Kaz turned to the Marquis, who seemed rather intrigued at his answer. Did… Lady Antiar and Fer-Charleota plan to probe his response? His paranoia ran free… Made worse by Eliza’s worried glance at him.
Kazuki rolled his eyes, before aiming his rifle. He fired a fusillade faster than anything Fer-Charelota or his guards could do - 32-40 in under ten seconds.
He unchambered the rifle, holding it to the side. A drone flew by and picked it up from him. It beeped as it ran its code.
“Perhaps I used the wrong word,” said Gilbera Fer-Charelota, First Consul and Marquis. “Murderer?”
“Whatever.” Kazuki turned back to Eliza, before sitting down beside her. He finally sipped on the cup of tea… “It matters not to me.”
“Ah, so you’re the type that just doesn’t care?” asked Fer-Charelota.
Kazuki nodded. It suits his purposes to be the Contract-Breaker more than it does not. “Sure.”
“Doesn’t matter, I know exactly what he is,” snarled Lady Antiar. Fer-Charelota faked a look of astonishment, then looked at Lady Antiar.
“What is it with you and Kazuki? He’s a bit on the young side for you two to have had a history!” Fer-Charelota exclaimed, looking at Kazuki.
Eliza interjected before Lady Antiar, “Kaz isn’t a murderer… After all… All… He… He only kills when it is necessary.”
Correct. However, the necessary part was an optional selector in his mind.
Lady Antiar sighed. “That’s not what I’m talking about. He’s a Contract-Breaker. Back in Belsara, you’d be lynched for that. There… are rules. We follow them. No matter what.” Her pale amber eyes thinned at Kazuki.
Eliza was dumbfounded by her response. Eliza knew it was right, she must have known, thought Kazuki. He’s guilty of that. No doubt about it.
“Yet, here I remain,” sneered Kazuki.
The taboo of Contract-Breaking was strong, especially in the more… cutthroat countries. “Betrayals are only stopped by the terms of the agreement, as such: it became beyond sacrosanct.”
”Ah… and on the topic of the grand game, you don’t seem to be a very avid player, Kazuki.”
Pausing, Kazuki slowly looked up. He didn’t say a word.
“Wait. What do you mean, ‘our game’?” asked Eliza.
Lady Antiar crossed her arms.
“Elizabeth, I apologise but you’re… perhaps we may enlighten you in politics and power,” Fer-Charelota said, trying to put her down slowly.
“I… got Student Exec, and into the Kallender Group, if that’s anything…”
“Barclay’s Exec was brought into the Kallender Group to get me in,” Kazuki stated. Eliza furrowed her brow at him. She probably thinks he’s overstating his own worth. “I’m not wrong. Davidiek Kallender loves collecting royals. Two for the price of one.”
“Kazuki?” Eliza raised her voice, questioning him. “What… are you…”
“No,” stated Kazuki. “You got both through your own merit. But sometimes… Merit alone is not enough in this Republic.”
“Professor Kallender knows how to deal with the bigger fishes,” Fer-Charelota said.
Kazuki nodded, agreeing with the Marquis. “The game It’s just politics. Power. That’s the endgame.”
“Sadly… even a man of my own station must play by their rules,” Fer-Charelota said.
“So… you’re telling me that politics is just some board game?” she asked. Fer-Charelota tossed his own rifle away. He sat down at the table, sighing at Eliza’s ignorance. The idea of it as such was merely to simplify the cobwebs that one must trudge through. “What… is this some kind of joke?”
Both Fer-Charelota and Kazuki looked towards Eliza. “No joke, my dear Elizabeth, it’s merely the reality of our situation. We all must play it, I am currently residing as a Consul of the Senate, but even I cannot get any legislation through without playing to the needs and desires of my Consular colleague.”
“Politics… power and governance, it’s how we run the nation? It’s not a game…” Eliza said.
Fer-Charelota nodded, placing his hands on the table and sipping down on the cup. “It is, but sadly… not all players play by the rules. Mister Geminorum-Ryzaku would understand, I believe he can put it in more simple terms than I ever could.”
Pompous fuck. Arrogant cunt. Kazuki had a thousand slurs for this man. Placing the responsibility on Kazuki and not himself… Snivelry.
