The peak human bodyguards were positioned at the back and in front of Kampaku; 'only' ten were visible from her position. However, Lucy could sense more presence from other places in the room.
"At least 20 peak humans are guarding him in and out of the room; if I attack him now, I cannot run away," she thought. She's fine with dying while fulfilling Jack's orders, but she still prefers to survive. According to the info given by ninja spies, the number of bodyguards at one time fluctuates between 10 to 30.
Her best shot is when there are only 10. Currently, there are 20+; this is not the best time to attack.
It must be noted that only Kampaku's bodyguards can bring in weapons; even intimate guards like her are prohibited from bringing any weapon into the room. She was strip-searched before being allowed to enter the room.
That said, even without weapons, as an assassin with both peak skill and peak human physique, she is still sure she can kill Kampaku if she attacks without considering defense. But, she doesn't want to die if there is a way to survive; she has a deadline of one week. With the help of ninja spies, she was assigned to Kampaku's room and can check back later.
Kampaku's army is still some distance from its final attack; it will take at least two weeks before the final battle.
Thinking of this, Lucy took the letters and left, exactly as Kampaku ordered, to give the letter to the royal mailman.
Kampaku yawned, got up, and went to his bedroom to sleep; his bodyguards followed, guarding him even in the bedroom; he himself was used to ignoring them; he acted normal as if he didn't even notice them.
...
Two days later, at night, Kampaku, sitting at his work desk, was reading letters.
It was a massive building with many rooms; Kampaku's office and bedroom were both there; he rarely even left the building. It had a big internal yard, too, where he could go to workout.
"The army managed to surround Jack and his troops and are waiting for your orders to start the elimination operation," reading this, Kampaku smiled; Jack has been a thorn in his side for a long time; finally, he has a good excuse and a very good opportunity to get rid of him completely.
He wrote an order: "Attack only when our army blocks all escape paths; time isn't as important as the success rate." Kampaku has been trying to kill Jack for months, but somehow he always survives; now, he doesn't want to take any chances.
Then, he started opening and reading other letters.
"Southern samurais are plotting to help Akarui's nephew to become samurai leader after him." Kampaku shook his head; he would not want that person to inherit the position.
Akarui's nephew, known as Gakusha, is actually not bad; he is not against Kampaku; he is quite fair and knowledgeable. But, Kampaku won't be satisfied with a 'neutral' and 'fair' person; he wants someone who will do his bidding.
As it is going now, after taking care of Jack and the ninjas, Kampaku must start suppressing samurais someday. But, if the chief of samurais is someone on his side, maybe he won't need to suppress samurais too much.
He already has some candidates whom he would support if Akarui dies.
Thinking for a while, he wrote: "It is not in the interest of the country, and the emperor, if positions of importance, such as chief of samurais, are decided based on familial relationships with previous holders of those positions; as such, I'm instructing the royal council to pass laws prohibiting such occasions."
The royal council is the closest thing the empire has to a legislature, although in actuality, all of its members are appointed by Kampaku and nearly always do as he asks them to do.
Its members, however, are quite diverse; half are women, with ninjas, samurais, racial minorities, etc., all included.
Of course, these are all just appearances; even though on paper, the royal council is very representative of the country as a whole, with it having a proportional number of each group in society, all were handpicked, and all are loyal to Kampaku.
It has appearance diversity, but no ideological diversity.
The most important kind of diversity is the diversity of thought, so one can have all perspectives when deciding; because, even if many different people look different, if they all have similar brain circuits, their diversity would not be very effective.
A council of ten similar-looking people with different brain circuits and perspectives would be far more effective than a council that looks different but has a similar way of thinking.
However, ways of thought and perspectives, brain circuits, are not visible; as a result, most humans, who don't bother thinking beyond appearances, would prefer a council that looks different to a council that thinks differently. Of course, having a council with both sides of diversity is possible and probably preferable.
Kampaku, however, didn't want intellectual diversity; he wanted dumb and loyal people who did what he wanted. So, he just went the easy way, forming a council that looked very diverse but was all dumb and loyal people.
...
The next day, the council received his letter; they complied immediately, passing a law prohibiting succession to anyone connected by blood to the previous 5 generations of leaders by less than 5 familial lines.
