Necessary Corruption 10 (Patreon)

Necessary Corruption
Chapter 10: Bad and Ugly, because Good isn’t Here

-VB-

“Lord Jinshi,” I greeted the fat regent, giving him a respectful nod.

“We meet again, Lord Takanori,” he greeted me with a smile of his own. “It’s wonderful to have a peer who takes care of their own!”

“Oh, you knew of me?”

“Of course! I have been following your achievements as closely as I could follow. Defeater of the heinous lords that dared burn their peers in their own castle, the lord who looks after his commoners! Why wouldn’t I? I’ve learned from you, you know?”

I felt a small blush on my cheeks. “Uh… really?”

“Yes! You improve agriculture, introduced new crops. While I do not know a thing about agriculture, I knew that I could try something similar with aquaculture and fishing! As a result, I managed to improve the Land of Waves’ fishing output by two fold with careful management! Really, it’s the management that I learned watching your achievements…!”

The man talked. And talked. And talked.

And I realized it.

He was lonely.

It was something I learned on the side, but we weren’t very different. While he was older than I was, he lost his family to treachery just like I did, but it was a treachery borne within his own clan; his father had died to his aunt, his aunt to his other aunt, and the other aunt died to him.

He saw family as unreliable, or so the lack of family or even a spouse told me.

It was why he devoted himself to the people. According to my sources within the court, he was rescued from the last assassination attempt on his life during his familial fiasco by none other than a commoner friend.

His only commoner friend.

Who died to save him.

And then the lord regent stopped talking when we were in the balcony of the daimyo’s castle overlooking the streets of the capital city below.

There, we saw a spectacle happening.

Thugs with clear coloration of Gato Shipping uniform, beat a poor woman in the street.

He was lonely, and he made the people of the Land of Waves his friend and family.

As I watched him seethe at the violence occurring, I knew that I had him on my side. He quickly shouted for the guards to get down there and “do something.”

But do what against the thugs working for the asshole keeping the entire island hostage for his pet project? The guards knew this, because they have been told time and time again to not anger Gato. They have been educated to fear Gato.

So as they left, I couldn’t help but see their grimacing and frustrated faces.

Why wouldn’t they be frustrated? They couldn’t do anything meaningful like arrests without Gato throwing a fit. Gato throwing a fit would lead to people starving. It might be their family that starved.

I looked to the kind lord regent with wrath coloring his face like a weakness indicator clear for all to see.

He was lonely, and seeing his people get abused roused him like nothing else.

And I could use that.

“It seems that Gato Shipping is not good for your people…” I whispered from his side.

He was but the first of many I would turn to my side.

Who wouldn’t welcome a kinder lesser evil?

“... Perhaps I can lend you a hand.”

-VB-

I got the lord regent’s approval.

I now had to get as much of the court on my side as possible, and root out any nobles and courtiers who may be benefitting from Gato’s tyranny. Lord regent’s approval will only hasten the others’ change of mind, or lack thereof.

Funnily enough, the extensive research I’ve done on the lord regent netted me a list of courtiers and lords who wouldn’t change their mind.

A good example of this was Lord Rimosumoto, a lesser lord in charge of the northern edge of the island. Instead of helping the people Gato were bullying, he went and got himself bribed to do nothing. He went so far as to pull his own guards out of the towns.

Now, for the likes of him, I had two choices: bribe with better offers or eliminate.

But the thing about bribes was that they were inherently useful and unstable. Their very nature as a medium of exchange for favors and whatnot meant that if I bribed the man, Rimosumoto could decide that he wasn’t getting enough even after I paid him twice whatever Gato paid him. It would also make me an accomplice to corruption, and I couldn’t be seen or pointed at for trivialities of the court.

What if, on the other hand, I offered him a share of my own ventures? A retinue with a unique power that might even be more valuable than ninjas?

Someone who would remain in his service as long as he gave me his loyalties?

‘Ok, sure. He might see this as a poisoned apple,’ I thought to myself. ‘Many corrupt nobles generally would.’

Because who just randomly offered a skilled retinue to another noble when most nobles and lords were busy trying in vain to get more talent?

No no no. It wouldn’t work.

The lack of the bribe option left me with only one choice: elimination.

“How should I do it?” I muttered as I thought of all of the ways to ruin a man.

And then I knew it.

“Let’s arrange … a hunting accident.” I turned to Washimoto. “Invite Lord Rimosumoto and a few others. We will need some witnesses.”