Anna Reed sat up and slapped the table upon hearing the report. After a month in this other world, she had finally encountered indigenous intelligent life. This was first contact—a giant step forward for Succubus civilization.
Speaking of Baka, the one who led the search team, she was the little girl who had hunted wolves barehanded at the very beginning. With her high aggression and sharp combat awareness, it was no surprise she completed the mission. According to further reports, she had even captured a live specimen.
A Goblin?
A classic wild mob. I wonder what their intelligence level is like?
Baka strode into the village, dragging a green-skinned humanoid half a head taller than herself. The succubi along the way couldn't help stopping their work, their eyes filled with curiosity.
Over the past month, they had raised wild chickens, bison, and ducks. All sorts of animals could be found on the plains, but this was the first time they had seen a species so similar to themselves. Bound tightly and still struggling, the green-skinned humanoid let out howls that seemed to be some primitive, short-syllable language.
Goblins were slightly taller than Succubus cubs, but before the power granted by the [Strong] trait, they were less threatening than a dog.
"Reporting to Mentor, the search team has discovered an intelligent species. According to my observations, they possess social organization and have some level of agriculture and animal husbandry, but they are far from qualifying as a civilization."
"They're just wild mobs, not highly intelligent beings. They'll do well as labor, though."
Anna quickly pressed for more details from the search team. It turned out there was a small Goblin village to the south with a population of about 500. They were armed with shield-bearers, axemen, and archers, but no magical professions were observed. In addition, the team found records and maps mentioning civilized nations, as well as traces of other Goblin settlements. The Black Soil Plain was livelier than she had imagined.
No one knew the attitude of those unknown civilizations, but fortune favors the bold. Anna set her sights on the Goblin village.
What were they?
A delicious source of labor. What the Succubus settlement lacked most right now was precisely manpower for simple physical work—they couldn't have too much of it. There were huge gaps in tasks such as mining and transporting iron ore, feeding livestock, and plowing and sowing fields.
Since the cubs had the [Intelligent] and [Strong] traits, they should focus on blacksmithing and forging techniques, freeing themselves from ordinary labor to occupy the upper reaches of the industrial chain.
Goblin labor was just too perfect. *Saikou ni ii yatsu da!*
"Pass down my order: We set out."
With her psionic power at her side, Anna was a woman of action. Combined with 200 fully armored Succubus superhumans, they were enough to sweep through thousands. Her authority was absolute—one could tell the Mentor's word was law from the nickname "Benevolent Mother" that circulated privately among the children.
This elite force could be said to have the average level of the Five Tiger Generals.
The only thing lacking was mobility; their footsteps clanged loudly as they marched. Loli, uniform, active, uncensored.
In fact, there were excellent horse resources on the Verdant Grasslands north of the Black Soil Plain, but how could a Succubus village that could barely feed itself have surplus grain for mounts? Not to mention training warhorses—the required funds would be astronomical. They could only endure the "uncensored" state for now and strive for everyone to achieve riding freedom in the future.
[In the first year, the Saint raised an army, intending to unify the world. Hearing of the barbarian city, she said, "The barbarians have little grace and the hearts of tigers and wolves," and subsequently led her troops to crush them.]
...Slash!
Baka's blade fell, severing the head of the last armed Goblin. She held it high on the tip of a spear, and the surrounding Goblins dropped their weapons and prostrated themselves, wailing "iya iya."
"How dare you resist the great Succubi with just this?"
Facing the haughty cub, the Goblins—despite being a head taller—did not dare look her in the eye and knelt on the ground one after another.
Anna watched coldly as the humanoid lifeforms fell in pools of blood. The elderly were all "purified," the healthy juveniles were kept, the women and children were locked up, and all the young men had their toes chopped off. A total of 410 laborers were brought under control. Their granaries, furs, and livestock naturally belonged to the victors as well; it was essentially a slave raid.
Making is not as good as buying, and buying is not as good as plundering.
