The Red Princess of Yamato (2)
Tokugawa Chiyoko realized she had made a grave mistake. She had only unleashed a brief flash of telekinesis to seize the upper hand against this Slavic-looking British woman who was clearly harboring a mountain of secrets.
To think she was a mage as well...!
There had always been plenty of people trying to make contact with the Japan Communist Party, where she served as the Acting Secretary-General. Some were drawn by her royal bloodline; others were attracted by the promise of the proletarian world revolution.
Naturally, not everyone who approached her did so with righteous intentions. Every time, she had politely turned them away. Sometimes she placated them with mutual benefits; other times, she flatly showed them the door.
The rarest occasions were those that forced her to resort to magic. A prime example was when right-wing yakuza thugs had managed to track down the Communist Party's previous headquarters and raided the building.
Chivalrous outlaws, my foot. They were nothing but political thugs. The authorities, fearing a public backlash if they deployed the Special Assault Team, had covertly sent those yakuza goons instead.
Just a few months ago, a physical clash had erupted at a rented warehouse near the Yokohama docks, with both sides wielding wooden clubs and steel pipes.
It was Chiyoko's masterful command of magic, including telekinesis, that had neutralized the raid. That incident had also completely shattered the assumptions of the other party executives, who had previously dismissed her as a pampered princess playing at being a "Red" out of some rebellious phase.
Ever since she had awakened as a mage during a visit to the Shosoin, the imperial treasure house, she had never once imagined she could be outmatched in magic. Yet, the pale young mage standing before her had just shattered that confidence in an instant.
She had only intended to apply a little pressure, hoping to coax out whatever hidden agenda the girl was harboring...
Granted, she had severely dialed back the power of her telekinesis to avoid causing real harm. But judging by the girl's blinding, near-instantaneous reaction speed, Chiyoko knew all too well that even if she had gone all out, her magic would have been effortlessly brushed aside.
Still, showing panic now would be amateurish. Tokugawa Chiyoko feigned composure and spoke.
"...Impressive. This only makes it harder to believe you came all this way just for money."
"Ahaha, I might not have told you the whole truth, but I never lied, you know?"
Unlike Chiyoko, who was breaking out in a cold sweat, the young girl remained completely unbothered. She looked at least four or five years younger than Chiyoko. Was this supreme confidence born of sheer, overwhelming power?
As Chiyoko's mind raced, her gaze drifted to the man standing behind the girl. Until now, Irene Bronska's overwhelming presence on the sofa had completely eclipsed him, but she couldn't ignore the possibility that this man—Executive Director Choi—was also a high-level mage.
Perhaps he was the greater threat. Could his claim of not speaking Japanese be a mere smokescreen? What if he was actually a Zainichi Korean mage with ties to the yakuza?
They had gone to such lengths to relocate their headquarters. Had bringing them here been a critical mistake? She needed to devise a countermeasure against them... No, first things first. She had to take this one step at a time.
"..."
"You seem flustered. Rather than agonizing over it all by yourself, wouldn't it be much easier to just ask me directly?"
Irene Bronska calmly lifted her teacup to her lips. To any objective observer, she was undeniably beautiful, even cute. But in this moment, all Tokugawa Chiyoko felt radiating from Irene's expression was a suffocating pressure.
That faint, effortless smile—the absolute privilege of the strong—made the weak feel utterly pathetic. On top of that, a strange, hazy sensation began to wash over her. Staring into the young mage's crimson eyes made her hard-won composure threaten to dissolve into a daze.
She repeatedly steeled her mind, warning herself not to get swept away, but she couldn't shake the uncanny feeling.
Could this be... magic?
The suspicion crossed her mind. Yet, there wasn't even a trace of the magical residue that always accompanied spellcasting. This lack of evidence dispelled her doubts, leaving her with only one option: she had to keep her wits about her.
...After a moment of intense deliberation, she made up her mind. Even if she had to surrender a secret or two of her own, she would pry some information out of this enigmatic young mage.
With the party chairman and president absent, she was the highest authority in the room. This was especially true given that the other two were complete laymen when it came to magic. She was prepared to play along with the girl's pace... for now.
"...If that is what you wish. What is it that you are truly here for?"
Tokugawa Chiyoko asked with a dignified air, despite knowing she was at a disadvantage and might have to reveal more than she received. Yerina merely smiled.
"Well, let me ask you this first. If what I intend to do on this soil poses a threat to Japan and its people, what will you do, Secretary-General?"
