Chapter 63: Divergent Strategies
"Ugh."
Dion stirred awake, slowly opening his eyes to see the magic lamp directly above him on the ceiling. He sat up and turned toward the window, taking in the pitch-black view outside. He rubbed his eyes, trying to piece his thoughts together.
"Oh... right. I’m in the underground inn," he thought to himself.
"Kyuuu,"
Dion looked over to see Gina floating beside him, staring right back. He reached out to scoop her up, pulling her into a warm hug.
"Where did the others go?" Dion asked her.
"Kyuu... kyuu... kyuu,"
Inside Dion’s mind, Gina explained that the others had left for the surface to head straight for the capital of Minatheras to meet the king. Dion listened in a half-dazed stupor.
"I see... well, let’s just head back home then," Dion suggested to Gina.
"Kyuuu? Kyuu... kyuuu,"
Gina communicated in Dion’s head that Cleo had left a message asking him not to go home early, but to wait in the city of Northkeep until they returned.
"Sigh," Dion let out a long breath.
"Alright... but after managing to go home only to end up back in this city... my feelings are so mixed. What a pain," Dion grumbled.
"Kyuuuu,"
"Yeah... at least I have you. Fine, let me wait for them to get back from the capital," Dion said, gently stroking Gina’s head.
Suddenly,
Knock, knock.
A soft rap sounded at the door. Dion immediately covered Gina with the bedsheet and gestured for her to hide. He slid off the bed, walked over to the door, and pulled it open. Standing in the doorway was a scantily clad waitress carrying a tray of food.
"Here’s your dinner. I’ll just set it on the table," the waitress said smoothly.
"Oh... sure... go right ahead," Dion replied, opening the door wide.
The waitress stepped inside and placed the heavily loaded tray on the table. Dion stood by the door, glancing at her while occasionally checking the bed to see how Gina was faring as a makeshift pillow. As the waitress turned to leave, she paused in front of Dion. She reached into her generous cleavage, pulling out a rolled-up letter.
"Oh, right. The Boss asked me to pass this along to you," she said, handing the letter to Dion.
"Oh... okay, thanks," Dion replied with a polite smile. "Why on earth was it stored in there?" Dion thought to himself.
The moment the waitress left and shut the door behind her, Dion walked over to his bed and pulled back the sheet. Gina floated over to the table and immediately dug into the food, while Dion sat on the edge of the mattress, unrolling the letter. His eyes scanned left and right, moving down the page,
"Dion, we’re heading to the capital. We’ll be back in two days. For now, you and Gina wait in Northkeep. We’re going to talk to King Theobald, using all the intel you provided last night to convince him not to attack our territory."
"Hmph... is talking to a king really that easy?" Dion asked himself, reading further down.
"Luna will reveal her identity to King Theobald. Hopefully, that will get him to hear us out. I’ll also leverage my status as a princess of Thetor, along with Sheila as a princess of Northgard, to make our case convincing."
Reading Aria’s plan laid out on the page, Dion’s brow furrowed tightly. He read on to see that they intended to enter the palace as official envoys representing their respective kingdoms. Cleo was even willing to pull rank as a imperial mage of Lutherias and the niece of King Alexius. Dion looked over at Gina, who was happily devouring her meal at the table without a care in the world.
He turned his eyes back to the letter, re-reading it from top to bottom once more. His expression darkened with every line—especially where Aria mentioned pulling her princess status to talk to the king, plus dragging Sheila and Cleo’s kingdoms into the mix.
"This is... completely wrong. If they show up as princesses and bring their whole kingdoms into the diplomacy... wouldn’t that just muddy the waters and raise suspicions for the King of Minatheras?" Dion thought to himself.
He flashed back to his past life on Earth, back when he held a stake in a corporate firm alongside a friend. He remembered acting as the company representative in joint-venture talks for a massive project that involved multiple competing firms and the government. Even though things went smoothly and a deal was struck, the bidding process and negotiations were basically a full-scale battle within legal boundaries.
