Chapter 22
The Charge of Concurrence
The clink of wineglasses could be occasionally heard as the various attendees enjoyed the buffet spread. Murmurs of conversation added to the backdrop of noise, making for quite the busy venue. The first day of the sakuradite conference had been taken up with the usual pomp and circumstance that usually accompanied such large summits, though a few substantive discussions had also taken place. The real grind would come in the next few days as the diplomats and bureaucrats hashed out the amount and allocation of Japan's sakuradite production.
Despite being a minor, Kaguya at least had a token say in how those discussions proceeded, since it was her family's company that held an effective monopoly on sakuradite mining and refining. While she certainly was not in a position to refuse any directive the viceroyalty might issue as a result of the negotiations, making sure Kaguya and her attendants were kept in the loop would go some ways to ease their implementation at least.
Kallen on the other hand felt considerably more extraneous as far as the nitty-gritty of the conference topics went. Officially she was one of Kaguya's minders assigned by the office of the viceroyalty, but seeing as she utterly lacked the training to provide informed input on the matters being discussed, even with Sancia's crash course on sakuradite economics and her father's on more general commodity trading, Kallen generally spent the meetings sitting there focusing on her actual job of watching Kaguya's back. Dinner was no exception, though Kallen allowed herself to relax just a little bit as she ate with Kaguya. For the moment, the plentiful number of guards positioned around their table should be sufficient, to provide warning if nothing else.
"So what do you think of the conference so far, Kallen?" Kaguya asked.
The redhead shrugged. "Most of the topics are way above my head. I can understand the words, but I don't have enough background to make much sense of them. Well, at least the food is decent enough."
Kaguya gave a giggle. "I'm glad I'm not the only one struggling to keep up." Then she gave a sigh. "It makes me wonder how I might actually be of assistance to His Eminence."
That saw Kallen tilt her head aside. "Is that really so necessary?"
This time it was Kaguya that regarded Kallen with a quizzical look. "Of course. If I am to retain His Eminence's continued favor, I must demonstrate my utility to him."
"I mean, I guess," Kallen said, sounding hardly convinced, "but I guess what I mean is, why is it so important that you keep the cardinal's favor?"
"What are you saying, Kallen?" Kaguya said. "His Eminence's favor will be instrumental in winning Japan more favorable terms and treatment. Is that not why you yourself have signed onto his service?"
Kallen churned her soup a little as she thought. "I suppose, but it's not like His Eminence is going to suddenly turn his back upon our people out of pique because of either of us. And there are plenty of ways to help our people without really having to take into consideration what is of utility to the cardinal."
Kaguya blinked a few times as she processed Kallen's position.
"That may be true," Kaguya said, "but why then are you at His Eminence's side if not to take advantage of his patronage?"
That was actually a pretty good point and it took Kallen a moment or so again to figure out her answer.
"I suppose I am trying to make use of his patronage," the older girl admitted. "But in my case, it's more like he set an explicit task to me that requires my proximity to him, so that's where I remain."
"Oh, how envious," Kaguya said with a playful smile.
Kallen raised an eyebrow. "Pardon my frankness, but it sounds like your desire to be close to His Eminence has more personal motivations than just the improvement of our people's condition."
"Well yes, I suppose it does," Kaguya admitted easily enough. "But is that itself so surprising? The cardinal is possessed of many excellent qualities as both a leader and a man. Are you saying none of those played a part in your own decision to be recruited by him?"
"Umm, no, not really," Kallen said slowly.
"Oh, then did I perhaps misinterpret the closeness of your relationship with him?" Kaguya said. "I thought you might have been a companion of the Lady Ashford in that regard."
It was probably a good thing Kallen had still not gotten around to sampling some of what was probably a very fine soup, as otherwise she would have likely spat it out at that point.
"My relationship with His Eminence is purely professional," Kallen stated quite firmly. "And I really don't envision that changing, especially considering his closeness with Milly."
Kaguya tilted her head. "Is that relationship indeed so exclusive?"
"Why wouldn't it be?" Kallen now was looking at Kaguya with genuine confusion.
"Well, does not His Eminence's father possess multiple partners?"
The silence that fell afterwards was due entirely to Kallen's struggle to formulate a coherent response. Not because she did not have the information necessary to do so, but because she was genuinely taken aback by the colossal misunderstanding that Kaguya seemed to be under.
"Polygamy is indeed legal within Britannia," Kallen finally responded, "but the reason for the Emperor Charles having multiple wives isn't because it's some conventional norm. His Majesty ascended to the throne on the back of a military coup that saw a great many imperial relatives perish, so his marriages were intended both to solidify support from the peerage for his reign and also to more firmly reestablish the line of succession after its winnowing. There is no expectation that any of His Majesty's children would similarly be so, promiscuous."
"Is that really the reason?" Kaguya said, her eyes widening.
Kallen felt a headache coming on. "Well, I suppose that's not really something touched upon in the school history classes."
Indeed Kallen had herself only learned about it after a particularly embarrassing conversation where her father warned her off from trying to pull similar such moves on Lelouch. That was not a discussion she particularly wanted to be reminded of.
Kaguya fell silent in deep thought, leaving Kallen some time to continue her meal in relative peace.
