Chapter 279: Chapter 258: Problematic Elements

The excitement and hullaboo after the declaration of the Empire faded eventually and the summit pretty much got back to how it was supposed to be, which Regina appreciated. She kept to the plan and schedule she’d worked out beforehand, following discussions about the new nation’s constitution with economic and tax policy and the establishment of government agencies and departments. The second day after the declaration was pretty much filled up with that.

She still wasn’t sure how long the conference would last, since there were still several potential issues remaining, but it was clear the end was at least coming into sight. While she’d feel some relief once the envoys all left back to their home countries, for now that just made her anxious.

Regina had tried to uncover the conspiracy Berren’s information had hinted at, but didn’t have much success. She was growing increasingly certain that the countries beyond Nerlia, who were already bound by a few treaties and might even start a proper confederation at this rate, had talked with each other and were coordinating their reactions and attitude, perhaps more. She just wasn’t sure if that was the extent of it. They seemed ready to freeze out Nerlia and by extension the hive and Cernlia, although she doubted they actually wanted to close their borders completely. Regina also wasn’t sure if they were working with someone else — perhaps the Esemen? — but she wouldn’t be surprised.

The elves were mostly keeping to themselves and seemed more interested in talking to Galatea than taking part in any plotting that might or might not be happening. Regina had been a bit suspicious for a while, but then realized she was probably being overly cautious and until she had firm hints of anything, that paranoia was better directed elsewhere.

The Esemen weren’t here since she hadn’t sent them an official invite — if she was asked, she was ready to claim official notice of the summit had been lost in travel and had even made some preparations to support that story — but they must have known about it and might have a few agents infiltrated among other delegations. Unfortunately, she couldn’t go around interrogating everyone and didn’t know where to start looking.

At least they were making progress with the actual talks. Regina tried not to focus too much on worrying about conspiracies and to instead take pride in the accomplishments she had. The Cernlians and Nerlians were, while not thrilled about every aspect, clearly willing to follow her lead, and go along with her vision of the Central European Empire. It was a vision she’d already heavily compromised in the name of reality and getting their support for what she’d introduced, but it was still nice. She was also keeping mental lists of possible prospects for the education, social issues, law enforcement and intelligence agencies she was founding. There were enough Cernlian and Nerlian names to make for good representation, and she had enough drones from her hive who would contribute to at least get started. June seemed engaged and showed that she could act like a princess in addition to soaking up knowledge. Regina really didn’t have much to complain about.

Several people had already asked about the coronation, and she knew she’d have a lot to do even after the conference concluded. She’d hoped to focus on the summit talks now, but there were some preparations she couldn’t get around doing right now. The location of the ceremony was an ongoing issue. Regina had vague plans of building a new capital for the Empire, but that was obviously not in the cards right now. Considering the level of interest she saw in invitations, choosing the hive’s main base might not be the best idea. It wasn’t really set up for that number of official visitors, and she’d prefer not to give everyone access to what she was building there. Forest’s Haunt was too small to support that activity on its own. Although something like what she was doing for the summit, maybe using the same location, would be a possibility. The simplest choice would be to hold the coronation in Cera, Cernlia’s capital was a city with all the necessary accommodations and preparations. Kiara had already offered.

She wasn’t the only one, interestingly enough, although Regina was pretty sure most of them were just trying to curry favor with her. It was another thing that required some adjustment. She had already been, effectively, a powerful queen, with the power to conquer a nation. But now that she’d been named an empress, everyone seemed to have finally realized it and was eager to show that. Even some of the delegates from countries she was pretty sure weren’t considering membership or closer relationships with the Empire. She supposed she should be happy about them trying to establish a good relationship.

She also realized after a while that she might be seen as a bit of a tyrant. At first, that threw her a little. I always tried to be just and better than the local norm … Then she realized that, from an outside viewpoint, it was probably understandable — she’d pretty much taken her hive’s territory by force, attacked Nerlia on thin pretenses to get more, propped up her preferred candidate for the Cernlian succession with military force, and she was founding an empire. I guess it’s a short hop from conqueror to tyrant. And beyond that … I’ve been interfering to give women more power, particularly Kiara, in defiance of the traditional patriarchal model, and I’m planning the same for nonhumans. Nobles and other elites would see that attack on their ‘traditional prerogatives’ and ‘rightful order of the world’ as tyrannical.

If she put it like that, Regina decided, she didn’t much care about their opinions. As long as the common people didn’t call her a tyrant, she was fine with it. And if it made them more careful of rousing her anger or rebelling against her, she was fine with that too.

She glared at a couple of courtiers who were approaching her with expressions she’d come to expect meant they were attempting to practice their flattery and ingratiation (was that a word? She felt it should be). “Good day,” she greeted them with forced politeness, then continued on her way. She didn’t have the patience for the court game right now. And she’d already forgotten their names.

Of course, Regina considered as she saw Max’s slightly raised eyebrow, she couldn’t exactly discount them and their opinions entirely. She was going to need the nobles in more ways than one. Her new government was going to need a lot of employees, after all. I should probably focus on the lower nobility, she considered. They’d have the education required and the ambition to expand their influence. One didn’t just stumble on people with the required skills to work in a bureaucracy on the street, especially in this era.

So, Regina forced a smile onto her face and tried to project more cheerfulness for the next group that approached her. She reminded herself that she wasn’t on a time crunch for once. In fact, she’d previously alloted some time for mingling and talking to people, as a bit of a break from the more intense work and discussions while still being productive in another way.

“Your Majesty,” the leader bowed deeply. This seemed to be a mixed group of Cernlians and Nerlians, she noticed. She hadn’t seen one of the men before, or at least couldn’t remember him. He and the single woman were probably from Cernlia, the other man from Nerlia. At least, if she was guessing by the style of their clothes. She’d started to take note of things like that and learn to interpret them.

