This is about Realpolitik

13 November 423

Diplomacy is as much of a complicated mess as is war.

One would argue that war is generally driven by military vigor, sacrifice and all of that, but diplomacy held a degree of rewards and dangers that went beyond the mere battlefield. You can lose a battle and win the war, but the moment you lose a battle in diplomacy, you could as well give up the war to save face and prevent the worst from happening. Hence why I was particularly tense as I had spent two whole days getting all the details straight for the eventual encounter with the Vollachian entourage. I knew things were going to be far more complicated than anyone at the castle was preparing to, and I could already tell it was going nuts the moment I spotted the group arriving by the window of my office. What really confirmed my worries, the ones tied to the reason why the Emperor wanted to visit. I looked right at one of the guards, Arakiya, and I saw her nostrils flaring at times and her head turning left and right as she tried to spot a scent. She was already trying to hunt down her former lady from the looks of it and I was glad that it had rained heavily the day before. Less chances of her catching Priscilla's passing scent outdoors while also limiting the chances of her making any connection with her specifically within the castle. There were so many people visiting it, some with stronger scents as far as I was told by other Demi-Humans who worked within the building, so it should be nigh-impossible for her to draw out any conclusions the moment they entered inside.

I finished adjusting my papers, giving curt nods to both Beatrice and Alice before sparing a longer look at Majima as she seemed hardly happy with the current disposition.

"I should come too," She argued once more, causing me to sigh in annoyance. "You know better than me that two knights-"

"Are going to have an easier time handling someone that specializes in eating spirits," I interjected, shutting her down. It wasn't like I didn't see her point, but I also saw the many other stupid issues that could be prevented if she didn't come. I didn't want to risk anything, especially her life. "I'm not going alone and Reinhard isn't definitely a downgrade."

…

"Fine."

"And I owe you a full afternoon after I'm done with this. How about that?"

She didn't say anything, but I could tell I got her to at least be more compliant with that. I didn't like it myself, but I didn't get to pick other choices beyond the one I went for. Not without taking gambles on others' lives. As I found both Reinhard standing outside the office, I nodded to him and started to walk with him by the room we were going to use for the meeting. I spared a look at the redhead, and then sighed.

"I hope you understand that she will try to bait us both into being instigators for incidents."

My voice seemed to cut through the state of calm that the knight was trying to uphold, with surprise appearing first as he gave me a questioning look.

"They want Priscilla. Arakiya being the one that perhaps spearheaded this visit. I might be wrong but I know the Emperor would normally care for this kind of matter."

Reinhard slowly nodded, being clueless about the correlation between Priscilla and Vollachia, but understanding that the situation wasn't a simple one as many would suspect. We both walked through the halls until we arrived at our destination and we both moved to take our seats. Placing down the papers I had carried with myself, I prepared my act to appear as clueless as possible on their main reasoning and try to play with whatever secondary reason they decided to visit. It was going to take a while to get into the 'mood' and appear as innocent as possible about it. Of course, I didn't expect to succeed in that endeavor as I was facing a rather blunt opponent. The easiest kind of opponent in diplomacy, but one that should neither be scorned or baited into aggression. Not when she could easily turn me in mince-meat if she got aggravated well enough. My patient wait was finally interrupted when one of the guards at the door knocked and peeked his head inside.

"Prime Minister-"

"Let them in," I hummed, not even letting him finish as I knew well enough who was waiting outside the room. The man nodded and opened the door so that the Emperor, his wife and his guards could properly enter. I stood up and gave a modest bow to the two main guests of the entourage.

"Emperor Vincent. Empress Anneli."

"Prime Minister Bukharin," The young Emperor answered as politely as I greeted them. Anneli remained silent, but she smiled cordially while they walked to take their seats by the two chairs in front of mine, their guards barely paying me any attention… except when Arakiya passed near to me. She suddenly stopped, her posture going stiff as I suddenly felt her nose slam onto my shoulder. I tried to move away, but she held me by my arms, hands tightly wrapping on the upper section of both limbs as she sniffed on the spot where she landed.

