“Why is it that whenever it feels as though I have a concrete plan to execute, the entire world decides to fuck me over?” I rubbed my temples and took a deep breath.
“What’s wrong?” Akahime, asked, causing Lucina to chuckle a bit.
“Instead of asking ‘what’s wrong,’ you should be asking, ‘what happened this time,’ right, Joshua?” Her knowing smile annoyed me. I didn’t like to think that I had become so predictable that a veritable stranger who I’d only known for a month could read me so well.
I merely groaned in response to her and sighed. “Yeah. This stupid game is progressing faster than I thought. Hopefully that was just a coincidence and not a trend. One of the Judgment users was either murdered, or his A.I. ’s data was stolen.”
“Well, I guess that means we have no time to waste then.” Lucina tore the covers off of my body, leaving me, myself, and I exposed for the two women to see.
“Get up and get dressed.” Akahime said, her eyes transfixed to what happens to most men in the morning. “You should talk with dad before he gets busy for the day.”
“Then we should talk about our next steps.” Lucina said, throwing a fresh pile of clothes in my face. “The Metron Kingdom’s Private Archive has a record of all of the Fallen and Neuromancers that have ever passed through it. That should be helpful in at least establishing where we should go to search for leads first.”
I nodded, and stood up out of bed to get dressed when I chill ran up my spine. I looked back and saw the two princesses still in the room, staring at my figure. “You know,” I started, “we’ve seen each other naked before, but there’s something in the solidarity of getting naked together that takes away the shame and embarrassment of the situation.”
“In other words, you’re uncomfortable right now, Master.” I thought about complaining to the AI, when I realized that it was the actual Lucina who had spoken to me.
“Ha ha, very funny, Lucina. Don’t call me that when we’re not actually in the middle of a session. It confuses me.”
“Why?” Akahime gave a confused look as I slid my underwear up all the way, and moved on to the socks.
“Because, Judgment, or I guess, his Judgment, refers to him as such. Allegedly with my voice as well.” I froze, only leaving my sock over my toes.
“How do you know that?” I turned to the princess, who looked at me with a wide grin on her face.
“Because she told me. Well, she told me about why she looks like me, and why she calls you what she calls you.” I just stared at her. X, why would you reveal yourself like that? Trusting royalty is like asking to be betrayed.
I finished putting on my socks and moved to black dress pants as the A.I. answered. “I have determined that Lucina Metron will be a pivotal part of your legend, Master. She is intelligent, a woman of means, and intricately linked to the geopolitical makeup of Ethia. She is a piece you would, to put it bluntly, be stupid to pass up on.”
You just answered why she’s a good ally to have. Not why she’s a person we should reveal embarrassing secrets to. She’ll get the wrong idea of how I feel about her.
“I have also determined that she will be willing to follow you, no matter how dark or convoluted your plans may be. As such, I predicted that learning about how you view her will only increase that fervor.”
That’s the problem. I don’t view her that way. I finished putting the pink dress shirt over my head, and tucked it into my pants.
“Are you sure about that, Master?” I gave it a bit of thought, but decided not to commit too much brain power into that particular topic. I wasn’t sure I was ready to search my feelings yet.
In the first place, why is she so compliant with the things that I do? I know we’ve been through a lot this past month, but we’ve only known each other for a month. I started putting on my tie, a blue and gold striped piece, with the stripes going at a diagonal angle.
“I believe it was love at first sight, Master.” I scoffed aloud, drawing confused looks from the two princesses in the room. I apologized, and put on my black suit jacket.
That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard. Love at first sight doesn’t exist, that’s just an overactive imagination mixed with an uncontrolled horniness. “If you say so, Master.”
I started to walk towards the room’s entrance, but Akahime and Lucina blocked my way. “Use this.” Akahime said, and handed me a rectangular pin.
The pin was metalic, and had a red flag with a white circle in the middle- the inverse of Earth’s Japanese Flag. Only, it was stylized a bit differently. There were many white petals scattered around the circle.
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“That’s the national flag of the Luong Empire! Put that on your suit, and you’ll have dad singing to your tune! He’ll be so happy to see you representing our allegiance openly.”
“No, take this one.” Lucina dumped another pin into the hand that was holding the one Akahime had given me.
It was a black flag, with twelve white stars on each of its four corners. Two white stripes ran vertically down its center, and another bridged the gap and connected the two vertical stripes.
“Represent the country you work for, Mr. Paladin.” Lucina’s last words were dripping with sarcasm, as if she saw through the fact that I was just using the position as a stepping stone for my own ambitions. Hell, maybe she had thought that.
I sighed and put on both pins. Both Akahime and Lucina started complaining about where I had put them, or in what order, so in the end, I put the Metronian flag on my right lapel, and the Asahi flag under it.