“Good afternoon,” Regina smiled, nodding back at them. She’d also had to learn to moderate her own gestures. It wouldn’t do to bow to someone much lower-ranking, especially if she only nodded to someone higher-ranking. As Empress, she could ignore a lot of social convention, but it didn’t pay to give offense needlessly, even if she wasn’t going to let it dictate her life.

“I am thrilled to run into you, Your Majesty,” he smiled wider. It made her teeth itch. “We had a few questions and couldn’t think of who else to turn to, so I hope you’ll forgive the presumption.”

“Of course,” Regina replied graciously.

He took a step to the side, ostensibly giving his female companion more space, and actually getting closer to her without making it seem like he was doing so. Regina had seen that before, too. It was the kind of trick that in her old life would have been touted in trashy magazines and internet sites, getting physically closer in order to seem like they were ‘getting closer’ as well. The guy’s smile only reinforced that impression.

“You see, the legal principles you have set out have rather impressed us, I personally find the ethical and philosophical grounding admirable. But it seems like there are a few factors that might count among them, and I am unsure whether I have simply missed something or if you have not included them for some other reason.”

“Oh?” Despite herself, Regina found herself interested now. Genuine questions about the subject were the best.

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“Yes. It seems that the spirit of your principles focus not just on individual freedom, but the family and community, as well. The freedom and right of parents to raise and educate their children and the respect children owe their parents should also be part of it. Is not your Hive based on similar principles?”

Regina nodded in acknowledgment. Something niggled at the back of her mind, but she tried to ignore it and focus on what the man was saying. It was interesting, at least in what it told her about the attitudes and norms she’d have to deal with.

“And then there is the right of every man to fight to defend himself, and conversely, the right of the nation to call its sons to serve in its army …”

Regina flinched. It took her a fraction of a second to realize the sudden alarm she felt came from Max. She had been too distracted by talking with the guy, and it had made her lose sight of his companions. Now she caught the glint of a blade from the second man.

Max jumped forward, the echoes of others in the psychic link with him, but he wouldn’t be quite in time. It was like everything was moving slower than it should. Regina turned just to see the dagger slide off a faintly visible blue line in the air. Max’s shield. She’d been wearing it all the time during the summit. Regina dropped, and the first man moved. His hand reached out and his sleeve fell back to reveal some kind wrist-mounted device. A needle shot out of it and into the upper edge of the Shield, making it flicker.

Regina rolled to the side, as Max crashed into the assassin and wrestled him to the ground. She saw the one with the blade stagger. He’d pulled a second knife, but had to drop it as a javelin was stuck in his upper right arm. Two other drones were occupying his attention and he had turned to face them. He tried to turn, then a second javelin hit his leg. He flickered forward, and a moment later a broad Warrior’s Charge sent him slamming into the wall.

Taking a deep breath, Regina got to her feet. Her hands shook slightly, and she laced them together in front of her. Absently, she ran her thumb against the edge of the opposite finger’s claw.

A quick glance showed the assassins seemed to be contained. Regina stepped forward. A brief use of Greater Heal made sure the man didn’t bleed out. Then she focused on the psychic link, as she noticed the drones converging on them. At least they were smart enough that most had stayed put, except those in the vicinity and who Max had had ready. She took a moment to try and calm all of their agitation. Then she looked down the corridor. Gawkers were already coming, humans trying to push past or slip by the drones.

Keep everyone out of this corridor and the adjoining rooms, Regina ordered. Don’t let anyone through except Kiara and the Nerlian royals. Keep what you were doing, but watch everyone. Mia, you’ll have to give my apologies to the others, I unexpectedly need to reshuffle my schedule.

She could sense Mia’s worry and concern, but Regina only sent a brief feeling of reassurance before she focused on the reality around her again.

She looked at the humans first. They were all contained now. The man she’d talked to was held against the wall alongside the others and seemed to have several broken bones, but there was nothing lethal, even in the long term, and the way he moved slightly indicated he probably had a high Con stat anyway. The other man had lost some blood, but he wasn’t in danger of dying right now. The woman seemed mostly unhurt, she was kept prisoner by several drones and met their gazes with a seemingly calm mask. All of them had Classes she’d seen before and would expect from nobles and courtier envoys - Lord, Court Scribe and Advisor - and had levels between twenty and forty.

She took a step closer, watching their gazes flicker, as she reached out for their minds. Right away, Regina bounced off an unbroken wall. She tilted her head and cautiously used repeated probes on all of them. A quick examination showed the mental shields were solid.

They had psychic training, or anti-psychic training, whatever. The mental feel of the shields made her sure they were taught by the same person or at least similarly, maybe by students of the same master or in the same school. It was different than what she’d felt from Madris.

The thought of Madris made Regina pause for a moment, before she dismissed the notion. She didn’t need Madris right now, she’d interrogate them herself. She could at least get a good start, anyway. Although she probably shouldn’t hold interrogations out here in the open in the corridor where people had just tried to kill her.

Regina took a deep breath. She knew trying to hide the assassination attempt wouldn’t work, it was bound to come out. At least if it was known, she could use the justification to increase security and hold interrogations. People would expect her to respond firmly to this, but Regina wasn’t going to have a problem with that.

Perhaps I should have remembered that people seen as tyrants would also attract such attempts to remove them. Regina grimaced. She’d been too focused on plotting or conspiracies on the political level, thinking about countries siding against them or sabotage in diplomatic talks.

She tucked her hands into her pockets and told herself that at least this way she’d find a thread to unravel them.

 

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