Forbidden Tomboy 9 – Politics and Non-Answers

John was tempted to consult his passive Observe, at least. It was stealthier than the active variant, but was it stealthy enough for this place? Unlikely. Someone would have the degree of enchantment that could detect the ping. ‘It remains fortunate and unfortunate that anti-scrying measures are so strong,’ the Gamer thought.

Now too curious to delay the conversation any further, the Gamer diplomatically wiggled his way out of the current conversation he was having and headed towards the three serpent-blooded nobles. A bad idea in most fantasy settings. He would find out if reality followed suit with the trope.

“Lord Xu,” John greeted the black-haired man. The exact title he used meant something along the lines of ‘head of three clans’, which translated poorly. “I am most pleased to make your acquaintance.” The Gamer extended a hand.

The slit pupils of the man darted down. A smile spread on his lips, revealing sharp canines, a bit of length removed from proper fangs. He took the hand and shook it. “President Newman!” His voice was like the skin of a snake – smooth and effortlessly gliding. Just by hearing it John knew he was dealing with a skilled orator. “I am pleased you know of me.”

“The Heavenly Jade Empress spoke of you with compliments on her lips,” the Gamer answered, speaking loud enough that others could hear him. It was a total lie. It also was what Han Xu wanted to hear. His poker face was good, but John still noted the little quiver around the corner of his lips. He was suppressing an even broader smile. “This is my companion, the goddess of the night, Nightingale.”

“A pleasure,” the harpy said and respectfully lowered her head for a moment. Even at the lowest point of the motion, she was taller than Xu.

“The pleasure is mine,” he assured, then gestured to his companions. “Bai, head of the Bai clan and Qingmei, head of the Xiaoqing clan – although I am certain you already knew that.”

“How could I not know about such illustrious clans as yours?” John asked, as if he hadn’t learned about them just earlier that day. China was a massive country and for all the reading he had done on their clans, he had merely scratched the surface.

Alas, to appear deeply knowledgeable on a subject, he only had to demonstrate a few specific bits of knowledge and then hide his ignorance. A common tactic for any politician.

The Gamer crossed gazes with Bai and Qingmei again. For the former, there was still nothing. His instincts told him he was looking at an exceptional woman, just not exceptional enough to enter John Newman’s life on more than a passing basis. For the latter, there was a spark. There definitely was something to Qingmei.

The purple-skinned lamia lowered her head deeply in a meek gesture. Constant teasing by Delicia had trained him well, keeping his eyes respectfully away from the absolutely enormous tits that moved and jiggled with the motion. “An honour,” she said, her voice simple and feminine – too feminine.

Forcing his eyes not to linger, he returned his attention to Han Xu. “I would like to walk with you for a moment, if you would allow it?” he asked with more respect than their difference in stations demanded.

“I will,” Han stated, indulging himself in the granted authority.

They stepped (or slithered) away from the wider gathering and into the surrounding garden. The path wound around the festivity site and was traditionally taken at a consistent pace. It was important to learn brevity as a noble. “I shall put it bluntly, Lord Xu – I require your aid,” John continued his strategy.

Picking up the scent of the desperation, not knowing how false it was, Han’s smirk now grew openly. “What can my venerable clans aid you with, President?”

“The carvers of Fusion are mere beginners compared to your ancient traditions,” the Gamer cut to the chase. He sighed regretfully. “I would love to engage in a direct trade with your lands. Fusion has many raw materials and we shall have more still. I would love to send them to you so you may send us back the works of great masters that my people can learn from…”

“…but?” Han asked.

“But…” John scratched the back of his head. “Simply put, it is not lucrative for my traders. I have checked the flow of goods and found that your province produces too many magical woods for my own supply to be sold at a profit.”

“That…” Han Xu stopped himself, while he worked out this matter.

Obviously, a singular province in China could not actually compete with the production of magical woods that the Guild Hall had. If it came to basic or minorly enchanted woods, then yes, but at Tier 5 the Guild Hall provided materials that were only rarely found in Natural Barriers. Human nature lent itself to a preference for steady supplies, especially in trade.

‘Yes, run that calculation,’ John thought and exchanged some niceties with Nightingale and Bai over the flowers they went past. He wanted Xu to get to the logical conclusion himself. In this case, John was actually helping him.

As Lu Zhi had said, the two chief resources John had when it came to getting the clans on his side were his trade and Xi Pang’s own corruption.

As prime minister, the eunuch took the majority of the embezzled tribute for himself. That tribute then had to go somewhere and where else would the majority of the magical wood go than the provinces with the most skilled carvers?

The one thing the Guild Hall could not outcompete was itself.

And why was this a bad thing? Because everyone knew that the tributes were not a permanent thing. They existed to grease the wheels of the imperial bureaucracy in the Gamer’s favour. Once that diminished, the cheap supply would stop and the cascading effect would bring ruin to the finances of the tri-clan.

John allowed his true intentions to show on his face for a moment. A tactical display that spelled everything out to Han Xu. Annoyance turned his pupils into narrow slits. ‘As Lu Zhi said, he’s capable enough to be useful.’

“Are our carvers working with materials from the prime minister, Xiaoqing?” the clan leader eventually asked, his tone betraying a hint of outrage.

Qingmei lowered her head with slow grace. “I did not desire to bring such a trifling matter to your attention. Be assured that I have the matter under control.”

“I will take a personal interest in it,” Han declared, just as they were about to reach the end of the cycle. “Thank you for this conversation, President Newman. I understand that you will receive my scrolls?”

“For our mutual benefit,” John stated with a broad smile. This was moving along quite smoothly already.

“A lesson in justice,” Nightingale whispered to her man while Han Xu stepped away, “the prime minister’s greed is the poison to kill his alliances.”

