Chapter 119 - Sister Christina

My mind was much clearer as the negotiations had increased in pace once again. I found myself clearing more days to keep a calm mind in the lab making potions. My contracts and gold income swelled, as did my ability to make reasonable decisions. I now sat listening to Anthoney telling me about his dealings with the Succubi.

"They are not happy with me there, Chelsea," Anthoney said, forgetting my rank and acting close to me. "They seem to think of me as only an alchemist. They don't allow my hand to help with any of the experiments or the direction other than recording the results."​​

"So?" I replied, holding back a sigh, "You are there as a pioneering Alchemist. You are not there to take over the experiments. You are not there to negotiate. You are not there to guide the results." I told him the truth, "You are there to make sure your record every detail of those experiments. You are there to make the potions and make sure we know EVERY DETAIL OF THOSE EXPERIMENTS!" I almost yelled at him. "You are there to observe and report. That is it. I need you to make a potion and watching the results of every experiment they do. I need that in a report that I can read and send back to the council. Do you understand this?"

"Chelsea," He began.

"No," I cut him off, "Do you understand your position here, Anthoney? You are here to observe and report. We need an educated person who knows what they are watching—observing and creating the potions for experimentation and witnessing their results. Then Recording those results with Impeccable detail—then giving a brief opinion on those results after the recording to read them and send them to the council. They will also be reading your reports. DO YOU UNDERSTAND THIS!?" I finished my tone, annoyed with him.

Anthoney looked at me, pissed off, as I told him what his job was. "That is demeaning," He said through gritted teeth after staring me down for minutes.

"How?" I asked him, my tone conversational, "You have a lot of power in this simple observe and report, you idiot." I told him harshly, "You are making a complex potion that requires skill. But, this is a free experience as I pay for the ingredients. By the way, I have already decided to put another two hundred thousand gold coins to gather the materials so the experiments can continue. But, You can make observations and reports, WITH YOUR OPINION ATTACHED! Yes, it does nothing in the short term. But the COUNCIL IS READING THESE REPORTS!" I barely contained my contempt of his intelligence out of my voice. "You have a direct line of communication to the power brokers of Silvermoon tower unfiltered to make opinions you want to them through these reports." I looked at Anthoney as he finally started to understand what I was saying, "Now, Don't barge into my office again, Anthoney. Otherwise, I will severely kick the shit out of you. Or tell Francis, the Representative of the Demons, you said you could kick his a.s.s in the arena. Do you understand this with your 'Powerful' intellect?"

Anthoney nodded with a flushed face at the undisguised threat, "Yes, I understand."

"Good, Get out now!" I told him, pointing at the door. With his rude interruption out of the way, I sighed. On his departure, though, Christina, who was supposed to be my appointment, came in, and I sighed.

Christina watched him go down the hallway before closing the door and turning to me, "Is he the reason that our meeting was delayed?" Christina asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yes," I told her honestly, "Although that was only the reason for today. I have been dealing with frustrations in the constant rat race with no information coming my way. The dealings and background information that I am currently dealing with while negotiations continue to stagnate has left me deaf, blind, and dumb. You are here to report on how I can fix that, though." I finished with a raised eyebrow.

Christina nodded, "Yes, I can start to deal with that for you. The number of assets we have here in the Demon lands is lower than it most definitely should be. I already contacted back home with a report to start sending some skilled agents into the Demon lands through various covert means. This means that it will take time but not that expensive since our nations are not closed to each other." Christina said, putting a stack of papers on my desk, "These are the means and the financial reports on the cost. I have finished the gold coins you have made available to me in these weeks, and I need to request more." Christina then sat down in a chair across from me as I picked up the reports in front of me.

I skimmed part of them and realized this would take me too long if I read through them all. I looked up to Christina, who was waiting without a word. "So, tell me the highlights and what you need the funds for," I said, leaning back with the pile of papers.

