novelraw Chapter 156: Sender: Son of the Sea
Chapter 156: Sender: Son of the Sea
When Fisher took a carriage back to his own rental house, it was already fast approaching twilight. He hadn't seen Tlander at the doorway. Thus, he took out the key, pushed open the door, and entered the inside of the room. As expected, he saw that Tlander wearing a suit and combing his golden hair into a slicked-back style within the living room.
Having not seen him for quite a period of time, some stubble had grown on his face, but his complexion no longer seemed as hollow as before, recovering some of a young person's original complexion.
During this period of time, because of the New Party's matters, it dragged him out from the Abyss within the Pink Pavilion for a short while.
Ms. Martha came out from the kitchen tremblingly. After seeing Fisher, she walked over happily and embraced him for a bit before saying,
"Thank the Mother Goddess. I heard previously that Saint-Nazareth University was attacked by an evil cult; I was extremely worried about you. Originally I wanted to make a phone call to your Office, but transferring calls is truly too troublesome..."
"I am fine... Did you make dinner? I smelled the scent of pan-fried fish."
"Hah, I just knew you loved eating this. I prepared a portion for both you and your friend. Take them upstairs to enjoy in a while."
Martha cast a glance at that Tlander sitting on the sofa. He also smiled toward Martha.
Waiting in the living room for another short while, wait until two plates of savory pan-fried fish were finished cooking, Fisher carried the two fish, while Tlander carried a bottle of Black Mamba Wine following behind Fisher, going upstairs to his room.
"Previously I also heard of the matter of your Saint-Nazareth University being attacked. That damn group of evil cultists are truly crazy, actually daring to offend both the Schwalian and Nari sides simultaneously. From how I see it, they're tired of living..."Tlander spoke indignantly. Fisher didn't voice the truth behind this matter, merely carrying the fish and entering the inside of the room with him. When Fisher distributed the knife and fork to him, he came over holding two goblets smilingly, even specially pouring red wine for Fisher.
Looking at that black-colored liquor swaying within the cup, Fisher cast a glance at him, cutting the pan-fried fish open,
"How do you have time to come find me today?"
Tlander placed the fully-poured wine glass in front of Fisher. Subsequently, he rubbed his hands and spoke with an awkward smile,
"Isn't this worrying about your safety? My friend was attacked; can I not ask about it? Come, drink."
"If it was merely worrying about my safety, making a single phone call would've been fine. You specialized running over here, and even brought liquor over purposely. Either there's a matter you want to ask me, or there's trouble requiring my help... Otherwise, during this grandly fine time, you would've long since gone inside the Pink Pavilion to squander away your already scant energy."
Holding the fork, Fisher pointed at the cold sweat emerging on his forehead. Seeing that he right now hadn't even found the time to tidy up his stubble, one knew that he ought to not be having a good time these recent days.
Tlander became uncomfortable the moment he heard the three words "Pink Pavilion," exactly as if he had eaten a fly. Pausing for a very long while, he finally picked up the conversation,
"Don't mention Pink Pavilion... The wind is tight recently. Who knows who leaked the consumption records of New Party officials going to the Pink Pavilion out. Pink Pavilion itself shouldn't have kept files; they ought to all be destroyed after the transactions are completed..."
"What is impossible about this? They themselves also need to reconcile their accounts, also need to organize income. Who's to say people inside didn't carelessly speak too much, or inadvertently reveal it out?"
"You really shouldn't say that. If it was like this, how could the Pink Pavilion possibly continue operating? Unless it's some other people specially paying attention, wanting to target our New Party..."
Eating the fish, Fisher tapped his fingers atop the desktop, subsequently asking,
"So what people do you suspect leaked it?"
"I suspect it's the Gryphon Party! Those scraps, they also go to the Pink Pavilion frequently. We previously even took photos of them going to the Pink Pavilion to use as leverage. I didn't expect they would actually dare to bite us back!"
Yet Fisher shook his head upon hearing this. He felt it wasn't very likely to be evidence actively obtained by the Gryphon Party. No matter where you looked at it from, it wasn't very reasonable.
People from the Gryphon Party and the New Party both consumed inside the Pink Pavilion. If the Gryphon Party could obtain news from a third-party channel, there was no reason the New Party couldn't.
Unless the Gryphon Party and the Pink Pavilion possessed a hidden line...
Or it was someone actively revealing the New Party's consumption evidence to the Gryphon Party?
"So what? Since you guys have photos of the Gryphon Party going to the Pink Pavilion, put them onto the Parliament floor to show the Royal Family or the Speaker of Parliament. Then just let both sides enter a dog-bites-dog squabble. Isn't this a dramatic play Parliament frequently engages in?"
Fisher took a sip of red wine and ridiculed,
"How did that saying go again? 'Even if I am in the wrong, I still must drag another child along who committed the mistake together entirely down into the water.' The methods children in Saint-Nazareth nurseries like. Your two gangs of people are still playing it up until now."
