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Chapter 30: The final offerNotes:

Sorry if this flows kinda bad, but I am too tired to correct my mistakes now. Will probably edit this after I got a few hours of sleep.

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

Chapter Text

Chapter 30

Reading about the same pseudo-scientific theories and instructions for spellcasting and the application of magic became boring quickly after Tanya had read all books about the topic that Beatrice was willing to lend her. Both yin and yang magic were not well researched fields of arcane knowledge stemming from the lack of talented mages with the necessary affinities. Therefore most works discussing them were riddled with speculation and guesswork which meant that Tanya would have to test them in detail herself.

It was not only a annoyance that she would have to waste time checking the work of others, because they had been unable to do their job correctly, but it also meant that she couldn't be sure about the exact nature of the high tier spells. They were much more potent and dangerous so they would require careful study before she potentially injured herself by using them. Her safety was paramount and would not be risked by trusting information from outdated books.

That left her with few things to do besides sword training. Even that was rather ineffective without a sparring partner like Reinhard. The only other obligation would have been teaching Beatrice, but the librarian spirit had refused any more lessons in advanced mathematics which filled Tanya´s heart with joy. Nobody could say that she hadn´t tried to uphold her end of the bargain. Now she wouldn't have to give away her secrets anymore. As inconsequential as they might be.

So, to not waste any of her precious time she began to catalogue and sketch the most useful inventions from both her previous lives down on paper. The majority of the really valuable ones were sadly beyond her grasp and were not something that she could replicate in a few years. Stuff like cars, electricity, plastic explosives, or vaccines required intricate manufacturing from trained professionals to produce. Her knowledge on these things extended no further than how to use them.

Still, she knew enough useful things to give her a head start by at least a few centuries. Her self-developed combat doctrines, knowledge on ballistics and guns and expertise in finances and economics would hopefully be able to revolutionize this medieval society. When she had asked Emilia if she knew what a "national central bank" or a "share price" was her answer had only consisted of confused head scratching which was already a bad sign. Or a good sign, depending on your perspective. In deficiency laid opportunity after all.

With all the money she would earn through introducing modern concepts like these into this world she could fund research projects to reinvent some of the machines that were beyond her grasp. Even with the limited knowledge on these subjects at least some ideas would certainly be developed for which she could claim ownership. Over the years she would modernize the land step by step and lead it to industrialization.

A process which would only become easier through the wide-spread use of magic everywhere. Mana was easier to find than coal. At the end Lugnica would be so far ahead of the metaphorical curve that the other nations would not even think of declaring war on her, but would instead beg and plead to be a part of the technological change until the whole world advanced to a more civilized level.

Her only concern was the environmental pollution that would be caused by this. Hopefully she would be able to prevent this from happening by teaching the people about the dangers of irresponsible resource depletion thereby stopping a ecological catastrophe before it even began. No need to repeat the mistakes of the past.

This and many more important thoughts about the future filled not only her head, but now also stacks of paper full of illegible glyphs and symbols. To anyone but her it would have looked like the work of a madwoman. Tanya knew better.

Now that she was aware of the possibility that invisible spirits were spying on her at every possible moment, she encrypted her notes and shortened longer words whenever possible. It was a bit paranoid considering that nobody here (even Subaru) would be able to read Germanian anyway, but one could never be too careful.

Aside from that she also prepared a few templates for letters that she would send once she arrived back at the capital. She needed as much support from the nobles as she could gather and that definitely required her to make visits to the most important houses and engage in discussions about her future plans with them. Tanya already dreaded the petty smooth talk and multi-layered speeches full of hidden agendas that such people would torture her with. Kissing up to one´s superiors wasn't something new to her by any stretch of the imagination, but it was still unpleasant.

Nonetheless was it a shame that she would have to wait until the end of the week before she could make her move on them. The other candidates were almost certainly gaining followers and forming alliances while she was stuck here in the middle of nowhere. If Emilia defied reason and rejected her proposal against all odds then Tanya would have wasted a crucial opportunity to secure her standing in the political landscape. This was the beginning of the royal selection after all.

