betaed by AirBreather (https forums./members/airbreather.315959/)

Blame fgo na for the delay.

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A king must know diplomacy25th October, 2016. 18.45 Local time. Los Angeles, USA. A car on the road.

"Saber, what did you say to the goons in suits? They suddenly became very courteous, as they should be," Illya asked Saber. They were inside John Pluto Smith's car, going home after the happening in the zoo.

"Not goons.Sorcerous Sacrilege Investigation, or SSI in short. You should remember it, we will have relations with them in the future," Saber said.

"You haven't answered my questions."

Saber sighed. "I was cleaning up your mess. I gave them compensation for their ruined magical artifacts."

"Oh, so that's why you asked for money before." Illya tilted her head.

"Yes, and we shall give them regular donations from now on. I had already talked to them about it," Saber continued.

"Huh? Why should we give them more money?" Illya asked, confused. The money they gave theSorcerer Sacred Investmenttoday was for compensation, so it was reasonable. But why should they give more?

"For a better relationship. Trust me in this, I am skilled in diplomacy," Saber answered.

Illya nodded, even if she didn't understand. However, Saber was the one with experience, not her. If she said that diplomacy needed money, who was she to argue?

More importantly, where was Assassin? She silently went somewhere else.

Illya decided that it was not that important, and tried to talk about building a giant robot with Saber.

=break=

Iriyairiya_campione Oct 25

Today I visit zoo and do good deeds for animals!

=break=

"We will not report everything and only tell good things to central? Are you out of your mind!?" Another SSI agent shouted at her, waving his arms about.

The five SSI agents from the zoo had regrouped back in their headquarters, an unassuming office building in the middle of the city. After all the excitement and work concerning the rehabilitated victims, they returned here for debriefing. The work would continue tomorrow, but for now they could rest.

But before they went home for the night, Robin had dropped the bomb on the others.

"Robin, I think you should start from the beginning. The chief needs to know as well." Julian Colegui nodded to the direction of their Chief, a middle aged man with greying hair sitting on the sofa.

Chief Lassard, as they usually called him, was a senior mage with quite a handsome face, and these good looks were still evident even now, in his later years. He was the SSI Supervisor for Los Angeles County.

As he was in charge of the entire County, he was not their direct superior. Their direct superior was Captain James Gooley, who was in charge of Los Angeles city. He was sitting in his usual chair behind the wide work desk. The man was still in his early thirties, he had a thick moustache and a rather short body. He was not fat, but he couldn't be called thin either, the best way to describe him would be almost chubby. His nickname among his subordinates was 'boss.'

Aside from the five SSI agents present at the zoo and the two superiors, there were also several other agents in the headquarters.

Finding herself at the center of attention from her two superior officers and her colleagues, Robin Shena regulated her breath. She began explaining, "In the middle of Iriya's… treatment of the Artemis incident victims, one of her… followers… gave me this."

She lifted a leather briefcase of medium size. "The Silver Knight, he told me that this is for compensation for our magical equipment. But, in exchange…"

Robin paused for dramatic effect.

"Sorcerous Sacrilege Investigation will cease any hostile activity toward the Seventh Campione Iriya and her subordinates. In addition, Sorcerous Sacrilege Investigation will only publish good and positive things about Iriya."

The room became silent.

After a moment, the boss said, "Do they really think we will follow their demand?"

Robin didn't say anything. She just put the briefcase on a table nearby and opened it. She moved the briefcase so that its contents were visible to everyone.

"Two million dollars, all in cash. If we agreed to their demand. Another thing. We, the local agents in Los Angeles can not make a report that paints Iriya in a negative light."

"But she destroyed our equipment! She is dangerous! We should warn Washington about this! I thought the money came without demands…" Celty said.

"I didn't want to discuss it back at the zoo. Anyways, if we say anything they don't like in our report to Washington, the money is forfeit. And the Silver Knight… might be promising more painful retribution." Robin shuddered.

"What did he say exactly?" Jack Milburn asked.

"To quote him, 'You will wish that you can rewind time and correct your mistake,' his exact words," Robin answered.

The room was silent for a while. Then Michael Lee, still angry but reining himself, addressed everyone. "I think some of us need an explanation. Who are these people, why they are so powerful, and why we should not oppose them! I mean, why did John Pluto Smith work together with them?"

At this question, even Chief Lassard rubbed his temple. The only one who could oppose a Campione was another Campione or a Heretic God. Ordinary mortal mages like them couldn't do anything. If John Pluto Smith was allied with Iriya, what should SSI do?

"Before that," Robin Shena said. "The Silver Knight also said, if we already agreed on the first proposal, then he gave another one. Iriya would give another two million dollars every month, or more if we think that was too little…."

The room exploded in shouts, question, exclamation, and swear words.

