Swarming Sovereignty

Cedric, King of Larios, stood atop the walls of his capital, Larios City. It had only been a couple of weeks since the Swarm had started pushing into Larios, and they had already taken everything east of Larios City. This was in no small part due to Cedric’s own orders for no one to resist them, but even so, he had expected to have more time before this moment.

Michael, his husband, grabbed his hand. “Having second thoughts?” He asked.

“No.” Cedric replied. “This just doesn’t feel real quite yet. By the end of the day everything’s just going to be so…different.”

“I know you never thought you would be attracted to women, or that you would be a woman, but I’m sure you’ll live.” Michael said, playfully nudging Cedric.

Cedric rolled his eyes. “That’s not what I meant and you know it. Still…I appreciate you trying to lighten the mood. I need it right now. Despite what Zara and Alice have said, I just find it hard to believe that we’ll be able to go on with only a few policy changes and act like nothing ever happened.”

“It won’t be like nothing ever happened.” Michael replied. “I think there will be aspects of our lives in particular that will change forever, but I don’t think that’s necessarily bad. But, as a whole, I like to think that the change will be good. If there wasn’t legitimate good to come of it, the gods wouldn’t allow it.”

“I know.” Cedric sighed. “I just can’t help but be nervous.”

“And that’s normal, I–”

A rush of air and a horrid screech, a mixture of mechanical noises and a dragon’s roar, heralded the presence of the Scourge of the Skies as it broke down through a cloud. Cedric couldn’t help but wince as he heard the screams from the civilians below; he understood that the intimidation was a way of helping ensure that they wouldn’t entertain notions of fighting back, but it still hurt to see his people in such fear.

“Our apologies for our rude arrival.” The magically-amplified voice of the Queen rang out. “We needed to grab your attention. As many of you have no doubt surmised, today we will be converting this city. We have received word of a surrender in advance, so we will be aiming to make this process as swift and efficient as possible. Those of you who are out on the streets, I would recommend returning to your homes, or, if that would take more than half an hour, the nearest large gathering space such as an inn or church.

“We will be visiting your houses one by one to discuss your conversions and what you will get out of them. Unfortunately, as with most larger cities, we won’t be able to go as in-depth as we would like in this first pass through, so we will be setting up stations where you can be reconverted in the coming weeks. All we ask is that you bring along any items you have which would aid in getting your desired result. If you don’t understand now, that’s fine, you will soon.

“For most of you, we will be giving you half an hour to get back into your homes or other gathering places. In that time, we will be taking care of what military presence is in this city, as well as the leadership. Thank you for your cooperation.”

Cedric sighed again. He hoped it wouldn’t be too bad; he had tried to prime the people for this by spreading gossip that the coalition’s armies had suffered a crushing defeat, and that Cedric was seriously considering a surrender. And, at the very least, it appeared that there wasn’t a stampede or anything. Some people were clearly making for the city’s gates, but they likely wouldn’t get far, as the guards had been given orders to close the gates when the Swarm arrived.

“Cedric.” The Queen said, appearing next to him. “Is this your husband?”

Cedric jumped a little, but gave a nod. “Yes, this is Michael.”

“A pleasure to meet you, Michael.” The Queen said, giving him a smile. “I want to get your conversions started soon, have you given any thought to what you want out of it?”

“We have.” Cedric said, squeezing Michael’s hand. “I’m rather comfortable with my species and my Job, and I would like to stay as similar as possible. If you can strengthen me without changing much other than my sex, that would be ideal.”

“That’s a pretty easy ask.” The Queen replied. “We have two ways we can do this; first, I can just convert you without anything else, and select your Job. This normally would end with you more or less as powerful as you are now, but since I’m doing the converting, you’ll still have your stats doubled. Second, I can add in items relating to your Job; this essentially ‘leans into’ the Job, often giving some extra related abilities or making your stat spread slightly more extreme. What would you prefer?”

“I think…I think I would prefer the first option.” Cedric said. “But…just to confirm, no matter what happens, I’ll still feel attraction to Michael and our relationship will be unchanged, even if I do go this route?”

The Queen paused. “Yes, mostly.” She said. “You won’t be attracted to his male self anymore, and barriers in your relationship created by social status will be torn down, so the exact dynamic might change, but the core of it should be as solid as ever.”

“Alright.” Cedric said. “No other questions.”

The Queen gave him a nod in return. “Got it. Michael, what do you want?”

“Is it possible to become a siren that can walk on land?” Michael asked. “Preferably with an emphasis on song-related abilities.”

