In the grand hall of the Shi'ar Empire's palace, the atmosphere was unbearably oppressive and somber. Queen Lilandra was no longer the tired and perfunctory figure of mornings past; instead, her face was icy, her presence commanding.
"What exactly is going on here?" Her tone was soft, yet no one dared to answer.
The fleet had already been destroyed. No one knew how those five main battleships had found their way into the Skrull's territory, so of course, she could throw the blame back, asking what the others in the great hall had done.
After a pause, a noble finally stepped forward, and after performing a bow, he said, "Your Majesty the Queen, now is not the time to worry about past losses. The Skrulls are so arrogant, we must teach them a lesson!"
As soon as he spoke, many others stood and echoed his sentiment, but the Queen knew she could not so easily agree. So she spoke again, "You talk as if it's simple! It's not easy to regain face, are you suggesting we declare war on the New Skrull Empire?!"
"I believe we can!" Another, even taller noble stood and said, "They struck first, why can't we strike back?!"
"Foolish!" the Queen said sternly. "The current state of the cosmos is stable, an opportune time for trade. The treasury has just improved, do you have any confidence in going to war now?!"
"Your Majesty the Queen, I have a word," another younger noble stood and said. "The Kree Empire and the New Skrull Empire are at loggerheads. If we declare war on the Skrulls, they will certainly not sit by idly and will undoubtedly offer help."
"Yes, the Kree Empire holds deep hatred towards the Skrull Empire. If we make a move, Supreme Wisdom will surely pounce on the weakened enemy..."
The Queen furrowed her brows deeply, as if she did not agree with the proposal, but the nobles below were animated, each voicing their thoughts, creating an atmosphere reminiscent of an army of 600,000 facing 800,000 with a tide in their favor.
Thanos walked through the long, dim corridor to his seat in the lower house chamber. No sooner had he settled in his chair than he heard a long sigh beside him.
"What's the matter, Councilman Vessel?"
"What else could it be? The Skrulls, heaven knows what got into them, completely annihilated a fleet of the Shi'ar Empire! The Shi'ar won't let this slide."
"Is the emergency meeting about this?"
"What else? The rest of us might be fine, but you, as head of security, are in for it!"
"What do you mean?"
"What else can I mean? If those two fight, we can't stop them, but we can't do nothing, either. All we can do is mediate, but look at the situation now—whocan mediate?"
Thanos feigned deep thought, and sure enough, the Councilman soon asked, "Thanos, what is your opinion on the choice of mediator?"
Thanos straightened his clothes, stood up, and said, "I think we should let the humans go."
"What?!"
"I mean, let the humans from Midgard of the Nine Major Kingdoms go!"
The chamber burst into an uproar.
The blue-skinned Councilman frowned, his thoughts rapidly churning as the noise from below gradually died down, followed by steadily rising voices of agreement.
It was an open scheme, for humans were indeed well-suited to mediate.
Firstly, the human race was particularly weak, with 99% of the races present able to kill an individual of this fragile species with a single punch, though there were some strong individuals, the majority of humans were a drag.
This civilization was not especially advanced, with its basic science at least a few hundred years away from reaching the interstellar colonization stage.
Earth's position was also quite remote; an expedition by any of the Three Great Empires would be a massive endeavor, burdensome and costly.
Yet, paradoxically, Earth was protected by a group of powerful individuals. Aside from the people of Asgard, mutants also emerged from Earth, and the human race had its own strong champions.
This meant that the human race posed no immediate threat to the cosmos, wouldn't compete for resources, and the few that rose to the interstellar stage could not tug at the fabric of their own civilization.
Jockeying for power and wealth in court was for one's own family, and in the vastness of the universe the same applied. In the Intergalactic Alliance, vying for advantage was to help one's own civilization seize resources.
But humans were not yet at the step of seizing resources. Although their potential was substantial and they were at least expected to develop to the interstellar colonization stage, they had not yet arrived. Thus, letting humans take the lead on the interstellar political stage was better than other races taking the initiative.
Moreover, humans might be down on their luck, but they had strong connections; their powerful allies and their own strong champions meant they could hold their ground and not be looked down upon by the Three Great Empires.
Wasn't this the perfect candidate for mediation?
If successful, it would just mean a couple of humans had contributed, rewarded with a sinecure and perhaps some obsolete technology. If unsuccessful, it wouldn't affect anyone's face. And if someone else were sent later without success, there would be precedence to avoid embarrassment.
As everyone discussed, it seemed they were about to settle on this decision, but Thanos said, "Although I think humans are suitable, I don't have any particular person in mind. Do any of you have closer relations with the humans...?"
"Eh, now that's not right, Thanos. I recall you have quite close ties with Asgard, don't you? Since you suggested the candidate, naturally, you should do the communicating."
"Yeah, yeah, handing such an important task over to a planetary civilization, they must be overwhelmed with gratitude, and you should be the one to break the good news..."