Tlander naturally knew what appearance the situation of his own home faction was like. Thus he fundamentally didn't refute. On the contrary, he hollered,
"The problem lies right here... Right now is not a matter of the Gryphon Party and New Party. Prince Dexter within the Golden Palace lacks martial virtue by personally intervening and taking sides, shamelessly demanding the establishment of some review committee. We have lost the support of the Golden Palace; this is practically a two-versus-one ah! Although this midterm general election might not have any problems emerge, but what about after? Let alone the general elections afterwards, the bills passed after that—the problems would blow up massively!"
Fisher drank liquor, his expression unchanged, yet his gaze pulsed faintly.
The problem right now was precisely that Prince Dexter had long since possessed the thought of drawing a blade against the New Party. He coincidentally seized this opportunity to ally with the Gryphon Party to ruthlessly Beat a Drowning Dog against them. If this review activity spearheaded by the Golden Palace discovered any problems, this leverage would be exactly like a sword suspended over the New Party's head.
When to use it, how to use it—all were decided fully by the Golden Palace. And this was what the New Party could not tolerate. Originally, the three-way division of power was going perfectly fine. The other two gangs of people suddenly allied together to give themselves an utter beating, and even wanted to grab their leverage to save it for later use?
You, the Golden Palace, knows it. Then does the Gryphon Party know or not? Who told the two of you to wear the same pair of pants right now!
Fisher abruptly understood something. He placed the wine glass down lightly, and continued cutting the fish,
"I understand. So you guys wish to exhaust the maximum possibility of avoiding the lethal leverage this Golden Palace review might bring about?"
"...Haha, it is exactly like this."
Tlander rubbed his head and took a bite of fish. Yet Fisher paid him no heed, continuing to state his own conjecture,
"This review targeting the New Party appears Flawless And Invulnerable, necessitating the New Party to stomach the blade. But in actuality, it isn't so. Your New Party's leader and the financiers behind you certainly discovered the problem."
"This time the review is spearheaded by the Golden Palace. In other words, that is precisely the Royal Family spearheading it. Looking from the exterior, there's basically no place to start to alleviate it. Yet in actuality, you all know there is a hidden card that can be played..."
The sweat lingering atop Tlander's head grew increasingly more, his complexion also appearing increasingly guilty.
"There aren't many ministers the Royal Family can dispatch over to review. The ones who can come help are only those who have retired yet haven't passed away yet. Third-party figures, loyal to the Royal Family, particularly suitable. Moreover, the ones who can impact their decision-making is not only Prince Dexter, there is also another person... Her Royal Highness Princess Elizabeth."
Seeing that he could not deceive Fisher, Tlander had no choice but to raise both hands in surrender,
"Spare me, great professor... Even if we lack any great problems, do you think Prince Dexter wouldn't demand those ministers to look for problems? He precisely wants a weapon to threaten the New Party with!"
"Everyone in the New Party will not tolerate the Royal Family tossing a bomb that could Explode at any time underneath their own pillows. This is already an approach we trend towards with the smallest loss. If there is no other method, we can only choose to engage the Gryphon Party and the Royal Family in an outcome where the Fish Dies Net Breaks..."
Fisher looked toward him and asked,
"So this is the intent of your party leader—dispatching you over to search for me, making me go contact Her Highness Elizabeth?"
Tlander poured a cup of wine, evidently tacitly consenting,
"...Who in the entirety of Nari doesn't know of the relationship between you and Her Highness Elizabeth? You are further a free person who stands on no side. Even if you and Her Highness Elizabeth meet every entire day, nobody would be suspicious... Moreover, you still have a 'Universal Request' from Her Highness Elizabeth that goes unused, right?"
"Do you think I will aid the New Party?"
Fisher stared fixedly at Tlander, looking until Tlander shook his head. His face possessed considerable tipsiness, yet he still stated his explanation exceedingly clearly,
"This is not only helping the New Party, but it is also helping Her Highness Elizabeth..."
"Although Her Highness Elizabeth does not touch upon political matters, she possesses influence with many old ministers... As you know, it is impossible for her to ascend the throne to become king. We all possess areas where we need each other... She helps us with this favor once; and waiting after Prince Dexter ascends the throne, we will shield her freedom politically. You also don't hope she marries other gentlemen, right?"
"Of course, if you can rush before His Majesty the King passes away and marry Her Highness Elizabeth, then just treat it as if I never came looking for you... However, His Majesty hasn't much time left. Even if you decide to marry Elizabeth tomorrow, who knows if you can even hold out until the wedding date designated by the Royal Family..."
There lay specific rules regarding Royal Family wedding dates. Every year, there were four months one could marry; the other days absolutely wouldn't work.
The Royal Family wedding date closest to today still had around two months. At that time, in the chance that Prince Dexter ascends the throne, for him to turn hostile and refuse to acknowledge people was also possible.
As for why it was impossible for Elizabeth to ascend the throne, this still had to be spoken back to the old rules of the Nari Royal Family.
