Dark Fate, Chapter 211

Chapter 211 – Rapid Advance

People liked to think that intimidation was walking up to someone with a shotgun and informing them about what would happen to their kneecaps if they didn’t have your money. And, sure, that was one form of intimidation. A nice, easily understood threat, with the visible ability to back it up could be very intimidating.

However, that type of intimidation was best used on individuals who did not have a strong group behind them. At its core, intimidation was threatening someone with harm, to scare them into acting the way you wanted. Unfortunately, people got a lot braver when they thought consequences wouldn’t apply to them. Maybe they had a bunch of buddies to protect them, or who could wreck your shit in payback, making a fight costlier than it had to be. Maybe they had anonymity on their side, and resources to hide from you. Whatever the case, they were content in the knowledge (real or imagined) that you couldn’t or wouldn’t carry through with your threats.

That was part of the reason why my actions in the Middle East played out the way they did. That government had never truly been held accountable for anything they did before. They were always able to get away with either hiding behind their faith, and the atrocities done by others in the past, or Cold War politics to do a three-steps-forward-one-step-back routine, and calling it a compromise. They couldn’t imagine me actually having the spine to go through with what I promised.

Now, people had a better understanding of me, but that didn’t mean that they were just going to ask how high whenever I said jump. No, the new shape of things was going to be working through cut-outs and trying to hide the trail as much as possible, while doing their best not to put themselves in a situation where blowing up cities could be seen as a justifiable, if horrible, response.

Unfortunately for me, that was the type of conflict where I was weakest. The dance of spy versus spy, of infiltration, espionage, sabotage, and even assassination? I knew my talents, and that wasn’t my skill set. Oh, I had the raw stats to brute force my way through things, even without some kind of [Stealth] skill, since that skill worked with DEX, and my DEX was well over 200. And [Shapeshifting] allowed me to disguise myself somewhat, while my CHA and social skills would let me talk my way into and out of many situations. But I was the Emperor, and there was almost always someone watching me, which meant that I couldn’t sneak away that easily.

The other problem was that, even though I was Emperor, and had a whole country under me, I had not invested the necessary time and energy into building up a spy agency. Sure, my country had grown from just being the Kingdom of Ceres, but even after Costa Rica and Columbia asked to join the Ceresan Empire following my battle with the Giant Kraken, I hadn’t exactly inherited a spy agency from any of those countries. Internal security? Sure. Black market and smuggling contacts through the cartels? Definitely. Spies, especially ones that could operate in Russia? Nope.

Worse yet, I couldn’t exactly go and start building my own CIA right away. Much of the Ceresan Empire’s appeal to immigrants and the countries that joined me was the combination of overwhelming power and full transparency I’d instilled in my young country. Using System Contracts instead of counter-espionage was a large part of why people wanted to join the Ceresan Empire, since they were sick of all the games that nations typically played. Turning away from that would be more damaging than the Kraken attack had been.

Basically, I was experiencing the consequences of being too good at what I did. I was trapped by my success. If I went against the grain, now, it would be a huge PR nightmare, which other countries would be certain to capitalize on. Oh, it wasn’t like I couldn’t pivot and build a spy agency or two once we were more firmly established. But it couldn’t come out of nowhere. I needed a legitimate reason that anyone could see for me needing that spy agency.

The Giant Kraken attack was actually one solid argument for needing a spy agency. But, on its own, it wasn’t enough. The threat died too quickly, before anyone had a chance to actually panic and fret about what a Tier 3 monster could do. However, another couple attacks, and I would be able to easily argue that I needed to create the spy service because I was not able to be everywhere at once, so it was necessary to protect the people of the Empire. That would paint me as the ruler reluctantly doing what was necessary to preserve his people, rather than another government bigwig looking to secure his power at all costs.

Of course, if I was going to do that, I needed them to be real attacks, from other countries or groups on Earth. They couldn’t be false flags, and they couldn’t be extrasolar threats. The false flag would eventually come out, especially with the aura of transparency and honesty I worked with. I couldn’t even be associated with the planning of a false flag, or I could be brought into a situation where I either had to lie, and ruin my image, or confess to doing a false flag, and ruin it as much or more. That wasn’t something I needed to deal with.

Fortunately, I had some expectations that making my response against the Russians for their use of the Giant Kraken was going to make waves. Waves that would probably result in more attacks. Maybe not physical attacks, but certainly there’d be financial and political attacks, which I could still use to spin the narrative of a spy agency being necessary to aid my people.

Still, I couldn’t exactly give the Russians my response until I had something more than the System Shop report on the sale of the [Mystic Monster Maker]. You couldn’t just punish nations based on one point of evidence. Well, you could, but that was a foolish, and short-sighted move. That kind of behavior was the kind of thing that united enemies against you, and typically had heroes rise up to try and cast down the Demon King. I was strong, but not so strong as to be immortal. There were still things that could kill me, even at my power level. Not just other Tier 2 creatures, or the Tier 3 and higher ones that would, eventually, find their way here. Even something as simple as destroying one of my spaceships while I was on board could possibly leave me in a position where I would die before getting rescued. I could hold my breath a long time, of course, but eventually the vacuum of space would get to me, same as anyone else.

