Necessary Corruption 9 (Patreon)

Commissioned by Kejmur

Necessary Corruption
Chapter 9: Kings and Pawns

-VB-

My audience with the Daimyo of Waves was a quick one. I did not directly talk with the lord but rather the regent in charge.

He was …

Well, he made the lords in the Land of Rivers seem tame. Fat, ugly, sweaty, and rude, he was the epitome of what the corruption in the Land of Rivers wished it could be. I wouldn’t have minded the former three traits; ugly and sweaty were just part of oneself and fat could not be helped with many who do not participate in athletics due to their courtly life.

Rude, on the other hand, was not so easily ignorable.

So I set about a plan.

Like all good acts of statesmanship, it started with some spying.

-VB-

“Milord.”

I welcomed my spy into the room with a small gesture.

The woman glided in through the solid ceiling and landed in front of her on both of her knees. Dressed in complete black without a single speck of curve or skin showing on her, I had to admit that she was scary, and her designer superbly talented.

Without saying a word, she set the report, a folded piece of paper, down on the low table in front of me, and phased through the ground.

This was as if to say that she was never here.

That was good.

I liked it when my people were so efficient and professional that they were scary and overwhelming.

Can ninjas phase through walls? If not, then he now had someone who would trump them at one aspect of their profession.

I picked up the piece of paper and read its short contents.

And frowned.

… Really?

I set the piece of paper down.

‘To think that the corrupt as fuck looking regent is actually clean…’

-VB-

It took me over a week to get the true workings of the Land of Waves down, but I did get it down within that shockingly short period of time.

The situation was thus:

One, Land of Waves was a commerce driven nation with very little resources not only due to its location but also its size; the island which the Land of Waves sat on was smaller than the province of my clan yet boasted a population thrice it. The Gamonishi province held one hundred twelve thousand people over an area of forty square ri. The Land of Waves had three hundred thousand people over an area of barely forty-five square ri.

Two, the Gato Shipping truly did hold a monopoly of shipping in the Sea of Fire, the body of water bordered by the Land of Fire, Land of Rivers, and the Land of Winds. Due to this monopoly and the Land of Waves’ island nature, they were wholly dependent on the Gato Shipping to keep them not only functional but alive; the Land of Waves had little to no arable land.

Three, the Wave Daimyo’s court was far from the worst of the atrocities dished out by Gato’s thugs to the people. Gato had chosen a good port for that on the other side of the island from where the daimyo and his court was. It didn’t help that there was a small mountain in between that obscured the view and made travel by foot harder.

And four, the corrupt-looking regent was doing his goddamn best to keep his island fed and functioning. To ensure that Gato would have no leverage, he used third-party organizations to feed, cloth, and educate the people of the Land of Waves as he sold off more and more of his wealth that he inherited. As of now, he had a tenth of what he got from his grandfather.

“Oi oi oi, what is this bullshit?” I mumbled to myself as I burned the last of the notes delivered to me.

It sounded so much like what my father had to do to keep the people of our clan alive and safe from the predation of the northern lords.

Anger and frustration built up inside me, and all of it was aimed at Gato.

“I came here to corrupt and manipulate,” I muttered even as ideas of what I needed to do - not what I wanted to do - surfaced in my mind in rapidfire to improve the situation on the island. I chuckled. “Maybe I’ll even become a hero like Father.”

I quickly composed myself.

Before anything could happen, Gato needed to go.

“Washimoto.”

“Yes, milord?” my ever present butler asked from the other side of the rice paper wall.

“Ensure that Gato’s thugs are seen rather publicly and in clear sight of the daimyo’s followers. They will do what they do best.”

“Yes, milord. I hear and obey.”

If there was a rule about courtly politics, then it was this.

Assassinations happened and consequences never dealt out because the court allowed it to happen.

I needed the court of the Wave Daimyo on my side when Gato eventually died at my hands so that I didn’t have ninjas coming after me to take my rightfully earned assets for their land and people.

“... Bring in the last person vouched for.”

Within two minutes, they brought the man in.

“You are?” I asked the man who came and bowed.

“I am called Tomokata Genryushi, my lord.”

“Hmm. Tomokata-san, do you know why you have been called here?”

“I do not, my lord.”

“You are a man of the Land of Waves, are you not?”

“I am. I was born here as have my parents, grandparents, and my ancestors.”

“And you know what Gato is doing to your people, yes?”

A moment of silence, but I saw the man’s jaw grit and bulge.

“I do,” he replied slowly.

“I will offer you a deal. Serve me, and I will - with your help - free this island of Gato’s rule.”

His head snapped up with wide surprised eyes.

“None of the Wave Daimyo’s nobles want to fight Gato…!”

“But I am not a local noble,” I chuckled. “But I would not bring you into my service without compensation. You are, after all, a mere carpenter.”

He bowed again quickly.

“How may I be of service?”

“So you accept?”

“You are the only noble to seek to remove Gato that I know of. For that alone, you have my hands.”

“Then kneel before me.”

He did.

He was big.

I smirked.

I placed a hand on his forehead to his surprise.

“I, Takanori Jin, bless you, and ask you to serve the Takanori Clan to the best of your abilities from here on out.”

He glowed briefly and dimly in white, and he froze up in surprise.

“Tell me, what have I blessed you with? It is within you now.”

He blinked as my words registered, and then his already wide eyes widened even further.

“I… can make things I’ve never thought of with wood…?” he mumbled.

“Excellent,” I said and clapped my hands, bringing him out of his daydream.

He quickly bowed, and nearly smashed his head onto the tatami.

“I did not know I was before a seijin, milord! Please forgive this commoner!”

“You are a retinue of my clan now, Tomotaka-san,” I ignored his terrified words. “Go. Your more experienced comrades will find you a place among them.”

Slowly but ever so surely, I was growing in power.

Land of Waves will be mine.

If I am a benevolent lord, then all the better for the people, because it wouldn’t stop me from shipping my narcotics to the rest of the world.