"Is that why Milly seemed so irritated with me previously?" Kaguya eventually spoke up again.
"Probably," Kallen said with a nod. "And I can see where the misunderstanding was, on both sides. You might want to get things cleared up before Milly becomes convinced you're actually trying to break up her and Lelouch."
Kaguya shook her head. "I never had any such intention. I had simply presumed that the cardinal was already establishing his court, and that there was space within it for additional ladies."
Kallen grimaced a bit at the euphemism, but refrained from drawing attention to the suggestive language.
"I really don't think His Eminence is interested in having multiple partners like that," the redhead instead said. "At least he's shown no such inclinations anytime I've spoken with him."
"I see. Then Britannian noble men are indeed always so monogamous in their relations?"
The grimace deepened, something that Kaguya immediately picked up on.
"My apologies," she said quickly, perhaps recognizing the complexity of Kallen's own home situation. "I meant no offense."
Kallen sighed. "None taken. And frankly, no, I really can't say that noble men are necessarily monogamous. Quite a few definitely have mistresses on the side. But very few are taken on as additional wives, and there are way too many examples of those side relations spilling out into the open in rather nasty fights over inheritance and privilege. In my opinion, about the only good thing about how the emperor has handled his multiple marriages is that their formality allows for very clear delineations of what each wife and their children get."
"I suppose there are certain complexities that comes with maintaining multiple households, regardless of how formal they are," Kaguya said.
The way the girl murmured that, Kallen suspected that it there was something more concrete than mere abstract awareness of that point on Kaguya's part. Perhaps her own father had had liaisons outside of his marriage. Such a thing was not limited to Britannian men of privilege after all.
"In any case, I'd say it'd be a good idea to stop thinking about the cardinal's favor in that kind of light," Kallen said, "and consider the practical tasks that might help him, if you still want to retain his patronage. And not just what might help the cardinal, but also those that support him, like Milly. And if His Eminence's other retainers see you lending a hand like that, they'll be more willing to return the favor as well. Doesn't that sound a much more productive method of remaining within his good graces than chasing his affections?"
Kaguya nodded slowly, and then flashed a wide smile at the older girl.
"Thank you sincerely for your advice, Kallen. I suppose I was viewing the entire matter through too romanticized a lens."
"No problem," Kallen smiled back.
"I think I am also beginning to see just why His Eminence sought out your specific recruitment," Kaguya continued. "The support you lend him might be vastly different than what Milly provides, but in some ways it is equally crucial."
"Not sure I would go that far," Kallen said with a wry chuckle.
After all, the service she was charged with was if it ever became necessary, to die in Lelouch's place. But there was no need to tell Kaguya that.
While the majority of the delegates were hobnobbing out on the buffet floor, a few were already busy at work advocating for the interests of those they represented. Having left Kaguya and a few others of the viceroyalty to stand in for him, Lelouch was ensconced in a conference room with one of his ecclesiastical counterparts in the Roman Catholic Church. It might have seemed odd for the Catholic Church to even bother sending a delegation to what was ostensibly a trade conference, but as was usually the case in diplomacy, things were always more complicated than they first appeared.
"Cardinal Lorenzo," Lelouch greeted.
"Cardinal Lamperouge," Pieri Lorenzo responded in kind.
Neither bent knee nor offered to kiss the other's ring, not that Lelouch even wore one. While Eden Vital and the Catholic Church were on nominally civil terms now, the two organizations still retained a deep-seated distrust of the other that stretched back for centuries. Both may have now recognized the legitimacy of the other, but respect for each other's authority was threadbare to say the least. To say that C.C. bore something of a grudge against the church for trying to burn her at the stake would be rather underselling the vehemence of her enmity. That enmity usually did not interfere with the day to day interactions that might occur between the lower echelons of the two religious institutions, and even negotiations held by high level representatives generally remained civil. Of course, the majority of the diplomatic correspondence over the past few years amounted to little more than Eden Vital saying 'no' to whatever proposal was presented by the Catholic Church. That the Catholic Church continued to pursue negotiations could be considered a mark of its determination, or an indication of fits impotency. As the two cardinals and their attendants seated themselves, they would soon find out whether that was going to change.
"I am certain Your Eminence is aware of why I am here," Pieri said, "so I will dispense with the preambles. The Holy See considers Eden Vital to be in violation of the Treaty of London, and requires that the Order take immediate remedial action. If Eden Vital declines to do so, the Church will be forced to resort to the enforcement mechanisms laid out in the treaty to impose the restrictions that your Order itself agreed to adhere to."
Lelouch tilted his head slightly. His demeanor was clearly not of one especially perturbed by Pieri's demands.
"You are free to try."
The young woman nominally serving as Pieri's secretary and the young man that was standing by as his guard both tensed. The cardinal himself however retained his composure, simply clasping his hands together.
"Do I take it then, Cardinal Lamperouge, that Eden Vital no longer considers itself bound by the treaty?"
"I think the one that needs to answer that question is the Holy See," Lelouch retorted. "Eden Vital has adhered to the treaty's terms scrupulously since its inception. The Church has no grounds for accusing the Order of noncompliance. Such an act can only be the result of a gross misapplication of the treaty's instruments, for which Eden Vital will not stand for."
