The Red Hand

Chapter 144 – International Deals.

President Rosewood sat in a conference room across from a group of monitors, each displayed some of her important international counterparts. Her invitation to the Demon Lord to speak to Congress and the United Nations was controversial, to say the least, and reactions to her invitation were both positive and negative, with the issue crossing party and ideological lines. Some viewed Akagi as a menace to society, while others feared her power and wished to cooperate with her. Unsurprisingly, the Vatican had come out staunchly against any such normalization of relations with Akagi, even going so far as to threaten the withholding of communion from any government member who met with her. As an irreligious individual, this did not affect President Rosewood, but some members of Congress and other governments were a bit uneasy at meeting a literal Demon.

It wasn't easy to convince a majority of Congress to accept such an invitation, and even if she didn't need their consent, she wanted it. Rosewood wanted to present a united government to the Demon Lord and show her that, as President, she had the support of her government. With some prodding and countless meetings, she was able to convince a comfortable majority of Representatives and Senators that meeting with Akagi was in the best interest of humanity as a whole. Convincing the United Nations was actually a bit easier than originally expected, since Akagi would soon be the leader of a new nation, there was less pushback from her making an address.

"It's not often we get the leaders of Russia, China, the United States, and Japan in one meeting." President Rosewood started speaking. "I'll try to keep this brief as we're all busy people. The Demon Lord is a threat to this world, she told me that herself. However, as long as we do nothing to provoke her wrath, we have nothing to fear."

{At least, that's the hope. Though for whatever reason, something is telling me that we can trust her.} (Rosewood)

"My intelligence reports have told me something similar about her, President Rosewood." Chinese President Lin Gui spoke. "We have had our own contact with this Akagi woman over the last few months, and we have expressed our desire for a peaceful relationship with her new nation."

"Yes, her destruction of Libra defied all expectations. We predicted she would easily destroy the terrorist group, but the manner in which she did it was unexpected though not unwelcome." Alexander Mikhailov agreed. "We've determined that it would be best for regional stability to work with her as a partner. Similarly to my friend President Gui, my diplomatic team has already made contact with her and expressed our desire to cooperate peacefully so as to benefit our peoples."

{What a change of tune. Your two nations were the ones that created Libra, and you initially dismissed Akagi's strength. But then again, this is all just one of the many games being played, and you were both smart enough to hedge your bets.} President Rosewood thought back to what the C.I.A. told her about Libra's formation.

"Prime Minister Nodoka, what is the timetable for the handover?" President Rosewood turned to the Japanese Prime Minister.

"We're in contact with her people, and things are proceeding relatively smoothly. We expect the transfer to be in June." He was sweating a little bit. "The Diet has been giving us a few problems, but things will be sorted out."

"Please ensure the members of the Diet understand the foolishness of attempting to renege on a deal with someone who could destroy the very planet we live on." President Rosewood held back the urge to sigh.

{I see there are still some fools out there that have failed to grasp the situation.} (Rosewood)

"Yes, I would rather not have another crisis in Japan." President Mikhailov said. "If you are not careful, she might just take your entire country, and there is very little which can be done about it." He laughed.

{He's not wrong. That's what my analysts have told me is a likely outcome if Japan tries to back out of its promise.} (Rosewood.)

"Yes and that leads me to my next point." President Rosewood then pivoted into the unstable situation in East Asia. The Chinese were still interested in recovering Taiwan and the Russians were always up to something in the region. With Akagi now active, she wanted to try and cool things down so as to not drag her into human conflicts. She was, unfortunately, not very successful. While the Russians and Chinese paid lip service to the idea of cooling tensions and limiting activity, they wouldn't agree to anything concrete.

Once the conference was over, President Rosewood sat in the conference room alone with her translator.

"And politics marches on..." She sighed. "It's been a month since the defeat of Libra, and we're already back at this game of great power politics once again. I just hope those two aren't foolish enough to place humanity at risk." She shook her head.

"If I may offer something." The translator requested to speak.

"Go on." President Rosewood nodded.

"I'm not exactly an expert on geopolitics, but I am good at reading body language and vocal cues. I cannot be certain, but the way the Russian and Chinese Presidents spoke, and the words they chose, made it seem like they were genuinely worried about this Akagi woman. I believe it likely they understand just how dangerous she is, but don't just take my word for it. I'm just a humble translator." He smiled.

