Blackstone Code-Chapter 600: Striving

“Thank you for your hard work.”
The next morning, in the emperor’s study, Jania relayed the
costly
information she had acquired from Lynch. After hearing it, the emperor immediately expressed his gratitude.
“What you told me is very important. It offers a perspective we hadn’t considered before. How did you convince Lynch to tell you all this?”
Jania sat in an elegant upholstered chair, legs crossed, holding a lady’s cigarette holder with a cigarette at the tip. She glanced at the emperor and shook her head. “Are you sure you want to know?”
The emperor was briefly stunned by her tone, but curiosity eventually got the better of him.
Everyone is curious. Even emperors.
The methods Lynch shared through Jania did indeed offer novel ways to address issues in the Amellia region—valuable alternatives they hadn’t thought of before.
The emperor figured if he were Lynch, he wouldn’t have said a word without sufficient benefit.
Despite Jania’s warning that the answer might not be pleasant, the emperor still wanted to know.
Partly due to curiosity, and partly to assess the value of the information by its
price
.
It’s like someone buying a gemstone-looking trinket for one coin—no one would believe it’s real. But if they were told it cost hundreds or thousands, people would start believing it might be a real gem.
This principle applies to anything with measurable value, tangible or not.
Jania took a drag from the cigarette, its jeweled holder forming a beautiful pattern. As she exhaled, she said what it had cost her.
“I sucked him off…”
She wasn’t embarrassed at all. In fact, she looked amused, watching the emperor closely.
He froze, then his face darkened.
Jania was the most publicly known member of the royal family—his sister. Known as the
Flower of the Empire
, the dream of countless imperial men.
And she actually went and did that?
Lynch was truly despicable.
But the emperor quickly calmed down. He knew he had no leverage over Lynch.
If Lynch were killed, it might lead directly to war.
The Federation expanded its global influence in a more subtle way than Gephra’s war-driven strategy. Less aggressive, easier to accept.
But that didn’t mean they would tolerate the assassination of a diplomat. It would be a disaster. So the emperor could only let the thought go.
Still, thinking of his sister—sitting barely ten meters away—possibly naked and doing those things filled him with anger, resentment, and… a bit of arousal.
Fortunately, he quickly composed himself and finally said, “Thank you for your hard work.”
“You already said that,” Jania shot back sharply. “I didn’t do this for myself or for you. I did it for the royal family and for the country. And let me be clear—this is the last time.”
“I don’t want you coming to me with this kind of thing whenever there’s trouble. I’m not some whore!”
This rare show of assertiveness from Jania struck a guilty chord in the emperor. He ultimately responded with an apology.
“I’m sorry. This will be the last time.”
Jania’s expression softened. “I accept your apology.”
After a few seconds, the emperor shook off the emotional weight and asked, “So that’s everything he’s got?”
Jania shook her head. She took one last drag, removed the cigarette from the holder, and flicked it into the ashtray. “From the way he talked, this is just what he was willing to share. He has better solutions, but he was very firm—he wouldn’t tell me. I think you’ll have to meet him yourself.”
The emperor nodded. “If he really has better ideas, then I should meet him… Talk to him, invite him to the palace. We’ll have dinner together. Maybe we’ll make some progress.”
Jania stood, gathering her things—lighter, cigarettes, the holder. “I’ll invite him, but I can’t guarantee he’ll come.”
“Thank you.”
The emperor looked forward to meeting Lynch. But that evening, he received disappointing news: Lynch declined the invitation. His reason was that until negotiations concluded, he would not meet with the emperor privately.
It was a solid excuse—intended to ensure the negotiations weren’t derailed by an unscheduled meeting. The reasoning was sound, and neither Jania nor the emperor could find any way to argue against it.
As part of a diplomatic mission, any private contact with Gephra’s officials would be a serious violation. No one could fault him.
So the emperor had no choice but to push his ministers to finalize the negotiations as quickly as possible, at least the main points.
Meanwhile, the two simple proposals Lynch had shared were brought to a private meeting with the emperor’s closest advisors.
“Are you sure these ideas came from Lynch himself?” the Minister of Defense asked skeptically. “I think it’s more likely someone behind him came up with this. No way a guy in his twenties could think of this on his own. And you said he has even better ideas?”
Other ministers nodded in agreement and returned their attention to the written outline.
Lynch’s two proposals, relayed through Jania, were actually quite simple:
immigration and opportunity
.
The first was to change the demographic foundation of Amellia’s lower class through large-scale immigration—not with the upper or middle class, but with working-class citizens.
By flooding Amellia with ordinary imperial citizens, they could dilute the proportion of locals hostile to the regime, while also introducing a stabilizing and monitoring force.
Currently, most residents in Amellia were merchants or upper-middle class. They lived separately from ordinary people and rarely interacted with locals.
This created the illusion that Gephra had never truly accepted the region or its people. The segregation created a class-based division that worsened tensions over time.
Second, Lynch emphasized the need to provide opportunities. Gephrans were notoriously arrogant, as seen in how they treated other races. Under this “we are superior” mindset, how could the locals ever accept being labeled inferior?
Worse, they weren’t even given a chance—and that’s what made things truly dangerous.
History has shown that even the faintest hope, the slightest possibility of a better future, is enough to motivate people—no matter how unrealistic it might seem.
This includes the desire for stable work and education.
Lynch proposed opening channels for locals to enter higher social ranks, increasing the number of local officials, and granting limited autonomy. This would shift the
us versus them
tension between Gephrans and locals into internal conflicts among the locals themselves, easing the overall pressure.
These two methods may have occurred to some Gephrans in the past, but they were never taken seriously. After all, the noble Gephrans saw themselves as the ruling race of the universe—how could a group of nameless, inferior people ever stand on equal footing with them?
Impossible.
Now, they were being forced to confront this issue and seriously consider Lynch’s proposals. After discussion, they concluded that the ideas were indeed highly feasible.
But soon, they faced another problem. Everyone in Gephra knew the situation in Amellia was a mess—extremely dangerous, with frequent attacks on Gephrans by anti-government militias.
Call for mass migration to Amellia under those conditions?
Not even the emperor’s orders would convince people. Only a handful of lunatics would go. No sane person would.
“These solutions are suitable for a relatively stable environment, not for now. What we need to address at this moment is far more urgent. These ideas can only serve as reference.”
That was the Minister of Defense’s final assessment—valuable, but currently useless.
The emperor hesitated, and the Defense Minister noticed. A glance was exchanged among the ministers. Then the Minister of the Army stood up.
“Your Majesty, if Lynch still has better proposals, perhaps we should speak with him.”
Amellia touched a nerve in the nation. Anyone claiming to have a solution would be given a chance.
The emperor nodded, then shook his head. “He does, but he refuses to meet with us now. His reason is that as long as negotiations are ongoing, he won’t have any private contact with any of us.”
He showed a helpless expression and urged them to wrap up the negotiations quickly—without compromising the nation’s dignity, but also demonstrating Gephra’s generosity and tolerance.
The Finance Minister, who had remained silent, sensed that things were slipping out of control, but he didn’t care.
Compared to the shared interests of the nobility and the royal family, one international speculator and a bit of money weren’t enough to get in the way of his true goals.