Chapter 437: Choosing Sides [II]
Chapter 437: Choosing Sides [II]
I looked away from the screen, expression flattening.
"Terrifying creature, isn’t she?" Alice huffed, clearly impressed, though I knew her own battle prowess was far superior to anything my sister had shown. "Anyway, back on topic. As I was saying, she already has a number of noble cliques following her. And since I’m to become the Crown Princess of both Central and West, my influence also dwarfs anything that even the most prominent of noble houses could scrape together."
Was she here just to brag? "Okay. Again, good for you. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a Shadow at home I need to get even with."
Alice rolled her eyes, throwing a cushion at me before I could get up to leave. "For someone so smart, you are so dumb."
I was offended.
Thankfully, Willem came to the rescue. "What my sister’s trying to say is that she and Thalia have a hold on most of the Cadet body. Nearly all the new first-year transfers have also already been absorbed into their circles. It’s hard not to be tempted by the prestige, backing, and authority a future Duchess and a future Monarch of not one but two Safe-Zones can guarantee."
"Uh-huh," I said slowly, still unsure and uncaring about where all this was going. "Look, if you guys are trying to scare me off into backing down, it’s really not working. I mean, I wasn’t even scared before when you three cornered me in the Night Sanctuary. And since then, things have changed a lot."
Because not to brag about myself, but my influence was also quite unrivaled these days. Especially my sway over the old first-years. I had yet to exert it, but I knew the weight my name now carried among them.
I had seen my welcome, those thousands of faces swarming the landing strip just to get a glimpse of me when I returned to the Academy.
That kind of clout was unimaginable.
To my surprise, however, Alice and Willem smacked their respective foreheads in perfect unison.
"Yes. Yes, that’s what we mean, genius," Alice said, forcing a smile through gritted teeth. "After saving all those Cadets in the Night Sanctuary massacre, you’re a hero. You’re celebrated like a living legend. You and your friends — Alexia Zynx and Michael Godswill. And then you all even made it back here, surviving a Death Zone."
"Everyone is talking about you," Willem picked up the thread. "The commoner factions, the unaligned nobles. Everyone. Many of them want to follow the guy who dragged them out of the jaws of death rather than a future Duchess or future Monarch who won’t even ever spare them a glance. Many others want to follow this supposed savior, this Tyrant of Apex out of sheer curiosity because they weren’t there to witness his heroics on the Bloody Night — that’s what they’re calling it, by the way."
I blinked, the gears in my head grinding to a sudden start.
Oh. I see.
These two...
They were never worried about me challenging Thalia. They were worried about me splitting the Academy in doing so.
Willem noticed the realization settling on my face. "Yes! You’re getting it, right?" He folded his hands together. "Right now, neither you nor we hold a monopoly on influence anymore. Thalia and Alice have the overwhelming support of the new transfers who are hungry for fame and backing, most of the noble circles, and the people who naturally gravitate toward established authority."
Alice took the cue to chime in. "You, on the other hand, have something that’s far harder to manufacture." She pointed at me. "Loyalty."
"Nearly all of the old first-years adore you. They don’t want a distant authority figure to lead them. They want to follow someone who bled with them. Who saved them," Willem continued coolly. "The Night Sanctuary survivors trust you with their lives. Among them are commoners who admire you. Among them are nobles who admire you."
"And that’s," Alice said, "where spheres of influence overlap. If we push this to a head, you’ll force every single Cadet to draw a line in the sand. The student body splits right down the middle, and neither faction will walk away with an absolute mandate anymore. Our common territories are the old first-year nobles. Many of them will feel too indebted to you to not rally behind you. And many of them would want to put securing political favor over loyalty by following me."
Yeah, I figured as much.
Alice skittered closer to me. "And I know this doesn’t sound very important right now. But the Academy isn’t the real prize, Sammy. It’s the people inside it."
"Our batchmates today will become generals, governors, CEOs, Guild Masters, ministers, researchers, executives, judges..." Willem spoke, gesturing toward the arena below, where tens of thousands of future elites roared from the stands. "Within ten years, many of them will be ruling their own fiefs on both the Spirit Realm and Earth."
Alice nodded, so happy to see I was quietly using my head to think. "Relationships formed here will become business partnerships, voting blocs, political alliances, marriage prospects, military appointments, and so on and so forth after graduation."
Silence for a while.
Then she shrugged. "But if you challenge Thalia now, it doesn’t matter which one of you wins. You’ll both be trying to tear each other down for the rest of your academic years. I’ll have to take sides with her, and your friends will follow you. In this scenario, we’ll cannibalize our own influence instead of cultivating it properly. So how about we let go of petty skirmishes and shake hands? Do that and we’ll probably become the single most influential student coalition in Apex’s history."
Alice’s ruby eyes met mine.
And all the while, I couldn’t stop thinking just this one thing: ’Sam, you buffoon. This is how you should’ve negotiated with Casey!’
Alice did all the right things! Catching me outside of my home, blindsiding me with a tempting offer, and wrapping it all up in a package of long-term mutual benefits rather than short-sighted coercion.
Unlike me, who had practically cornered a dying girl like a thug, the Crown Princess was acting like a true negotiator.
Gods, I hated competent people in my opposition. Still do.