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Inflation x Influencer
Ludwig’s office was tucked away in a corner of the Golden Moon Ministry building. He was sitting there reading a report that Mia had sent him.
“How… how in the moons did she win over Duke Redmoon’s daughter?”
After reading it, Ludwig leaned back in his chair and let out a long breath of surprise.
“Her charm really has no limits,” he said as he looked up at the ceiling.
“Yes, yes… Everything fits together. If Ruby becomes our friend, it will be much easier to get the military to change. And… Well, duh. She is also thinking about how to make the Princess Guard stronger. I do wonder how she got the young Redmoon to side with her. I ought to talk to her about it…”
He grinned like a daydreaming schoolboy at the thought of finding out how Mia’s mind worked and seeing her genius methods in action. As someone who was always hungry for knowledge, he often made up stories that would satisfy that hunger. Clearly, the MG (Mia’s Greatness) Index inflation rate was steady and up. So, everything was fine on planet Ludwig. Furthermore…
“I know! After I ask her about it, I’ll tell Balthazar about it the next time we go out for a drink. No, not just Balthazar. I’ll also have the master come. In fact, I might as well get everybody together. No Galvanus follower who cares about himself can avoid hearing about something like this. Then, they’ll go tell even more people what they’ve learned…”
He thought right away of ways to reach more people, like a real influencer. The more people he could get to come to his camp (down his rabbit hole), the better. Ludwig was a real visionary.
“Well, well, it looks like someone is having fun.”
A voice with a chuckle came from the door. Dion Alaia was leaning against the frame when he looked up.
“Want to tell that to the guys, too? The Guard can’t get enough of hearing about the princess.”
Dion walked into Ludwig’s office, as he did every day, to talk about “official military business.” Which, in Dion-speak, meant “taking it easy.” He had been fired from his job as captain of a hundred-man squad and was now a class three military official at the Ebony Moon Ministry. In other words, a government employee.
In a broad sense, the Tearmoon military was made up of two groups. One was the imperial army, which was mostly the people with boots on the ground. The other person was in charge of planning, logistics, staffing, and everything else that was needed to get the right people on the right ground. The Ebony Moon Ministry did that.
Dion used to be a member of the first group. He worked for the latter at the time. In the Tearmoon military, it was normal for someone to be moved from the front lines to a desk job.
In the past, some knights were given commanding positions because of how well they did on the battlefield. Then, as generals, they gave stupid orders that caused the army to lose a lot of people. Even though he was a good soldier, that didn’t mean he was a good commander. After these expensive lessons, the Tearmoon Empire decided to make administrative experience a requirement for higher-level command positions.
Thousand-man squadron generals, who were a step up from hundred-man squad captains, couldn’t get any higher in rank until they’d spent some time in the Ebony Moon Ministry learning about how an army works, how supply lines work, and how to plan strategically.
Once they had learned how to see the bigger picture of war, they could go back to the front lines and take on the duties of high command.
Dion, on the other hand, thought ministry work was “murderously boring” and had no plans to move up the ranks. However, at Mia’s (conceived by Ludwig and voiced by Ludwig) request, he reluctantly agreed to be moved. He was getting ahead in life in every way, but you wouldn’t know it from the way he kept complaining.
“She never tells you what she’s going to do, does she?”
With a shrug, Dion made a joke.
“When the princess is around, things tend to change in strange ways. Who would have thought I’d ever get the floors of the Ebony Moon Ministry dirty?” he said with a sarcastic snort.
“True…”
Ludwig nodded deeply.
“However, this does mean that you might be able to go back to the front lines.”
Dion could go in two different directions. He could go back to the imperial army as a general and lead bigger groups of soldiers, or he could stay here as a military official and have a say in how the army as a whole is run.
Ludwig wanted a reliable way to get in touch with the Ebony Moon Ministry, which meant a friend in a high military position. But Dion’s role would change if the support of the House of Redmoon could achieve the same goal.
Once they had real power in the ministry, his presence on the battlefield would have a much bigger effect on the troops.
“Yeah, I guess I’d like that,” Dion said, still in a sarcastic tone, but Ludwig’s next comment made him raise his eyebrows.
“Also, I think we may need to shift your priorities a little bit. I don’t think we need promotions right now.”
“…Okay, I’m paying attention.”
“Right now, there’s something else that needs to be done, and I think it would be best if you took care of it…”
“What do you mean ‘something else’?”
Dion stood against the wall with his arms crossed. His face changed a little bit. He was so sure of his guess that he didn’t even bother to look at Ludwig’s head nod.
“Have they moved at all? Summer seems like a long time ago.”
“People are looking into it, but so far I haven’t heard anything. They’re not going anywhere. They don’t move at all, which makes me a little suspicious.”
“I’m sure Ganudos has already sent them a message. I guess they can’t do anything right now unless they want to start an open rebellion.”
“Yes, they are being more careful, which means we’ll have to look harder for information. My master can take care of the Academy City project, and Balthazar can take care of the financial reform. In other words, my schedule just so happens to be open right now.”
Dion laughed in a friendly way.
“Just so happens? You’re not a “just so happens” kind of guy. You sure you’re not mixing up correlation and cause?”
“I see you’ve been doing some reading.”
Ludwig’s lips turned up just a little bit in a smile, and then he shrugged.
“Yes, this is a common source of uncertainty in academia, and we’ll just have to deal with it.”
Again, Dion laughed.
“Sure, say what you want.”
“Anyway, we know that the Yellowmoons are probably sleeping with the Chaos Serpents, but it looks like Her Highness doesn’t want to say that the whole house is bad. She probably doesn’t want to hurt people who aren’t directly involved. So that she can do this, she has given us the job of doing this investigation. You and I, Sir Dion, must live up to Her Highness’s trust and give her the information she wants.”
Ludwig put the bridge of his glasses on a table and looked right at Dion.
“Can I count on your full help in this matter?”
“The House of Yellowmoon is the oldest of all the noble lines…”
Dion huffing.
“Maybe they’ll send some killers who are worth my time.”
He smiled like a wolf.
Soon, Tearmoon’s secret past would be out in the open.