The Gamer Chapter 1514 – To Avoid Bloodshed (Patreon)

The jade dragon spiralled up Lu Zhi’s naked arm, until its head shimmered on the back of her hand. In one elegant motion, the greyish-black haired beauty created, unfolded and moved her fan to hide her lips again. For just a moment, John saw the same intense green that filled her eyes surface where his brushing thumb had diminished her lipstick.

Despite her barely clad state, the Heavenly Jade Empress radiated power. John’s passive Observe was letting him get a read on her emotions, at this point. Part of her dress must have contained the usual countermeasures. Either her bikini did not have enchantments that were as powerful or she was completely laid bare. John did not attempt to Observe her either way. The passive ran stealthily and without his input. Whether he read it or not was up to him and she would be none the wiser. The active was a different breed. Even if she did not have the necessary means to prevent it, getting alerted to his scanning was common.

The last thing he wanted to do was break her trust at this point by intruding into her thoughts unnecessarily.

‘Which, if she’s intent on hurting me, is a position she masterfully moved me in with how cute she is,’ the Gamer thought. Rather than linger on that and risk getting bogged down in desire again, he picked up the business talk where they had left off. “Our two remaining topics would be Fusion’s designs for Japan and the matter of your tributaries on the west coast.”

“This, we have said.” Lu Zhi nodded, behind the half-cover of her fan. “We will let you choose whichever of the two you wish to discuss first. Further, we do not mind the presence of your women in the room.” The Heavenly Jade Empress let her eyes drift across the room, ultimately stopping at Lydia. “We have many reasons to trust that love and honour reign in this room. Never once have our spies been able to find undue intel about Fusion’s plans within the acts or files of Rex Germaniae’s upper ranks.”

Lydia blew air out of her nose. “I would appreciate it if you did not confess to having spies among my nobles.”

“As you certainly have among ours.” Lu Zhi flicked the wrist of her left hand. A cascade of jade particles scattered up in the air. Varying colours emerged from the bright green, recreating the face of a mildly overweight Chinese man.

“Paak Tang,” Lydia observed.

“He will soon be elevated to How,” Lu Zhi responded.

“How what?” Rave asked, confused.

“It’s the Chinese equivalent of a marquis,” Momo swiftly provided an explanation. It still left Rave a tad confused, she knew little about the differences between an earl, a duke, a baron, and a marquis, besides what cultural osmosis had told her about the relative status of them to each other.

“Why’re we not just using the English words?” the feline Lightbearer asked.

“Because our nobility is different in form and function to that of Europe.” The Heavenly Jade Empress closed her folding fan for a moment to show her smile. “I know, it’s all confusing weirdness. I wouldn’t have bothered to learn any of it if I hadn’t needed it to survive.”

“Hey, hey, question,” Sylph blabbered her way into the conversation, “I know you’re trying to get to all the important policy stuff and I respect that and you should do that because I definitely don’t want to fight you because you’re cute and all that and I really wonder what it would feel like if you and Jane simultaneously pressed your butts against my face but I do have to ask: why’re you wearing lipstick?”

Lu Zhi blinked a couple of times, then the face that hovered next to her shifted into a jade-framed mirror. Immediately, she inspected herself. “Oh, whoops,” was her entire reaction to her noticing her make-up had thinned. She was halfway through pulling a lipstick out of her dimensional pocket when John offered her a handkerchief with his second body.

“I’m not a great fan of painting over natural beauty,” he confessed.

“So I’ve heard.” Lu Zhi considered her options for a moment, then went with the handkerchief. “Not too keen on wearing make-up either,” she said, while wiping away what remained of her lipstick. It must have been a cheap or short-wear brand, to come off with just a few wipes with a wet piece of cloth. “I just can’t quite get used to the colour.”

Lu Zhi presented herself to the harem with another smile. The green of her lips outdid that of her eyes, in their pale, non-glowing state, by one or two degrees of intensity. In her pale face, the colour was doubly outstanding, especially compared to the light shade of pink that had been layered on top before.

“I think you look gorgeous,” John gave his opinion, while his double reverted to the Mandala Sphere. Lu Zhi’s smile went a little wider, before she hid it behind her fan again.

“Your flattering is appreciated, but our exchanges can wait,” she said. “Japan or your coast, which will we negotiate first?”

“It would be appropriate to start with Japan, I think.” John looked at Rave for a moment. “Your stance on allowing us to expand to the west coast might change, depending on the outcome of that talk, after all.”