Pieri frowned. "Your Eminence, do you actually expect such a blatant untruth to be swallowed? No matter how powerful Eden Vital might have become, you do not possess the privilege or capacity of altering reality to your whim."
The edge of Lelouch's lips quirked upward, but the cardinal did not deign to respond just yet.
"The moment Britannia conquered Japan, Eden Vital was positioned to take custody of the Kamine Island thought elevator," Pieri thus continued. "With your appointment as viceroy, and with Britannia's conquest of the Middle East and seizure of the Baghdad thought elevator, do you really expect anyone to believe Eden Vital is not in possession of four thought elevators, despite the treaty explicitly limiting each church to no more than two?"
"Belief should not be required," Lelouch responded. "The Kamine Island thought elevator has remained locked down since Britannia conquered Japan, and the Baghdad thought elevator is not only similarly locked down, but remains in the formal custody of the Imamate. Eden Vital has taken no measure to assume formal stewardship of those two thought elevators. As such, we are entirely compliant with the treaty's terms, whatever Britannia's physical possession of the other thought elevators may be."
While everything Lelouch said was technically true, the spirit of the terms was certainly being bent into a pretzel by Britannia's, and by proxy Eden Vital's, physical possession of four thought elevators. It was in the late 1940s when the computational nature of the thought elevators was first noticed by parties other than Eden Vital. Scientists quickly realized that the computational medium could be used to find solutions to some pretty fundamental questions in physics, chemistry, a myriad of scientific fields in fact. The strategic advantage that possession of a thought elevator represented became pretty self-evident not long after, but the problem was there were only seven of them worldwide. Furthermore, actually using them to perform computations was not a simple matter, especially back during the infancy of the computing age. Few nations possessed the technical knowhow or resources to actually take advantage of this boon, and those that did were not necessarily the same as those that actually possessed a thought elevator.
Eventually, an agreement was reached by the various national governments to establish custody and rights to the various thought elevators worldwide. None of the governments really trusted one of their own to properly arbitrate access, so the decision was made to select a neutral party to officially handle the management of the elevators. The institutions ultimately chosen were the various religious denominations that were predominant in the respective nations, and while how truly neutral they were could be quibbled with, so long as some token effort was made to maintain the appearance thereof, the various national governments were prepared to accept the compromise. Each government agreed to select one of the denominations to sponsor, and the sponsoring nations were given access to the fruits derived from the thought elevator managed by their chosen denomination. And thus, the Treaty of London was signed, at the same time as the confusingly identically named agreement that brought an end to the Great War, although that might have been intentional to obfuscate the truth behind the thought elevators, which to this day still remained a closely guarded secret. No need to give the conspiracy nutjobs more fodder by publicly announcing the existence of prehistorical computers more powerful than anything humanity could make even to this day.
The arrangement had thus far held for over fifty years, with Eden Vital, the Catholic Church, the Imamate of Baghdad, the Jokhang, and the Ise Grand Shrine administrating their respective thought elevators without too much fuss. The technologies developed using the thought elevator's computational medium proved instrumental in enriching the national sponsors of each religious denomination, and there were even exchanges of information between the religious institutions when a problem of mutual interest arose. For a time, it seemed as if the treaty might keep competition for access to the thought elevators in check. Unfortunately, several factors arose that upset this delicate balance, and was even now threatening to boil over into a worldwide conflagration.
The stipulation that no religious institution may control more than two thought elevators was intended to basically grandfather in the possession of two thought elevators by the Catholic Church and Eden Vital each. The former had long had custody of the London thought elevator, ever since the conquest of the British Isles by Napoleon, and was given responsibility of the Congo thought elevator with the signing of the treaty. Eden Vital on the other hand had been in control of the New York and Antarctic thought elevators since Britannia formally laid claim to the respective territories. None of the other polities possessed more than one, and while there was a hypothetical advantage to having two, that advantage was not practically realized until Eden Vital figured out to effectively connect its two thought elevators together to combine the volume of their computational medium. As a consequence, Eden Vital, and by extension Britannia, was able to make very rapid advances in technological development and race ahead of its competitors.
As the Empire so advanced, the other treaty signatories began openly expressing their discontent. Some of that disaffection was quieted, at least briefly, when Eden Vital shared, somewhat grudgingly, the technique by which they were able to synchronize their thought elevators. This technically allowed the other denominations to link up their own thought elevators, but the issue of trust reared its head again. Performing this synchronization functionally granted full access to one's thought elevator, meaning the other party could see every computation that was being performed. None of the supporting polities were willing to grant that degree of transparency to an outside party, considering the commercial and technological sensitivity of some of the problems they were trying to solve. Indeed only the Catholic Church, with its possession of two thought elevators itself, was in any sort of position to readily take advantage of the networking capabilities Eden Vital revealed.
