A Young Woman's Political Record 46 (Patreon)

AN: First chapter this week, per my patreon commitment.

ooOoo

March 31, 1941

I received a hero's welcome on my return to Berun. The criticism I had expected to receive over my lenient treatment of the Francois Republic never materialized. I would have liked to think that my countrymen had become more tempered in their expectations, but I feared it was more likely that they were simply pleased with the quick victory. In the heat of the moment, they were more inclined to celebrate than to nitpick.

The celebratory mood was only slightly dampened by the death of President Rudersdorf. I had only learned after the fact that his health had taken a turn for the worse almost simultaneously with the start of the war. He had kept it to himself, not wanting to cause a distraction at such a critical time. According to his doctor, it was a minor miracle that he had clung to life as long as he had.

I hadn't known him back in the days that he had served in the field, but it didn't surprise me that Rudersdorf was a fighter. It probably wasn't a coincidence that he had finally passed away in his sleep only after learning of the Francois Republic's surrender.

A great man like Rudersdorf would naturally be sent off with all due pomp and circumstance. The fact that we were at war would limit the guest list somewhat, but his funeral would still have quite the prestigious guest list. It helped that the heads of state of OZEV would be visiting later in the week for a strategy meeting. They should all be willing to adjust their schedules in order to pay their respects.

Even without a President, though, the business of governing the nation went on. And so I found myself, bright and early in the morning, addressing a packed National Diet. As I surveyed the crowd, I could sense the mixed emotions. Joy for our victory over the Francois Republic. Trepidation in the face of the ongoing war. And, of course, grief for the passing of the President.

"Thank you all for coming," I said. "Let us begin today's session with a moment of silence in memory of President Rudersdorf."

I looked down, the podium filling my vision as a hush fell over the hall. Rudersdorf had been a towering figure in the Imperial military and then again in the political scene of the newly born republic. On a personal level, he was the last of my military superiors to hold a superior position over me, and had been the last hope that someone other than myself could set me free from the job of chancellor. His passing marked the end of an era.

I wondered what Being X would make of him. As far as I knew, Rudersdorf had been a regular church attendee and harbored none of my implacable hatred for the divine. Perhaps Being X would take a shine to him. Maybe he'd even tell Rudersdorf about my background. I could only guess what the old man would say if he knew that his respected subordinate had been working off a cheat sheet granted by an extra century of future knowledge.

On the other hand, I could well imagine what Rudersdorf would think of Being X. The old man had even less patience for incompetent workers than I did. One whiff of Being X's self-pity and he wouldn't be able to keep himself from chewing out that so-called deity. The poor bastard would probably end up dumped even further in the past in an even less logical world. I actually would have liked to see what Rudersdorf could do as a magical girl in a fantasy version of Sengoku era Japan.

Well, the more likely result was that Rudersdorf had simply been ushered off to his eternal reward. I'd gotten the impression that the system was largely automated. Or, if not precisely automated, that usually each death was processed without any personal discussion. I had been a special case. Not that I myself was anything special, just that I had happened to be present when Being X had finally snapped.

I shifted, a little uncomfortable with my train of thought. Rudersdorf might be enjoying an eternal reward, but I didn't have anything good waiting for me in the afterlife. It was funny. I'd never spent much time worrying about that kind of thing. There was no point dwelling on something so uncertain in my first life, and no point dwelling on a foregone conclusion in my second life.

Still, I'd picked up at least a bit of theology, growing up in a church orphanage. It was hard not to notice that Germania's primary religion was big on forgiveness. The only unforgivable sin was suicide, and that only because of the practical impossibility of repentance. And yet, when Being X had cast me into this world, he hadn't left any possibility open that I might escape my fate. I'd live my life here, and that was it. It was strange, to think that humans had put more thought and care into building up religious doctrine than the being who personally handled the disposition of souls after death.

With a start, I realized that I had let the moment of silence drag on a bit too long. I forcibly pulled my thoughts away from their maudlin track and focused on today's business. As always, I refused to dwell something I couldn't change.

"Thank you," I said. A murmur of conversation swept through the room as the members of the Diet were released from the obligation of silence. After a moment they settled down, their attention focused on me once more. "I will, of course, carry out the duties that have fallen to me as a result of President Rudersdorf's passing."

The previous year our party had tweaked the law of presidential succession as part of a general governmental reform. Under the old system, there was a defined line of succession among the president's appointees, one of whom would serve out the duration of his original term. The new system provided for an immediate election, with the chancellor taking on the duties and powers of the president until a new one was chosen. 