But he bit in. Better for him to say it than this ‘fine’ politician. “Corruption. That’s what you call it. It’s just how things are done.”
“And I must say this once again, that it is unfortunate that this must be done,” Fer-Charelota said. His thick Kastí accent hid any motives he had. “Fighting against it is like fighting a force of reality itself… But that is no reason to give up. Imagine how our ancestors must have felt, having to fight the whole galaxy.”
“They did that because they were foolish enough to believe that all aliens are the same,” Kazuki snorted. “And now, we’ve pushed them from the core.”
“Hmm, we’re rather lucky cool heads prevailed,” Fer-Charelota said, the conversation was turning in a different direction. “Even so, the Ithira Expanse closed up, and soon after that the Eclipse erupted with activity.”
The Marquis was referring to the Eclipse Crisis or the Night of the Eclipse. A period of a thousand years that sent the galaxy reeling into a dark age. “The Erudians call it a test of faith.”
Fer-Charelota put on a playful grin. “Trial… My brother is… was a devout Erudian. He interpreted it differently…”
“Different?” asked Eliza. “Well, there are many branches in the faith… so I doubt it’d be that different.”
“No.” The Marquis shook his head. “He believed the Night of the Eclipse was punishment. For such chaos that the Crusaders set upon the core, pushing all aliens out into the rims and satellite galaxies.”
Punishment? Seemed more like it. But Kazuki wasn’t all convinced. “Hartius told me many things.” That piqued all three’s attention. “He is one of five humans that left the Eclipse with a Shard. He told me that the Erudian’s so-called goddess hid in the Eye of the Eclipse.”
“Say that in Erudia and they’ll have your tongue,” Fer-Charelota remarked. “An interesting hypothesis, what makes you think he speaks truth.”
“Because Hartius has the Death Hazard.” Kazuki stared Gilbera down. He took a small glance at a painting along the wall. It showed the carnage two members of the Heptagia were capable of, merely two of the Seven Mercs… and so much death. “Humans are stupid, idiotic, downright morons. We were bigger morons back then.”
Lady Antiar’s eyes grew wide, with Eliza’s too. But Fer-Charelota maintained a calm face.
“I saw it,” Kazuki continued. “He told me that Iris is no goddess. Not a god. Not a deity. It’s a Hazard shard infused with a living being. Some kind of human.”
“Then what makes her different?” asked Eliza.
Kazuki stopped. He remembered everything Hartius told him. Then, he said, “I do not know. Hartius dared not ask.”
The words sent a shiver down all their spines, Kazuki’s as well. Hartius has a reputation. For him to not consider it was something Kazuki could scarcely comprehend.
“The Eclipse is said to be as old as time. But… It is contained by Iris, this… Goddess… Hazard Shard,” Fer-Charelota explained.
“The math doesn’t add up,” Eliza muttered. “How can… If Iris is a human, then how could she have been in the Eclipse before humanity achieved Deep Space FTL?”
Lady Antiar chimed in, “The Xenos. You are looking at it from a unique but wrong perspective. Much alien technology has been lost during the Night. Sir Icarus and I were sent on an expedition to a lost exploration team. They found scraps of alien technology.”
Fer-Charelota shifted in his chair, seemingly excited. “The Deitra-59 mission? I scant remember anything about that…”
“And neither will you remember it,” Lady Antiar remarked. Kazuki’s eyes slowly rose to look at Lady Antiar. What did she mean by that? “The technology has links to the beacons that are within the Ithira Expanse. The Predecessors knew how to constrict the storm before us.”
“And now look at us,” Kazuki snorted. “Relying on things we don’t understand to protect us.”
The Dark Ages that lasted nearly a thousand years had crippled humanity… And practically everything in the galaxy. Kazuki put two and two together. The beacons were most likely deactivated or destroyed from lack of maintenance, or from the Long Crusade.
That was what caused it. “Picking up the scraps.” The Marquis sighed, his bright pink eyes looking longingly. He must be agonising over what humanity has lost.
“And now,” Kazuki continued, “We play with toys and fake gold and lives.”
