Absolution (D2, LE, Open)

[Bayushi Mineichi]

"Food and shoes they have aplenty. It's men and ships they lack." Mineichi mused. "Rich as their worlds might be, they never invested into massive fleets in way say, Lion and Crab have done." Not that Crane had the minerals nor the docks to produce ships in great amounts, nor had they samurai to man a fleet, even if they had ships. "Oh, of course. Amusingly enough, Mantis pirates were one of the reasons the Crane wanted to join... the Mantis pirates." he added with a dry chuckle. "Well - if Money buys what you need for victory, is it not money that bought you the victory?" he asked, tilting his head to the side a little. "Though yes, even if you have the ships, someone has to wage the war. Even if you have the men, someone has to lead them."

[Kitsu Kanna]

"It's summer. The sun is high, the weather's hot. Nonetheless, a peddler is going door to door to sell coats.

They knock on a manor's door, and eventually gets to see the owner, a very rich man. He refuses to buy any coat.

'Why would I want a coat? It's so sunny outside. I don't need it.'

The peddler continues on. He knocks on the door of a modest house. The owner, a poor man, spends all the money he owns to buy a good coat.

Comes winter. The rich man is cold, so cold, so much he cannot leave his house anymore. He looks at all his gold, enough to buy one hundred coats. But the peddler has gone home, and coats there are no more.

Meanwhile, the poor man is all warm under his coat, and can keep living his life uninterrupted."

Kanna dropped the storyteller's voice to return to her usual one:

"The moral of the story isn't very subtle I know. 'It's not about how much money you have, it's about how wisely you spend it.' With a hint of 'If you sleep on your gold instead of investing it in your own future, no one is going to cry on your self-inflicted suffering.' But a story is like a strike: If a straightforward slice can land a clean hit, don't waste your energy on an useless feint.

And not saying you don't need money at all of course. Just that money is but one variable of the equation."

[Bayushi Mineichi]

Mineichi blinked, tilting his head to the side even as he brought his hand to his chin. "Kitsu-san might have lost me there."

[Kitsu Kanna]

"Crane can only blame themselves for their problems, past and present. All the money in the world won't save them from reckoning."

[Bayushi Mineichi]

"Oh, very much so." Crane had been in a position of weakness during the early expansion into the stars, ending with far fewer worlds than Mantis, Lion and Crab. Politics of modern Crane were largely stipulated by the past with the Crane not having the resources to compete with the three military might's. Originally, Doji had played the three against each other, but with Crab and Lion agreeing on some sort of a neutral stance and with Mantis harassing Crane trade, the clan had been forced to take sides. "Though, I wouldn't bet on that. They are more slithery than spring eels. Doji that is. I'd keep my eyes open, just in case."

[Kitsu Kanna]

The pot calling the kettle black much eh?

"We'll see. Justice is a concept that goes beyond the mortal realm. Karma always catches up eventually."