Chapter 42: Arc 4: The Burning Port’s Reaper (9)

After venting her annoyance in a rapid fire triad, Hikari gathered the crowd at the Harriet House to further vent her frustration.

The defeat — nah — more like the utter annihilation of Freddy left behind the apocalyptic landslide of papers for the Golden Hand, threatening to flatten the poor Hikari. Worst, she also suffered through hours of complaint from the people caught in the battles, while putting out literal and metaphorical fires. At long last, with aid from a very sympathetic Ciel, Hikari somehow got the small flood of work congestion under control.

Then the Onren’s manager briefly invited every party involved in the snafu to the Harriet House, where she could put them on blast.

“Fires, violence on the streets, a dozen cargoes of goods destroyed,” Hikari ranted. “Injured and dead in the range of hundreds, more fires, noise complaints, several dozens' law enforcement officers hospitalized and more fires,” she took a deep breath. “Did I mention the fire?”

“You did,” Betty was nervous, but she was sadly the only one.

“Ciel,” Xia was spoon-feeding Ciel a cup of pudding like they were on a date. “Dearest, open wide.”

Ciel savored the pudding, “Is it homemade?”

“I made it with Amy,” Xia replied.

“Can you please stop flirting!?” Betty cursed them with a vengeful heart.

“No,” Xia said. “Stop being a prude and give in, sis.”

While Ciel’s harem proceeded on its usual routine, Apolline was confronting Hikari in a verbal deathmatch.

“Tell me, Hikari,” Apolline was cold. “What can you do? As for the fire, yes. I know there is a fire. I am the one starting those fires.” The Archangel was proud of her net positive karma. “It is a beautiful fire. The hottest bonfire. People loved it.” Apolline further rubbed it in. “And I will do it again.”

“No, please don’t,” Hikari pleaded. “How did it get like this?”

The sun was already setting when the devastating war against repercussions petered out. The raid participants, and their prosecutor, had assembled in the humble-looking room, seated on comfortable cushions. Plate seafoods themed full-course dinner neatly concocted by Amy laid on a portable wooden table. Ciel whistled; a roasted Bream with a pinch of lemon served with boil shrimp in light soy-sauce with clam-soup and a noodle served in a cold broth with egg rolls accompanied by puddings. The presentation was superb and the scent and springiness of the boil Bream was amazing.

The girls were dressed for the themes. Beside Ciel was Xia, wearing a pure white kimono. Her platinum-blond lock tied up in a bun and decorated with a pin. To her right, Betty wore a similar clothing but in standard plain blue Hikari had for a spare. Opposite them, Apolline sported a crimson color kimono with luxurious golden sashes and trimmings. Nuan presented herself similarly, but her clothes were hot-pink with the green and purple maple leaves pattern. Hikari was also dressed for the classical dinner, with a navy blue kimono with a gray color haori.

Meanwhile, Ciel and Amy sported a matching hakama. Amy picked this style because she found it easier to move in, while Ciel preferred it because it is less complicated to maintain.

Meanwhile, Hikari wasn’t happy.

“Are you serious!?” Hikari raged. “Do you know how much damage you cause? Half of the Golden Hand personnel are hospitalized!”

Xia wasn’t even pretending to care, “You mean those guys in gaudy masks? I remember punching the life out of them.” Xia cracked her fist. “They are very punchable.”

“I agree,” Apolline said, tossing more fuel to the fire. “The feel of hitting their bodies with a spear is fantastic.”

“Xia, Apolline,” Betty whispered, trying to keep the two arsonists under control. “Please stop making things worse.”

Betty’s words were ignored. Xiahana and Apolline represented White and Red at its finest. Those two colors barely got along, being an embodiment of order and chaos, respectively. However, they had one area in common. Red rooted for the underdog, demanding freedom above all else. White wanted an equal and just world for everyone — a color passionate with absolute morality. Both loathed the downtrodden being enslaved and abused. Pure Green was too much of a fatalist to care. Pure Black was downright exploitative. Pure Blue pretty much absolved themselves for emotion. White and Red? Slavery was one of the rare subject which a fanatical evangelist of utopia and a freedom loving anarchist found themself sat together around a campfire singing kumbaya before starting a revolution.

Xia and Apolline might not trust each other. But against a force of greed trampling on the defenseless, those two were united.

Hikari knew she was losing, “You are just messing with me, aren’t you?”

“Ding-ding,” Xia said.

“Yes,” Apolline said.

“I am so sorry for both of them,” Betty apologized to Hikari.

Hikari gave up, “Fine, but please don’t do something—”

“No,” Apolline answered. “Sorry, Miss Hikari, but I have eyes.”

“Why should I follow your instructions?” Xia said. “Borbonsi has no authority over me.”

