8 Chapter 8: Politics, Diplomacy and Intelligence are connected

Chapter 8: Politics, Diplomacy and Intelligence are connected

{Operative's POV}

In hindsight, killing those nobles was a bad idea.

I had no idea what Dad felt when he was given the stars and bars of a Colonel, but then now I knew his emotion. It was a terrible thing done in a rush moment with long-lasting consequences, and none of us had the choice to do it differently. He was too competent to be kept at Major, and I had to make my point across. His work led to his "exile" from Earth (which then led to Mom hopping up after his arse), and my work made me a prime target for the local nobles.

So how did the nobles know I killed some of their own, even with the righteous reasons? Simple, the two princesses told them. Where and when? In the middle of the court, on the first day after our arrival in the capital. Let me speak that again, they announced publicly that I had personally executed four nobles right in front of other nobles.

Sure, they did mention that those nobles were planning on assassinating them first, but then, the damage was done. I felt the stares of the whole court pinning on the back of my head… Oh, right, and because I did not kneel. Yukino and others quickly followed my lead, they did not enjoy the feeling of having to submit to anyone else, and because they did not know how to kneel too.

At least I still saluted him, military style. The reason for that was very simple. Security Bureau, Section Six was originally military and intelligence task force, and some shit just carried over. All personnel were considered as part of the Terran Armed forces. Me? I was also listed as a part of the Reserve Cadet Training force. I had no idea how that worked, paperwork was one hell of a bitch

The Emperor was a bit displeased, and that was putting shit mildly. But it was nothing compared to the court, or at least, half of it. One half of the court was made up of military officers, the other with nobles. So far, only the nobles (and a tiny section of the military) showed their agitation while the rest was keeping silent, watching me carefully. The same thing could be said about the Queen and the Consorts, a.k.a. the Emperor's harem. They were just sitting quietly and nicely on their own throne, watching the scene unfolding with some amusement. How much of that amusement and friendliness was real was another story.

"Your Majesty, please! Please make him pay for trespassing against the Empire of Gorgonia!"

It was a noble-woman, one with a highly fancy dress. She was about mid-thirty, I thought, with a lot of makeup on her face. Her high pitch voice was punctured with sobbing and coughing, though I had no idea if it was because of her own health situation or being dramatic about the executions. Her dress can probably speak much about her rankings. It was dyed in a fairly deep shade of purple – and please excuse me about my abysmal vocabulary on colour shades, I was a boy. If I remember correctly, this dyeing agent cost a fuck ton of money in the old age…

To think the woman here had a ridiculously deep shade of violet. She must come from a rich and wealthy family then. A paper fan was closed and squeezed tightly in her right hand, and I had to suppress my own discomfort due to her heavy scent of perfume. Well, at least her face was quite pleasant. While there was a lot of make-up, they were not clashing on each other – though they almost did… It almost made me feel pleasant about her.

Almost was the keyword. She glared daggers at me, and it was not hard to feel her contempt on my own common-birth.

"Countess Anatasia is right, your Majesty! While they might be heroes, they had killed our own upstanding pillars of society. This… this aggression cannot be forgiven!"

Another man stepped out of line from the noble column and quickly kneeled down. He was a bit older than the woman (now identified as "Countess Anatasia"), around mid-forty or so. He was… fat. Well, not obesity-fat, but he was definitely over-weight. At least the front of his suit was well-made to cover his own belly. His cheeks were a bit swollen with fat, and even his backside showed clear cumulative of fat.

His suit was quite a combination of the stereotype noble dress (in Renaissance-era) and modern blazer (think the outer-most piece of a three-piece suit). Again, in a pure noble style, it was dyed purple, though this time, there were also dashes of red and yellow, ones that simply hurt to look at. At least the frilly "collar-thingy" around his neck was white, something never changed.

Again, I should really update my vocabulary on fashion and colour. But must I really do that? No, that was what a cute and cuddling girlfriend was for. She would fill in the blank for me regarding this issue. While it was a guarantee that she would demand more kisses and cuddling time, it still worked out well for me in the end. So I would have no problem doing that in the first place.

The court was still mumbling among itself, and it did not take long for the noise to be amplieifed. Among all of that, the Emperor was still passive, and if it was not for his eyes, I would say he had already fallen asleep. That pair of eyes were still scanning over the whole hall, they drank in the bickering nobles, they watched over the silent officers, and finally, they landed on me. I stared into those eyes and instantly ramped up my mental defence. I was simply paranoid, though considering what had happened, I would describe it as "sufficiently prepared". It was a very brief moment like iron met stone, and I thought we came to an understanding.

