Vol 4 Chapter 9 (1/2)

“Piña!”

“Diabo-nii-sama… what’s the matter?”

Piña stopped in her tracks when she saw her panicked elder brother

At long last, they had finished that waste of ti to discuss the future course they would take As Piña turned around and halted, herpoliticians and created a frustrating blockage in one of the Senate Building’s hallways

What had once been a ceiling was now a patch of open sky, and the stars were visible in the sky

The sudden stoppage made the Senators collide with each other, and the i all over the young and old Senators Then, they gave Piña dirty looks and walked past her

Diabo, who found Piña a the crowd of Senators, led her into a sed roo This was enough for privacy

“Do you know about Zorzal?”

“Mm Father decided to h of relief since he had decided on the official succession So, what’s happened now?

“I don’t knohat that idiot is thinking, but he wants to compete with Father I don’t even dare say whose side I’m on”

Diabo narrated what had happened in Zorzal’s room

However, Piña needed soest it

“Well, isn’t Ani-sa na like that sounds wrong for him”

“I agree… what’s this all about, anyway?”

“Could it be I’veto be Emperor one day, it’s only natural that Father would want to supervise hi to do?”

“Right now, he just see”

“Whichforever?”

Diabo looked like he was about to spit out a grain of sand in his mouth

“There are two kinds of idiots in this world Some idiots know they’re stupid The other idiots just think they’re smart That fellow sounds like the latter case”

“Father is now planning to advise Zorzal, and when he dies, he hopes Diabo-nii will take over for him so the Empire can carry on… at least, that’s what I think?”

“He wantslike that Why the hell do I have to advise hiave up too soon!”

Filled with anger, Diabo punched the broken wall The fragile paint layer shattered under the impact and turned into dust which drifted away

“Ani-sa claim to the throne The people won’t care about his personality or talents (or lack thereof), only that he’s the eldest son The sa applies with the army If we disrupt this natural order and try to determine the succession of the Emperor with pure ability, there may be other ambitious people who think “I can do it too” and ed into chaos

Of course, there are exceptions to this rule This is why Father orry about his decision right up until the end However, the country is now in danger If Father selected you as Emperor, Zorzal would oppose you, and the country would be in even greater danger With that in mind, it was the most sensible decision to let Zorzal take the throne

Diabo-nii-sama, not many people like Zorzal-nii-sama, but there are many in the courts who support you”

Piña’s calrohile he wasn’t looking Her words were very persuasive

When Diabo compared himself to his elder brother, he felt that he would be better at administration Thus, he had worked tirelessly to otten that his uncle, little sister and little brother were also his rivals for the throne

What would his little sister do when she realized this?

Zorzal did not treat his sister as a rival, because he believed that one’s eneet close to you Therefore, Diabo had to think about how to make use of her connections and influence At this point, Diabo looked at the flip side of things; that if the ene foe He needed to make use of her as soon as possible

As he thought about it, a chill ran down his spine

Diabo suddenly realized that Piña was the closest to the throne

A common tactic the Ened with the E a formal alliance with the country which now had the Empire’s interests inood position to make use of it His father, the Emperor could not possibly have overlooked that

With that in mind, Diabo tried to see the situation from the Emperor’s point of view Emphasis on “tried”

He had too little infor Piña into the equation, and considering that Zorzal would become the Crown Prince, he could see the outlines of the future taking shape

“japan is too soft as an eneht them head-on…”

As Diabo recalled the Emperor’s words, he realised that it implied the japanese were easily manipulated They loved their people, they were friends of justice, and they were overly trusting How did one make use of enemies like that? No, how could one make allies of them?

In other words, all one needed to do was change the current antagonistic relationshi+p between the Empire and japan

But how to do it? The key person for that plan was… Piña

He needed to create a situation where Piña would end up opposing the Crown Prince

The best way to do this was to have Zorzal ar on the japanese Zorzal would play the role of ware, however temporary, and then the initial victories and misconception of the situation would lead to confusion That would require a set of skills that were completely different from politics

If he could put this plan into practice, he could have japan ally with Piña for the just cause of ending the war japan’s military poould eliminate Zorzal and Piña would take the throne

In this way, japan, as their enemy up till noould become Piña’s ally, or in other words, an ally of the Empire After that, japan would help support the Empire’s authority, and they could absorb japanese culture and knowledge faster than the other countries In a sense, Zorzal would be a sacrifice for this future, while he could stay in a safe place