Eden Vital of course did not really care if its competitors were so hamstrung, continuing its work and doling out advancement after advancement in the various scientific fields. Britannian industrial and commercial dominance built upon these advancements however only further frustrated the other treaty signatories, to the point that many sought a means by which to check the Empire's ascent. The means they ultimately settled upon was the fact that, for all the technological marvels the Empire had produced, it was still dependent on a certain natural resource not abundantly found within its borders, sakuradite. By convincing Japan to restrict exports of sakuradite to Britannia, the treaty signatories hoped to extract concessions regarding the thought elevators Eden Vital controlled. The Empire's response was to instead invade and occupy Japan, and then impose sakuradite export restrictions upon all those that previously conspired to do the same to Britannia. Even worse from the perspective of the other treaty signatories, the Britannian occupation of Japan functionally handed custody of a third elevator to the Empire, which if added to the two Eden Vital was already managing, could guarantee Britannian technological dominance for both the short and long term. And then Britannia went and invaded the Middle East, adding that region's thought elevator, and vast oil reserves, to the Empire. For the other powers, it was as if their worst nightmares had come to fruition.
The Treaty of London may still be in effect, but confidence in it was threadbare at best. If the agreement unraveled entirely, it was hard to say what might happen. War was certainly not out of the question, not with how aggressively Britannia had moved in the past few years, but there was a supreme reluctance upon certain parties to let things deteriorate to such a point. Hence why the Catholic Church had dispatched Pieri, as an envoy of not only the Holy See but also the European nations that sponsored the Church's stewardship of the London and Congo thought elevators.
As he considered how to respond, Pieri adjusted his glasses.
"And yet Your Eminence should see the obvious difficulty," the older man said. "With physical possession, it would be trivially easy for Eden Vital to take control of the thought elevators at its discretion. By the time the Church was aware of such an act, the Order could have performed whatever computation it so desired and then disconnected, eliminating any evidence of its violation. Even setting aside the Imamate of Baghdad, Britannia executed effectively the entire priesthood of the Ise Grand Shrine, so there are no outside observers that can actually vouch for the Kamine Island thought elevator's lockdown. While Eden Vital might claim compliance, that claim is not sufficient without proper verification."
Something of a climbdown from Pieri's opening statement, but that was how negotiations went. Start with a position that could then be walked back until a compromise that was mutually unsatisfactory was arrived at that then needed to be sold to the powers that be back home. Diplomacy could be a very tiring undertaking.
"One point of correction," Lelouch said. "Neither Britannia nor Eden Vital executed the Ise priesthood. Its members were already dead by the time the Empire's forces moved in to take physical control of the thought elevator and the shrine itself."
Pieri's eyes narrowed. "So Britannia has claimed in the past. But as with the issue of Eden Vital's claim of compliancy, there is insufficient evidence to verify the claim."
"So you believe the video documentation the Empire provided was a fabrication?" Lelouch challenged.
"The fact that it was Britannia that provided the documentation must be taken into account," Pieri however would not be drawn into anything definitive.
Lelouch gave an openly contemptuous snort. "Then we are at an impasse, Cardinal. If the Holy See has already made up its mind, there is little point in Eden Vital exerting any further effort in demonstrating its compliance. And if the presumption the Church has made is that Eden Vital has violated the treaty, then there's even less point in the Order continuing with its compliance. We might as well withdraw from the treaty outright and integrate the thought elevators Britannia has seized into our network and take actual advantage of their computational power if the rest of the world has already made up its mind that we are already doing that."
That really was the nuclear option in all this, and would mark the genuine point of no return. It might also mean war, even if the European Union was less than confident of its ability to actually win against Britannia, even assuming the likeliness of the Chinese Federation joining to help. Pieri frowned, though not out of any immediate concern that Eden Vital would actually carry through with its threat. Lelouch was not bluffing, that much the Catholic cardinal understood, but neither was the youth making any declarations of finality.
"Was it not Britannia that executed the entire male line of the Japanese imperial family?" Pieri instead pointed out. "Why then should not the expectation be that the Empire did likewise to the Ise priesthood?"
"Britannia spared the women of the imperial family due to Japanese succession laws restricting inheritance of the throne from being passed down matrilineally," Lelouch responded. "The Empire had an explicit, strategic rationale for executing the men. In the case of the Ise priesthood, there was no such objective to achieve, and alive they would have been extremely useful as a third party to validate the lockdown of the Kamine Island thought elevator."
At least Lelouch was frank enough to not feign any sentimentality.
"And yet the hypothesis proposed by Britannia seems, overly convenient in how it aligns with the Empire's foreign policy objectives," Pieri said. "Why should we believe that the Chinese would go to such lengths to secretly inconvenience the Empire? Why would they bother with the subterfuge at all?"
And here they got to the heart of the matter, the discussion of actual meaning.
"Because the Chinese Federation has been working to obtain additional thought elevators ever since the ability to synchronize multiple ones together was revealed," Lelouch stated. "They've made approaches to Japan, the Middle East Federation, and as you are certainly aware of, even to the European Union, under the guise of partnership and cooperation. Indeed indications from records captured by the Empire show that they were in quite advanced talks with Japan before Britannia invaded. And yet, many of the persons directly involved with those talks died either before or in the immediate aftermath of the invasion, and not by Britannian hands." A dangerous glint shone in the young cardinal's eyes. "The Empire is not so hypocritical as to deny the blood staining its hands, but it will not countenance accusations of which it is wholly innocent of."
