“Ugh…” Sam let out a giant groan as his back sank into the comfortable seat of the hired car as it gently rumbled under him, taking his tired body and mind away from the cesspit of politics and economics.
His talk with the old man took a lot out of him, and even though he felt he won, there was a sense of loss permeating his being. Maybe because he was forced to make this choice by Lara’s grandfather, but the ‘win’ was sounding very hollow to his ears.
At least he was proud that he could maneuver out of the trap the old man had set up. Though he expected that the same trick wouldn’t work again. The old man felt like somebody who would use everything possible to shore up their missing knowledge.
RING RING RING
Letting out another tired sigh, he used his floppy arm to roughly poke at his phone until it was on speakerphone and called out.
“You called the recently deceased! How may I direct your call?”
The voice on the other end sounded taken aback before they started talking. Lara’s voice, even through the tiny speakerphone was unmistakable.
“You good, boss?” she asked, clearly worried.
“I’m alive… Your grandpa is a monster.”
“Hahaha…” she laughed awkwardly. “He can be that. Did he do anything to you? Did he threaten you?”
“Lara, he just has to smile, and I would feel threatened. I currently feel like I went three rounds with a bonobo and somehow survived.”
“Ugh, I hate when he does that…” she let out a huff while complaining.
Sam just shrugged, even though he knew the woman on the other end of the phone couldn’t see it. “That’s what he does. He is a businessman, and his goal is to make the numbers go up. I’m a good stepping stool for that…”
“Sam! Tell me you didn’t sell the guild or the company!” came her worried – even panicky – voice.
“Please!” he waved with his hand. “I’m not an amateur. Well, compared to your grandfather, I am, but you know what I mean.”
Lara let out a breath that she seemed to be holding. “Good…good. That’s good. I’d hate to have to find a new guild…”
Sam smirked. “Then you’re going to hate what I agreed to!”
“Oh, no… what exactly did you do, you asshole?” Now that she knew she didn’t need to worry about the guild, her full sassiness came out.
“Congratulations! You are our new Economic Outreach and Relations representative!”
Sam could practically hear her gaping through the phone.
“You utter bastard!” came the screech from her, while Sam could hear Dan asking in the background what was wrong.
“Look on the bright side, Lara! You can boss around your grandpa and cousins with this…” he told her, then with a small chuckle, ended the call.
‘I’m going to pay for that, but I’m too tired for more…’ he mused as he tried to have the quiet rumbling of the car lull him into a nap.
He flopped into his sofa, only to have a drink and a box of fried chicken thrust into his face. Happily accepting it, he took a big slurp and swallowed several chicken pieces.
“So, what do you think?” he asked between two bites.
Lucy just sent him a measured look.
“I think… You managed to maneuver around that trap well enough. Off the top of my head, I can’t really think of a better solution without alienating one of the biggest megacorps in the world.”
“I can go back and piss them off if you want?” he offered cheekily. Lucy just looked at him like one would look at an ugly, irritating cockroach. “Right. Not doing that. But what about the deal?”
Lucy hummed thoughtfully, scrolling through her tablet, reading the paperwork sent over by the old man (or rather his minions) and trying to parse the thick document for anything important.
The Astran people were rather fast once their head decided on a direction. By the time he arrived home, Lucy was already reading the second version of the agreement after she requested some alterations.
“I’ve a few things I don’t like, but I think they were left in just to have something to take out,” she admitted, not looking up from the tablet.
Sam just ate another piece of chicken. “Note all of them and request some stupid alterations. I want to know which one is important.”
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“Do you think they wouldn’t see through that?” she asked with a raised eyebrow.
He shrugged. “Even the absence of action would tell us something. They want this. We’re their best bet for setting up a market in the game without spending an ungodly amount of money.”
“Path of least resistance?”
“They’re somewhat ignorant about games, but not stupid. I’m sure there are provisions there that could be used to fuck with us,” he told her with a bored tone. He would bet a lot of money that there was some kind of provision or part of the contract that would create some kind of penalty on the AFK side due to something that cannot be done realistically, which then the Astran family can use to leverage shares in the company as a repayment. Or something like that… he wasn’t big on financial stuff.
“Mhmm, yeah. There are at least three that set unreachable targets that look reachable. But a little push here and there, especially with the war coming, and I’m sure they would argue that we failed to fulfill them,” Lucy told him as she was reading from the document while making notes on a notepad. “What do you want me to do about them?”
“Can we brute force them with money?”
“What?”
“I mean, could we use money to fulfill those requirements in record time?”
She looked at him before a lightbulb seemed to go off behind her eyes. Then, with renewed vigor, she began to scan the document.
Five minutes later and completely sated with fried chicken strips, Sam heard Lucy let out a grumble. “Maybe… one of them. However, it would cost us a lot of political capital that we can’t afford right now.”
