Diamonds Are Forever

The doors to the throne room swung open!

“Father! Cease this acrimony!”

Duke Volkoz turned. “...Son?”

\\\\\\\\\\\

It was a miracle we got here as fast as we did. Piper had to hold me from collapsing on the ground.

Calilah, appreciating the urgency of the situation (unlike my body) decided to take things into his own hands.

Yes, he marched forward with stride and grace. “I have seen the outside for myself, father! There is no basis—none whatsoever—under which the good Mother can be persecuted!” 

The room went still.

“How unfortunate, then…” the duke muttered, “that I have already made my decision.”

NO!!

All of a sudden, a very evocatively sultry lady suddenly acted on her own accord. And she was heading straight for the duke!

Her heels clacked against the stone as she sprinted forward, shedding every ounce of grace in her body. From beneath her silken sleeves, magic flared.

“WITCH!!” she shrieked “HEAR MY FURY AND WITNESS MY POWER! YOU SHALL BE ROOTED FROM THIS VESSEL!”

“QUANSIA!” Calilah panicked. His palm shot forward, a gnarled claw of light ready to strike. "You are going to hurt—!!"

'Quansia' reached the Duke first.

The woman’s palm slammed into his chest, magic spiraling into his core. His body lurched, back arching, face contorting, as a thin, black tendril of… what seemed like corruption began to writhe out from beneath his ear.

Soon enough, Calilah reached Quansia and landed a magically-infused strike of his own.

Quansia's heels skidded over the tiled floor.

The impact sent her heels skidding across the polished tiles, arms up to absorb the blow as she slid to a stop.

She coughed once, straightened her coat, and smirked.

“You chose to close the distance with me, boy?”

Calilah, still in his stance, cracked his knuckles. “Yeah. I just really wanted to punch you for a long time now.”

A beat passed.

“…Fair enough,” she conceded.

Two small, metallic canisters dropped from her sleeves and bounced once on the marble floor.

“What th—?”

PSSSSHHHH!!!

A dense cloud of shimmering gas exploded across the chamber, engulfing Calilah, the guards, even the King.

“Gah—!!” Calilah swayed on his feet before slumping forward. The guards didn’t fare much better, dropping like dominos. Even the duke gave a rather undignified snort before collapsing back into his throne.

"Turns out all that work setting this up was worth it..." And through it all, Quansia was already moving toward me. 

The speed at which she strode... it was like the air was not even there.

Before I could say a word, something cold pressed against my face.

A gas mask. Matte-black, fitted perfectly.

Quansia's fingers lingered though. Tracing the shape of my cheek, my jawline.

I cringed. “What the…”

“Don't mind me. I’ve just never seen a Crystal Elf up close before,” she murmured, pouting. “Your skin is so soft and supple… while I have to buy five different makeup products just to stay presentable. It’s not fair.”

The last of the gas finally hissed away, leaving only me and Quansia standing as the rest of the court, including my friends, laid unconscious.

She folded her arms with a self-satisfied huff.

“I’m sure you have many questions,” she said. She walked in circles around me like a cat inspecting a curious new toy. “In due time. All you need to know right now is that I am from the Guild of Thieves.”

I blinked. “Like those guards…?”

“Are you so surprised such a thing exists?” She grinned, sharp and gleaming. “I’ve been observing your work these past weeks, Cotter. Quite the stir you’ve caused. Slipping into nobles’ territory. Snooping around funds. Instigating a nice little scandal.”

She leaned in, close enough for me to catch a whiff of perfume.

“And not to mention…” she whispered, “you have the potential to eviscerate me where I stand.”

“I—what? No, I don’t—”

“Oh, you don’t know it yet. The Character Test may be a tool of oppression created by the Crystals, but it is very good at telling objective facts. Such as one’s magical prowess.” She flipped her hair over one shoulder. “Qualities like yours are very attractive to a girl, y’know?”

My brain short-circuited. She clapped her hand once to snap me out of it.

“Now listen up. The guards were just pawns, nothing more. Yeah, maybe they were part of some human supremacist group that got kicked out of the capital—only robbed and targeted beastkin businesses because they believed beastkin were outbreeding humans. Called it the ‘Great Displacement Theory’ or whatever.

“And maybe they were trying to prove to the ‘The Guild of Thieves’ they deserved to become part of us by being able to hide their schemes for so long…

“But that’s irrelevant right now. Whoever’s pulling the strings behind the Crown’s little integrity crisis… they’ve stopped playing nice. They didn’t go for a full-blown takeover. They went for the subtle jugular. East Gate’s duke.”

A tense silence followed.