{Interesting, perhaps we should look to include such analysis in future reports.} (Rosewood)

"No that's alright, and I'm glad to hear your input. You understand the two languages very well, so if you say they seemed to understand things, then I'll trust your judgment." President Rosewood thought for a moment. "We'll need to keep an eye on things between them and Akagi. I want to know exactly what kind of 'diplomacy' they're engaging in."

{The C.I.A. reported some movement between her estate and both Beijing and Moscow. She's likely sending out diplomatic parties or spys much as she did with Hikari.} President Rosewood estimated that Akagi would take a proactive approach to international relations, and figured that the Demon Lord wouldn't take some kind of exclusive relationship with the United States. As Russia and China were the other two primary powers in the world, setting up connections with them made sense.

Deciding it best to table such thoughts for now, President Rosewood left the conference room and continued about her daily schedule. Akagi's arrival would be in less than a month, and she needed to make sure everything was ready. Normally, such a short time frame from invitation to arrival wouldn't occur, but the United Nations was already scheduled to meet in April, so some rushing was necessary. She'd ordered Agent Nariyuki to escort Akagi and her two other members to the White House, and she authorized a U.S. diplomatic aircraft to be used to bring her here. The Air Force pitched a fit about it, but President Rosewood quashed such complaints easily.

{This is going to be one hell of a month, for both me and the entirety of humanity.} (Rosewood)

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Beijing, March 21st, 10 pm local time.

"So you've come on behalf of your people, wishing to form an alliance with the People's Republic of China?" President Gui was speaking to a green-haired woman. She'd stealthfully infiltrated his office during the night to negotiate with him, alone.

"Indeed, most honored President Gui." Sizix spoke to him via translation magic. She'd managed to 'sneak' out of Omara and made her way to Beijing as part of the Council's plan to gather allies on Earth to defeat Akagi. They might have planned on conquering the planet, but defeating Akagi came first. "We have a common foe in the Demon known as Akagi. With our magical knowledge and your military power, defeating her should be a simple matter."

"And after she is defeated? What then?" He asked calmly. He was trying to feel this woman and her intentions out. "What can you offer me and my government?"

"Many things." She gave a devilish smile. "We are more than adept in magic than her, and it would be easy to grant some of your top agents the ability to use it. We could even discuss an agreement to trade your technology for our magical know-how. The Japanese are working on something similar right now, and I know you don't want to fall behind." The Council had sent agents out of Omara and into Japan to collect intelligence on Earth, which allowed them to uncover Imp's experiments to merge magic and technology.

"That is certainly of interest to my government, though I would need to see more concrete information before I can make a decision, and I would need to run this by the other ministers and the party before I can commit to anything." He knew accepting her deal would be tantamount to a declaration of war on Akagi, and he needed to be sure this would work out in his favor.

"I completely understand." Sizix put on a fake smile. "Please discuss this with your advisors and such, we can arrange to speak again in the future." She placed a small item on his desk. "Simply break this and I will be informed you wish to speak, now goodbye." She snapped her fingers and disappeared.

"Hmmmm." President Gui examined the rock. It had magical runes carved all over it. "I see things went as you expected. Quite something, that master of yours." He spoke to seemingly no one.

"Of course, my Lord is able to see the plots of these fools before they even form in their silly little heads." A dog-eared ninja dropped down from the ceiling. "So? Will you be taking their offer?"

"Hmpf." President Gui chuckled. "Why should I? Your master has already offered a better deal, and that woman was clearly hiding something. Most likely she wanted to trick us into engaging your master in some foolish endeavor with no chance of success." He shook his head. "This game might require a level of deceit and backstabbing, but I don't deal with someone who has no intention of holding their end of the bargain." He looked at the dog-ninja. Tell your master that we accept her deal, and we can begin further negotiations once her trip to the States is over."

"A wise decision. I will relay this to my Lord." He snapped his fingers and disappeared.

President Gui spun around in his chair, looking over the Beijing skyline as he pulled out a cigar from his pocket and lit it. "This should make things interesting. Eh President Rosewood?" He laughed as he let out a puff from the cigar.

A few hours later, Sizix gave the same offer to the President of Russia. She even offered to help them reclaim the borders of the old Russian Empire. However, just like with President Gui, the Russians were already in contact with Akagi and were much more inclined to parlay with her rather than these unknowns.