"To the birth of our new faction!"
"Euge!!!"
Clink!
The sounds of glasses clashing against each other set the way for the festive mood that was being cultivated in the air. I brought the glass up to my face and sipped the wine out of it before placing it next to my plate. I reached my hand out and picked up a piece of seasoned bread, putting it on my plate. I took a bit of the bread while taking a look around me.
Before me was a long oval-shaped table with filled chairs lining it from top to bottom. On the table itself were plates, utensils, and glasses set near each chair, along with the plentiful amount of food. There were all different sorts of flavors: bread, focaccia, salad, meats, and other, more complex dishes. I even made a dish from my world, sushi. It was hard to proctor the ingredients, but it worked out, though it couldn't compare to the masters that made it in my old world.
Around me, the decorations were less fantastical, being restricted to candles and oil lamps to light up the night. Outside of that, it was simply the room I woke up in with a table in the middle of it. The room wasn't too big to begin with causing the walls to feel almost suffocating, but I was able to arrange things in such a way that it added to the comfort of the meal.
The people that surrounded me, talking to each other, eating, and drinking were the members of my faction. In total, including myself, there were ten of us. It was a smaller number for a faction, but these were the elite members. Soon enough I'd have more manpower at my fingertips, but they would still all be outclassed in usefulness when it came to these nine. And even with such a small number, we covered all the bases.
I'm the leader, the old man is the strategist, Beulus is the people's person, Hasrem will be used for mending inner conflicts, Telferr will act as the glue keeping people connected, Vernam is my eyes and ears, Culdia will be focused on keeping the lower levels in line, Paxium will be the judge and Fragitus will be disciplinary, Onvima is going to be the treasurer, and Capcis is going to be the public relations officer. Along with that, each of them, minus Beulus, is a cornerstone of our military power. It was quite the collection I had gathered.
While in the boundaries of the sect, most of them were masters at what they did, meaning that I truly held the cards in my hand. But having such talent at my disposal put certain pressures on me. For one, there was the constant looming threat that one of these people would be bought over with something and cause a hole to spring up in the boat I rowed. To minimize that I'd have to constantly make sure their needs were being met, in both material goods and ethereal ones too. This dinner we were sharing was one of those things to solidify their stake in me. If they ever think about seriously leaving, they'll think back to moments this these and reminisce about it, causing doubt in their decision. Then I can use that opportunity to strike.
Of course, this meal wasn't in the budget, but it wasn't hard to get Vernam to steal some coin. It's not a method I would like to use often, but every now and then, it's fine. The second problem came from the second act of suitors after my people; after the flattery didn't work, violence was next. They would soon realize that it's going to be very difficult to sway my members, so instead they'll do anything in their power to crush us. This was inevitable, as a person's first reaction to a future talent is to kick the latter out from under them. That'll be where most of my problems will lie in this political struggle.
The third main obstacle was internal conflict. I had already planned for Hasrem to remedy these sorts of problems, but inevitably, people would start to find problems with me. Solving a dispute between a leader and a comrade was different than two members of the same level. This sort of problem usually stems from a leader's way of doing things. That is something I cannot change as it will show weakness; a leader mustn't be weak.
So I have three options. I either settle to only indoctrinate those who fall into my way of thinking, make it so that if I do take in people of other opinions they tolerate me, or crush those who finally try to act out on their thoughts. And more than anything else, I must make sure I keep my more devious moves hidden from everyone besides maybe the old man and Vernam. The others still had their morals somewhat intact and would undoubtedly find problems with me. This was the beginning of that second process, as I've already given up on the unrealistic first.
"Quis, I've never seen this before. Just what is it?"
From beside me, Beulus pointed out the piece of nigiri on his plate. It had a fluffy bed of rice, that I was barely able to make out of wheat grains, and a piece of fish that was native to this area on top of it. I simply replied to him, "This is called nigiri, I made it myself. It's raw fish on rice. I got the idea from a fragment of a memory I was able to dig up recently."
Beulus raised an eye at me as he said flabbergastingly, "Raw fish. On rice?... Well, I've had stranger. Bottoms up!" With those words, he grabbed it with his finger and thumb making me cringe for a moment, before throwing it into the air and catching it in his mouth. He chewed, swished it around in his mouth a little, and then swallowed it. He sat for a second in contemplation before opening his mouth, "It's pretty good. Though I can't help but feel it's a little plain... maybe add something else... like a cucumber?"
I pointed to the plate of sushi and showed him that it had already been done, and he nodded his head in approval before grabbing the piece of uramaki along with some other foods.
Banter like this went deep into the night, creating an atmosphere the most jolly.
____________________________________________
Eventually, as the moon rose into the night sky and the stars began twinkling, the air of the little party I put together fell into a dank one. Talking began to cease, and the food and wine became less appetizing. It was the tension that would eventually cause someone to sit up and say their goodbyes, but that didn't happen. Uncertainties such as, "Where would I go?" began to plague the minds of some, while others weren't interested in leaving in the first place.