Reinhard looked ready to snap in action, but Vincent spoke up swiftly, handing out

"General Arakiya, I order you to stand down at once! Cecils-"

"I got her," The stronger swordsman muttered dryly as he approached us both. "Arakiya, I would suggest in the name of common sense you let the Prime Minister go."

She remained quiet, her only visible eyes remaining wide-open as she seemed more interested in what her nostrils had caught but… she perceived both Reinhard and Cecils were losing their patience. Her animal ears twitched briefly and it was there where they just released me, her gaze narrowing at my face momentarily, as if trying to spot any lies on the surface. It was quite the creepy circumstance, but nothing that really had me cracking at her behavior. I knew I was in the right, and she was in the wrong. And that was… a boon for me.

"Prime Minister, my apologies for General Arakiya's behavior-"

"None of that, Emperor Vincent. I can tell this was not an expected reaction, and I can tell she meant no harm."

I hope she meant no harm. Lest, I might have to check all corners while they were going to stay here for today and tomorrow. Still, my response didn't seem to get the proper acceptance, as the ruler was hardly pleased with his subordinate's reaction.

"Regardless of that, it was an unforgivable behavior. She will respond to this with-"

"An apology?" I offered, hoping he hadn't noticed I had struck him short mid-conversation twice now. "I mean it when I say that I find no harm done to me, thus I don't see any reason to make a mess out of it."

Anneli was the one that manifested the couple's common reaction to my reductive approach to what happened to me. The blonde frowned, perplexed as the fact I was so 'accepting' of so little to pardon the slight aimed at myself. It wasn't like I had done it out of kindness, of course, but it all stemmed from the idea I didn't need to indulge the dangerous general to be too hostile to hold back. She already glared at me, while also showing a degree of self-disappointment in showing this attitude in a diplomatic matter and coming close to ruining Vollachia's diplomatic relations with Lugnica with that stunt. Still, I ended up receiving an apology, one that seemed to be enough to make it clear the girl was far from 'remorseful' from her recent actions. I decided to outright ignore the whole mess and focus on the meeting itself. Vincent gave a quick speech to congratulate 'Lugnica' on recent developments to expand agriculture, new means to mechanize the process which would help Vollachian farms improve in terms of output. The creation of machines of this kind was mostly due to the breakthrough tied to the usage of mana crystals which were created by natural energy to fuel the engine of the contraptions. The result was that most of the 'old' technology I was reviving in this world didn't pollute or produce any dangerous residue to dismantle.

Agriculture was the one thing that easily enjoyed this the most, but it was because the industry was 'suffering' from a slower integration of those tools with the bureaucracy taking note to adapt workers' rights and allow no exploitation to unfold in the factories all over the country. Modernization was fine until it started to harm people with its incredible pace. Still, the conversation went mostly for things that 'we already spoke about'. The Emperor made a case about the army, and how ship-development was now a joint-effort between our countries to heighten good will between our nations. Of course, another thing I was aware about and I felt was a superfluous argument to bring up. The real moment where things really 'gained' a touch of novelty was when Anneli spoke up about the recent developments of the aircraft project which she was mostly in charge of. The idea was to create a transport ship for civilian purposes. Nothing for war just yet, not when we had discussed the expensive nature of going through the military versions of any prototype. Less pieces to take into account and more room for failure without feeling the coffers draining too quickly and too drastically.

As she had notes from her ancestor about how the old German planes worked, she seemed to get some good successes in adding her 'amazing touch' as she would embarrassingly state just in her letters and never to bring up in any personal conversations. Still, the project was 'soaring' as the lady admitted, saying that the prototypes were getting improved, were now capable of making longer treks with lesser 'fuel' on them, and they were getting easier to shift between the available speed levels. It was a topic that brought up how the Empress tended to be childish about it. I believe she once explained to me how this was because her family was terribly in love with the idea of 'having steel wings to fly high in the sky' and that love was pressured into her mind from a tender age, when she could understand what words meant. It also came to a point where Vincent joked that his wife was creating an airplane to 'get away from him', which got a pout out of the young woman, and I dropped my own comment about it and said it was quite the opposite of what he thought.

"Perhaps the Empress is creating something to reach you wherever you are when you commit a slight to her."

