Chapter 16: Chapter 12: Politic is hard

On the morning of the next day, a startling announcement wakes up even the heaviest sleepers of Arash. The poisoning incident yesterday was actually a ploy to harm their Princess! Such an earth-shattering event caused a few Ustians to drop their croissants in shock when they hear it over the morning radio.

Princess Bonaparte heavily condemned the ploy, whose mastermind turns out to be the Prime Minister himself! She then lists out a bunch of corrupted activities that the Minister and his underlings commit during their reign and promises due reckoning will be dished out. Justice will be served. For citizens from all walks of life, they know that the governing body of the country is a shit-show right now. Yet, to have their Princess calling it out and saying that she will change it? Now that's a first. As such not just Arash but the entire country is awash with sudden fervor. Many righteous attempts to make Ustio great again ended in bloody failures, but perhaps their lovely Princess will succeed at last? The average Joes can't help but anticipate the outcome of the upcoming political upheaval. 

But wait, that's not all. Princess Bonaparte then explains how the war with Belka was a big, fucking mistake in the first place. With Ustio still recovering from the aftermath of WW1, starting another one was way above their heads. Coupling with heavy corruption and inflation, the Ustio economy is in shamble, a far cry from its golden age. Rosa brings up examples of the past, oh how good life was back then when they were at peace. Families are whole, children can run around without the risk of bombings, and their dinners are warm meat soups and bread... Such a start contrast with today's atmosphere stokes a silent rage in the hearts of every Ustians. They blame their stupid leadership for letting things fall this low.

So imagine their fury when Rosa pulls out even more dirt to throw. Oh, the humanity! Slavery still exist!

Rosa, mixing lies and truth together, fabricated a story about the enslavement of sentience beings, meaning, the non-human citizens of Belka. She, as an upright leading figure of the country, despite such an act. Rosa says that no matter how different they are from humans, they are still living and thinking beings. By stripping them of their freedom, they are no different than the animals of the past, who have enslaved their own kind. As such, people like them will be burning in Hell.

She ends her speech by urging her fellow countrymen to stand up and resist the oppression of the current ruling class. Changes must be made lest they will fade into obscurity like the Roman Empire of the past. She also says that as the Princess of Ustio, she is open to a cease-fire negotiation with Belka and cooperating in recovering the slaves, bound against their wills. Rosa hopes that this will be the first step to ending the bloody struggle between the two countries and that peace is not out of the picture.

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A glass-wearing middle-aged man spats out his coffee in spite. " Fuck! Are they seriously still practicing that?!" He has been paying attention to the radio for a while now and the previous announcement caused him to lose his appetite.

An old woman, also his conversational buddy, helps him clean the coffee stain. " Apparently so, young one. You work in a publishing house so you should have heard rumors about such a thing."

Her words earn a few nods from other guests in the coffee shop. One of them says. " Yeah, such a thing does exist, I'm telling you. I work at a loading dock and used to hear some groanings inside a few shipments. Almost all of them have their endpoint in major cities. Now I'm not stupid enough to mistake an animal sound for a humanoid one so you can all guess what I've been hearing."

Another guest chimes in. " Damn... If that's true, they got some heavy taste. Not that I condone such an act, nor do I hate a non-human enough to do such a thing. But damn."

The glass-wearing man nods and says. " Well, aside from a few physical differences, they're not uncivilized like the propaganda government has us published. A majority of non-human females are very beautiful, saying that the wealthier portion of our country desires them is an understatement. But since Belka is very protective of their citizens... Yeah, this country is damn rotten."

Many of them sigh and nod to his words. For the average Ustians that are just trying to make a living after Ragnarok, two World Wars are the last things they need. The nationalist movement that emphasizes humanity's superiority over non-humans actually didn't gain much traction in Ustio. In fact, only the Prime Minister's faction popularizes the whole thing, many civilians of Ustio only hate Belka because of the war. They aren't that invested in the whole humankind will prevail business when they're lacking in food to eat.

So, after hearing their Princess condemning the mastermind behind the fiasco, a majority of Ustian civilians immediately align themselves with Rosa who has been supporting a Reformist movement. And while they hold no sway in the military that's under the control of the Prime Minister, a pen can kill just as effectively.

The granny, after thinking for a while, stands up and pays the coffee bill. " Sigh, youngsters these days, so rambunctious. Boys, what comes next will be a test that decides the fate of our nation. You're all people with good heads on your shoulders so you should know who to support by now. The Minister will block Princess Bonaparte out of the radio wave, which means we can only help her spread the words by mouth, paper, and ink. I truly think that this is the last chance we have at reforming the country for the better."

