Chapter 21: Mia’s All-Out Negative Campaign: Operation Mudslinging!

“Oho ho, that went swimmingly, if I do say so myself. I’ve succeeded in dragging Shalloak to the banquet.”

After the initial meeting with the King of Perujin concluded, Mia was shown to a room in the castle for recuperation. With her were Anne, Ludwig, Bel, Rania, and Tatiana. She smiled cheerfully at them.

“How should we move next?” asked Ludwig, adjusting his glasses. “We can certainly pressure him to continue doing business with the empire through veiled threats, but...”

“Hm, the fact you’re suggesting that out loud with Rania in the room tells me you’re not seriously considering the idea,” said Mia.

“Am I not? I could be doing so on purpose. Having Princess Rania here could be part of the pressure, after all.”

She sneaked a quick glance at Rania. Fortunately, Ludwig’s comment didn’t seem to bother the Perujin princess. Mia turned back toward him.

“In that case, allow me to make one thing clear: I can’t change what happened in the past, but now that I’m here, I have no intention of compelling Perujin to obey us through pure force.”

In the previous timeline, the empire had done so...and failed. Holding an opponent down with force meant that once the force was lost, the opponent could easily spring back up and retaliate. In this case, not only would the opponent retaliate when the chance came, they’d try to inconspicuously chip away at the empire’s power in the meantime. It was also possible for them to borrow enough power from another nation to rival the empire’s.

That simply would not do. Mia’s chicken heart could hardly stand knowing such terrifying eventualities lay in the future. Therefore...

“Our approach to persuading Perujin Agricultural Country boils down to one word: trust. That is all.”

Just as trust in Mia had pushed Rania to send her message, when the empire was faced with a problem it could not solve on its own, help would not come from a nation that had been forced into submission. Only nations who shared a mutual bond of trust would lend aid. How was she to earn this trust, then?

Mia’s plan was exceedingly simple. The way she saw it, trust was a relative matter, and all she had to do was reduce her enemy’s share. Sadly, considering the historical actions of Tearmoon nobles in this country, forging a proper relationship based on trust was likely difficult. She may have been personally on good terms with Rania and Arshia, but expanding that kind of fellowship to a population scale would take considerable time.

I swear, my ancestors have been nothing but a pain in the rear. None of this would be a problem if they hadn’t come up with this whole “let’s hate on the farmers” nonsense. Ugh, them and their stupid discrimination!

Reshaping biases within the empire and winning Perujin’s trust were both extremely time-consuming tasks. Therefore, Mia decided to turn the problem on its head—if she couldn’t improve Perujin’s trust in herself, she could just undermine their trust in Shalloak.

In other words, it was time for some negative campaigning. She was going to expose Shalloak in front of the Perujin king.

The man’s thorough commitment to the principle of “money above all” was the source of his allure. His willingness to do anything and everything in pursuit of profit made him seem a man of monstrous potential. It bred a sense of expectation in people who’d look at him and think, “Hell, maybe this guy really can do it.”

And that was the mask she was going to mercilessly rip off, exposing him for the tender softie he was. She planned to show everyone that he was just a normal person with all the sentimentality and naivete of his peers. In doing so, she’d shatter the Perujin king’s wild little idea of realizing his payback dream by delegating it to Shalloak.

“Oho ho, I’m going to yank the wool off his eyes.” She looked toward her trump card. “And that’s where you come in, Tatiana.”

Tatiana was the only one who knew the Shalloak of the past. Frankly, Mia would be lying if she said she didn’t harbor a doubt or two about the girl. After all, Tatiana felt indebted toward Shalloak. She probably wouldn’t appreciate seeing him humiliated by Mia.

It’d be a problem if she refused to testify because of that.

It was probably prudent to give her one more push. Just in case.

“Remember how I said it would depend on Shalloak,” asked Mia, “and how he chooses to act?”

First, the blame-shifting. It had to be established that this was all his fault to begin with, because if he’d just stayed put, none of this would have happened. In no way was Mia responsible. She was just reacting out of necessity.

“We’re doing this for his sake too.”

Making a long-term enemy of the empire would not benefit Shalloak. He’d already given the empire an upsetting gash. Not prying the wound open further could only be good for him. By implying that Tatiana’s cooperation would ultimately be a boon for Shalloak, Mia was trying to lessen Tatiana’s psychological burden. It was, to be honest, a pretty cheap shot. Then, before her victim had time to recover and recognize her underhandedness, she followed up with the finishing blow.

“That’s why there’s no need for you to lie. Don’t hold back. Just go and give his cheek your best metaphorical smack!”

With that, she put the final touch on Operation Mudslinging.

“...By the way, Princess Mia, are your feet okay? The skin, I mean.”

“Hm? What do you mean?”

Rania’s question to Mia resulted in both of them trading puzzled frowns.

“You stepped on the wheat, right? Do your feet hurt or itch anywhere?”

“Now that you mention it, I guess they do. A bit of both, I think.”

“I thought so...”

Rania kneeled down in front of her, then gestured for her to sit down.

“Excuse me,” she said as she quickly removed Mia’s shoes. “You see, Princess Mia, wheat has very fine thorns that cause pain and itching when they get into your skin. The wheat we covered the path with are a special Perujin strain developed through selective breeding, so they usually don’t cause any discomfort, but it’d be a very different story if we used a different strain. Please be very careful if you ever try something like that again.”

“My! Is that so? No wonder they felt sort of prickly...” Mia remembered the existence of skin-searing mushrooms and shuddered. “Moons, I’m terribly sorry I made you walk over them too, Rania.”

“I’m used to it, so it’s okay. I’m sorry too for not warning you in advance. You didn’t give me much time, though.”

“I had no idea. I’ll be more careful from now on.”

Hearing that she could have seriously injured herself, Mia reflected on her rashness and earnestly resolved to be more prudent. The rest of the room, meanwhile...

“But...you’d have done so anyway, wouldn’t you? Even if you did know.”

“...Huh?”

“If there was no other way to demonstrate your sincerity to the farmers, you’d do it even if you knew the risks, right?”

“I-I would? Uh...” Mia was about to say no, but a quick survey of the room told her she was an extreme minority on this issue. Everyone else clearly shared Rania’s opinion. So, she pivoted. “Well, I suppose I would, yes. If it was necessary, I’d do it. Probably.”

Swept up by the overarching sentiment in the room, she ended up agreeing, only to realize... W-Wait a minute... If I run into the same situation again later, doesn’t this mean I’ll have to just suck it up and let it make my feet all itchy and painful?

While she wrestled with this foreboding thought, Rania gave her feet a thorough inspection before saying, “I think we’d better treat it a bit.”

“Is there some sort of remedy for this?” asked the doctor-aspiring Tatiana, whose curiosity was immediately piqued.

Rania nodded.

“There’s a place here in the capital called Crolio Pond. The water there is said to have therapeutic properties. Soaking in it can reduce itching and heal minor wounds. People also use it as a natural bath of sorts, so this might be a good chance for everyone to wash off the dust and sweat from the journey.”