"Well, Ambassador Chelsea, I need these funds for operating expenses the most. I need to set up businesses that I can use as fronts for our operating. I would also like to set up some extra-legal businesses to get into the underground forces here in the Demon lands." Christina said without flinching, "The underground and illegal areas are what we lack the most in. The illegal areas always contain information that you wouldn't otherwise see. Nobility also likes to peruse in these areas allowing us to see outside our vision workings."

"I understand; you also need to know who you can bribe properly and those you can't. Underground people taking the fall for these types of things will never be a problem in my books." I said in understanding.

"I don't think you quite get what I mean, Ambassador Chelsea," Christina said, "The underground world has a power base that many do not know or understand. They have control in government in ways that you normally wouldn't think. Some policies can even change as the gangs or organizations move if we make up some gangs here, the Tigers work under a representative of the Devils. They might have the ear of Francis. Now, The Dogs are under the Succubi run most of their gold-making schemes through brothels. The Tigers might go to the Devils to try and make prostitution laws be put in place. This would put pressure on the Succubi in many ways, especially if they pass the law and weaken them. The Devils are invested in increasing the Tigers reach since everything they gain comes back to them." Christina said slowly, and I nodded, "Now, The main reason I want to join this is that we can not only take a bit of the large underground cake. But we can also find who wants what without needing to ask who wants what directly."

"So it's a way for you to deduce more motives and information?" I asked.

"Yes, It gives more information and rumors as well. It brings your people down to the street level, hearing things that may or may not be true. This information is spotty most of the time, but it also gives you a lot of information in total. This is Trending information. If a lot of people are thinking in a certain trend, then you can deduce that that might be the way it is going." Christina said.

"That sounds spotty at best," I replied.

"It is, But it is also the best fast information I can give you. You are already blind and deaf. IT will give something quick and dirty to work with while our spies and informant network starts being put in place." Christina finished, and I nodded.

"You are my spymaster, and I see you have the starting numbers on how much it will cost. Tell me, though, How much gold you think it will come to in a yearly budget." I replied.

"Well, right now, I am asking for another advance. It would be best to remember that maintaining a spy ring is a lot cheaper than making a spy ring. I can't give you what I think it will cost to maintain until I have something to maintain. Giving you one will throw off your numbers in the budget. I will be asking for more gold, though. It cost me every gold coin to get everything started and spies moving into position with suitable and reliable fake identities. This added that they would need loans and payments for certain businesses and throw everything up in the air. One of the things, though, is with loans, we can try and get the Demon lands to pay for part of our spring, although that will be on an individual basis. For now, though, five hundred thousand gold coins will be enough to finish getting things in motion, including greasing the right hands to make sure we get those loans." Christina told me, and I nodded.

"Christina," I said, pausing and looking into her eyes, "You will get what you need. I will sign off on your numbers, and the treasury we have available to you will be open. Remember though, I need information, and I need it soon. I have many fires burning, and I need to get proper firefighters on them. You will allow me to stop just pissing on the flames."

"Yes, I understand, and that is what the underground movements are for. Quick dirty information that you can use now. This will not be reliable information that gives you a real insight into representatives. Instead, it will be something that you can get some basic background information on what they might be dealing with. Knowing that will allow you to make deductions on what they may want from you." Christina said with confidence keeping her voice steady and calm.

I stared her down while I thought before I nodded. "Bad information will be worse than no information. I still need information, though, so I need people to sift the information taking out what is obviously bad so that I don't change policies based on information that might color my judgment without me thinking about it."

"I don't have any information people to go through that information at this moment. But you can send word to the council, and they might free up some of my past associates?" Christina offered.

"Okay, Send me a list of people you want, Christina, and I will send word back to the Council. That way, we can get started." I replied, and Christina nodded.

"Very well; I will give the recommendations to Alexia or Yuri once I am finished," Christina replied.