At the time, I had seen it as a democratizing measure. Now, thanks to the mess the war would make of the electoral process, I was going to be saddled with a second job on top of my own without any corresponding increase in pay. Well, to some extent it just formalized Rudersdorf's abdication of most of his responsibilities to me following his illness, but I still didn't intend to be stuck with the job for a minute longer than I had to.

"I would like to appoint a committee," I continued, "to determine how an election is best carried out under the current circumstances."

Visha had provided me with a list of relatively responsible, level headed members of our party in the Diet. At my request, she'd added in the most respectable members of the opposition as well. I wanted a major decision like this to be done right and command the broadest possible base of support. It would badly hamstring our war effort if the people felt like I was trying to play procedural tricks with the presidency.

Thanks to those preparations, it was relatively straightforward to get the Diet to agree to create the committee that I wanted and staff it with the people that I wanted. The whole process still took an hour, somehow, but at least it was off my plate.

"Our next order of business concerns the end of hostilities with the Francois Republic," I announced.

That brought about a rather cheerful hubbub, as the members of the Diet who had been tuning out the discussion of procedural minutiae perked up at the reminder of our recent success. It was good for political leaders to show high spirits in a time of war, but I was worried that the mood might be tipping too far into outright triumphalism.

I considered rebuking them. We'd been very fortunate that the Francois Republic had chosen such an aggressive strategy and could hardly count on our other enemies to present such critical vulnerabilities. The Russy Federation, especially, wasn't going to collapse after a mere two lost battles. I wavered, but decided to hold my tongue. This was a happy moment. There would be plenty of time for grim contemplation of the future in the days to come.

The celebratory mood held as I read the provisions of the deal into the record. Our diplomatic team was still hammering out the precise wording that would be used in the final document, but the initial agreement in principle was close enough for government work. Or, close enough that we could begin drafting the appropriate enabling legislation.

"Malagasy is an island colony that rivals the size of Germania," I said. "It is home to only four million people, most of whom live a pre-industrial way of life."

The natural result of my desire to placate the Francois Republic by taking from them only a worthless piece of land was that Germania was now the proud owner of a worthless piece of land. In public speeches, though, I would have to maintain the polite fiction that I was excited by the potential for growth in our worthless colony.

"The Navy has sent a fleet on its way to take possession of our new holdings," I continued. "The military governor has also been charged with the duty of conducting an initial survey of the country."

Technically, I shouldn't punish the Navy for doing too well at their jobs. No matter how fraught they might have made any diplomatic relations with the Allied Kingdom, those kind of political considerations weren't part of their job. They had hardly done anything wrong by planning such an effective operation. Arguably, I should even reward them. Of course, they certainly weren't getting any new ships for a while after their recent performance. Instead, I'd given them the honor of sending most of the fleet out to the middle of nowhere to welcome our new colony to the family.

I hoped that having our aircraft carrier vacate the local area would help the Allied Kingdom calm down. Meanwhile, the thousand marines accompanying the fleet, along with two battalions of civil defense mages, should be enough to impress the natives and keep them from doing anything foolish. I could sympathize with the anger they must feel at being treated like a bargaining chip, but the one thing that could keep our countries locked together would be a native uprising. The public would never let me set the colony free if it looked like doing so was the result of intimidation.

"A new colonial office, supervised by a committee of the Diet, will bring civilian control and guidance to our newly acquired colony," I said. "While the Francois Republic has held Malagasy for some time, the effort they put in to developing the place was half-hearted at best. I believe that we can do a better job building up the local economy and improving local governance."

The local economy at the moment could be described as primitive agriculture. The Francois Republic had taken most of their taxes out of the colony in the form of forced labor, of all things. The only unique thing about the island were the lemurs. Some of which were quite adorable, but eco-tourism as a driver of the economy wouldn't come about without ubiquitous jet travel.

Well, maybe I could organize some kind of package dirigible tour. They'd been grounded due to the war, but once it was safe to travel they would have the range. Maybe they could stop at Aegyptus to tour the pyramids before beelining south to the beaches of Malagasy. Then on the way back, they could stop... somewhere, I'd leave it to other to work out the details. 

Even in a best case scenario, dirigible tours wouldn't be enough to prop up an economy. It was more likely that we would wind up just improving their road system, building out some more railroads, and setting up some light industry so they could export finished goods to nearby countries. While all that took place, we'd gradually be ceding more and more power to the locals. The eventual separation would be nothing more than a formality, leaving the direct passenger flight connecting them to Berun as the only memento of our colonial past.

