Chapter 65: Tea trapNotes:
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Damn took me week to write this thing lol
Chapter Text
Chapter 65
Sleep was fundamentally overrated. She had slept enough during her short-term coma to last her enough for the next week if she pushed it a little. And she would have to, after all, there was so much to re-learn, so much to bring in order that it consumed her every thought. Securing her powerbase, garnering public favour and staying out of trouble were her most important goals for the time being.
PR was definitely not her strong suit, but Tanya believed that she knew enough about human psychology and business conventions to sell the image of a competent, fearless leader to the masses. While she was weak she needed to appear strong in order to stay in control of the situation before her political enemies could dogpile her and drag her reputation down. Pretending as if everything was actually alright had saved many a organisation from certain doom, but just as many fell due to never delivering on said promises.
The people she needed to convince the most were her competitors, eager to undermine her at every opportunity. By inventing them on her own accord they would be forced to listen to her and could not freely spread rumours or set plots in motion. Otherwise, if she had nothing to hide why wouldn't she clarify things immediately?
So she pulled out all the stops.
Tanya would personally greet every visitor in the entrance hall underneath the freshly mounted head of the White Whale. Its grizzly appearance would remind them of her 'legendary feat', cementing her as a person to be respected in their heads.
Hopefully.
Then her 'tea party' was held in a different place than last time . For this was indeed the second time she had apparently instigated such an event. Technically they all had already convened approximately two weeks ago, but without memories she could obviously not recall. Nonetheless, the small garden pavilion on the east side would serve as a demonstration that she had nothing to hide, even while talking out in the open.
Furthermore she planned to let her soldiers 'coincidentally' march in formation along the main path around thirty minutes into the meeting. Her rivals were politicians and those respected strength.
Hopefully.
Once again she was grasping at straws here. Oh well, it couldn't be too bad, could it?
Dressed in what Reinhard called her 'gala uniform' she sat patiently in the lobby, one leg slung over the other as if she was the most relaxed person in the world while inwardly vibrating with anticipation.
Finally the servants opened the doors for her first guest of the day:
Crusch Karsten, duchess and avid figurehead of Lugnica's nationalist party.
Standing up she smiled widely.
"Hello, I am glad you could come."
With a polite nod she let the green-haired woman bask in the atmosphere of what basically amounted to her makeshift throne room.
Symbols held power and if the flickering of Crusch's eyes to the yawing monster head above her seat was any indication, her ploy was already beginning to prove its effectiveness.
"It was no issue. Although I had to cancel a meeting with the mayor, he is a very understanding man."
The greenette's voice was even, but Tanya could hear the hint of annoyance carrying it. Understandable. In her opponent's situation she would have also been peeved if she got forced to call off her previous appointments overnight.
"My sympathies. Then I am even more thankful that you made time for me, Lady Crusch."
Her shallow bow was met with a raised eyebrow. Had she made a blunder?
"Would you like to wait here for the rest of our group or would you prefer the gardens?"
The green eyebrow rose higher.
"You want to wait for them personally? What if they don't show up?" questioned Crusch.
"Oh, I am sure they will. Who would want to be left out in a discussion such as this?" Tanya half-joked, though her guest just nodded thoughtfully.
"Then I will be staying here."
"Perfect."
On her command a seat was carried to her side and she tapped the cushions invitingly. Together they would greet the next newcomer as a singular unit; like they were already a team which would strengthen her appearance. As 'equals' they sat on chairs of similar make, although her position in the centre made it clear who held the strings.
Doubt overcame her temporarily. Maybe she was majorly overthinking this...
Before she could offer the duchess an obligatory refreshment the doors opened again.
Emilia, half-elf and her biggest ally apparently. Tanya read their contract three times this morning and was convinced that her past self must have been a damn genius to rope the beautiful demi-human girl into this agreement.
As she was supposed to have spent a week on Emilia's estate she had to act in a more familiar way than with Crusch.
"Emilia! Good to see you again. Thank you for coming."