Pieri stroked his chin and after a moment gave a slight nod. "The Chinese Federation has indeed made overtures, but are you suggesting that Britannia is so determined to ensure the Federation remains at a disadvantage that it would invade any other polity that considers cooperating with them?"
"Can you truly claim that the endgame the Chinese envisioned was that of cooperation?" Lelouch responded.
As Lelouch had rightly pointed out, Pieri was certainly aware of the overtures the Catholic Church had received from the Chinese, or rather the monks of the Jokhang if one wanted to maintain pretenses. Granted these overtures would certainly have been different than whatever was presented to the Japanese or Arabs, but there was undeniably a certain pushiness to them.
"You are saying the Chinese are seeking outright control of additional thought elevators, with the intent of ultimately violating the Treaty of London themselves," Pieri quickly got to the point.
"Indeed," Lelouch nodded.
Pieri pursed his lips. "As much as such a supposition makes sense, the advantage you gain by our acceptance of it colors matters considerably. And ultimately whatever the Federation's intentions, the one that has actually seized control of additional thought elevators is not China, but Britannia. From that angle, it would make equal sense that your suggestion is an attempt at misdirection, attributing Britannia's motives upon another power."
"But that is not the conclusion you or your masters want to reach," Lelouch said in a relaxed tone instead of snapping at the older man again. "Indeed it would even be convenient for the Catholic Church and the EU if the Jokhang and the Chinese Federation can be made out to be the villains in this case. It would allow you to refrain from taking any overt, and costly, action to oppose Britannia, and provide venues in which a return to something akin to the pre-invasion consensus might emerge again." A thin smile crossed the youth's face. "Is that not why you were dispatched, Your Eminence?"
Despite his many greater years of service, Pieri could not help but be impressed by the astuteness displayed by the younger cardinal. Lelouch was displaying a carefully balanced combination of assertiveness and flexibility, insisting on Eden Vital's primacy in these negotiations while leaving just enough room to allow for the necessary compromise and concessions needed to satiate the Catholic Church. If there was any flaw in the young cardinal's posture, it was that he tended towards snideness a bit more than courtesy permitted, but that could be chalked up to the self-confidence that was often a hallmark of young men his age. Pieri was certainly older enough and mature enough to not let it particularly bother him.
"If a suitable agreement can be reached that is mutually satisfactory, the Catholic Church is prepared to continue in accordance with the Treaty of London with Eden Vital as a partner, yes," Pieri stated.
Lelouch gave a wry smile at the wording, but did not deign to quibble over it.
"And what sort of compromise does the Holy See envision?" Lelouch asked.
Now onto the details.
"The Holy See is prepared to continue recognizing the independence of the Imamate of Baghdad with respect to custodianship of a thought elevator," Pieri stated, "but requires that more stringent verification be conducted for the Kamine Island thought elevator. If Britannia is prepared to accept the posting of permanent observers from the Holy See to ensure that the Kamine Island thought elevator is indeed locked down, one of the conditions for the Holy See to treat Eden Vital as being in compliance with the Treaty of London will be met."
"Acceptable," Lelouch did not even bother feigning thinking it over, "on the condition that the number of official observers allowed access to the thought elevator be limited to two."
Pieri nodded in turn. "Two observers should be adequate."
"So what are the other conditions?" Lelouch asked.
"Even if Eden Vital can be demonstrated to not be taking advantage of the thought elevators Britannia has seized, the imbalance created by the Empire's conquest renders substantially moot the limitation of Eden Vital utilizing only two thought elevators," Pieri said very carefully. "This imbalance must be addressed in some manner, otherwise the equilibrium that the Treaty of London sought to maintain will be nullified even with all parties adhering to its terms."
"Ah," Lelouch said with a knowing nod, then cracked a wry smirk. "Technically are you not stepping on the toes of the diplomats sent to officially negotiate the sakuradite export quotas?"
"Had the EU held any confidence in those diplomats in actually achieving an increase in the quotas, I would not be broaching the subject."
Pieri could also be quite blunt when it was called for.
"Besides, the Social Welfare Agency certainly has a vested interest in alleviating the many hardships caused by the decreased sakuradite exports to Europe."
Lelouch gave a slight chuckle. "Fair enough. Britannia is prepared to allow an increase of exports to the EU, but not to the Chinese Federation. Is the EU also prepared to deal with China's irritation?"
"We are," Pieri said, then shrugged. "Ultimately the EU's responsibility is to its member states. As much as we might sympathize with the plight of other nations, it would not be fair to ask our citizens to make unwarranted sacrifices on their behalf."
Realpolitik at its finest.
"And what sort of quota increase is the EU looking for?" Lelouch asked.
"Our preference would be a restoration to levels matching that of before the annexation."
Which was not going to happen, as both cardinals knew full well.
"Restoration is out of the question," Lelouch said. "That much sakuradite on the international markets would make it all too easy for a substantial portion to be smuggled to the Chinese Federation. Based on our economic modeling, an increase of 50% from current levels would substantially alleviate the deterioration of Europe's power infrastructure."
50% might have sounded impressive, but one needed to keep in mind the relative base it was starting from.