Well, it wasn't like she could expect many nobles to swear allegiance to her right from the start. To invest into an unknown player like her was risky and rich people were usually pretty reluctant when it came to potentially wasting lots of money. Actions spoke louder than words, so her achievements and popularity among the proletariat would have to be enough to eventually sway them to her side, but that would require time.

Come to think of it, her mostly trying to appeal to the working populace might even be the better strategy in the long run. Crusch and Priscilla were only fixated on the nobles if her quick character assessment proved correct and Anastasia clearly targeted the wealthy middle class who could afford investing into her multiple businesses. Tanya´s only competition in winning over the hearts of the working and lower class was theoretically Emilia who wanted to improve the living conditions of the poorer people, but the girl was much too shy to openly show herself and properly capitalize on her good deeds.

This influence-vacuum created an exciting opportunity for Tanya to tap into an unattended audience of desperate and unheard commoners. A consumer group that would happily lap up even the smallest bones that she threw to them. Yes indeed, the seemingly powerless people that she had met on the streets of the capital and in the slums would be her greatest asset.

When she had declared at the beginning of the royal selection that she would lead Lugnica to greatness no matter the cost and potentially without the support of the nobles that had been a risky gamble. She still stood by her word, but at the same time she hadn't wanted to alienate the aristocracy. Instead she wanted to show her unwavering commitment to prove that they could rely on her to be a "winning horse" in this race for the throne. A driving force to be reckoned with was what she had wanted them to see. But now she thought about how she could build upon this and make herself out to be a fighter for the common folk.

Her hatred for communism was still brightly burning within her heart, but it couldn't be denied that this trainwreck of an ideology had been very effective in rallying vast amounts of human resources to its cause. Maybe she could do the same or at least make use of its methods?

She could already imagine the gigantic propaganda murals and banners with labels like:

"Vote for Tanya von Degurechaff! Bread and free education for all! The future belongs to all of us! Money, blood or birth do not determine your worth!"

Yeah, that would probably be effective to just directly appeal to the general public. If she really wanted to then she could even overthrow the current ruling system after she had seized power and build a democratic state in its place. Although the potential for this endeavour to escalate into a francois revolution was high and senseless bloodshed would only make things for her and the country worse.

What if the people started to turn on her suddenly? It happened often with emotional driven political campaigns. The leaders of the movement were blamed for all of the people's problems and either forcefully discharged from their position or just straight up executed. No, thanks. Better no revolution. Slow reforms were much more successful at inciting long-lasting change anyway.

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Not canon omake:

Two years later.

"Long live the revolution!" screamed Tanya from atop the smouldering ruins of the royal palace.

"LONG LIVE THE REVOLUTION!" shouted the mob filling the plaza from down below.

She increased the power of her sound amplification formula until everybody on this side of the city could hear her clearly.

"Today we freed ourselves from the shackles of the past! From the tyranny of the nobles who thought they could trample over us simply because they were born with power they didn't earn. But guess what? We now fought for this power! We bled and suffered for it! We EARNED it! Now it is finally within our reach. Everybody deserves a chance in this new country. No longer will our heritage or these false prophets dictate our fate. Only our hard and honest labour can decide our destiny and our worth. So, my people... I ask you... Who are we?"

"EQUALS! EQUALS! EQUALS! EQUALS! EQUALS! EQUALS!"

"Yes we are! Embrace your families; kiss your loved ones... for this day shall mark the beginning of a golden era of prosperity and freedom!"

"TANYA! TANYA! TANYA! TANYA! TANYA! TANYA! TANYA! TANYA!" chanted the crowd with glee.

Tonight The Dragon Kingdom of Lugnica fell and The Free State of Lugnica rose in its place.

