Chapter 98: Collectible Relationships
Jack heard a soft chime before a notification popped in front of his eyes.
[Dynasty Alliances]
[Your reforms have sharply increased your political desirability]
[Strategic marriages and allied oaths can accelerate city growth, reduce hostile actions, and expand economic growth.]
Jack didn’t even sigh. He just felt the subtle click of some old world narrative trying to put a saddle on his back.
’If you’re about to pitch me a harem, I’m going to uninstall you with a rock.’
[Effective rulers commonly maintained multiple spouses or concubines. This practice diversified alliances, stabilized succession, and increased...]
’Not trying to catch ’em all.’
[Collectible relationship sets...]
’Nope. I want something meaningful. Not one of those stories where every woman is in love with the MC because fate stapled plot armor to his jawline.’
[Noted.]
’Thank you.’
"What do you want, truly?" Evelyne asked, her voice cutting through Jack’s talk with the system. "What empire are you really building?"
Jack measured the silence the way a commander sizes a battlefield before giving the order.
Jack looked past Sorne to the trees and mountains in the stance before looking at the sky.
"The reign of Jack Kaiser will begin soon enough" he said quietly.
"I want an empire that endures," he said at last. "Soldiers enough to defend every border. Grain enough to feed every child."
Evelyne’s eyes sharpened, intrigued. "That sounds less like philosophy and more like strategy."
"It is," Jack replied. "A city that can raise an army and keep its people safe doesn’t bow to anyone. And since you asked what I want.." he paused for a moment.
"I’ve thought about it longer than is healthy. I intend to rule."
She tilted her head. "Rule as a duke or as a king?"
"As in responsibility," he said. "And the leverage to shape a generation, to move rivers and men when it matters."
"Leverage tends to break things," Evelyne murmured.
"Sometimes yes, but I’ve thought about this question for quite some time. I don’t want anyone to have the power to make me kneel."
"That is quite the statement my lord." Evelyne said with a smile.
They held each other’s gaze long enough for nearby conversations to drift politely elsewhere.
"Half the courtyard came to buy a monopoly and are going to leave without anything in their pockets."
"I prefer suppliers who need me to succeed over one who can starve me," Jack said. "If someone can hold my city hostage, my people will have to pay the ransom. That isn’t something I’ll allow."
"So tell me about your business, how are your profit margins?"
"Healthy enough to sleep at night. I like my pillows without teeth."
She gave a low laugh, it was genuine. "You know this won’t win you many friends among the old houses."
"I’m not auditioning for their approval."
"What do you want from Veyra?" She asked as she stared directly into Jack’s eyes.
"I don’t need anything from Veyra."
"And what would Veyra want from you?"
"Predictability. Contracts you can bank on and knowing that no matter what happens you’ll always have top quality products to sell."
She studied him like a new constellation. "Do you flirt with everyone like a watchdog?"
"Only the ones I deem worthy of my products," he said.
"Dangerous," she murmured, but she didn’t step back.
They paused at a small fountain. Evelyne reached but didn’t touch.
"You’re not going to sign anything tonight," she said.
"No. Tonight is for measuring appetites and counting knives."
"And tomorrow?"
"Tomorrow I feed the appetites I can live with," Jack said.
Her fan flicked once, acknowledging the duel without drawing blood. "Rumor says you’re already engaged."
"Rumors tend to spread quite quickly."
"I was supposed to make you a marriageable proposition. Something tasteful with the word alliance in it."
"And will you?"
"Not tonight."
"Likewise. But if I ever marry for politics, I still intend to pick the person."
Evelyne tilted her fan in a silent toast. "Rebellious."
"Responsible," Jack said. "If I plan to rule, I won’t outsource the throne next to mine."
She gave a curtsy precisely deep enough to be respectful and shallow enough to be a dare. "Very well, Lord Kaiser. Let’s see if your vision can come true."
"Let’s," he answered.
She left a cool wake and sharpened attention behind her, as dangerous people do. Jack watched it dissipate.
Jack drew a slow breath and turned toward the side at the moment the servant in grey vanished through it.
Jack had watched the man in gray circle the grounds three times. He never ate anything and never spoke to anyone.
"Seraphina," he said, not loudly.
They entered from the service corridor without turning heads. She slipped down the narrow stair, and found the scribe pausing on the landing to glance at a slotted door that led to the old cellar hinge.
"Good evening," Seraphina said pleasantly, which is how vipers whisper when they’re about to swallow their prey.
The man flinched. He tried a weak smile and a weaker bow. "My lady, I’m... lost."
"Of course," Seraphina said. "The kitchens are two floors up and to the left."
He pivoted the wrong way.
Seraphina’s hand touched his sleeve as lightly as a falling eyelash. The next three seconds were quiet and definitive.
A turn, a wrist folded, a blade kissed from his palm and sent to the stones. Caelen’s staff met the back of the man’s calf with a golden flash.
Chains erupted from the ground and tied the man up.
"I suggest," Father Caelen said gently, "that we practice honesty before you run out of good lies."
They took him down, through a door and into the stone hush where conversations could be as long as patience.
Meanwhile, the party continued its elegant dance above.
A small tide of laughter rolled through the front.
Celeste again, almost certainly, vandalizing propriety with the same cheer she used to vanish purse weights.
Octavia’s laugh followed, softer but edged, the sound of a knife that likes its scabbard.
Somewhere a hen escaped the garden and waddled across a sun stripe. It stopped beside Jack’s boot, newly convinced that stone pavers were merely an inconvenient field. It looked up, reverent. Then plop.
[Ding!]
[+12 Reputation.]
’If I step wrong and break one of these gifts, am I going to get a penalty?’
[Breaking an egg yields no malus. Breaking public trust yields severe malus.]
’Cheerful.’
[Accurate.]
’How many times is this going to happen!!’
Annabelle appeared at his elbow with a small sketch. "I finished it," she said quietly, offering him the parchment. "Celeste beating that rude man. With angels, as requested."
Jack accepted the drawing, studying the delicate lines that somehow captured both Celeste’s triumphant grin and Bartram’s dignified collapse.
Small cherubs hovered in the margins, looking inappropriately pleased with the proceedings.
"Perfect," Jack said. "I’ll have it framed for the hall."
"And labeled ’A Civic Gift,’" Annabelle added with a rare smile.
’Oh my, my sisters are screwing with me, aren’t they.’
--
"Is that him my dear?" A raw, coarse voice said through the hundreds of people at the banquet.
"It is father, I’m surprised you wanted to see him."
"Its not very often you get to see a lightning user outside of our kingdom. Especially not a chosen one. Is he the dragon slayer?"
"I think so, father, but he only had purple lightning when I saw him last time."
"Dear child, they say the dragon slayer slayed the dragon with white divine lighting from chanting. I want to meet the boy who can use lightning like me."
White lightning began to crackle around his eyes as he smiled wide.