As for Piña, she could not overlook her father even if she became Empress In addition, she had nobody skilled in national administration on her side All she could do was use the people Father gave her… which meant there was a chance he could call the shots from behind the throne

“Umu~”

After thinking about the matter calmly, he decided to abandon Zorzal’s plan of “the retired Emperor versus the current Emperor Zorzal” Instead,it would be more practical to turn japan, which was one of Pina’s hidden cards, into an ally

Although Zorzal wanted to coination was far behind his father’s More importantly, he lacked the power to make his will become reality

Diabo felt like he had suddenly woken up from his older brother’s lies

If this went on, it would be dangerous to be Zorzal’s ally And even if Zorzal became the Emperor and Diabo became his ally, his life would be uncertain too… In the end, all he could do was become an advisor to Piña, his father’s puppet

Since Diabo was eying the throne, he began considering how he could put himself in Piña’s place In other words, he had to catch up in his relationshi+p with japan In that particular field, he had fallen far behind

Diabo continued thinking

Once again, he tried to think as the Emperor did

He added Piña and japan into the siht about how to make himself the fulcrum on which all their relationshi+ps would turn

That being the case, what Diabo could do was becoht, he could throw out a casting vote to make himself the next successor

The question noho he could ally with

Perhaps he could ally with the E to join the battle for the throne, he would certainly want power that could fight against the Imperial Army If there were no forces like this, what if he looked through the Gate, within japan, or at countries beyond japan? There should be a faction that was powerful enough out there, right?

“? Nii-saain?”

Anyone would find it strange if so

“Although I understand that Zorzal-nii-sa, Diabo-nii-sa the matter

As he realised Piña was looking at him, Diabo concealed his schemes, and replied that Piña was the one as confused

“Who was it, anyway? Who was the one who put that big idiot Zorzal up there?”

“Well, if you’re calling hiht actually have the ability to succeed, but he was just hiding it until now?”

“I If he was afraid of Father, then he should have hidden his talents until Father passed away But he exposed them at a time like this; doesn’t that make him an idiot?”

“Well, nii-sama, don’t you think that’s a bitthe Crown Prince, so he couldn’t control himself for a moment”

“In any case, he’s a real idiot! That can’t be helped! And if he is really as s he’d do!

The fact was that while pretending to be an idiot and doing foolish things, Zorzal ended up believing that he was a true genius when in reality he was in fact a big idiot!!

Listen, Piña That big idiot is very scary The worst part of that is his petty intelligence!! There are a lot of idiotic merchants who are penny wise, pound foolish Who knows, they eniuses The proble down everyone around them

It’s no longer just his problem It also involves you, Piña You’d best think of what to do after this”

Those last wordsto Piña that said, “The Empire will revolve around you in the future The people behind you (including Diabo hi to see how you move the Empire”

“Actually, I’ve been thinking about that for a long time”

“You, you have? Well, as expected, there’s no way you couldn’t be thinking about that”

As expected, she had the throne in her sights His sister was truly one to watch However, the battle was not decided until the very end Diabo clenched his fists, and resolved himself not to lose And then, Piña’s ansas not quite what Diabo expected

“I want to be a protector of fine art!”

The way she replied was as though she did not realise her situation at all

Tyuule took off the leather collar around her neck, before throwing it away in disgust Then, she collapsed face-down on her simple bed, in her cramped, personal room

She covered her face, which was covered in bruises and bite ers, but she knew the h she knew they would not vanish when pressed, she still could not help herself

“”

She sighed softly After that, a muffled, hoarse voice came from below her bed

“Tyuule-sama This is Bouro”

Still face down on her bed, Tyuule replied as though she were sleep talking

“What is it?”

“This is the report we received from your subordinate at Arnus”

“Is that so Put it aside I will read it later”

She was grateful for her subordinates’ loyalty, but right now, she was just too tired Even the closest relative felt like a stranger at this time

Bouro had no other duties besides delivering the report, so Tyuule expected him to leave However, Tyuule’s loyal servant remained where she was

“Tyuule-sama Since Zorzal is now the Crown Prince, the Empire’s end is only a matter of time”

Tyuule scoffed in her heart, and quietly an to order him away However, Bouro was her only ed bird Therefore she could not reject him too harshly

What this ugly male wanted was a reward And indeed, loyalty deserved a fitting reward However… Tyuule was sick of it First Zorzal And now this man

Tyuule grabbed her head, turned over so she was lying on her back, and then she let one leg dangle to the ground

