Chapter 219: Hello Again (Patreon)

“Welcome to my Stronghold, William Oh.” Zodiac said, spreading his arms. “I am Zodiac.”

He wasn’t…quite what Will was expecting.

Wow, Alicia’s dad is ancient.

Zodiac had pristine white robes, deep wrinkles, long hair and beard. His eyes were just regular pale blue, not glowing like his daughter. Maybe in the past he had been blonde, but the color had long since been washed out of his hair by time.

He looked rather gaunt, but intense. Like a man who enjoyed power more than food.

Based on what Will knew about how Resistance slowed the aging process, Zodiac couldn’t have looked much different twenty years ago when Alicia was conceived.

Huh. No accounting for taste, I guess.

“Thank you for having me,” Will said with a bow. “You have a gorgeous Stronghold, and it has been hospitable to us.”

Brianna bowed and murmured agreement.

“It’s the least I could do for the man who actually saved my daughter.”

“Reggie’s taken plenty of hits for her too,” Will said, wincing as soon as he said it, immediately regretting starting their relationship with a disagreement.

“True. Because it is his job.” Zodiac said, waving the subject away as he reached into his robe, coming back with a familiar note.

“Imagine me, mourning my missing daughter, killed by the Wyrd family, her body cast into the sea of clouds below the floating islands of the second Floor, never to be recovered.

“And then one day I get a frozen casket with a poorly written note attached and her body perfectly preserved inside. The loss from resurrection was minimal, just a bit shier than she already was, I’m told.”

Ah, so that’s what that note is. It was the letter Will had sent along with Alicia’s corpse to try and gain favor with Lord Zodiac way back in the day, to hopefully gain allies against the Wyrd Family.

Zodiac glanced down at the note, a single bushy white brow cocked as he scanned the note.

“How’s your penmanship nowadays? Has it improved or do you simply hire others to  write for you?”

“It’s improved.” Will said, trying not to blush.

Zodiac gave Will a narrow side-eye that made him feel like a bug pinned to a display case.

“…That’s good.” Zodiac, stroking his beard for a moment.

“You’re young so you’ll probably appreciate candor:”

Will cocked a brow.

“I would very much like to kill Mark Wyrd, the rotten sack of shit that abandoned my daughter’s corpse in an unknown ice cave.”

That could be a problem. Will could imagine the explosive fallout if Zodiac violated the peace accord of his own daughter’s wedding.

“Unfortunately, he’s married to Baron Akul’s niece. Lovely girl. Her pedigree and skill at politics makes her a valuable asset, and her relationship to Luise Akul makes her an effective shield against my wrath. I’ve decided to let that grudge fester for now.”

“So…” what does that have to do with me?

“The Wyrd family and the Akul family have blood ties now. In a generation or two, I could see them allying against me.”

That’s…true. Without the asshole Frederick Wyrd, the two families are on much better terms. Most of the bad blood died with their patriarchs. Mark Wyrd loves Amanda Akul, after all, and she brokered peace between the 7th Floor and the 5th.

“...I heard your plotting with Reginald to abandon the 15th Floor Stronghold and turn my daughter into a breeding sow.”

“I wouldn’t…put it like that.” Will said.

“I would. But, as much as it pains me to admit: It’s better than my plan.” Zodiac said. “I’ve got another hundred years in me easily. I can afford to wait for grandchildren to reach me.”

“On one condition:” Zodiac said, giving Will a piercing stare.

“What’s that?” Will asked.

“Are you familiar with the term ‘marriage of arranged proximity?’”

Will frowned for a moment before shaking his head.

“When you conceive children, I’d like Alicia and Reginald to act as their guardians outside The Tower.”

Brianna turned red.

Will flashed back to the time in the 6th floor where he’d stumbled across two nobles ‘eloping’ with each other after they’d been deliberately raised next door to each other for over a decade, forbidden from interacting with each other but given innumerable opportunities to do so.

“You want to raise my kids next to your grandkids so that some of them marry each other?” Will asked.

