The Greatest Sin [Progression Fantasy][Kingdom Building]
Chapter 274 – Underhanded Charity

Any discussion of pardons is meaningless. Arascus has fundamentally changed the game; We will absolve ourselves through victory or we will be killed. Framed like that, what can we not do? Why should I contain myself? For what? So that I can claim moral superiority for sticking to the rules? So that our victory will somehow be ‘clean’? We are in the business of conquering the world! Can that ever be clean?

So apologies. I would rather have victory than have begrudging respect from people I intend to kill.

- Excerpt from a speech given by Malam, Goddess of Hatred, given at the start of what would become known as ‘The Secret War’, the skirmishing, plotting & counter-plotting between the intelligence agencies of the White Pantheon Front and the Imperial Bureaucracy.

White hair, a canvas upon which to smear falsehoods. Red hair, so definite in spinning passionate tales.

Black eyes, to reflect the viewer back upon himself. Blue eyes, to match the royal nobilities that once ruled.

Black silk dress for courtly affairs. Linen HAUPT suit for politicking business.

Helenna stared at Malam.

Malam stared at Helenna.

Arascus stared at them both.

For a moment, he had been worried that Helenna would hate Malam. Malam naturally wouldn’t, she got along swimmingly with everyone. Or at least, she generally found a way to have company with others be entertaining, for herself if not for whoever she was dealing with. They had faced off against each other in the Great War, Arascus had started training Helenna to take over Malam’s spot but now that his daughter-Goddess had returned…

Well, too much of a good thing was never bad. If these two proved they could work together, Arascus would have an excellent duo on his hands. If they could not then they would receive different tasks. Malam would focus on aggressive plotting abroad, Helenna would be tasked with guarding the home-front. He would rather have a meeting first with Malam, but time was of the essence. Especially now, after the stunt that Kassandora had gotten herself up to. The metal was hot, Arascus had his hammer, only a fool would not strike now. He let his mind wander as he thought up of his plan. It wasn’t that he could not, but there was a country to manage. A day spent on figuring out the logistics of how to handle the cracking continent was a day that Kirinyaa sat without leadership. “So? Do you girls have something?”

Both of them blushed at that. Malam saw it on Helenna, Helenna saw it on Malam. Of Hatred replied with a lewd smile, Of Love returned an ice-cold glare. “Helenna?” Malam asked pleasantly. “I like listening to myself talk, but I want to see how you would handle this.” She cooed the words as if Helenna was a little girl. Arascus didn’t admonish her, some things simply could not be gotten out of people. If these two were to get along, then Helenna would have to get used to it.

Helenna readjusted the papers before herself. They sat around one of the tables in the huge tent, this section was especially bad with the scattering of section. Helenna’s blue eyes jumped up to Malam, then to Arascus, then back to Of Hatred. “Yes, of course.” Helenna said. “It’s good to see how an expert would handle this first.” Arascus leaned back and crossed his arms as Malam smiled. Of Love added another dig. “Maybe you’ll learn something.”

Just from that reply, he knew they would get along. Malam’s smile rose as Helenna tapped a picture on the table. Her hair turning from that confident red to being tinged with the focused black. “If I’m going to be honest, then the situation with the UNN is unsalvageable.” Arascus nodded, he thought the same. An amateur at diplomacy would try and reconcile with the UNN. How could destroying the most important cities in the country be reconciled though? “Instead though.” Helenna looked to Arascus. “I assume we’re working under the idea of world conquest?”

“We are.” Arascus said.

“Then we should leave the UNN to suffer and turn out attention to Epa. With the damage done, it will take decades, entire generations even for the UNN to recover.” Helenna said.

“Unless they use mages.” Arascus said.

“We have Elassa now. I assume she will be able to keep Arcadia out of the UNN.” Helenna said. Arascus let her continue talking, ultimately, he was here to make the final decisions. And frankly, Arcadia was not even on a potential list of allies, magician’s loyalty had always been fickle. “But even if she doesn’t, we have a decade before even half of what has been destroyed can be rebuilt.” Malam smiled to herself, it was that wicked hungry smile she always carried when she had ideas. “Well? I am correct.”

