This must be a joke, I know not all struggle revolves around fighting and kicking stuff, but this is a bit too much. Becoming the president? An hour ago I didn't even know the existence of this city! And I don't even know of what I need to become president, the city? Or maybe the whole country?
I still can’t take this whole thing seriously… Maybe it’s for the best, I would be way more freaked out otherwise.
Marie, on the other hand, seems to be calm about all of this, I hope she has a plan for all of this.
"So, you're telling me, that we only have two months to get me elected?"
“Yes.”
“Is that even possible? There must be some kind of special rules or ways to cheat the results…”
"It's a pretty straightforward election, the candidate with the most vote get elected. Maybe there are ways to cheat but I don't know them."
“There is only one round? Seems a bit weird…”
“Yeah, even if it looks simple, the overhaul voting process is a bit odd, and apparently a lot of people complain. But everything is sponsored by big companies and probably corruption, so there’s not much done about it.”
“Doesn’t really change from our world then.”
While Marie and I were talking, Alice went to the laptop and started to use it. Marie remarked it but, even though she was obviously bothered by it, she continued to explain the situation to me.
"At first I was worried about your age, but in this city, it is quite common to have surgical operations in order to look younger. Most of the candidate look like they are in their twenties, but really they are at least 50 years old. And your white hair is even an advantage in that direction."
"That doesn't solve the biggest problem: I can't run when there are only two months left!"
“You don’t have to run!”
“What? But how do I…”
“Listen, realistically, becoming The President is impossible, even if you had a year to prepare it would have been delusional, however, we are in this whole shitty Quest. So I try to look for an obvious solution. Kind of loophole in the system.”
"You just said we can't rig the system"
"Technically we can, but it would be way too obvious and you will be arrested before taking the oath. NO, I had in mind something else, it has low chance to succeed, but in my view, it's worth the shot."
As expected of her, she’s the kind to always try the impossible, it might even be a game to her. Not that I care, as long as we pass the struggle.
"So here's the thing, focus because it's a bit complicated. Currently, there are 4 candidates, they are each in the middle of their campaign, trying to raise vote among the population. That's when I found an opening, one of the candidate have an unbelievable low vote expectation of 0.2%, so I found it odd that someone managed to stay that long in the race with such unfavourable chance, but that's when I found something even stranger, the guy is campaigning alone."
"Well… he wants to become President, of course, he's alone…"
"No, I mean alone alone. Like… he has 0 staff."
“What? Is that even possible?”
"His name is Monty L. Kind, he has virtually no coverage, and apparently he's known for being a joke candidate."
“So what? What does it have to do with me if he’s not popular?”
“Oh, I see…”
Alice, still in front of Marie’s laptop, re-entered the conversation.
“You want to impeach him.”
“Exactly like Stupid just said, we help him win the election, and then we take his plain, or at least we do the interim before they find a replacement.”
“You wanna fight, BlondIdiot?”
“Wait wait wait! If I understand correctly, we join his campaign staff.”
“More like we create his campaign staff.”
“Okay, we create his campaign staff, then we help him to win.”
“Yes.”
“Against all odds.”
“Yes”
“Even though the guy has less than 1% approval rate.”
“Yes”
"And then, if all of that succeed, he nominates me his second."
“Vice-president, but yes.”
“And finally we get him out of office.”
“Yes.”
“…”
I looked at both of them for a few seconds, gathering my thought. I am surely the dumbest of the group right now, but I'm pretty sure this plan will fail, there is no way we'll manage to do all of that, especially with only have two months!
As I don’t want to hurt her feelings, I’ll try to say it gently.
"This plan sucks."
Okay, maybe I could have done better than that…
“Well, I’m afraid it’s the only one we have right now.”
"Can't we… I don't know. Overthrown the government, like, by force? Surely with the 3 of us, it's possible -more like the 2 of you, but you get the point."
"Their technology is very advanced, and they seem to have high tech weapon, even for us, it would be too risky to do this by ourselves. Moreover, I'm pretty sure a President needs to be elected, if we do manage to replace the head of the country by force and it doesn't complete the objective, we probably would be stuck here for along time."
“Or maybe… we can form our own country! That could work!”
"That wouldn't do it either... Sam… there is no escape, you'll have to run in THIS election, and become the President of THIS country."
“You said I wouldn’t run!”
"You know what I meant."
“Come on Alice! Say something! I can’t become the fucking President!”
“I would vote for you…”
Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.
Gosh, she’s not helping at all!
I kept arguing for a good time.
I believe I made pretty good points. As I am the leader of the group, or so they say, I am the one making the last call, and there is no way in hell I would ever go along with that plan.