"Your Eminence, such an increase would only see exports rise to 15% of what they were pre-annexation," Pieri readily pointed out. "It might suffice, barely, to see to the repair and restoration of Europe's power infrastructure, but leaves no margin for using sakuradite to make good all the lost production and productivity that Europe has suffered these past years."
"Do you have an alternate, credible proposal then?" Lelouch invited.
"A restoration of exports to 50% of pre-annexation levels would allow for ready distribution to all EU member states without too much turmoil over prioritization."
Lelouch however immediately shook his head. "Still too high. Britannia's priority here is not the convenience of the EU, but to ensure the continued containment of the Chinese Federation. We could perhaps entertain exports rising to a quarter of pre-annexation levels, with the appropriate safeguards, but anything higher would require additional effort."
In other words, the EU would need to pony up with something less abstract than the Holy See signing off on Eden Vital's treaty compliance, and it needed to be something that Britannia actually wanted instead of some mere token gesture.
"To what extent is Eden Vital determined to purge the heretics that have found sanctuary at Jokhang?" Pieri asked.
Lelouch raised an eyebrow. Certainly the other denominations had been warned about V.V. when he went rogue, and to reinforce just how serious Eden Vital was, a simultaneous ultimatum was delivered that any party that cooperated with V.V. would see armies at their doorstep. By now, with Japan and the Middle East as examples, the Catholic Church was certainly not going to treat that ultimatum as a bluff. But that was still not the same as active cooperation against the heretics.
"30%," Lelouch gave by way of answer.
That meant a tripling of sakuradite exports to the EU from their current levels. Still well short of what Europe enjoyed before Britannia's annexation of Japan, but some ways toward making good the deficit that they currently suffered.
"And full restoration of exports once the heresy is cleansed," Lelouch added.
A promise for the future was not quite as valuable as money in the bank today, but symbolically it was still useful.
"The Jokhang has certainly been extending rather enthusiastic proposals for collaboration with the Holy See," Pieri said. "In light of the many legitimate concerns that have been raised, I can say for certain that in the foreseeable future the Vatican will not be acquiescing to any of their requests." A slight glint flashed off the lenses of Pieri's glasses. "And we will pursue all means to limit the Chinese Federation's ability to acquire the instrumentation necessary to improve their interface with their thought elevator."
All of the treaty signatories had come a long way since the initial, clumsy attempts to tap into the computational medium of the thought elevators. Advances in electronics derived from the thought elevators were fed back into upgrading the very interfaces that granted access to their computational resources, and these days entire supercomputer clusters worked to feed data into and read results back out from the thought elevators. As a consequence, it was a self-perpetuating cycle wherein those factions that more skillfully utilized their thought elevator were able to continually improve their ability to use the elevators, racing further and further ahead of their competitors. Of the three major powers, Britannia possessed the most advanced electronics industry, and not surprisingly the EU was a respectable second thanks to its two thought elevators. The Chinese Federation was a distant third, and more often than not relied on importing advanced components from Britannia or Europe to make up for the inadequacies of its domestic industry. The source from Britannia had been slowly cut off over the past few years, making the Chinese ever more reliant on Europe. And while the Europeans would normally be more than happy to sell, the sakuradite export limits were starting to crimp their own production capacities as well. The final quota that Lelouch was offering would go some ways to alleviating that, so the potential was there for the EU to start supplying in bulk the Chinese Federation again, and hence was one reason why the young cardinal wanted additional concessions.
"That will suffice," Lelouch said. "And what of Jokhang or heretical members that might travel to the EU?"
"The EU is not in open conflict with China," Pieri stated. "As such, we have no grounds to detain or otherwise restrict their movement, beyond what European law already stipulates. In light of the concerns Eden Vital has raised however, we will certainly monitor their movements, and apprise Eden Vital if the situation so warrants."
Lelouch nodded, seemingly satisfied with what the Catholic Church, and by extension the EU, was offering.
"Well, this has certainly been a most productive meeting," Lelouch said. "Indeed I could probably cancel the rest of the conference, seeing as all pertinent matters have been resolved."
Pieri gave a wry smile. "For the sake of the diplomats' self-confidence, I would ask that you at least humor them, Your Eminence."
Lelouch chuckled. "If you so insist."
The young man rose, and Pieri did likewise. Lelouch extended a hand.
"It has been a pleasure, Your Eminence."
"Likewise," Pieri said as he took Lelouch's hand, "Your Eminence."
For some reason Lelouch did not immediately let go, instead his gaze shifting over to the young woman standing next to Pieri.
"And congratulations on your second generation of fratello," Lelouch said. "I see the Social Welfare Agency has finally come up with an augmentation suite that can be applied to candidates other than prepubescent girls."
Neither the young woman next to Pieri nor the young man behind him showed any overt reactions to Lelouch's words, though the slight flicker of their eyes was revealing enough. And as for Pieri himself, Lelouch certainly felt the slight tensing of his body through the grip of their hands.
