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The Gamer Chapter 1038 – Consolidation Diplomacy Finale – A bombardment of messages
🕑 Added 2021-07-27 06:27:27 +0000 UTC“Well, then,” John groaned and got up. “Guess I’ll deal with that.”
The Horned Rat rose as well. “Our discussion is over anyway. You have things under control.”
“As well as I can, given my limited knowledge,” the Gamer pointed out.
“I stand nothing to gain by letting Fusion get weakened.” The god looked at him, back hunched so their eyes were level. “I did not tell you that Enki and Tiamat were alive, but I would have shared with you the ability of the Death Zone to expand, had I known of it. Don’t mistake me knowing much for knowing everything.”
“It’s pretty hard to attribute incompetence over malice to someone as involved as you,” the Gamer answered, it was half an admission of his own guilt and half a critique of the Horned Rat’s character. “Either way, I am thankful for the cooperation you do show. Irritating as you can be, you are still a god that’s backing me.”
“Good, good, then we understand each other,” the Horned Rat said, before dipping a claw into the air next to him. Slowly, carefully, he constructed a spell that took the shape of a portal. “I will visit you in the evening to discuss the boring details of things.”
“Alright.” John nodded and the god of future calamity left. After a couple of seconds, the Gamer looked at Nathalia. “So, what’s the problem between Richard and Krieg?”
“A simple matter of personality,” Nathalia told him. “No grand story there, as far as I am aware of.”
“I guess even Richard would have his simple feuds.” The Gamer walked around the large table. “You two tagging along?”
“I haven’t seen Krieg in a while, might as well,” the goddess of volcanoes hummed and her round ass rose from her seat.
“I’ve better things to do,” Scarlett waved off.
“What would that be? Masturbating while waiting for some stocks to develop?” John teased.
“I’ll send you a video later,” the technomancer promised with a wink.
Winking back, John waited for her and Nathalia to join him by the doorframe. “Alright, where is the god of war waiting?” he asked the administrator who had reported the arrival in the first place.
“By the Military District, Mister President,” they responded swiftly.
“Alright, I’ll head there immediately. You return to your work,” the Gamer said and headed deeper into the Building. Using the teleporter would be the quickest way to get to where he needed to be. On the way, they parted with Scarlett, who went to her own office in her tower.
Finding Krieg was as easy as finding a cow in a haystack. The god of war stood before the Fusion Fortress’ fortified main gate and inspected the defensive structure with a critical eye. At least that was what John interpreted from the god’s body language.
Krieg was a fire elemental and stood about two metres tall. Although made up entirely of flame, the dimensions and even the shape of his body were very much human, with bulging muscles underneath the steady red flickering. His minimal clothing reminded John of a Roman gladiator: a skirt made from leather strips and metal, an axe and a sword hanging from his waist, two belts stretching over his shoulders and a helm on his head. Although it had a continuous gap for his face, it was almost completely obscured by thick smoke. Only his eyes, two dots of yellow-gold, broke through the black. A streak of flame extended from the back of the helmet.
“A surprise visit,” John said, while approaching the god of war.
“Nathalia,” Krieg noted the presence of the goddess, not even taking a glimpse into John’s direction while he tried to approach her. The simple walk soon turned into an attempt to hug the dragoness, which she responded with by shoving Krieg back with one hand. “What is the matter?”
“You don’t disrespect my mate in such a fashion,” Nathalia growled, the earth quivering softly along the sound.
‘Figures he’d be one of the stronger gods around,’ the Gamer thought. ‘Which isn’t good, given what he thinks about me…’
“Your mate, is he?” Krieg did his best to make that sound as doubtful as he could without actually questioning the truth of her words. “This mortal?”
“The name is John Newman,” the Gamer offered his hand in greeting. “Your doubt is entirely irrelevant, so swallow your hurt feelings.”
Krieg took the offered hand and squeezed it to the point that John could feel his bones bend. Fire seared his skin and yet he kept a straight face as they shook in greeting. The passive Observe John had running via the Unfound Perk informed him that Krieg’s relationship increased by a couple of points. Although the god was jealous, he still gave begrudging respect to strength.
“I have no hurt feelings.” The god’s lie was transparent even without Observe.
Nathalia growled again, catching a glimpse of John’s hand before Gamer’s Body fixed the damage. “Krieg…” Her tone was an overt warning.
Although he would have enjoyed watching someone this disrespectful get kicked in the face by the very woman they were disrespectful over, John decided to intervene. Having bad relationships with the god of war was a circumstance he was willing to accept, given the right reasons, but he would prefer if he was strong enough to fight out that disagreement himself and, more important to the situation, he would prefer to do it somewhere else. The Guild Hall getting wrecked by that particular brawl would cost him billions.
