in my place."

I then raised my arm above my head in a fist and bellowed,

"A thousand victories! For Spartari!"

The crowd was silent for a few moments before screaming back, copying my arm placement.

"A Thousand Victories! For Spartari!"

They then began cheering and screaming as I stepped back from the balcony, at which point Sigismund spoke to me again.

"Not bad, son, not bad. A bit too selfless, but bringing the citizens and placing them in your shoes was a good touch. They will eat that stuff right up."

I smiled at him before suddenly, the energy rushed out of my body.

"Y-Yeah... I guess... I am in desperate need for a drink now though."