“As it has been for all of mankind’s history,” Fer-Charelota poured himself another cup of tea. “I dare not think of what we’d be without a little… corruption here and there.”
The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
That last comment was for Kazuki to eat up. But it was not tailored to Eliza’s specifications. “So…” Eliza shook her head in disbelief, before standing up. “You’re telling me that this is all just inevitable, is that your justification?” she asked Fer-Charelota.
Lady Antiar spectated the debacle with disbelief. She… made a good decision by not interjecting, merely taking a step back.
Kazuki interjected, “You’re unbearably naive, Eliza. You’re asking the wrong question. How. Not if.”
“Kazu…” Eliza’s eyes widened at him. “I understand to… some extent, but going down this way…. It just feels wrong, I thought we’d be… using our own wits, just like those detective mystery movies!”
She was naïve. He will not retract that statement. “We are using our wits. Both of us are here because of our wits.”
Kazuki looked at Eliza’s pained expression, frustrated and confused. Was she questioning herself again? Archius had told him many times that Eliza ‘questions’ herself. Kazuki never understood. To him, Eliza has the straightest and cleanest track record. What is there to question?
“Clean hands means bloodied hands will choke us.”
Fer-Charelota glanced over towards the side, before finishing his cup of tea. “Elizabeth, it’s how things are done. Has been for thousands of years. Think of any high-minded individual of the past and they would have the same, if not similar, problems that I face.”
“Except they were faced with actual challenges,” Kazuki said snarkily. “You noble senators are all the same.”
“You seem to ignore my attempts at curbing corruption,” said Fer-Charelota… “However, the National Bloc always pre-empts any real need for corruption… Even if it’s just more fines.” The Marquis’ voice fell to a quiet disdain for his own peers.
At least in that, Kazuki and the Marquis could share in their spite.
”I need time to think,” said Eliza.
The two ignored her, as she grumbled, storming out. Lady Antiar merely watched, then glared at Kazuki.
“You don’t,” said Kazuki. “It’s simple. He’s just like the rest of them.”
“Them? You seek to nullify it towards your grandfather?” Fer-Charelota asked, standing up in turn.
Kazuki sprung up to his feet. “I do not. I merely recognise that you’re the same blood as the rest of them, all eating off a Republic… burnt and made in blood not your own.”
The Marquis’ eyes narrowed on Kazuki. “My brother died to protect this Republic,” Fer-Charelota snapped back. “I will not have you disrespect his name. There are boundaries even I will not allow you to cross, Kazuki.”
“And here you are… disrespecting his name.” Kazuki turned, pointing to the painting of the carnage. “Why do you have that?”
Fer-Charelota brushed it off. “Merely a holographic painting of the past, tragedy, I believe it shows.”
Kazuki took a step towards it. He knew that place. He knew the location and the photo itself off by his fucking heart. “You know this.” Fer-Charelota nodded. “Then why did you hang this here? You weren’t there, were you? Of course, you weren’t Hartius and Freyja tore through a whole district. Three weeks later and they were still counting the dead.”
The Marquis took a long sigh. “Apologies, Prince Kazuki. You misunderstand why I am here.”
Kazuki snarled, “To get my family’s support via me. My grandfather will see me as a good source of information. Am I wrong?”
Fer-Charelota stopped, taking in another deep breath. Kazuki glanced at the man’s hands. They were shaking slightly, having to single-handedly face down against the Contract-Breaker. Eliza wasn’t here as an ‘insurance’ to his compliance.
He wasn’t going to kill him in the first place… Better play into it, Kazuki thought. Though he couldn’t overplay it. Lady Antiar was here as well, and he was unarmed.
“I guess you’re not wrong there… but I am here for another reason. To get allies. Network with potentially like-minded individuals… You are one of those individuals.” Fer-Charelota spoke of something Kazuki couldn’t care less about.
In fact, Kazuki felt like chuckling at his words, though he knew that he couldn’t: even if he tried.
“We are not the same.” Kazuki bit each word off with malice. “Remember that.”
Kazuki started to walk away, but Fer-Charelota caught his interest. “You understand the flaws of our Republic. You are repugnant towards it, Kazuki, I believe that is what makes us alike. With your assistance and your family’s, I believe I can change the Republic for the best of all of us. Make reforms that would make those that died for this Republic proud!”
