Min-Maxing My TRPG Build in Another World - Volume 9.1 - Chapter 4.1

While it was true that we had fought to the near death on multiple occasions, when all of our exterior loyalties were off the table, she could be trusted. Her master, Marquis Donnersmarck, was quite the...fickle character. Even after Lady Agrippina had squashed him flat, he’d carried on undeterred with all his other irons in the fire. He had been an enemy, but often one we had little choice but to cooperate with. He couldn’t be relied upon, but he could be trusted to a degree, or at least his treachery could be predicted within tolerable margins.

Or wait, maybe in this case it was Lady Agrippina who had been a little too accommodating. She had battled with the marquis over the succession of the Ubiorum county, but still she pounced upon his schemes with all the ease in the world if the scales tilted right.

And so we subordinates were stuck in a dizzying two-step—enemy to ally and back again, over and over...

Her three free palms still on display, she reached into her cloak with one arm and drew out a single letter. Upon the seal was Marquis Donnersmarck’s crest: a sleeping lion, crowned.

“A request to take them in...?” I murmured.

The flowing script of the letter—so meticulous that most people unused to fancy penmanship wouldn’t be able to read half of it—asked, in a measured tone that I was surprised to receive as a former enemy, if the five adventurers known as the One Cup Clan could be released into the care of Marquis Donnersmarck.

This wasn’t just an independent request from Marquis Donnersmarck. Inside the envelope was another letter from Lady Maxine giving her own consent—from the penmanship and the clover-shaped seal, I had no doubt that it was hers. Letters could be faked, yes, but her personal quirks, from the sloping nature of her capital letters, to the spaces between words, indicated that she had penned this herself. It read, in short, that I was to accede to Marquis Donnersmarck, for the safety of all Marsheim.

His intentions were obvious. He wasn’t looking to question them; he wanted to add them to his roster of flunkies.

“Do you know them?” I asked.

“Not me personally. My grandfather. And I wouldn’t call them so much acquaintances as...enemies.”

“How so?”

“They are the ones that killed my grandmother.”

Ooh-kay, that’s heavy. It wasn’t an uncommon occurrence in the world of assassins, but hearing about it firsthand was a positive downer.

“But that is in the past,” Miss Nakeisha went on. “Assassins and spies kill one another. Such is life. To bring one’s hatred outside the workplace will only shorten your own days.”

I really didn’t understand what made these professionals tick. I understood the responsibilities one had to one’s work, but to me revenge was either served immediately or doled out after careful planning. I couldn’t have the sort of compartmentalization skills to file away my emotions just because “that was work.”

Well, barring what feelings I had for the folks I’d killed for truly egregious mistakes.

Our approaches to life were completely different. Even if I understood the logic behind the words, I couldn’t get on board with it. It was terrifying to see just how different we were.

“There is suspicion that they were involved in certain affairs closer to the Empire’s center,” Miss Nakeisha said. “There wasn’t sufficient evidence, and the marquis quarreled with the Association in his attempt to obtain what information he could.”

“But now he has the moral right to inquire...”

“Indeed. He has made use of the commotion in Marsheim to air some of his complaints. By showing the Association manager, Lady Maxine Mia Rehmann, certain benefits she stands to gain, he has managed to secure their custody.”

Miss Nakeisha spoke as ever without moving her lips. It was impossible for me to gauge the true intentions that lay beneath her almost otherworldly beauty.

What I could surmise was that if Lady Maxine had given her consent, then Marquis Donnersmarck had most likely extended a helping hand in keeping public order in Ende Erde. It seemed like Lady Maxine had decided that, instead of doling out proper punishment, sweeping this matter under the rug had better long-term implications for Marsheim. This was the sort of cloak-and-dagger realpolitik that you wouldn’t really see back on Earth. It was terrifying to consider what strings could be pulled, if the right person wished it. I wasn’t sure of the extent of these assassins’ crimes, but here they were being fobbed off to Marquis Donnersmarck because he said so. It was anything but legal.

“How will the handover take place?” I asked.

“Tomorrow a carriage from the Association will arrive to pick them up. However, there will be an unfortunate incident where they try to escape and are subsequently killed. Or so the story shall go. Do not worry. This will have no negative implications on you.”

As soon as the assassins left our care, responsibility would shift from the Fellowship of the Blade to the Association. It seemed like they had all their ducks in a row.

Even if the One Cup Clan had been written off by Marsheim’s adventuring community, it seemed that Marquis Donnersmarck had his own intentions. I had heard that after his beatdown from Lady Agrippina, he had lost a number of useful pawns, so it wasn’t too big a leap of logic to imagine that he was looking for an immediate boost to his lineup.

In that case, I wondered why he needed to bother explaining all this to me. Nothing warranted the letter from Miss Nakeisha. As long as he got Lady Maxine’s approval, then he could just stage a quick abduction when no one was looking and get away without anyone knowing that the One Cup Clan were under his jurisdiction.

“What’s the marquis’s plan here?” I asked.

“Who can tell? His plans are on a scale that someone like myself cannot comprehend. Need I remind you he is a methuselah?”