"..."
What was her angle? Was she declaring her intent to let foreign powers meddle in and disrupt Japan's affairs once again? This woman, her sketchy trading company Szczecin-Oder Logistics, and the shadow organization of mages that undoubtedly backed them...
Were they planning to use this 200 million yen as bait to extract astronomical profits from this nation? If so, by shaking hands with this witch, Chiyoko and the Japan Communist Party would be the ones handing over those concessions. She felt as if a rising tide of malice was slowly submerging her, leaving her completely paralyzed.
"...If that is indeed your goal, Miss Bronska, I will not stand by and watch. I do not know what your intentions are in approaching our party, but I will stop you."
"Even if it means the complete destruction of the Communist Party in Japan?"
"Yes. Though they are not in this room right now, my comrades would all share the same sentiment."
I suppose even a Red is still a Yamato patriot at heart.
Tokugawa Chiyoko's response was remarkably firm, considering how long she had agonized over it. Her resolve practically screamed: Even if we are broken and destroyed, we will drag you down with us. It was reminiscent of the military strategies of South Korea or Israel in my past life—a textbook example of proportional deterrence.
I had expected as much. No matter how devout a communist one claimed to be, East Asian politics were always fundamentally rooted in nationalism. It was as natural as breathing.
Though Chiyoko firmly believed she had severed all ties with her past, her imperial bloodline was something she could never truly wash away. Even if she had dropped out of Gakushuin, the lifelong education she had received since childhood wouldn't just vanish.
If I had to grade her, I'd give her an eighty. I had to commend her for showing such spirit instead of trembling in fear, especially after I had subtly demonstrated the vast gulf in our magical prowess. However, she lost twenty points for declaring her willingness to oppose me.
Feeling a rare sense of satisfaction, I spoke.
"In the end, what truly matters is the net benefit to the Japanese people as a whole, isn't it? Even if individuals suffer or die, it's fine as long as the overall pie grows larger."
"I didn't expect you to suddenly bring up utilitarian discourse here."
"But what your Communist Party is trying to do is essentially the same, isn't it? Crushing wealthy conglomerates to elevate workers' rights... all those old, dusty slogans."
"...The Tower of Babel built on the blood of the working class must be torn down. Our principles are entirely different."
I had absolutely no intention of turning this room into a philosophy seminar on utilitarianism. That sounded incredibly boring.
"But how is it any different? What I plan to do is quite similar."
"Then please, tell me exactly what it is you plan to do."
Just before my trip to East Asia, Delis and I had discussed how much of the truth we should reveal to our two prospective local partners. Our goal was to map out the broad strokes of our plan and then branch out into various contingencies, preparing for every possible scenario.
As a result, we decided to keep as many secrets as possible in South Korea. **Ham Cheon-ho** of Cheonma Sangsa was forced to surrender all his leverage to me without having the slightest clue who I was or what I was truly after.
But now, I made a very different decision from the one I made in Korea. I decided to throw Tokugawa Chiyoko a bone of truth.
"I'm sure you already know what every mage is interested in, right?"
"...Relics."
"And I happen to be particularly interested in powerful, national-level relics."
"Are you saying you have your eyes on the national relics currently held by the Japanese imperial family and the government?"
Tokugawa Chiyoko's brow twitched. Though she quickly regained her composure, my words, combined with her own assumptions, were more than enough to make anyone leap to the conclusion that I intended to plunder Japan's national relics.
I burst into laughter.
"Ahaha! Did I ever say I was going to raid the Shosoin? Aren't you being a bit too extreme?"
"..."
The Shosoin was the treasure house holding various artifacts passed down through the Japanese imperial family. While a complete inventory was impossible to obtain, it undoubtedly housed numerous magical relics. In fact, it wasn't hard to guess how this princess had become a mage.
It was highly unlikely that Tokugawa Chiyoko had ever faced a life-threatening crisis while living her sheltered life in the imperial palace, nor did she seem to be a natural-born mage.
That leaves only one possibility.
Though she had severed ties with the imperial family, a relic from the Shosoin must have been involved in her awakening. That was why she reacted so sharply when I subtly hinted at targeting Japan's national relics.
To be fair, her guess wasn't entirely off-base. While preparing for this trip, Delis and I had discussed whether we could pull off a heist at the Shosoin. Having already stolen the **Rosetta Stone** from that massive warehouse of stolen goods in **London**, we wondered if we could pull off a similar feat here.