“I haven’t tried anything exactly like that, but I’d be incredibly surprised if it wasn’t possible.” The Queen said. “It’d be simplest if I try and make it so you’re basically a person with some sort of shark or dolphin tail and other siren features, but I can see what I can do about having a more merfolk-like tail that you can change out for legs.”

“Honestly, I think I’d prefer the first thing you mentioned, being a person with a fish tail in addition.” Michael said.

“Perfect!” The Queen said. “I have all the stuff necessary with me here. Would you prefer to do this right here on the wall, or if we did it in your quarters?”

“The wall, please.” Cedric said. “This is where people will know to find us, it’d be confusing if we were suddenly in our quarters.”

The Queen gave another nod. “Alright. Anything else before I begin?”

“I’m ready.” Michael said.

“As am I.” Cedric added.

“Very well.” The Queen said, placing a hand on each of their foreheads. A smooth substance flowed from her palms, feeling oddly comforting as it enveloped them. “This is going to feel a little odd, but you should–”

Cedric bolted to her feet, frantically casting her gaze around for her husband. And, after a moment, she beheld a cocoon lying next to her that could only have belonged to Michael. Then, she stopped, the situation catching back up with her. She felt fantastic…no, better than fantastic. She felt like the burden she had been carrying these past months had been abruptly lifted, and any lingering doubts she had had been blown away.

A mirror had been placed just a short distance away, and she was surprised by how good it felt to see herself as a woman. She was…more or less the same, just with more feminine features, but just that was enough to bring a smile to her face. In the past week she had picked out the name Celia for herself, and just a moment of thought was enough to confirm that she already preferred it to her old one.

She heard a yawn from beside her, and she excitedly turned to where her husband’s cocoon had been. Michael had been a “man’s man”, huge and imposing, but her old appearance paled in comparison to her new, gorgeous look. She had remained tall, but her muscles had been compacted into a more streamlined form, sleek and smooth. Or…mostly sleek and smooth; her chest was on the larger side, but Celia found that she had a new appreciation for breasts, and had no doubt that she would thoroughly enjoy them later. Of course, the most striking part of her was the smooth black and white shark tail that lazily flicked behind her, appearing far smoother than that of other sharks Celia had seen.

“Well, hello beautiful.” Celia said, pulling her wife into an embrace. “You look great!”

“You do too, honey.” Michael replied, her voice light and musical, almost entrancing. She smiled, revealing newly pointed teeth, and returned the hug. “Are you still thinking about going by Celia?”

“Definitely.” Celia replied. “Is May still the choice for you?”

“Yup.” May said. “How are you feeling?”

“I wish this could have happened sooner.” Celia said. “Not just because I like my new body, but because I feel like I can finally relax for the first time in ages. What about you?”

May kissed Celia’s forehead. “The same.” She said, then let go of the hug and turned to the mirror. “I turned out better than I had hoped.”

“Any idea what kind of tail that is?” Celia asked.

“I checked and my race description mentions being patterned after killer whales, so that’s probably it.” May replied. “So, what’s our first order of business now that our conversions are finished?”

“As much as I’d like to go explore our new bodies in detail, I think we should find the Queen and see what she wants from us.” Celia replied.

“No need.” The Queen said, appearing next to them. “I was keeping an eye on the timer for your conversions. How are you feeling?”

“Incredible.” Celia said. “And, to be honest, a bit regretful.”

The Queen gave her a worried look. “What’s wrong?” She asked nervously. “Did I make a mistake?”

“No, nothing of the sort!” Celia said quickly. “Seeing how May turned out, I just wish I had been more adventurous. I find myself wishing I matched with her now.”

The Queen relaxed. “Oh, thank goodness.” She said, placing a hand over her heart. “That’s pretty easily rectified. I’ve somewhat recently gained the ability to cocoon members of the swarm, I can get you changed right now if you’re fine with losing an hour.”

“Really?” Celia asked hopefully. “Wait…does that mean I’ll get the stat bonus from your conversion twice?”

“I wish.” The Queen laughed. “No, any bonuses I give are only applied once. If I get stronger buffs later and come back to do a reconversion, then it looks like only the strongest bonus applies. Same with experience gain, it seems like every time something is reconverted the experience it gives is only the difference between what it would grant and what it granted when it was originally converted.”

“Makes sense.” Celia replied. “Are you sure you won’t need me for another hour?”