"Don't fuck with me."

Or something liked that. At least, that was what I sent to him. The Ecclesiarchy had spoken about an upcoming war, and the two princesses had most likely told him about my warfare knowledge. It might be dishonourable in their eyes, but it worked, and it was simply destructive. He might have the power of a full empire at his beck and call, but my knowledge and presence could totally destroy it.

Suddenly, he slowly raised his hand, silencing the whole hall without having to speak a single word. Everyone held their breath, waiting for his judgement.

"Interestingly, none of you speak of the part where my daughters were targets of an assassination."

Yeah, that was the part where I also found quizzical. Just the part where the princesses were targeted was enough for a political shit storm, and then some of the nobles seemed to be shying away from that fact. It was quite… suspicious, one might say. Add in the part where their mother was a common-born, and voila, that was the recipe for a conspiracy. If my hunch was correct, it should be a rouge attempt from the nobles to curry favours with each other. Their method to cut the loose ends also supported this theory…

Too bad, I lacked the proof and necessary political pressure to find out the truth. Still, I kept my silence. Sometimes, it was better to do nothing and let one's enemies making their own mistakes.

"But Your Majesty, surely there must be a misunderstanding. We nobles have sworn our loyalty to the Throne. We would never betray you, there must be a mistake somewhere."

For a standard isekai hero, he would take those lines at face value. However, most (if not all) of such heroes had no military or intrigue training, and they lacked the necessary knowledge to show the proof. Me? I followed the principle of Trust but verify. Until there were solid proofs, I would not believe them… at least, I would not totally trust them.

The nobles may know much about honour and chivalry, but commoners understood the concept of preparation and horrors of war the best. I knew that if I could not prove my own words in front of the court, I would have trouble facing them in the future. So during the execution, I had the local soldiers filming the whole process. They were told that the "cameras" were some magical artefacts of high importance, ones that could elevate their social standings if used correctly. In the end, I did not have to disappoint. The quality was magnificent, and by the look of it, the whole court had no choice but to accept it.

"How… how can that happen?"

"They are insane to even dream of attacking the Royal!"

"How dare them stooping that low!"

"What wou… would the Majesty do?"

Whispers quickly spread along the hall, and it did not take long before things went berserk. The two nobles criticizing me earlier had turned white. And it was only from the confession of the fallen nobles – I had already cut off the execution segment, gotta keep the whole debacle PG-16. They might be wondering if their effort to protect their own fellow was worth it in the end. After all, their "friends" had just confessed their plot to kill the Royal Princesses.

The Emperor then suddenly stood up, and the whole hall became quiet. It was highly impressive, not even the toughest teacher in our school could command such dread and fear. Then again, my school was not exactly the most draconian place on Earth. Students were still given quite a few leeways, the same thing could not be said about the court here. After all, a murder almost took place, and the almost-victims were regarded as VIPs.

A political shit-storm would be an apt description of what about to come.

"Duke Muller? Please investigate the nobles in the… the magical record immediately. I want their titles, lands and power confiscated at once. Their wives and daughters are to be sold as slaves. Thei…"

A shadow stepped out of the nobles' rows. He was quite unassuming, with pretty normal and standard clothes (at least for a noble). At first glance, everyone would think he was an off-the-mill count from some place, but closer inspection revealed other details. A well-built figure was hidden under the clothes. Something was covered by the long sleeves on his coat. The front and back of the suit were strangely flattened. And above all, his eyes were completely still. A feeling of dread suddenly spread around the hall, as if Death himself had pronounced the presence.

If my hunch was correct, he was the equivalent of the Director of the Security Bureau here. Within the context of a European kingdom from a long time ago, his power would be practically second within the whole Empire, just after the Emperor himself.

This. Was. Bad.

One the one hand, I had no problems with taking the power of those nobles away, the slavery part was… extremely uncomfortable. It would be a stain upon my honour. Part of the reason why non-mag fought in World War Three was to prevent slavery, and if the victor exploited that system, it would be simply hypocritical. Of course, this was not Earth, but it was the thought that count.

"… On behalf of the Empire of Gorgonia, I, Emperor Frank the Third, for your gallant, bravery and honour, would bestow upon you heroes the land and titles of those fallen nobles. What say 'thou, 'o venerable heroes?"

This. Was. Even. Worse.

Fuck you, Frank. I was here to solve the shitty legal problem, and now you gave us even more problems to deal with? Nah-ah, fuck you, I had enough of this shit.