However, we ultimately concluded it was practically impossible. At the **British Museum**, I could easily blend in with the massive crowds, but Japan offered no such forest to hide in. Every visitor to the Shosoin underwent rigorous background checks, and entry was strictly regulated by time and capacity. Trying to infiltrate it would require far too much bloodshed.
I answered.
"Is Tokyo really the only place where 'Japan' exists? There's another one up north in Sapporo, isn't there?"
The Ezo Soviet Republic. A Soviet satellite state encompassing all of Hokkaido, Sakhalin Island, Aomori Prefecture on Honshu, and the entire Kuril Islands chain. In a broader sense, the citizens—or rather, the people—of Ezo were also mostly Japanese. Over five million Japanese in Ezo still spoke the language and practiced Japanese culture.
"So you are saying you intend to target Ezo—"
"Of course not right now. How could anyone easily infiltrate such a closed-off nation? Since we can't target Sapporo immediately, I simply thought it would be wise to have an ally in Tokyo."
"And that is why you chose us?"
I nodded in confirmation.
"As the Secretary-General, surely you agree that the Soviet Communist Party's method of governance is fundamentally flawed? They call it communism, but in reality, it's nothing short of a dictatorship."
Contrary to popular belief, established communist organizations outside the Eastern Bloc didn't particularly look up to the Soviet regime. To them, the Soviet system was merely a dictatorship masquerading as communism. Compared to the era of the Tsars, the only things that had changed were the names: the Tsar had become the General Secretary, St. Petersburg had become Leningrad, and Russia had become the Soviet Union.
This sentiment was no different within the Japan Communist Party, which, unlike in my original history, remained outlawed rather than legalized. Though their ideology leaned heavily to the far left, the Japan Communist Party still fundamentally championed democratic principles.
"...What is it that you truly want?"
"As you can probably guess from my surname, my homeland is currently crawling with Reds. And I happen to harbor a bit of a personal grudge."
A brief silence fell over the room. She probably never expected us to find common ground like this. After all, Tokugawa Chiyoko's own homeland had been torn apart by the Reds. The northern half of her country was crawling with communists taking orders directly from Moscow.
And she certainly couldn't deny having her own personal grudges. There was a stark difference in temperature between the communists in Ezo and those remaining in South Japan. To be precise, a difference as vast as that between room temperature and the nuclear fission of a Tokyo air raid.
When the preservation of the emperor system was being debated right after Hiroshima and Nagasaki recorded the highest temperatures in human history and the Empire raised the white flag, the Reds had screamed for Hirohito's head. To materialists, the concept of a living god was utterly unacceptable. Moreover, Hirohito was the very incarnation of Japanese imperialism—a malevolent deity who had led a brutal, atrocious war from the front lines.
But what was the reality? As the Japanese archipelago was split, followed by the division of the Korean Peninsula, the United States chose South Korea and South Japan as its key Pacific partners to counter the Soviet Union. Consequently, the political stability and economic revival of these two nations—the bulwarks against communism—became America's top priorities. Yet, peace did not last long, and Kim Il-sung and Syngman Rhee eventually clashed in a battle for their very souls. Fortunately, it ended in a decision victory for South Korea.
The hardcore Reds who demanded Hirohito be hanged fled to Sapporo during this process, and the clamor to abolish the emperor system naturally died down in South Japan. For the communists who cropped up in South Japan over the next fifty years, the emperor system was something they could take or leave. If pressed on its survival, their stance was roughly: It probably should go, but since it's been around forever, I guess it's fine if it stays.
This was a self-evident truth, proven by the very fact that Tokugawa Chiyoko, a member of the imperial family, sat comfortably in a high-ranking position within the Communist Party. Bloodline is the one thing a person can never truly escape. No matter how much Chiyoko drew a line between herself and the imperial family, the reality remained unchanged.
Just look at me. One of the reasons I was building and maintaining this syndicate was to avenge a "father" I had never once met in my life. The voice of Yerina within me was just that powerful.
There was no way Tokugawa Chiyoko could harbor any affection for the people of Ezo, who had clamored to hang her granduncle, Emperor Hirohito. Even if she consciously shook her head to deny it, a deep-seated resentment undoubtedly lingered in her subconscious.
Leaning toward the Secretary-General, who clearly harbored a deep aversion to the Soviet system, I whispered.
"I believe you, of all people, understand just how much a mage can accomplish. So, what do you say? Shall we do business together?"