“Yeah. At this point we essentially have full control of the city; all military and peacekeeping personnel have been converted, are in the middle of converting, or are up in the Scourge of the Skies waiting their turn. We’ve replaced them with our guards for the time being, just to help avoid opportunistic looters and stuff, and our army is working its way through the city.”

“You certainly work fast.” Celia said. “That seems like a lot.”

“We got it down after doing a couple of cities like this. The Swarm is natively more coordinated than people usually are, and with Rose and Astrea’s help, we’ve only become more so. Anyway, do you want to do this now or wait?”

“Now please.” Celia said, blushing slightly.

The Queen gave her a smile, and began to coat her in modeling wax once again. When she woke, Celia found herself alone in her bedchambers, and her first act was to rush to the mirror in her bathroom.

She had gained a tail much like May’s, and she found that her bust and rear had been given a slight upgrade, along with the slim but toned physique that she had seen on May. A quick vocal check revealed that her voice had gained that almost entrancing quality that May’s had as well. Furthermore, she found that she suddenly had the skill to control her voice as well if she had been trained in singing.

These were all things that she welcomed wholeheartedly now, but would have seemed alien or discomforting just mere hours before, and the more she saw of herself, the more content she was. She didn’t have much time to contemplate before, what with May waking up and the Queen visiting, but she felt like she could take the time to truly appreciate herself now. She looked great, far better than she ever had before, and far from feeling alien in her own skin, she felt more comfortable than she had been in the past. It was everything she had hoped the conversion would address and so much more.

She hummed contentedly as she left her chambers and made her way towards the meeting rooms, where May no doubt was helping coordinate things. She was proven correct when she opened the door to the main meeting room and found her wife in the middle of a meeting with several high-ranking officials.

“Celia!” May said happily, rushing over to give Celia a hug and a kiss. “You look phenomenal!”

“Thank you!” Celia replied, the compliment filling her with unexpected sense of pride. “How are things?”

“Stable.” Her top general said. “With the sheer number of people we have on the task, we’re expecting to have the city’s conversion complete by evening.”

“Good.” Celia said, taking a seat at the head of the table. “What of the nobles outside of the capital?”

“We’ll be sending agents to them soon to inform them of the surrender. Should they refuse to follow suit, we will be requesting aid from the Queen, who will be on standby with the Scourge of the Skies. Now that our surrender is official, their focus will be on those nobles and the big cities, and we’ll be in charge of the smaller villages.”

Celia nodded. “That’s easy enough. Have we received a list of policy changes we’ll need to implement yet?”

“The Queen gave me one when she reconverted you.” May replied. “That’s what we’ve been discussing.”

“All implementation specifics, right?” Celia said. “Whether or not we will implement them is not in question.”

“Of course.” May said. “Right now, we were talking about the logistics of distributing food and clothing to everyone.”

“At some point I’d like to have our mages talk with Lady Amelia about preservation spells.” Celia mused. “We’ll need somewhere to store all the food we’re transporting and our surplus, and I’m sure she’d be able to improve the spells on the storage buildings we have now. I’ll talk to the Queen about it next time I see her.”

“I was considering attempting to recreate the shipgirls, except with enormous carts instead of ships.” The Minister of Finance said. “Will you ask her if anything similar has been tried? If it works, it’d allow us to transport food and goods much more easily.”

“Ask about buildings while you’re at it.” The general added. “Mobile fortresses or even watch towers would be a huge boon for the military, not that we’ll need it at this moment, but it’s better to be prepared than to be caught unawares by some other emerging threat.”

“Is someone taking minutes?” Celia asked, looking around before spotting a woman in the corner scratching away at a piece of paper. “If you haven’t already, will you note those suggestions? I’d like it written just so I don’t forget afterwards. If you have spare time while taking the minutes, making a copy to hand to me at the end of the meeting would be ideal, but if not, we can copy it later.”

The woman nodded, a second sheet of paper sliding out from a stack by itself, another quill levitating over and beginning to write on it. That…was not something any of the scribes had been able to do before; yet another benefit of conversion, no doubt.

“Alright. Have we discussed scaling up farms at all?” Celia asked. “We should be able to handle more land with fewer people now. I did some talking with Astrea and Zara, and they’re estimating that we can at least double the size of farms without making any real effort, but if we create programs to get relevant converted monsters distributed, we can go bigger.

“I do believe queen bees, ants, and other colony-leading animals or monsters can be converted to produce weakened but functional versions of creatures rapidly, so we’ll need to set about getting as many of those as possible. I believe we have an apiary a few miles away from town, we should speak with the owners to get their thoughts on the matter…”