The silver-haired girl looked dumb-struck by the giant head on the wall, but eventually smiled and moved in for a hug.
How unexpected...
Had they been that close?
Hesitatingly Tanya reciprocated.
"I was a little worried about you, but maybe Subaru was right, hehe..."
Subaru was her knight. His name stirred the faintest recollection in the back of her mind, but perhaps she was just imagining it. It sounded remarkably foreign compared to all the European inspired names here after all.
"I am perfectly healthy. No need to worry." she reaffirmed as they separated.
"I am glad..." mumbled Emilia, directing her attention to the other person in the room. "Hello, Crusch. Nice to see you again."
"Likewise." hummed the greenette curtly.
Tanya attempted to put as much levity into her voice as she could: "Come sit with us! We can wait here for the others. Would you like to drink something?"
Two negative answers caused her smile to stiffen for just an instant before she switched over to her pre-prepared small talk topics. Thank her lucky stars for the gossip of Reinhard's maids or else she would have been left with only the weather!
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"... And that is why I think that we should fund public education. In the end it only helps everyone. Ehh, sorry... I might have gotten off track there for a second, hehe..."
Emilia was unexpectedly passionate about improving the lives of the under and middleclass. For someone who was born naturally beautiful and likely enjoyed a peaceful and well off childhood, the silver-haired girl was incredibly empathetic to those of other walks of life
"No, no, I agree. The citizens of Lugnica need to become strong on their own. We need to stop being reliant on outdated systems and for that the people require proper institutions in order to learn."
Tanya was impressed. Despite its medieval set dressing, this world was far more progressive than the stories in her first life about this time period had made her suspect. Universal, state-sponsored education sounded like a pretty socialist idea on paper, but the reality of the twenty-first century had undoubtedly proven that giving everybody a comparable baseline knowledge wise increased productivity across the board.
So she chimed in: "Indeed. Ignorant, poor people stay ignorant and poor and that serves nobody. To save Lugnica from becoming irrelevant and weak this country needs willing and capable workers who can demonstrate their true potential. It is good to know that regardless of which of us three wins the throne, has so much sense."
Looking back, this conversation had shifted to some rather serious topics already without even trying. Originally she planned to wait with that, but maybe it was better this way.
The doors swung open and in swept Anastasia Hoshin, also called 'Merchant Princess' for her incredible fortune and knack for business. Of all her competitors, Tanya was wary of her the most. Vast amounts of money coupled with high intellect and a ruthless attitude made the innocent looking purple-haired girl a credible threat. The others were as well, but if the stories were true then none of them had the hard-nosed, tough mindset born from working your way up the corporate ladder from poverty to the very top.
"Perfectly on time! Thank you for accepting my invitation, Anastasia."
"Would have been foolish not to, ya know? And another look at the woman with arguably the most interesting dress at the ball was kinda irresistible."
The dry tone made it impossible to tell if she was joking or mocking her, but Tanya still had to hide her irritation at the unsubtle dig.
"Well, thanks for the compliment. It was a magical dress, you see."
Her 'costume' if you could charitably call it that, had been an insulation blanket more than anything, but nobody needed to know that.
"Kinda figured. With the whole glowing thing, ya know? I don't assume you'd sell one in my size? Would be the hit at the next company conference."
"Unfortunately no. There exists only one."
"For shame."
"Do you want to sit with us?"
"Nah. I'd rather stand and look at the big fishy." Anastasia said and pointed at the wall. "Gobbled up quite a few of my wagons of mine and only the spirits know how many I lost that I can't even remember because the blasted fog destroyed all evidence that they ever existed. So gimme a few minutes to appreciate its death."
Tanya nodded silently and waited for a few seconds.
Just as she opened her mouth to resume talking, the merchant girl asked:"You made it painful, yes?"
Most likely? She would surely not have tried to treat such a monster in a humanitarian manner.
"Yes."
"Good. Serves it right." Anastasia responded darkly.
"I agree to that." added Crusch.
Emilia clutched her hands in her lap, saying nothing as a heavy silence descended over the hall.
