The OP Lich is a Returnee, Chapter 101

Chapter 101 – Problems

“Welcome to Portugal, your Majesty,” a middle-aged man in a fashionable business suit said to me as I stepped off the plane. Thankfully, the twelve-seat luxury passenger seaplane was an amphibious model, meaning that it could actually land at private airports instead of always needing a water dock. And docks that could fit planes with a wingspan just shy of 18 meters were not particularly abundant when one was visiting one of the busiest ports in Europe. Hence, the private airport just outside Lisbon.

“Thank you,” I nodded at the man. “I am glad to see that you kept the vultures at bay. While they are a necessary part of the ecosystem, that doesn’t mean one has to enjoy their company.”

The functionary laughed as I pointedly glanced towards the fence line of the airport, where an absolute plethora of news vans and photographers with high-powered lenses were gathered, all watching my plane. “Yes, well, we would be poor hosts if we let visiting royalty get accosted the moment that they stepped off the plane, especially after such a long flight. But I know you have a schedule to keep. Would you like to come into the terminal while the technicians refuel your plane? There are some people who would like to meet you, including a pair from Japan, who rushed out to get here before you.”

“Yes, that sounds good. I am sure my mortal entourage will be glad to stretch their legs, as well. Thankfully, joint pain is a thing of the past for me.”

“Oh, now you’re just trying to make this old man jealous, your Majesty!” The man smiled, showing he was only half-joking, and said, “But, where are my manners! Allow me to introduce myself. I am Silvio Tavares, Chief of Staff to the President, João Serra.”

“A pleasure, Senhor Tavares. I wish it were under better circumstances, or that I had time to properly play tourist, but what can you do?” I shrugged with a smile as we walked towards the private terminal. “Unfortunately, things are what they are.”

“Yes,” Tavares said, a darker tone creeping into his voice. “Unfortunate indeed. I know that you likely have not been following our national politics, since you have plenty of your own concerns, but there have been problems of late. Even before the matter of the seals came up.”

“What kind of problems?”

“There have always been tensions between the Azores and the rest of Portugal. Even back in 1976, when they were made an autonomous region, that did not satisfy everyone. On either side of the troubles, to be honest. Some wish the Azores to be more closely tied with the mainland, and others want to see them independent. Foolish notion, if you ask me. There isn’t much industry on the islands, beyond agriculture and fishing. They don’t have the kind of manufacturing base you would need to supply a functioning country, you see.”

I nodded appreciatively. “And if they actually managed to secure independence, they would quickly find that importing all their goods across national borders gets far more expensive very quickly, especially since you actually have to ship things on boats, instead of by truck or rail. But I take it that they don’t see the potential consequences of such an imbalance?”

“No, most of the people on the islands are happy with the status quo, and have been for the past seventy years. So long as outsiders aren’t trying to tell them what to do, the majority do not care what flag is on their passport. However, there have always been radicals and idealists. Unfortunately, magic has allowed for some of these radicals to get disproportionately powerful. The Liberation Front is calling for what would essentially be a revolution and installing a magocracy, rather than the republican system they have in place now.”

“Ah,” I nodded, seeing where this was going. “And they see the potential of the seal as a way to gain even more power. A Hero in their ranks would be the ideal way to force the change they want, no matter what anyone else thinks, right?”

Tavares sighed, shaking his head. “Yes. Unfortunately, there are always those who are the reason others cannot have nice things.”

As we stepped into a small conference room, I noticed five people there, waiting for me. One of them, I recognized immediately, as it was the ‘liaison’ who seemed to be the Japanese government’s preferred way of talking with me. “Ah, Koyama-san! It is a pleasure to see you again. And who might this be?” I asked, looking at the man by his side.

The man was relatively young, and dressed in the uniform of the Japan Air Self-Defense Force. Currently, he was standing at parade rest, though I could see his eyes watching me. Not just me, but my entire party, sizing us up. However, what intrigued me was that he was not using just looks to gauge us, as I could sense the trickle of magic over his eyes. He was using a spell to check on our magic. When his eyes met mine, I saw the ghost of a smile on his face, before the flicker of magic left his eyes. Very interesting.

Koyama smiled, and said, “Ah, your Majesty. Might I introduce Ittō kūi Nagai Aki, of the JASDF. The equivalent of a Captain in Western air forces. He is an Aeromancer, I believe the term was?”

“Ah, an Arcanist of the Wind element? Let me guess, you’re a pilot, Nagai-san?”

“Yes, your Majesty,” Nagai said with a curt nod. “I am on temporary detached duty from my unit, where I fly the F-35J. The base platform may be forty years old, by this point, but the new variants are just as deadly as anything currently being produced.”

Something tickled the back of my mind. “Ah, yes. That is the variant that came out few years back, incorporating CAD technology into the flight controls, to increase the platform’s maneuverability and other capabilities, yes?”

“That is correct, Majesty, but I am afraid I can’t speak on any specific details, as those are currently classified.”

“Of course,” I nodded, and then turned to look at the other three people in the room. “And who might these people be, Senhor Tavares?”

