Chapter 373 - Strategic Advice

It had been quite some time since the inflation crisis occurred.

During that time, Kathedal had been growing at a frightening pace.

[Breaking news! The French Association has been occupied by Kathedal, putting all of Europe on high alert! The head villain of Kathedal's UK branch is demanding surrender, stating, "We desire a peaceful conquest."]

[Experts analyze that the conquest of the French Association was likely a collaboration between the French and British villain unions through Kathedal. The associations failed to anticipate the significantly enhanced capabilities resulting from villains cooperating with each other through Kathedal...]

[Kathedal's expansion in Asia is equally alarming. Local authorities report that governments in Southeast Asia have fallen into chaos due to the rapidly increasing number of villains joining Kathedal. The International Hero Association headquarters has yet to present any clear countermeasures, further fueling controversy...]

An international villain association perfectly countering the International Hero Association.

Unlike the Hero Association, which aimed to maintain public order, the villain association, whose actual purpose was conquest, was growing at a truly terrifying rate compared to before.

"This is essentially the emergence of a new power..."

I muttered while looking at the internal network displayed on my laptop, where Kathedal members shared their progress updates.

Watching Kathedal's real-time activities through it, I reflected that until now, Kathedal had been relatively reasonable, just like in the original story.

As I've mentioned repeatedly, unlike random villains, villain unions each had clear objectives.

Namely, conquering something. Whether it was their own country, the sea, or whatever—their goal was conquest rather than destruction. Just like China and Japan, which had actually been conquered by villains.

...Of course, the problem was that China and Japan had already had dysfunctional governments, so it could be seen as essentially a coup... but other countries had functioning governments that villains were trying to overthrow and take over. That's why it was problematic, and why they were villains.

'But now the situation has changed.'

...The governments and associations of all countries had essentially lost their minds.

Ability users were getting stronger by the day, and there were more villains than heroes among these ability users.

It had always been a world where villains outnumbered heroes, but now the polarization had worsened.

The world was starting to tilt toward the logic of power... to the point where having the strongest villain manage other villains might actually be better.

In other words, public safety might actually be better in countries conquered by Kathedal. After all, China and Japan, taken over by Li Xiaopeng and Katana, had relatively good public safety. This happened because the villain union had more villains than the association had heroes.

Of course, if they lost control, there would be no solution...

But rather, this was an opportunity.

It meant I could potentially influence world affairs through Kathedal.

"...Sigh."

I was doing all this to prevent destruction, but it would be troublesome if the world ended before the Sun God even arrived.

I guess I need to handle this before persuading Celeste.

"The Kathedal executive meeting is coming up soon..."

...Perfect timing.

Time to start playing on a global scale.

With that thought, I pulled out a notebook from the bookshelf where I had written down all the knowledge from the original story.

And so.

Time passed.

Finally, the day arrived for Kathedal to gather once again.

***

Kathedal.

What was once a simple information-sharing meeting had now become a union of villains aiming for world conquest.

Therefore, with numerous villains now subordinate to it, the representatives who had been attending until now had essentially all become executives.

As the situation had changed, the meeting place prepared by Celeste had changed as well.

"Everyone, please come this way."

A massive cathedral, dimensions apart from the small one they had been using until now, with a ceiling so high it wasn't immediately visible.

The entire walls and floor were covered with what looked like luxurious white marble, the ceiling displayed a night sky like the universe, and through the massive stained glass windows, the actual sky was visible.

...This place, where a huge rectangular marble table had been prepared instead of the round table of before.

This was Kathedal's new meeting place for world conquest.

"Everyone has arrived."

And so currently.

After Celeste arrived, walking in with her white silver hair flowing, the meeting began.

"Since our Kathedal gathered by divine will, many of you have truly grown..."

As usual, I was sitting right next to Celeste, listening to her speech with languid eyes.

From what I gathered, she was talking about Kathedal's brilliant achievements. Breaking the existing order created by the association and taking a step forward toward world conquest, that sort of thing.

Well, there was no need to listen further.