Elsewhere, deep under the sea, Andrew R. smiled to himself. Something beautiful had just happened. He could feel it.

"No gods or kings. Only men. Indeed." he grinned.

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Tanya stopped her somewhat unrealistic daydreaming and got back to work. Farfetched fantasies had no place in her timetable while so much work had to be done.

"Huh... It really seems like the cushy life away from immediate danger has already gotten to my head. Maybe the good food and comfortable beds are beginning to make me soft." she murmured to herself with a dry chuckle.

Isolating herself too much from Emilia and her associates would not be a good idea if she wanted to appear approachable and relatable. Gaining the half-elf´s trust was imperative for her plan to work. With this alliance she would strengthen her own position drastically. Not only would she practically double the size of her camp, but also take out a possible rival.

So at long last she finally organized their first real negotiation since her proposal in the Astrea mansion.

"Thank you for coming Emilia. I am aware that we never really spoke about what I want from you while you already told me what you desire. That was not fair from my part so I´d like to correct this mistake now. What do you think I would demand in case that we form an alliance?"

The poor girl was clearly overwhelmed by the direct question at the beginning. Good. Catching her off guard had been intended. Furthermore it saved them both time.

"Well... uh.... based on what you said in the capital I assumed that you want me to resign from the royal selection and support you in your campaign, because you have a better chance at succeeding than I."

"Yes. That was how I worded it back then. And in return I would make your wishes come true that you were going to fulfil anyways if you were to become queen."

Tanya looked her deep into the eyes and let that sink in.

"Of course we will have to hammer out the finer details at a later date, but that was the general idea of our alliance. Do you believe our host here would appreciate that?"

"Eh? No, I don't think so."

"I suspected as much. Roswaal would understandably not be pleased with this arrangement. Giving up on ascending the throne would be a grave insult to him. He is your trusted sponsor after all. So I have a slightly different offer for you."

Roswaal was a powerful individual that Tanya wanted to rely on in the future. Simply destroying the Emilia camp by tricking the half-elf into being abandoned by her sponsor was not a desirable outcome. He would not spend his time and money on somebody who could not become queen after all. In order to control the margrave she needed him bound to Emilia so she had changed her tactic.

"If we signed the contract the way I described it then you would totally abandon your chance at the royal selection, but it does not have to be this way. What if we participate alongside each other?"

"What do you mean?"

"I am saying that we will help each other and share our resources to a certain extent, but it will not be possible for you to become queen. Every success you achieve will be credited to your camp under the condition that you mention my help should I have assisted you in the situation. In exchange I will try my best to publicly vouch for your name and present you in a positive light until the people of Lugnica no longer fear you. Wouldn't that be wonderful? If you become indeed more popular than my camp then I will advise my supporters to vote for you. The opposite is of course also the case. I expect your followers to support me should I win this bet."

This way the slim possibility existed that her partner could still uphold her promise to Roswaal. Tanya wouldn't let it come to that, but most likely the people would be too bigoted either way to see her as anything other than a witch.

"Do you want to what the best part about this deal would be? Our chances of winning the royal selection will increase drastically. Even if both of us would get less votes individually than the other candidates, together we will be nigh unstoppable if we play our cards right. Whoever of us both becomes the victor will have the votes of two whole camps behind her!"

"Lia, is that really the best decision?" asked Puck worriedly.

Before he could sway Emilia from her side Tanya intervened.

"It is the perfect proposal. This way you will not lose your pride and Roswaal not his hope of you succeeding in the end. We will benefit both and you will be secure no matter what happens. Either you become queen and fulfil your wishes or you are a close friend of the queen who will fulfil your wishes. You cannot fail with this method."

"...I think Roswaal would agree to this... I... accept."

Tanya grinned and stretched our hand to shake. It was not the final decision, but with these words the half-elf had basically sealed her fate.

"Excellent. We will be a glorious team."

Notes:

Did I just make a unnecessary Bioshock reference? Yes, I did. And I am not sorry.