A chill went down his spine and I couldn't help but shiver a bit as I heard the blonde giggle in agreement. What a crazy couple they were once one got to see their workings in private. Still, as the discussion was turning for quite the positive turn and fostering the bond between these two nations, there was an interruption at some point that finally raised the issue which could have easily destroyed all progress made in the last few years.

"Your majesty, I believe… it's time," Arakiya muttered, seemingly breaking off from her self-imposed silence now that the conversation was nearing its natural end. "You promised."

Well, that added a new issue to the whole mental plan I had. If the young woman had some leverage to press Vincent into focusing on this matter, then I had two adversaries to face for the particular topic. And one of those technically outranked me in the general scales of power. So I had to play cleverly even though I had the advantage of playing on my turf.

"Yes. I suppose it's only correct that I ask you this question, Prime Minister. It's of the utmost importance that Lugnica is willing to voice out an answer about concerns tied to our national security."

I slowly nodded, right now mustering my best 'confused' but actually not expression. "What about, Emperor Vincent?"

…

"Is it true that one of the candidates to your Royal Election is actually a former competitor for the throne of Vollachia?"

Quite direct, but still offering me the chance to weave around the topic for something… less concrete.

"You mean if it's possible if there is one or if there is actually one? Because I verified their backgrounds and know for a fact that wouldn't be possible."

"The latter, and I-"

"Her scent is on you," Arakiya interrupted firmly. "I would suggest that you don't lie about this matter, Prime Minister."

I looked right at her with a dull look. "A threat will hardly get you anywhere, General."

"It's not a threat, it's a promise, "She argued, forcing me to sigh.

"Then, please… let me make a simple promise back at you," I hummed flatly. "In this diplomatic situation, which has turned fragile due to your forwardness, might result in some drastic decisions from both parties. Here you are, showing something that you are not willing to tell anyone but those that seemingly oppose you from reaching the truth."

"Where is she?" She half-snarled and I sighed as I decided to ignore the question altogether.

"I heard about your former employer. The one you 'missed' during the latter stages of the succession. Her name was… Prisca. Prisca Benedict."

"..." She remained quiet, but she was growing livid by the second due to the subject.

"I heard from my own sources that you two were rather close. You were her sworn sword and that you were her staunchest supporter to her claim. You were her blade, her most loyal subordinate. Then something happened, and she 'disappeared'. Leaving you an aimless warrior."

"You don't know anything," Arakiya argued. "You didn't- You don't-"

"I believe that the reason why you're trying to find her in this kingdom today isn't for the reason you so eagerly sprout about. You think she betrayed you, that she left you to die… and yet, I can't help but feel that's actually a lie," I rebuked dryly, and her entire composure broke in full shock. "I had the chance to study the events that led you to this situation. How come someone that had been trusting you and caring for you for so long, decided to outright betray you as you have said so many times now? I put this question to myself and… I came up with an idea. What if she didn't betray you?"

"What?" She asked weakly. "S-She left me-"

"To handle a matter that you swore were meant to deal with as part of whatever oath you gave her. You became her sword, one that had the precise instructions of being the spearhead for any skirmish to either defend her or to expand her interests," I interrupted the young woman. "That's the point, you were given an order, something happened while you were away and Prisca was forced to retreat away. Where is the betrayal in this?"

Her jaw hung low and she looked at the ground in utter confusion while the Emperor decided that this was 'enough' and to regain control of the situation.

"As much as you're trying to make sense of matters which I believe are well beyond your competences, it still raises the point that you are potentially harboring a future threat to Vollachia."

I cracked a smile. "No. Lugnica is not."

Before Vincent could argue the point and protest about my direct refusal, I passed a document through the table right at him and he spared a serious look over it before realizing what it was all about.

"A renunciation of claim? And compensation?" He read out loud, glancing at me in shock. "What is the meaning of this?"

"What is written on the paper."

His mouth opened, closed and then opened again. "So she lives here-"

"But signed a document which permanently proclaimed her personal claim to the Vollachian throne, which were enforced by her birthright, are hereby forfeited and void. Plus, for the sake of fixing whatever chaos she feels responsible for during the succession crisis, she is willing to repay all the costs behind the possible necessary fixing for buildings, losses, and other issues she is perpetrator of."