Some fringe and hardcore samurais used to contest the central government's power to rule over them. Still, over the last few years, especially after Kampaku compromised and officially allowed them to have an independent and special samurai court, that view is mainstream nowadays.
After years of special rights, taking anything away would be very hard; the Royal Council trying to impose a law on samurai could have sparked a massive backlash.
However, the samurai court did comply with the law passed by the royal council. Because it was Akarui who served as chief of samurais for years, the samurai court he appointed was quite friendly with Kampaku. They actually agree with Kampaku on this issue.
Samurai court members don't want someone who would fire them to win the position of the chief.
Gakusha is independent and quite fair, which means he hates the current members of the samurai court, who are very partisan and corrupt.
As a result, using the royal council's decree as an excuse, the samurai court disqualified Gakusha and deflected all criticism by blaming the royal court for everything.
Gakusha was popular among Western, Southern, and Eastern samurais; disqualifying such a popular person put huge pressure on the samurai council. Fortunately for them, most of the pressure was deflected off them and redirected toward the royal court.
Some radical samurais began advocating for violence and 'taking things into their own hands.' However, they were not in the majority; more clear-sighted samurais could see that against Kampaku, there was no chance of winning.
Instead of advocating for violence, smart samurais abandoned Gakusha and started looking for another one who wasn't related by blood to any of their previous leaders.
The royal council's law was written in general language, applying to all, not only to Gakusha; it was based on a principle and not directly targeting Gakusha alone. Kampaku would cross the line only if he specifically rejected a candidate not based on principle, but only based on his desire to control samurais.
There are lots of samurais, and many are as good as Gakusha.
...
Only after a single day, all samurais from all over the country, western, eastern, northern, southern, and central, compromised with each other and got behind Maru, a moderate, 70-year-old samurai that everyone respected.
Samurais understood that if they were divided, it could enable Kampaku to interfere with their selection. However, with everyone unanimously endorsing Maru, it would be very difficult for Kampaku to make up excuses.
...
Kampaku, reading the letter, shook his head helplessly.
With samurais from all over the world endorsing a single person, it would be impossible for him to make up excuses.
Or rather, if he pushed it too hard, he could provoke a rebellion; samurais can't be joked with.
At the moment, he is having many issues.
The northern kingdom is watching, waiting for the empire's internal problem; if the empire plunges into civil war, the kingdom will attack.
Ninjas are an issue and must be dealt with before Kampaku can even consider dealing with samurais.
"This is a loss for me!" Kampaku sighed and gracefully accepted the loss.
Still, as a last-ditch effort, he wrote: "The Emperor proclaimed that a new samurai minister may be necessary for better cooperation with the royal court; as such, His Majesty seeks for his honor Chief Akarui's recommendation as to who is suitable to occupy the position."
Akarui is in bed and dying, but he may still be able to talk.
Samurais have their samurai court, but in addition to that, they also have a specialized ministry in the royal cabinet.
The position is technically appointed by the Emperor, but in fact, whoever the samurai chief recommends would be appointed; in addition, the samurai chief can remove the samurai minister.
That said, Kampaku can also remove the samurai minister, so the minister has to walk the tight road of keeping the samurai satisfied while not angering the kampaku.
The next successor is out of reach, so Kampaku is trying to keep the samurai ministry.
The current samurai chief, Akarui, is still respected by other samurais. If he recommends someone, it would be difficult for the next samurai chief to remove him immediately.
Ministers are usually given at least one year before anyone can remove them; the 70-year-old moderate-next chief would probably allow the new samurai minister to remain at least for one year.
A samurai chief and samurai minister of different factions would neutralize both and buy time for Kampaku.
"Akarui, I hope you give me this last helping hand!" Kampaku thought while sighing softly.
He called someone into the room to deliver the letter.
Lucy came in, bowed, and looked around.
"Only 12 peak human guards?" she smiled secretly; It was the best opportunity she would get.
There are a total of 12 peak humans present, 4 of which are outside the room; this means only 8 bodyguards are inside.
She slowly moved forward to take the letters, but midway, suddenly, she ran with amazing speed and punched toward Kampaku!