History calls this "primitive accumulation of capital," a necessary process. If one cannot plunder externally, one must exploit internally. Anna was unwilling to see a group of beautiful girls become sallow and thin in the future due to the industrial-agricultural price gap; they deserved happier, better lives.
Let the wild mobs carry the burden so we can enjoy the peaceful years.
As for the bloodshed, it was a minor matter. She had thought she would feel nauseous and vomit, but she turned out to be more indifferent than expected. Truly, she had embarked on the path of a Paradox grand strategy war criminal.
The existence of a national will entity depends on the primary race and their corresponding happiness level. In this regard, Anna was a rational Philosopher-King dictator.
*My heart has been taken away by the Succubi; there will be no more sorrow or joy in this life.*
"Mentor, we found a world map."
"Great!"
Fortunately, the Succubus race came with an innate ability to understand the scripts of all races, so she could read it without any obstacles.
Anna opened the parchment but was disappointed. Not to mention the large areas of fog and the terrifying monster illustrations on the map itself—this was only a fragment. At most, she learned that she was currently in a place called the Great Andan Plain.
There were grasslands and lakes to the north, deserts and oasis plains to the west, and a miasma forest to the south. The southeast and northeast directions bordered the sea, and beyond that was a mass of fog.
Furthermore, the words "Published by the Orc Kingdom of Monte" in the bottom right corner gave Anna a sense of crisis.
[Ding! System Notification: Detected "Terra Gaia World Map Fragment — Golden Continent." Mini-map function updated.]
The panel view suddenly brightened. Mountains, rivers, plains, grasslands, and mineral deposits were all revealed. System information was loaded into the existing map fragment, turning it into a veritable resource map. If a battle occurred, it could also serve as a full-map tactical aid. Anna was surprised to find it could display Goblin settlements within a 50-kilometer range—all of them potential labor sources.
Not only that, the text on the back vaguely recorded Dragon Island and Fairy Country; the vastness of the Terra Gaia world was not to be underestimated.
The only fly in the ointment was that the mini-map did not provide meteorological or hydrological information.
However, Anna already had an idea.
Over the past month, hurricane cloud clusters had appeared in the sky but always vanished in a flash, proving there was an island chain windbreak effect in the ocean. The map fragment corroborated this.
On the other hand, the current summer characteristics were rainy and humid, with the Coriolis force creating anticyclones, meaning the rainy and hot seasons coincided.
Northwesterly winds in the north and northeasterly winds in the central and southern regions proved that the subtropical high pressure was at work, making it suitable for rice cultivation. In summary, it basically matched the climatic characteristics of the East Asian monsoon region, allowing her to calculate the agricultural schedule. Food is the people's heaven, and farming is a major affair of the state.
Although talking about climate in a world where magic exists is a bit of a stretch, the current Succubus civilization could only follow nature. To engage in idealism, one must first become powerful.
Development, more development.
Anna believed that even if dragons and angels existed in Terra Gaia, they would still have to respect the laws of nature.
She also realized that the initial geopolitical conditions were not good. There were no natural barriers, nor the advantage of a semi-enclosed geographic unit like China. As long as other civilizations existed on the Golden Continent, she could forget about peaceful farming.
The Succubus civilization was destined to be an outward-looking one that would march out and fight its way through.
"Mentor, shall we return?"
"No need. There are two more Goblin settlements nearby. We'll take them all in one go."
Anna glanced at the mini-map and pronounced their death sentence. During the stage of a civilization's wild growth, who cares about benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom, and trust? Besides, wild mobs aren't considered highly intelligent beings.
Even if they looked like humans, she couldn't possibly feel any affinity for them, right? Would a human feel close to a chimpanzee? Hmm... she had heard of people feeling close to lizards, though.
Sorry, Goblins. I really need slaves.
As the cornerstone of the Succubus race's peaceful years, there will be a stroke for you in the history books.