"Darren, I'm going to get a seat on the council and you're going to help me do it," Mary said. That was the understandable part. It was something that I could get behind, something that was in both our interests, something that logically followed from our situation. "And the first thing that I'm going to need is a name change." It took me a few seconds to process what exactly she meant by it. If there was a less romantic way to phrase it, then I couldn't think of it. It too logically followed though. As things such went, it was a thin pretense to hide behind, but it was paradoxically strengthened by the outdated customs of this world. She couldn't be a pawn of her father if she was instead the pawn of her husband, or something to that effect. The politics of other dynasties within a monarchy aside, it also capitalized on my newfound fame and my well-worn name. The one downside was that as a baron house, there would be some opposition to the change in balance on the very principle of the thing, even though our land holdings were things of the past.

"It seems so." I responded. "I'm guessing that it won't be a particularly large event with it being so sudden?"

"Any actual ceremony runs the risk of it being found out ahead of time. The church has been known to sell secrets. We'll skip it and I'll say that we did it privately."

If there had been any part of me that had still thought that being reincarnated into an otome game would mean romance, it withered and died then. Maybe it should have died back when I was busy killing some poor countryside noble's son, but for better or for worse, it took this dose of aromanticism to make the feeling felt.

"Should I offer my congratulations to the two of you then?" Lan asked from off to the side. He was as out of his depth as a man could be and he looked the part. Trapped between a well trained instinct to praise the doings of his betters and a lifetime of church teachings that said that this was a farce on the magnitude of heresy, he sort of stood there with his hands wandering for a purpose.

I let myself focus back on my new wife, whatever that title meant. Forced transition or not, it was a step for this world that it didn't even know that it was taking. "If that's settled, then I'd like to hear how exactly you plan to be chosen for the open council seat. You can't possibly think that things will go smoothly just because the Masler name is an old one."

"Before that, do you really have nowhere to sit in this whole place?" Mary asked. It was a fair question that I hadn't really considered. There was the one chair that I used at the one desk, but nothing else was really suitable for human occupation. Mel had been living here for a little over a week now, but I was almost scared to ask him where he slept. If he said that the way that the floor and the wall made a right angle that was just perfect for him to lean back against, then I might have just followed my romanticism to the pretty light in the distance.

Luckily, I was saved when Hector spoke up in all his logistical majesty, "I'll bring something shortly. Lan, Mel, if you two could please assist me."

The three of them disappeared deeper into the building and left just the two of us behind. Mary said, "As for my plan, the first step is going to be yours. We need to convince enough of Count Hakshaku's faction as well as the man himself that you are easily manipulated and malleable. He probably already expects the pendulum to swing back the other way, so we need you to look like a compromise choice so that he can appease the nobles who are worried about seeing another nobleman held to account. On the other hand, Baron Bremer should already be favorable toward you and with Duke Seffith, you can play to your name's history. For now, you should make it obvious that you only want to be a figurehead for justice without changing anything. Do not give any opinion on Count Beyer.

The second step will be to switch me in to deal with the actual work of being on the council. I'm still working on the details of the legal argument, but it will essentially boil down to using the rules that allow for representatives when a council member needs to go back to their lands to govern, but on a more permanent basis."

"How long is this going to take? I can drop out of the royal academy, but it seems like there's still quite a bit of ground to make up," I asked.

"Count Hakshaku will drag his feet some to try and get a favorable candidate chosen, but at most we have a week before the king will be forced to make a choice regardless of what the council wants. Too much of the government depends on the council for him to wait much longer than that," said Mary.

***

~Risch~

The telltale signs of violence littered the street as Risch got closer to the location that Jezbeth had described in her letter. An abnormal amount of dropped perishables all still fresh enough that the flies hadn't really gotten to them yet and the utter lack of conversation among the few people still on the streets were dead giveaways. It was much more difficult to clean up those things than wipe away some blood and hide a body or two. Perhaps not unexpectedly, the center of it all was also exactly the place.

If he had had the choice, then he would have preferred not to stick his nose in things. In a way, he did have a choice. There wasn't much real risk that Jezbeth would do anything about it if he didn't go in. Ignoring her altogether could certainly have been a justifiable position. But when faced with the chance that things might go well for once in his life, the temptation was too great. Maybe it was just the gambler in him that told him to keep doubling down. The desperation of someone who had lost too many times in a row and felt they had no choice but to make up their losses by continuing. Because if he could double down enough times, then he had to win eventually.

Risch knocked on the door, fixing his red uniform while he waited. One. He counted the seconds in his mind. It helped whenever he was waiting to make sure that he had something close to an objective measure of the time. Two. No matter how deep his thoughts dove, there would be something to reassure him that he had not wasted so long as it felt. Wasted time meant wasted chances. People like him got precious few of those. Precious fewer of them got used for people like him. Three. Not that he was so much like them anymore. They told him that they could barely tell the difference anymore. The difference between him and them. They told him that his speaking had improved. They told him that he carried himself like a respectable member of society. Like it was something that he had learned. They said he was better for it. Four. He had put down revolts and they said he was a good example. That was when he had really learned how to torture. With the blessing of the king, he had stripped men of their pride, dignity, and skin. He had learned the average number of teeth a man loses to cavities, brawls, or whatever else. He had also learned the average number of teeth a man is left with when he knows where his family is hiding. They said that he was a learned man. Five. All that was left was to keep doubling down. To put off helping people because gaining more power would let him help even more. And if the chance came, he would do it again. To regret it would mean that it wasn't worth it. Maybe he could still make it worth it. But people like him got heaps and heaps of chances. And maybe that was the trick to it all. So long as the people with chances kept getting chances, they didn't need to change things just yet. Six.

The door opened. How many chances were left if he didn't take this one?