As soon as Lexi alights the carriage in front of Parliament, the attacks start.
“What is His Majesty thinking, inviting a foreigner to such an important imperial meeting?”
I’d like to know too, actually. Though I suspect I do, and I don’t like it.
“She might be Rare or Legendary, but what would she know about anything other than what the Dawn Duke and Crown Prince tell her?”
That’s a fair point. It’s natural for most people to try to align themselves with their benefactors, whether out of gratitude or fear of losing protection.
“What can she even do without her powers?”
Apart from solving a murder and uncovering corruption at the emperor’s 30th anniversary bash?
It turns out that while former commanders of the Imperial Knights’ Legions do hold sway, being able to appoint a knight directly to a position at such a monumental event takes a lot of greasing. Eric and Ray had been busy for a few days helping Jordan uncover the extent of bribery and blackmail going on, and Lexi knows she’s made even more enemies since then.
Why do people get mad when they’re found out? If you already know what you’re doing is illegal, then don’t get caught, dumbass.
“Look at the way she’s acting. She must think herself worthy of Parliament simply due to her ramblings at His Majesty’s ball.”
I was actually a really successful consultant-turned-marketer before coming to Terra, you wanks. I've done things you lot can only dream of doing.
While Lexi had had her share of mishaps at work, including extremely humiliating moments that had almost turned into diplomatic spats, overall her achievements had outshined even the gravest mistakes and led many to believe she’d learned from her failures and improved.
I don’t know if ‘improved’ is the right word. I just got better at saving myself and pinning the blame on others, something that Readelfor bitch clearly needs to work on. I still get mad thinking about how pathetic her little plan was - what a waste of my bloody time.
Her composure in the face of the loudly disparaging comments causes more whispers, but she ignores them as she holds Eric’s arm and walks to her seat.
I can’t tell you assholes how many times I’ve been dismissed before I even opened my mouth, since all that most people saw when they looked at me were my age and gender, maybe even my father’s name. You think your petty remarks are enough to hurt me in an arena that’s my playground?
Bring it, bitches.
“All rise for His Imperial Majesty and the eternal sun of the empire, Emperor Aurelius Solusol, His Imperial Highness and the star of the empire, Crown Prince Jordan Solusol, and His Imperial Highness the Grand Duke Lucas Solusol.”
Ugh, I JUST sat down. Eric made me do three hundred weighted squats and lunges yesterday to make up for today, dammit.
Fortunately, she’d opted for a hybrid suit-and-gown combo with low heeled boots today. Skyscraper stilettos aside, those damned ball gowns with their heavy petticoats and tight corsets still need getting used to.
Once she’s seated again - keen ears not missing the sadistic redhead’s chuckle when he sees how she’s struggling to move gracefully - the next wave of attacks starts.
“Your Majesty, we must express our concern at having a foreigner in this room. How could someone with no allegiance to the empire beyond monetary gain at our expense possibly have this great nation’s interests at heart?”
Boring…
“I invited her myself, since Lady Lexi demonstrated strength of character and an uncommon intelligence at my celebration.” The emperor looks almost bored too, but it’s to be expected - as soon as the invitation had come and she’d accepted it, the duke had told her she’d become more of a target than before.
“Be that as it may, your majesty.” Oho? You dare show your face after the scandal caused by your wife and her late lover’s lover at an imperial ball? “What would this alien possibly know about affairs of government?”
’Alien’? I know it can mean ‘foreign’ like me being from another world, but I don’t like your tone. I’m human, you sack of rotten potatoes, unlike a suspected pedophile like you.
“Count Wyngate! What a pleasure!” She makes sure to be extra loud and cheery. “Though I may not know much of this world, I do know that no child of the empire goes unnoticed thanks to you.” When Lexi beams at the wrinkled deviant, Eric has to clamp both hands over his mouth to muffle his laughter.
Others in the hall don’t manage to smother their mirth in time, and the geriatric suspected pervert is left fuming and red as even the emperor smirks.