“We agree with that assessment.” Lu Zhi moved her fan to the side to do the one thing that John had not expected her to do with it: actually fan air into her face. “It would be naïve to assume you would be willing to simply back away from the issue?”

“It would indeed, Lulu.” John really liked how that nickname felt on his tongue. Considering the little bit she straightened up in her chair, she seemed to like hearing it too. “You have to know what is happening is injustice towards an entire people.”

Lu Zhi let out a long sigh and picked up a raspberry with two gracefully formed claws. “The Mandate of Heaven has been the eternal bedrock of East Asia,” she said in a deep tone. “Rich, powerful, defended by banners that, each, were as large as the military of entire nations. When the Final Sun burned our shores, millennia of largely unquestioned superiority came to an end.” She threw the little berry in her mouth. “Neighbours rise and fall, that much is normal, and sometimes they even took over the Forbidden City. Many people were invited to govern from Beijing and they all become Chinese in the end.”

“No matter the devastation of the outskirts, the centre of China was only ever threatened by internal issues,” John commented in a calm, understanding tone. “The ruin brought by the second World War was…”

“It threatened to shatter the soul of our nation,” Lu Zhi responded. “On the Abyssal side, we managed to recover. We drove back the invaders and beheaded the eight-headed snake.” The ‘we’ had more power than just talking about her nation’s history. Her voice was two-layered, one belonging to her own lips, the other to the god of tradition that rose from her skin, coiling around her in a spiral of clouds and jade. “Still, the Mandate of Heaven is weakened. It has been shown that our dominance is fallible. To let the competitor rise, one that treated our people so cruelly, is difficult to contemplate yet alone enact. Further complicated is the broken history of our nation.”

“What do you mean?” Momo asked.

“The Abyss survived, the mundane did not,” Lu Zhi spoke. “You must be aware of the atrocities enacted. The nation shattered due to imperial incompetence, then was conquered by tyrants without tradition. They burned old idols and in doing so weakened us. Abyss and mundane are at odds in China, more than anywhere else in the world. That which is regular for those that follow the Forbidden City leads to execution for those under the yoke of your revolutionary idiocy.”

“I don’t exactly find myself agreeing with communists,” John pushed back calmly.

“You can fuck right off, lumping me in with authoritarian cocksickles,” Eliana added.

Lu Zhi shook her head, the green glow in her eyes diminished, and she turned her head to stare at the dragon. “Hey, what did I say about insulting people I like with my mouth?” the imperial tomboy chastised the ancient god. Adorably, she puffed up her cheeks.

If Tianlong had a strong response to that, it was immediately neutralized. “I most deeply apologize,” the god spoke on its own for the first time. John could not place its voice in either the male or female camp. It was regal, neutral, matriarchal and patriarchal, effortlessly blended contradictions into a pleasing wave of authority.

John wished he knew exactly how the union between Lu Zhi and the god of tradition worked, but that was an investigation he had to keep for another time.

“What my patron means,” the imperial tomboy continued, “is that your western, revolutionary ideology conquered our mundane homeland. A conquest we are unhappy about, but that I would not blame the West for.”

John let out a sigh and waved off. He could see the logic, but he did not agree with it. “I understand your plight,” he continued instead.

“As do I,” Lydia joined. “A nation’s mundane side occupied by an ideology so intensely different than its Abyss is a phenomenon known to Germany.”

“Yet still neither of you can understand the depth of our problem,” Lu Zhi said in two voices. “The time that passed is incomparable. The Mandate of Heaven is disconnected and will remain so for long. As long as we need to navigate this, we cannot find the strength to confidently declare ourselves hegemon of East Asia again. If we could, the raids would end tomorrow.” The Heavenly Jade Empress stared intensely across the table. “The Dangun Clan does not enjoy our support in their actions.”

“But you are powerless to stop them?” John summarized the situation, to which Lu Zhi gave him a curt nod.

The fan snapped shut and dissolved in the usual manner. With its disappearance, the jade dragon fully separated from her body. “It’s really annoying,” the imperial tomboy complained. “If the Mandate of Heaven’s hegemony of the area was restored, reigning in the little brother would be simple. We’d establish a tributary in Japan and that’d be that. However, the old folk are vindictive. I mean, I heard the stories, so it’s not like I can blame the inhabitants of Nanking for being careful to the point of aggressive prevention.”