"Hehem." Robin cleared her throat to allow the room to calm down. "In exchange, this local chapter of SSI would, from time to time, provide assistance or small task for her."

Boss Gooley twirled his moustache with his hand. "Did he say anything specific about the assistance?"

"I asked, but he said that he didn't know yet. I think he expected us to negotiate the details. He also said that, uhh, we can demand more money."

"Hmm," Boss Gooley thought, with his eyes on the ceiling. "We always assist the Campiones in their fight against evil. From evacuation, information gathering, raising barriers, cover ups, and hypnotizing the witnesses. But this is the first time a Campione offers money."

"Is that legal? Can we accept money?" Celty asked.

Chief Lassard was the one answering. "It is. A government agency could accept donations. And we are not normal government agency, our funds have many sources since old times. Mainly donations from families…" He raised an eyebrow, remembering something. "In fact, this situation reminded me of old regulation, but it was never revoked and is still legal. The SSI can accept jobs as a mercenary for a client, whether it is information gathering or a security job."

"We can?" The looks of the agents present were scandalous.

"Haha." Chief Lassard chuckled. "Things were different back then. No government subsidies, so sometimes we had to be creative to make ends meet."

He swept his gaze across the agents in the room. He stared at one of them. "Julian, how is your wife?"

Julian, surprised at being called, answered. "Catherine? She is fine. Umm, she is in fifth month of pregnancy now."

"I see." Chief Lassard nodded. "As I remember, that is your second child. How old is your first?"

Julian didn't know why the topic of conversation suddenly switched to his personal life. "Mary is good. She will start primary school in few months."

"I see." Chief Lassard nodded. "But you already have experience having a baby. You know how expensive it is." After he said that, Julian body became rigid and his face tightened.

Chief Lassard sighed. "I too, have children, so I know. Babies needs many things that cost money. And your first daughter will also cost money going to school. Household finance will be tight, especially with your meagre salary."

The room was now as silent as a graveyard.

"Do you guys know why your salary is small, despite the heavy workload?" Chief Lassard asked them. Nobody answered, only boss Gooley hung his head.

"Because the expenses for cover up and recoveries eat up most of our budget. With John Pluto Smith as a trouble magnet, the frequency of incidents increased. We need more money to cover up the collateral damage. But our budget doesn't increase much. So the only way is to limit the pay raise. SSI agents' salary in this county hasn't changed much from ten years ago."

"It doesn't seem fair, when the average salary of other states is higher than this place, but what can we do. The bureaucracy has prevented us from correcting this earlier, and the change might get implemented in another five years, more or less," Chief Lassard said. He walked to the table and took a bundle of money from briefcase.

"But this money will go directly to our local budget. And that means..." He paused, looking at his subordinates meaningfully. "Imagine, 2 million dollars per month. Divided among us…"

A simple calculation didn't need any genius to figure out. Their salary would get an increase. The agents looked at each other, uncertain. This was one reason to accept Iriya's proposal, but should they accept it for money?

Chief Lassard didn't elaborate further, but instructed Robin to fill the agents in about Campiones and Heretic Gods. Robin explained it briefly, citing examples of Artemis and John Pluto Smith. After fifteen minutes of explanations and question and answer sessions, the agents were all sufficiently aware about the terror of Campiones.

"So, why don't we, uhh, ask John Pluto Smith," Jack Milburn said. "I am sure he can ask this girl, uhh, Iriya? To go somewhere else. I mean, she being here is bad news, right?"

"Maybe because he is outnumbered? The other four beings are powerful," Celty said, shuddering when she remembered the display of power.

"Quite so," a voice answered.

The agents immediately looked towards the window, readying their weapons. At least, the ones that still had a weapon. There was a white bird perched on the windowsill.

"John?" Jack Milburn asked, having recognized the voice. Indeed, that was the voice of John Pluto Smith.

"I came to check on you to see how you fare after my little sister roughed you up." The bird, now obviously clear to the agents that it was a familiar of some sort, pointed its eyes to the briefcase on the table. "I see no problem about that."

The SSI personnel fidgeted, as they had not decided what to do with the proposal.

"Anyway, I sent my familiar to you after saying goodbye to my little sister, and to inform you of an important decision," the bird conveyed. "From today on, I decided to become a vassal of Iriya, the Seventh Campione. All North America, as my territory, is now considered a vassal state or something like that."

All the agents dropped their jaws.

"The reasons, well, you already guessed some. I am not sure that I can win if we fight. Plus, this will save time and energy, and avoid losses or destruction. You don't want to cover up the aftermath of our fight, right?"

The agents all nodded enthusiastically.

"So, I think you all, the SSI as a whole, work for me, at least that's my understanding. So now I work under Iriya, consider yourself to also work under her. No need to hesitate to ask her for money."