One advantage we had over the Francois Republic was that we weren't going to try to squeeze money out of the island. Quite the contrary, I didn't mind diverting some of the loot we'd hauled off to help develop Malagasy and keep the peace. It might seem odd to spend money that way considering we're at war, but I considered it a sound investment in avoiding more war in the future.

"Finally, we must consider the lowering of trade barriers," I said. "This will open trade not just to the Francois Republic, but to all of its colonies as well."

As merciful as it may have appeared on the surface to leave the Francois Republic with most of its colonial possessions, the free trade agreement shifted much of the actual benefit of owning those colonies to us. The Francois Republic could have the prestige and pay the price to maintain its colonial empire, while Germanian businesses were free to profit off their hard work. They'd have to compete with the Franks, of course, but I liked our chances in that fight. If nothing else, the advantage of a stable currency would make it much easier to bid on natural resources.

"I am proposing the creation of a committee to study the resulting patterns of trade," I continued, "and in particular the effect on wages."

The MEF had been established to provide free trade between neighboring countries with significant shared history and cultural ties. Opening it up to neighbors of neighbors hadn't been much of a stretch, but adding the whole Frankish colonial empire could cause problems. If I wasn't careful, problems that resulted from a treaty that I signed due to a provision that I suggested would be seen as my fault. Accordingly, putting a committee between myself and blame was the bare minimum that I should do as a politician.

"I believe the Germanian worker can compete with the best in the world when it comes to ingenuity, creativity, and production," I said. "However, it strikes me as unfair to ask him to compete against half of Africa on price."

I didn't think that any far-sighted business owners would uproot their factories and move them to colonies that were under the control of a foreign power, colonies whose free access to the Germanian market was on an expiration date. However, if I had learned one thing from working with Anton Ehrlich, it was that managers could be remarkably short sighted when it came to chiseling away at worker's pay.

I had two obvious reasons to step in and slow down that kind of thing. First of all, any production shipped overseas was production that the Allied Kingdom could shut down at a whim. Second, the country had just called up millions of workers for service in the military and armed them with cutting edge weaponry. I hardly wanted to be forced to tell those newly armed, trigger happy, bloodthirsty maniacs that they were all taking a pay cut once the fighting was over.

"Let me say, also, that I hope that the coming increase in trade is the first step in defining a new relationship between Germania and the Francois Republic," I continued. "For too long, we have considered each other rivals and enemies. It may be some time before we can become friends, but I hope that we can soon at least see each other as valuable customers."

It might seem to some of the audience like a pointless distraction to occupy the Diet with matters of trade when we were still faced with a three front war. However, even soldiers don't fight all the time. They eat, drink, and socialize with their friends. Similarly, a nation couldn't focus itself entirely on war. Especially in a war with a foe like the Russy Federation, a war that would be neither quick nor easy. A growing, healthy economy was ultimately the source and measure of a country's strength.

One of the many reasons the Empire had fallen was that it had cannibalized its economy in pursuit of a quick victory that never materialized. I had no intention of following in those cursed footsteps and trying to match up to a communist foe by having the government take over the means of production.

ooOoo

Later that day, I shared a restful evening alone with Visha. The two of us customarily spent some time together after dinner to read. Initially, I had been reading government reports while Visha enjoyed her novels, but lately Visha had been taking more and more official paperwork home with her. She had never complained, even as I became more open about preparing to foist my job onto her at the first opportunity.

I was usually at my most productive during this time, but not today. When I found myself re-reading the cover page of a report on airplane production for the third time, I finally decided that it was time to put my foot down and address the root cause of the problem. I put the report down with a thud, drawing Visha's attention.

"I think we should have that talk now."

"Oh?" Visha asked, setting her reading material aside and stretching for a moment before giving me her undivided attention.

Humans are remarkably adaptable creatures. For example, the Rhine Front was the closest thing that I'd ever seen to hell on earth, an inhospitable wasteland created by the clash of irrational combatants. It was everything I hated. And yet, after I'd been stuck there for a few months, I had adapted to the point that waking up to an artillery barrage seemed normal. It was only after I had been confronted with some kind of sudden change that jolted me out of my complacency that I would be reminded of the sheer illogic of the situation.

I had shared living quarters with an attractive woman for well over a decade. After a few awkward moments that were now distant memories, I had more or less adjusted to the situation. Even just a month ago, I had hardly given the matter any thought. Now that the possibility of romance was on the table, though, I found myself noticing all kinds of distractions.

