Chapter 170 – Explanations Finale – Playing the game

“I mean…” John gestured at the map. “…you have all of this land, all of these resources, and the best you can do for your fighters are two random Americans?” he looked at her with a raised eyebrow. “You’ll have to excuse me if I am skeptical about that, princess.”

“Ja, it is kinda weird,” Rave agreed.

The map smoothed over and was replaced with a field of toy soldiers, standing in orderly squares. “I have a multitude of loyal subjects who would be willing to fight for me, some of them are even stronger than you currently are,” Lydia told the couple readily. “However, there is a problem with all of them: they are my subjects. Publicly, widely known, pledged to my house for generations.”

“And how is that a problem in a tournament?” John asked. It wasn’t like they could play off each other. ‘Unless the fights aren’t random but set-up in advance,’ it dawned on him.

“Because of the way the tournament is organized, let me show you,” Lydia confirmed his suspicion and the table surface changed yet again. “To begin with each of the two candidates announces one of their fighters,” Lydia explained, and her name as well as Maximillian’s appeared as the headlines of a two-column table. “The announcement will be simultaneous.” The words Fighter 1 appeared underneath their names, “Then both parties have a day to choose their next fighter. The process repeats 3 more times,” Fighter 2-4 joined the ranks. “In the end, both teams arrive at a total of five declared fighters. You understand yet why getting known people into my team would be a problem, John?”

“It would allow your enemy to find a counter for the person you last installed,” he analysed. “It would be prudent to assume that you both already have counter-measures for each other’s most likely picks.”

“Indeed,” Lydia affirmed, “and having a person who is especially strong against one of your fighters in the tournament itself is likely to cost you most of the standard matches.”

John just waited for Lydia to sort her thoughts. Eventually, she continued with her breakdown of the rules.

“There are three types of fights inside the tournament. The first kind is a duel between two participants. There are three rounds of this: first the first candidate, being Maximillian, sends a fighter into the ring and the second candidate, that being me, sends a fighter in, in response. Each fighter may only fight once per round.”

“That seems heavily skewed in your favour,” John spoke his mind, “but I guess it is reversed in the second round.”

Lydia nodded, “Correct. Finally, In the third round the electors get to vote on who they want to see fight. It is a stupid system, but at least it is not barbaric enough to result in death matches.”

“Murdering is forbidden?” Rave asked, just to be sure.

“Yes. This tournament used to be fought exclusively between important members of the German nobility, until the hiring of foreign fighters became common practice. It had been deemed then and has remained in place since, that death during the event would be undesirable.” The princess let out a long sigh, “that doesn’t make the tournament a great idea, but at least it doesn’t weaken the state needlessly.”

John felt a lot better about all of this with that information in mind. At least he wouldn’t die. A rather important assurance to have.

“Continuing on, the second type of fights are group fights. Two to five fighters enter the ring. The team is assembled in advance. Neither side knows the enemy's group until we face each other in the coliseum. These are held after a solo round is completed.”

“Makes enough sense,” Rave spoke her mind. “So ya wanna try and put together a team that counters whatever you expect to be in theirs.”

“And then you will have to plan around their plan that is planned around your plan!” John exclaimed; he loved stuff like that. “What is the last kind, princess?” he asked after the noble in question became quiet for almost a minute.

"Finally…” she hesitated for a few more seconds, before muttering a single word, “…games.”

“”Games?”” Rave and John wondered in unison. “Can we get some clarification on that?” he probed further.

“Hardly,” Lydia answered with pure contempt. “They are random challenges that onlookers come up with and then get checked by a committee and finally enter a hat that somebody pulls them from. It can be whatever stupid or dangerous thing you can think of. A massive waste of resources, time and national dignity.”

“And you have that in your tournament, that decides who gets to lead Rex Germaniae, one of the most powerful organizations in the world,” John clarified.