“You are correct.” Malam said. “Please, continue.”

“Then we focus all our resources on Epa.” Helenna continued. “On abolishing the monarchies, or directly vassalizing them. The republics will be easier, we can just infiltrate our men into the established parties.”

“Mmh.” Malam said. “That’s quite good.”

“Is it?” Helenna asked. “It’s obvious.”

“No no.” Malam said. “About infiltrating the established parties rather than creating a new one. That’s good. Amateurs would think that the creation of a new party is viable.” Helenna smiled and spread her arms out.

“In Rancais, all the main parties could be infiltrated. In Lubska, it would only require Jozef’s PPL.”

“I agree.” Malam said as she licked her lips. “Is there anything else?” Arascus knew that tone, it meant that Malam already had everything prepared. He knew that if she launched into a speech, Helenna would not have a chance to intervene so he turned to the Goddess of Love and nodded for her to continue.

“That’s everything.” Helenna said. “I don’t see the need of a propaganda campaign and I don’t believe that we can achieve anything substantial through one either. At best.” Helenna repeated the words to add stress to them. “At the very best, we may get a few dissidents who don’t like the government.”

“We’ll get them anyway.” Arascus said. Malam chuckled and Helenna agreed.

“We will, so there is no point. It’s better to simply concentrate our efforts on Epa whilst the rest of the world concentrates on rebuilding the damage from the cracking. We have the initiative now, so we should stay a move ahead.” Helenna finished and Arascus nodded. That was sensible, he thought of something similar. And he turned to Malam, she was leaning back, idly looking at her perfect nails.

“Malam?” Arascus asked. And Malam made a yawn.

“Is that it?” Malam asked.

“Am I finished you mean?” Helenna replied. “Was it too much or too little?”

“Trust me Helenna, there is no such thing as too much with me.” If they were in public, Arascus would scold Malam for speaking in a tone like that. It was not fit for Divines. “But your plan…” Malam tilted her head from side-to-side. “Do you want an opinion?”

“I’d be downright honoured to get one.” Helenna’s tone said she would be everything but honoured.

“Lacking in finesse. Unoriginal. Not wrong, but easy.” Malam said, her eyes glinted. “Although I suppose it does fit.”

Helenna didn’t take the insult, she laughed and Arascus sighed in relief. “I’m not some intellectual who needs thousands of moving parts. Granted, I suppose if you have the patience of a child, you may need something more stimulating.”

“Oh yes.” Malam said. “Stimulating is precisely what I need.” She kicked her chair back and stood up. “So? Are you done now? Do you want to see how a master handles this?”

“Oh I’d love to.” Helenna said sarcastically. “You’re welcome to take any of the ideas I’ve already mentioned.”

“Watch and learn Helenna.” Malam started to slowly walk around the table, as she spoke. “Firstly though, you are correct on one aspect. Our relationship with the UNN is damaged beyond repair. Our world situation is looking the same, ultimately, the Pantheon has already beaten us to the jump and taken the first move with kicking Elassa out.” She sighed. “However, we also have an opportunity.”

“Continue.” Arascus said, Malam was like Kassandora, both liked listening to the sound of their own voice. They were nice voices at least, even if they did talk to much. Helenna didn’t have this issue.

“The UNN will want aid, the poorer countries on the Alanktydan Ocean will need aid. Thus, aid will be given.” Malam said. “It’s going to happen, the Pantheon can’t abandon the UNN at this point in time, they will have to send something. And whatever it is, that something can’t be a mere gesture.” Arascus crossed his arms as he nodded along. That was all true, if the Pantheon decided to not help the UNN, then the UNN would pull out. There was no chance that Pantheon would repeat the mistakes that led up to Epan separation. “This is where I come in.” Malam said.

“You?” Helenna questioned.

“Well, there is no one better than me.” Malam said. “Especially not at this business. What the damage and destruction has given us in an opportunity. A great one in fact.” Malam took a deep breath. “The coastlines hit by the wave have now become a valley to cross over. I think that’s the metaphor we should be using, it’s not a mountain where enough willpower will get a man across, we’re talking about a grand ravine.”

