The(questionable) burdens of leadership of a troll Emperor by Noodlehammer

Chapter 22

Kasuf stared thoughtfully at the back of the horned man who had saved his daughter and the man who had married her as they left his dwelling, mulling over what he had just heard.

He had been aprehensive of him at first, what with the way he looked and the fact that he stood barechested in the sun without burning and stood barefoot on the scorching sands of Abydos without any sign of discomfort.

Only the presence of his daughter and son-in-law had calmed him enough to listen.

Daniel had stayed silent and let the man make his offer. To leave Abydos behind for a place where life was easier. He had spoken well and Kasuf was honestly tempted. It would be good for his people to not have to eke out a living from the harsh desert anymore, but it was their home.

"Daughter, you have lived among these people for a time." He said heavily. "I would have your advice."

"Much of it was strange to me," She admitted. "but he spoke truly. None of our people would go hungry again or die of sickness if you accept his offer."

That was all well and good, Kasuf thought, but he still didn't know what would become of them if he accepted.

"Tell me more." He said and listened carefully as his daughter described the things she had experienced as a guest of the Emperor, slowly but steadily becoming convinced that accepting would be the best thing to do.

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"I know what you're doing." Daniel said as he and Naruto walked back towards the pyramid that housed the Abydos stargate.

"Explain it to me then." Naruto replied airily.

"You'll take them away from here and immerse their young to your culture. You'll destroy everything that made them unique as a people."

"A bit melodramatic but essentially correct."

"You have no right to do this to them." Daniel insisted.

"None whatsoever." Naruto agreed genially.

"This isn't right, you'te taking away their cultural identity for the sake of your ambition!"

"Daniel, I'm sure you're a great archaeologist and from what I've seen you're also the one most in touch with people on your team, but you're being a fucking idiot."

"What?" Daniel spluttered, surprised by the sudden insult.

"Firstly, a few thousand illiterate desert dwellers will have no impact on my ambitions whatsoever." Naruto began patiently explaining. "Secondly, I can guarantee you that there are perhaps a bare handful of Abydonians that give a shit about their 'cultural identity'. You're just being prissy because they're an almost perfect copy of Ancient Egypt and I'm going to ruin your archaeological wet dream."

"That isn't true." Daniel said with a frown, trying not to get annoyed by the horned man's words.

"Uh huh." Naruto said back with obvious disbelief. "Do tell which parts of their cultural identity is your favorite. Was it the way people frequently die of exposure, dehydration and disease? Does the sight of starving children interest you? Maybe the high death toll among newborns? Were you looking forward to watching your wife die in childbirth because of a lack of medical care?"

The archaeologist went quiet just as Naruto had known he would. He had been kicking below the belt and he knew it, but that didn't make him wrong.

"I wasn't talking about their level of technological advancement, I was talking about the way you have people in place to systematically break down the culture of every new population you take in."