Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction ❯ Chained World: The Fall of the House of Kuno ❯ Upon the King ( Chapter 4 )

This was originally published by me under the name Anduril at Anime Addventures, with the only changes being a few corrections in spelling, punctuation and the occasional word choice. If you like the beginning of my story but think I've gone off the rails, or have your own ideas for a great branch-off, or think I'm taking too long to update and want to continue the story yourself, come to Anime Addventures and join in the fun!

I claim no ownership rights to any of the works of Rumiko Takahashi.

The title comes from my favorite monologue in Shakespeare's “King Henry V.”

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Tatewaki Kuno clicked the “finished” button at the bottom of the file he was reading on his office desk monitor, transferring it from the “unread” folder to the “read” one, and leaned back in his chair, rubbing his eyes. It had been a long three hours, but he'd finally gotten through the report from the auditing firm he'd hired, on the Kuno family's Australian holdings. And it seems I owe our Australian retainers a personal apology, he thought bemusedly. Those who choose to live in that wasteland are disrespectful brutes — he grimaced at the memory of his only trip to the province several years back — but it seems they know more of true honor than any of the other holdings of the Family I've examined so far. Only the Hawaiian holdings have less waste and corruption, and father gave themhis personal attention — unlike the restof the Family's holdings and retainers. Except for the school, of course....

With a sigh, Kuno straightened and double-clicked on the icon for the next file in the queue. At least the “unread” stack is finally smaller than the “read” stack, he thought with a wry grin, then suppressed a sigh of relief as the intercom on the left arm of his desk warbled softly for his attention. He hit the “accept” button, and smiled as the face of his secretary appeared on the screen built into the desk. It is truly unfortunate that she is a limited use slave, he thought yet again at the sight of the very decorative red-headed limited use temporary slave he'd picked out personally at the first auction he'd attended after the mourning period for his father had ended. Her cost had been high, but she was as intelligent as she was beautiful and was proving worth every mon he'd paid. “Yes, Itsuko, what new emergency has sprung up now?”

Itsuko ducked her head in the best bow she could make for such a small camera, and smiled back. “My apologies for interrupting your fascinating studies, Lord Kuno,” she said, carefully ignoring her master's snort of amusement, “but you wished to be notified immediately when your steward arrived.”

“Yes, I did,” Kuno said, “Send him right in.” He hit a button beside the intercom controls and the desk monitor sank out of sight as the office door opened and a large, muscular man stepped in, closed the door behind him, and bowed respectfully. Kuno nodded in return and gestured to one of the pair of chairs in front of his desk. “Morimasa Kasuse, you come in good time — I was beginning to desperately search for an honorable excuse to set aside the records of the Family's holdings for a time. Do you have the survey I requested of Nerima Lording's standing?”

“Yes, my lord, I do,” his steward said, reaching over the desk to offer a memory stick, and Kuno grimaced as he accepted it. “More files to study, how generous of you!” The two men chuckled, then Kuno set aside the stick leaning forward and placing his clasped hands on his desk. “I will study all the files, of course, but please give me your overview of your findings,” he ordered, and Morimasa nodded without surprise, and leaned back in his chair and rubbed under his lip in thought.

“Very well, my lord,” he said finally, “I'll divide my report into three parts — criminal, economic, and superstructural.” He quirked an eyebrow at his lord, and at Kuno's nod continued.

“For crime, thanks to the plethora of martial artists that have chosen to make the Nerima Lording their home, violent crime is lower than anywhere else in Edo — it is simply too risky to assault people for criminal purposes when the little old woman hobbling down the street late at night could be the head mistress of some highly effective style that almost no one has ever heard of. That lack of violent crime is balanced to an extent by the constant dueling of students of the various styles, but only rarely do those duels involve bystanders and with a few notable exceptions the property damage is minimal. And since the duels rarely result in fatalities, our law enforcement takes a `hands-off' approach to the situation.

“However, while violent crime is extremely low, I suspect we have several serious problems — while the otokodate centered in Nerima are not foolish enough to carry out the usual `protection services' that are common in other lordings, they are operating as recruitment centers for other otokodate throughout the Empire — all perfectly legal, but something we will want to see if we can find a way to suppress.

“As well, our law enforcement's `hands-off' approach with respect to the martial artists may well be bleeding over into other areas. I have been getting hints for some time that Nerima is a center for illegal houses of prostitution offering — services — that have been banned or fall under more general criminal laws. And even worse, we are probably a transshipment point for kidnapped and illegally purchased slaves from other parts of the Empire and beyond into Honshu and the reverse.

“I brought my concerns to your father, but he disregarded the rumors. With your permission, I would like to hire independent contractors to investigate the rumors, and set up a purge and restructuring of the lording law enforcement to be put into effect once we've either proven the rumors wrong or shut down the operations in Nerima and rescued what victims we can.”

Kuno had gone white with rage and shame, and closed his eyes for a long moment. Father, when you stood before Amaterasu's throne with our ancestors by her side, you had much to answer for. I but hope your insanity protected you from the impurity of your actions. Opening his eyes again, Kuno nodded to his steward. “Do not set anything into motion, but put together a detailed plan of the investigation I do not doubt I will approve once I have reviewed the relevant files,” he instructed, waving at the memory stick on his desk, and Morisama nodded and made a note on his PDA.

“Thank you, my lord,” he said softly. “I will update the planning as soon as I leave here.

“Now, for the lording's economy, we have an enormous wasted resource in the school your father constructed and funded.” Kuno grimaced, and Morimasa chuckled. “I know, you see it as an enormous waste of money that your father set up as his personal playground, and you are correct ... at the moment. Thanks to the school, we are producing some the most highly educated children in the Empire for their age, but your father made no provision for taking advantage of that education once they graduated. As a result, most of those graduates are taking their education to other lordings where opportunities match it.

“What I propose is that we provide tax breaks to specific businesses that will find that education attractive, to entice them to move at least some of their operations here ...”

 

“... and once the power lines are brought up to modern levels of quality, that will prove even more attractive to the businesses we hope to attract,” the steward finished, and Kuno nodded.

“Thank you for a most informative” — he glanced at the clock on the wall — “half hour. I will review the files you brought immediately, then we can discuss in detail which economic initiatives and superstructure improvements we should concentrate on first.”

Morimasa stood and bowed at the implied dismissal. “Very well, my lord. Shall I have Itsuko remind you of our evening sparring session in a timely fashion?”

Just then, Kuno's intercom warbled and he frowned, pressing the “accept” button. “Yes, Itsuko,” he said with a hint of reproach in his tone when the worried face of his secretary appeared on the view screen.

“My apologies for disturbing you, my lord,” she said hesitantly, “but you instructed that you were to be notified immediately of any call from or of the Tendos.”

Kuno stiffened. At last! They have accepted my generous terms, and I will finally free the Tendos and the pigtailed girl of their subordination to that ... that ... that demon in human flesh! “Of course, transfer the call immediately,” he said.

“Ah, th-th-there is no c-call,” his secretary stammered, “Nabiki Tendo is here to see you in person, along with a Ranma Saotome.” Then she and his steward paled at the expression of hatred that had possessed Kuno's face.

The sheer gallof that blot upon the human race, Kuno thought. How darehe foul my very office with his presence! After a few moments he shook himself clear of his stunned amazement and said, “Of course, send them in immediately.” Punching the intercom's “off” button, he turned to Morisama and with a stiff smile added, “Morisama, certainly, on your way out instruct Itsuko to remind me of our session tonight, I look forward to it.”