Chương 20: The Faceless Idol

"... Incredible." Watching the spectacle from the shadows, I instinctively pushed up my glasses. This wasn't mere subjugation. This was a far more advanced form of psychological architecture.

"Prime Minister. Why doesn't she show her face? PRINCE and USHIWAKA flexed their charisma by putting their faces front and center, didn't they?"

"That is precisely the strategy," Yari explained flatly.

"Humans attribute infinite value to the unseen. By concealing her face, she forces the masses to project their own idealized savior beneath that mask."

"... I see. The 'Idol Strategy,' or the VTuber 'skin' theory." It clicked. HIMIKO wasn't trying to rule as a flesh-and-blood queen; she was reigning as a 【Conceptual Deity】. She displayed no humanity—no flaws, no errors. She didn't eat, didn't excrete, didn't show emotion. She was a "perfect system" that executed nothing but miracles. 『O, my people... Obey me. 』 HIMIKO's voice resonated, blending with the sound of the downpour. 『There is no need to think. There is no need to agonize.

Listen only to my words, and walk only upon the path I dictate. Do so, and I shall grant you eternal peace, devoid of starvation, pain, or doubt. 』"Haaah! We obey! We will do anything!"

"I will stop thinking! Please, lead us!" The light of reason flickered and died in the villagers' eyes. What replaced it wasn't even the "smiling totalitarianism" I had witnessed back in Neo-Tokyo. It was something far more parasitic—a murky glaze of blind dependency. A heavy weight settled in the pit of my stomach. During the USHIWAKA arc, my anger stemmed from raw, physical violence. But this was different. This was a visceral, biological revulsion toward 【Humans abdicating their humanity】.

"... That's wrong," I muttered under my breath.

"Happiness through the termination of thought? That's not human. That's just livestock." Inside my pocket, the empty glass bottle of my stomach medicine clinked. For a fleeting second, I felt as though HIMIKO's kitsune mask was staring directly at me through the veil of mist. A few days had passed since HIMIKO's descent. The "capital" at the center of Yamatai-koku—which was really just a cluster of raised-floor granaries enclosed by wooden palisades—had undergone an eerie mutation.

Under Gennai's directives, a massive communication tower (camouflaged as a sacred tree) had been erected at the center of the settlement. Around it, countless micro-drones swarmed like bioluminescent fireflies. Furthermore, the "Kings" ruling the surrounding minor states (Kuni) were gathering in this sector one after another. The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. Kings exhausted by border skirmishes with Kuna-koku.

Kings suffering from famine brought on by endless droughts. Kings trembling at the spread of plagues. To a man, they arrived weary, caked in mud, falling to their knees to beg salvation from this "Queen of Miracles."

"Welcome, Kings." HIMIKO remained enshrined behind a sacred bamboo screen (misu), never allowing her physical form to be viewed directly. Only the synthesized audio emanating from behind her kitsune mask and the holographic distortion arrays elevated her divinity.

"I am fully synchronized with all your afflictions.... King of the East. Locusts have infested your domain; your crops face absolute annihilation, do they not?"

"Y-Yes! Exactly! How could you possibly know?!"

"King of the West. Your vassals plot against your life over your succession matrix.... Poison will be slipped into your cup tonight."

"Hieee?! Save me, Your Majesty!" HIMIKO was merely reading out the predictive calculations generated by big-data analysis, gathered via Gennai's reconnaissance drones. Yet, to these data-starved ancients, it was nothing short of an omniscient, omnipotent prophecy. 『Gennai. Output predictive calculation vectors. 』 『Hell yeah. Dispatching agricultural pesticide drones to the Eastern Kingdom. Transmitting antidote synthesis blueprints to the Western Kingdom.

』 As HIMIKO gestured, supply crates deployed from the upper atmosphere via parachutes. The Kings wept, slamming their heads into the dirt.

"Oh, Gods! How can we ever repay this infinite benevolence?!"

"Do you require sacrifices? Or perhaps our lands?!" To the Kings' queries, HIMIKO delivered a gentle, yet absolute command. 『I require nothing... Save for your absolute surrender to me. 』 Her voice saturated the plaza like sweet venom. 『Your suffering stems from your minuscule neural frameworks attempting to compute unresolvable matrices. Tomorrow's climate, enemy deployments, agricultural cultivation... Cease your agonizing over such volatile variables. 』 She spoke as if soothing an infant.

『From this point forward, I shall compute all parameters. When to sow, when to reap, when to sleep, and whom to wed. I shall deliver every 【Type: ORACLE / Optimal Solution】 as divine mandate.... You need only to execute the protocol. 』 It was an open invitation to the deletion of autonomy. The Kings exchanged glances. Under normal parameters, this was a humiliating demand for total subjugation. Yet, the expressions surfacing on their faces contained no rage—only profound relief.

"... We no longer need to process thoughts?"

"... We no longer have to suffer through variables?"

"Ah... What a blessing...!" They collapsed to the earth, looking exactly like weary travelers dropping a crushing burden. The responsibility of agency. The terror of failure. To be emancipated from it all—who knew it could taste so sweet?

"Long live Himiko-sama! We surrender our thoughts! We shall become your limbs!" Roars of adulation erupted. Watching the spectacle unfold, a lethal chill crept up my spine. This wasn't a territorial conquest. This was the asset-stripping of the soul. USHIWAKA lacerated the flesh, but HIMIKO was castrating the 【Will】.

"... Disgusting," I muttered. What was being constructed right before my eyes was a massive, closed-loop 【Dependency System】. And in that reflection, I saw a stark caricature of modern society. Watching the videos recommended by the algorithm, buying the products pushed by the feed, living the pre-computed life routed for us. Are we really in any position to laugh at these ancients?