Unwavering (Overlord, Zanac!SI)
Being reborn as the second prince of a 'future fallen kingdom' was not a glorious way to establish a better life for myself.
I was born Zanac Valleon Igana Ryle Vaiself, Second Prince to the Re-Estize Kingdom and half-brother to Crown Prince Barbro Vaiself and Princess Renner Vaiself.
I was the middle child of the family led by King Ramposa III, and thus both a secondary heir and a 'hindrance' due to ambitious plans I may develop. And I have to say that ambition was needed for my survival.
These lengthy names and these complex politics were only clues of what was to come as I slowly realized I was in one of those 'doom scenarios' that could easily see me die a Pompey's death: killed by desperate allies and my head used as a 'bargaining chip'.
Not pleasant, not at all. Especially since I planned to have a long and illustrious life. I wouldn't say that the Sorcery Kingdom was going to be my worst nightmare, but it was a certain factor that couldn't be beaten no matter what. Hence why I had in mind to outright fix the kingdom and attain a diplomatic approach towards Nazarick.
But first, I would have to make a big list of what I was dealing with:
1) My father, the king, was a good man with a lacking understanding of how bad things were in the kingdom. He could be swayed to act accordingly, but he was still 'drained' after seeing two of his daughters married off in political marriages and… outright vanishing from court;
2) The Eight Fingers, the future massive criminal organization, already existed in a more limited light. Even as I hit 6 and managed to barely hear a meeting between the king and some of his trusted advisors, I noticed reports regarding fields being used to produce drugs;
3) The Baharuth Empire had to be crippled before they started to play ball over the Katzen Fields and trigger a massacre. That was what triggered the agricultural crisis, and I intended to prevent that;
4) This was actually the most important element – I had to fix my sister. Not mentally, I doubted I could do much since some of that warped personality was bound to exist somehow, but I moved to give her a somewhat good bond between us so she would have a good reason to not turn into an Imp and betray the kingdom.
I thought of doing this last bit with Barbro too, I thought the guy was young enough to be still malleable to suggestions. That he wasn't corrupted enough to be a self-centered prick but… I was wrong for two infuriating reasons.
First, he had been spoiled enough as father didn't have the time to be a good dad and be a good king at the same time, opting more for the latter for the sake of the people.
Second, I could tell that the Eight Fingers had already sunk their teeth on the nobles around my brother. He was a little shit, spoiled enough to be a second Joffrey Baratheon, but at least devoid of incestuous relations that may have fucked with his genes.
He was a shithead by personal traits.
With that in mind, I worked on getting myself my own 'clean' court of allies. Marquis Elias Raeven was one of those people – cold and frigid round most, in truth he was just a frustrated noble.
He was one of those 'I care more for profit than genuine morality' in terms of policies, and he saw archaic issues such as nobles' bickering in court and slavery as tedious and expensive issues that were only hurting the kingdom's chances to develop with the new age.
Approaching him was difficult due to his cold aura, but he was easily swayed when I requested a private meeting to talk about 'plants'.
He was quite intrigued by the overall conversation in regard to agriculture, and while he was most surprised when I admitted that I had 'no means' to push for a kingdom-wide reform, I could still convince him to give a shot to a few reforms.
The Marquis was convinced mostly by the math I employed and the idea was thus accepted to a limited degree to see the chances of this being true or not. I was glad that it worked as well as I had expected after taking some time to actually crunch numbers around the known formulas.
Two years after that conversation saw the Raeven's domain expanding the crop rotation system to the rest of its domain, improving the yield and producing a surplus that was most welcoming before a potential threat of famine.
A few allied nobles tagged along, pretty much swerving away from the previous status quo but also crushing any illegal deals the Eight Fingers had with the peasants in their domain.
In a rather 'simple' move, I had crushed chances of the organization to spread too fast into the kingdom's richest areas, but their efforts were far from finished. Not when it became clear that their ordeals saw them give weapons to rebellious peasants and trigger some agitations here and there.
At the age of 10, I was known as a young man with a 'good mind and soul' in trying to keep the kingdom strong, but I had spared a lot of energy to not allow any of my real plans to spill out. My ambitions had to be contained to prevent any potential trouble with that single-minded brute of Barbro.
Yet, at this stage of my efforts, I had enough leverage to request a meeting with the King and…
"Father, I wish to institute a national security agency."
The man was… puzzled.
"A security agency? Speak your reasons, Zanac."
"I have heard of rumors that those strange riots and the continuous finding of illegal crops may be tied to a single organization, father," I explained, glad that the king had accepted to receive me in private, with no potential troublemakers to eavesdrop on the situation. "I wish to investigate this and I seek to use my own funds to sustain an organization made by incorruptible individuals that will seek to find the roots of this issue."
Ramposa appeared surprised by my words, but also turned grim at the topic as I doubted he was truly clueless on the matter.
"That could stir some issues with the court."
"Not if the way this organization is presented is one to 'address revolutionary problems'. The extent of its operations can then be limited on paper."
"That means lying," The king argued and I smiled.
"Only omitting the truth as they could easily check the documents themselves."
I got permission to see this edict passed, but the king made it clear that–
"Any potential repercussions shall be holstered on your back, my son. I hope you understand that."
I merely nodded at this, but I knew the gravity of the situation was far bigger than I had anticipated. I knew that politics was the art of walking on eggshells at times, but for the king to wash his hands of this matter was a bit worrisome.
Then again, it just means I have to be faster with my effort and rougher with my targets.
After that visit, I decided to check on Renner to see how she was doing. I was in the mood to just give her a hug and, as I walked in the room where she was meant to be studying with her tutor but… the room was devoid of the tutor. And Renner was alone as she was scribbling doodles on her paper.
The little blonde perked up as she saw me enter the room and then bolted towards me.
"Big brother!"
The princessely missile landed on my chest, hugging me dearly as I lifted her up. "How're you?"
"I am well, Renny. But… shouldn't the tutor be here at this point?"
Her smile faltered a bit. "He was but… I told him to go away!"
"Why so?" I asked, frowning a bit, and I saw her look away for a moment. "Did he say or do something untoward with you?"
"Y-Yeah. He said that- that you were actually planning to– to hurt me. But- But I told him that he was meanie!"
My lips twitched, holding back a scowl as I realized the Eight Fingers were planning to get my little sister too. Those jerks!
"I see, well, I am glad that you told me this. You see, tutors' goal is to teach us the basic of rulership and law-making, not to make any of those statements so it's good you caught him on that."
"And?"
"And he will be removed from the palace, so you will get a new tutor."
"But what about today?" She inquired. "I am without a tutor today so…"
I saw what she was planning and I grinned at that. "I guess we can check the garden–"
"And you will teach me more about new plants, yes~?" The little girl got giddy at the possibility and I nodded as I ruffled her hair.
"Sure thing, Renny. But remember-"
"Studying is also important, but it is so boring! Those tutors just don't like it that I am smarter than them."
"And you should not tell them that. It's rude to be uppity towards anyone without having a good reason for it- or you might end up becoming like Barbro."
She gasped, hugging me tightier. "Please no! Big brother will stop anyone from doing that to me, yes?"
I chuckled. "Obviously, but now… let's go to the garden, Renny."
The girl cheered as I carried her to our newest destination, the guards assigned to her following us through the path but not before I sent one of those to have the tutor seized and questioned.
He will do just fine as my first suspect for my new security agency~.
