Chapter 1985 – Approaching the Late Game 32 – A Walk with Two
John was not the only one to step out. “You could retreat to your rooms at this point,” the Gamer pointed out. “There should be enough noise isolation that you won’t hear what we get up to.”
Surprisingly, it was Daiyu that responded first. “I… uhm… would like to talk to you for a bit?” The busty Chinese woman shifted. John forced his eyes to remain above the diamond-shaped window into her cleavage. Lulu had told him of her intentions, but John was more than ever determined to limit the additions to his harem.
The question of Layla remained open and whatever Moira’s plans were would manifest one day. Between those two, John already had more potential additions ‘queued up’ than he wanted. That was in the theoretical sense, his monkey brain was more than happy to still expand his genetic spreading opportunities. It was that pesky reason that kept him cautious.
‘This is the acceleration on the off ramp,’ he told himself. ‘I am going to peter out the pace of these additions.’ “Well, I am happy to talk to you… about what?”
“I, uhm… uh… uh…” Daiyu’s hands physically grasped for some topic to find in her fuddled mind. “What k-kind of books do you read?”
That was the expected question. John considered it for a moment. “Mostly philosophy, political theory and economic theory,” he reported. “Although I think I might go back to reading as entertainment soon. Not that I would claim to have reached enlightenment, but by this point I have informed myself on so many different models of thought that everything feels like a remix.” John paused for a moment, then did as he had once tried to teach Marie and put the ball of conversation back in Daiyu’s court. “Do you get that same feeling when you keep reading the same genre?”
“Uh, y-yeah, but… I kind of like it? I’m not one f-for… unpredictable things.” Daiyu pushed her fingertips together. “I prefer it when one day is like the other and I get to eat delicious things and read interesting stories.”
“Huh… that was the first time I heard you get a full sentence out without a stammer.”
“Wawawa… t-the classy thing to do w-would be to not bring attention to it!” Daiyu exclaimed her eyes hidden behind the curtain of her long, blunt bangs. Muttering just loud enough to be heard, she continued, “T-this is ju-just like when you pointed out I s-switched genres r-recently. It’s… it’s a bit rude…”
“I’m sorry if I teased you too much,” John said.
“It’s… fine… uhm… L-lulu is right when she says that sometimes I n-need help to c-come out of m-my… uhm…”
“…Shell?” Moira suggested, after several seconds of silence.
“No! No shell! My room!” Daiyu responded swiftly.
“It’s an English saying,” John explained to her.
“Oh… yeah, right…” The stammering woman turned quiet for a bit.
John focused on his feet for a bit. Silence was good for many conversations, especially one between three that didn’t talk much privately like this. John had his fair share of times alone with Moira, but with Daiyu he had barely ever been alone. This was the closest to it in any meaningful measure.
They walked through the scarred land that had been used as the field of battle for Moira’s training these past 12 days. 8 to 16 hours a day, the Warden had spent in combat against whatever the harem felt like throwing at her. The end result of any serious combat had been the same. Moira was powerful. She was not as powerful as they were. Whatever more she could draw out of the Blessing, it was not much. This was her summit.
“If you don’t mind the question,” John continued on, as they walked across a frozen lava lake, “why do you want to talk to me?”
“B-because… because…” Daiyu stopped in her tracks, forcing both John and Moira to stop and look back at her. The black-haired woman kneaded the edge of her seductively short skirt. “Because…” she kept stammering, failing to make it past the word. She reached up, to her hair, and the decorative needle that she almost always wore – her sign of office as the Heavenly Jade Empress’ personal servant. “Because you’re the one my empress chose,” she said, a forced calm layering like a sheet of smooth ice over an arctic depth teeming with life. “You took Lulu by storm… You… you’re a good man, I think… but I want to know more about… about you. You’ll be my… emperor eventually. You kind of are already so… I am reading these harem stories b-because I think you’re like the protagonists and… yeah.” Daiyu’s concentration faded bit by bit, her blush becoming more intense as the ice cracked. “I’m… you… you’ve been chosen! I want to know my-“ She cut off suddenly, then just let out an, “Awawawawa.”