John rubbed his forehead, that was indeed one of the primary issues he had to contend with here. “I suppose the position you want to put me in is to support the Mandate of Heaven’s return to hegemony status?” he asked.

Lu Zhi’s left hand came to rest between the antlered horns of the god of tradition. “Such would be our intention. If we can act as the warden once more, the position of prevention is weakened.”

The Gamer contemplated the idea. Arming a different member of the Divided Gates, even a friendly one, went against his political instincts. Additionally, if they went with this plan, Japan would effectively go to the Mandate of Heaven. Fusion stood nothing to gain from all of this except for having done the right thing.

In the world of international politics, that just wasn’t good enough.

“I can’t go with that plan,” he told her.

“I told you he wasn’t that weak to cuteness!” Lu Zhi shouted triumphantly.

“Perhaps you are not cute enough,” Tianlong suggested. “As suggested, a traditional dress and-“

The dragon stopped when it was grabbed by the horns and thoroughly shaken. “Listen here, you cranky green noodle, I am obviously plenty cute!”

“Yeah, that really is not the issue here,” Momo drily added. “The local perv does actually have enough sense not to be taken absolute advantage of.”

John just leaned back in his chair and waited for the quarrel between Lu Zhi and Tianlong to come to an end. When the imperial tomboy noticed his patient stare, she froze and shot him a little uncertain smile. He knew that look plenty. That was the expression of a woman that did not quite know what to do when her looks weren’t enough to get what she wanted out of a man. It only lasted for a moment, then she cleared her throat.

“Obviously, we were prepared for you requiring more from us,” Lu Zhi told him, fan once again in hand, dragon back on her skin. “We wish for Fusion’s support in the form of raw materials, to keep the Mandate of Heaven strong, as we wait for the inevitable collapse of our mundane hindrances. In return for this aid, we will repay you fourfold.”

“I’m listening?” John asked, as intrigued and calm as the situation called for.

“First, what you as president covet most: our tributaries in America shall be released from our sway and, as best we can, transferred to you peacefully. We have no interest in projecting ourselves in that part of the world, an ocean away. A large offering will suffice to appease our own subjects regarding this territorial concession.

“Second, what you as a person of just mind covet most: the Mandate of Heaven shall voice its indignation towards the treatment of the Japanese publicly. This will sour relations with the Dangun Clan, but the bonds of our nations run deeper than one disagreement. When the war inevitably begins, this positions us to remain neutral. We will not intervene when the battles are fought and we will be the trusted referees when the time for peace comes.

“Third, what you as an attendee of this event covet most: our vote later today. Fusion’s admission to this body is a forgone conclusion, in due time. Still, we hold the power to delay you and delays cost a man such as you.

“Fourth, what you as a man covet most: shall it be that our interest blooms into love, it will require the goodwill of my people for it to become official. Fusion being a close ally of ours would make it all infinitely more palatable.” Lu Zhi folded her fan, but held the jade object in hand without dismissing it. “Does that sound good to you?”

John considered it. It was a good deal all around and that naturally made him wary. What did the Mandate of Heaven gain from all of this that made Lu Zhi so eager to give Fusion everything it could ask for?

First, obviously, they gained the vast stores of raw materials Fusion had access to. As a large nation, the Mandate of Heaven was able to extract much from the Natural Barriers around it, but there was much that Fusion could offer with an absurd reliability, as the Gamer had proven with his gifts last night.

Second was a cementing of the Mandate of Heaven’s status as hegemon over East Asia. Staying out of the conflict between Fusion and the Dangun Clan meant that the Korean guild was weakened while the Mandate of Heaven continued to rebuild itself. For all their talk of sibling love, the Heavenly Jade Empress had to understand that it was much easier to stay top of the totem pole if the second place got defeated in a way. Simultaneously, she would be in the perfect position to end the war when she felt it appropriate.

That was third, the Mandate of Heaven’s diplomatic situation. It appeared that Lu Zhi, for one reason or another, decided to approach the rising influence of John Newman in the world. It was a world of two emperors right now. Romulus on one side of Eurasia, Lu Zhi on the other. Those two realms concentrated around them the greatest powers of the current world order.