Which meant that the first step was finding Frantsev Vasil Vyacheslavovich, the Russian man who had purchased the [Mystic Monster Maker] supplements. Of course, I doubted that he would be living under that name. If he worked for one of the Russian intelligence departments, then he would use aliases where he could. But the System Shop would go off his real name, not whatever alias he was using at the moment.

I would have to be hands off for this one, at least until it came time for punishment, for all the same reasons as I couldn’t start a spy agency just yet. External contractors would probably be best. A diviner could track Frantsev down if they knew his real name, and had enough power to pour into the spell. Supplying power was something me and mine could do easily enough, without ‘tainting’ the investigation. After that, though, I’d need assets on the ground. Private investigators, perhaps. Or, I could get in touch with the Russian mob. Or different hacker communities. Or all three.

That would give me the manpower to go tracking Frantsev back to whoever was pulling his strings. I seriously doubted that he was the mastermind, after all. Even if the product had been bought too soon after the Initialization for anyone to know about me, or what Ceres would become, the type of people who had the money to buy twenty-four doses of [Mystic Monster Maker] at once were not the types who went and did their own shopping. Either they were already playing spy games, and were used to using cutouts, or they were wealthy, and used to having minions do things for them. Either way, Frantsev was a stepping stone to the true objective, but I needed to find him and question him to know which way to jump.

I sent a runner to the Adventurers Guild, to post a request. Even with just the Kingdom of Ceres, there were too many people for me to know everyone’s class and profession. However, the Adventurers Guild had the benefit of bureaucracy, and, since they weren’t actually part of the Kingdom of Ceres or the Ceresan Empire, if they did sneaky shit, then it didn’t reflect directly back on me. That was part of the reason I’d supported the Guild’s formation and independence, after all. That, and the fact that the guildmaster wasn’t afraid to call me on my bullshit if she thought I was mistreating her adventurers. Always good to have people around you who could do and say things you couldn’t, after all.

Still, I wasn’t completely powerless to punish Russia for their actions, even if I hadn’t worked my way to the mastermind, just yet. With a wicked grin, I wrote down a decree, as Emperor, and sent it out so that it could be publicly announced, once the relevant officials in Panama had been notified. It was a simple power move.

By order of Emperor Zayn Greene of Ceres, it is decreed that, due to the involvement of Frantsev Vasil Vyacheslavovich, a Russian national, in the recent attack upon the Ceresan Empire using a Giant Kraken as a weapon, the Panama Canal is henceforth closed to Russian-flagged vessels until all of the perpetrators and their accomplices have been found, and brought to Ceresan justice, as well as confirmation that all of the product used to create the Giant Kraken has been used or disposed of. A full review of whether Russian products and shipping shall continue to be allowed to pass through the full expanse of Ceresan territory is ongoing.

Was it fair? No. Was it funny? Absolutely. Better still, there wasn’t anything that Russia could really do about it, and it gave everyone a nice warning that I wasn’t above using every tool in my arsenal to strike back against those who took on the Ceresan Empire. Especially since ‘Ceresan territory’ included the whole of the solar system from the asteroid belt out, which meant any Russian ships that might want to go visit the Systems Commonwealth would be fucked. I didn’t really expect it to completely solve the problem, of course, but it would shake things up.

Your forces have gained XP while under your orders. With Admiral, King, and [Mutual Might], you gain XP. Amount reduced due to actions being taken in another star system. Amount reduced due to not having direct involvement in actions. Amount reduced due to creatures being lower in Tier than you.

You have gained 1,879,000 XP.

You have leveled up!

You are now Level 41.

You have 5896400/4186000 XP to reach Level 18.

You have leveled up!

You are now Level 42.

You have leveled up!

You are now Level 43.

…

You have leveled up!

You are now level 50.

You have 5896400/4186000 XP to reach Tier 3.

+80 CHA, +60 INT, +50 WIS, +50 STR, +10 CON

40 Attribute Points to spend.

22 Skill points to spend.

Tier 2 Level 50 complete.

Initiating Tier 3 ascension.

Calculating options…

Tier 3 Race options partially locked. Reason: Tier 3 Race.

New subrace options available for Race. Assuming a subrace is similar to a specialization of a Class or Profession. Subraces do not lose any abilities from the main race, but may have new abilities and available racial skills.

New options available for Class and Profession. Advancing to new options will offer new abilities and skills, but may close off other courses of advancement due to specialization. Tier 3 Classes and Professions are generally more powerful than Tier 2, but are typically more focused on individual aspects of a Tier 2 class or profession. Skills or abilities already gained are not lost, however.

Do you wish to take on a subrace for your Tier 3 Race?

Yes / No

Do you wish to advance to a Tier 3 Class?

Yes / No

Do you wish to advance to a Tier 3 Profession?

Yes / No

Oh, looks like my fleet had just dealt another blow to the Incux! I’d wondered what they’d been up to, since they hadn’t gotten in touch. Not that I expected them to send reports home. In fact, I’d ordered them not to, since I knew for a fact that mail through the System Shop’s mail function could be read by others, if you knew the proper subsystems to check, and were willing to pay the price. There was a reason why couriers still existed in the galaxy, after all!

But that was something for later. Now, I was looking forward to going up in Tier. Making Tier 2 in less than a decade was considered an insane leveling speed. Making Tier 3 only a few months after that was unheard of. Which meant I might get some good options out of this!