“Why would my family agree to this? The status quo is state-mandated. Even if it’s to the detriment of everyone else.”
Fer-Charelota stepped forward, allowing the drones to disassemble the tea set, tables and chairs. Kazuki looked to Lady Antiar, who merely had her arms crossed, the hilt of her sword visible to him.
“Your family invested so much money into the Trasian Sector,” said Fer-Charelota. “After the war… Trillions starved, and your grandfather fed them. The well-being of the people is within your interests, as harsh as you might rebut the idea, as is the will of the people... It’s in your blood. Your father declared himself a traitor for the Republic, twice! Your grandfather works hard for his people. Now the senate has turned its head from the people, and the people know they will find no love or care from them - this indifference must end!”
“The Republic’s broken. We both know that. There’s no fixing it,” said Kazuki. He continued to walk away. “Well… The only way possible would be through rivers of blood. I doubt you’d want to see your peers without their heads.”
Fer-Charelota sighed. “If we believe it to be broken, then we are obligated to try and fix it, if not for us then for the quintillions of lives under this Republic, who depend on us to make the right choices that help them!”
“Not very politic,” Kazuki snorted. “The people don’t care who sits on the Executive Suite. They care that this person brings them food. Jobs. Stability.”
“Which is why you should help me,” said Fer-Charelota. “I am rather popular, after all… And whilst you may not care who sits the Suite, you know that nothing can be done if the Suite is sat by those who care not.”
Kazuki found the idea of overthrowing the current deep state rather rash. “Good luck getting past the Senatorial Exclusive Club. They have hackers, power brokers, bankers, and intelligence agents, half the Senate is scared of them - the other half is doubtless in their pockets. Of course… I can remove them from the equation.”
Fer-Charelota stared at Kazuki. “I will not have the foundations of the new republic be built upon the carcasses of my peers.”
“Shame.”
“The Old Guard may have murdered my brother… but we have rules,” Fer-Charelota asserted. “If I step beyond the rules for even a moment, I will share his fate. A dangerous tightrope, is it not?”
Kazuki’s eyes glowed with a hateful blue hue, burning with gold within his eyes. “All I need are names. Let justice be done for him. When it comes down to it, they are your enemy. Not me. Not the Federal Party. Not the Liberals. Them.”
“I know…” Fer-Charelota let off a loud exasperated gasp and sigh. “Have you heard of the tale of the cave, a tale of old Terra.”
What a joke. Kazuki maintained his gaze, answering the Marquis by silence alone.
The Marquis continued, “It is my goal to build a republic strong enough to outlast me, not one muddled in corruption and greed.”
“Well… aren’t you a saint,” Kazuki mocked. “Even those set free are bound to decide who rules and who knows.”
“But I must dream of a better place, we all must. Nothing passes the senate without the old guard’s approval, or contempt… They make concessions, yes, but never enough change to make a difference,” Fer-Charelota commented. “This is why I wish for your parents… your grandfather, with additional allies—”
“—Who?” Kazuki cut in.
Fer-Charelota placed his hands together. “Head Diplomat Maria, she’s always been eager-minded, leader of the moderates… We all go to her to bridge the gap between the reformers and the federalists.”
Kazuki rolled his eyes. “You bore me.”
As Kazuki turned the corner, he could hear the Marquis say one final thing, “Father like son… Maybe if you keep calling yourself the Contract-Breaker, it will become true.”
Tch. Kazuki’s nothing like his father. His father is a just and fair man, he courts respect and fear. And Kazuki’s the… He paused, thinking. The Marquis then placed his hands together. “Strangely enough, you don’t wear your family’s Sigil. Is the weight too much for you to handle?”
The Marquis’ brooch lit up slightly as he took hold of the conversation. Kazuki had no answer. He merely glared back, a warning to not pry into Kazuki’s private life.
“A burden of identity,” Fer-Charelota continued, relaxing slightly. “Understandable, I must add. Once you gain the stain, it’s rather hard to rid of, even if it is not true.”
“I don’t know what you mean.”