“Whoever they are, they want East Gate to fall. And they want it to fall soon.”

She folded her arms, golden eyes narrowing.

“As for what’s behind this corruption? Not even the Guild has a name. Could be technomagik. Could be old-world sorcery. It could be a third faction hiding in the cracks of the continent of Schonewelt!”

Her lips curled into a grim line.

“Until we launch a formal investigation, the possibilities are endless.”

She turned, almost dancing toward the throne room exit.

“So keep doing what you’re doing,” she called over her shoulder. “Keep this town afloat. Look into this problem while you’re at it. And maybe—maybe—in the far-flung future, we can rekindle this little… spark.”

She paused at the doorway, giving me one last sly grin.

“Oh, and… thank you, darling, for doing half my job. Those guards were giving the Guild a bad name and we needed to put a stop to that. Connecting the dots to a wider plot was a work of genius. Now I can get away from the duke without feeling like an object sooner. And finally focus my attention on the real threat.”

A real threat? Of course! Was my perspective of the world so insular as to believe the debacle in East Gate was the only one going on at the same time? People were probably fighting different battles at the same time, and I didn’t necessarily have to be involved in all of them just because I was the M.

She waved two fingers in the air.

“Now take off that mask and pretend to act knocked out, darling. You wouldn’t believe how awkward the paperwork gets otherwise.”

And then she was gone.

I did as the spylady told.

Slowly, the room started to rouse around me.

First was Martha. “C-Cotter… you and your damn hero complex.”

I only gave her a smile.

“Where… where is she?!” The Duke was the second to come back to his senses, which made sense… if political power in this world had anything to do with combat prowess. He stood up. “My consort… a spy! Does she take me a fool?! I know her face! She will be dead by sundown!”

I really doubted that, old-timer.

Calilah pushed himself upright, wobbling. “Father… Will you ever doubt me again?”

He sighed. “No, son. I should’ve listened from the start.” He made to remove himself from the throne he fell on, but he doubled back as if dragged by a weight. His hand gripped the armrest tight. “It’s strange… my head feels clear for the first time in forever. And yet, everything I’ve done these past months still felt right.” His jaw clenched. “Like it wasn’t even my own will.”

Calilah’s gaze darkened.

“East Gate,” he said grimly, “under the Phoenix Elves’ watch, has been compromised. From the very top to the town guards, they’ve exploited our complacency.”

“And who was it… that saved us?”

Calilah pointed toward me and my friends. Piper was hacking her lungs out, and I helped her look more presentable. Not that it made much difference, but it was something.

“The actions of a brave few from an orphanage we’ve long neglected came to our aid, Father.”

“A lamia and a jackal from the Kingdom of Sand… and a Crystal Elf? How curious.”

Piper visibly twitched when her origin was laid bare like that. It was obvious she wasn’t from around here… just look at her tail. There wasn’t anything more to it. Right?

Uriel stepped forward first and knelt. “Yes, Your Grace. While we do have ledgers to present you of the Crown’s mismanaged funds, I feel it pertinent to show to the audience of this court the effects of your neglect plainly.”

With calm precision, she unclasped her outer coat.

The court gasped at the sight of her skeletal frame!

Piper balked. “Uriel… you told me you were eating enough!”

“No matter what, Piper, my priority is you. It has always been you.”

Uriel coughed as she made herself presentable again. She held the orphanage ledger in the air before the duke took it.

The duke’s eyes scanned frantically.

“It is, therefore, high time we have some very hard conversations about the exact nature of your feelings toward the orphanage… and Posteria at large,” Uriel finished.

Hard conversations indeed.

Maybe Uriel overplayed her hand here. But at this point, from an objective and moral standpoint, this is inexcusable.

The ball was now in the Duke’s court. All we could do now… was wait and see.

That’s what I would have told myself back home in Japan. So much waiting. So much seeing. Paralysis by committee.

We couldn’t afford that luxury in East Gate.

Every minute wasted was another life in jeopardy. And I’ll be damned if my complacency costs anyone else.

Not like that day I stood at that crosswalk and saw the headlights coming.

“Your Grace, if I may…” My voice cut through the chamber.

As always, I needed to become the instigator. The Crystal Elf who didn’t know when to stay quiet. But if I was born to be a foil for the hard choices—then so be it.

Because from where I stood…

“I believe Calilah is more suited to perform the Crown’s duties than in your current capacity.”

Sorry, Piper. And Martha, especially.

But that horrified face you’re making right now is not going to make me regret a damn thing.

~SALARYMAN TECHNIQUE ACTIVATED: THE WORKPLACE MANEUVERING GAMBIT!~