Dion still remembered how, as Marcus, he had to lobby endlessly just to secure a piece of that massive pie. If he was considered a prince of that company, his struggles were far from easy; he was constantly doubted by many, especially the CEOs of rival corporations. On top of that, there were countless snakes in the grass aiming to pull him down, both within his own company and among his competitors.
"What exactly do they plan to negotiate with King Theobald anyway? How are they going to convince him not to attack my territory? A diplomatic alliance? What’s the framework? What are the terms?" Dion pondered silently.
"Kyuuu?"
Dion snapped out of his thoughts to see Gina sitting right in front of him, her face and body completely smeared with food sauce. A soft smile broke across his face as he wiped her mouth clean with his hand. That was when he remembered that his current life was nothing like his previous one. He thought of Luna, who had single-handedly handled diplomacy and brought trade companies into his territory; Cleo, who was razor-sharp in her tactical duties as a royal mage; Aria, a master merchant capable of high-stakes negotiating; Sheila, who refused to bow to injustice; and Mei, who quietly observed everything from the shadows, ready to step in whenever trouble hit.
"Right, I’m overthinking this... this world is totally different from my past life. I’m sure they know what they’re doing. So let’s just wait here," Dion said, smiling faintly.
"Kyuu?" Gina squeaked, tilting her head in confusion.
"Haha... of course you wouldn’t get it. Come on, bath time first, you’re covered in mess," Dion said, lifting Gina into his arms.
"Kyuuuuu!" Gina chirped happily.
Dion scooped up Gina, threw on his backpack to carry her, and stepped out of his room toward the underground bathhouse beneath the inn. The black market streets were eerily quiet. Merchants stood behind their storefronts, but actual shoppers were few and far between. As Dion crossed paths with two adventurers clearly heading for the red-light district behind him,
"We just got back to the city this afternoon, but the whole place is in chaos. I can’t believe the city lord was killed," the first adventurer remarked.
"Right... but rumor has it the lord was planning a full takeover to assassinate the king," the second adventurer replied.
"Hey... don’t go spreading reckless talk like that. What if a guard hears you? A rumor is just a rumor, drop it," the first adventurer warned.
"Hahaha... we’re heading downstairs to have some fun, and there aren’t any guards down here anyway," the second adventurer laughed, throwing an arm around his buddy.
As they passed Dion, he paused briefly, glancing back at the two rugged adventurers who looked like they had just returned from a long trek outside. He simply smiled to himself, turning back around to head toward the bathhouse with Gina.
***
Meanwhile, at the capital gates, a passenger carriage cleared checkpoint security and rolled inside. Parting the rear curtains, Mei peeked outside.
"We’ve arrived," Mei reported.
"Are you guys sure this is the best way? Is leaving just a letter for Dion really enough?" Sheila asked nervously.
"Yep... we’re going to lay out everything about the impending rebellion to the king. With a threat like that, he’ll take it dead seriously and won’t have a single second to worry about our territory," Aria answered confidently.
"Exactly. The scale of the rebellion in the files Dion retrieved is massive. They’re plotting a full-blown regime change, this is no small matter," Luna chimed in.
"But what about your friend, that René ? He’s the one egging the king on, right?" Cleo asked.
"Leave him to me. If he tries anything funny, I’ll handle him," Sheila smirked, cracking her knuckles.
"Don’t kill him, he belongs to the Hero class," Mei reminded her.
"Relax, I’ll just beat him half to death for running his big mouth," Sheila chuckled.
"Hehehe... you guys sure are fired up," Luna smiled.
"And what about you? We’re about to meet your uncle, you know," Cleo pointed out.
"Huh... like I said, I am Luna von Arthera, not a princess of Minatheras. I’m coming as the daughter of Baron Lucas von Arthera," Luna answered firmly.
"So that’s the plan. We hit the palace tomorrow, and we get some rest tonight," Aria concluded.
"Got it," Luna, Sheila, and Mei answered together.
"Ugh... I just hope nothing goes wrong with this plan of ours," Cleo murmured, leaning back and crossing her arms over her chest.