"Good, That is what I like to hear," I told her with a smile as I leaned back. "Now stay," I said, pointing at the couch before I got up out of my seat. "I would like to talk with you a bit longer as a sister instead of as your boss," I clarified as I walked past the desk to sit across from her. I saw the surprise on her face as I sat across from her.

Cristina sat back as I sat across from her, looking towards me, "What would you like to talk about?" She asked with curiosity.

"Well, For one, Who is the woman across from me?" I asked, "You are interesting," I told her, "You are my sister and, to be frank, the first two siblings I have met. Second, Anthoney is an a.s.s that has his head so far up his a.s.s that seeing him see the light on something consists of thoroughly removing the head from his a.s.s before you can talk sense into him." That earned a surprised giggle from Christina before she chopped it off. "See, You don't need to hide that cute little giggle. You can free yourself of what seems to make you contain all those emotions under the surface." I said, knowing that there was more to Christina than the emotionless facade.

"Well..." Her voice trailed off her expression back to that resting emotionless demeanor.

"Look, You are my sister, The only one so far that I find that I can actually stand." I told her, "I want to see if we can develop at least some relationship outside of work." I finished with a smile.

"I-," She cut herself off and looked to be in thought. After a while, she answered, "Okay, I haven't had a friend since I was a kid," She finally said into the silence of her own making.

"Do you mind telling me about this friend?" I asked her softly.

She looked at me for a time and then nodded, "Sure, Her name was Classy; she was the slave mom and dad got me. Like Emily for you," Christina pointed out, and I nodded. "Well, Classy was fantastic, and I never made her do things. She learned in the same studies as me and was much faster at learning than me; Uncle Hermon was quite happy with her too. She learned more and more about mana. Far faster than me. She actually broke through to D rank before me too." Christina paused, thinking about her.

I let the silence continue as Christina seemed to be lost in her memories. I also believed I knew why she tried to remain emotionless when Christina said, "You know what, I don't think I want to continue at this point. It is a painful memory talking about Classy. Maybe I will talk about her another time. I don't think that I am ready to talk about it now."

"That's fine," I told her honestly, "We have just met and have never been a family before now. I don't expect us to become close like sisters right away, Christina. In fact, I would suspect your motives if you suddenly warmed up to me like it was nothing." I continued, "You are a spy after all, But, You also spent a long time alone if what you told me about the theocracy you were stuck in is true. That doesn't mean that I second guess everything you told me. It just means that the world we inhabit and the family that we are a part of that I must suspect those things even if your family. I want to get close to you, though, and although we haven't talked much, it seems to me you are a competent woman that is worth getting close to." I finished.

Christina watched me for a minute, "How did your journey go?" She asked instead.

"Well, Honestly," I thought about it, "It went a hell of a lot better than yours did. In fact, I learned that I was arrogant as hell. Not only that, I still have problems with that arrogance from time to time. As a Futanari, I came in contact with many women, and I learned that I have problems keeping my c.o.c.k out of them if they come onto me." I paused, wryly smiling as I looked up, "That didn't mean that I didn't do other things wrong, though. There was this wolf-kin boy who thought that he could seduce Mally and me," I told her, remembering that first issue that my arrogance got me into. "I honestly never thought of myself as the Heir to the Silvermoon tower in those days. Suppose I wasn't though, I would never have survived the decisions I made. My arrogance might have been subconscious because I knew my position would protect me in the end.

I continued the story reminiscing in the early days of my journey, telling my Sister Christina what I did in my travels. Her expression was changing to different expressions. Even if only barely to surprise and other emotions once and a while as I answered her questions. The conversation continued for hours before duty called me back to the meeting rooms and reports that needing to be done. I watched as she left that room, seemingly happier even as she hid behind that emotionless facade.

I watched the lonely-looking woman leave my room just a tiny bit less lonely and wondered what those years on her journey meant to her. Dark things happen with that much loneliness, and I hoped I could brighten my sister's world just a bit.