Chapter 269 – Ambassador
By Imperial law, Ceres One was the name that any shuttle the Emperor was flying in. Of course, there was also the ‘official’ Ceres One, an Outlaw in VIP Shuttle configuration but with upgraded armor and shields. Combined with my [King’s Carriage] skill, which extended my defenses to any mount or vehicle carrying me, the shuttle could, quite literally, take a truly insane amount of punishment while I was aboard, and keep flying. Especially since [King’s Carriage] treated my [Legendary Resilience] ability as part of my defenses, making any vehicle I was on immune to Tier 2 or lower weapons.
The really fun part was that this even applied to ships I was on, including warships. If I was standing on the deck of one of the ships in my fleet, then that ship could act in ways that defied belief. It wouldn’t quite turn a frigate into a dreadnought, but there were a great many possibilities that kind of unexpected interplay offered.
Obviously, the skill was primarily designed to ensure that it was harder to assassinate a Demon King by just shooting their ride out from under them. And a single mount or wagon with insane defense was not going to make the tides of battle shift too much, one way or the other. However, the skill was not limited by scale, which meant that, at the higher ends, it grew more and more powerful, shifting from something that could save the Demon King from assassination to something that could help win naval battles, without being so broken that it could win an interstellar war on its own.
My shuttle wasn’t alone, of course. Two Assault Shuttles from the Ceres Royal Marines were with me, carrying the two squads of Marines that would be on guard rotation. And, just for fun, I had a flight of four Hunters from Slayer Squadron flying escort. Partially to show off for al the cameras I knew would be watching, but also because, with this meeting pertaining to Mantles, I intended to bring my Red Baroness out for her public debut, so she was flying Slayer 1 as part of the escort.
We landed at Fort Meade Executive Airport, a bit south and west of Baltimore. For some reason, no one really wanted the headache of any of my craft flying too close to the network of controlled airspace that was Washington, DC. Despite the fact that it was 08:30, DC time, there were plenty of press at the airport, kept a safe distance from the area we landed in. Baronin’s flight of Hunters gave them a show as the four fighters did a synchronized barrel roll while passing over the airfield, just before landing in perfect diamond formation around the three shuttles.
Three armored SUVs were waiting for us. Two were normal sized, designed to carry a driver and seven passengers, while the third was a limousine, carrying fourteen passengers easily. All three not only had the normal upgrades such as armor panels, bullet-resistant glass, and souped-up engines, but were also equipped with the vehicle upgrade kits that provided shields that could block tank rounds. The fourteen Marines of my escort squad split with six each in the front and back escort vehicles, while their Lieutenant and Sergeant were in the middle vehicle with myself, Mhyreth, Harahel, Lilith, Lilith’s her pet angel, Saniel, Baronin, and Nuala Sarcyne, Slave-Ambassador from the Ceresan Empire to the United States.
In addition to our vehicles, which were marked as diplomatic vehicles, we had a police escort, so I doubted traffic would be an issue. This gave me time to speak with Ambassador Sarcyne, who I had not spoken with in person since sending her to be the Ambassador. The black-haired Knelfi woman was no stranger to politics, having been a junior diplomatic aide in the Commonwealth before I’d acquired her. She certainly seemed to be thriving in her role as my Ambassador, having learned from the mistakes which led to her getting caught, enslaved, and sold on the Minion Market in the first place.
“I’ve confirmed things through my sources, your Majesty. The ‘eyewitnesses’ the President spoke about when he talked to Princess Lilith are the White Queen and the Black Knight. There was a minor security concern when the White Queen disappeared from the floor of the House during debate two days ago just before 1 pm, local time, which must have the Mantle holders were teleported to Baghdad. She reappeared in New York at 5 pm, local time, which would have been just after midnight in Baghadad.”
I nodded once. “So, that lines up with what the White Queen told the President. Not that I expected different on the basic details. When she lies, it will be in the more subtle ways, where she can manipulate and recolor the truth, to cast things in a light that makes her look better. Lying on the big things is something she won’t do until she either has no choice, or she can play the lie off as political theater and social niceties, one of those pleasant lies that people tell each other so that they can go about politics without looking directly at what they’re doing.”
“Sounds like a fun opponent. Of course, she’s made a point of staying as far away from any dealings with Ceres as she possibly can get. Almost like she knows a certain Demon Lord still hasn’t forgiven her for her actions in previous timelines.”
