“Get yer ass over here and drop everything yer carrying, or yer about to be a very dead orc!” l scread at the newcor. It was a good thing he did, as I had already pulled Corey from my storage, and Cecile had his hoe in his hand. Surprisingly, the orc listened, and the mont he was in front of l, he undid his belt, dropping a ton of things to the ground, several of which were pots and pans that clattered as they piled up. I wasn’t even sure how they had all fit on his belt, but I hadn’t been paying enough attention to it before he dropped it.
“The only thing still in my storage is food. If you are able to do a penetrative scan, you’re welco to do it,” the orc said. l stared intently at the orc for a few seconds, similar to how he had looked at my kids.
“Alright, yer clean. Now what the fuck did ya say ya wanted?” l asked as his color returned to normal. Was anger just the man’s happy state?
“I heard what you were all saying from the woods. I was already making my way here after Wralf’s death to pledge myself to whatever faction decided to take this world for themselves,” the orc said. What made him think any faction, especially mine, would want him? They had just slaughtered their way across the planet.
“Then, as ya just overheard, Earth took itself, so what exact worth do ya think yer ass has to these people after what yer faction just did?” l asked, his voice growing angrier. Considering I was having a hard ti holding my rage in check, I was amazed l was.
“My offer still stands. I heard what you said: you need Arena fighters. I’ve been there. I’ve even climbed further than Wralf ever did. He died in his pathetically failed attempt to claim a first-floor prize. I’ve already cleared floor nine. So before you decide to kill , consider that,” the orc said. Was that enough to keep him alive? It sure wasn’t doing anything to reduce my urge to kill him. I knew that.
“Dammit, what’s yer class. I assu sothing in support and this is yer play to get a chance outside of the orc factions?” l asked.
“War Chef,” the orc answered. So he cooked things for battle? That seed strange.
“Dave, I can’t make the call; it’s yer ho, but as much as I may hate it, I strongly suggest we take him on for now, at least. We can always kill him later,” l said. I already had to make life-or-death decisions? How hard was it to abdicate a faction head position?
I sighed and thought for a mont, then finally spoke. “What’s your na, and how many people have you killed on this planet?” I asked. I wasn’t sure if the answer would help make a decision or not. If we really needed him like l said, was there much of a choice? With how worried the man seed, I didn’t know if I could safely say no to the request.
“Rabyn, and personally killed? Zero. But I did supply many of the buffs that allowed for the squadron to decimate your world,” Rabyn answered. Before I could make up my mind, Corey sent a ssage.
Corey: Dave, do you want to kill him?
Dave: No. Well, I an, I do want him dead for what he’s done, but right now, we have a bigger problem, and l seems to want him alive.
Corey: I do not understand.
Dave: To be clear here, you and the orc did very different things, but sparing him, at least for now, would be done for the sa reason I didn’t destroy you at the ti. Sotis the value of soone or sothing at a given mont can be greater than the damage they already caused. I don’t know if that’s true here, but it’s hard for to argue with l. He’s gotten us this far.
Corey: So you believe Rabyn is needed to solidify the foundation of your faction?
Dave: I wouldn’t put it exactly that way, but yes, that is what l appears to believe. Personally, I’d rather not have a faction, but it seems like it’s too late for that now.
Corey: I believe I understand now. Sotis, there are no good choices, so you are stuck making the best of a bad choice.
Dave: Exactly.
“I’m going with l’s recomndation here. There is no chance beyond this one, though: if you hurt any of my people, that is the end of you. Is that understood?” I tried channeling my best dad voice from years past. That was pretty close to how an emperor talked, right? Even if it wasn’t, it was about the best I could do at it for now. I added politics of empires to my list of things I would need to read about begrudgingly.
The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
“I accept. I pledge my allegiance to the Empire of Dave,” Rabyn said. I shook my head, trying not to laugh at the stupidity of the na and how ludicrous this entire situation was. Was it possible to at least change the na?
“Well, as much as I hate it, this does make our lives a tad easier. Speaking of classes, we’re gonna need to handle that. Pryte, I assu yer access to the Spiral is still good?” l asked, looking at the small man.
“It is. Do you want to go collect Cecile and Elicec’s class orbs?” he asked.
“I want you to get all three of ‘em, not just those two. We need to see what their options are and work on synergizing a team ASAP,” l said.
So that was how this worked. The class orbs the Arena provided gave us options to choose from. I assud that it worked with our cores in so fashion and gave a list. What would my options be?
