918 Japan's First Power Plant
While Berengar was spending time with his loving family. Itami was utterly alone. Though it was true that she had both her mother and sister looking after her. The woman was more annoyed by these two family members, then comforted by their presence.
However, today was not a day that Itami could sit back and wallow in her loneliness. Rather, she had to get ready early in the morning and dress herself in her nicest attire. Why would she have to do such a thing? Because after nearly two and a half years of development, today was the day that Japan's first power plant had finished construction.
Unlike Germany, which was filled with rivers that could be used to generate clean and renewable electricity. Japan did not have such a luxury and was, for the time being, forced to rely on coal. However, now that her workers had concluded their construction of the first power plant, she could provide electricity to Heian-kyō. Which would greatly improve her workers' efficiency, as she could employ workers on rotational shifts, with some of them working through the dead of night to complete their industrial projects.
If the German Empire was a state whose common citizens enjoyed the benefits of labor protection laws, countless luxuries, and a vibrant economy. Then the Japanese Empire was the exact opposite. It had become an industrial slave state, where its citizens considered themselves lucky that they could eat three bowls of rice a day.
The work conditions in Japan were abysmal, and there had been no major shift in the social structure. The Samurai Clans continued to dominate as the primary landowners. However, rather than be a class of feudal lords and warriors like they were in the past, they now enjoyed the pampered lives of wealthy industrialists. Meanwhile, the Peasant class still remained. It's just that the majority of them had been shifted from the fields to the factories, which continued to prop up the ever increasing Japanese war machine.
It was arguable who in Japanese society had it worse. The young conscripts who were forced at gunpoint to fight and die in foreign lands, for natural resources they could have easily gotten by trade. Or the middle-aged factory workers who toiled endlessly for a pittance of pay. It went without mentioning that what little salary these workers received was spent entirely within company stores, whose rigged prices were designed to keep the peasant class in an increasing amount of debt.
The only reason this dystopia had not collapsed on itself was because of the fear which Itami Riyo ruled over her people with. While Berengar was a beloved figure to the German people, the Japanese saw their Empress as nothing more than a merciless tyrant and a vicious despot.
Itami was entirely aware of these criticisms. Though she disagreed with them entirely. The young Empress honestly felt the fact that she had forced Japan to unify under her banner, and industrialize in such a rapid capacity, was an achievement for the history books. It was her belief that the suffering of her people in this era was necessary to achieve a state of Global Dominance. It was only after Japan was left without a rival could she focus on the welfare of her people.
These were the thoughts the young woman was having as she dressed in a rather elegant gown. For some time now, she had worn a military uniform in public as a show of force. However, today was not a military achievement, but rather one of the civilian sector. As a result, she had chosen a pretty dress to wear as a peaceful statement to her people.
Though Itami was in a cold war with Germany, she was forced to admit their taste of fashion was extravagant. She could not easily introduce such revealing designs to her population without some form of backlash from the more conservative members of her society. As a result, she had purchased a few exquisite dresses from the Reich in secret.
She couldn't decide whether she wanted to wear a blood-red princess style gown, or a snow-white lacey cocktail dress. While Itami was garbed in nothing but her underwear,she held up the two dresses towards her Julian love pillow, and asked the inanimate object for its opinion.
"Julian, what do you think? Which should I wear to the event today?"
Utter silence prevailed in the room. However, in Itami's head, she could practically see the man pondering over the question before giving her his honest thoughts. From an outside observer's perspective, nothing was said in between the question and the response that Itami had given shortly thereafter.
"I agree. The white dress will go better with my hair. Thanks Julian, you always did have a great taste in aesthetics!"
After saying this, Itami hugged the pillow before tossing the blood-red gown aside and slipping into the lacey white cocktail dress. Once she was fully dressed, she put on a pair of white leather heels before doing a strut about the room. She posed a question to the pillow once more, which resounded throughout the air.
"What do you think?"
Again, silence prevailed for several moments, but this time, the woman responded to her own question in a rather peculiar manner. She shifted her gaze over to the painting of Berengar and frowned before scolding it.
"Not you! I was talking to Julian!"
Almost immediately after hearing this, a smile erupted on Itami's flawless face and she rushed over to the pillow and hugged it once more, before planting a kiss on what would be its lips if it were a human being. She snuggled in its arms for several moments before responding to the inanimate object's non-existent answer.
"You're the best!"
As Itami was enjoying herself within her delusional state of mind, a knock resounded on the door, followed by the sultry voice of her mother.
"Riyo, we are heading in five minutes. Do not be late for this event!"
Itami frowned before speaking to her pillow once more in a voice that was hushed so that her mother could not hear her.
"I'll be back in a bit Julian, please wait for me!"
After saying this, the woman rushed out the door and down towards the Great Hall, where her mother and sister were awaiting her arrival. The two women were dressed in yukatas and were surprised to see the rather liberal state of dress that Itami wore. Momo pouted in jealousy, as her eyes were drawn to the exquisite craftsmanship of the western style dress.
"Nee-chan, where did you get that?"
Itami panicked upon hearing this, not wanting it to be known that she had abused her authority to smuggle German fashion into her personal wardrobe. Despite her best efforts, she was a terrible liar and looked the other way before making something up on the spot.
"Oh this, I had my tailor make it especially for this occasion!"
Though Momo was naïve enough to believe her elder sister's words. Thier mother was not so foolish, and could immediately tell Riyo had done something rather scandalous in order to obtain such a fine dress of foreign design. However, the mature beauty did not comment on this reality, and instead sighed before walking down the steps of the palace with her two daughters in tow.
The trio were flanked by an entire battalion of soldiers, who protected them as they marched through the streets and towards the new power plant. Berengar's Leibgarde was more of just a redundancy than it was a practicality. The people of Germany loved him and his family so much that it was entirely unlikely that any of them would ever attempt to harm a hair on his head.
Because of this, the Kaiser only kept a few of his most elite soldiers to protect him and his family's persons when they were out and about throughout the borders of the Reich. Sort of like the United States' Secret Service during his past life.
However, for Itami, things were vastly different. There were many within Japanese society who despised their empress, and because of this, when she travelled through the streets, the roads were cleared in their entirety, while a thousand soldiers of her Royal Guard protected her from any potential threats.
Ultimately, she and her family would arrive unharmed at the Power Plant, where she gave a brief speech about Japanese advancement and the need for unity during these troubling times. For some, the Empress's words struck an accord and dispelled a portion of their internal resentment. While for others, the speech only fell on deaf ears. In the end, Itami cut the ribbon, and opened Japan's first power plant, which in the coming days would provide electricity throughout the capital of the Japanese Empire.
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