The OP Lich is a Returnee, Chapter 185

Chapter 185 – Preparation

“Oh, Akagawa-san, you give me the most wonderful gifts! Though I wish you could have arranged for a better time of day? Or at least let me know ahead of time so I could prepare!”

I chuckled as Holly Gibson rushed to my side the moment she entered my suite. It was the morning after I set about raising the Athelian Embassy here in New York, and Holly had called at seven to ask to see me. Somehow, she’d made it here by seven-thirty, arriving just after room service delivered a good breakfast for three, since Lilah Morgan had come with her.

“Yes, well, I may have underestimated just how much of a stir my actions would cause. The people in Risen Athelia and most of the East Asian Alliance are already used to methods like these for building. And, naturally, they are used to seeing me on horseback, along with my guards.”

I shrugged my shoulders, and said, “But what of you Holly? And Lilah, I trust your firm has been pleased with the work we’ve given you over the last few years?”

Holly just shook her head. Her expression looked annoyed, but I could tell from her voice that it was a show. “I’m good, Akagawa-san. Just had to wake up early because someone made the news in the middle of the night and didn’t bother to tell her publicist! But I did watch your interview, and you did well. Of course, none of the reporters pushed you too hard, either. Most likely, they were worried that if they did anything you considered rude, you’d take their soul, or something.”

“Oh, my, no. Not for a reporter being rude and pressing too hard with their questions. I just would put a silence spell around them, so that not only could they not speak to me, but they wouldn’t be able to hear anyone else, and then I’d continue the interview.”

“You can mute people in real life?” Holly said, in wonder. No doubt, she’d encountered many people that she wished she could use that ability on.

“Ahem,” Lilah cleared her throat. “What mechanism does the spell use? It isn’t a direct attack type of spell, right?”

“No, it is an application of air magic. Basically, you create twin walls of air with vacuum between them. Complete soundproofing in an instant. Doesn’t do anything to the individual or individuals inside. Making it so that the barriers move with them and don’t cause wind shear when contacting things like doorframes or people is a matter of skill, naturally.”

“That’s fine, then, so long as the person inside isn’t going to suffocate, and they are not being restrained or kept in place by the barrier. Although, if someone under the barrier didn’t hear a car horn and got hit by a truck, for instance, you might be liable, so that is something to keep in mind. Otherwise, that is not an attack spell as the law describes it. There’s wide leeway in the law for barrier magics, actually, since most of them are defensive in nature. So long as it is nondamaging, and is not restraining someone against their will, US law is fine with it.”

She paused, and then said, “You’ll also be pleased to know that, so long as you followed the traffic laws, riding a horse, even an undead one, through Manhattan is perfectly legal, though some areas have restrictions based on time of day or weather, though that’s more for liability reasons. Since your building demonstration was entirely on Athelian soil, there’s no worries about building codes or anything like that. So, any complaints should be thrown out of court.”

Then the attorney smiled. “And I will say it has been an exciting few years, Akagawa-san. And to think, there was a time when I thought the biggest potential problem you’d send our way was when you torched the CIA campus, and then threatened the United States with bringing complaints to the ICC if they tried to label you a terrorist! I have it on good authority that the President was on the verge of declaring war when you annexed all that territory in the Pacific. And he apparently had to be sedated when you cut off all the bases from power and water.”

Holly nodded. “As we talked about, we’ve been positioning things as you responding to the will of the people in Hawai’i and the territories, who rightly believed that being part of the United States was no longer in their best interests. The fact that you have taken no offensive action, and just let the ships go, helps with that.”

“And what about now?” I asked. “I assume that I won’t be so lucky as to get through this General Assembly without running into the toad, or one of his lackies. Anything I should know about what they might try and pull?”

“Honestly?” Lilah smirked. “Mostly just empty posturing. Risen Athelia does not trade with the United States, and, like the rest of the EAA, the yuan is the reserve currency, and the one you use for international trades. This means that sanctions would be toothless, unless the US managed to get some of the countries they’ve been busy alienating to join in. You have no bank accounts in the US to freeze, and trying to take your property in Seattle or the new embassy in New York would backfire horribly. The most they could do is try to throw out your Ambassador, and deny them diplomatic credentials.”

“If he tries that, then my next Ambassador will be something far more threatening than Ms. Malo. She is my trying to put a nice, pleasant face on external relations. If nice is not allowed, however, then I am certain that I can get… creative with my next choice.”

I took a breath, and said, “Unless the idiot decides to try something, I have no reason to lay further penalties on the United States. Oh, and this is not for public knowledge, yet, but the Canadian representative approached me yesterday. He was sounding out the possibility of a defensive pact between the EAA and the ANS.”