Oh no. Bad idea.
She’d gotten an earful from Eric, Jordan, and Elise after the ball for attracting the emperor’s attention too much.
At this rate, I’m going to be nagged to death.
Even the Dawn Duke had reproached her gently after the ball.
...He started it.
Seeing the way Lexi shut Count Wyngate up, the nobles targeting her back down temporarily, and the first order of business is tabled.
The Holy Nation of Candidaria is increasing its ‘donation request’ once again, since Holy Knights are regularly dispatched to the wall the Luxendia Empire had built to keep demons at bay.
Lies on the lips of a priest.
According to Eric, the Holy Knights are actually there to train on the empire’s coin while feigning altruism before the eyes of the ignorant.
No church in the wild.
As much as she tries to be fair to those of different beliefs, Lexi personally shares Eric’s opinions about religion.
God never listened to any of my prayers, after all. He took dad away from me too soon, no matter what I offered in exchange.
Lexi knows from classes that faith doesn’t actually work that way, but doesn’t care since she needs someone to be angry with.
As the nobles debate - the more devout believing it their duty to support the Holy Temple, their opponents arguing that the empire has been paying for far too much luxury in that foreign nation - Lexi carefully observes the room, like her first boss had taught her.
> ”Watch their body language. The most vocal person isn’t always the most powerful. Look for the puppet master by following the strings. Then go for the jugular.”
I see you.
The arguments are getting more heated, attacks more personal, so Lexi knows it’s only a matter of time before someone drags her into the fray in order to use and/or embarrass her.
“What does the foreigner think?” Here we go. “Surely religion exists in your world?”
Even if it didn’t, it might be necessary to invent it.
“There are many faiths in my world, Count Edvaard.” You’re just a puppet. “And as much as possible we make it a point to respect them. Though nations - and people within each nation - may vary in their view of how great the separation should be between church and state.”
Dumbass.
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He’d taken her words to be an indicator of support for his stance.
“Then if this matter were to be raised in the greatest parliament that governs your world, you’re saying the decision would be unanimous to send more funds to the Holy Temple?”
There’s no ‘greatest parliament’ that always makes the right decisions. Even that association of nations said its sole purpose is to save us from hell.
“We have a formal union of sorts that comprises most countries in the world, Count Edvaard.” It seems some of them are familiar with it, which means either other players from her world have come, or players from worlds with a similar organization have spawned in Terra. “But they would not impose any rules involving religion beyond what is largely agreed to be a universal human right, since member nations’ primary faiths all vary.”
Are you starting to see where I’m going with this?
“I’m generalizing, of course, but when it comes to money, most think the same way.”
Lexi has to struggle not to laugh at the confused expressions on many nobles’ faces, since her responses are vague enough to have varying interpretations.
I was trained by the master of obfuscation, you dumbasses. There’s a reason we made so much money.
> “If you can’t convince, confuse.”
...If I ever get to see that boss again, I’ll buy him as many drinks as he wants and apologize for not being a better mentee.
Count Nathan Edvaard blinks green eyes several times, clearly at a loss, and that’s when the puppet master of the devout group steps up.
Got you.
Marquess Jonathan Kevin is smiling, but his brown eyes are sharp.
“Come now, Nathan, how could you bother a foreign guest so?” I pay taxes like any of you, AND players first came in to this world to save your founding emperor’s ass. “Wouldn’t it be best for us to attend to our country’s needs ourselves?”
Lexi doesn’t miss the emphases - the drawing of boundaries between ‘us’ and ‘them’ - and it triggers her because she’d always been on the outside, except with her father and him.
Forcing a laugh, she grins at the white haired noble. “ Does that mean players shouldn’t have to pay taxes or aid the empire anymore, marquess?”
Instantly the hall is abuzz, since everyone knows players are the reason the empire exists and remains standing.