----------------------------------------
Twelve minutes and two of Samsy’s tantrum later.
----------------------------------------
“Sigh… Okay, I’ll do it.”
“Finally! You can be childish sometimes, Samsy.”
"I don't want to hear that from you! And Alice, stop laughing!"
“Can’t… help it… so funny…”
And I am the childish one?
“Hum? What are you doing Marie?”
She just stood up and started to search for something in her stuff.
"Well, now that you accepted the plan, we should get into it."
“You mean, now?”
“Yep, according to his online schedule, he should pass in a street nearby, it’s a good opportunity for a first contact.”
“Right now? It’s too soon! I don’t even know what he looks like!”
“Don’t worry, I’ll brief you on the way, take this.”
She pulled out a bag from one of the drawers, and showed me a white pill.
“You’re not serious…”
“Don’t be shy…”
(A) “What are those?”
“I call them enhancement pills.”
"I already tried it, they lower your brain limitation and basically improve your strength and mental capacity."
(A) “Sounds awesome!”
“Yeah… but there are some after effect.”
“Don’t listen to him, my pills are perfect!”
"It depends on the person but for me, it was extreme exhaustion and, well, temporary libido dysfunction."
Suddenly, both of the girl's face went red. What the…? Did I say something wrong?
“Wh-Wha-Wha-What are you talking about, Sam! Th-there is nothing like that!”
Marie was babbling while avoiding eye contact, and Alice was simply looking at the wall, as if she hasn’t heard anything. Don’t tell me they are embarrassed by the word libido… that’s so cute.
“Anyway, why do you want me to take those. Do you want me to beat him or something?”
“No! Ahem, I tried it with Prom, and the pill can increase your class proficiency.”
"My what?"
“Meaning that it can enhance your foresight ability.”
“Oh, so you want me to foresee our conversation… Can I do that? Is that even possible?”
“What the point in having a cheat if you’re not using it.”
“It’s not really a cheat, I have nosebleed each time I use it.”
“And that’s why I made the pill. And let me be clear, it was pretty hard to collect enough material, so don’t you dare pass on it.”
"So the plan is to hope I will be able to predict the right things to say to him… and I thought it couldn't get worse."
“Shut up and take the pill.”
Sigh… I took her damn drug and gobbled it. I’ll probably spend the next day in my bed, but it’s still better than facing her right now.
I'm not really convinced it will work, but maybe it's worth the shot.
----------------------------------------
The main street was swarming with people, as it was the after-work rush. People were walking in every direction and a few car were flying 5-6 meters above their head. One of the pride of this city was its security and peace, correlated with its lack of dangerous and dark alley. However, one street had a somewhat bad situation, it was directly linking the main street to an unpopular residential area, where only a handful of unfortunate people were living in.
Its official name was the Rose Alley, and one man was currently taking it, obviously in a rush. It was an old man, with few white hair and a tired face. This was already eye-catching on its own, as every other people usually undertake surgical operations in their forties.
As he was about to reach the residential area, and the place he lives in, he remarked an unfamiliar presence in his path. A young man, wearing an expensive suit, with white hair and red eyes.
‘Che, people these days have fancy taste.'
At first, he wanted to avoid the young man and just get home, but he rapidly understood it wouldn’t be that easy.
“Monty L. Kind I presume.”
“… So you are here for me, what do you want? If it’s about…”
"Mr. Naghid proposal? No, actually, I never heard about it, but you're right, I'm here for you."
Martin was taken aback, this young man was releasing a strange atmosphere.
“You see, your struggle in this presidential race came to my ears…”
“If you want me to drop out you can…” “Dream on, I know…
but it’s not what I want, on the contrary.”
This was definitely strange. Martin was doubtful by nature, and this young-looking man was fishy. What does he…
"What do I want? Don't worry, I'll come to that soon enough."
The old man widens his eye. How is it…
“Are you mocking me?” “Are you mocking me?”
‘What in the world is happening ?!' "What in the world is happening."
…
Monty looked at Samsy in disbelief. He had seen a lot during is long life, but someone saying his exact thought aloud is a first
“What…what are you?”
"Hehe, that is a bit harsh, saying ‘what'. But that's a fair question, for now, you just have to know that I have certain… talents, and that I am willing to use them to help you. I won't promise anything, but we definitely have a common interest in making you win this race."
The white-haired young man took a step forward and handed a little card displaying a digital counter with a phone number written on its back.
"Here's my contact information, call me anytime."
And just like that, he left the place, leaving a dumbfounded old man, completely lost and wondering about what just happened to him.