It was interesting to hear of Gin’s little…civil war. She imagined it must be infuriating to her family—after all, their only life goal could be taken away by Gin’s own people. The only thing they cared about was killing Gin and some nonsense.
Take her very existence as an example. Kuro-Yanami Sukaru was the child of a Kuro princess and a disguised kitsune; it wasn’t an uncommon occurrence when much of Kuro was still forests, and the fox-spirits roamed free. Most children born of man and kitsune, however, were killed fairly young—she was only left alive as a kind of…living experiment.
First, it was to see if a child like her could actually live—this was assumed to be true after a decade. Then came the question of how many kitune abilities—shapeshifting was an iconic trait of the species—she retained; she couldn’t completely shapeshift into anything, nor was she capable of hiding her fox ears and tail, but accommodations were made accordingly.
The third ‘experiment’ was ongoing, and would be for several years: whether or not Sukaru shared a kitsune’s long life. There were many kitsune who could recall fighting for Kurokami, or those who recall running away from said fighting—those creatures had lived for almost five thousand years, and had yet to show signs of coming death. If Sukaru possessed even half of that lifespan, she could advise Kuro’s family for generations; after a while, they would have someone who could recall hundreds of years’ worth of battles.
As a result of that, Sukaru’s time was mostly spent studying strategies. She had lived for…twenty-eight years, now? She watched her cousin ascend the throne, at least, after his father’s passing—she was already something of an advisor to the man, despite him only listening to her if it involved fighting in some way. The heirs of Kuro were…difficult to hold normal conversations with.
Sukaru was standing some distance away from where the king—Yoshiyo—was loudly complaining about how Gin was infighting. She only listened so she would know if he would ever speak directly to her.
“The land must be cursed—the country, at least! Fighting the royal family is mad. Now all their little scandals are out; I don’t see much to complain about, really. Dishonesty, conspiracy, bastards running around—nothing that wasn’t commonplace before their short-lived ‘reforms.’ What’s the point, then? Do they really think themselves so high and mighty? They aren’t above us!”
He continued on in some ramble before turning to Sukaru. She looked up before he even said her name to properly address her. “Yanami Sukaru. I’m getting bored.”
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“I’m not your playmate, King Yoshiyo; I’m your tactics advisor,” Sukaru replied as respectfully as she could.
“Of course,” he said, frowning. “But as a tactics advisor, you arrange entertainment. I want to fight—Gin doesn’t seem likely to respond if we attack them now. Where else can we wage war and win?”
The royal family had some…innate desire to fight routinely—Sukaru herself was not immune to this feeling. Still, it was a bit surprising. “You’re willing to fight a nation aside from Gin?”
“Anything so my days aren’t spend with idle chatter,” Yoshiyo replied. “I’ll be the first king to never fight at this rate!”
Sukaru closed her book and stood up a bit straighter. “If boredom’s the issue, you could do your king work instead of passing it on to everyone else.”
“I want to fight,” he insisted.
“Fine, fine,” she said. Sighing, she carried on as her ear twitched. “You actually have a lot of options. The northern nation gave us sea vessels a few years ago—you could use those. Just don’t interfere with merchants and trading and you shouldn’t face any trouble.”
She began to walk away to find some quieter place as Yoshiyo fell silent in rare thought. Sukaru stopped when he spoke up again, hiding another sigh.
“What advantages do we have with the northern nation?”
Sukaru recited it fairly easily—she was trained in economic relations as well for these kinds of situations. “They provide clothing—coats and such for winter, although they tend to be too heavy for our weather. They also give materials like wool to make our own clothing. Some of their excess meat is sent here, but it tends to be spoiled—the same can be said for mostly every food they send but their alcohol.”
“What drawbacks would we have if we fought them?”
She frowned, initially hoping he might avoid the place. Nonetheless, she did answer respectfully. “Technically, we don’t need anything they offer; we have enough imports from other countries to make up for the loss in wool, food, and liquor. The worst drawback would be people complaining they need more alcohol before they get drunk.”
“Could you think up some sort of…basic strategy?” Yoshiyo asked curiously. “I’m finding the thought…intriguing. If we don’t have much to lose, it wouldn’t hurt to try. A nation of warriors should put up a decent fight.”
Sukaru turned to bow. “As you wish, King Yoshiyo. I will have a basic plan ready by tomorrow evening. If the strategy pleases you, I can develop it further until a firm decision has been made.”
Yoshiyo smiled—not quite friendly, but not quite ill-intended. “That is all, Yanami Sukaru. You can spend the rest of the day planning and plotting inside of that kitsune head of yours; I’ll see to it that you get some time alone.”
“Yes, Your Majesty. Thank you.”
She left again, retreating to the tactics room to devise some basic plans. At least that part was fun, even if everything else that came with the job was dull.