svetikya Chapter 362: How to make a figurehead
Chapter 362: How to make a figurehead
To think those that wanted his Clan weren’t just the Akatsuki. The schemes even spread deeper than he expected.
.
Tachibana Clan.
They are a Clan that’s easily overlooked, so it makes sense that they should be the ones playing everyone. Or at least, those who are also backing them.
"So Matsumoto is going after Akatsuki directly. They’re done with the pretense since they know where to hit," Vale said. He didn’t add that he was instrumental in that; he sent Slya and Tong to find the capital, and they must have brought down the protective shield around it.
"Yes. It’s going to be a bloody affair."
"I can imagine....what do they want from me? I can’t help but notice that since they hold almost all the cards, they’ve made no direct action to kill me despite their several warnings."
Isolde looked at him. "They need a figurehead."
☆☆▪︎▪︎☆☆
"Do we really need the Athrimir? We can just kill him, our strength alone should be enough for the job," Vaelros said. "We did not include him in our plan before, why put him in now?"
"Because, Vaelros, after we get hold of these territories, we will need to rule them in an indirect way, and who better than an Athrimir? The whole of Hinterlands respects their family, right? At least once."
"Oh come on, Kaelthorn. You just don’t want any of us to be the one to rule the territory. You don’t want anyone that’s not you to rule it!" Duskryn’s voice steadily rose.
"Yes, Duskryn. You are right. Who among you can deny the fact that we will fall to fighting with each other if we are to rotate ruling or appoint one of us to do it? We were already planning to appoint a single lord from Akatsuki to do it before, and now we have an Athrimir. All the better!" Kaelthorn’s eyes shone.
"I think," Morvane’s gentle voice cut across the room, "while that boy’s reputation can be put to use, his personality isn’t that good. He has the blood of his family, the serpent, they can never be trusted. He’ll turn on us."
"You make a good point, Morvane. And given your history with the family, it’s a good point indeed," Veyrith shook his head. "But you’re forgetting that the whole point of a figurehead is to do as we say. We’ll appoint our people to him, while we weed away his own."
Kaelthorn shrugged. "Using the Athrimir will also prevent the Ito from carelessly attacking, and that will give us the chance to consolidate our power. We’ll be weaker after this war with the Akatsuki. We can’t fight the combined might of Ito and Ryujin Minor Clan."
"Not after we just get the new territories. So, the Athrimir will be the shield while we prepare."
They each thought about it and found no issues with what he said.
"But if we want a good figurehead, we need to make him submit. We need to carve him up and mold him as we want. He’s too arrogant and he thinks himself a Lord. We need to teach him a thing or two!" Vaelros said with a horrible smile.
Thalvyr grunted. "You are always too eager for violence, Vaelros. There’s no need to beat him yet, think about it, we need him to think he’s the leader. To think he’s the one in charge."
Veyrith shook his head. "You said he’s a snake. A Lord. Do you think he’ll be so stupid and believe you’ll all drop your armies at his feet? Think about it, this is the Hinterlands and the most stupid of the stupid know there’s nothing like free lunch. Do you think he won’t become suspicious of us?
"We need to make things difficult. We need to deal with this as if we’re truly at a disadvantage."
The words sunk into them and none could deny the truth. Kaelthorn sighed. "True. In our excitement, we forgot about all of this. So, how should we do this?"
"We need to show strength and ruthlessness, but not enough for him to think of us as a threat that we are," Morvane said.
They nodded in agreement. Their meeting continued as they discussed their plans. They came to the agreement that they needed a way to make him submit and not break him too much.
But then out of the blue, Morvane called to Kaelthorn. "That girl, Isolde, she won’t spill anything, will she?"
Kaelthorn twitched. Everyone knew that he and Isolde had been lovers at one point. His lips thinned. "She won’t. She’s a schemer and didn’t she bring him here? Besides, she’s the type of person that won’t follow the lead of someone weaker than her. Ever. She’s likely hanging around to see what crumbs would fall from all of this."
"Very well. Then let’s take a break and see this Lord of Athrimir again."
☆☆▪︎☆☆
"You and Kaelthorn were lovers?" Vale said with a raised brow.
Isolde shrugged and pointed a fork at him. "Well, yes. He’s strong and rich."
"And why did you leave?"
"I grew bored. I want a new stronger and richer person. Why, are you offering yourself?"
Vale paused eating and looked at her. "You would be a distraction."
She scoffed. "You mean you won’t take a woman because they’ll be a distraction? You know, you sound so full of yourself. You’ve been a Lord all of your life, right? It’s made you arrogant."
Vale shrugged. He couldn’t deny that she had an element of truth in what she said.
"You should let loose sometimes! Free your mind and do what you want! Enjoy yourself!"
"How many men have you killed that way?"
"Well...."
"Exactly."
They continued eating in silence. After all the revelations he’d had, he decided maybe eating would clear his head and so he’d rung the bell and had servants serve them food.
’....figurehead. They want to support me, I spearhead a rebellion and take back my territory and their own, then they’ll rule through me. And once I’ve gotten everything under control, they’ll kill me....’
’.....it’s actually a smart plan. But we can each take advantage of each other. They want a figurehead? Why, can’t I give them that? In the end, just like all things, it’ll boil down to who can kill the other the fastest...’
’....and this Isolde, I wonder who she’s truly working for? I can’t rule out the fact that she’s even one of those pulling the strings. She even found me when I just.....’
Vale froze for just one second and then continued eating as if nothing was wrong.
’....why did I assume that only those two Vampires were sent after me? Hell, the Vampires might not even know that they have someone else as backup! Why else would she be just where I was? A coincidence? But is there really such a thing as coincidence when Knights are involved?....’
’....should I kill her now? No, no, not now. If my guess is correct then she and the Hollow Grave must want to bring me back alive and since she couldn’t do that she must have sent messages back....’
’.... for backup! So backup must be coming. Hehehehe..Hehe hehe... things just got fucking interesting. They want me back alive but how will they get me? Here in Matsumoto? I doubt they’ll try it as I’m very, very protected here with all the Master Knights around. They might still try though....’
’....but if I were them, I wouldn’t kidnap someone in such a protected place. It’s just not worth it. I’ll wait for a chance where people are distracted.....’
Vale smiled inwardly. ’....I’ll wait for a distraction like the battle to try and kidnap him...that’s what I’ll do if I were them....’
’....but all these analyses and I might be wrong. She might just be ordinary and not belong to Hollow Grave. But if she is.....and if the Hollow Grave are coming, then....’
Really, Vale couldn’t help but scold himself for not thinking of such earlier. Seems he had to sharpen his conspiracy mind. Even if he was wrong, he should still be considering all available options.
After eating all the meat and vegetable stew on his plate and drinking a full cup of water, he turned to Isolde. "What do you think the Company Council will do next?"
Isolde shrugged. "They’ll probably try to bargain things as if it’s a real transaction so you’ll think it’s a real transaction. They’ll put up a lot of show and then present you as the leader. After which they’ll whisk you to Akatsuki and fight a war in your name, setting you up as Clan leader of two Clans in Hinterlands. Then they’ll let you do the heavy work while they slowly smother you."
Vale blinked. "You seem good at this."
"Once you become a Master Knight, you’ll learn that politics can’t be avoided and you have to think about your every move, look at all options available before action. Well....maybe it’s different for you."