“I don’t make the rules!” Lydia, suddenly all flustered, shouted out and slammed her hand on the table. The tea set rattled. “They are stupid, old rules, modified to the point of non-functionality as hundreds upon hundreds of years of noble idiocy has piled on top of them! Everything that was once good about them has been wrapped in so much red tape, it is like a cocoon containing an eldritch abomination! The fifty years before my grandfather assumed power had 6 Emperors die! All has been in managed decline since!”

There was a moment of baffled silence, as they watched Lydia’s angry stare, directed at whoever would challenge her on this. Half a minute passed, until the air in the room gradually relaxed.

“Excuse my sudden outburst,” she apologized, her tone still strained, and took her hand off the table. “I am only annoyed by the lack of reforms that have taken place.”

“Annoyed, yeah,” Rave giggled, “more like hella pissed.”

Lydia shot her a poisonous glance, before taking a calm breath and regaining her composure. “Aclysia, would you make me another pot of tea, please?” she asked.

“Of course, princess,” the artificial guardian agreed and took the porcelain pot next to the tea set.

“And how do you determine who has won in the end?” John asked as he looked after the artificial guardian leaving the living room.

“A point system. Winning a duel is worth one point, winning a group fight is worth three, winning a game is worth whatever,” Lydia said and mumbled, “just another showing of how stupid that game thing is.”

“So, let me get this right. This is a non-lethal tournament with five fighters, the candidate plus four other participants, on each side that compete in three different kinds of challenges for points and the winner is then appointed emperor of Germany,” John summarized the conversation.

“Correct,” Lydia confirmed. “You should know one more thing, however,” she stated and pointed at the returning Aclysia. “You may only take one golem into the arena with you and you have to choose which one at the start of the tournament. We have that rule to prevent people just hiring alchemists with armies of living stone and making the tournament a war of attrition rather than skill.”

Aclysia and Mono looked at each other, then at John. His mind was pondering about that bit of information. Both of them had drawbacks and advantages. Which of the two was he more effective with?

“As that is the case, I have a suggestion,” the princess said before he had come to any conclusion, “Leave Aclysia open to be chosen as one of my fighters.”

That surprised John, but he heard her out before commenting.

“There is a high likelihood that there will be some sort of almost purely physical fighter on the enemy team like Rave claims to be. A golem of her quality would be great to counter such a person,” Lydia explained and John quietly nodded. He skipped the question from where she knew about Aclysia in such detail, Magoi’s report would have included details like that as well.

“That sounds okay,” he agreed but turned to the servant before agreeing. “What do you think of this, Aclysia?”

The artificial guardian was busy pouring the next cup of tea. “I would be happier to fight at Master’s side. However, it makes sense and I will cooperate.”

“In that case, I am okay with that plan,” John agreed.

“Great, you three will provide a well-balanced team, it should be hard to find counters to all of you. Especially as there is no information on you,” the princess looked at Rave, “how did you manage that feat, by the way?”

“My dad works at the Abyss Auction, he won’t let info about me stay there,” the techno-lover answered.

“I see…” Lydia said. “But you’re unaffiliated? It would be a bad look to have a member of one of the three non-combat organizations meddle so directly in my affairs.” Rave nodded and that was that.

“What about me? There is tons of stuff SecretBlonde uploaded,” John said, but then corrected himself, “but I guess none of that is very precise about my powers.”

“Indeed,” Lydia agreed, “and while the powers of a golem are recognizable, the fact that I will come with one as a full-fledged fighter will be surprise enough, I will announce her last.” The princess of steel showed a half-apologetic smile. “Albeit, it might occur that I only use one or none of you. Perhaps Maximillian will be foolish enough to present one of his common picks.”

“Assuming you pick all three of us, who would be your fourth?” John investigated.

“I will keep the details about her a secret,” Lydia said and picked up her fresh cup of tea. She took a few seconds to gently blow on the steaming hot liquid before taking a sip. “Her name is Nia Fae; she will be my trump card against Maximillian himself.”

John didn’t wait for the clarification to never arrive, she said she would keep it a secret so it was better to move to new topics. “How much time do we have until the next vote occurs?”

“Three days, the tournament will begin a week after that,” Lydia answered the next question he would have had as well. “When the vote fails to elect either me or Maximillian, and it will fail, we will have to move to Italy after the three days of announcements have passed.”