“Well, she’s not wrong about that. But I told her that so long as she didn’t try and insert herself in my affairs, I would ignore her. That’s as much tolerance as I am willing to offer her, and only then because I was too busy to locate her until she revealed herself during the Ouran invasion. And afterwards I was still too busy to go hunting until she’d already made herself a Congresswoman. As satisfying as it might be to take her down, it would cause more problems than it was worth, unless I find another means to go about it.”
“One interesting little tidbit is that I’ve found myself as a nice point of contact for those who do not wish to be brought into her orbit. As you might expect, she’s been gathering power and building a web of influence, ever since the Ouran attack on New York. The revelation that she could be using magic to manipulate people has meant that anyone who can afford it in DC has items that protect against mental manipulation and social skills.”
“Ha. Like that will stop her. She isn’t going to go after the people in charge. There will be too many people who will be watching them, and their pride is too important. I find it difficult to believe that their pride would allow them to simply comply with all her wishes, while still looking for loopholes to communicate their distress or protest any treatment they receive. And if she slaps a Slave or Thrall title on them to keep them from rebelling as easily, that would cause even more problems.”
Sarcyne nodded, though she wasn’t entirely convinced. “There are Mantles in the Commonwealth, as you know. While most involve combat or crafting, there are a couple pure social mantles. One, the Shelthara, is famous, or perhaps infamous, for being able to induce an effect like the Slave title, but because its soul magics work differently, there is no visible title, and yet, those under the Shelthara’s magics are helpless to resist.”
“Not helpless. There are ways that a Slave can resist their Master, if they have a mind to, as you well know. But I understand your meaning. But she would be exponentially more careful about such a power, if she had it. Having a means of using illusions or light spells for brainwashing or hypnotism is one thing. Twisting someone’s soul is something that, when it comes out, and it eventually will, would unite everyone against her, and she knows it. Which means she would not risk being caught using the power unless she was in an area where she controlled the environment and prevented any kind of spying. Not unless she was completely out of other options. And then she would make sure to silence all witnesses.”
I took a breath, and then continued. “If she has a social manipulation or mastermind focus to her Mantle, then that is both easier, and harder to deal with. The mental protections and guards against social skills would work on much of her kit, but not everyone has things like that. Sure, the big names do, but what about their staffers? The aides, secretaries, cooks, and so on? If you approach things like a spymaster, then that would become far more dangerous, and much harder to spot, since the people in the rank and file don’t stick out to those who would be looking at signs of her influence like agency directors or Senators would.”
Sarcyne hissed softly. “Ah, you don’t have to go for the big prize of controlling all the people in charge. Senators, cabinet members, the President. None of those people matter that much if you do enough work controlling the information they receive, and work on controlling the people that have the ear of the people who have the President’s ear. You won’t be able to completely puppet the government, but you can set the music how you like, and ‘encourage’ it to dance to your tune. And it is far harder to prove, or even detect, without close personal knowledge of the targets, or intensive investigations into their souls.”
“Precisely. And that is what makes her dangerous. If it came to a straight fight, even with her mantle I would beat her 9999 times out of 10000, maybe more. But dealing with a social mantle means that I have to ensure that she is not allowed to set the conditions for any meeting we have. Because it would be easy for her to twist any confrontation against me in the court of public opinion, if nothing else. And there’s no telling what would happen if she were assassinated, which makes taking her off the board entirely a bit too problematic.”
“So, the current situation where you steer clear of each other’s agendas? Or at least come at them obliquely, or through proxies? Like this world’s Cold War I’ve been reading about?”
I chuckled at that. “Good example, actually. The outcome, if we actually pushed a full confrontation, is not certain enough for either of us to be comfortable with, but we both know that, even if we win, there’s plenty of ways we’d lose, too. And neither of us is willing to light that fuse unless it becomes necessary. So, we make sure that any conflicts are handled through third parties, or are done in deniable ways.”
“So, about my movements, then?”
“Continue with what you’ve been doing. Being a point of contact with important people, to help advance the interests of the Empire within the United States is an explicit part of an ambassador’s job, after all, so it is not an escalation or direct attack against her, you’re just fulfilling your basic responsibilities. And, now that her Mantle has come to light, it isn’t an attack if you let a few people that you know get the information about what some of the mantles in the Commonwealth might be like. That is just filling in information, after all, unless you mention the White Queen, in particular. If you just talk about the abilities that the Shelthara has, or those of other social-focused or manipulator mantles? Again, that’s just information, not an attack. No reason for escalation.”
Sarcyne laughed out loud. “Oh, Master, I am so glad you bought me, and gave me this assignment. This is going to be so much fun!”