Before long, a liquid, dripping sound rose up fro at her feet Tyuule grit her teeth against the unpleasant feeling, and spoke calmly

“Getting that bastard fired up has been a real chore”

You are a great reat talent This is why geniuses cannot be understood by those below them Let them say what they want At least, I understand you

You are strong and righteous Of course your estures will invite jealousy from others You are, no, only you are truly correct

You are perfect Your methods are too revolutionary, so the plebeians cannot understand them

A genius does not need to do as a plebeian does Do as you please Yours is the right way

The Emperor fears you, so it is not that he didn’t name you Crown Prince, but he could not The E feared by such a fearso In order not to be assassinated like your sworn brother, you need to lie in wait Hide your talent Conceal your ability Pretend to be a useless man Now, you can only play the role of a useless person

Tyuule whispered these honey-coated words into Zorzal’s ears in between her sweet moans, and that was how she snared Zorzal’s soul

He believed those pleasant lies, and with those as a base he believed even more lies, and then he lied to hie, he no longer suspected her His ego and confidence expanded with no basis for it, and he even claimed other people’s ideas as his own Or rather, he treated it as other people stealing his ideas

“The spineless warriors fro,” she whispered, and when the Eht was, “How did you cohts?”

“However, I e the peace talks No matter what, I have to make the war continue I must fuel the fires of war Let all the humans in this land hate, curse, massacre, plunder and destroy each other, until the Empire falls Let the Ees burn, let the humans vanish frole scrap of e be complete”

“Then, I have a good idea Kill off the Nihon slave They destroyed the Senate Building after finding out a couple of their people were enslaved If they knew the rest were killed, they would go out of their minds rath”

“They attacked just because one or two of their people were made slaves…”

As Tyuule heard those words, the naer

When she had been enslaved herself, nobody came to help her

nobody saved her nobody sympathized with her

nobody thought about her

And then, she heard that those of her people who survived actually believed the lies that she betrayed her race, and swore vengeance on her

She could never forgive that

She had sacrificed herself for her hoht to repay her for that nobody loved her for it, and siive theer would spill over onto Noriko, as in the same situation as herself

“Naive Far too naive I can’t do it myself I need to implicate a member of the royal family The best choice would be Piña But if that’s not possible, Diabo is fine too Noriko needs to be killed somehow Then the ill continue It will continue forever The ill draw in everyone around it The humans will kill each other, and their corpses will cover the earth Zorzal and the Empire who killed my father, mywill be destroyed And then I will be pleased And then, Bouro, I will grant your wish…”

The uglyTyuule’s calf had a face which looked like a cross between a pig and a dog His eyes glealy features twisted into a smile

“Leave it to me, Tyuule-saet our arrangement Eeheeheeheehee…”

This was a n affairs frodom, France, Germany, Italy, Russia, China and japan Kanou Taro was there, but his earpiece boiled in his ear, causing pain

He pulled out the earpiece, which was strea translated words, and tried several times to cool his ears However, his body was the sort to heat up easily, and since the words exchanged by the diploain He had to quell it by sheer force of will

Kanou sighed, and spoke to Russia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, whose name was Vladimir

“We cannot accept a request like that Ginza is situated in the heart of our economic district in Tokyo We cannot accept an unconditional stationing of foreign armed forces there Not to mention, our country has no reason to trust Russia After all, was the invasion of South Ossetia in Georgia not a recent occurrence?”

It took some time for the translators to render Kanou’s words in Russian Kanou took the opportunity to take a drink froed colors as he heard Kanou’s words, and he began speaking forcefully at Kanou However, Kanou did not speak Russian, so he waited with a blank expression while the translators did their jobs

The translated e was:

“We will not tolerate your malicious slander of our nation My country’s actions in South Ossetia were taken to protect our people The ones who should be censured are the Georgians, anted to perfor My country’s military actions were justified and are above criticism!”

Kanou shrugged and said, “I was kidding,” and the Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs turned to look at him The Vice-Minister would not show his skill here… in other words, he would be handling the secret negotiations behind people’s backs (in other words, under-the-table negotiations) After receiving the approval of the American, UK and German representatives, he scribbled it down on a notepad and showed it to Kanou

The notepad read: “Broad agreement Details TBD”

“Well, all I saas Russian soldiers pointing their guns at members of the press…”

As the translators did their job, they soressive manner

Vladimir pounded his table and rose, his ear tips red

“These are lies from the Western media!”