"W-why?" One person, Jack Milburn, managed to voice the question.

"You haven't read her stated goal? She wants to conquer the world. I assume she will challenge all Campione one by one. I just take the bloodless path," the bird conveyed. "That's it, goodbye." The bird flew away to the night sky.

The SSI agents just looked at each other, with disbelief, surprise, and panicked expressions.

"Holy *."

=break=

The Assyrian Queen Semiramis tried to endure the boredom. She had been stalking this woman for a while now, from SSI headquarters to the woman's apartment. During that time, she had not seen anything incriminating.

But there must be something, otherwise she would not choose this agent.

When her Master Illyasviel went home from the zoo, Assassin elected to stay behind and observe this local mage association doing their work. Then she followed them to their headquarters, observing everything said and done. She observed everyone.

That's why she noticed something weird about one woman, sitting at inconspicuous location at the corner, seemingly unimportant. Further observation revealed that she was a staff doing paperwork job, not a field agent. She was responsible for administration, permits, calculation, and other trivial desk jobs.

But she paid attention to the meeting with too much interest for an ordinary staff member.

The woman had short blonde hair and meek face. Her eyes were blue, and her outfit was the same as the other agents, a black and white suit.

She didn't do anything at the headquarters, so Semiramis followed her to her dwelling. Being invisible and incorporeal was an absolute advantage in the spying business.

Semiramis ignored the magical barrier that failed to detect her intrusion. Making herself comfortable on the sofa, she waited for the woman, named Noelle, to finish bathing.

Not long after, Noelle, now clothed in casual clothes, or maybe that was sleepwear in this era, turned on her computer and typed some kind of report.

Semiramis stood up and saw the report from behind Noelle's shoulder. It was a report describing the incident at the zoo and the content of earlier meeting. The problem was, who would be the recipient?

Semiramis ghosted to another room and materialized herself, taking care to hide her presence. And then she produced a poison with her skill. This would decrease awareness at some level, and raise the probability of a truthful statement. Yup, because this poison had a mixture of alcohol, the recipient would be a little drunk. She formed it as gas, so Noelle would inhale it.

After spreading the poison mist to the room where Noelle was in, she turned back to astral form and approached Noelle from behind.

After that she whispered, "Who is the recipient of this report?", using magic so that the message was conveyed in telepathy and had hypnotic effect.

"Faldeus Dioland, SSI's top ranking leader in Washington," Noelle absent-mindedly answered.

Hmm. So even the organization's leaders put a mole in this city. Or maybe it was just this one individual? However, the truth would be delivered to Washington despite Saber's preventive action. Well, no matter, it was not that important.

"Cassandra, from Divina Umbra. They always give better pay," Noelle suddenly said.

Semiramis looked at the monitor to see the same report was now sent to another address.

Hoh, this woman was a double agent.

Noelle stood up and headed to a wooden cabinet. Opening it, she searched for a while until finally she found something. A cellular phone. She dialed a number from memory and wait until the call got through.

"Hello, I got some new info. Yes, about the seventh, I see you are quick on the uptake. Yes, yes, listen, this is huge, so the value is higher. No, cut your shit, I want 700. What, 300? No can do..."

Semiramis watched as Noelle bargained with the man. She had underestimated this woman. She sold information to multiple parties.

"You will sell it to bunch of other people, so I can't see why you can't give me a cut of that profit. Listen, this new Campione displayed her abilities openly. I am sure people are interested in the things she can do."

"Alright, 500, I can't lower it anymore. Okay, I will send it the usual way. Send it in cash as usual. Bye."

Noelle threw the cellphone to the table and grumbled. "That stingy info broker. If not for the lousy salary, I would not sell anything to you. I would just leave you ignorant while Divina Umbra knows more than you."

Maybe the effect of the poison was too strong? The woman was muttering loudly.

Noelle printed the report and put it inside a box. She began to chant."O Iris, Goddess with golden wings. I beseech you. Send my word to the other side." A magical reaction told Semiramis that it was a type of magical item for communication. There must be another box as a matching pair that acted as receiver.

After waiting a while, Noelle took out the paper report and burnt the paper with a lighter.

But she had not finished yet. Noelle started contacting other information brokers various different ways, bargaining until she got an acceptable price, and sent the report. Each information broker had different ways of receiving information.

Semiramis watched all of this with amusement. So she didn't pick the wrong person.

After all of the reports were sent to her buyers, Noelle threw herself at the sofa, sighing. "All that work and I only got this much, huh." Noelle tried counting her payments with her fingers. "If only they could raise my salary too. But I bet the field agents get priority."

The average price she received from this report was five hundred dollars. Quite high for only a single report, but it was about a Campione, so it was special. She usually got less.

Semiramis also realized the same fact, and she was struck with an idea.

