"Mr. President, didn't you say you didn't want to completely alienate the Duchess of Windsor?"
"I did, but I haven't completely alienated her, have I?"
"You beat up so many of her men and humiliated her to her face. If that doesn't count as completely alienating her, what does?"
"I didn't kill her men. As for humiliating her... it's not as though she lost a piece of flesh over it. How does that count as completely alienating her?"
"All right, Mr. President. Even if we stretch things and say you haven't made a mortal enemy of her, aren't you afraid of offending Duke Windsor by doing this? If the Duchess of Windsor tells him what happened here when she gets back, aren't you worried he'll be angry?"
"If Duke Windsor is a smart man, he won't consider what I did an insult. He should be able to see the most important issue behind all this. But if he isn't that smart... that's fine too. It would prove he isn't a suitable partner for us in the first place, so whether we offend him wouldn't matter."
"Mr. President... I don't understand what you're talking about, but it sounds impressive. Still, wouldn't offending Duke Windsor mean offending the Candel Empire? Aren't you worried it'll affect our guild's progress there?"
"Get this straight: Duke Windsor is Duke Windsor, and the Candel Empire is the Candel Empire. Offending him and offending the empire are two completely different things. If events unfold as I expect, actually offending Duke Windsor might be a tremendous help in getting our guild into the Candel Empire."
"Mr. President, now I understand even less... All I know is that what you're saying now is clearly different from what you said before."
"Well... the reason is simple. I changed my