“Live telecasts are hard to fake I believe the new “evidence” supplied by the Russian government post facto are the fakes In any case, our country cannot trust yours Therefore, japan rejects the Russian request”

The Russian foreign lared at the representatives of the other countries, clenching his fist

This G8 summit was convened to discuss economic and political problems Naturally, the Gate which appeared in Tokyo, japan, was one of those topics

The incident happened in japan, so it should be japan’s proble the Gate should also be japan’s responsibility

However, once they learned about the vast resources hidden beyond the Gate, they ignored the drawbacks the Gate brought with it — in other words, war — and focused entirely on its benefits

Each country was basically saying the sa, share some with us” In addition to the G8 countries, there were other countries ere interested in the Gate, like Korea, India, Taiwan, Brazil, Mexico, Australia, Singapore, a others

Prime Minister Morita caved under the pressure fro concession

Of course, japan could not just roll out the red carpet for them They had to take care of their own interests as well One could not just tramp into someone else’s house with muddy shoes They had to say what had to be said, and refuse what had to be refused

That was theThe Cabinet ith it in the end, but they added their own restrictions onto the plan before approving it

And so, the usage of the Gate and the amount of intervention japan would accept on its soil would be decided by the eight nations here

Now, it was the japanese Foreign Minister’s turn to speak

“Our country is deeply concerned about the threats levelled at japan by the Special Region’s, that is to say, the Imperial Army Please believe that we act with the defense and security of Tokyo in ion, observe the japanese army, and to provide the minimum military presence needed to protect our country’s interests A refusal at this point will only invite suspicion regarding your reticence to divulge your activities Please keep that in mind”

Kanou re similar

“Please be at ease Ever since japan was defeated in the Second World War, we have become a democratic country We would never commit atrocities like the hurs and Tibetans In fact, our country has invited residents of the Special Region to share their opinions before the National Diet, and to provide proof of the JSDF’s righteous action If you still have doubts and insist on visiting the Special Region in person, that is not an ih ill need to stipulate certain conditions up front”

These were the n Ministers of the various countries:

“To begin with, because the Gate is in Tokyo, any travel to the Special Region h Tokyo However, no country would perh their econoe that fact

In addition, while passing through japanese territory, the personnel of the various nations ulates the possession of weaponry, and the possession of firearms, blades and other weapons are strictly forbidden

In accordance to our country’s regulations regarding explosives, explosives and ingredients that could be used totaken to the Special Region If there is a need to transport such items, it will be done so in accordance to our country’s methods In addition, please obey our traffic laws

Violations will be punished in accordance to our country’s laws In addition, to enforce these conditions, visitors will be subjected to luggage searches Refusal of these searches will also be subject to punishment

In the unlikely event that arn military personnel are found in Ginza for any reason, they will be viewed as offenders in accordance with our country’s laws and will be i vehicles will be destroyed In addition, ill request co soldiers, to the tune of one s or other assets of our country are daed in the process, ill request a suitable amount of compensation for them as well

In addition, these monies will be paid to our nation in the form of a deposit Therefore, a deposit will be required to send troops to the Special Region, and the a to the number of personnel sent If there are ten people, the deposit will be ten million US dollars, and if there are 100 people, the deposit will be 100 million dollars”

At this point, the faces of the ministers from the various countries were stern masks

Only the A The TMCSUSJ permitted American soldiers to bear arely irrelevant to them As for the depositit back, given the relationshi+p between the US and japan In addition, the sum was a pittance coain from the Gate

(TL Note: Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security between the United States and japan)

The UK and Ger notes to each other in some form of discussion

In truth, these two countries had long given up on gaining any territory and benefits from the Gate Much like the US, they realised the difficulty of sending and supporting a large arh the tiny conduit of the Gate Therefore, they decided to provide support for japan in exchange for other considerations

If that were the case, they would not need ence personnel to keep an eye on the japanese The deposit they would need to pay would be correspondingly minimal

The Canadians and Italians seeht be cos were also taking place, as each of the a decision they were all willing to abide by

The problee overseas colonies, the ht well launch an invasion, as well as China, which ruthlessly claimed territory and suppressed minorities These three countries shook their heads bitterly at japan

Much like they had done a century ago, these countries were planning to devote a large ahts

France still had a lot to think about regarding the problem of resupply, but since China and Russia were closer to japan, their supply chains were short and since they naturally prioritized their militaries, they did not have to worry too much about the unique nature of japan’s roads

In addition, China wanted to solve their overpopulation probleion