Obviously, this could not last. John’s meteoric rise was one of the historical occurrences where too many possibilities were lined up for nothing to happen. The remaining power vacuums after the World Wars, the Generation of Monsters, the vast amounts of unclaimed land, slow moral development away from slavery in the Abyss, technomancy and Mobile Barriers invalidating much of the old infrastructure – all of these things, individually, were cause for a drastic shift in how the world ran. Altogether, the arrival of some Latebloomer that shifted the balance of power was basically unavoidable.

Getting into good graces with the new player was rarely a bad idea, especially if there was little in terms of territorial conflicts. There was more to this, though, and John only realized it when he thought about Chinese history a bit longer.

As Lu Zhi had said: the Chinese had a tendency to take foreign conquerors as rulers and then, rather than be truly taken over, gradually turn the descendants of the new dynasty Chinese in culture. It was quite impressive and it had also served to give China claims to the massive land area it controlled these days, from Manchuria to Vietnam.

Worst case, being friendly with Fusion meant the Mandate of Heaven had someone to trade with. Best case…

John had to force himself to remain quiet three more seconds, after he had thought all of this through. It would have looked a bit weird if he went into this next question without a pause from where the conversation had left off. “You were always considering to marry me, weren’t you?”

Lu Zhi showed him a scheming little smile. “Whaaaaat, noooo,” she denied affirmingly. “Whyever would you think that?”

“Because it makes no sense for the hegemon of East Asia to let a foreign power take over the most prominent island nation in the area, unless you believe you can spin it in a way that it’s still under the protection of China,” John laid out simply. With each word, he grew more confident in his explanation.

Lu Zhi’s gaze sparkled with delight. It was that certain look an intellectual got when they were caught in a plan they were particularly proud of. “Aaaand?” she coaxed out of him.

Standing up, John slowly circled around the table as he spoke. “The easiest way to solve all of your issues, all of them, is if you join the Mandate of Heaven at the hip with another power. Who is eligible for that? The Dangun Clan? Hardly, they are basically led by Eui and what resources do they have that they don’t already share? Prometheus? Impossibly inwardly focused. The Illuminati? Who would invite the fingers of the Rat into their nation? The Great Sultanate? Only if you transferred your titles in full. Rex Germaniae? The Purest Front? The Sons of Rome? The Sons of Odin?” John finally stopped in front of her. “All too far away or led by people that won’t allow you to remain the leader of the Mandate of Heaven, but me?” He looked to his harem. “There’s plenty of precedent of me loving and encouraging my women to do what they can and wish to.” His gaze returned to Lu Zhi. “So, a diplomatic marriage was always on the table, wasn’t it?”

“Rulers don’t find love often.” Lu Zhi crossed her legs, slanted away from him in her chair, and gazed up with confidence. “And, really, once you take over Alaska, and the Mandate of Heaven colonizes Siberia, how distant are you? How big is that ocean, really?” Once more, the fan hid the smile. “Consider it: our realms joined in marital union. Equal to each other, yet understood to be joined.”

It was a good plan. It was a fantastic plan. As far as feudal logic went, it was the greatest plan there ever could have been. The Abyss followed feudal logic to a much greater degree than the mundane, as John had to repeatedly find out. With this plan, they could have it all. The Mandate of Heaven got to rebuild, Fusion got to expand, Japan was liberated, John got himself an imperial tomboy, Lu Zhi got to claim the security of having his backing, amazing sex, and to save face regarding a foreigner holding Japan.

Certainly, there would be some roadblocks in her court and the Dangun Clan would not be amused. It all had to be carefully executed. They had to build and spend political capital a couple of times, advancing the plan stage by stage.

John loved that kind of stuff.

There was only one problem.

“I can’t agree to marrying you if I don’t love you,” he told her.

Lu Zhi went through two different reactions simultaneously. The imperial rolled her eyes. The tomboy smiled at his earnesty. “Something tells me I can pass that hurdle – I am very lovable,” she stated.

“I believe that in a heartbeat,” John chuckled, but shook his head, “but it also can’t work if you don’t love me. I can agree to all of your plan but that bit.”

“Greedy, aren’t you?” Lu Zhi hummed. “Land and wealth are not enough, you also want my heart.” She dismissed the fan in its entirety. The glow of her eyes and lips ended. Tianlong on her skin calmed to an inert state, remaining like a tattoo on her porcelain skin.

“Greed is my third most prominent sin,” John joked suavely.

“Then, we will revisit the idea of marriage another time,” Lu Zhi decided. “It’s not like we need an immediate answer to have our agreement about the land transfer and material support. Different question: can I suck your cock?”

Stunned silence.