It was a far looser contract than arranged marriage. After all, they had no idea of the quantity nor gender of their respective offspring.

It was more like ‘arranged playmates.’

“Have you put any thought into where your children will grow up, William Oh?” Zodiac asked. “I would imagine you would want someone you could trust to watch them, such as…two former Party members who have a great deal of gratitude towards you, both with Advanced Classes, making them godlike outside The Tower. Ideal protectors.”

Will actually hadn’t put any thought into it.

Reggie and Alicia had strong links to both Will and Zodiac. They could be trusted to watch Will’s kids and could certainly be trusted to watch their own. Zodiac was deliberately carving out a good situation for both of them to establish a dynasty outside of The Tower that could easily link their families together in the next thirty years or so.

The Lord wasn’t lying. He was simply shining a light on an opportunity that could benefit them both and cost them nothing in the attempt.

It was a good deal, but there was still plenty of room for backstabbing.

“If I get final say over the staff that works under Reggie and Alicia.” Will said. The obvious move here was to fill the ranks of the mansions with people loyal to Zodiac, so that if their relationship turned sour, Will’s children could be soft hostages.

Zodiac paused a moment, a glint of amusement in his eye.

“You’re a lot sharper than I expected.”

Naturally, Zodiac was vehemently opposed to allowing Will have complete control over the staff of the proposed split daycare, so the two of them haggled over it for a long while until they found a compromise, where most of the staff was required to be hired locally save for a handful of core staff who were split between the different households.

Composing the staff primarily of civilians and reducing the number of high level Climbers down to a manageable number made everything easier to keep track of, and less volatile. Will and Zodiac would each have a couple representatives who would keep their eyes on each other, and the rest of the staff would be neutral caregivers.

An additional compromise: The representatives of Will and Zodiac could not be higher than level 30, save for their mother. This was proposed by Zodiac to prevent Will from sending Advanced Classers to overpower the two guardians.

Alicia and Reggie’s ‘daycare’ would be funded equally in a lump sum provided by Will and Zodiac, and further support would only be provided upon agreement by both parties.

After a long and tedious haggling session, Will and Zodiac had reached an agreement, and wrapped it up with a contract and a handshake.

Well, I guess I know who my kids will be friends with, Will thought as he grasped the old man’s gnarled hand.

It was a weird feeling, planning out the future in exchange for political capital like that.

Now for the thing I actually wanted.

“I hate to ask for favors as soon as we have only just made a deal, but there’s a Party of laborers I’m interested in heading out on a mission this morning. I was hoping to hire them away from you.”

“This morning?” Zodiac mused for a moment before snapping his fingers.

“The expeditions, you mean.”

“Oh?”

“I send out expeditions to search for new resource nodes, or good pre-existing infrastructure to add to the Stronghold. Everything’s constantly shifting around out there, with invisible giants covering and uncovering islands constantly. Most islands aren’t worth the trouble of towing back here, but even if it’s not worth the effort of bringing the island back, they still often bring back a decent profit.”

Will frowned.

“If that’s the case, on the way in, I found an island that might interest you.”

“I’d be surprised if you could find it agai-“

Will summoned a physical copy of Map, interrupting Zodiac.

Will zoomed out until he located the island, then shifted the map until the island was dead center, then expanded the size of the island until the six-foot wide map was completely dominated by the crystal disc.

“There must’ve been giants living here, as you can see,” Will said, indicating the oversized buildings. “I found bones in one of the buildings…” He zoomed in on the place they’d found the skeleton, until the skeleton itself showed up.

“…Nice map.” Zodiac said, stroking his beard.

“Thanks.”

“Pull back out.”

Will complied.

“Here’s us, here’s the snake, here was the island you were on…yesterday?” Zodiac asked.

“Yeah.” Will nodded.

“Does this map reflect changes automatically?”

“No,” Will said for simplicity’s sake. It certainly didn’t track changes nearly a hundred miles out.