Putting an arm around Nathalia’s waist was an easy way to get her to stay where she was. “Let’s calm down,” the Gamer said and kissed her neck. Then he looked over to Krieg. “This shouldn’t be a violent affair, am I right?”
“No, it should not,” the god of war agreed. “I was surprised to see Nathalia returned, that is all. My business is with you, John Newman. The council of Overseers has decided to give you an official warning.”
John furrowed his eyebrows and asked, “What for?”
“Combat deployment of a god outside of guild territory,” Krieg answered.
The furrowing of his eyebrows only grew more intense. The Overseers did have the de-facto authority to reprimand people for something like this. A group of gods and other incredibly powerful individuals, the Overseers ensured that gods, particularly patron gods, did not fight on battlefields outside home territory by threatening to join the opposing side whenever someone did so. That pact came into being due to the tendency of some gods to make entire armies obsolete with their overwhelming power, making most wars between important guilds nothing more than a contest between the most destructive gods.
John was fundamentally in support of the pact. It ensured that guilds weren’t entirely dependent on their gods as a lifeline, while simultaneously decreasing the offensive power of everyone drastically. This decrease of aggression across the globe made borders more stable and allowed guilds to concentrate more on catering to their weaker elements, increasing prosperity and innovation.
Which was why he wouldn’t have broken it – if he had even had the opportunity to.
“Fusion has not had a god on their side until relatively recently,” the Gamer defended his position. “To the best of my knowledge, Wendy did not go on any battlefield.” Even if she did, she wasn’t technically a patron god of Fusion and not even that strong. Not that either of those meant that her fighting would have been in keeping with the spirit of the law.
“Wendy is not being discussed, it’s Thana,” the god of war stated.
John understood immediately and his expression switched from confusion to annoyance. “Thana never fought for Fusion in wars of expansion. The closest she got was killing Lorylim in the Death Zone. Surely, the Lorylim are not counted as an enemy guild.”
“They are not,” Krieg agreed immediately. “However, the deployment of the human vessel, Eliza, has been ruled to count as deployments as Thana, after long debate, as the potential exists that she may transform at any moment.”
Tapping his foot on the ground, John pondered about this piece of news. It was disadvantageous for him to lose Eliza as a potential combat member when he went to attack an enemy’s position. There was also the potential for it to be really inconvenient. Depending on whether or not Eliza could stay out of fights, taking her along future trips would be a risk. Because of both, he wanted to reject this decision. Logically speaking, he couldn’t, however. If he had been part of the Overseers, he would have made the same decision.
His foot stopped and his expression relaxed. “I understand,” he said. “Eliza will not be part of future combat deployments.”
Krieg’s relationship went up another few points, now being at -89. That was far from good, but at least it wasn’t in the hatred range. “Acceptable,” Krieg said.
It was at this moment that John’s phone started buzzing in his pocket – the one he carried with him for urgent messages. ‘What is it now?’ he thought, while trying to wrap things up with the god of war. “Do you intend to stay or will you leave now that you have brought the message.”
Glancing over to Nathalia, Krieg stayed silent for a moment. It was pretty clear he wanted to stay and he was clearly calculating whether there was a chance for him to get what he wanted. John’s expression darkened, something that Krieg noticed when he glanced back at the Gamer.
“You are aware of my potential, right?”
This was the only question John had to ask to put his foot down. Even if the god of war did outclass him at the moment, it was only a question of a few years before John equalled or even surpassed his power. That was before taking into account his harem, whose own growing power had to be renowned by this point, even if John tried to keep the part Lover’s Will played in that under wraps. Even that only stayed in the physical realm, the political one was a whole other issue. Any threat he made at the moment was empty. Any grudge he held towards the future was a guaranteed pain for anyone who had earned it.
Krieg’s relationship ticked down a couple of points again and he said, “I will be leaving,” before doing exactly that and exciting the barrier. John had no idea where he was headed and he didn’t care to ask either.
“What is his problem?” Nathalia hissed. “He was never this uncivilized in my presence before.”
“We are,” John told her while pulling out his phone. “Won’t be the last time we have to deal with an envious ex-lover of yours either.” He looked her dead in the eyes. “You don’t fuck random people and gods for ten thousand years without some of them getting attached to you. You don’t even do that for one year without anyone wanting you and getting upset that somebody else ‘wins.”
“I suppose?” Nathalia asked; she clearly had never bothered thinking about that. “This baggage won’t weigh on our relationship, will it?”
