After meeting up with Tatsuya and the others for a brief afternoon of shopping, Yugen received a summons from Senhime. He was to meet her at an exclusive, members-only Japanese restaurant located within the hotel grounds. Given the prestige of the venue, he bypassed the suit he had prepared for the party and instead donned the formal attire of the Kanzaka-kai.
Upon announcing his name at the reception, he was immediately escorted to a private room in the back. There, he found Senhime, dressed in a sharp ladies' power suit, already nursing a drink. Given her age, some might have cautioned an elderly woman against alcohol, but Yugen knew better than to try and stop her. He sat across from her without a word.
"I started without you, Yugen-kun. Not going to scold me?"
"If a few words from me were enough to stop you, Mother, you wouldn't have started in the first place. Still, this is a rare sight."
By "rare," Yugen meant that, given Senhime's personality, he would have expected her to have Miyuki or Shizuku accompanying her. Senhime caught his meaning instantly and offered a small, knowing smile.
"Tomorrow's party is one thing, but what happens after it fails is what truly matters. Jasmine Williams... honestly, I didn't even want to hear MacLeod's name mentioned again."
It was William MacLeod's father who had coined Senhime's famous moniker, but that man had also plotted to drive the "heroic" Senhime and Gozo out of Japan to weaken the nation's military strength. However, after the collapse of the Great Han—triggered by the Yotsuba's vengeance—the two had vanished from the public eye, and MacLeod senior had lost his leverage to press further.
"I haven't seen Jasmine Williams in person yet, but during that previous ambush in Australia, I sensed a form of telepathic resonance from her. She was likely sent here to use that telepathy—born from nearly identical genetic data—to probe the Kanzaka and Yotsuba families."
"I see. So they're picking a fight not just with the Yotsuba, but with the Kanzaka—the masters of Ancient Magic... We'll leave the Great Asian Alliance defectors to the Independent Magic-Equipped Battalion and their special forces, but what about those two? Will you use your magic to deport them back to Australia?"
"No," Yugen replied coolly. "I intend to hand them a personal letter and have them return to Australia with their heads held high."
His target was Australia's desertification suppression technology. If he truly wanted to, he could infiltrate the country and seize it by force, but this time, he was forcing a choice. Would they stay on a sinking ship and go down with the UK? Or would they endure the stigma of being "traitors" to ensure their own nation's survival?
"Actually, through Grandfather's connections, I've acquired land rights from the Arab Union. I'm thinking of using a major desert in the Arabian Peninsula as a test case for large-scale cultivation. Despite their ties to the UK, Australia has a proven track record of self-sufficiency. I doubt the Arab Union will refuse."
"Are you not worried that Australia will refuse?"
"That won't be an issue. I've already prepared the tools to break Australia's greatest Achilles' heel."
Beyond desert greening, Yugen planned to assist in the construction of desalination plants to prevent the depletion of groundwater. While canals could be dug from major rivers, river levels were too dependent on the weather. Extracting water from the sea was far more efficient—and the salts and minerals left behind by the process held significant industrial value.
In their current state of isolation, Australia's access to external information was strictly regulated. Japan had its own history of Sakoku (isolation) under the guise of protecting itself from foreign religion; those two hundred years of stagnation had rotted the nation from within, eventually leading to the chaos of the Meiji Restoration triggered by the Black Ships. Yugen intended to poke that weakness: Are you truly content being the UK's disposable pawns?
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