Clink! Clink! Clink!
I tapped the side of my empty wine glass with a fork to get the attention of everyone present. Once all of their eyes of interest were on me, I took advantage of the tension in the air and broke it with the talk of business, "Everyone. Today was a special day. We all worked hard, and are now seeing the fruits of our labor. However, you all surely know that this isn't the end, but the beginning of a longer journey. Now that our faction has officially been formed, there are lots of things to get to, and I'll give you all of your roles privately. For now, though, we need to discuss the most important part of starting our faction." I paused to bring weight to my next words, and then finished my thought, "We have to give a speech to the masses."
What I said may seem obvious and perhaps even easy to accomplish, but there was actually a lot more that went into a simple "speech" than just riling up an audience. To give a good speech, you first need to know what you want to accomplish with your speech. If it were just me, then I wouldn't have even brought this up as I've already decided to go with the patriotic-commoner-turned-leader route. But it wasn't just me. Each person here is going to be a face of my faction, and I know that besides maybe the old man and Beulus, none of them had a clue how to pull off a speech.
Plus, even if they all did, we'd still have to center our plans into one motion, otherwise it'd come off as sloppy. And there was also the idea of doing more than just saying words. Actions carried a lot more weight than words, so it was best to include a bit of a performance in a big speech as such.
The old man quickly caught the undercurrent of my words and replied to me, "How do you think we should go about it? Having 10 representatives makes things difficult, but we can't just use one because then people wouldn't have a good enough idea of our strength."
I was about to put my idea forward when Onvima interjected, "What's going on here? Isn't it just a speech? Can't we just send Quis up there, have him say a few words, and then call it a day?"
To answer his question, the old man explained to him, and to everyone else who was confused, "That would probably work, but it's not good enough for what we want. We're all representatives of this faction, and we need to make that known or else we'll just seem the same as the L'Amour Family and the Sect Faction. In times like these, people will be more attracted to a faction ruled by multiple people than just one or two because of the idea of unity and the inability of corruption that it brings. But to do that we need a good system to get all of your faces and personalities out there without making a bore out of it."
With his explanation out of the way, I presented my plan, "Our main goal of this speech is not to attract people to our faction but to let them know that our presence is not a joke. Since I killed the Devil, and you all have your individual reputations, it won't be too hard to do this, but we have to be careful as a wrong move could make us into a joke. Because of our high number of facets, we should turn it into a show of some kind. A normal speech can be great, but that's with just one or two people. If we all individually went out and gave our peace, it would be extremely boring to the audience. And if there is one thing that people love, it's indulging in their fantastical desires."
I felt everyone's heads perk up as I spoke, even the old man's. It seemed as though even though he's lived for a long time, he's yet to see true fantastic speeches. So, with their attention captivated, I explained my idea more in-depth, "I'm sure you've all had those moments in your life where you see something downright magical, and it captivates you wholeheartedly. That is an emotion that people have studied and used to their advantage. It's much easier for people to believe in the fake than the real."
I picked up the plate in front of me and stood up while bringing it high into the air, "For example, what will happen if I drop this plate?" I paused for a second, and then answered the question, "It'll break, correct... But what if I said this plate wouldn't break even if I dropped it from the highest mountain? You wouldn't believe me right?"
I dropped the plate, and it fell onto the table, before shattering into hundreds of pieces, "You'd be correct. But I want you to think about that moment just before I dropped the plate. You felt a tinge of wonder, didn't you? "What if the plate doesn't break?", "What if my expectations are subverted?" Then once the plate broke, you felt the cold disappointment of reality. "Of course, it would brake, it's what makes sense after all.""
I sat back down in my chair and got to the point, "That, is the power of fantasy. All we have to do is keep people suspended in the fantastical part of it and never let them touch reality again. That way, they'll forever be dependent on us for that fantasy. For example, what if you could have a sudden transformation; gaining strength, smarts, wisdom, and luck unknown without any work put it. It sounds wonderful, doesn't it? Unfortunately, the reality of that fantasy is that skills as such only come from mountains of hard work. Or an even more abused fantasy, bringing the dead back to life. If we can find the correct fantasy and make sure people don't see through it, then we can make our faction look wonderful in comparison to the other two."
Once a couple of seconds passed and the others began realizing that I was finished speaking, the old man was the first to speak, "Wow... that's uh, I've actually never thought about that before... Damn. You're quite the fiend Quis! I like it! I was right to bet my chips on you! Let's go with this idea you have, I'm sure it'll be effective since even I haven't seen something like it before!"
And like that, we went deep into the night exchanging ideas of how to most effectively act out this performance of ours.
Soon enough, an idea was found, and a plan of action was conjured.
But first, to make to most of this "speech" we came up with, I had to make a visit to the Sect Leader.
It was time to form an alliance.