Conquest, Yoruichi Shihouin's Heart is Won! (Please follow!)

Tobiume, central district.

After receiving guidance from Gilgamesh, Renji Abarai immediately threw himself back into the renovation work.

Before Renji Abarai had even gone far, Rukia sought him out; she, too, had encountered a problem.

And once Rukia received her guidance, yet another person came seeking help.

The renovation of a region, especially one like Tobiume, was bound to face a multitude of issues.

Gilgamesh was well aware of this.

Time gradually slipped away.

Finally, with no one coming to seek him out for the moment, Gilgamesh was able to let out a slight sigh of relief.

Sitting upon a throne piled together from stone, Gilgamesh reached out to gently rub his forehead, feeling a touch of a headache.

What Gilgamesh lacked most right now was not King's Way Points, but talent.

The total population of Inuzuri and Tobiume combined was nearly one hundred thousand.

Although Gilgamesh could still manage it for now, he could not possibly attend to every single matter himself.

In the future, as his territory continued to expand and the population under his rule grew, even Gilgamesh, with his A+ rank Charisma, would be unable to manage it all.

To that end, he needed talented individuals to share the burden of administration—in other words, ministers under the King.

Gilgamesh understood clearly that for a kingdom to establish itself and thrive, the King, the ministers, and the people were all indispensable.

However, Inuzuri and Tobiume were both lands of poverty and strife; finding suitable talent in such places was an incredibly difficult task.

At this stage, Gilgamesh could only choose the best among the worst, selecting a few who possessed at least a modicum of talent to help him share the administrative load.

But this was clearly not a long-term solution.

If the kingdom was to develop, it had to have exceptional talent.

As for Renji Abarai and Rukia, while they possessed talent, they had yet to mature; it would take the passage of time before they could stand on their own.

Gilgamesh had considered searching for Toshiro Hitsugaya, Momo Hinamori, and Izuru Kira, who were still somewhere in the Rukongai.

But he did not know which of the Rukongai districts—North, South, East, or West—they were in, let alone which specific sector.

This left Gilgamesh with no way to begin his recruitment.

The talent issue was one that had to be solved.

If the talent issue remained unresolved, the kingdom's borders could not be expanded smoothly.

Yoruichi Shihouin returned to the area at some point.

Watching Gilgamesh rub his temples, she could not help but ask, "This is the first time I've seen you like this. I wonder what difficult matter could have our King so troubled?"

Upon hearing this, Gilgamesh let out a soft breath.

This was not a private matter, so Gilgamesh did not hide it, explaining the situation directly to Yoruichi Shihouin.

Following that, Gilgamesh looked at Yoruichi Shihouin and asked, "I wonder if Mr. Black Cat knows where one might go to find exceptional talent."

Yoruichi Shihouin naturally understood the importance of talent.

Not to mention a kingdom, even within the Thirteen Court Guard Squads, each captain had a lieutenant and eight seated officers beneath them to help handle the squad's affairs.

That was why, upon seeing Gilgamesh manage Inuzuri so orderly all by himself, turning the once impoverished, backward, and chaotic Inuzuri into a place of vitality and hope, Yoruichi Shihouin had been moved to sigh and marvel at the strength of his ability.

It could be said that Gilgamesh's governing ability surpassed anyone she knew, even the Four Great Noble Clans and the captains of the Thirteen Court Guard Squads.

However, regarding Gilgamesh's question, Yoruichi Shihouin did not answer immediately, instead asking, "I have always been curious: why do you wish to build a kingdom?"

"With your abilities, if you were to look out only for yourself, you would surely live a life a hundred, a thousand times more comfortable than this."

Gilgamesh smiled slightly at these words, a look of reminiscence flashing across his face as he spoke, "When I first arrived in the Soul Society, I met Rukia and Renji..."

Gilgamesh recounted his experiences since arriving in the Soul Society to Yoruichi Shihouin.

After finishing his story, Gilgamesh asked, "What did Renji and Rukia do wrong? What did those children who died so miserably do wrong? What did the souls arriving in the Soul Society do wrong? Why must they endure such a hell?"

Faced with Gilgamesh's four questions, Yoruichi Shihouin opened her mouth, but found she did not know how to answer.

Gilgamesh did not expect an answer, providing it himself.

"It is not they who are wrong, but this Soul Society—seemingly glorious on the surface, but already rotted to the core—and those high-and-mighty Bleach and nobles."

As he spoke, Gilgamesh paused, and then his youthful body erupted with an indescribable majesty of the King's Way, causing even Yoruichi Shihouin to feel a tremor of heart.

"I swore an oath before Rukia and Renji."

"The chaos of the Rukongai shall be ended by me."

"The errors of the Soul Society shall be rewritten by me."

"I was a King in life, and I shall be a King in death."

"I will create here a kingdom where everyone has enough to eat and wear, and lives in happiness and joy every day."

"What the Bleach will not manage, I shall manage!"

Gilgamesh's domineering words pierced into Yoruichi Shihouin's heart like a sharp arrow.

Although Yoruichi Shihouin was born into the Shihoin Clan, one of the Four Great Noble Clans, she had long harbored dislike and dissatisfaction toward the ways of the nobility.

In particular, there were some nobles who did not even consider the commoners of the Rukongai to be human.

It was not just the nobles; the Shinigami were the same.

Those Shinigami, under the guise of maintaining the stability of the Soul Society, had slaughtered countless Rukongai commoners, forcing their souls to revert into spirit particles and return to the Soul Society, ultimately to be used for their own purposes.

In the eyes of those Shinigami, this was the only value those slaughtered commoners possessed.

Gilgamesh perceived Yoruichi Shihouin's inner thoughts.

He remembered that in the original story, Sosuke Aizen had sacrificed tens of thousands of souls in the Rukongai with the potential to become elite Shinigami just to create a Hogyoku.

It was not just Sosuke Aizen; during the Thousand-Year Blood War Arc, Mayuri Kurotsuchi, with a casual remark about "correcting the balance of souls in the Soul Society," had slaughtered over twenty-eight thousand Rukongai commoners without any authorization.

Similar examples were countless throughout the history of the Soul Society.

These were all proofs of the Soul Society's crimes.

Just as Gilgamesh had said, it was not the people who were slaughtered for no reason who were wrong, but the Soul Society itself—a place that appeared glamorous on the surface, but whose roots had long since rotted away.

Yoruichi Shihouin's mind trembled violently, and an unprecedented, crazy idea was born in her thoughts.

That was to help Gilgamesh establish a nation.

No, it was to help Gilgamesh become the King of the Soul Society.

By then, under Gilgamesh's rule, would the Soul Society become a paradise where everyone had enough food and clothing, living every day in joy and happiness?

A slight smirk curled the corner of Gilgamesh's mouth; he felt a sense of pleasure.

Because the conquest progress of Yoruichi Shihouin had reached 100%.

In Gilgamesh's mind, the notification sound of the King's Path System rang out.

[Important plot character Yoruichi Shihouin detected as having become a subject of the host. Obtained 10,000 King's Way Points.]