Hikari groaned. She had no leverage over Apolline or Xia. It was transparently clear that beating them in combat was impossible. Even if she threw all the Golden Hand at them, the odds were heavily in their favors. She needed to find an ally.

Thus, Hikari turned toward Ciel, “Please tell them to stop?”

It was then the almost forgotten ball of energy reminded everyone she existed.

“I will help you, Hikari!” Nuan Yulong said, jumping to her feet to reprimand Xia and Apolline. “You should—”

“Shut up, you are next once I deal with Eleanor,” Apolline snapped at Nuan.

“Your opinion is heard, but I find a warmonger hosting a peace-talk hilarious,” Xia said, making her dislike of the Yulong Empire’s expansionist tendency clear.

Nuan’s iron smile trembled. She made no response, sat down, and tried to disappear into the texture of the ornately painted, wooden sliding-door behind her.

As a topping to the disrespect, even Hikari didn’t respect her savior.

“Adult is talking, Ms. Yulong,” Hikari gave her abhorrent admirer a cold stare. “Please stop making my job more difficult.”

“Everybody is mean to me,” Hikari complained.

“Here, have a drink,” Amy poured Ms. Yulong a cup of tea.

“Thank you,” Hikari gulped the tea down and looked at Amy with reverence. “Are you an angel?”

“Ignoring the idiot,” Apolline, the Red Archangel, addressed Hikari. “I believe we make ourselves clear. The financier is breaking the law of Eleanor and blatantly kidnapping the citizen.” She gave Hikari a fiery glare. “We are simply being good Samaritans.”

Hikari’s mouth twitched. Eleanor’s law was an empty piece of paper since time immemorial. This kind of trafficking happens all the time as a common occurrence. Yes, Hikari knew it was wrong, but it couldn’t be helped. Factions, beneficiaries, and benefits ran the circuit around these shady human-trafficking rings. Freddy’s removal would have long-lasting repercussions on everyone, especially Hikari who would be stuck cleaning the mess.

It was clear Apolline and Xia wouldn’t hesitate to repeat the fiasco, and the Golden Hand had no chance against them. Worst of all, they couldn’t be bribed. High-ranking mages were more loyal to their color philosophy than personal desire. That was why they became high-ranking mages. Still, Hikari had plans to prevent the two women from declaring a hot war in Eleanor’s underworld.

Plan A: The Unity Lord.

Hikari started with a simple, “Lord Ciel, can you please tell your wife to—”

“No,” Ciel immediately shot Hikari down like a terrorist bombing a zeppelin. “I wholly support my wife’s endeavor. Unless Borbonsi approached directly with a formal complaint, I won’t shift my position.” Ciel hummed. “Good luck, Hikari.”

“But Lord Borbonsi wouldn’t care!” Hikari said to Ciel. “If major suppliers got taken down, there will be a massive war in the street to replace them. You should know this!”

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Ciel was enjoying this, “Oh, I know. Borbonsi wouldn’t care who replaces who. I’m sure he would love the revenue boost from the sales of weapons and services needed to keep the internal war going.” Ciel winked. “Hikari, you think I want a stable Eleanor. The truth is simpler. The faster this place goes down in a fire, the happier I am.”

“Whoa,” Nuan said, peeking out from the metaphorical corner she was thrown into. “You are a bastard.”

Ciel sipped his own tea without responding to Nuan’s statement. He was perfectly content with leaving Hikari alone to fend for the wolves. He might feel sorry for her, but choosing between her convenience and weakening Borbonsi long-term wasn’t a contest. Sorry, Miss-Perfect-Manservant, but your master must go down.

With plan A in pieces, Hikari resorted to diplomatic Plan B: Guilt-tripping.

“Many people will die in a gang war,” Hikari said, punching at Xia’s sense of duty and Apolline’s empathy to stop them.

“Smart move,” Xia shrugged. “I’d admit. I actually give a damn, but me and Apolline have already come to a consensus.” She signaled Apolline sitting opposite her. “Apolline, tell Hikari our answer.”

“Yes,” Apolline nodded. “Both of us wouldn’t want a street-war. Our moral-standard is transparently clear to see.” Apolline stared at Hikari with mild anger. “We know you will try to frame the situation this way, but you have forgotten there are two ways to look at this. Ms. Hikari, please stop thinking that kindness is translated to stupidity.”

Hikari knew she had failed before Xia even spoke.

“Way one is our disruption created needless violence, causing mass suffering,” Xia said to the sweating Hikari. “You try to frame it like this to make us feel guilty about starting a mess. However—“

Apolline finished Xia's sentence, “However, that is the short-term. We could also frame this as a choice; continuing the status quo or breaking it. I and Xiahana La Louve came to an agreement that breaking the status quo is worth the risk.”