I glanced to my friends, who were all being shocked to the core. It was nearly half a minute before someone able to gather enough wit to respond. To be fair though, it was more like a whisper to me from Jake, the self-promoted NCO of Fireteam Bravo:

"Shit… we need to talk boss."

"We all need to talk… I'll delay the answer."

"Roger."

I turned back to Emperor Frank, who was raising an eyebrow as if asking me what the heck had just happened. In response, I simply bowed a bit, showing some respect for the ranking monarch. After all, I was about to bullshit my way through, so some politeness was always better to have.

"We humbly thank you for your generosity, your Majesty. Being bestowed with such gifts is simply an unprecedented honour, even back on our homeland. However, as you can see, we were simply… kids. We are simply too incompetent to run a single inn, let alone a territory. If we accept our gifts now, it would not take long before we squandered it. Those same prosper lands would soon be stricken with grief, poverty and hunger. It would be a stain upon your honour and your reputation. We would like to delay our acceptance of the gifts until we are well-trained enough to receive such a responsibility."

"I can always send instructors to teach you. It would only take you a few years to train you up to the required standard."

"Your Majesty, again, on behalf of my friends, I humbly thank you for your offer. However, I'm afraid that if we simply accept the offer in haste without careful consideration, we will make a mess out of it. That would be simply unacceptable. I sincerely implore you to have the territories being put under the management of someone talented. We would gladly offer a generous boon and hold the said person in the highest respect possible once we felt confident enough to take the job."

It would take a bit more of bullshiting, most of which was just social niceties, the Emperor had agreed to "delay" the handing of territories and titles. Of course, he still gave us a crap ton of money and a full mansion as "temporary" housing. Our participation within the court was over, and we departed the hall for some resting. My crew had already complained about the "stingy" atmosphere… but I knew better. The previous discussion was simply for show, the real deal had yet to come.

Of course, it did not mean that I had to keep up my game face. Acting in front of the whole court was taxing upon my own mental, so I needed a period of re-charging my energy pool. A warm meal and a soft bed sounded nice to me… For some reasons, I just knew this was just a respite. The Emperor would have a talk to me soon, and it would not be pretty.

At least, the big-E had already given each of us quite a pouch of money, and rules of economics said something about stimulating local trading… I let my friends free to roam around, as long as they travelled in groups and had (preferably) hidden guards. In addition, they also had to activate their own locator. The face-off against the nobles told me that it was better to be prepared, there was simply no way to tell what they would do…

Worst case scenario, I could use the drone to temporarily hold the ground or follow up the trail before finally deploying the hammer. The four nobles were the only ones staying on the business end of Terran martial skills so far, and they were all dead. The nobles of the capital had yet to see and experience it, so they had no fear. As my Old Man had said it, only the sight of coffins could make them shedding tears.

Despite my… the cordite-filled intention, there was no "first-strike" plan in my mind. Enough hiccups had been done against the local here, and more would be done in the near future. What I needed was a new branch of olive, not a batch of arrows. Furthermore, the "temporary lodging" was spacious and beautiful, responding to it with hostile intent was bad manner. Sure, it could belong to the "fallen nobles", but I had no definite proof.

"You know honey, this starts to look like a xianxue novel. The protagonist shows up, kicks arses, and then he receives one hell of a boon."

Yukino seems amused by the whole situation, somehow. A normal boy would be blushing madly somehow, but I had read enough to be worried. Most of the time, the said protagonist had (accidentally, mostly) charmed a few ladies and was in the process to build his own harem. It would be a health hazard to me, Yukino was… quite possessive. Another competitor meant that she would be glad to kill the said girl.

On a good day.

And I had no idea why I suddenly felt my pants tighter thinking about it. Perhaps it was due to my hormones again. So, I did what no protagonist had ever done before. I put an arm over her side and pull her tight while putting a kiss on her cheek.

"You mean the part where I become the boss and make you the most protected girl around here?"

"Hmmh… More like the… uhmm… the part where more girls fall for you."

"Honey, please stop purring, or I cannot control myself. Besides, it is one thing to have girls falling for me, and another to have me to return the feeling."

"Good, I'll hold you for that. Remember, I'm yours alone as much as you are mine alone."

Perhaps a shrink would find some problems in that statement, but I was not one, in fact, I had not met any so far. May be it was due to the sensitive nature of my occupation, my upbringing, or my current assignment, or a combination of them. I just knew I had some mental problems, but I hoped they were not serious enough to impend me from my duties.

Besides, a full villa was reserved as temporary lodging for us, so everything else was just secondary.