Sam thought a little before nodding at his friend.
“Then take that provision, update it with more manageable requirements, and discard the others. However, we also have to add some of our requirements,” he said with a convincing tone of voice.
Lucy looked at him and grinned. “Did I ever say that I love when you’re doing evil shit to our enemies?”
Sam returned the grin. “Come now, Lucy. They’re not enemies. Just slightly annoying tenants.”
“Potato or potatoe,” she replied before holding up her notepad. “What do you want to do?”
Sam smiled. “Lara worked really hard by setting up a beautiful town; it would be a shame if an emerging business ruined that. They would have to adhere to the standards of the town. Including…”
“… the mutual defense pact,” she finished it for him breathlessly. “Why didn’t I think about it?”
Sam just smiled good-naturedly. “I’m sure sooner or later you’d have thought of it. But for now, how about we continue and see if there are any spots where we can tweak it. They may have forced our hand, but they didn’t know what our hand was holding!”
Sam let out an evil laugh, throwing his fist in the air, and Lucy joined him after rolling her eyes.
Sometimes it felt good to be evil…
Returning to the game felt rather weird. The tasks in the real world occupied so much of his thought that it took a while to readjust himself to the magical world of Magic Unbound.
“So, that’s how my skills are. Any advice?” Cynthia asked as they were standing around in one of the highly protected training grounds in Ferabor while whirling her spear around.
Sam took in the young girl, wearing simple enchanted leather armor that showcased her lithe figure, while she was holding a sizable spear in one hand.
Cynthia found him just as he was walking around town, getting a feel for the mood of the new populace. She immediately dragged him to a training ground and started showing off her moves and skills.
Sam watched, rather proudly, from the sidelines, petting Lucky, who was lying at his feet as he took in what the girl was showcasing.
While Cynthia finished her set of spear movements, the weapon vibrating as it struck air, he sent a message to Tim. ‘I think it is time for the next level…’
Pushing himself away from the cordon set around the training ground, he began to clap.
“Excellent work!”
She took a deep breath, swept the sweaty hair out of her face, and grinned.
“However, I think we can make it better…” he continued.
Cynthia just seemed excited hearing that. “Really? How?”
Sam smirked as his sword appeared in his hand. Cynthia took in his smirk and the sight of the sword and swallowed. “Defend yourself!” he exclaimed, and he was already striking.
“Shit!” she yelled, raising her spear just in time to protect her body. “What the hell?”
“The only way you’ll learn is if you fight something out of your league,” Sam explained with a grin. He then pivoted around, bringing his sword down on her other side at a speed that she was just able to keep up with. As the spear stopped his sword, he grinned at her, their bodies close, and raised one hand…
WHAM
A great wind struck the young girl, sending her away from him, until she landed on the ground, sending dust everywhere.
Sam watched as she got up with a grimace on her face and loathing in her eyes. He just laughed. “Good! Good! Now come!”
“RAAAAARGH!” The young girl let out a surprisingly deep roar, the effects of it sliding off his defenses, as Sam watched several dozen illusory spears heading for him.
“Well… that was fun!” he said in a chipper voice, looking down at the groaning body in front of him.
Cynthia’s armor was in tatters, half her hair was missing, and there were countless wounds on her body. The only reason he knew she was alive because her chest was still moving.
There was some mumbling noise, but he couldn’t catch anything. Sam grinned, leaned closer with one hand at his ear. “I’m sorry, what was that?”
“I said….haaa…I…HATE…you!” Cynthia breathed out between taking large gulps of air.
“If you can hate me, that means you’re alive,” he replied in a cheeky tone.
Ignoring whatever the young woman was saying, he looked behind him, seeing Tim standing there, holding a box. Using a bit of wind magic to grab it and bring it to himself, which Tim took as permission to leave, vanishing like a fart in the wind from his sight (though his mana sense could see him).
He gently put the box down next to Cynthia. “Here. Your reward for being my training dummy.”
“Ugh…you asshole.”
“Yeah, yeah. You already said that. Just open it!” Sam told her with a grin.
It took her a few minutes to force herself into a sitting position (and maybe a few potions), but in the end, she was staring at the elaborate box with curious eyes.
“What’s this?”
“Open it and find out…”
She smiled. “Don’t mind if I do…”
Cynthia reached out and simply opened the box, revealing a giant egg, which in turn caused her to release a squeal loud enough to scare the local bird population into flying away. Though a few ravens stayed put, training their beady little eyes on Sam and Cynthia.
“Is that?”
Sam waved his hands around. “Not a real dragon egg, if you are asking about that. But it’s a wyvern egg that somebody picked up. With a few rituals and whatnot, we can make a proper dragon out of it!”
He watched as the girl cradled the egg to her while Lucky curiously sniffed it. Cynthia looked up at him with a mischievous look.
“I’m so gonna call it Clarice!”
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