Tyranny of Steel

While Berengar had been dealing with matters regarding their Byzantine Allies, Itami was hard at work overhauling her Empire from the ground up. Naturally, any significant reforms that seized power from the nobility and distributed it across the realm was not going to be a popular move. 

Until now, Itami's Japan was essentially still a feudal state. One that had transitioned from an agrarian society to and industrial one. All of the major factories were owned by the samurai clans of old, and their workers were still the peasant class. Nothing had really changed, except for the work that was being done.

One could even go so far as to say that the overwhelming majority of military officers were also members of the samurai class. This made things extremely difficult to change. Unlike Berengar who had made strives to gain the support of the commoners early on. Itami had pretty much alienated that section of her population as mere subjects whose value was determined by how they contributed to the war machine. 

Any attempt now to liberate the peasant class could easily provoke the samurai clans who held immense financial and military power within the Empire. Because of this, Itami had to take things slowly, and designed a five year plan to completely overhaul Japanese society. 

The first item on her list was to pass a law which allowed educated peasants to climb the ranks of the military. This would be a controversial move, but with enough coercian on the Empress's part could ultimately prevent any form of insurrection that she could potentially face in the coming years. 

Thus, Itami was hard at work, creating this law. She used the light of the divine mirror to enhance her political understanding. After all, she was not the best politician, which was evident by the Empire she created. It took significant effort on her part to draft laws that were any good, and something as important as this needed her utmost effort. 

After several hours she finally dropped her pen, and sat back in her leatherbound recliner in total exhaustion. She honestly could not believe how strenous such a task was on the mind. After calming her shot nerves with a bit of sake, she gazed over at the potrait of Berengar which hung proudly in her room and sighed heavily. 

She honestly did not know what the man had done to her spy, Yi Min-Ah, but Itami had come to deeply regret her decision of sending the woman over to Germany. The fact that she was discovered so quickly, meant that the Germans had an unbelivably robust intelligence organization. 

Itami had no way of knowing that it was Berengar's divine eye that had granted him the ability to see a human being's true intentions. If she had, she obviously would not have sent her spy deep behind enemy lines with the intentions to seduce the man. 

Thus, after signing the bill into law, Itami decided she would do everything in her power to get Min-Ah back. However, it would not be an easy task. All Itami knew about Min-Ah's fate was she was caught in her actions as a foreign spy. 

This meant, that any appeal to Germany would be met with mockery, as her enemy would not willingly hand back such a valuable asset. Itami did not know that as far as the world at large was concerned, Yi Min-Ah was already dead, executed on the grounds of conspiracy to assassinate the Kaiser and his Family.

In reality, the woman had been dragged to a black site, where she was kept for interrogation purposes. Everything Min-Ah knew about Itami and her Empire, she had given to German Intelligence, and as a result they kept her alive, but completely confined to a padded cell.

Any criminal who was valuable enough, or had comitted heinous enough crimes to warrant a lifetime of torture, was kept in these black sites. They were officially executed, and therefore nobody would ever come looking for them. Their treatment varied upon the severity of their crimes, and their level of cooperation with the German Authorities. 

If Itami wanted to save Min-Ah's life, then she needed to first condemn her as a traitor, and request extradition back to Japan so that she could face her punishment at the hands of her own people. Naturally, Itami did not want to do this, but it was the only way to get Min-Ah back.

Thus she spent the next few moments drafting a formal request to the German Embassy in Beijing to hand over Yi Min-Ah to the Japanese authorities. Once she was done, Itami called upon a servant to ship the message to its destination. 

It was only after her work was done that she crawled into bed, attaching herself to her Julian body pillow. She was close to entering a deep sleep, when a knock resounded on her door, followed by a voice which she wanted nothing more than to dismiss.

"Onee-chan. Mother has ordered the kitchen to prepare a feast for you, won't you come down, and spend some time with your family?"

Itami had locked herself away in her room for several days, only escaping from its confines to take care of her personal hygiene. She realized that if she stayed indoors any longer, her family, and perhaps even her subjects would become concerned. 

As a result, she instantly jumped out of her bed, with a rather irritated expression on her pretty face, before dressing in a white kimono. After doing so, she opened the door, with a frown, and glared at her younger sister. The act of which frightened the girl, until Itami sighed and revealed her true intentions.

"Very well, lead the way." 

A large smile appeared on Momo's face, as she hugged her sister, and stuffed her face into the ablino beauty's substantial bosom. The very act caused Itami to flush red in embarassment, before forcing her little sister away. 

Momo responded to this aggression by tightly gripping Itami Riyo's forearm, and dragging her off to the dining area, where their mother, Mibu Saya was waiting for the two of her girls with a drink in her hand. Upon noticing Riyo had finally climbed out of her room, Saya smiled before offering her daughter a drink.

"Riyo, it's good to see you, I was getting worried about you after you have secluded yourself away in your room again..."

Itami Riyo merely sighed and sat down before accepting her mother's gesture, downing the sake like it was water before expressing her discontent with her life.

"I've just been busy working Okaa-san. I am in the middle of drafting some very important reforms, and I can't be distracted."

Mibu Saya was a cunning woman, more than she let on. The moment she heard the words important reforms, she immediately became curious, and also protective of her precious daughter.

"What kind of reforms?"

Itami drank another glass of Sake as quickly as it was poured before informing her mother of her work, if there were two people in this world she did not need to hide any secrets form, it was her mother, and sister, thus she was rather carefree as she vented about her lot in life.

"Military Reforms, it is time I ended the stranglehold over commissions that the Samurai Class has. So long as a peasant is educated, they should be allowed to rise through the ranks of the Armed Forces the same as any man."

This remark caught Saya off guard, in fact she was deeply concerned about the impacts this would have. If one Samurai clan took offense to this, which was incredibly likely, Itami could be facing a potential coup. Thus she was quick to voice her disagreement with this sudden transition.

"Far be it from me to tell you how to run an Army, but I think that is very unwise. There are many among the nobility who see your reign as illigitimate and are looking for the first opportunity to depose you. If you step on their traditions, any moreso than you already have. They are likely to act against you."

Itami smirked with a face full of confidence when she heard this, and responded to her mother's warning with a hint of disdain on her face.

"If that should happen then I would crush those rebels the same as I have done to all others. It is the dawn of a new age, and unless we reform our society, we will be left behind by the Germans and their fucking Kaiser! I will start with the military, and once I have consolidated it under my authority, then I would like to see how those damned nobles resist my will!"

Saya could only shake her head in disagreement. Her daughter was so focused on chasing after the accomplishments of the Reich, and its Kaiser, that she was starting to expect that the girl had become infatuated with the man. In the end, all she could do was cheer her daughter on as she pursued her ambitions.

"I sure hope you are right..."

Not long after the food arrived, and Itami, and her family enjoyed bountiful feast. 

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