Tavares had been waiting patiently, which was to his credit. He introduced them going from left to right, starting with a young woman in a suit who looked distinctly uncomfortable being here. “Alexandrina Moniz is a member of the Security Information Service, and a specialist on the Azores, and the Liberation Front. She is also an Air Sorceress.”

Moving on, he came to two men in Portuguese Army uniforms. “Capitão Dan Macedo and Tenente Ezequiel Silvestre are part of the Army, as you can see, and are in the Commando Regiment. They are stationed as part of the force in the Azores, and can give you the information on the current situation.”

I nodded to the three, and said, “All right. Since Senhor Tavares phrased it like that, I take it that someone has gone and done something incredibly stupid, and now things are threatening to spiral out of control?” At the round of grimaces from the Portuguese contingent at my bluntness, I nodded. “Right, first things first, has the seal been located?”

Macedo nodded. “Yes, once we were made aware of the Seal’s existence through unofficial communications with Japan,” he nodded to Koyama, “we were able to deploy thaumaturge units to scan for the magical pulses created by the other seals being released. The Australian pulse allowed us to triangulate the Seal of Air’s location, in the summit crater of Montanha do Pico, from which Pico Island gets its name.”

“A volcano? I guess I shouldn’t be surprised, after the last seal. When was the last time it was active?”

“Historical reports put the last eruption in December 1720. And, to answer your next question, historical eruptions have come from vents on the sides of the mountain, rather than the summit. I should also point out that it is the tallest mountain in all of Portugal.”

“From the sides, hmm? Perhaps the seal at work? I’d have to see it to be certain. So, what went wrong?”

Macedo sighed. “Unfortunately, our efforts were noticed by the Liberation Front. That caused them to notice the magical pulses, and, before we could properly secure the site, they moved a surprising amount of people and materiel up the mountain, and occupied the crater. Since then, there has been a standoff, since neither side is all too keen to start doing more than take potshots at the other side when a potential magical nuke is in play.”

“Numbers?”

“Just under four hundred, but they have had time to fortify, and no one knows what damage explosives or magic might do to the integrity of the seal. Estimates put roughly twenty to thirty of them are thaumaturges.”

“What kind of weapons do they have? And how are they on supplies?”

“Military hardware, from the looks of things. Not latest generation, but you don’t need the fanciest guns to kill people from a fortified position. And the thaumaturges, of course. They’ll be a force multiplier, for certain. As for supplies? Aerial reconnaissance suggests they have supplies to last for at least a month, unless something changes.”

I turned my attention to Moniz. “What do these people want, other than the obvious stuff? I assume they have some sort of plan?”

The woman took a breath to steady herself under the weight of my regard, and said, “Unfortunately, it appears to be the obvious stuff, as you would say. The usual refrain about ‘freedom’ and ‘independence’, as well as instituting a New Order once they throw off the ‘shackles’ of the mainland. All of it sounds good, in sound bites, but the reality is that the thaumaturges in control of the Liberation Front are not afraid of magical coercion to force their ‘lessers’ to do as they say.”

“Right,” I said, nodding slightly. “Well, that doesn’t change anything. We need to get to the seal, and release it. Preferably before any of those morons decides to try and breach the seal somehow, or manages to release the guardian, whatever it is. Which means that these revolutionaries need to get out of the way, or be put out of the way.”

“Mistress,” Ya said, “there may be political difficulties if you insert yourself into another country’s internal affairs like this. The difficulty with the Americans and Russians is one thing, due to you being attacked, and technically the Australians invited you to the base before you cleaned up that mess in the Outback. But going into the Autonomous Region and slaughtering militants will cause some people to raise eyebrows.”

Tavares cleared his throat. “Officially, the Government cannot take any stance on the Liberation Front itself, due to that being an internal matter of the Autonomous Region, until and unless they start making violent attacks upon civilians or government facilities. However, there are provisions for the military to step in, on authorization from the national government, for national security or civil defense purposes, which would qualify in this case, given the nature of the Seal. However, direct assault is out of the question.”

Macedo nodded. “My Commandos could initiate a raid, in an attempt to eliminate the militants’ leadership, but, given the nature of the terrain, and the fortifications in place, along with confirmed thaumaturges in the mix, the raid would be bloody, and there is a high chance of a worst-case outcome if an assault order is given.”

I nodded. It was an old problem. You couldn’t blast someone off the thing you wanted to keep intact, and the defender in a fortified position always had the advantage. And if the extremists were dedicated enough to the cause to believe “if I can’t have it, no one can”, then they might try to blow the seal and take everyone with them.

To say that it was not the ideal scenario would be an understatement. “However, there are options available to my troops that your military, even your commandos, do not have. If I were to be asked to intervene, then eliminating the threat with a minimum of risk to loyalist forces is possible. Naturally, I cannot promise that any of the militants would remain amongst the living when my forces were through, but they would no longer be a threat, that much is certain.”

Tavares nodded, once, his tone grim. “The threat of an explosion tearing apart much of the island, and the resulting destruction to the surrounding islands and their people is the utmost concern. The citizens of the Azores may be in an autonomous region, but they are still citizens of Portugal, and we must see to their safety, first and foremost. The President has authorized me to ask you for your aid in this matter, Queen Akagawa.”

“So be it,” I nodded.