Chapter 489 – Assassination Plan

"My Empress," Kou says. "Sextia has finished her plan, and the Queens have all approved it. Would you like to hear it?"

"No," I say. "I don't have a clue about how to do it. I may be trusting the Queens too much, but I believe them. If it works, then that is enough for me. I'm trying to get more involved, kind of, but this is one of the things I just don't understand and don't care about understanding."

"I have been impressed with how you've been handling your meetings with Elora and Elo, My Empress," Kou says. "You're learning a lot more than you think. I know it feels like you're drowning, but you're not. I've seen Elora and Elo go back and change the laws after your questions. You don't have to come up with the solutions; just asking good questions can make them rethink things or reveal a side to things they didn't even know existed. We nobles have a terribly limited understanding of the commoners' lives. If you really don't want to see it, I'll let her know, but Sextia would like to go over it with you."

"I guess I should hear her out," I say. "It is my job, and she did risk herself to kill the Dragon Queen."

"It shouldn't take long, My Empress," Kou says. "The plan is comprehensive, but you don't need the details unless it catches your interest."

"That sounds good," I say. The details would be lost on me, and keep me from my kids. Kou really does her best to make sure the meetings are something I can actually understand. No deep dives into tax policies. I've dipped my toes in the policies before, but I quickly decided that it isn't for me.

Kou walks me towards my most hated room in my new house. Somehow, they snuck it in. Not that they had to work hard to sneak it in, since I didn't see the manor before we moved. But I still feel betrayed about this room.

The office is at least comfortable, even if I hate it. Someone knew that it would be filled with pregnant women, so the furniture is a bit larger than normal, and there are plenty of cushions to go around, and the dark mage maid is sitting in one of the few chairs. A paper is already unfolded on the desk.

"Hi," I say, working around the desk to my chair, which is larger and has a bit more padding. I may not like the office, but they did their best to make it somewhere I won't be miserable. "Thank you for working on all of this. I've heard about Elora expanding the scope by more than was originally planned."

"Thank you for meeting with me about this, Empress Alzi," Sextia says. "I know this probably isn't too interesting to you, but I think this is important. It'll help clean up some of the silly old Priestesses to the dead Goddesses. Just a few. Most have given up on their previous work, but some really do think that the Goddesses will be coming back."

"Death has made it clear that they can't," I say. "Even Dragon's hope of me impregnating one of your kills isn't really possible. Dragon just has a weird fetish about killing the old Queen through labor. Don't tell her I said that. She'll kill you for it. She was not happy when I brought up what Death said about her plan."

Ok, it hasn't been all kids this week. Geta wanted to have her pregnancy checked on, and Death wished to meet the kids, and it was a whole thing. And then I just had to question Dragon because I just like getting Goddesses mad at me or something, but it was a short meeting.

"Well, that's good to hear," Sextia says. "Praying to Revenge feels a lot better than it ever felt talking to anyone associated with Justice. So, the plan is a lot bigger, as you know. With the last war, there aren't too many left that we have to kill in each family, but there are a lot of families. Victoria and Tanatsu have offered us some good adventurers and assassins to use. And we're also using everyone Irdru has available, along with the Dragon realm's assassins. Most of the assassins in the Dragon realm were still loyal to the old Queen, so we don't have many of them left. But we still have to do it all in three phases. The adventurers are mostly for letting us know about any movements of the women in the third phase. The first phase will get the Priestesses to make sure they don't escape, along with the main instigators. The second will get the ones with the muscle. We've thought about switching the order, but Tanatsu thinks that the first two phases will be close enough together that it won't matter, and it's better to get the easy ones out of the way so that the second phase won't get delayed."

"That makes sense," I say. "What exactly do you mean by muscle?"

"The ones with more fighting force," Sextia says. "Idiots who don't do much thinking and just follow some old families. The old families are unhappy that you aren't giving them gold for one reason or another, so they're trying to get the muscle to hurt you. The third group is just to safeguard against various issues. They don't have much attachment to the first two, but they should be smart enough to know you're making a large move, and that it would put them at risk. I've double-checked all the information Irdru has given me, and Tanatsu has checked in on some of the more outlandish claims herself as well. And with that, I agree with Elora's thoughts on the old spymaster. She is just lazy. If you or Elora promotes me, I'll probably see if she'll keep working for me. I think she does better with someone telling her what to do, which broke down when Yumanea took a step back at the end of her reign."

We just had to bring up one of the lasting thorns in my side. My father and Lensa are the other headaches I have besides this pregnancy. The kids had better be getting ready to come out.