Arascus sighed. Malam always explained this theatrically. Helenna said what he was thinking. “You’re not writing a story, you’re propositioning a plan Malam. Get on with it.”

Malam continued with plenty of hand motions, a bright smile and eyes that seemed to get lost in the vision she was creating. “Willpower, in our case, is money and man-hours. But the ravine will need materials. Naturally, it won’t be Epa as they’re in a war against the Pantheon. According to the maps you guys have here, the UNN lost a half of industrial base. Some article there was saying nine-in-ten car factories are shutting down. So we can assume that a good of manufacturing will come from abroad.”

Arascus saw Helenna watch Malam with wide eyes that were impressed. Her hair turned from that black back to a red as she listened. Arascus smiled to himself, Helenna’s plan was no bad, but there was a reason that Malam was considered the best at this field amongst Divines. She had come out of the underground how long? A day ago? “Because it won’t just be money and man-hours, it will be materials too. Materials are a harsh reality, you can build a house for cheap or for expensive, but you need a wall and a door and windows no matter what happens. If it was just money, we could slow them down, but because its real materials, we can turn this ravine to an endless pit. I can personally organize the operations and everything as I did in the past.”

Arascus realised he had been wrong. There was no need to make them compete against each other. Helenna would manage the home-front, as she had been doing. Malam would handle the operations abroad, not because they couldn’t work with each other, but because it was simply the best positions to put them in. “Men under me will serve as saboteurs, steel will be lost, bricks will be cracked, whatever else you have now that’s new will be damaged. Supplies will be sent to the wrong locations, lists in warehouses will be kept wrong on purpose. A job that should take a decade will take a century.”

“Wow.” Helenna said, her voice actually full of awe. Arascus was impressed too, Malam was exactly the sort to kick a person when they were down, but that was precisely why she made the greatest spymaster in all history.

“Every inch of steel lost there will be an inch we don’t face on the battlefield. Whereas Helenna.” Malam said, her tone soft as she explained. “Winning in Epa is one thing, but that is Kassie’s job. Making sure that instead of militarizing, the other nations instead focus on shovelling raw resources into this magnificent ravine I will turn into a hole, will go much further for us.”

“And if it’s traced back to us?” Helenna asked.

“It won’t be traced back to us.” Malam answered quickly. “But even if it is, does it matter?” She pulled a sarcastic, mocking voice. “Oh no, the UNN government hates us! Who could have predicted this outcome?”

Arascus looked to Helenna. When the two plans were compared, it was obvious that they weren’t equal. Helenna’s was simple and effective. It would be easy to implement, Arascus would have no problem implementing it in fact. Malam’s only issue was one of implementation, but if anyone would be able to pull off what the woman was talking about, it would be her. “Helenna, don’t take this badly.”

“Oh no.” Helenna said. “I… I’m impressed that you thought up of something like this so quickly.”

“It’s like riding a bike.” Malam tapped her head. “You never lose it.”

“I would make one suggestion though, based off Malam’s idea.”

“What is it?” Arascus asked.

“It’s going to be Guguo handle most of the materials in rebuilding, at least until the UNN restarts its manufacturing, but that won’t be anytime soon.”

“I see.” Malam said.

“You do?” Helenna asked. “What?”

“I will focus sabotaging the relief efforts.” Malam said. “You focus on getting Guguo to halt shipments to the UNN.” Helenna nodded with pure glee.

“I knew you’d get it.” She said. “If we get Guguo to stop, if relations deteriorate somehow…” Helenna looked to Malam.

“For example, if they see the rampant corruption and ineptitude that will exist in the reconstruction efforts.” Malam said, her smile said that corruption would be there to be found the moment it was needed. Arascus leaned back with a smile. When two Goddess got along, it was simply a pleasure to behold.

“Perfect!” Helenna said with a laugh. “Then the reconstruction will take how long? Easily fifty years.”

Arascus leaned back as the two Goddesses sorted their jobs out for them. Sometimes, things really did just go swimmingly.