…

"What is the meaning of this, Bukharin?!" Vincent exclaimed, mildly furious. "You said that Prisca wasn't one of the candidates-"

"And she isn't. It's more of a technicality actually and more based on circumstances that lie."

…

"I think he is saying that you should have used her current name, my love," Anneli commented meekly, looking quite surprised and fairly nervous for the current situation.

Vincent glared at me and I looked back at him with a calm look.

"Emperor Vincent, we might be allies and all, but if there is something that really annoys me are people that are unhappy when they get what they want and expect more from me," I explained with a serious tone. "You visited here today because you had intentions to determine if Prisca is still a threat or not. I gave you reason to be satisfied that she will never get involved in Vollachian affairs, thus preventing you from the troubling task of forcing the execution of a possible war criminal that currently lives on foreign territory, an ally's territory to be more specific. Also, this brings me to give something else that I forgot about."

I opened my jacket a tiny bit and pulled a missive out from one of the inner pockets before handing it out to a perplexed Arakiya. "This is a private message which contains words meant specifically to you, General. I'm unaware of what is inside of it, but I know for a fact that they are mostly personal matters and nothing worthy of concern."

She blinked, her lone eye gazing at the paper for a while before slowly reaching out for it and taking it closer to her. The letter had been a bit of a surprise, but Priscilla had been quite stubborn in pushing for this too. I really was unaware of its content, but I knew from its receiver that it was nothing I should concern myself about and it was of matters beyond my station and obligations. She was going to read it later, which was fine since I had a bit of an angry couple to handle at the moment.

"Prime Minister, that was… a rude move. You might say it was legally-motivated, but you can't expect us to just accept it without… compensation."

I frowned at that comment from Anneli, but I should have expected the German to have the brightest idea for a comeback. A very painful one too. One that brightly hurt me like a punch right on my jaw. No wait, it was actually a punch. I'm not sure how I decided to accept, but one moment I was standing right in front of Vincent and the next one I was looking at the ceiling with a blurry sight.

"Ouch."

"That makes things better. But don't expect this to become a norm."

I really hope getting punched to outsmart people just to keep in their good graces wasn't becoming a thing. I just couldn't see myself survive past 40 if that became an actual thing. As the meeting actually concluded on a decent note, I was about to skip getting back to work just because of my current case of pseudo-concussion so I could catch some rest… when I was stopped by Alice as she was wandering the castle to look for me.

"It's Majima. She is… she is looking for you."

God, what is it now?!

I rushed upstairs, trying to understand what had gotten Majima to suddenly want to talk 'in private' in the 'storage room' by the upper floors of the castle. By storage room, I actually meant one of those attic-like rooms that were packed with dust, old paintings, and other forgotten stuff that the kingdom just didn't care about. We ended up wandering into one of those roughly a few days ago and Majima found a few things that she 'borrowed' (stole) for some interesting plays with the kids.

I wasn't sure what I was going to find there, but if the pup wanted my attention there, then it had to be quite serious and important. Which proved to be mostly correct as I arrived at destination and… couldn't believe she asked for me just for this. Sure, what I found was… interest. No, actually it was amazing. I wasn't even joking about it. I opened the door and I found a single figure in the room. It was no pup, but as the unknown individual turned to look at me, I quickly realized what was going on. The young woman had long straight black hair, with a few bangs 'cutting' her face in half as they hid her right eye while leaving the sole light-blue orbs on the left exposed. A familiar cheeky grin on her face which didn't seem to match with her choice of clothes. It was a male butler-like all-black outfit, and a white shirt under her jacket.

"Greetings, mortal-"

"What are you doing?" I inquired flatly. "Actually, how did you do that?"

She looked surprised. "I-I don't know what you are-"

"Majima please. I heard your voice long enough to know that it's you. Plus, you have big wolf-like ears and… your tail is wagging. Aww, you're still an adorable cinnamon roll~."

Her attention snapped at her treacherous extension. "You traitor!" She accused it, but her gaze was back at me shortly after. "Still, I bet you are impressed."

"I am," I admitted without hesitation, smiling even.

"And I bet you think this took a lot of effort."

"Definitely," I agreed. "In fact, how long did it take?"

