Chapter 12: Politics is hard

Chapter 12: Politics is hard

On the morning of the next day, a startling announcement wakes up even the heaviest sleepers of Arash. The poisoning incident yesterday was actually a ploy to harm their Princess! Such an earth-shattering event caused a few Ustians to drop their croissants in shock when they heard it over the morning radio.

Princess Bonaparte heavily condemned the ploy, whose mastermind turns out to be the Prime Minister himself! She then lists out a bunch of corrupted activities that the Minister and his underlings commit during their reign and promises due reckoning will be dished out. Justice will be served. For citizens from all walks of life, they know that the governing body of the country is a shit-show right now. Yet, to have their Princess calling it out and saying that she will change it? Now that's a first. As such not just Arash but the entire country is awash with sudden fervor. Many righteous attempts to make Ustio great again ended in bloody failures, but perhaps their lovely Princess will succeed at last? The average Joes can't help but anticipate the outcome of the upcoming political upheaval.

But wait, that's not all. Princess Bonaparte then explains how the war with Belka was a big, fucking mistake in the first place. With Ustio still recovering from the aftermath of WW1, starting another one was way above their heads. Coupling with heavy corruption and inflation, the Ustio economy is in shamble, a far cry from its golden age. Rosa brings up examples of the past, oh how good life was back then when they were at peace. Families are whole, children can run around without the risk of bombings, and their dinners are warm meat soups and bread... Such a start contrast with today's atmosphere stokes a silent rage in the hearts of every Ustians. They blame their stupid leadership for letting things fall this low.

So imagine their fury when Rosa pulls out even more dirt to throw. Oh, the humanity! Slavery still exist!

E/N: Holy Shet! Slavery still exists?! And on Non-Humans?! Oh hi btw 'w

Rosa, mixing lies and truth together, fabricated a story about the enslavement of sentience beings, meaning, the non-human citizens of Belka. She, as an upright leading figure of the country, despises such an act. Rosa says that no matter how different they are from humans, they are still living and thinking beings. By stripping them of their freedom, they are no different than the animals of the past, who have enslaved their own kind. As such, people like them will be burning in Hell.

She ends her speech by urging her fellow countrymen to stand up and resist the oppression of the current ruling class. Changes must be made lest they will fade into obscurity like the Roman Empire of the past. She also says that as the Princess of Ustio, she is open to a cease-fire negotiation with Belka and cooperating in recovering the slaves, bound against their wills. Rosa hopes that this will be the first step to ending the bloody struggle between the two countries and that peace is not out of the picture.

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A glass-wearing middle-aged man spats out his coffee in spite. " Fuck! Are they seriously still practicing that?!" He has been paying attention to the radio for a while now and the previous announcement caused him to lose his appetite.

An old woman, also his conversational buddy, helps him clean the coffee stain. " Apparently so, young one. You work in a publishing house so you should have heard rumors about such a thing."

Her words earn a few nods from other guests in the coffee shop. One of them says. "Yeah, such a thing does exist, I'm telling you. I work at a loading dock and used to hear some groanings inside a few shipments. Almost all of them have their endpoint in major cities. Now I'm not stupid enough to mistake an animal sound for a humanoid one so you can all guess what I've been hearing."

Turning his bloodshot eyes to the newcomer's voice, the Minister calms down when he notices it was from his secretary. "No need, get someone to fix that window and fetch my ride." With a harrumph, he stands up to show a surprisingly well-built body for a man in his sixties. And here you would think a corrupt politician will be pot-bellied.

E/N: a lot of them are... Sometimes I guess?

The secretary helps the Minister put on his overcoat. After that he leaves the room, leaving the secretary to inform the people below to fetch his ride. "...oh, and bring a team of cleaners too. He broke the window again."

Once she's done with the call, the secretary mutters as she's looking at the now-vacated room. "Yeah, picking this job may have been a mistake from the start."

As for the Minister himself, he is now sitting in a luxurious Rolls-Royce with folding arms. For now, he's keeping his rage under a lid, allowing him to think up countermeasures for the sudden 'betrayal' as he would like to call it. Truly, he didn't even put up a plan to take out the Princess in time and somebody pulled that off first? And now that wench is gunning for him for a crime he didn't commit for the first time in his life. What's this stale joke of a situation!?

"I need a drink."

The Minister opens a compartment on the side of his seat, revealing a vintage bottle of Bourbon, glasses, the whole shebang... Pouring himself a glass, he tells the driver to get him to the palace while twirling the content. "The reason can be figured out later. Right now, I must get someone to block her from getting any support. Arash will be a hotbed for her activity now so the entire surrounding region is a wash. And with the approaching Belkan's famed division, most of the frontline armies risked being cut off from supplies. From that, it will snowball into a total collapse of the Ustio Army, a matter I can't let happen."

Downing the content, the Prime Minister contemplates whether he should recall the colonial armies to help stabilize the homefront, regardless of the upcoming Months of Demon, as the Belkans have called it. "Nah, it won't work, at least, not in the short-term. No time to ship them back here and I would rather not earn any more resentment from the oversea Generals. I guess I'll have to make do with the Reservists, their numbers alone can pose quite the trouble in competent hands. The only trouble is to get a good head to command them."

While the Minister can think up some general military solutions for the current predicaments, he would rather have the professionals doing the job. So he intends to recall a few retired officers to handle leading the Reservists, tasking them with quelling the rebellion at Arash and repelling the Belkans from their backyard.

"It will be one bloodied job, that's for sure. Hopefully, they can take care of the external threats, now for the internal working of this country. By now, every citizen that still has a job should have listened to that broadcast, meaning they can be swayed by that wench. The first matter should be censoring the news and performing a propaganda campaign to lessen the impact. After that, scrunch up the police to conduct a few raids, this should keep them in line, for now, buying me more time to take the Princess out of the picture. Damn, if only that Colonel wasn't hellbent on clearing out the gangs at Arash, I could have used some of them by now."

With his head churning out every countermeasure he can think of. The Minister decides to settle the matter via propaganda warfare and brute-forcing his way to get that Bonaparte wench. Yet, he knows that after recent military failures and the corrupted state of the country, it will be a long shot and a half. So in case, everything falls through, he also decided on some backup plans.

"Should Arash be deemed irrecoverable once the Months of Demons arrive, I guess I should call in a few favors. Speaking of the Months of Demons, I need to organize those Adventurers to deal with those things once the time arrives. The last time it lasted for a couple of years but the forecast said it can last up to five now, it will put a toll on the treasury but I guess I can handle it. Those underlings won't be able to say anything if I take their money to fund the local garrisons, after all, they're what kept them alive when the night hits."