"I think so too, why don't you go, none of us know any Humans."
Listening to their back-and-forth, Thanos scoffed inwardly. Wasn't it just that they were afraid of annoying Asgard by dumping such a difficult job on the Humans? A bunch of cowards.
After the meeting dispersed, Thanos still had to keep a stern face and pretend to be gloomy until he got back to his office, where Loki and Nick were already waiting for him.
Nick let out a sigh of relief and said, "Thank you, man. I finally got out of that damn wedding rehearsal. We've already been releasing balloons in the same spot over twenty times today..."
Thanos stepped forward and shook his hand, then said, "Director, I trust your skills, and having you come over for training is really just..."
Nick waved his hand and said, "I get it, and besides, I really do need to learn some knowledge about civilization interactions. How about you take me to see your finance department first..."
"The finance department? Why not the foreign affairs department?"
Nick gave a look that said, "You don't understand," and spoke with his hands behind his back, "Diplomacy is all about empty courtesy, but the real security expenditures will show you who's really tricky."
Thanos deeply agreed. Indeed, whoever could firmly control the Time Management Bureau was naturally no simple figure.
Thanos led Nick outside, while Loki was beside him, furiously making faces and winking until her eyes were about to go blind.
Unfortunately, Thanos was a giant, much taller than Humans, and female Loki wasn't that tall either. She made expressions for quite a while, but Thanos simply didn't see them.
Watching the two of them walk away, Loki heaved a deep sigh. If King Yan wants you dead at the third watch, I can't keep you till the fifth watch. I hope your footsteps to the finance department remain as light as before.
The Shi'ar Empire had still declared war on the New Skrull Empire.
Shiller was almost the last to learn this news, and at the same time, he learned from Loki that Nick had become the mediator of the war between the two empires.
He practically spat out his drink on the spot.
Upon learning that it was actually Thanos's suggestion, and that Thanos had even had Nick train for two days in the security department, he almost choked himself.
Shiller wanted the two empires to fight it out primarily to muddy the waters so that he could take the opportunity to pull out a few radishes, and press a Human superhero like Captain America, potent in diplomacy and political acumen but not for strategic deterrence, into the interstellar political radish pit.
But Nick wasn't there to pull radishes; he was more like the black demon bear who steals the cassock; he was after stealing the farm owner's deeds and then selling off their farm.
Under Shiller's manipulation, the two empires might fight a lengthy war, occasionally losing control and creating some personnel vacancies, but it would not completely upend the current cosmic situation.
But Nick really wanted the Three Great Empires dead, and he would make sure he was listed as the sole heir before they died.
Shiller hurriedly messaged Nick, telling him to tone it down, before the Human race truly became powerful, the Three Great Empires absolutely couldn't die.
But he soon realized he was seeing too far ahead; Nick's current focus wasn't on the Three Great Empires at all, but on the security department Thanos had in his hands.
Shiller took a sharp breath. Without Human support, it would be difficult for Nick to settle the Three Great Empires, but taking over the security department of the Intergalactic Alliance would be easy.
Upon learning that Nick had convinced Thanos to let him mediate, achieve preliminary progress, and then secure him a position in the finance department of security, Shiller really wanted to crack open Thanos's purple skull and see how much water it held.
Then Shiller called Loki, demanding why she didn't stop Thanos. Loki was also helpless. Was this something she could stop?
Shiller wasn't worried that Nick, after taking charge of the finance department, would anger Thanos with some missteps and cause his two chess pieces to fight against each other; he was worried that if Thanos discovered Nick's talent in this area, he would choose to turn corrupt.
Shiller had no doubt that when it came to moral bottoms lines, Thanos and Nick were neck-and-neck. Once Thanos realized what Nick was doing, he wouldn't just turn a blind eye; he would immediately become a bigger rat, joining Nick in hollowing out the foundation of the Intergalactic Alliance.
Nick would surely use the resources on Humans, but if Thanos acquired enough resources, he would definitely reboot his dream of becoming the Universal Overlord.
While releasing balloons at the wedding venue, Shiller pondered whether bargaining Thanos into providing Earth with more resources was worth the trade-off. Regardless, the mediator had been chosen and couldn't be changed now. If necessary, Shiller would have to intervene himself.
Thanos sat in his office sipping tea, listening to reports from spies he had secretly cultivated, informing him of the mediation progress. When he heard that Nick had accepted bribes from the Shi'ar Empire, he merely smiled slightly.
This was all too common. Although the Shi'ar Empire wouldn't pull back troops, giving the mediator some face, so they'd speak on their behalf in discussions was normal procedure. And to improve the influence of those words, naturally, some extrinsic motivators were needed.
A "grease payment," if you will; those who know, know.
But the next second, Thanos was stunned.
"...You're saying he took how much?!!"
"Thr...three hundred million Universal Coins!"
"Pfft!!!"