Unintended Cultivator

V13 Chapter 44 – Mutual Benefit

Li Qui Yue seemed to ponder for a moment before she said, “There are really only three sects of note in the city. There are other, smaller sects, but I expect they will simply bend to your will.”

“Why would they do that?”

“Survival, of course. Stories about how you deal with dissent have reached us here.”

“I take it that’s the same reason you surrendered without a fight.”

“It’s one reason of many. Possibly not even the most important.”

“That sounds unlikely,” observed Sen.

“Our kingdom is, or rather was, small. We had aggressive nations on either side. Do you know how we survived?”

“I do not.”

“By convincing both of those neighbors that it was better to have us here, between them.”

“I’m not sure that I understand.”

“If those nations shared a border, they would have warred with each other constantly. By having us between them, there was less opportunity for some fool on the border to make a calamitous decision that triggered a war when no one wanted it.”

“I see,” said Sen. “It was less that they didn’t want to invade you than that they found it convenient to use you. And, if someone did want a war, they would have to conquer you first. Not an insurmountable problem, but not an especially palatable one. Politically, anyway. I’ve learned that generals don’t like invading friendly or, minimally, neutral ground.”

“Indeed. However, our position required us to never fight with either side. The moment we stopped being neutral would have been the moment we ceased to exist. You and the spirit beasts, however, were an unexpected change in a careful balance of power. We had no true hope of standing against you. So, in that sense, yes, survival drove the decision. However, it was in no way clear that successfully standing against you would have brought us anything of value. The spirit beasts would still be savaging the continent. The cultivators would still have been hiding in their sects. All we would have done was diminish the only power actively pursuing the defeat of the spirit beasts.

“None of which would benefit us. You, on the other hand, have made it clear that you intend to purge the spirit beasts from our land. You possess the strength to force the cultivators to participate, willingly or not. As a province of your empire, we stand to benefit from not only your protection but from trade. Not immediately, of course. What trade that does still exist has been sporadic, and the goods available are unpredictable. I expect that some of that will resolve itself as your empire stabilizes. For example, I imagine that farming has become a profoundly safer occupation in the north. Just as I expect that trade caravans have begun moving there again. Those benefits will eventually find their way here. First, with our own farming efforts. Later, with the arrival of predictable trade. I estimate that will happen in, oh, two to three years.”

Sen considered the woman for a moment before he said, “And you are, no doubt, hoping that your surrender will mean my goodwill. Something that is bound to manifest, directly or indirectly, in more favorable terms when you negotiate with said traders.”

“Will it not?” she asked, giving him a knowing smile.

“If you’ve reasoned all of that out, it makes me wonder why so many others struggle to reach the same conclusions.”

“They are men. Men are prideful. They overestimate themselves while underestimating those they oppose.”

“And women aren’t?”

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“They can be, but they often see the world differently. After all, how many kings have you subdued? How many queens?”

He saw her point.

“Many kings, and very few queens.”

“Indeed. It is a truth of our world that most women must wield power indirectly. It forces us to consider things in a context broader than how weak or strong something makes us feel. Declaring war makes men feel strong, even if they are doomed to fail. Even if surrender would actually advantage them more,” said Li Qui Yue.

“As you advised your king to do.”

“And he was wise enough, or perhaps just young enough, to take that advice. It also helped that he thinks you’re a hero.”

“I’m not a hero,” said Sen automatically.

“Naturally not. You’re a cultivator. You’re an emperor. Such people are never heroes. They cannot be heroes. Too much of what a man like yourself must do is neither noble nor heroic.”

She said it blandly, as though she were stating a self-evident truth. Sen found it refreshing.

“However,” she continued, “that has very little bearing on what my nephew thinks you are.”

“He must have heard the same stories you did. How could he be so confused about it?”

“He still thinks of you as the folk hero, Judgment’s Gale. He filters everything through that view of you.”

Sen had to repress a groan. Who knew how those stories had changed on their long trip to this country?

“I would think that a folk hero would be considered a threat to royal authority.”

“It would have been, if you were being a folk hero here. But you weren’t. You were in a far-off land battling sects we’d never heard of and saving princesses none of us knew. It was safe for him to see you as a hero. No one ever imagined you would come here.”

“I really didn’t try to save any princesses,” muttered Sen with a small grimace.

“Do you find princesses so objectionable?”

“Just the ones who want to use me for their own purposes, all while pretending they aren’t doing exactly that.”

“So, it doesn’t bother you when they’re straightforward about it?”

Sen shrugged and said, “It wouldn’t like it, but I wouldn’t hold it against them. Maybe there’s a world where people don’t look for ways to use each other, but this isn’t it. And it’s not always even harmful. For example, you want to use me for your ends, but you haven’t hidden that fact. You want benefits for this province, so you did your best to arrange things so that I’ll provide them. And I’m practical enough to see that I’ll benefit from that situation by establishing a solid base of support here. Both sides get something they want. Most of the princesses I’ve met haven’t worked that way. They want to benefit while offering me nothing in return, or nothing I’d care to have. And then, if they don’t get what they want, in the exact form they want, they become unbearable.”

“And how do you respond to that?”

“The last time it happened, I effectively banished the woman from my presence. She was smart enough not to take the other option.”

“Which was?”

“I told her I’d kill her,” answered Sen.

“Would you have done it?”

“Without hesitation. I can be patient when I need to be, but my tolerance is limited.”

“Is that a threat?” she asked in a tone that was more curious than cautious.

“It’s more in the nature of a warning.”

Li Qui Yue stood in quiet contemplation for a moment before she said, “I didn’t think you’d be this direct about things.”

“What benefit is there in hiding things? Most of the time, it just ends with me forced to kill someone. Beyond that, despite what so many people seem to think, I don’t see you as the enemy. The spirit beasts are my true enemy. Human beings only become my enemy when they get in the way of my real fight.”

“I imagine it helps that none of us has any real chance of assassinating you.”

Sen glanced at her. Her expression was neutral, but he was pretty sure he caught a hint of dark humor in her eyes.

“That knowledge does seem to make it easier to sleep at night.”

There was a quiet huff of breath that might have been a laugh before she asked, “Do nascent soul cultivators sleep?”

“I can’t speak for anyone else, but I do.”

“Truly?”

“Occasionally,” Sen amended.

“I shudder to imagine such a thing. Don’t you run out of things to do?”

“Between the war, keeping track of what’s happening in the territory I’ve already conquered, and cultivation? No. Not so far. If anything, I’d appreciate more hours to work with.”

“I’ll choose to take you at your word for that, Lord Lu,” said Li Qui Yue with a disbelieving shake of her head. “However, I fear I’ve taken us away from your original question.”

“Yes. The sects. You said that there were three of note in the city. Should I expect trouble from them?”

“I would advise you to take my opinions of them with a degree of skepticism.”

“And why is that?”

“Because they have sheltered here in relative comfort and safety for centuries. Yet, when the kingdom needed them to repay that kindness, they hid like wretched cowards and let our people die. So, in my opinion, you should conscript them all and force them to battle on the front line.”

“Oh,” said Sen, feeling that she might have a point about that skepticism.