AlterWorld

"That's smart," he said slowly.

Eric turned to him, "Why do you think the Admins decided to leave him the patent? And even allowed him to grant licenses?"

"I think all they want is to tie the invention to a perma player. This way it would be much easier for them to keep lawyers at bay. You can't sue a perma. At least not for the time being."

He sat back and fell silent, squinting at the play of smoke like a cat basking in the sun.

Eric reached into his bag and produced a small figurine depicting my demoness in the heat of battle. Her hair was flying in the wind; she was baring her teeth, gri

The Gold Figurine. The second prize in the Tournament of Familiars. You can sell it or keep it. Fixed price: 300 gold.

"Thanks, dude," I carefully put the prize away into my bag. Looked like it was time to fix up a shelf on the wall of my room to display all these cups and prizes. Sort of miniature Hall of Fame.

Dan shook his head and slapped the oak table. I'd love to know what he had on his mind now. He leaned forward and lowered his voice, "Would you like to make us an offer?"

"Actually, I expected you to do the same. But I'm not going to beat around the bush. I'd like to completely distance myself from both production and sales. I'd like to use my right to grant the license to whoever I want but stick to the Admins' sales rates demands. Instead, I'd like to get my cut and the clan's full support—ideally, something like honorary membership. I do understand the importance of discipline and subordination, but still I'd hate to have to go through your marching drills. So I'd love to be allowed to skip the soldier's stage."

Eric's face reflected surprise. He'd probably never even thought there could be other ways to join the clan but the standard cadet-private-sergeant chain. But somehow I found it hard to believe that their esteemed bookkeeper, Mr. Simonov, had had to do a month of square-bashing with other junior cadets. It meant that in certain cases, the clan could indeed make exceptions.

Dan stared at me, thoughtful and appraising. Wonder if he was toying with the idea of locking me up in some bunker of their own? Finally, he spoke,

"I've heard you out. I don't have enough authority to decide whether we can accept it or not. Only the clan's General Council can do that, including its Dark Branch. One thing I can tell you now: even our clan is not powerful enough to handle this caboodle. No one will forgive us this gain in power. Fear and jealousy will force our opponents to join forces. Together they'll crush us. You can't just share this recipe with our clan. We need to create a coalition to exploit this. We make up part of a rather powerful military alliance. If we make them this sort of offer, they'll join us. This is the standpoint I will present at the Council."

Right. This was how I'd thought it would be. "How much time will it take them to come to a decision?"

"Tomorrow I'll let you know their response. I'll start calling it up straight away. Do you have some more cigarettes for the presentation?"

I nodded, handing over another handful. About thirty, that should be enough. Noticing Eric's pleading eyes, I sneaked another dozen to him. For a moment I wondered whether I should mention Taali's problem and then thought against it. I really should wait for the Council's decision regarding my status. It was one thing to decide whether to help a total stranger and quite another to a fellow clan member.

Dan placed the cigarettes carefully into his pocket and turned back to me. "What would you say to staying in our castle for a couple days?"

That got me thinking. The offer was curious any way you looked at it. It could be his wish to protect me—whether sincere or not. It could also mean the chained-in-the-bunker scenario. I doubted they'd go that far: after the generous offer I'd made, they would be more interested in cooperation than in ruthless kidnapping. And still I decided to decline it. Wouldn't be a good thing to so openly reveal my vulnerability, coming to the Vets cap in hand.

"Thanks, man, but I don't think so. In any case, just for the sake of my paranoia, I might check the recruitment page and hire a couple bodyguards. Just for peace of mind."

He shook his head. "We don't leave our men in the lurch. You're the clan's friend now. Your offer promises considerable returns, and we don't trust strangers with guarding our property. I'll bring a few special-ops guys. They'll rent a room next door to yours. At least two of them will be hanging about your room at all times. If you need to go out, they'll be around, too."

A generous offer, hard to resist. To hire a stellar group like that would have cost me five grand a day. Now I really had nothing to worry about. No one could just kidnap me on the sly—and if it came to fighting, a group like that was capable of handling considerably superior forces engaging them until reinforcements arrived.

With that, we closed our business talks. We stayed on for a hearty meal, discussing their open house day. Apparently, the Russian salad had received first prize at the cooking contest. By way of a prize, the clan was now buying the license for the recipe from the woman who'd made it, so now it was going to be a permanent staple in the castle's mess hall. Eric gave me a wink and promised to sneak out the recipe for me.

"Fucking womanizer," Dan chuckled.

I laughed and gave Eric a high five, slapping his palm with gusto. What a man! The recipe was worth it, even if he had to shag the whole kitchen and the dishwashing girl to boot.

"And what about this familiars' contest?" I remembered. "My kitty got the second prize. Who got the first one, then?"

They exchanged glances and burst into laughter.

"What?" I leaned across the table. "Come on, spill the beans."

"You won't believe it."

"I would. At the moment, I'll believe anything."

"Wi

They'd said I wouldn't believe it. So I didn't. "What do you mean, Wi

"Remember the little girl? Our captain's daughter?"

"The one who's forever twelve years old?"

"Exactly. So she did this quest. A totally boring and intensely useless social one, eighteen tasks to complete. Those who do it are either masochists or they just can't forget the little puppy they used to have at home in real life so they want to bring the fucking thing here. The final prize allows them to upload their pet's picture and have it animated. I've no idea what AI thought about it. Maybe it was just exercising its sense of humor. But if you come across a ghostly white bear in one of the castle corridors, just offer him a slice of meat. It won't pester you much."

"Meat. I thought Wi

"He won't eat it. He turned out to be a carnivore, apparently. But very cute to look at."

Oh well, stranger things happen at sea.

With all that talk I'd missed the arrival of the five special-ops guys. They'd installed themselves at a table next to ours and were now sipping their beers casting greedy glances at the dying cigarette smoke.

Dan called up their leader. "Meet Lieutenant Brown. A 160 wizard. He'll be nursing you for the next twenty-four hours. Create a group and grant them a teleport permission. You never know, they might need to pull you out quickly. Also, allow them access to your room."