"Roughly… I would say a few months. I've been practicing a lot in secret just to prepare for this moment," The girl happily said, her grin widening. "What do you think?"

"It's amazing, really. I can tell you spent a lot just to get the transformation right but… quick question, I doubt the clothes were magicked in, how did you get those?"

"That's actually something that Alice and Beatrice helped me with. First they wanted me to wear one of those 'meek' maid outfits with the long skirt, but I eventually won over and got this."

"It looks good on you. Congratulations."

Her grin faltered as she realized how 'eager' I was in giving her praise, and something that I hadn't seen in a long while resurfaced. Her Tsundere phase.

"T-That's an easy feat for your amazing familiar. Why, were you thinking any less of me? That I couldn't have done it?"

"Quite the contrary. I know how much of a hard-worker you are when you put all of yourself into getting something done. Especially something you already told me was tough to achieve," I replied with a hint of seriousness as I walked up to her. I stood right in front of her and reached out for her chin. She didn't even hesitate in leaning in and getting some 'treats'. Her body shivered as I started to softly scratch there.

"Who's a good and hard-working girl?"

"...I am."

I grinned. "Love ya, Majima."

…

"L-Love ya too."

"Now, I'm done with the meeting, so you have the rest of the day with me. What do you want to do?"

She merely grinned in renewed eagerness and soon we were playing around with her back in her pup form as we enjoyed the particularly sunny day.

Of course, dark clouds prepared as a storm beyond anything anyone could predict approached...

AN

Second test of the Elections coming soon and then… a big mess. A big mess that will also be worsened by Shaula with her lack of 'understanding' on how the situation tied to John really works.

Omake 28: What if: Crusch Won the Duel

Lying on the warm and soft bed should have given me some peace after what happened the night before but… I had a reason to have trouble finding rest.

I looked to the side and I could only scratch the back of my head at seeing a still-awake and wide-grinning Crusch Karsten, soon to be Bukharin-Karsten. I guess that's the face of someone that knows had won big time after spending so much time training and making plans.

She demanded a marriage and the 'union of our houses' to make us both equals in the union. It definitely caught me off-guard as a decision and demand, and it caught me even further off-guard when she demanded to have bed rights to make use of them the very night of her win.

Crusch won 'her world' and she was the happiest girl in the world. Because she also got her claims over me reinforced. Priscilla was pissed at the idea that she got 'one-upped' by someone else, and was already sending me letters of having her accepted as my 'beloved mistress' or something like that. The world was indeed coming to a strange end as even other individuals had taken strange turns with their own situations.

I received a letter from Ram asking if we needed a maid to govern our new house, then I got a message from Anastasia offering a joint endeavor… by setting her main house right beside mine and being 'the friendliest, the closest and the most promiscuous neighbors possible'. Of course, this was but the beginning of a complete avalanche that easily fell onto me. I was now 'legitimized' as a 'proper' Prime Minister with some noble connections.

Which was technically good, yet morally bad. Still, it meant less pressure from the nobles since my work 'was now certified to develop things to benefit their interests'. Things were just escalating quickly and crazily. Satella said that she was glad and asked if we could try to deepen our bond the next time I visited, which felt incredibly forward with her but reasonably so due to the overall situation.

I was really 'running around' to make sure things were going to be fine for us in the long term, but it was clearly not going to be that. And I surrendered at the idea that things were going to get complicated with each passing day, I stared at Crusch once more and at her peaceful smile as she went on with her business as if nothing had changed much with her. Except now she will soon have a ring akin to the one I will too wear. A sign of our bond now legitimized through marriage…

I could already hear Miklotov sharing a fat laugh with the other sages, chit-chatting happily about the fact I ended up caught in the messy thing that is a marriage. Of course, thi was only the beginning of the overall madness but…

At least my future wife is happy for our future together. That's the minimum-

Six Months Later…

"Dear husband, I'm pregnant." Crusch.

"John, me too. And my pregnant belly is going to be the most beautiful!" Priscilla.

"L-Likewise-" Ram.

"Jooohn, the bun is in the oven~!" Satella.

"Our joint endeavor will soon get a third associate." Anastasia

Well, shit.