Breaking the uncomfortable atmosphere Tanya decided to move on to the main event:
"Have you seen Priscilla's carriage outside? If not, we should head for the gardens."
"Ah, that–"
The sounds of the door crashing against the wall rudely interrupted them.
Priscilla Barielle, the 'Sun Princess' had arrived.
"You're kinda late, ya know?" snarked the purple-haired business tycoon.
"Nonsense. A ruler is never late. She strategically chooses when to grace her underlings with her presence. Be thankful." declared the mature blonde with a haughty expression.
Oh, she could already tell that this one would be problematic... Priscilla appeared to be an intensely irritating woman. Reinhard had been too kind in his description.
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Anastasia did not expect much to come from this whole mess. As far as she could tell, the blond military girl got messed up in the head and decided to throw a tantrum worthy of that Priscilla bitch and now she wanted it to sweep under the rug with pretty words and showing them all that she was in fact not insane. Probably should have realized that standing under the disembowelled head of one of the three calamities, grinning like a loan shark wouldn't inspire the most confidence in her 'peacefulness', but hey, Ana could respect the hustle.
She was here to do one thing and one thing only: Make a profit.
Not a profit in money per se, although everything in life was inevitably linked to currency of some kind , but intel. They were enemies, so every scrap of info she got on all the other candidates was potentially extremely valuable.
Of course she had her spies and other networks supplying her with data, yet she was always hungry for more. Greed was really her best and worst trait.
'Never enough...'
Unperturbed, she grabbed for another biscuit. They were quite good. No one appeared to be overly thrilled to carry the moderately interesting conversation about the current political climate, so the conversation was going slow.
However Tanya ultimately acknowledged Crusch's closing commentary on the matter and folded her hands on the table, visibly switching to a more serious mood.
"On a different note... What you are certainly most curious about is my unplanned appearance on the ball."
Was the girl finally getting to the point? Wonderful. Time was a limited resource and she was squandering quite a bit by sitting in a fancy chair and drinking even fancier tea.
"To put it simply, it was the result of a failed assassination attempt. A powerful enemy tried to corrupt my mind, but they failed. I temporarily was lulled into the false belief that I was dreaming, yet with the help of my knight I was quickly able to overcome that notion. I have gathered you here to warn you about possible similar attempts on your own lives."
Mmmm, good story, except it didn't quite add up, did it? Yesterday, there had been more going on than that. Tanya didn't recognize anybody and appeared to have forgotten her entire time in Lugnica.
Now the little stranger claimed to have regained those memories miraculously soon after which was just strange...
"Why do you think we could be at risk?" cautiously asked Emilia.
"It came from the Witch's Cult."
Now wasn't that cheery news? Ana was definitely going to upgrade her security if that was true. Technically she knew that the band of murdering lunatics represented a danger to every person in the kingdom, but if they were directly going after royal candidates then that changed things.
"As you already know, I defeated the sin archbishop of sloth while travelling through Emilia's domain. That he showed up near her should have been a warning sign."
She was no superstitious woman as prejudiced presumptions rarely paid well, but that might have also had something to do with the fact that the half-elf looked exactly like the Witch of Envy was described in the history books. Associating with the monster that destroyed half the world in any form was never something positive.
"Furthermore, we were ambushed by a second sin archbishop on the way back, someone who claimed to have a gift for me. I was understandably sceptical of such an object and let it be checked over by an expert, but this magician turned out to be a traitor as well. Is it not reasonable to assume that after both Emilia and I were attacked by the witch's cult you could be targets too?"
It was definitely a sound argument. Sowing chaos and terror by eliminating Lugnica's future rulers sounded exactly like stuff those maniacs would do. Caution in affairs like these always paid out in the long run.
"Ha! As if these mongrels could harm me!"
Well, it seemed as if the bitchy princess disagreed. Naturally.