She had a point—it was difficult to empathize with someone who didn’t work within the same kind of time limits us mortal folk did. While we could only focus on what the next month would hold, people like him could prepare for events that were at least half a century away. He no doubt had to come up with all sorts of alien preoccupations to fill up his free time. Patience like his was beyond any mortal reckoning.

“What I can say is that he wishes to see things stabilize here in the west,” Miss Nakeisha said. “Did you know that Marquis Donnersmarck and Count Ubiorum had a tea party just the other day?”

“Yes, that does seem like he is rather serious.”

I couldn’t even imagine what went through the head of any person who’d turn to their number one assassination target and ask, “Hey, wanna plan some evil together?” Not that I had any better idea what the deal was with anyone who could say yes...

“Now then, Erich. Marquis Donnersmarck has said that, if you so wish it, he will be happy to allow you to integrate the One Cup Clan under your personal control.”

“Huh?”

I couldn’t stop the strange sound that escaped from my lips. What was she saying?

“The Fellowship of the Blade seems to be lacking in covert manpower. You may have one member who is rather capable, but I think her decision to focus her efforts on monitoring the One Cup Clan was what made it so easy for me to come right to your window. Don’t you think with things as they are it will be a bit difficult to sleep soundly at night?”

It was as Miss Nakeisha said—Margit was focusing all her energy on keeping the One Cup Clan under her surveillance, and that meant our general guard was limited. Despite her expressionless face, Miss Nakeisha looked somewhat proud at having slipped past our perimeter. I had people on guard in rotating shifts, but they weren’t the most skilled bunch of scouts I’d ever seen. It would be nigh impossible for them to spot Miss Nakeisha if she was doing her best to remain hidden.

As our organization got larger, it was getting more obvious that our clear-cut frontline martial types had overshadowed what few assets we had in the realms of the arcane, divine, and shadowy.

I wondered just where she had tapped the intel on the size of our organization. Had there been a leak among Gerrit’s father and his connections?

This was frustrating. I hated being counted as one of Marquis Donnersmarck’s playing pieces. I didn’t yet know why keeping things locked down out here would benefit him, but I knew for sure that despite his own twisted heart, he was a fair bit more reliable than the local power players, and he seemed to have the Empire’s interests reasonably close to his heart.

I didn’t know what Lady Agrippina found fun, but she had said that her dream wasn’t to shake up the Imperial houses, so it was easy to conclude that whatever their plans were, they weren’t fun.

“Isn’t it an adventurer’s job to help guide their companions back onto the proper path?” Miss Nakeisha said. “The marquis said as much.”

Yes, I thought, that’s correct, but this job is way too difficult!

We hadn’t killed any of them, no, but we had left them with scars that they would bear for the rest of their lives. If I played my cards right I could indebt them to me and render them docile, but who knew when they would choose to turn on us?

What I valued most in this world was conviction. They had their own conviction, but I found it nigh on impossible to square with mine. If you asked me, it was far more frightening to leave all of our undercover work to folk you couldn’t trust than to have nothing at all.

“I feel that it may be too much,” I said. “I believe that, if the manager allows it, it would be best for the marquis to use them as he wishes.”

“Is that right? I thought you might say as much.”

As ever, Miss Nakeisha’s eyebrows and mouth didn’t move, but I could have sworn that for a moment she looked relieved.

I supposed it didn’t matter all that much. Whether they received punishment at the hands of Lady Maxine, went under Marquis Donnersmarck’s protection, or worked under me, their past deeds wouldn’t go away. Under the name of redemption and fate, I would let the One Cup Clan have some say in what they wanted out of their futures. If they hated their fates, they could choose to end their lives then and there; or they could choose to start again under new leadership. Looking at Miss Nakeisha and his other subordinates, Marquis Donnersmarck seemed to take care of his people.

“Now, I shall be taking my leave,” Miss Nakeisha said. “It brings me pleasure to see you looking so well.”

“And I you. I would have hated to find out you’d fallen to some other fool.”

“Like I said back then, we met in the shadows. Our next bout will come in time, I am sure. May our next battlefield be a grand one.”

As I watched her trail out of the small window like smoke, I took in a deep breath. I had been breathing lightly ever since she had come in, but now that I sensed she was gone I let my tension dissipate.

I had thought that I would never have anything to do with her again. It was quite the surprise for Marquis Donnersmarck to show interest in Ende Erde. I had thought that the roots of this plot had run deep, but that deep?

“I won’t be getting much rest anytime soon...”

For a moment, it was like I was back in the office, getting the last bit of a big job in the can, only to turn and find a mountain of unread, urgent emails in my inbox. I’d only just begun to plumb beneath the troubled surface waters of my new home, it seemed.

I didn’t regret my decision to stay, but I couldn’t say I was enthused about my prospects. There wasn’t much I could do but hone my edge and keep us all ready for the next fray.

I was seriously craving the kind of final boss we could put down and leave a neat bow on my campaign. As I sighed at my impossible dream, I sat back at my desk ready to complete my report.

[Tips] The curtains never drop on truly grand theaters of ambition just because a central player has been killed.