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Chapter 16: Awaiting closureNotes:

I shortened Tanya´s description massively, because I didn´t want to drag down the pacing. I hope it still sheds some light on her specific decisions.

EDIT: 3333 views!

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

Chapter 16

Tanya was quite content with the developments at the royal selection. Her entrance had hopefully been sufficiently grand to make a "large splash in the pond" as Neumann would put it. She had even gone as far as to subtly manipulate the light that fell through the windows so that her face would be illuminated more favourably.

Her careful observation earlier allowed her then to drop the first big bombshell of her speech. By insinuating that she actually did not care about becoming queen she made her claims sound more real and her opposition was painted in a worse light. It appeared like she was only interested in saving the country while the other candidates were indirectly stigmatized as power-hungry and egocentric for only furthering their plans if they could gain influence from it.

Tanya´s real reasons behind fixing the nation regardless if she became queen or not were in actuality far less benevolent than they seemed. It was simply her backup plan. A perfect employee could never be promoted or fired from their position, because they were irreplaceable. That was common knowledge. In case one of the other candidates should become queen then they would not be able to remove Tanya easily, because she was actually useful for them. Also the common folk would support her more easily if they saw her as trustworthy and compassionate.

To ride the waves of her first big announcement would sadly not be enough, so she tried to differentiate herself further from the other candidates by directly attacking them. This was an extremely dangerous strategy, because she did not actually want to antagonize them all at the same time. To fight a war on one front was difficult enough as the conflict between the empire and the republic had shown her. She didn´t need to earn the ire of all four of them at the same time.

Just in case that anyone of those present possessed a crazy "lie-detection-ability" she had tried to use only truths or half-truths during her speech. If half of what Reinhard had told her was true then there surely existed a Divine Protection for that kind of bullshit. This whole magic system here was ridiculous! She would have done that anyway, because telling your version of the truth was always better in the long run, but she had been extra careful today.

It had been another risky manoeuvre to show the crowd some of her memories, but it had been necessary to convince them that she had really the experience that she claimed. Most of her speech had been made up on the spot, but this had been the part that she had meticulously planned beforehand. To reveal such dangerous information was not something that she wanted to leave up to chance.

All scenes that contained actual fighting had been out of the question from the very start of her sorting process. Images that depicted advanced technology like guns or tanks had also been excluded from her speech. These were severe tactical advantages that she would not reveal so soon. If she played her cards right then she could use her superior war-machines to crush any medieval army in an open field. Basically a Dacia 2.0. (Even just the brought a smile to her face.)

The final nail in the coffin had been her offer of diplomatic discourse that strengthened her appearance of a noble, benevolent and most importantly peaceful individual. It served also as an indirect proposal of friendship that hopefully soothed the ire of the other candidates. Again, she was the one that profited the most, because she could learn more about her rivals in an environment that was completely under her control.

Everything had gone accordingly to her predictions until there had been a brief moment of panic when the signal from Alpha Squad outside the windows had turned yellow for a while, but then it had become green again which meant that it had probably been a false alarm. She would ask her battalion at the debriefing.

Now she was busy making small talk with any interested nobles, which were basically all of them. Nobody wanted to miss the chance to talk with "the girl from another world" which was not the worst nickname she had ever been called. Count after count and baron after baron introduced himself to her and she shook their hands and exchanged meaningless banter. It was just like at the damned ball in the Kaiserpalast Visha had forced her to attend.

One especially bold young man even tried to make a marriage proposal, but she stalled him for a few minutes and then excused herself as politely as she could. Seriously, it was way too early to even think about something like this! Not that she would have ever accepted such an offer anyway. Her sexuality combined with the bigoted views on lesbian relationships in both this world and the last condemned her to a life of solitude. That was at least what she believed.