John found himself awed by her loyalty. Yes, he had several people this loyal to him as well. The maids in question would doubtlessly argue they were more loyal, a fact that they couldn’t verify without putting Daiyu through some rather heinous tests. The maids in question were also more than just his servants. There was a bond of love between them.
What Daiyu and Lulu had was not that. It was similar in outcome but different in its details. Yes, John knew this kind of loyalty, but it was still inspiring to see someone who held this strong to someone else, for no other reason than their own attachments and principles.
Daiyu had forced herself to do as much talking as she could bear for the moment, so John addressed Moira instead. “And what makes you stick around?” he wondered.
“I want to talk to you about something without any distractions,” she said. “What is your plan for the future of the Abyss?”
John rubbed his chin as he walked. The smoothness of his skin triggered a random thought about growing a beard. He chased it away, contemplating the actual question. It was one he dealt with every single day and, like many things that got that kind of mental attention, the answer evolved and relapsed constantly, changing in its shape while retaining a core of principles.
“I am going to deal with the new Abyssals first. To that end, I will use whatever tools I have that I consider the most appropriate. Violence, if necessary; diplomacy, where possible; and the general policy of speaking softly while carrying a big stick.”
“And then?” Moira asked.
“Then I am at the command of my women’s wishes,” John answered. “These last one and a half years, we have put just about everything in service of my overarching goal to get the US under my banner. I wanted to build an Abyssal republic, to make my homeland more than a wild west of the Abyss, and to stroke my own ego. I failed in the republic and I honestly believe that my ego doesn’t need any more stroking. I have reached the most important goal, which is to make sure Abyssal North America has a power worthy of the name.”
“Your goal for the Abyss is… none?” Moira asked.
“Yes and no,” John put his hands in his pockets, “I believe I have done enough in carving out a corner of the world to manifest my vision. There are different ideals that deserve their own polity to be tested. Much like I want to slow the expansion of my harem and appreciate what I have, my territorial ambitions are sated. Hawaii is my last stop. After that, any expansion I will be doing will be on the suggestion of my women.”
The redhead fidgeted, using the tips of her braided hair to have something to play with. “All of that sounds… I considered you more of a selfish person.”
“I am plenty selfish. I took nearly 30 women for myself, I don’t think it gets a lot more selfish than that,” John answered, half-jokingly. “What do you want the future of the Abyss to look like?”
“Radiant,” Moira responded with a single word. “I wish the justice of the Lady to expand to every household in this world, for the entirety of mankind and the fantastical races our souls’ light has spawned to know the brilliance of Her radiance.”
“What, exactly, does that look like?” John asked.
“The wicked shall fall and the good shall know peace,” Moira responded.
“You are not hearing what I am asking,” he gently chided her. “Is the Order going on another spree of ill-planned conquest? Are you going to continue the missionary work that being part of Fusion has enabled?”
Moira held stern, her tone akin to the armour she favoured. “The Order will do what it can in order to assure the world’s safety.”
“A noble goal, but once more: what does that mean, exactly?” John asked.
The Shield Warden crossed her arms. “It means we will act.”
“In what Capaci-“
“You are a politician, through and through,” Moira interrupted him. “You worry about the rules of engagement and the order of the world being followed. The Order will act in accordance with the Lady’s great vision. You are asking for specific plans; I have a long history of justice delivered to show. The plans are ephemeral, things can simply be done.”
John regarded her with a displeased glance. He did not appreciate being called a ‘politician through and through’. The politicking was a large part of his life, absolutely, but he was more than that. “As far as I am concerned, the Order also has a history of zealousness. When it comes to judging your enemies, you deal in punishment over forgiveness.”
“Forgiveness is sought by the repenting, not given to the sinner,” Moira responded. “You speak in the uncertainty of a mundane. An idiocy when you rely on Lorelei’s judgement all too often.”
“Lorelei is greater than other inquisitors, you know this.”
“Indeed and her services were needed to read exceptional individuals. Most sinners can be judged by the regular inquisitor.” Moira scowled at him. “I repeat this: you think of justice in mundane terms, where the truth can be hard to discern.”