“Why is that?” Rave asked.

“Where do you think the tournament will be held?” Lydia countered with a question of her own. “We are still technically subjects of the Greater Empire.”

“Oooooh,” John’s girlfriend exclaimed a moment later. He himself just got wide eyes. “We will be fighting in the grand colosseum of Rome? That is pretty epic.”

“Don’t let it go to your heads, you are there to win, so that I may succeed in my goals,” Lydia reminded them. “This is the basis of our current relationship.”

“Mhm, you maybe wanna tack some benefits onto that?” Rave suddenly asked. “The fun kind of benefits?”

Everything turned quiet suddenly. Even Sylph in her cage stopped her ceaseless commenting and moved close, gazing at the situation through the bars and water walls of her prison. John couldn’t help but smirk at how direct his girlfriend was about this. It definitely couldn’t be said that he was the only one who wanted this – whatever exactly ‘this’ was.

Lydia’s fingers drummed on the edge of the table. Seconds passed by, as she contemplated. “Is that a polygamous offering?” she finally asked.

“If that translates to whether or not I’d let you fuck my boyfriend the answer is yes,” Rave said and bowed over the table in a conspiratorial way. “His Skills also increase how good his dick feels and his ability to use it.” She added a charming wink to the loud whisper.

Even the stone-faced Lydia blushed under that kind of directness. “I will… consider it,” she gave the diplomatic answer.

“Great, whenever ya wanna replace that stick in your ass with his cock, tell us,” Rave smirked.

“My what now?!” Lydia clenched the cup in her hand so hard John was afraid that it would shatter.

 “That massive piece of wood between your butt cheeks that keeps ya this formal and all disciplined. Come on girl, you’re younger than me, stop behaving like my mom!”

“I will have you know,” the princess said in a heated tone, and slammed her cup back on the small plate it belonged on. The tea almost spilled out. “That I am a well-disciplined member of the German royalty and I will not put up with such disrespect!”

“Well, excuuuuuuse me, princess,” Rave said and John could not repress his laughter on that one. Even Aclysia was caught up in it. She, Mono, Gnome and Undine giggled quietly while Salamander had no such qualms and openly cackled. Worst of all was when Sylph broke from her prison, her voice turned up to an almost painful volume as she guffawed and rolled over the table.

Lydia shot all of them glares that could have killed, “What is so funny?!” she demanded to know.

“Just -pff- an internet thing,” John answered after having calmed down a bit. “Anyhow, sorry, Jane is a bit direct at times,”

“But am I wrong?” his girlfriend wanted to know.

“This is hardly the time…” John tried to persuade her, to no avail.

“Disagreed, this is the perfect time, if we are going to hang out with her for the foreseeable future I want this out of the way A-S-A-P,” Rave spelled out.

John sighed and gave in to Rave’s demand. “Okay, yeah… princess, you are a bit… overly uptight.”

“…” Lydia kept staring as if she could make his head explode if she only tried hard enough. She might have succeeded if she kept trying a bit longer. “Explain,” she commanded.

“Well, first off: That,” John said, “I may be indebted to you, so you have enough reason to order me around, but, as Jane said, we are going to hang around a lot if we are going to fight in this tournament together. Maybe you shouldn’t talk to everyone that works closely with you like they’re responsible for bringing you a change of clothes. In short: You are bossy. Furthermore, you gave me a lecture about the importance of time because I called you a bit too late, so you can add preachy to that list too.”

“Time is a valuable resource!” Lydia defended herself. “One I rarely have enough of.”

“Yet you are here enjoying your fifth, I think, cup of tea,” John drily stated.

“I freed up my schedule for this,” the princess pushed back immediately. “Are you telling me I shouldn’t enjoy an orderly lifestyle and instead fall into the unproductive den of debauchery I found you two in?”

“No, there is much about you that I find admirable. Maybe understand though, that it was three in the morning when we went to bed and Jane was jetlagged,” John suggested. “This is not a business meeting, unless you make it one. Being in constant meetings will be taxing on us though. I’ll do my best no matter what, but you won’t make many friends like this.”