If the first batches hadn’t bled and died for Emperor Luxendia Solusol, none of you would be sitting here with your stupid titles. And don’t get me started on each subsequent player who braved dungeons and took on quests to keep your lands safe, apart from helping fight at the Wall and in your dumb dick measuring spats.
Not to mention the ridiculous tax rate imposed on players’ official earnings these days, thanks to that smarmy git pushing the burden onto us and making the Guild out to be a non-profit.
“I’m sure that’s not what the good marquess meant, Lady Hargreaves.” The emperor’s golden eyes are even more snakelike, a far cry from Jordan’s warm and kind gaze. “Every person in this room knows how grateful the empire is to players.”
I’m sure YOU are, since you’ve been extracting our powers for years.
“Of course, your majesty.” He recovers fast. “I do apologize if Lady Hargreaves misunderstood my words.” Asshole. Think I don’t know a non-apology when I hear one?
Ray had told her yesterday to take Eric’s non-involvement as proof the redhead trusts her, since the youngest commander of the Hawk Legion would usually intervene if his family’s reputation is at stake (this being the kind of world it is, Eric’s philandering ways don’t damage Tridentia at all since he’s both male and the youngest of the duke’s children).
“Oh, did it seem I was misunderstanding you when you called me a ‘foreign guest’ and reminded Count Edvaard that it would be ‘best for us to attend to our country’s needs ourselves’?” Lexi fakes a shocked and horrified look, hears a snort from next to her and does her best not to grin. “I DO apologize if you thought that way, marquess.”
Did you really think my performance at the ball was a one-hit wonder?
Nobles’ heads have been swiveling like at a tennis match, and now expectant eyes are on the devout aristocrats who’ve been pushing to increase funding to the Holy Nation.
“Shall we take a vote?” Count Francis Arnet, head of the radical faction and the one who’d argued the strongest against sending more money, steps in when Marquess Kevin takes a moment too long to think of a response.
“I agree with Count Arnet.” Hello, puppet master number two. “What say you both, Duke Tridentia and Duke Rosencroft?”
With Marquess Albert Huxleigh, head of the neutral faction, openly supporting an opposing party and asking the leaders of the noble and imperial groups for their opinion on the matter, anyone who refuses to vote would be seen as petty for putting party before country.
The Dawn Duke - head of the imperial faction - agrees quickly, seconds before Duke Gilderoy Rosencroft, who leads the noble party, does the same.
It’s won by a narrow margin, aristocrats wary of appearing ungrateful to the gods while not wanting too much of the taxes they pay going to a foreign nation.
“It’s decided then.” The emperor doesn’t look like he cares which way the vote went, cold eyes fixed on Lexi. “Once again, it appears we have your counsel to thank, Hargreaves. How wise of you to not impose your own world’s customs on us.”
Asshole.
To be fair, the number of openly idealistic players who’d come before her and tried to change the status quo had no doubt given the power-hungry emperor reason to be irritated.
“Only a fool would consider their beliefs facts, your majesty.” Don’t think you know everything.
“Do the people of your world not believe in the fact of Creation, Lady Hargreaves?” Count Edvaard is clearly unhappy and taking it out on her.
“As I said, Count Edvaard, there are many faiths where I’m from.” You deaf, bro? “At the same time, while I do not believe that facts can disappear simply by being ignored, I also believe that strong faith requires conditioning.” You’re an idiot playing into my hands.
“Are you saying we’ve been trained to believe in lies?” He looks thrilled to have caught her, if those smug green eyes are any indication.
“Oh my, Count Edvaard!” Once again, Eric snorts at her acting skills. “Is that how you understood it?” You think this is my first rodeo?
“Perhaps it’s because I’ve traveled extensively, even in my own world of more than eight billion people," at that, there are gasps in the large hall, since Terra’s human, elven, and dwarven inhabitants only total to much less than one billion, “and it’s taught me never to completely believe what I’ve been told about other lands and customs without experiencing them myself.”