Then after what felt like days, but was likely just a few hours Tanya decided to call it quits and said goodbye to the nobles she had wanted to impress. She was the last candidate to leave the throne room which was entirely intentional. It would be foolish to leave the battlefield undefended to the enemy after all. If the others decided to spread nasty rumours under her nose then she wanted to be there to immediately defuse them before they could become a problem in the long run. Whatever happened in the first few weeks of her candidacy would shape her public image.

Only after the last embers of light had sunken behind the horizon did she return to collect a rather bored Alpha Squad from the roof of the royal palace and flew them back home. The debriefing was equally as dull as she imagined spending hours in the sewers felt like to the unfortunate Delta Squad. No real suspicious activities had been sighted and no one had heard even rumours of a potential attack. Not really surprising, but generally it paid to be a little bit paranoid. Otherwise Tanya would have not survived the Great War.

Before her battalion could drift off to their well deserved sleep she had still an important announcement to make.

"So, for those of you who are unaware... I am not only your employer, but also a royal candidate for the throne of Lugnica."

Shocked silence filled the air. Nobody except Alpha Squad who had listened in on the royal selection had known this.

"Meaning that in the next two years I will face many struggles and difficulties to win the position of queen and rightful ruler of this country. I will offer you once again the option to drop out and return to a relatively peaceful life in the slums. If you choose to remain in my services then you will undoubtedly experience real battles and maybe even come under attack from the other candidates. They will be ruthless! Like wolves they are going to try to rip me apart, but I am no sheep. I will bite back with all my strength and you my beloved battalion are going to be my teeth and claws! I ask you...

Do you want to continue serving the potential future queen of Lugnica, even if that means that the whole world may turn against us?"

This was the moment of truth. After she had hopefully robbed them of false illusions of glory with the uneventful mission today, she needed to know if their initial motivation had faltered. So it came as a pleasant surprise when all of them shouted:

"YES SERGEANT DEGURECHAFF!"

Tanya could only smile at the realization that she had incredible luck with only ever picking the most bloodthirsty maniacs for her troops. These here would make fine meat-shields.

A night of pleasant dreams filled with Visha´s coffee went by and she made her preparations for the meeting of the candidates.

The trick of the whole affair was that she had purposefully not announced when they should arrive to confuse them and raise their insecurity. Nobody liked being late, but arriving to early was also undesirable. What choices would each candidate make? Even such simple decisions could say much about a character and information of any form was key in the war she was going to wage. Were they "early" or "late" persons? That knowledge could determine if they put duty or their own comfort first. Essentially indicating if they were most likely to serve at the frontlines or from a rear position in battle.

All that was left was to wait. With a smile on her lips and a book in her hand she sat down at a window overlooking the main entrance.

"Like mice to the cheese... Come... Give your best... You are going to need it..."

(I wrote a poem again, but it´s worse than the last)

Bonus: An age of Capitalism

She´s a hero of humanity,

With her wit, reason and skill,

Rejected salvation for sanity,

With only her iron hard will.

Not for all of earth´s riches,

Would she have given up,

To gods or demons or witches,

For she foresaw their trap.

Mankind must rule itself alone,

Without false deceivers,

And pretending parasites!

So she spoke from her throne,

To her ardent believers,

And her ever loyal knights.

Kill the faith of those weak-minded,

Destroy their toxic dependence!

Their religion has them blinded,

With hollow lies of ascendance!

A sane man trusts only his mind,

And proves his worth through labour,

He leaves archaic tales behind,

Gains the freedom he has paid for.

We´re strong without gods or kings,

Which keep us weak and small,

We are not their witless playthings,

Now we stand proud and tall!

Believe in yourself and the state,

With a drive that can never be sated,

Master and perfect your fate

Freeloaders will not be tolerated.

Money rules absolute and supreme,

In this paradise of logic and reason,

Success and fortune are no dream,

For all those that fall not to treason.

Notes:

Chapter is a bit later than usual, because I got a headache when I left my house for the first time in a week. I really have no life it seems :) (*sad laughter*)

Are you in similar situations? Other than writing, eating and sleeping I don´t do anything XD