"Oh?"
Hearing Daichi Fujiwara's request, Luo Shu arched an eyebrow before saying in a peculiar tone:
"In that case, both Chika and you, Mr Fujiwara, will likely be seen as my people in others' eyes."
After dining with the new SDS Director, Daichi Fujiwara would have his daughter, Chika, brought home.
To outsiders, especially Cabinet members, this would appear as Daichi Fujiwara having reached some agreement or made concessions to Luo Shu, the SDS Director, to secure his daughter's return.
In a sense, this would announce Daichi Fujiwara's political alignment to interested parties.
This was why Luo Shu made that remark.
"There's nothing wrong with that. After all, in this world, everyone's arse has to sit somewhere."
Daichi Fujiwara used a crude metaphor.
Luo Shu understood this meant Daichi Fujiwara had resolved to ally with the SDS—no, it would be more accurate to call it mutual assistance.
'You marry off your daughter, I lend you my support, kind of mutual assistance...' Luo Shu mused internally while outwardly asking:
"Does the Fujiwara family patriarch know about this?"
Daichi Fujiwara had an elder brother, but due to professional misconduct, he had been ousted from power and was currently 'seeking enlightenment' in prison.
Thus, Daichi now held the highest official position in the Fujiwara family. However, despite his rank, the true head of the Fujiwara household remained the former prime minister—the old patriarch.
If Daichi wanted to pick a side, he couldn't avoid dealing with that old man.
"The old man probably favoured my elder brother, but who asked him to end up in prison?"
Daichi chuckled, his smile oddly twisted, as if laced with mockery and resentment.
The implication was clear: cooperation was possible, but the patriarch would have preferred to work with the eldest son, now behind bars.
This was why Daichi's expression was so complicated.
'My daughter is the one being sacrificed, yet you want my brother to reap the benefits? Then what am I?'
Luo Shu had no interest in the Fujiwara family's power struggles and replied in an indifferent tone:
"I'll send Chika home later. Personally."
This was his tacit agreement to the alliance. After all, all three of Daichi's daughters had the potential to become Familia members.
If Daichi's elder brother could produce three daughters, Luo Shu wouldn't necessarily refuse to support him either. But from what he'd heard, the man only had one son.
'It's not like I can send my brother-in-law to Thailand, can I?'
Hearing this, Daichi gave a slight nod before smiling:
"Speaking of which, there's a gathering among friends in a few days. I wonder if you'd have time to spare, Shu-kun?"
Though he called it a gathering of friends, those who could befriend Daichi Fujiwara were anything but small figures.
In essence, it was a networking event stemming from his position as Minister of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries—a gathering of his allies.
"In such a hurry to pull me into your circle?" Luo Shu sounded surprised. "You're not thinking of climbing even higher, are you?"
"Climbing higher?" Daichi blinked. He was already a minister—inherited from his brother, yes, but a minister nonetheless.
If he went any higher, there was only one position left: prime minister.
Does he want to become prime minister? Daichi Fujiwara asked himself:
"Do I have the capability?"
Hearing this, Luo Shu curled his lips and said:
"Whether you're capable or not has nothing to do with me. After all, the PM can directly interface with the Supreme Chairwoman."
"I'm just a mere director in the SDS. Surely you don't think I can make you prime minister, Fujiwara-kun?"
Although the SDS is an official covert organisation, the true giants in this world are still the five major powers. The SDS is merely a large organisation within one of those five.
To put it bluntly, the status of the SDS's Supreme Chairwoman is probably on par with Japan's prime minister.
And Luo Shu, as a director under the Supreme Chairwoman, is roughly equivalent in rank to Daichi Fujiwara as a minister.
Their status is equal - both are players in the political arena, neither more noble than the other.
Given that, how could someone of low status help another low-status person rise higher?
Luo Shu was clearly hinting that if Daichi Fujiwara truly had such ambitions, he should contact Lacus.
While Luo Shu actually had the ability to get Lacus to agree to this, his negotiation skills weren't that strong.
Supporting a prime minister would require complex interest alignments - how would Luo Shu, who'd never held office in either of his two lives, understand such things? Naturally, this should be left to the experts.
"That's true indeed."
Daichi Fujiwara laughed heartily, instinctively avoiding the previous topic:
"Speaking of which, how's the SDS's development of new ingredients going? If there are no issues, I can arrange the production permits on my end."
In modern society, producing anything requires permits - even mystic side ingredients are no exception.
And the person responsible for managing raw material production in Japan was none other than Daichi Fujiwara before him.
To some extent, all special ingredients produced by mystic organisations in Japan needed to go through Daichi Fujiwara if they were for external use.
Of course, normally Daichi Fujiwara would approve them one by one, even if there were minor food safety concerns.
Thus, by saying this to Luo Shu, Daichi Fujiwara was indicating he could let the SDS pass ingredients with relatively strong side effects to capture the special persons market.
After all, those in the know understood the origins and inevitable side effects of special ingredients, so the likelihood of being held accountable after market release was actually quite small.
This was the wonderful utility of power.
"The SDS has indeed acquired quite a few new ingredients recently, likely to develop some derivative products. The R&D Department mentioned collaborating with food companies - any recommendations, Daichi-kun?"
Since collaboration was almost inevitable, Luo Shu switched to the less natural but more intimate "Daichi-kun" commonly used in Japan.
Though he'd much rather call him father-in-law.
Hearing this, Daichi Fujiwara thought for a moment before saying:
"New ingredient research?"
"In that case, we'd need to find more specialised professionals..."
"Got it!"
Daichi Fujiwara suddenly thought of someone and asked Luo Shu:
"By any chance, does Luo Shu-kun know the Demon King of Cuisine, Senzaemon Nakiri?"