Lucina rejoiced, saying, “Exactly! That’s the way to go, soldier! You’ve done your country proud.” Her smile was wide, and her cheerfulness infectious. I couldn’t help but smile at her beauty.
Unfortunately, not all parties in the room felt that way. In contrast, Akahime was taking it poorly. “What the hell, Joshua!? Even though you get along better with dad than you do King Metron, how come you refuse to put our flag first!?” She clicked her tongue.
“Can we drop this subject?” I gave her an exasperated sigh as I put my mask on. Her left eye twitched in annoyance, and she finally gave up and stormed out of the room, followed by a cheerful Lucina, and a very tired Judgment user.
---
“Ugh, your dad really does want me to defect to the Luong Empire, doesn’t he?” I complained to the imperial princess to my right.
We were walking along the outer ring of the Palace, and staring out the windows at Chika below. The three of us had a good discussion with her father about what he could do in terms of supporting us, and how the relationship between the Metron Kingdom and the Luong Empire would progress in the future.
The talks were long and arduous. I honestly had no idea how much time politicking took. After, we had dinner inside Gedo’s royal cafeteria. When our meal was finished, Lucina went to look for her sister, as she was worried that we hadn’t seen hide nor hair of her since the night of the Chain Link Massacre.
“That he does. We’ve never had a neuromancer here before… well, that we knew of, at least. I still can’t believe Gedo was one, but it explains how she was able to do so many of the things she did: she just had a super A.I. run everything for her.”
I rolled my eyes and said, “I get that, but does he have to just assume that I’m interested in men because I won’t just outright marry you? Doesn’t it bother you to be married off to a man you’ve only met once?”
“Truth be told, it does.” Akahime responded, which took me aback for a moment. I looked the princess in the eyes, and she stared right back into mine.
“Then why do you put up with what your father says? I thought it would be much easier for someone in your position to try and get what she wants.” She was second in command to her father, after all.
She sighed and shook her head, “You don’t understand, but that’s not your fault. Tell me, who do I belong to?”
Seeing where she was going, I answered, “You belong to the country… no, I guess it would be more appropriate to say that you belong to the royal family. You’re a piece on a chess board. Granted, a very attractive piece for any political party to own, but a piece nonetheless.”
She nodded and sighed. “Unfortunately, that is spot on. So if I don’t even own myself, how could I think to own my own body? Royalty has different obligations than regular people. Regular people hold no value other than in their own circle. Royalty has value outside of their own country.”
I thought about it for a moment, but then realized that she probably just wanted to vent, and didn’t want any advice, so I stayed silent. “Wise choice, Master.” X chimed in, but I ignored the program in favor of staring into the Luong Princess’ eyes.
“Like, it’s one thing to meet someone and think, ‘Oh, this person will be a good lay, or a good way to blow off steam,’ but it’s another thing entirely to commit to that person for the rest of your life. You shouldn’t make that decision based on physical attraction alone, although I concede that it is very important. No, what’s really important is whether or not your personalities click, whether you love that person, and they can be a source of interest, and not a source of boredom. Do you understand what I’m trying to say?”
I had almost tuned Akahime out of my ears when she asked her question. I closed my eyes and tried to recall what she had said. Then, I gave up understanding and figured that if it was important she’d try to explain what it was later. “Yeah, I do. I know it’s been hard for you recently, especially with me dropping into your life and complicating things.”
Akahime gave me a loose smile, and I internally congratulated myself. When in doubt, a little self-deprecation always keeps the flow of conversation going. “You know what, I feel like getting some fresh air. Care to take a drive with me, Mr. Cole?”
“It would be my pleasure, my lady.” I knelt and kissed the back of her hand, making the princess roll her eyes at me. We headed out to the Steel Palace’s helipad, at which point we were met by an overly-enthusiastic Akito.
The man was smiling ear to ear, and offered to take us to his favorite ramen place. “Is a location in Chika ok? I know that it's not the safest for a princess and a diplomat, but I guarantee that the taste will blow your expectations out of the water.”
I looked over at Akahime, who gave the ok. Soon we were out and flying through the artificial starlight of Chichuu. The imperial princess leaned her head on my shoulder, and it took most of my willpower not to slip an arm around her shoulders.
She’s just tired or confused. There’s no good way for this to end, so I shouldn’t even start it. “You should go for it, Master. I promise that she is receptive to the idea.”
I didn’t give X any attention, and soon enough, we had landed in the middle of Chika. Only, it wasn’t a restaurant, but a lonely junkyard. Akahime, Akito, and I sat in the car in silence, and it wasn't long before the chauffeur decided to point a gun at the two of us.