Visha was chewing on her lip while she waited for me to continue. I cleared my throat and dragged my attention back to what I had been meaning to say.

"Nobody's invading us at the moment, and every immediate crisis has been dealt with," I said. "I know I said I would wait until after we won, but I think this should be victory enough."

I pulled a copy of the New Amstreldam Observer from the pile of papers on our coffee table. All in all, I thought Miss Caldwell had largely stuck to the facts, even if she had simplified the military situation in order to appeal to her readers. Her report had been given the front page, and was accompanied by a picture of me standing atop a P-50 as it rolled through Parisee.

Visha studied the picture for a moment, the looked back up at me with a suspicious glint in her eye. "Did you conquer the Francois Republic in two weeks because you wanted to impress me?"

"Of course not!" I protested. "Conquering the Francois Republic as quickly as possible was vital for the national interest."

It would be a terrible misuse of human resources to launch a military operation just to make myself look good. A dedicated public servant like Visha would be horrified by such a thing. I'd be willing to risk her disapproval if my life were on the line, but I knew better than to try to worm my way into her good graces by undermining the hard work she and every other government employee had been putting in since the war was declared.

Still, I couldn't help my curiosity. "You were impressed?"

As I understood it, women put a lot of stock in partnering up with somebody who could protect them from the vicissitudes of life. On the most fundamental level, that meant providing physical safety. When it came to that, I didn't think it got much better than beating back an invading army and forcing a surrender in two weeks. It was even the second time I'd pulled off such a thing, proving that it wasn't a complete fluke. A solid basis for a relationship if ever there was one.

Even so, maybe I should have picked up some flowers while I was in Parisee. Just to hedge my bets.

She sighed. "I think we're past that kind of thing."

I knew I should have bought those flowers!

Before I could say anything, she stood and made her way around the coffee table. She sat down on the couch next to me without hesitation and took my hand in hers. I just stared at her, not sure what to say.

"I've admired you almost as long as I've known you," she said. "You don't have to impress me."

I looked down, embarrassed. As easy as it was to dismiss fawning flattery and blatant brown-nosing, I was still weak to sincere praise.

After a moment, I started to worry. She could easily be talking about platonic admiration. For example, I'd always admired President Rudersdorf, but I'd certainly never been interested in an intimate relationship with the man. Actually, that interpretation might even be the most likely, considering that when we'd met I'd been too young to be sexually attractive to any but the most degenerate.

It was possible she was just trying to let me down easy. On the other hand, she'd kissed me first. Logically, she'd be keeping more space between us if she was having second thoughts.

Well, there was a straightforward way to resolve this. I gathered myself together enough to look Visha in the eye. "And romantically?"

It was her turn to blush. "That came later."

"Oh?" I asked, happy to be on the front foot.

"I think it probably started during our first political campaign," she said. "That was the first time I'd seen you so passionate about something that wasn't a military objective."

Hmm. It's easy to be dazzled when you're watching somebody who is the focal point of a cheering crowd. I didn't want to sweep Visha into a relationship built on peer pressure and wishful thinking. 

"Are you sure about this?" I asked. "I can be pretty difficult to get along with."

It was strange, considering that I was such a reasonable person, but I'd always had a hard time maintaining friendships, let alone romance. Despite holding a reasonably prestigious job that was more than capable of supporting a family, I'd only rarely gotten past the second date. The women I'd known had put outsized importance on such nebulous concepts as "emotional connection" and "feeling wanted." I'd come to a better understanding in my second life of just how irrational people could be, but I couldn't help but feel that I bore at least some of the blame for my ignominious romantic history.

"Mmm," she said, nodding. "I know what I want."

The embarrassed look was long gone from her expression. Instead, she looked determined. She was also leaning well into my personal space.

"To be honest," I said, scooting away from her a little bit, "I don't really know anything about how to sustain a romantic relationship."

"Me neither," she said, the admission doing little to slow her down as she scooted closer. "We can figure something out."

I'd always lived my life by the twin principles of rational decision making and delayed gratification. I made plans based on careful calculations of my own long-term benefit. Those plans didn't always work out, but they were the best I could do with the information that I had available. I left twenty-twenty hindsight for impulsive simpletons like Being X while I focused on my own future rational self-interest.

Maybe it was all right, just once, to do something just because I wanted to.

ooOoo

AN2: Second chapter this week will probably be a new original fic.