Hikari cursed.

It was a flaw in Hikari’s position as the enforcer of Eleanor’s peace. Her aim was keeping Eleanor from turning into a flaming pile of garbage, which meant ensuring the continuation of the systems. She needed to gaslight her opposition into believing the system was necessary.

She knew it was a lie.

Anyone who considered the fact objectively knew it didn’t matter whether the system would fall tomorrow. No matter what, people would be dying. It was simply picking the poisons — violent death in a glorious revolution or slowly wasting into a starving husk in the slum.

What truly matters is the result. Keeping-your-head-down offers no change, but a continuation of suffering. But a disruption? Yes, many people will die. However, these people will die anyway; If not by violent death, then by starvation. If those lives were lost no matter what, wouldn’t it be much more dignified to die for the slightest possibility of change?

Xia and Apolline answered with yes. Some hope was better than no hope, and they wouldn't bite Hikari’s black-pill.

Now that Plan B was shot. Hikari was down to her final flash — Plan C: Puppy-eyes.

No, Hikari knew her puppy eyes won’t do a thing to stop these two women. The Gold Leader was thinking of one secret project she had hidden up her sleeve. Hell, it was downright cowardly, but Hikari was desperate.

“I know you won’t be convinced,” Hikari said. “Please come with me tomorrow, I have something to show you.”

…

The ‘something’ Hikari planned to show was an orphanage built outside the slum.

Ciel turned to Hikari with grudging respect, “I’m impressed. You might actually win this.”

The building before them was a pale gray house with a wide yard where children were playing a game of football. Upon noticing Hikari’s arrival, every kid started running toward her. It was a friendly meet and greet. A kind that you could see when a volunteer arrived to help with any random charity.

A woman hurriedly came out of the gray house and greeted Hikari, “Hikari, what brings you here?”

“Miss. Swan, Hikari have come to play with us,” said a girl.

“Yes,” a boy said, adding his thoughts. “She even brought some friends.”

“Yes, kiddo,” Nuan didn’t waste a single opportunity to appeal to Hikari. “I am Hikari’s bestie.”

“Really,” one of the boys said with sparkling eyes.

“No,” Hikari shot Nuan down.

Apolline and Xia watched the scene in dumb confusion, but it was Ciel who read why she bought them here.

“I see,” Ciel said. “You build this orphanage to give those kids from the slum a better rope on life.” Ciel continued. “You obviously know that Eleanor wouldn’t survive in a long-run, and Borbonsi is willfully oblivious to the brewing disaster, so you try to slowly reformed the system from the inside, instead of correcting it via external demolition.”

“You are correct,” Hikari said, drifting to the past. “I can see where you are coming from about starting a revolution inside Elanor, but I can’t let you do that.”

Hikari glanced at the beating sun, drawing the hope to convince the two women who could effortlessly roll her like a play dough.

“It is impossible to convince both of you that Lord Borbonsi is a good ruler, but I vow to try my hardest to improve the condition of Eleanor,” Hikari said. “Lady Xiahana, Lady Sfolgorante,” she bowed to Xia and Apolline. “Regardless of how you feel about this, I need your cooperation.”

Apolline and Xia were steely, but fate hadn’t abandoned Hikari yet.

A little girl came over and tugged Apolline’s hand, “Why are you angry with Hikari, pretty lady?”

“Miley!” The orphanage’s caretaker, Miss Swan, tried to pry the girl off, but Apolline stopped her.

“Don’t worry, little girl,” Apolline feigned a smile. “I’m not angry anymore.” Apolline glared at Hikari, sending the invisible message that she was still mad as hell, but would give the Gold Leader a chance for the kids’ sake. She spoke to the kid, “Do you like Hikari?”

“Yes!” The child happily replied to the Archangel with a wide smile. Apolline relented. She didn’t have a heart to shatter that happiness.

Nuan didn’t miss the chance to get on Hikari good-side, “Hikari-chan is so cool, right?” She then turned toward the kid. “Tell me if you need anything, kiddos. I will be happy to write you a letter of recommendation if you decide to find some work in Yul--”

“They won’t,” Hikari glared at Nuan.

Xia watched the conversation, and the children who were playing with Apolline. She turned toward Ciel.

“She won this one, right?” Xia said.

“For now,” Ciel produced the sample of Etaceh’s drug and corresponding analysis. He had been writing this, debating whether to inform Eleanor. He had a choice between exploiting this assault by Etaceh for his short-term benefit, or saving the nation for a long-run.

For now, Hikari had convinced Ciel there is benefit in waiting.

…

At that moment, in the harbor, a woman with a Beret hat stepped in front of a dreary stone tower.

“So this is the place,” said the brunette. “They sure pick quite an obvious spot for the secret guild of assassins.” 

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