by Mia Archer
“Go forth and conquer,” the goddess whispered in my ear.
I thought about what Director Reynolds had said about Chelsey running an intel network. He’d been more focused on getting that screenshot, but it suddenly occurred to me that someone with a will and a mind might be able to pick up where Chelsey left off.
I peered through their number looking for one person in particular and sure enough, near the back trying her very best to not be noticed, was that girl who’d propositioned me the first time I came through the place.
It would seem that not only had the world’s oldest profession come to Etherea Online, but that there were plenty of people who were willingly engaging in it in the name of having a good time and gathering information about their peers.
And they were looking to me to give them their new marching orders.
My head swam as I thought of the possibilities. I’d inherited whatever network it was Chelsey had been building, and now they were willing to work for me. Yeah, there was a world of possibilities that were opening up for me.
“So you do all realize that you’re free, right?” I asked. “Like I’m not going to be like Chelsey. You’re free to go if you want to get the hell out of here. You don’t have to worry about me coming after you or anything.”
They glanced at each other, then the crowd collectively turned back to me. That was creepy. The girl who’d spoken up first spoke again.
“We know,” she said. “And there have been plenty who decided to leave when they realized they’d been freed, but you saved us. We want to help. We felt compelled to stay here.”
Again my head swam with the possibilities. I had a crowd of people who were the scions of some of the most rich and powerful families in the game who were telling me they wanted to work for me. I also thought of the little charisma boost I’d gotten thanks to the goddess, and wondered if that was at work here.
I’d been worried this whole time that maybe this was all going to end in tears. That maybe something was going to go wrong because, at the end of the day, for all that Katie and her father had my back for the moment, there was always the possibility they could decide I’d outlived my usefulness.
But maybe, just maybe, if I was able to use the game world to influence the real world the same as they had with that screenshot then there was a chance I could turn this thing around.
It was a very slim chance, but I’d take what I could get.
So I smiled at the gathered crowd. Motioned for them to move in closer.
“Right,” I said. “We’re going to have to go over exactly how it was your business was run, because I’m very interested in helping you help me.”
40
Secret Identity
Later that night I was in Katie’s arms in a small hammock set up outside the inn that I’d blown up on my first eventful night in the game. I smiled thinking back to that night, and found myself wondering at the strange and crazy twists and turns that brought me from there to this point.
Though at the moment Katie wore a frown that had me wondering what the heck was wrong.
“Something on your mind?” I asked.
“I’m just watching all the people going in and out of that damned inn,” she said.
Her words were slurred just a little. I’d never seen her touch a drop of alcohol in the real world, not even now that we were together, but she seemed to be a fan of the stuff in the game world. Which I figured was probably okay as long as she didn’t let that sort of shit spill over into the real world.
I wondered if it was even possible to pick up an addiction in the game world that would transfer over to the real world. Something told me someone out there was busy working on some firsthand trial experiments answering that very question.
“What’s wrong with people going in an out of the inn?” I asked.
“You know what people are doing in there,” she said.
Her voice was flat. She clearly wasn’t amused by the thought of what people were doing in there.
I couldn’t help but smile, but I was careful to conceal that smile. I knew exactly what was going on in there, because the people running the business end of things in there were working for me now. It was a far cry from that first day in the game when I’d accidentally blown most of them up and wound up with a crowd chasing me through the starter zone.
“Is that really such a bad thing?” I said. “Presumably everyone in there is an adult. It’s not like they’re hurting anything by doing what they’re gonna do in there. They might be helping seeing as how you can't get a disease or knocked up in there.”
“It’s not that, never mind that those are two things people with modern medicine have to worry about if they don't want to,” she said. “It’s that it’s still going even now that Chelsey’s gone. Someone out there picked up where she left off, and that’s worrying. That means there’s someone out there who might be challenging dad.”
Again I looked away from her. I was worried that if she did get a look at me then she’d see the guilt plain there.
I knew it was probably a bad precedent to set, starting a relationship by keeping something major like I was the new head of the in-game criminal organization Chelsey had been running a secret. At the same time I didn’t want to tip my hand. There was still a part of me that was well aware that I was a small fish playing in a very big pond where there were whales that could smack me down without a thought.
Or maybe it would be better to say there were sharks out there. The few whales that were still alive out in the oceans were supposed to be pretty cool and non-predatory if you weren't krill, but whatever.
“I figure let people do what they’re gonna do,” I said. “I haven’t heard any mention of someone using mind control like Chelsey was. I figure as long as they’re doing their thing and there’s not someone trying to puppetmaster the whole thing then what’s the worry?”
“I don’t know,” she said. “I just have a bad feeling about this. Like there’s something going on there that’s going to be trouble down the line or something.”
I sighed, then leaned in and kissed her. We had a good thing going here where it seemed like we were getting closer and closer, and I didn't want to ruin it by letting on that I was the great kingpin she was worried about.
As long as she thought the person taking over the criminal element around here was a kingpin I figured we were mostly safe. Maybe. Sort of. If I looked at it crosseyed and told myself it was safe.
“Don’t you worry your pretty little head about anything like that,” I said.
“Who are you calling me pretty?” she said, looking annoyed and then blushing as she seemed to realize, just a touch too late, that she’d just called me out for complimenting her.
“Sorry,” she said.
“No need to apologize,” I said, watching the steady stream of people moving in and out of the inn. “There’s nothing for you to apologize for. You saved my life, after all.”
Katie sighed and snuggled in a little closer to me. I returned that sigh, though this time around it was more contented than exasperated. I leaned down and hit the top of her head with a kiss, and that got me another contented sigh from her.
Sure the whole running a criminal underground throughout the game in a bid to maybe someday take over the game world thing was something that might cause some friction in our relationship down the line, but for right now I was keeping my mouth shut. That was my insurance policy in case the protection being offered by Katie and her father was temporary.
I was well aware of how quickly alliances could shift among the rich and powerful in the elevator, and I was just a lowly rizon.
But I could become so much more than that. I smiled, and the smile only had a little to do with how good Katie felt in my arms. The world was mine for the taking.
Assuming I could live long enough to take it!
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