...I had already heard what all of them would say anyway. I remembered being surprised when Celeste called me last time—I went wondering what it was about, only to find she wanted me to listen to her speech and give feedback.

Well, I took it positively as a sign we'd grown closer.

After her explanation ended.

Celeste glanced at me, then addressed the various villains seated in the meeting hall.

"...That's all I wanted to say. From now on, feel free to discuss whatever you wish among yourselves. If you have any questions for me or anything you'd like to announce to everyone, please come this way. Now, please begin freely."

With Celeste's words.

...The villains in the meeting hall began to speak to each other as if they had been waiting for this moment.

"Hey, you! Kawasupki. Can you lend me a few of your subordinates? I just need them for a little while longer..."

"I've been hearing that heroes have been setting up camp in Brazil recently, have you heard about this...?"

"Haha! I've already dealt with 10 A-rank and below villains who refused to follow Kathedal..."

And so.

The villains began to efficiently progress various matters among themselves.

While everyone seemed enthusiastic about this Kathedal meeting.

Celeste, sitting next to me, cleared her throat and began to speak to me.

"And Egostic. You..."

"Ah, Ms. Celeste. Just a moment. I need to discuss something with someone over there."

"....."

Avoiding Celeste's displeased gaze, I began walking toward one of the nearby villains.

"Hello, Mr. Kadreus."

"Hm? Who... Oh! You're that Egostic...?"

A man who responded to my greeting with surprise.

He was a man with a very impressive mustache, and he seemed somewhat tense as I naturally sat down beside him. ...Katana had mentioned that since I always sat next to Celeste like her second-in-command, other villains thought I was a power player? Anyway, although unintended, it wasn't a bad reaction. A certain level of intimidation also helped increase the credibility of my words.

"Yes. Actually, I've been put in charge of Kathedal's overall strategic command by Ms. Celeste... You're in charge of Spain, right? I came because I have some help to offer."

"...Help? What kind of help are you talking about?"

The mustached man responded with suspicion still in his eyes.

Seeing is believing. I took out my laptop, held it out in front of him, and began to speak.

"Here. This is my analysis of Spain's political situation and association relationships. And this is information about Spanish heroes—using this, you might even be able to convert some heroes to our side. Please use it as reference."

"Oh..."

He looked at my laptop with deep interest.

As he scrolled down, he exclaimed in surprise and said to me:

"...I'll make good use of this. No, it's embarrassing that you, an outsider, know more information than I do."

He looked at what I had compiled with admiring eyes.

Of course. It was a compilation of original story information and what Seo-eun had discovered through hacking.

"It's nothing. And, if I may offer some advice, your ultimate goal is to conquer the country, right? Then you should only deal with heroes in the process and minimize harm to civilians as much as possible. Especially since heroes can be persuaded later..."

After giving such information to him, who seemed deeply impressed by my words, I got up and walked toward my next target.

What I'm doing now is baiting.

Providing information only to villains who are moderate like Katana, or to villains from countries so corrupt that they might be better off under Kathedal's rule.

...Essentially, I was gaining more allies.

After all, I would definitely need their help later to prevent destruction.

So I went around, building goodwill with various villains under the guise of consulting.

After doing this with several people, I could feel the gazes on me just from walking around.

"Finally here. You've been busy?"

"Haha. Yes. I have some consultation to offer."

So I headed back to my comfort zone where our East Asian villain union members were gathered, and sat down while greeting Katana.

...In truth, I had already secured control over Kathedal from the moment I became friends with Celeste, but I wanted to make it more certain. I also wanted to guide it in a more moderate direction...

I needed people on my side for the decisive moment.

With such thoughts, I looked at the numerous villains sitting around me.

They were all strong enough to conquer a country by force now...

But I could sense it.

Despite their strength.

They were all weaker than the current Stardust.

'...Of course, they don't know that yet.'

That the strongest hero has emerged from a small country called the Republic of Korea.

But soon, everyone will know. After all, power isn't something you can hide just because you want to.

I smiled with satisfaction.

...Until I saw Celeste giving me a disapproving look.

"....."

...I should go appease her.

And so, the rest of the Kathedal meeting was spent being held captive by Celeste...