“You’re worth the trouble,” John assured and gave her a quick kiss. Then he finally picked up the still buzzing phone. “What’s the situation?”
“Information,” Beatrice’s voice came from the other end. The passive maid must have taken over in the management department, given the current buzz it went through. Since she was also his secretary, that made absolute sense. “I attempted to reach you because the Order of the Golden Rose was calling. The Lake Alliance has also started a call, about ten seconds ago.”
“What are the odds?” John mumbled.
“Calculation impossible, too many unknown factors,” Beatrice responded immediately.
“It was not a serious question,” the Gamer couldn’t help but banter back.
“I did not attempt a serious calculation.” Beatrice had just the barest hint of a giggle in her otherwise neutral voice. “The people calling are William Brighton and Emrik Telford. Please pick who you want to be put through first. Of additional note is that William has used the communication equipment of one of our Death Zone occupation forces to call.”
‘I guess William would be the kind of guy to lead the first wave personally,’ John thought and weighed who he wanted to talk to first. Both were the highest authority in their respective guild or alliance. The Golden Rose was, of course, the larger force, so giving them the time of day first would have been proper. Both men had a negative opinion of John, although Emrik seemed more workable than the stoic lord of the Golden Rose. “Put me through to the Lake Alliance first,” John decided, petty as that may have been. He hadn’t forgiven William yet for sending Moira with the demons unannounced.
“Affirmative,” Beatrice said, and a number of seconds later, John heard a click.
“Good day, Mister Telford,” the Gamer greeted swiftly.
“Hello.” Emrik’s voice was smooth. It wasn’t overly deep, it wasn’t unusual in any other aspect either, it was just smooth and easy to listen to. “I hope I meet you in good health.”
“Quite so,” John answered to the simple nicety. “I’m, sadly, quite busy.”
“Then I shall cut straight to the point,” Emrik said, his tone indicating this was what he wanted to do anyway, “You win.”
“The Lake Alliance is ready to join Fusion?” John asked, just to be completely certain. This was the only kind of winning he could consider to be meant. The peace deal he had made with the Lake Alliance several months back was meant to create exactly this outcome. He had weakened them to such a point that they couldn’t hope to catch up to Fusion’s power at any point.
“Yes,” Emrik told him. “After the Gestalt affair, the combined leadership of the Lake Alliance has decided to seek aid in the larger power block.”
“I respect you being open about this.” John nodded, although he knew that Emrik himself had further reservations. The de-facto leader of the Lake Alliance was concerned that Fusion and John in particular would take over completely. “I take it you will need me to come personally to discuss the concessions Fusion will have to make to ensure the integration is seamless?”
“That would be optimal.”
“Alright, I can come in two days.”
“We will have everything prepared for your arrival then.”
“Splendid, I will have my secretary arrange the complete meeting procedure.”
“Then I will see you in two days, John Newman,” the leader of the Lake Alliance said.
“Until then,” John ended the call. ‘Quick, smooth and clear, that’s how I like it,’ he thought, before calling his office again. “Alright, Bae, put me through to William.”
“Affirmative,” the passive maid answered and, once again, there was the click.
“Good day, William,” John greeted the lord of the Golden Rose.
“Newman.” The hard and militaristic way William said his name barely qualified as a greeting. “I see your manners are still poor, to let me wait that long.”
“Believe it or not, I have better things to do than sit around and wait for a call by someone who hasn’t announced their ambassadors in the past,” the Gamer shot right back. “You should be thankful that my soldiers are lending their equipment so you are on a faster line.”
There was a windy sound, likely the old man blowing air out of his nose. “That was the least they could do. I understand you dealt with the Death Zone? What was inside it?”
“I don’t see why I would share that with you.”
“Do you want me to interrogate your soldiers instead, boy?”
“My soldiers are good people, the Lady wouldn’t approve of that course of action, now would she?” To that, at least, he got silence. “Listen, Lord Brighton, I am willing to meet with you, in person, and discuss what happened in the Death Zone and what should happen regarding our borders now that it has been removed.”
“Good,” William sounded pleased, likely thinking he was finally getting respected.
“Next year,” said the Gamer and overpowered the voices of protests with a, “my secretary will inform you of the date of my earliest convenience,” and then hung up. “What a cuntwaffle,” the Gamer grumbled and put his phone away. ‘You got all of that, Beatrice?’
‘Affirmative. Statement: I will postpone the contact for three days for maximum annoyance. Does this meet your approval?’
‘Absolutely,’ he told her mentally.
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