Lilah whistled softly. “That would be one hell of a finger in the eye to the President, if it happened. He’s already been yelling about shutting the borders and other foolishness, like annexing Canada, but if the ANS had the EAA (and, more importantly, you) ready to come to their aid? That would change the calculus radically.”

A wraith chose that moment to float up through the floor, startling both women. They were used to my undead by now, but there was a difference between fine with the presence of skeletons and ghouls, and seeing a specter float up through the floor. I turned to look at the wraith, “Yes?”

The wraith bowed low, and said, in her raspy voice, “My Queen, the formal vote just passed 187-6. Risen Athelia is now officially part of the United Nations. There will be a formal ceremony tomorrow at 09:00, during which you will be asked to speak, as the first official act for the nation in the UN. An official has been dispatched to officially inform you of this.”

“Who voted against us?”

“The United States, Russia, Belarus, India, Kazakhstan, Yemen, and Oman.”

I nodded slowly. “So, the two powers that I slapped around a bit, two nations that dislike my legions deploying to help defend our allies, and two states that are struggling to maintain relevance with the oil market cratering. Not entirely unexpected. Neither of the two countries that matter dared veto my application in the security council, but they couldn’t vote for us in the general assembly. Excellent work. Return to monitoring the situation.”

The wraith bowed again at my words, and sunk back into the floor as I turned my attention back to my guests. “Well, not that I expected anything but success on the vote, but it is nice to have everything official. The chances that someone would be so cataclysmically stupid as to organize a campaign against the vote were small, but stranger things have happened before, when pride and money are on the line.”

“Sad, but true,” Holly nodded. “Fortunately, I’m sure most representatives realized that they had a better chance of ‘managing’ what you can and cannot do if you were part of treaty organizations, instead of outside them. Not that they have much hope of getting you to do anything you do not wish to do, or stopping you from doing something you’re set on doing, but at least there would be some framework for them to go off of, instead of the current status quo.”

“As far as those frameworks go,” Lilah spoke up, “I am not an expert on international treaty law, or things like the International Criminal Court, but the firm does have associates who specialize in those fields. However, I am aware that Risen Athelia ‘inherited’ quite a few lawyers when you absorbed those US territories, and your Ministry of Law is up to that task, and better suited to questions facing the country as a whole. We would still be available for anything filed against you, personally, of course.”

“Moving away from that topic, and on to one more relevant to the present,” Holly cut in. “We need to talk about your speech tomorrow. Not just about the content of the speech, though that’s important, too. We need to talk about all the presentation items. How will you dress? How will you arrive? What form will you be in? Power suppressed or not? These will drastically change the messaging.”

“I am aware, Holly. I have done a few ‘grand introductions’ as a ruler in my time, after all. Still, I always value your advice, especially since I am well aware that I have become ‘disconnected’ from what most mortals would view as common sense, and you would have more up to date knowledge of things on the ground than I would. That said, my first thought was to appear less threatening, by going in my human form.”

“That could work,” Holly nodded, “but you could do Ambassador Malo a great service if you set things up as a ‘good cop/bad cop’ scenario. Make them want to work with her, before they have to deal with you. Also, by this point everyone already knows your lich form. I would go with that.”

“Not the Dracolich or Dragon forms?”

Holly shook her head quickly. “Not enough room. Plus, that steps over the line from ‘powerful figure showing a measure of her power’ to outright intimidation and bullying. The cleaning staff will thank you for not using those forms. Having to send all the diplomats out for a change of clothes and cleaning the chairs they were sitting on will not win you any points, your Majesty. Dragons are scary to most people, even when you know they’re just there to talk.”

“Fair enough. Then, if I’m doing this as the Lich Queen, I might as well go out in my full regalia, unless you have another idea?”

“Hmm. I’m tempted to suggest going in a less ‘otherworld’ style, but most of the clothes you have that aren’t armor don’t drape right when you don’t have flesh to support them. They don’t look bad, but they look like clothes made for the living being worn by a skeleton. That’s more ‘ancient tomb’ or horror movie than head of state. No, I think your full armor and staff and all is the best option.”

“Then, in that case, I might as well let a portion of my power out while I speak.”

“Your majesty,” Lilah said, hesitantly, “I know that your aura was… weighty before you went about unleashing the seals. And while many of the people in the chamber will have been working on growing their mana pools, I worry about whether your power may have grown too much for that?”

“Well, it is true that my power increased exponentially during the process of channeling the Prime Seal. As it stands, I believe that I could cover the whole of the New York metropolitan area, if I fully let go? Further, if I’m in my Dracolich form. No, I was just going to let out enough to cover the building, nothing more. It would be silly to let the whole area feel my power without reason, after all.”

“While the area is something to consider,” Holly said with a diplomatic tone, “I believe that Lilah was more concerned with the intensity. Again, overwhelming the audience completely would make for a poor showing.”

“Fine, I will control myself.”