I've mostly just let Yumanea be. Lottie has been spending a lot of time in the nursery, and Rosemary has been getting a building prepared for me and her to work in. Kelly just wants to be the family's midwife, which is a needed position. There will be a few ambitious maids walking around with bellies in the coming months, and then there's my wives. Kelly will have plenty of work to do without needing to join us.

Nesh kind of just floats around, staying away from Elora. I have no idea what to make of her or Yumanea. I kind of just want to ignore them for Irlo and the others, but maybe I can get a bit of revenge? If Yumanea is just going to hide away, she can at least give me a few more kids, right?

But anyway, back to the assassination plan. It sounds good, right?

"Are there any in the third group that could slip away?" I ask. "Geta isn't showing yet, so we can pull some of them up for her and Nanoka to take out, or we could send guards to bring them in for questioning? Eterna also mentioned being willing to help."

"Guards would mean a trial," Sextia says. "We don't want that. This is a show of force. We can't have some drawn-out legal battle while the courts are still trying to figure out how to function without that bitch, Justice. Contract and Revenge don't really work for criminal court without some strange logic that is almost worse than Justice's logic."

"Fair," I say. "Geta?"

"I'll ask her," Sextia says. "But we've been careful to keep the nobles locked down. But I'll double-check the list and bring up any that may need her help. Victoria is also available, along with a few other wives. I'll make sure the level of risk is suitable for all of them."

"Good," I say. "Good. Things will get dangerous if they get away. Can we trust all of the people?"

"They know as little as possible," Sextia says. "Only Irdru, Tanatsu, the Queens, and I know all of it. If you want, I'll tell you the full plan as well. But everyone else thinks their group is the only one doing anything. The adventurers think they're just checking up on lands that are struggling with the fallout of the war. They haven't been told about it yet. They've been told they have a mission and have a week booked for it all. They won't know about the details of their mission until the day before."

"That should cover everything I'm interested in," I say. "It seems you've worked it all out quite well. And I think we can trust Tanatsu. She wouldn't risk her life with a stupid plan just after she's got her wife back, and she knows I can get Kiyomi and Nanoka on her ass if she does something stupid. Thank you for the explanation. It is good that I know about this. It's about my enemies, after all."

"I'm happy to keep you informed," Sextia says. "I'm a little bit nervous about doing this. I was a little too sheltered, I guess. It feels a lot better doing things, but it's hard to get over my fear. I hope you don't stifle your kids out of fear. Sorry, I shouldn't be saying something like that. I know..."

"No, it's a good thing to point out," I say. "I am afraid to lose them, but you're right. I can't hide them away, or they'll all hate me. Just be polite with your suggestions about the kids. They'll all need something different, and even with my bodies, I won't see everything going on with them. And I shouldn't see everything. But you know what I mean."

"I do," Sextia says. "I'll keep an eye out. We all want them to grow up happy and healthy."

"That is the goal," I say. "Thank you for all the work you've done. You probably have plenty more to do, so I won't keep you. Keep track of the details."

"Of course, Empress Alzi," Sextia says, gathering and picking up the papers on my desk.

I let her walk out first, and then turn to Kou.

"I have nothing else for you today, My Empress," Kou says.

"Kids, then," I say. "The kids can always use more help."

"That they do, My Empress," Kou says.

*** Alzi, Third Body, in the Dragon Realm ***

The eggs have to be close to hatching. I mean, I speed everything up when it comes to pregnancy, and there's no way these eggs aren't included. Zarzi hopes they don't fall under my Skills. She's scared of the storm of kids. Which I will admit is one good thing about dying in labor, since you won't have to deal with a hundred babies crying for you to feed them, but you'd also miss out on a hundred of your babies growing up.

"You've got a few days at least," Elo says. "Sorry to intrude, but my son has come by, asking about his third leg."

"What do you think I should do?" I ask, still staring into the lava, daring an egg to crack for me.

"I don't know," Elo says. She's looking just as pregnant as my main body now. In just a week, probably less, she'll be stuck on the throne. The dragons have a throne that is more comfortable for a woman who's carrying a brood in her womb. "I'm just passing on the request. You don't really need him to have kids."

"He doesn't care about the ones he already has now," Zarzi says. "And sure, you've gotten word from him, but he hasn't said a damn thing to me. He probably just wants that rod back so the woman he's chasing will jump into his bed. You've done enough for him already by giving him a manor. He can earn anything else he wants the normal way."

"Then we'll just keep waiting for the eggs to hatch," I say.

"I don't blame you for that," Elo says. "Has Sextia shared the plan with you yet?"

"Yes, we just finished going over it," I say. "It seems well thought out."

"I had less to say about it than I thought I would," Elo says. "She's working hard to prove that she's the right person for the job."

"I think she is," I say. "She just needs a bit of confidence, and she'll be perfect."