Fer-Charelota allowed a moderated smile to rise on his face. “Of course. Now that she’s gone… you wanted to say something to me, correct, Prince Kazuki?” Fer-Charelota asked, his accented voice falling into a serious, thick tone. Kazuki turned back towards him.
Kazuki’s eyes narrowed at him. He was correct after all. “The Jin Brothers. Provide a path for negotiations to them.” Kazuki spoke as if demanding.
Fer-Charelota’s face was without any of the embellishments of his voice. He looked calm, composed. And most of all: prestigious. His brooch shone. Kazuki merely nodded. “Done, I believe this is the start of a… profitable relationship?” asked Fer-Charelota
“Sure.” Kazuki pointed to his slightly quivering hands. “I can respect that. You understand exactly what I am capable of. Unlike others, you don’t goad me. Keep it that way.”
Kazuki turned away, chasing after Eliza.
“Quid pro quo, Kazuki,” Fer-Charelota stated, his voice falling with each step taken away from him. “You know what I say to be true…”
He went past the numerous halls, back the way they came. He got sight of her, catching up to her. They were just around the exit of the leisure centre.
“I told you… I need some time to think,” Eliza said.
Kazuki snapped his fingers in front of her. He has to get her attention… or something! Uh…. She stopped, standing and looking directly at him.
“Look… We have time. The Marquis and I have come to an… arrangement,” said Kazuki. In fact, Eliza leaving was probably the reason why the Marquis changed moods so quickly.
But looking at Eliza, all Kazuki could see for a brief moment were dead dreams. The thoughts and memories punctured Kazuki’s lungs, collapsing his heart and soul. Being dismissed so offhandedly… Kazuki knew he was being cruel, mean and rude to the one person he swore for.
That cruelty was necessary. This wasn’t a just world. “Why does it seem that everywhere I look, there’s venom lying in traps below?”
“Because there are,” Kazuki replied. “I got what we needed from the Marquis. He won’t see you any less than before. We all learn our own way, after all.” It was an unequivocal truth: doing things right never makes right.
How just a galaxy that was... he jested to himself.
Sometimes, wrongs make a right. Though Kazuki couldn’t say that, even as he felt the chains around his neck constrict him to mutter them. No… When Kaz looked into Eliza’s eyes, he saw himself in the reflection, one clear blue eye staring right back.
She was making the same mistakes as him, he thought. At that, Kazuki sturdied his mind. No. He cannot allow that. Absolutely not! He won’t allow another misguided dream to be slashed, never to be heard of again.
Eliza merely pouted and looked away. “Hmph. If you say so.”
He didn’t get it. Cyrus and Nihara both trailed after them, as they left the leisure centre.
Wait… Why was he getting worked up about this? Kazuki was left perplexed. This was not standard to him. “Hey… I’m sorry?” he asked himself. “I just had to play good negotiator bad negotiator.”
‘Does that even work?’ asked Synthia.
Kazuki shrugged. “It got me what I wanted.” It absolutely did not.
“If you really think so then…” Eliza trailed off, thinking. “We can eat out, you’ll pay, right?”
“But I always pay,” Kazuki said. He wasn’t wrong, he thought, but Eliza merely slapped him across the arm. Cyrus and Nihara did not react to that. “Hey…”
“You’re supposed to agree,” Eliza said. “Come on, I’ll choose.”
Kazuki paused, looking back towards Cyrus and Nihara. “Nihara? Do you… have an idea?”
“Václavos always tries to ask me out to dinner. I never agree, he’s a messy eater…” Nihara said, her dull and dead face slowly scrunching up into disgust. She shivered. “Yeah… I don’t have much to say.”
“Cyrus?”
Cyrus shrugged. “You pay me to die for people, not give you dating advice.”
Kazuki paused, blinking profusely. Cyrus started walking, catching up to Eliza. Nihara merely gave a shrug, before continuing on after him. Kazuki followed. He didn’t get it at all. “We’re not… dating? Why would you say that?” he muttered quietly to Cyrus.
“Sure, whatever you say, boss,” Cyrus said, glancing back at Kazuki. Nihara’s dead face had a smirk on it.