“No can do for Dave. He entered with an insignia. That ans Sanquar is supposed to provide that part of this, and unless you have the money, there isn’t any way we can really change that,” Pryte answered. I had forgotten about the insignia, the thing that kicked off even more of this ss.
“Damn, alright. Did you get the class orbs off the orcs here?” l asked, turning back toward .
“Yeah, we have twenty-two of them,” I answered.
“Okay, I’m going to go get those identified. Pryte, you get these two their classes. Elody, Cecile, and Elicec go find out just what Rabyn can do. Timon, Sanquar, yer with , we need to talk about so things. Dave, go spend ti with yer family. I may have brought so stuff to light that wasn’t supposed ta co out just yet,” l said before turning toward the garage and floating inside, likely having spotted the class orbs. As the group parted, I joined my family at the front door.
“So, uh, I get to be a grandfather?” I said to Alex, who was determinedly staring at the ground. I didn’t think I had been the type of father to make her think this would bother . Yeah, the world had gone to hell, but having a kid at her age was entirely normal. Hell, the grandkid might have been the biggest deciding factor in accepting that I was stuck as head of an empire.
“Yeah, it looks that way. I didn’t really know how to tell you or anyone, for that matter. Kyle was a bit of an asshole, and we just didn’t sh, and I didn’t realize I was pregnant until after the breakup. Then the world went to hell, so I guess I don’t really need to worry about telling him,” Alex said with tears in her eyes. I hugged her tightly.
“We’ll figure this out. That kid is third in line to rule an empire, after all,” I said, trying to lighten the mood with a terrible joke and considering the nervous laughter through her tears, it had worked.
“Dad’s right because I sure as hell don’t want to be an emperor,” John added. Alex’s laughter got a little louder.
“Can I be an emperor? Wait, is it empress if it’s a woman? If I’m empress, can I just demand to be called emperor?” Maud asked, trailing off and talking to herself.
“How far along are you? We’re going to need to find you a doctor sohow, and I have no idea how we are going to do that in the imdiate ti fra,” I said, suddenly realizing the real issue. She needed to be under the care of an OB-GYN.
“Two months, and I’ve got so pre-natal vitamins in my bag. The baby was healthy during the last checkup, so we might be safe for now, but yeah, that was one of my big worries, too. I do not want to deliver naturally,” Alex said. I wondered if my remote teletry could pick up the pregnancy. I switched over to the life orb and scanned Alex. Yep, I was able to see she was currently carrying a fetus, and her own health was in acceptable, if not perfect, paraters. I’d have to play with the mana skills on the orb later and see if I couldn’t find a way to get data on the baby as well.
“Well, the good news is I can use so of my magic from my life orb to give you a quick dical check-up, and it’s reporting back that you’re healthy. I can’t seem to do it for the baby yet, though,” I said.
“I’ll take what I can get. God, it’s been a weird day. Did you really just beco the leader of an empire?” Alex asked, her tears mostly gone.
“Sadly, it looks that way. I suspect l has been plotting this for a while. I’m not overly happy about it, but it may really have been the only way to potentially save the planet,” I said, still extraordinarily annoyed at the whole situation.
“And that orc, are we really stuck with him?” John asked.
“For now, I don’t know about long-term. Until I really understand what the Arena is like, I can’t say anything long-term. Are you three okay if I go find l? I need to discuss sothing with him,” I said. That thing specifically was every detail I could get out of him on the Arena. I refused to go into it blind.
“Yeah, go, I’ll get so dinner started. I think Maud is dying to talk Alex’s head off about potential baby nas, so that should keep them busy, too,” John said, patting his girlfriend on the back as he did. I nodded and headed for the garage. Another thing I wanted to know was why Timon was the only one willing to stare at Korl like he was ready to murder him.
“Dave, think fast,” Timon said the mont I spotted them in the garage. The words were followed by one of the class orbs flying at my face. Sohow, I managed to grab it before it broke my nose. I opened my mouth about to complain when a new option appeared in my vision.
Would you like to overwrite the class orb?
One of the main functions of a liaison to the Spiral is to handle the faction’s business, licensing, and docuntation. As factions grow, the office of the liaison will need to grow with them. It’s usually a thankless job, but all factions are required to have one. Due to how much they are privy to, many a liaison has wound up dead after an attempt to sell faction secrets has backfired.
System Paths, Careers in the Spiral by Glarppp
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