The granny returns to her home, leaving many in the coffee shop mulling over the news they heard today. Such a scene is not an uncommon one as many regions of Ustio are boiling with the flame of resistance. They aren't acting out on impulse yet but are silently forming cells that when the time has come, the regime will burn. And from the ashes, their country will rebirth like a phoenix. Unknowingly for a majority of them, their thoughts are guided by a pair of hands in the shadow. 

Said hands belong to none other than a certain Belka Princess.

"Fufufu, all according to keikaku."

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" Blasted wench! I should have gotten rid of her when I had the chance!"

A golden chalice, filled with a fifty years old wine, is thrown at a tinted window, breaking it and dropping the expensive content down on the head of an unfortunate office worker. A female secretary, who's manning the desk outside, opens the door to check on the raging Prime Minister. She thinks to herself that she knows the reason why the old Minister's mad again. And to be honest, she doesn't envy his position fully knowing the cost to maintain that seat.

She shakes her head, thinking about filing a retirement paper to get away from the upcoming shitstorm. The pay here is great but not worth dying for. "Sir, do you want me to get you a new cup?"

Turning his bloodshot eyes to the newcomer's voice, the Minister calms down when he notices it was from his secretary. "No need, get someone to fix that window and fetch my ride." With a harrumph, he stands up to show a surprisingly well-built body for a man in his sixties. And here you would think a corrupt politician will be bot-bellied. 

The secretary helps the Minister put on his overcoat. After that he leaves the room, leaving the secretary to inform the people below to fetch his ride. "...oh, and bring a team of cleaners too. He broke the window again."

Once she's done with the call, the secretary mutters as she's looking at the now-vacated room. "Yeah, picking this job may have been a mistake from the start."

As for the Minister himself, he is now sitting in a luxurious Rolls-Royce with folding arms. For now, he's keeping his rage under a lid, allowing him to think up countermeasures for the sudden 'betrayal' as he would like to call it. Truly, he didn't even put up a plan to take out the Princess in time and somebody pulled that off first? And now that wench is gunning for him for a crime he didn't commit for the first time in his life. What's this stale joke of a situation!?

"I need a drink." 

The Minister opens a compartment on the side of his seat, revealing a vintage bottle of Bourbon. glasses, the whole shebang... Pouring himself a glass, he tells the driver to get him to the palace while twirling the content. "The reason can be figured out later. Right now, I must get someone to block her from getting any support. Arash will be a hotbed for her activity now so the entire surrounding region is a wash. And with the approaching Belkan's famed division, most of the frontline armies risked being cut off from supplies. From that, it will snowball into a total collapse of the Ustio Army, a matter I can't let happen."

Downing the content, the Prime Minister contemplates whether he should recall the colonial armies to help stabilize the homefront, regardless of the upcoming Months of Demon, as the Belkans have called it. "Nah, it won't work, at least, not in the short-term. No time to ship them back here and I would rather not earn any more resentment from the oversea Generals. I guess I'll have to make do with the Reservists, their numbers alone can pose quite the trouble in competent hands. The only trouble is to get a good head to command them."

While the Minister can think up some general military solutions for the current predicaments, he would rather have the professional doing the job. So he intends to recall a few retired officers to handle leading the Reservists, tasking them with quelling the rebellion at Arash and repelling the Belkans from their backyard.

"It will be one bloodied job, that's for sure. Hopefully, they can take care of the external threats, now for the internal working of this country. By now, every citizen that still has a job should have listened to that broadcast, meaning they can be swayed by that wench. The first matter should be censoring the news and performing a propaganda campaign to lessen the impact. After that, scrunch up the police to conduct a few raids, this should keep them in line, for now, buying me more time to take the Princess out of the picture. Damn, if only that Colonel wasn't hellbent on clearing out the gangs at Arash, I could have used some of them by now."

With his head churning out every countermeasure he can think of. The Minister decides to settle the matter via propaganda warfare and brute-forcing his way to get that Bonaparte wench. Yet, he knows that after recent military failures and the corrupted state of the country, it will be a long shot and a half. So in case, everything falls through, he also decided on some backup plans.

" Should Arash is deemed irrecoverable once the Months of Demons arrive, I guess I should call in a few favors. Speaking of the Months of Demons, I need to organize those Adventurers to deal with those things once the time arrives. The last time it lasted for a couple of years but the forecast said it can last up to five now, it will put a toll on the treasury but I guess I can handle it. Those underlings won't be able to say anything if I take their money to fund the local garrisons, after all, they're what kept them alive when the night hits."

 

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