Lydia tapped on the table, staring at her hands, her face slightly reddened from both anger and embarrassment. Repeatedly, she opened her mouth, then bit back whatever she wanted to say. Only when the anger had fully left her face, did she actually speak up.

“I will… confide in you. Perhaps because I can trust no one important in my realm will take your word above mine,” Lydia told them and sighed. “I’ve had only one relationship with someone my age and it… did not end well. Before and since, matters have been complicated and I have dedicated myself to work since.”

Lydia ran a hand over her braided hair and for a moment she looked tremendously tired. It occurred to John that she must have woken up hours before them, despite going to bed not that long before them. Only her supernatural physique kept the obvious signs at bay.

“I have the honour of house Hohenzollern to uphold,” she muttered to herself. “I refuse to become a frivolous noble that indulges their base urges on the cost of honouring their duties.”

John pinched Rave’s ass the moment the techno lover moved to say something. She let out a little surprised sound, then turned his way. ‘Dude, what?’ her eyes said.

Shaking his head softly, he returned a non-verbal, ‘That’s as far you can push her.’

‘Fine,’ Rave communicated by rolling her eyes. Then she stabbed him in the side with her index finger, ‘but I want more.’

The silent conversation may have continued, if Lydia had not raised her voice again. “Perhaps you have a point. Be you in my debt or not, a genuine bond between us would help us in the upcoming trials. For your benefit, I will loosen my standards and, for my own benefit, observe how it serves me. With that said, I will take you up on that offer.”

“”You will?”” the couple asked in unison, one surprised, the other highly enthusiastic.

Lydia folded her hands. “I’ll be honest, I heard everything last night, and it does make a woman wonder…” She took a deep breath. “This is too slutty for my liking… yet I crave it all the same…” She fixated on John for a moment. “I will see this as a genuine attempt to build something that lasts at least some time, John. As I said, I refuse to be frivolous, even if I happen to indulge myself.”

That seemed a bit contradictory, but John would not deny her this. Rather, he looked at it as a challenge. His girlfriend just got him the foot in the bedroom door of a royal and Lydia, for all her stern exterior, struck him as an overall pleasant person. Perhaps more could be had here?

Lydia’s eyes suddenly snapped over to Rave, “My condition is that you will be no part of this.”

“What? No!” Rave said and wrapped her arms around her boyfriend. “This is my man, ya get to share him with me, not take him away!” she laid down.

“I have no such intentions.” Lydia put her elbow on the table and rested the bottom of her mildly smirking face on her palm. “You wish for me to diminish my standards and I am willing to bend. I am testing if you are willing to do the same. Besides…,” and now the princess’ eyes wandered over to John, who met the curious gaze in kind, “…this already is unusual enough for me. I wish to explore this intrigue I feel… intimately.”

John felt his pants tug as the word left the princess’ lips and sensually caressed his ears. While his brain was already putty, his girlfriend remained resistant. “IF I agree to that, what do I get in return?”

Lydia raised an eyebrow, “I already agreed to relax my standards, what more could you want?”

“I wanna give ya a nickname and you’ll have to live with it!” John got a very bad feeling about this. If Rave had one talent, aside from her stunning looks, her wildness in bed, her combat prowess and her magic, it was to get stern people angry by giving them stupid nicknames.

Lydia, unknowing as she was, said, “Accepted.” She probably thought it couldn’t be that bad.

Rave flashed her a wide grin. “Okay, ya can sleep with my man now, Lylytina.” From the way the techno-lover started snickering at his side, John guessed that there was some reference here that he didn’t get. The princess’ left eye twitched only once, before she had herself under control again.

‘I wonder how much she will regret this in the long run,’ John wondered.

 “Well then, John, follow me into my bedroom,” Lydia commanded and stood up.

Giving his girlfriend one last chance to intervene, John remained seated. “Go get her, tiger,” Rave whispered. That was the last cue he needed. A swift clap on the butt sent him off.