“Such is the drawback of having layers upon layers of shady deals,” John muttered and exchanged a third glance with Qingmei. There was anger there – and interest. “Although I got a feeling that Xu isn’t the true master of the clans anyhow.”

The rest of the gathering passed with the usual niceties and such. John took his retreat some time after it was acceptable to do so. He just had more interesting matters to talk about.

__________________________________________________________________________

“You know what it is?” Lu Zhi asked.

“That’s… not the response I hoped for,” John sighed. He had just finished reporting the whole incident with the outworld thing to the Heavenly Jade Empress. “So, you just live with that under your feet?”

“They did not declare it the Forbidden City because they were sick of the common people,” the Heavenly Jade Empress stated. “We sought to keep from the public that which is harmful to them and that which we cannot or will not destroy. That creature is but one of the mysteries buried beneath our ancient foundations.” She stopped for a moment. “Although it is probably the one that we have the least answers on. Like, none.”

John clicked his tongue. “I know that it devours lifeforce and I know that it is powerful. Arkeidos had two of them in his realm. That’s about it.”

“Upsetting,”

“Upsetting is putting it mildly,” Claire hissed. “It’s certainly not good enough for me. Do I have permission to scour your libraries?”

“You did and still do,” Lu Zhi answered. “Just remember that all must be returned to where it was.”

Claire nodded intensely, then stepped out into the early night to begin her search. That she chose to do this over being with him was slightly worrying. It also was healthy, in another way. Considering what that thing had done to her world, it would have spoken to the depth of her obsession had she elected to ignore it completely in favour of more kisses.

If she remained utterly focused on this and this alone even past their visit, John would talk to her about it. Until then, he would trust that the vampire would find an equilibrium point in due time.

The Gamer’s fingers danced on the edge of the table. He wanted to continue his conversation on this topic, but there was simply nothing to hook into. They had no timeframe, no clues, no origin, nothing. If Claire produced something, it would be a miracle.

He sighed and turned to another topic. “I also got a schizophrenic letter today.”

“What an eventful day,” Lulu mused and received the pages. She read through them, one eyebrow wandering higher and higher as she did so. “Is this related to the other letter you got?”

“I assume so,” he confirmed. “A raven and maggots, it lines up with the vision that Lorelei got. We’re still puzzled about the noose though.”

“I thought that was a vision about a controlled man about to kill himself?” the Heavenly Jade Empress asked.

Rave reclined in her chair. “Great as our Rel is, she gets most of her visions in images… misinterpretations happen.”

“Or she was right, but we do not know in what way,” the Gamer added. “Today has been a very frustrating day… and I doubt your meeting with Vinh went any better?”

“Urgh! The little sister knows no respect!” Lulu exclaimed with such vitriol that it caused John to laugh. “You laugh at my suffering?”

“I just realized we went straight from cosmic horror and crazed mages to ‘family drama’ and that amused me,” the Gamer explained his mirth.

Lee chimed in, “What’s even the difference between cosmic horror, crazed mages and family drama at our level? A reminder that I could rip a hole into realspace like that.” The Fateweaver snapped her fingers.

“You really enjoy having powers, don’t you?” John asked.

The gamer girl wasn’t even bashful about the fact. “I get to show off something! Being a Fateweaver usually is all unappreciated background work…”

“I appreciated it a whole lot.”

“Oh yeah? Where’s my palace?”

“You can make your own Guild Hall whenever.”

“That’s my palace for myself.”

“Oh yeah, can you make that barrier without that stamp of ownership on you, hmm?” John teased her.

Lee rolled her eyes, then turned to Lulu. “Sorry, were you done telling us about the Vinh-land saga?”

“Don’t you dare drag one of my favourite manga into this!” Lulu complained. “Vinland Saga did nothing to earn being likened to this thorn in my side.”

“You like Vinland Saga?” John asked, judgmentally.

“You do not?” the imperial tomboy sounded halfway offended.

“I can appreciate parts of it, but there’s a lot of philosophy in it and it’s very shallow. I would even call some of it actively harmful. The whole ‘a true warrior needs no sword’ business? Everyone who follows that creed in the story gets killed or tortured. It’s like it doesn’t know what story it is telling. Further-“

“Babababa!” Lulu interrupted him. “Enough from you! I want to enjoy that without your nagging in my ear.”

“If you don’t want to be nagged, then you chose the wrong man… so… Vinh?”

“…Always banter with you lot,” Lulu said, her choice of words contrasting with the smile on her face. She then sighed. “The robber general desires an audience with you, esteemed guest, and I have no valid reason to deny her. However, this opens up a proposition. Would you entertain the idea of seducing her?”

John’s mind went to the hips of that woman. “I am entertaining the idea, but I do not find it feasible.”

“Can ya explain in more detail, Lulu?” Rave asked, disapproval hanging in her voice. The harem’s expansion coming to a slow halt was an open topic of conversation within it.

“Vinh Phuong is the most likely candidate for the Red Phoenix and she is also most likely to use such power to rebel. It would be easier for my realm were she tied to the same man as I, thus making her rebellion a-“

“I’ll stop you right there,” John interrupted. “I’m not adding women to my harem because it will lead to stability. We had that talk when you suggested we marry. I’m not having relationships of convenience.”

“I was mostly joking… but I also understand you have room yet – and she is your type.”

That could not be denied, so John went another avenue of response. “She is also your enemy.”

“If she reined in her attempts at toppling my authority, I could get along with her.” The Heavenly Jade Empress grinned. “This may surprise you, but I do enjoy the presence of fiery-tempered tomboys.”

“What, no,” John drawled sarcastically.

And the evening ran its course.