Translation: it was not paranoia if everyone else out there was after my own little lily white butt.

Sure, I was glad and happy to have such a luxury, but I did not trust the Emperor fully. He could be thankful as I had saved his daughter, but since when royal politics was cut and dry? Besides, this sounded suspiciously like Case #32 in Terran Intelligence Handbook. The villa was expected to be fully bugged, and the staff there was actually spies. The only question left was that for whom they were spying.

It did not matter in the end, and it took both Yukino and me a full day to clear the room. As I expected, the villa was bugged. Every room was placed with at least one scrying spell, the bathrooms and toilets were the safest, with only the audio being transmitted. The worst part was perhaps the bedrooms, where more than five sets of rune were used. To be fair for the local magical, what we would do was perhaps premium-graded porn for them… I had no idea if I should feel concern or happy at this.

Our progress was slow down by the staff, who was clearly well-trained and well-paid for both domestic and surveillance duties. And with the scrying runes found, perhaps it was safer to assume that they were some low-ranking nobles or highly talented commoners in the field of subterfuge. Well, at least the Emperor, or "Duke Muller", was being competent here. Trust, but verify. My fighting doctrine and skills were vastly different from theirs, so it was understandable for them to be on guard.

Still, there were many things missing. Sure, I was simply nit-picking and I was used to late 21st-century technology. But even then, I had to curse out loud for the lack of hot shower and flush toilet. May be these two would be the first "gifts"? But both of them would require good plumbing, which in turn implied the development of material. In turn, it meant a massive amount of steel and abundance of the workforce, both of which could not be achieved without a sufficient supply of food…

Fuck. Life.

It was extremely obvious that the protagonists of the standard isekai light novels had it easy. They only needed to fight, here, I had to consider every single factor just to stay alive. They could brute force through with the "god cheat", here, the only thing I had was consumable resources. They had socio-political support, I had to carve it out from the stingy local nobles. Probably it would be best if I had a colonization fleet at my beck and call, the number of talents and resources would be enough to mitigate the issues.

Apparently, I should get chummy with the Emperor soon. My idea and plan needed a tremendous amount of political will and support. Even the goodwill of me saving Imperial Princesses would not be enough to cover that. Speaking soft and carrying a big stick would not work, because I just had a small stick…

What should I do?

"Your father was one of the most badass men in the whole Federation. What would he do if he was in your position?"

"He would try to focus all of his power in one direction to break through, failing that, air strikes and artillery barrages."

"… To be fair, it sounded like him."

Our friends did not come back for the meal, something about a good restaurant within the Citadel and private time for us… I though they wanted us to officially get hitched. Yeah. Getting pregnant on another world… It was an idea as good as it sounded, which was a way to say it was a terrible idea. Just from a health perspective, it was a nightmare: lack of anti-biotics, vaccine, clean rooms, experienced doctors…

On the other hand, anti-pregnancy would be easier… Probably. I should investigate this soon because I was still a virgin. And it was bad luck to die a virgin. That was what my Dad said at the beginning of my domestic Sex Education before getting his head bang off by Mom.

However, I still got a job to do, a secret meeting with the Emperor. After nightfall, a carriage arrived at the gate of the mansion. Yukino and I took turned watching it through a binocular. With a (very) spacious garden, it took a while for the carriage to finally arrive at the door, enough time for us to observe the details. There was no doubt about it, it was the same carriage used to ferry the two princesses.

Yukino smirked:

"Well, what did I say? You have friends in high place already."

"Do you still remember that I have sworn to take you as my wife, my only wife, and my wife only?"

"Yes, but this is a separate matter… You know what? I would not mind them getting close, as long as they follow my rules."

I honestly did not want to know what she meant. Perhaps, for the remaining of my sanity, it was better if I never found out.

At least, Yukino did not have the chance to tease me. The guests were not the princesses themselves, but rather their guards and handmaidens. And as I had suspected, they came with an invitation from the Emperor himself. He asked me over for a friendly chat. That was precisely why I geared up for a confrontation. A bullet-proof vest was worn under the shirt with handguns and knives tucked inside. To counter magical attacks, I had an amulet. And just in case things went tits up, well, I had already sent up the drone. Worst case scenario, Yukino would bombard the scene with magical charges and flee with my friends.

Trust, but verify. Besides, I was not a standard isekai protagonist. They simply wished fulfilment of some lazy wibu. Sure, I was an otaku, but I was an otaku armed to the fucking teeth and espionage and combat training to boot.

Time to face the music.