Just shut up and sit down before you hurt yourself.
Her words are as vague as before, but the savvier people in the meeting understand her meaning - the reminder that Lexi is from another world that’s much larger and potentially more complex. More importantly, it’s a declaration of her stance and a warning: she’s opted not to judge Terrans for their faith and practices or try to impose policies from her world on them, so there’s no point trying to entrap her this way.
Not worth my time.
The rest of the parliamentary session goes smoothly after Marquess Kevin signals Count Edvaard to back down from his attacks on Lexi. She does get dragged into several more hot potato issues by other nobles though - including Jordan’s proposed action against Brenton, which passes by a considerable majority after Lexi makes an impassioned appeal on behalf of players who’ve aided the empire since before its founding.
I should buy more gifts for the maids and secretaries.
It’s thanks to their dedication that she’d been so well prepared for today.
And it’s thanks to the guild master’s bribes that the topic of putting some sort of leash on players hasn’t come up again. Though Terrans aren’t a match for players if all of us work together, that’s assuming all players will be on the same page. I’m sure there are plenty who’d sell out their own kind for a quick buck.
As soon as the emperor declares the parliamentary meeting over, Lexi grabs Eric’s hand and rushes out as politely as possible, though it still takes her close to an hour to reach the main doors thanks to all the nobles intercepting them.
“Lady Alexandra, may I perhaps invite you and Commander Tridentia to an informal meeting sometime soon?”
Marquess Huxleigh’s ‘informal meetings’ are actually famous in society as safe spaces for debates between opposing factions across the political and religious spectrums. To be invited is a great honor, and one that few other players have received.
“We’d be delighted, marquess.” She has a big problem with calling anyone ‘my lord’ or ‘my lady’ and tries to avoid using those terms as much as possible, even if she knows they’re just honorifics. “Thank you for the opportunity.”
Those gray eyes are assessing but friendly, so she knows he really wants to tap her brain.
Ray joins them in the carriage, since Duke Tridentia is still held back by the emperor, and Lexi happily greets the stoic male whose influential father had always voted in favor of whatever she’d seemed to prefer.
Even before they enter the Guild, Lexi can already hear the gossip about her, and she resolutely keeps a blank face when Ray opens the doors.
Elise, Dhampir Lily, and Sage Icarian were among those invited to Parliament before, but they all refused. Which makes me the first player in history to participate in a meeting like that. Obviously more players will hate me now.
The real reason she’d accepted in the end is because she hadn’t wanted to cause problems for the Tridentias, though Lexi had of course made it so that everyone else urged her to attend when the letter from the emperor came.
We’re so overdressed.
While other players are in their adventuring garb, Lexi and her companions are dressed to the nines in formal wear.
I hate being overdressed.
She’d been made fun of plenty before for trying too hard.
Ray, bless his soul, distracts her quickly by pointing out several promising quests.
This looks...terrifying, horrible, and interesting in a macabre way.
It seems a group of shapeshifters have been terrorizing the southwest, masquerading as Imperial Knights before devouring their unfortunate victims.
The whispers are relentless as she submits the official quest acceptance documentation, but she stubbornly ignores them though she quietly takes notes about Intuition’s colors.
I wonder if Sight will work on these creatures, since shapeshifters take on the identities and absorb the abilities of their prey. I doubt Clarity will be any use, since it’s technically not an illusion spell - and even if it was, I’m limited by my level.
As Lexi leaves, she thinks she ought to buy Jordan something for making sure the slimy guild master stayed away.
After this quest, I can finally take on dungeons. The payout’s much better, and apparently it’s easier to level up there too.
She just hopes Eric doesn’t go overboard with training. The redhead seems determined to turn her into a proper fighter, and though she understands why it’s also constant pain for tiny incremental gain.
More than just being able to protect myself, he seems to want me to face off against the bitch in the corrupt tower ASAP. But isn’t he worried it might mean the end of the world he knows?
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CHAPTER 23 END