“You have a point,” John agreed, “but I also believe that the future is unwritten. Prophecies exist, but they are not absolutes, merely highly informed predictions. The sinner may still become a saint if given time to reflect.”
Moira did not respond for three steps, then turned to Daiyu. “What do you make of this?”
“I, uhm… I d-do not get involved with politics…”
“Don’t worry about it and just shoot from the hip,” John encouraged her. “An instinctive opinion is often worth the most.”
“If you say so… I a-appreciate the wish to k-keep everyone safe, b-but… the Mandate of H-heaven will not have its subjects be put under any morality but i-its own.”
John gave the short woman a simple smile, then continued, “A regular citizen of the nation rebukes you, because it is not in their interest to be judged by foreigners. This is why I ask what you mean ‘exactly’. There are borders and thresholds that people will stop you at out of principle.”
“The Order will do what it must.”
“The Shield Branch will do what I allow it to,” John stated.
“You would dare impede our sacred mission?”
“Why not? You would dare impede the lives of those you wish to force the Lady’s justice upon, villains and those that unluckily live near villains. You wish to use force to enact your morality and I will use force to enact my own morality instead.” John paused for effect. “This is the continued truth of reality – you either fight until one side wins or you make both sides too scary to make an engagement worth it. Compromise is born from strength.”
Moira pressed her lips together, then let out a long sigh. “You have a point.”
“Is that agreement I hear?” John teased.
“I’m not my father, I do not have the need to bicker with you until the sun rises.” Moira put her gaze to the black horizon. “The Order’s justice will prevail, I have the truest faith in this. We will have no need to invade anyone, we will be invited as the keepers of the Lady’s light that we are.”
“That is a stance that I can admire,” John said. ‘Even if I doubt it’ll do much,’ he added mentally. People were very good at selective memory and picking out the info that fit their agenda. Would there be expansion in the Order’s reach over time? Almost certainly. In Fusion, the Order’s power was still growing and consolidating. They would have the wealth and influence to leverage global operations.
They would also be seen by many as an arm of John’s influence and they would not be entirely wrong. For that reason, many would consider it wiser to keep them out as a measure of caution. A flawless record meant nothing in that case. The decision would be made before the facts even surfaced.
Everything existed in some kind of context.
“What do you make of your empress’ plan to unify the realms?” John asked Daiyu.
“I-I said I don’t really do politics!” Daiyu whined. “It’s complicated and it makes my b-brain swim.”
“But you must still have an opinion on it.”
“I think… I think it’s cute…” Daiyu answered. “That’s it! I-I think that y-you two coming together to m-make the biggest empire ever is cute!”
“Would it be the biggest empire ever?” John wondered, visualizing the landmass in his head. “No, I think the British Empire and the Mongolian Empire would still have a bigger land area.”
“Y-you could make it the biggest empire ever! I-if you do manage to make a harem of… of all the Cardinal Chosen…” She put her hands on her face. “S-such an indecent idea… awawawawa…”
“I beg your pardon?” Moira asked.
“It was Lulu’s idea. The logic is sound, uniting all the Cardinal Chosen in my harem means that the realm’s cultural and military icons are all united in a way that is very difficult to break apart.”
“A disgustingly utilitarian look at love,” Moira said, very quietly. From what John understood of her current conundrum, that was a comment more to herself than him.
He was going to give her his true thoughts either way. “I agree, so I told her I wouldn’t aim for it… but I also got the confirmation from Lorelei that they are all women and I am already one deep, so there is a completionist part of my brain that wants them all.” He sighed, while Daiyu continued to sputter. “I won’t force the issue, though. I don’t know who two of them are and Vinh is… difficult. Have you met her?”
“Briefly, during the Aztec relocation. She has a fiery conviction.”
“That is a way to put it,” John said, then stopped. The Harem Comms had popped up in front of him.
Rave: Ready when you are! >:3 C=====3
“Well, that was a pleasant chat,” John said. “I’ll see you two tomorrow – to train if time permits, Moira.”
“…Have fun…?” Moira asked.
John did not share her uncertainty, he knew exactly where he was going.