In any normal market such overconfident behaviour would have gotten her bankrupted or killed, but somehow Priscilla had managed to thrive in this harsh world of cause and effect despite her disdain for common sense. This was one of the reasons why she absolutely loathed that woman. 'Getting lucky' should not be a winning strategy, yet this hussy got everything handed to her on a silver platter.
Anastasia herself did have luck in the past of course, but the foundation of her success was built on ingenuity and much hard work. She herself had never the option of just doing anything because she 'felt like it'. There were always costs, risks and profits to consider. Nothing in the world came for free and if she had to struggle then so should everybody else, damn it!
"We are all made of flesh and blood. We can all die to a blade in the dark." explained Tanya in a fruitless attempt to talk some sense into the shrew.
Priscilla merely chuckled heartily.
"You are entertaining. I think you might make an adequate servant for one such as I."
Yep, she could not stand this abominable woman one bit.
"A mirror should provide enough amusement for you, no?" Ana asked sweetly.
Just as one might swat away a bothersome fly, the blond noble waved her manicured hand at her.
"If you are not strong enough to survive an assault of these pests then you do not deserve to be king. Not that any of you could even dream of ascending the throne as it is my birthright."
"While I do not entirely disagree with your first statement, I think you underestimate the influence of the cult. Over a dozen generations of Sword Saints and thousands of our brave troops were unable to eradicate them over the centuries. Carelessness is not a desirable trait of royalty." Crusch stated coolly.
"Eh, the sooner you meet your end the sooner this farce can blow over. If those cultist swine had actually accomplished their goals then you wouldn't sit here to try and lecture me."
"How can you say something horrible that calmly?" frowned the silver-haired girl, clearly scandalized by the comment.
Wishing death up your opponent so openly was in Ana's experience usually reserved for seedy bars and auction houses.
"Calmness is the privilege of the powerful." smiled Priscilla, basking smugly in Emilia's indignant expression.
Tanya broke off the budding conflict before it could turn ugly by serving another round of tea.
"In any case, the last subject I wanted to touch on was dividing the remaining popularity targets."
The what now?
Apparently the duchess shared her confusion because she asked: "Could you please elaborate? What do you mean with 'popularity targets'?"
"Well, it was not the greatest name, but I thought it'd fit. Basically, as I understand – and please correct me on this if I am wrong – but there only remain seven major threats in Lugnica. The other five sin archbishops and the two great demon beasts. A rabbit and a snake, I believe."
Anastasia laughed freely.
"Hahaha... The way you say it, it sounds like a laundry list. Do you honestly want to split these between us?"
"Exactly. Each of these will grant the individual who manages to slay them fame and admiration. Seeing as I already took care of two it would only be fair if I gave each of you the opportunity to do so as well."
Huh. That crazy traveller from beyond the great waterfall was dead serious.
Ana burst out laughing again; this was too absurd. Haggling for monsters whose mere mention could send grown men running....
"Haha! Don't mind if I take you up on that! It'd be a good way to get my name more out there!"
She certainly would not look the gifted land dragon in the mouth. At last not until she led it around the corner.
"U-uhm, thanks, but I don't think I want to... you know hunt down the Horned Rabbit or anything. That's a bit... too dangerous. Even for Subaru despite how brave he is."
"I have no need for paltry trophies. The people will vote for me regardless of what they think of me."
With a meaningfully raised eyebrow Ana challenged Crusch to speak up.
"No interest in running Lust or Wrath through with that shiny sword of yours? Wouldn't want to let dear Tanya here steal your accomplishments before you even arrive."
Judging by the greenette's narrowed eyes she understood the reference and did not appreciate the fact that Ana knew about her failed expedition. When you were integrated into the merchant scene it had been kind of hard to miss how the Karsten household bought off swords and carriages while the White Whale was sighted near the capital. Honestly, it was a little bit sad how the noble got robbed of her victory.
"I have no plans to fight anything major in the near future and as such I also have to respectfully decline."
Man, the poor woman must have been more disheartened by her failure than expected. Satisfied, Anastasia nodded and took an additional biscuit. Yes, things were looking excellent for her.