บท 229: Ch229. Coming to the Wind Capital
Days quickly passed and while Tsunade departed from the Village on the Other Side to polish and enact her own plans, Rei had no idea about it since just a day prior he left with Pakura to deal with his own machinations.
They were currently on the front of the deck of a boat sporting the Uzushio Trading Company logo on its sails, about a few minutes away from entering the Wind Capital's docks. They naturally could just teleport there, and if they did that, they would already be in the Wind Capital long ago but sadly, in politics, posturing and appearances do matter.
Rei was amused when Pakura vehemently refused to be subtle. According to her, the nobles of the Wind country are too thick to understand a subtle approach. Hence, they decided to go with blatantly obvious. After all, it was Pakura who was born in this country. As such, Rei decided to leave everything to her and simply enjoy looking at her behin, ahem, at her from behind as she deals with the pompous aristocratic gits.
It wasn't that Rei hated nobles. On the contrary, to be honest. He quite liked to deal with them but the nobles of the Wind Country were a tad bit too much for his exalted tastes. The country was situated in a desert and that meant harsh life for its inhabitants. Food, wood, and sometimes even water had to be imported because of that. Needless to say, the prices for these things were a bit higher than in other countries.
This put the import of food into an entirely new perspective for both nobles and merchants in the country. Usually, one made a pact with another, and then the noble tried to appeal to the Daimyo for exclusive import rights for the merchant on various types of food during one of the bi-decadal conventions in the Wind Capital, trying to rake up as much profit as possible by legal means. Hence, the prices were even higher than they should have been.
Rei wasn't against stealing. He understood the... urge. That said, he firmly believed when a person is in politics, he or she should first do the job before stealing from the remaining funds. What irked Rei was that the nobles of the Wind Country swindled money by feeding their subjects, which is basically their primary responsibility anyway, and then had the gal to be arrogant about it! Well, that was the entire reason why Rei was even here. He simply wanted to see how Pakura presents herself and the interests of the Uzushio Trading Company at the next convention. After all, they were going for a literal steal!
Seeing how nervous Pakura was, Rei chuckled before placing his hand on hers in a comforting gesture, earning himself a small smile from the usually strict woman.
"Don't worry. All you have to do is to shame a few stuck-up pricks and propose the Uzushio Trading Company's food import deal. With the prices we are offering..." Rei shrugged in a show of what he thought about the chances of the Daimyo agreeing to anybody else's deal.
He had to agree... Pakura was not very good at negotiating a business deal. In fact, she was possibly the worst of his wives for such a thing. Even Mei and Ringo could bully and threaten somebody into doing something but Pakura liked a more level-headed, polite, and rational approach. Honestly, her personality hindered her more in these situations.
Pakura was first and foremost an administrator. That's where she shined while Tsunade took care of business and Konan of politics. Compared to Tsunade and Konan, Pakura wasn't exactly talented and Rei surmised that's why she was currently nervous.
"I am not worried about our cover. I am worried about our real objective." She wryly frowned and snuggled closer to Rei.
"Ah..." Rei nodded knowingly, "Don't worry about that. I have it all arranged." He smugly added, causing Pakura to give him an inquisitive look but it seemed, Rei was deadset on not revealing anything to her. "You should relax, 'Kura." Rei kissed her forehead, "I know it was years since you interacted with anybody from the Wind Country, and being back might feel weird..."
Rei suddenly found himself unable to continue as Pakura's lips landed on his, interrupting his sentence. For some reason, he didn't really mind as he gazed into her grateful and somewhat relieved eyes.
They parted, still embracing each other, and Pakura finally smiled, "Thank you."
Seeing her body finally relax, Rei nuzzled his chin on the top of her head, quite liking her shorter figure at the moment. "Just remember, we are not here to cause a conflict. We are here only to threaten one. As long as you remember that, you won't go too far."
"And if I do?"
"Then... may Hagoromo have mercy on their soul." Rei snorted before affectionately whispering into her ear. "No matter my schemes and their success, in the end, you and my other four vixens are the most important thing to me. The continent could burn as long as you are safe and happy." Rei paused and enjoyed how Pakura's embrace tightened before grinning, "Then again, it's not like the Wind Daimyo's family would suffer from a bit of preventive culling. There is certainly enough of them. Honestly, the pest control of this country..."
Pakura rolled her eyes at that but there was far too much amusement in them for the gesture to seem anything but jovial. "The Wind Daimyo was a bad man, Rei. He is a very approachable and reasonable person. The only fault I could find with him is that he simply enjoys his women and his women enjoy his money. That's all."
"Yeah, and while they do so, they also birth him a whole litter. Pakura... the man has over eighty children and is barely in his mid-thirties." Rei deadpanned, causing her to blush.
Pakura knew this verbal battle was lost before she even started defending the Wind Daimyo. She didn't really do it because of any lingering loyalty. She simply liked the reluctant jealousy in Rei's eyes when she talked about the man. Then again, the Wind Daimyo did spend a considerable time sending her offer after offer to become anything from concubine to consort, all the way to proper wife when she was still a Suna kunoichi. For her, it was a very cute and satisfying feeling that Rei felt so possessively about her. It made her feel wanted and appreciated.
Rei, on the other hand, decided it was not worth further discussion. The man was the goddamn ruler of his country and currently, he had thirty-eight heirs with various women ranked from maids to nobles and everything in between, not even counting the daughters who would be interested in inheriting the throne through either marriage to one of their brothers or, well, more violent methods. Rei was going to enjoy spectating that particular succession battle, that's for sure.
Fortunately for both of them, the Wind Capital harbor peeked from the horizon, ending their discussion as they enjoyed the marvelous sight spreading in front of them.
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