"You..." Arastia's stern voice erged from the commpad at Ria's ears. "What is the aning of this? Why have you sent a bill for ten million alliance credits???"
"It's the exo-Martial suits we bought," Ria spoke with an innocent tone of voice. "You said you would foot the bill."
"I was talking about reasonable standard gear, not extravagant gear that you two haven't earned yet." Her aunt's voice was strict.
"But aunty~~"
"Don't 'aunty' , young woman. Go return those exo-Martial suits and buy sothing simpler."
"Ah, too late, we already walked out of the showroom and sent the bill to the Red Humanist Society."
"You can turn around."
"What?"
"I said, you can turn ar—"
"PSHHHHT—I can't hear you—PSHHHT!"
In the background, one could hear Runark laughing at her antics.
"OK, I'm entrusting you with the bill so we don't go to prison, aunty, bye!" She abruptly cut the call, undoubtedly bursting into a bout of laughter as the two teenagers indulged in the amusent and the euphoria of splurging extravagantly.
Arastia simply heaved an exasperated sigh before an amused, endearing smile erged on her face. She loved her niece more than anybody in the world, having essentially raised her like a little sister in her early childhood and having trained with her in her early adolescence. She loved hearing Ria laugh. The extravagant exo-Martial suits were a small price to pay, as far as she was concerned. Even though they were expensive, an interstellar organization like the Blood Humanist Society could absorb such costs without much of a problem.
Not to ntion, she was internally happy to hear that they had gotten themselves good gear that would increase the likelihood that they would be fine no matter what situation they found themselves in. Of course, she couldn't let them get too spoiled, so she put on the face of a strict facade.
But she was happy that her niece enjoyed herself in the frontier. She would be happy as long as Ria led a fulfilling and safe life.
"An important call, I presu."
The voice of a man drew her attention. Arastia turned towards the man sitting opposite her across the table. The room she was in was a spacious, ostentatious office with multiple compartnts.
The flag of the Jarkarthar Federation hung on the wall that faced her, while the man across the table stared at her with a perfunctory smile, his elbows leaning on the table before him, his fingers in a steeple. He wore tailor-made formal attire woven from so of the most luxurious fabric in modern fabrics, while the coat of arms of the Jakarthar Federation was embroidered on the chest of his suit.
On his table was a plaque card that read: [President Sermoun Jakarthar]
The leader of the Jakarthar Federation and the ruler of the planet as the founding colonist. Arastia imdiately comported herself in a more formal manner, straightening her back, before resting her hands together on her lap. "Apologies for the interruption, President Sermoun. I had to take a call that I couldn't refuse."
"Haha, it must have been soone important, I presu," the President smiled at her anably. "It is very rare to see the Blood Empress herself lower her guard and speak frankly."
His smile deepened.
"Was it… family?"
He stressed the word, as if hinting at sothing.
Arastia hid her rising tension well, smiling wryly. "On my mother's side, yes. As you know, I have millions of siblings and many more millions of nieces and nephews."
She smoothly managed to deflect the question without drawing any suspicion. She couldn't allow anybody to find out that the Kandrian Princess was in the frontier, she would imdiately put herself in a trendous amount of danger. Learning how to protect the truth by having plausible alternatives that are spoken with just the right kind of normalizing confidence that made it seem plausible was a skill that she had picked up.
"Ah, of course, your extended family is the largest in the stars. Indeed, I'm sure you have many troubles dealing with your siblings and their blood children."
"Oh, don't get started on that," Arastia replied good-naturedly, heaving an exasperated sigh. "It's not an exaggeration to say that all the trouble in my life cos from family. But, more importantly…"
She turned towards him. "What can I help you with, President? I assu it must have been quite important for you to wish to speak to personally."
The president's expression grew a little more serious. "Yes, well… I have been having so trouble with the recent… discovery, in Planet Amadeus in the Strehegeld System."
He was referring to the planetary anomaly that was suspected to be an infected world, of course. She could sense that he was quite nervous about it, being able to read his emotions with her mind sense. Of course, modern technology allowed normal humans to block much of their brainwaves thanks to their neural inlays, but for soone of Arastia's caliber, such a trick would not hold her back from being able to grasp the emotions he was experiencing.
She could sense a deep anxiety in his heart that he hid extrely well in his body language and expressions.
"What about it, President?" She asked simply, feigning ignorance. "Do you wish to commission our services? If so, our operating capacity with the workforce on this planet is unfortunately completely full. However, I can set you up for priority if you want. I truly appreciate the generous donations that the Jarkarthar Federation makes to the Blood Humanist Society."
There were two main ways in which the Blood Humanist Society raised money to fund their operations. The first was, of course, through commissions and operations from across human civilization, but those alone would leave profit margins not too big if those were the only sources of inco.
The Blood Humanist Society had also forged relationships with powers across human civilization and raised large amounts of capital from those organizations to help them grow and beco stronger.
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