Semiramis contacted her Master through telepathy, asking how much money Illyasviel has. She needed to consider their budget after all.

Her Master answered that she made millions of dollars every day.

Semiramis quickly asked for approval for her plan from her Master, and was told to also ask Saber. When she got her approval, Semiramis smiled and materialized herself.

"What if I give you a better offer?" Semiramis said to Noelle, still gazing at her ceiling.

Noelle jumped from the sofa in surprise, assuming a combat stance, watching the mysterious woman who suddenly appeared without warning.

Semiramis didn't feel threatened at all. So she continued. "Five hundred dollars per report, flat price. And a thousand dollars monthly wage." She didn't need to know why Noelle did what she did, but she saw an opportunity. And her offer was very tempting.

Noelle didn't relax her stance, because by now she must have been aware of her aura and mistook Semiramis as a Heretic Goddess. With a curious tone Noelle said, "Keep talking."

=break=

Mariya Yuri looked at the smartphone in her hand.

She was not good with technology, but recent events forced her to adapt. With the help of her little sister Hikari, she managed to learn how to use the basic chat feature. The smartphone itself was bought by her parents, who commented that 'she was at that age.'

She opened the chat application and entered a group chat. On the screen, she read:

Yotsuba Maya: "As I argued before this, to force four fanclubs into one and change its name into the Iriya fanclub is preposterous! This is tyranny!"

Yuri read the discussion, but she was getting dizzy with the amount of messages. The chat group consisted of mikos from all around Japan, if one person sent an opinion, the total messages in one topic would be in the hundreds.

She scrolled to the bottom, skipping the discussion about the fanclub merger. She wasn't interested anyway, and she noticed that the topic ended when Sayanomiya Kaoru said the decision was final.

After that, there were several other news and topics, but they were minor things, and Yuri wasn't interested. However, she still skimmed them, just to stay updated on recent happenings. For example, there was a discussion about the New Year Ceremony and who would participate.

Yuri didn't have anything to say, as she was mostly a silent reader. After reading the last message, she was getting ready to close the chat and eat her lunch. She was secluding herself in her clubroom because she didn't want anyone to read her phone. She must eat quickly and go back to class, before her friends got suspicious.

At this point, a message came.

Saegusa Kasumi : "Big news! Iriya was spotted in Los Angeles with John Pluto Smith!"

Ichijou Misaki :"Really? What is she doing there? Is she still there?"

Saegusa Kasumi :"The information is still fresh, just an hour ago Iriya and JPS were meeting with SSI for something big. We still don't have the details."

Yuri marvelled at the progress of technology. Here she was, in the middle of Tokyo, going to eat her lunch, and she had learned about what Iriya was doing an hour ago at the other side of Pacific. 'Maybe there is benefit in having this smartphone after all.'

=break=

Illya saw a dream

Dream Cycle. The memories from Servant leaked to the Master. As she had already experienced it before, she can calmly observe this time.

The place she saw was not from this world.

A dry land. Sky obscured by smoke. Steel swords without wielders jutted everywhere.

A hill of swords.

The illusion that he saw on the verge of his death, the only pride he had within himself.

The hero that used this scenery as his weapon falls into his own darkness in the end.

'No! Onii-chan!'

Illya could only watch, helpless, as the hero was betrayed by someone he saved. Why did he still smile in the end?

Even when she already knew the story, seeing it firsthand was a different matter.

She watched as Emiya Shirou made a contract with the World in exchange for a miracle.

And then, after death, how he became a Guardian, doing cleaning work for Alaya. Even his ideal betrayed him in the end.

It's not fair. It's just not fair. He worked hard for everyone's happiness, so why is there no reward for him?

Was there something wrong with him? Or was something wrong with the world?

No, onii-chan was not in the wrong.

But did that mean everyone else was wrong? No, it couldn't be.

Illya could not decide who was wrong. She instead looked for another cause.

'Why did onii-chan end up in that way? Betrayed and captured, and given a death sentence?'

Illya's reasoning told her the simplest answer.

It was because he was weak. If he was stronger, no one would be able to capture him. No one would be willing to antagonize him.

Power. Absolute power.

They said that compassion without power was just weakness. Then, to be a real hero of justice, one needed power. To be stronger than anyone, to be undefeated by anyone. That's how one could protect everyone.

Yes. My brother was not wrong. He just didn't have the necessary power to carry out his ideal.

If he had power, he wouldn't make a contract with Alaya.

If he had power, he wouldn't care about what people said, even if they falsely accused him.

Power. She needed more power. Enough to let her operate above the law. She would learn from her brother's mistake.

With that conclusion, Illya awoke from the dream.

=chapterend=

AN.

The story will build up to the confrontation with other Campione. Around 3-4 chapters.

please read my other stories too!