One of the other reasons religious institutions were selected for overseeing the thought elevators, besides their ostensible neutrality, was in the belief that their innate conservatism would have a braking effect on too impetuous a charge towards the development or utilization of ethically suspect technologies and methods. This was of course before a rather revealing light had cast significant shadows upon the moral authority of several of these institutions. Even without that consideration, as the saying goes, power corrupts, and these days the reactionary bent of the Church usually amounted to little more than hand wringing at the demands of necessity before plowing headlong into whatever research topic was brought up for consideration. Despite the Church's increasing willingness to cross its supposed redlines however, it was an indisputable fact that its progress still lagged that of Eden Vital. Having a single geass contractor brought considerable advantages when it came to accessing a thought elevator's systems, never mind the advantages offered by a code bearer.
Of course the only other code bearer at large besides Eden Vital's grandmaster was likely of questionable sanity, and if he ever managed to gain access to the Catholic Church's thought elevators, it was doubtful the Church could forcibly retake control of them. Another reason why cooperation with the heretics was unwise in the extreme, but if that path was going to be precluded anyway, the Church might as well try to gain some advantage out of it, as it had done this day. But it would only continue obtaining those advantages if Eden Vital remained convinced that the Church was indeed not transacting with the heretics.
After a moment the young cardinal finally let go with a flat, unassuming smile.
"I bid you good day, Cardinal," he said. "I hope you enjoy the rest of your time here in Japan."
And turned to take his leave with his attendants. Pieri forced himself to do likewise, taking measurable effort to keep his motions calm.
"Alessandro, Petrushka, your assessment," the cardinal said once they were out of the room.
"Man, those guards accompanying that Eden Vital cardinal were no joke," Sandro naturally answered first. "Each one had one of us in their sight the entire time without looking away. And I couldn't be sure, but I think that secretary of his was also carrying."
"She probably had a pistol strapped to her back," Petrushka said. "She was sitting at a very slight angle against the back of her chair."
Pieri grimaced. "I see."
"She was also probably augmented, along with the pink haired girl that was standing guard," Petrushka added.
Which meant if things had taken an untoward turn, Petrushka alone likely would not have been enough to protect Pieri, even setting aside the rumors that the Cardinal Lamperouge was himself augmented. While the chance of that had been slim, it was never a pleasant experience being at the complete mercy of a host that might not always mean you well.
"So you think those really were Eden Vital church militants?" Sandro asked.
"If they were as alert and capable as you two seem to think, then almost certainly," Pieri said with a grimace. "The Order of the Black Knights. That was the insignia upon their uniforms. If Eden Vital has actually formally activated one of their Orders Militant, then this heresy matter is not some poly for geopolitical advantage. They intend to perform an actual cleansing by the sword. His Holiness must be informed of this right away."
"Assuming it's not already too late," Sandro murmured.
And the thing of it was, Pieri could not quite convince himself his subordinate's fears weren't warranted.
"Everything okay, Suzaku?" Cécile asked yet again.
"I'm fine, Captain," Suzaku once more reassured her.
The two were in one of the trailers Camelot had dispatched for the nominal training exercise taking place by Lake Kawaguchi. While ostensibly being held to field test the Lancelot prototype, the exercise served a secondary purpose of assessing Suzaku's own suitability to serve as the knightmare's pilot. While Lloyd was fully confident of his machine's readiness, and even seemed eager to see how far it could be pushed, Cécile remained laser focused on the safety considerations that came with operating the machine. The neuro-link interface might have held up well enough under controlled conditions, but if something went wrong out here, not even Suzaku's current paraplegic status would save him from further damage to his body's nervous system. In consideration of that risk, Suzaku was undergoing one final check to make sure the his implants were working without any problems.
"Alright, all the connections seem stable and noise levels are below the error thresholds," Cécile said, then sighed. "I suppose we're about as ready as we can be."
Suzaku pulled on his shirt before lifting himself off the examination chair into his wheelchair.
"I trust in your preparations, Captain," Suzaku assured her. "I'm sure things will be fine."
Cécile gave a slight smile. "I'll do my best to make sure your trust is not misplaced, Suzaku."
Before either could say anything further, the door to the trailer slid open and Lloyd entered, followed by a Britannian captain that Camelot had only recently made the acquaintance of.
"Colonel?" Cécile greeted as she and Suzaku saluted. "Is something the matter?"
"New orders," Lloyd said, his own salute as sloppily issued as ever. "Very interesting new orders."
The giddiness of Lloyd's tone immediately set Cécile on edge as she narrowed her eyes and looked over at the youthful captain. Claudio Darlton was the eldest of General Andreas Darlton's adopted sons, and the leader of the knightmare platoon those sons served in. He was also a member of Cornelia's royal guard, and often tasked with conveying Her Highness' will in the field if Gilbert was absent or otherwise preoccupied with Cornelia's physical security. Considering his presence here, it looked like the princess intended to add yet another wrinkle to the training exercise.
"What I am about to discuss is classified top secret," Claudio stated. "It is not to be revealed to any personnel aside from this directly participating in the field operation, and those command personnel that are absolutely required for supporting the deployed units."
Cécile's expression darkened further, but both she and Suzaku gave choppy nods to indicate their understanding of Claudio's statement. Seemingly satisfied with that, Claudio began his explanation.
