Chapter 249: The Zerg Queen
"All of this feels like a dream…"
Koyuki lay on the soft bed, staring into the dark as she replayed the day over and over. The more she thought about it, the more absurd it felt. Not long ago, she had been a fugitive, running for her life.
Now she was the Queen of the Land of Snow, and the Snow Kage of Yukigakure.
Her uncle, the man who killed her father and seized the Daimyo's throne, was dead too. His body had been burned black, then hung at the entrance to the capital as a warning to anyone with dangerous thoughts.
Koyuki did not object.
The girl who used to cradle small animals with trembling care had been forced to grow up, even if only a little.
Major changes in life were often the quickest way to reshape a person, even when the person never wanted those changes in the first place.
"Mom… Dad…" Koyuki's voice broke into a whisper as tears spilled down her cheeks. She hugged her pillow tightly, as if it could hold her together. "I miss you so much… If you were here… maybe I wouldn't be so tired…"
She was still just a child. Asking a girl her age to understand everything, to carry everything, was cruel.
She cried for a long time before the wave of grief finally loosened its grip. With shaking fingers, she wiped her eyes. Then she turned on the lamp beside her bed, picked up the photo frame on the nightstand, and stared at it blankly.
A family portrait.
A man and woman smiling gently, and a little girl between them.
The moment she looked at it, her eyes reddened again. The urge to sob rose up like a storm, but she forced it down. She took several deep breaths, one after another, until the tightness in her chest eased enough to breathe.
Without making a sound, she hugged the photo to her chest, lay back down, turned off the light, and drifted into sleep.
When Kenichi found her, she was still sleeping.
It was already very late, close to three or four in the morning. Kenichi had no intention of waiting for daylight. In the Land of Snow, if he did not want to be found, no one was going to find him.
Moonlight spilled through the window, cutting the room into pale silver and deep shadow. It washed over Kenichi's face and the small figure on the bed alike.
Koyuki slept soundly, still holding the photo frame.
Kenichi paused.
He hesitated, just for a moment.
He did not know what changes the parasite would cause after implantation. He could not act recklessly. If the parasitism succeeded and the host could not be changed afterward, it would become a serious problem.
That was why he did not intend to use random people as test subjects.
But the person in front of him was Koyuki.
Kenichi stood in the moonlight, expression uncertain, the shadow behind him stretching long across the floor.
"Koyuki?" he finally said, deciding to wake her and ask for her opinion.
The mother worm's loyalty to him was absolute, but Koyuki's will still mattered. She was the one who would live with the result.
If she refused, forcing her would not produce the effect Kenichi wanted. He did not plan to force her. If she was unwilling, he would simply find someone else.
Three legged toads were rare these days, but two legged people were everywhere.
In the shinobi world, there was no shortage of people desperate for revenge or desperate to climb out of their station. Many would pay any price for power. Compared to that, being parasitized by a mere bug would barely register, especially if it made them stronger. Some would even accept body modification without blinking.
Yet the moment Koyuki woke and heard what Kenichi wanted, she nodded immediately.
So fast that Kenichi froze.
"…That's a parasite," he said, looking at her as if she had just volunteered to jump off a cliff. "I don't know what the consequences will be. Are you sure?"
Koyuki looked straight at him.
Her face was still pale from crying, her eyes still swollen, but her voice was steady.
"If it weren't for Lord Amemiya… Kazahana Koyuki would have already died at Doto's hands."
She understood the situation clearly. She knew she did not have the leverage to bargain. And beyond that, Kenichi had helped her avenge her father. For that alone, she felt she could repay him with her life.
When her parents died, her world narrowed to a single thought.
Escape.
Survive.
Then find a chance to kill that bastard.
Even if she did not kill him with her own hands, she had personally hung Doto's corpse at the gate.
No one helped her.
She had used a pulley system and done it herself.
Kenichi nodded slowly.
At least she was not foolish.
Leaving someone like her in the Land of Snow might not make the country flourish overnight, but it could keep stability. A long term ruler also made it easier to carry policies through without being replaced every few years by another set of hands and another set of ambitions.
As for the future, once Koyuki grew older, she would probably handle politics and the endless small problems with more skill.
More importantly, the parasite could help her.
Right now, Koyuki had no real strength. Kenichi had already tested her. Her physique was decent, but becoming a shinobi still required training and cultivation.
His deterrence could hold the Land of Snow steady in the short term, but what about after he left?
Human hearts were unpredictable.
With something like this parasite, she would at least be able to protect herself. She would have combat power instead of being defenseless.
She would not become a weak queen waiting to be swallowed.
"Then we'll do it," Kenichi said at last. "With this parasite, I'll stay here for a while and observe what the mother worm can really do."
He reached out with his mind, connecting to the mother worm through thought waves.
At his command, the mother worm leapt onto Koyuki.
Koyuki's entire body trembled.
No matter how determined she was, the creature was still terrifying up close.
Kenichi watched closely, recording every detail of the parasitism process.
It was simple.
The mother worm opened a small cut in the skin on Koyuki's shoulder. Then it twisted and burrowed inside.
The wound sealed almost immediately, healing fast enough to make Kenichi lift an eyebrow.
"…So it has a healing effect too?" he murmured. "Interesting."
"Uh…" Koyuki clenched the bedsheet, her knuckles turning white as pain surged through her shoulder.
Kenichi glanced at her.
It seemed parasitism was not painless after all.
.....
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