Nari's king absolutely could not be succeeded by a lady. This was an exceedingly ancient ironclad rule, unless all the sons of the previous king were thoroughly dead. And Elizabeth still had three brothers. Therefore, no matter what, it was impossible for her to ascend the throne. Much less that she also lacked any inclination wanting to ascend the throne.
Therefore, until today, Nari had never given birth to any single Queen.
The situation right now was entirely as Tlander analyzed. The New Party faced the risk of a review excavating lethal evidence, while Elizabeth also faced the perilous environment of plunging into being targeted by her own older brothers after the old king's passing.
But speaking specifically, it ought to be the New Party who was begging Elizabeth for help. Because up to right now, the relationships between the princes and princesses were entirely nothing but conjecture.
Nobody knew whether Dexter wanted to settle accounts with Elizabeth in the end. Even In The Most Extreme Case, Dexter was nonetheless an older brother possessing bloodline connections with Elizabeth. Perhaps he merely wanted to retrieve Elizabeth's military authority. As for the marriage matters of her and Isabel, they would be left up for themselves to decide.
In any case, Fisher had never heard Elizabeth speak about the bad points of her older brothers to himself. The relationship between them could also merely be guessed depending on the apppointments of authority by the king.
As for Fisher, he could help or not help. Because for Elizabeth, in actuality, nothing much could be lost.
If her relationship with her older brothers wasn't good, then the New Party was precisely the political guarantee of her freedom. If her relationship with her older brothers was decent, helping the New Party also wouldn't let her suffer a loss. Just like that...
Thinking up to here, Fisher abruptly asked toward Tlander.
"Tlander, speak a bit on what the objective of you becoming an assemblyman is?"
Tlander blanked out for a moment, answering subconsciously,
"Uh, earn money, drink fine wine, smoke Cigarettes, sleep with ladies... and also seek the well-being of the Nari people?"
This sentence amused Fisher into laughing. Shaking his head, he evaluated,
"If it were Gryphon Party members, he would say it is to proudly defend the honor of the Nari Royal Family..."
"Hahahahaha, you made me think of President Dami'an."
Fisher clinked cups with Tlander, cracking a joke.
Neither the New Party nor the Gryphon Party were any good birds. If one forcefully needed to compare, the New Party would at least still do some things for the populace while committing bad deeds. But they merely only did "some".
In actuality, when the conversation reached this point, Fisher had already revealed the inclination that he could help with this favor. Because factually, the New Party didn't need him to make the decision. The person who truly made the decision of whether or not they wanted to help was Elizabeth.
He merely needed to serve as a free person of the third party to transmit the New Party's inclination to Elizabeth, and that was all. As for what the final outcome was like, whatever choice Elizabeth ought to make, he would respect them all.
"So, your party leader... or Party Whip, whosoever is fine. In order to employ me into movement, they certainly had you promise me some conditions, right?"
Fisher stood up his body, tossing the pan-fried fish's bones into the garbage can inside the room. While using a fork to scrape the sauce above, Fisher asked simultaneously in this manner.
"Right, ah, right, ah..."
Tlander rubbed his hands, stating, "How about inviting you to participate in drafting the next educational bill the Parliament decides to create? At that time, the entire educational world will all know the grand name of you, Fischer Benavides!"
Fisher's movement of scraping the plate paused slightly. Subsequently, he cast an exceedingly speechless glance at him. Walking to his side, he nudged him toward the outside of the door, completely wearing an appearance of seeing the guest off.
"Not seeing you off. See you next time. Thanks for your liquor."
"Don't, ah, don't, ah! Father, grandfather, I was wrong!"
While struggling, Tlander grabbed onto the door handle, just refusing to let Fisher open the door and see the guest off. Soon after, he smiled merrily and opened his mouth toward Fisher. Wearing an incredibly cheap appearance,
"This is the condition set by our party leader, no? You see, he just doesn't understand you as much as I do, yes? Therefore, I prepared an alternative condition for you, having relations to the Demi-humans you like best!"
"Do you think I like Demi-humans best?"
Regarding Tlander's slander, Fisher rejected it with stern words. But he still set down the hand clutching the door handle, wearing an appearance gesturing for him to continue speaking.
Tlander smiled and stated,
"It's like this: this is a secret rumor, the kind all other people are unaware of... Not long ago, a mysterious person mailed a letter to the Golden Palace. Lacking a sender, that letter directly flew to the desk of Prince Dexter in the Golden Palace. Magical, right? The Royal Family still hasn't any way of pursuing who delivered this letter."
"But the rough contents of the letter were celebrating the 34th birthday of a certain person! Prince Dexter is precisely thirty-four years old this year. And take a guess, what was the signature of that letter?"
Fisher knit his brows. It seemed as if some kind of train of thought Resounded within his mind. Tlander knew he was contemplating, and then excitedly continued speaking downward of his own accord,
"Written atop it was: 'Sender: Son of the Sea'! That is a Demi-human hailing from the Ocean. Unexpectedly possessing relations with Prince Dexter!"