“Pity. Given our current trajectory, the island is probably somewhere around…here, now.”

Zodiac drew an oval just to the right of the island on Will’s map, straightening up and staring at it, stroking his beard.

“…You’ve granted me a boon. Take whoever you like off the expedition. I have replacements available.”

“You’re too kind.” Will said with a deep bow.

**Kyle Fontaine**

“Lumesh’s black titties, it’s cold here in the mornings,” Bess complained, wrapping the wool cloak tightly around her. It spoke to her low resistance that she felt uncomfortable from a little bit of freezing temperatures.

‘Morning’ was relative to the side of the island one found themselves on, as each side of the Island would go dormant for roughly twelve hours while the other side warmed up, seemingly re-emitting the starlight it had absorbed overnight.

Naturally in an environment with so little natural light, it was cold as Abyss out there. Easily below freezing, causing all the puffs of mist they breathed out to form even more crystals on the side of the buildings.

“Don’t speak that way about the gods.” Amy chided the mage. The priestess wore a more sensible outfit over her kit, and a symbol of Granesh on her hip.

“Does that apply to all of them or just the ones you approve of?” Bess shot back.

“A wise man would err on the side of caution around any of the divine.” Mark replied, his signature helmet back on. The mud-mage’s clay golems were carrying the party’s luggage, so their hands were free to go for their weapons if necessary.

Just gotta get out of this Stronghold and we’re safe. Maybe not safe, considering they were going to be exploring the void with every chance they might never return, but definitely safe-er.

When Kyle had first run from Ashwood, it was because he believed Thomas Oh would hunt them down and kill his entire Party for killing his son. Eventually, that fear was replaced by another one as stories of William Oh began nipping at their party’s heels, word of mouth moving up the tower faster than they possibly could.

Who the Abyss got out of the Trial room without any Sacrifices? Certainly not a human.

And the stories…if there was even a tiny grain of truth to the overblown rumors of the boy’s power, then Kyle wanted nothing to do with him.

Maybe I should disband the Party. If they split up, it might be safer for all of them. Even if William Oh found one of them, they wouldn’t know where the others were, and it was easier to hide one person than a distinctive group of five.

Gah, I got lazy. Let’s not beat around the bush.

He figured they had more time before a noob could make hit up here.

That’s it, once we’re done with this mission, I’m breaking up the Party.

Stewing on these thoughts, Kyle marched up to the foreman, Amy, Bess, Mark and Roger following close behind.

“Fontaine,” he said, leaning on the desk.

“Fontaine, Fontaine…” The wiry foreman muttered, going through his roster.

“Ah, here you are. I see you’ve volunteered to head out early.”

“Yeah.” Kyle said, trying not to let his impatience make his words any more clipped and rude than they should be.

This was the part where the foreman told them which dock to take their luggage to and told them to get themselves sorted and ready to head out.

“…You’ve been reassigned.”

“..What?” Kyle asked.

“Lord Zodiac assigned you to crowd control for the wedding. He says your priestess, mage and golemancer will be needed.”

Fuck! Kyle swallowed back the expletive.

“Your foreman is in that tent over there.” The wiry foreman said, pointing to an ostentatious tent, scratching himself with his pen before his lung inflated like a bellows. “NEXT!”

“What should we-“ Roger began, his hand tightening around his bow.

“We’re not going to run immediately. Let’s hear out our assignment and wait for a chance to get lost in the shuffle.” Kyle said, motioning for them to calm down and not make a scene.

Together, the five of them strode towards the tent.

There was no indication William Oh knew they were here, so there was no sense drawing attention to themselves yet.

“Come on in!” A voice called from the tent as Kyle darkened the entryway.

“Pardon me,” Kyle said as he entered the temporary room. Kyle raised his gaze to the occupant and froze in place, Amy bumping into him from behind.

“Hello again, Mr. Fontaine,” a tall youth with a black eye spoke with a bright smile. “Come in, come in. We’ve got so much to do.”