"The viceroyalty has obtained intelligence that indicates a portion of the Japanese Liberation Front intends to attack the sakuradite conference being held at Lake Kawaguchi, with the goal of assassinating His Eminence the Cardinal Lamperouge."
Cécile's eyes widened while Suzaku gasped audibly.
"In addition to the infantry participating, it is believed the JLF will have at their disposal four stolen knightmare frames, as well as a self-propelled coilgun artillery piece."
Now Cécile's jaw dropped. That amount of firepower would be more than enough to completely flatten the conference site, irrespective of whatever other manpower the JLF might deploy.
"Our orders are to intercept and neutralize this force," Claudio concluded. "We are to deploy posthaste."
"W-wait a second!" Cécile explained. "The Lancelot is not ready for a combat deployment!"
Claudio frowned. "Colonel Asplund has assured me that it was."
"Colonel!?" Cécile shot the man in question a furious look.
"Of course my machine is ready," Lloyd said with a sniff. "It is fully functional mobility wise, and all of the armaments have been mounted for the field test. What else do we need to deploy it into combat?"
"The Lancelot is a prototype!" Cécile roared. "It was never meant for combat deployments! It doesn't even have an ejection system!"
That saw Claudio's own eyes widen as he shot a glare of his own at Lloyd. "Is that true, Colonel?"
"Well, yes," Lloyd conceded, "but what necessity for an ejection system if the Lancelot is not damaged? With the systems mounted on the Lancelot, Suzaku should be able to make short work of whatever frames the JLF might have cobbled together."
"That is not the point-" Cécile begain.
"Captain," Suzaku spoke up, causing Cécile to stop mid-sentence. "Please. Let me deploy."
"Suzaku!?" Cécile said incredulously.
"The cardinal is the one that gave me this second chance," Suzaku said with firm determination. "He's the one that's given all my people a second chance. I owe it to him to help him if he needs it now. So, please. Let me deploy."
While Lloyd had an all too smug smile on his face, and Claudio looked mildly impressed by Suzaku's resolve, a pained look crossed Cécile's own expression.
"Suzaku, are you absolutely, absolutely certain about this?" she half-pleaded.
Giving the woman a gentle smile, Suzaku nodded. "Yes. So please, help me save the cardinal."
The steadfast gaze with which Suzaku met Cécile's eyes shone brightly with the young man's resolve. He clearly meant every word he said and would be absolutely crushed if the captain chose to impede his path here. After a long moment, she let out a resigned sigh. She could not do that to him, no matter how much her instincts screamed at her to stop this insanity.
"Very well, Suzaku. Go get suited up."
"Thank you," Suzaku said, then nodded to Claudio. "I'll be right there, Captain."
Claudio nodded in turn. "I'll see you in the field, Specialist Kururugi. Godspeed."
End of Chapter 22
One, maybe two more chapters, depending on how dense the action scenes are.
I don't remember if I mentioned this before, but for narrative reasons, I'm adjusting the number of thought elevators to seven. Previously I think I might have set it at nine, so just a heads up.
Right, that was a pretty big infodump and covers a good chunk of worldbuilding that I've been working up towards since, well, the start of the story. For perhaps the first time, all of you have been exposed in depth to the wider world and some of the political and economic dynamics that drive it. As such, the information revealed in this chapter will be crucial to understanding some of the events that will happen in future chapters. I expect the fallout to be felt for a very, very long time.
We'll see if the fratello show up again.
There isn't any double standard being applied with respect to relations in this story. Milly's compatibility with Lelouch is based on their respective social standings, the affection is just something that further greases the wheels. Kaguya however led with affection in her remarks before having established her credentials on the political/social/economic front to all the involved parties, which was her mistake. And that mistake was further compounded by the fact that multiple relations is a lot more complicated than the somewhat simplistic perception Kaguya held based on Charles' marital status. This has now been pointed out to Kaguya, by Kallen of all people amusingly enough. Where this goes from here, time will tell.
Random remark. For all my statements about treating the shipping as a purely secondary consideration, I'm starting to realize that I am teasing the hell out of my readers over the possibility of relations between Lelouch and the women in his life. Every time I seemingly squash one avenue by which relations might emerge, plenty of fodder emerges to speculate that another avenue might exist due to the changes the characters undergo as they continue developing as people. Aside from those characters for which I've explicitly stated a relationship with Lelouch won't happen, at least. The sense of mischievous glee I get out of this is probably somewhat inappropriate, but hey, I need to find my fun where I can.
As a quick follow up, Charles does not have over a hundred wives in my version of the geassverse. The canon count was another example of the Japanese production team projecting an Asiatic concept (the specific number being how many temptations one must overcome to reach nirvana) that is somewhat nonsensical to apply to a nominally western nation. Since the symbolism is meaningless as far as my narrative needs go, and also due to how purely impractical having that many spouses would be, my version of Charles has five, maybe six wives total, including the deceased Marianne. The household dynamics are also very different, hints of which have already been shown by how thoroughly Lelouch and Nunnally were socialized with their half-siblings before Marianne's murder, and which will be explored in greater detail if/when Lelouch is given reason to drop by Pendragon. And which incidentally actually provides part of the answer to the above issue with affection.