RD 5 Ch 40

Apparently, even though I thought what Gloria had been wearing was just fine, she had needed to change before we were ready to head out.

I guess if she was showing off her strength, she probably wanted to look good in the process.

While I waited, I headed to check in with Merlin, who was milling about the Citadel,  taking orders from the various Mul Branova before she went back out scouting for goods that were rapidly disappearing in the new hierarchy of the world.

“There you are, Merlin,” I said, flashing my best smile. “You know, even though you are Merlin,” I gestured at her, “the name still brings to mind an old gray-haired man.”

In reality, Merlin was a beautiful woman with short cropped hair and piercing blue eyes. But similar to the man of myth, she tended to wear larger robes that hid her figure. Though, even with the robes, no one would ever mistake her for a man.

I’d meant to simply tease her but the joke apparently did not land well. Merlin scowled as she turned to me. “Is that what you think of when you hear my name?”

I had literally just said one thing, but I knew it was the wrong answer and I was being given a chance to change it to take my foot out of my mouth. “It was a joke. Of course that’s not how I envision you. When I hear Merlin, I think of a fantastically wonderful and powerful woman who has honed her expertise in magic and alchemy beyond most people’s wildest dreams.”

I did my best to soften the previous insult, and apparently was successful as a small smile spread across her face. “Even so, it sounds like you and Circe really hit it off in the Trial of Kings. Meanwhile, we were all worried for you.”

A little alarm went off in the back of my head. Apparently Merlin had some feelings about what had happened between Circe and I in the trial.

“Well, yes. In that situation I tried various things to accomplish the goal given to me. Also, Circe was fairly free, it seems, once upon a time.” I gave a little cough, hoping we could move off the topic soon.

Merlin snorted. “Of course she was. People called her a nymph for good reason. It wasn’t because she was attractive,” Merlin clarified. “It was because she was a slut.”

I kept my smile tight, refusing to react too much, but I realized I needed to say something. “I would prefer that you don’t talk about Circe like that. I know the two of you have some old issue that hasn’t been resolved.”

“If by old issue…” Merlin began. “You mean she lured a man I was infatuated with away from me. Only for me to find him, well, dick-deep in an orgy with her nymphs. Then yes, we have an ‘old issue’.”

There was no good answer in response to what Merlin had just said so I went with something more simple. “That’s pretty bad.”

Merlin crossed her arms. “We were friends before that, you know? Two women in a world absolutely led by men. But she definitely took the ‘nymph’ moniker too far, using her nymphs to control more than a handful of those men in a bid for power. Meanwhile, I stayed away from many of the power games.”

I nodded. “The power games really don’t add much value. You’d be surprised how much just general shuffling of the deck goes on rather than any actual growth, even if it gives the illusion.”

“It’s not just that; it’s Circe being Circe. She has a bad habit of stealing the spotlight.” Merlin argued.

“Well,” I said, “by your own words, it sounds like you two were both fighting the same enemy, trying to be taken seriously, and also fighting over this love of yours that got lured into the nymphs. I might argue she did you a favor by helping you dodge a bullet.” If that guy had really cared for Merlin, he wouldn’t have been so easily tempted.

Merlin’s eyes went sharp. “I see you’re already so quick to agree with her.”

“I’m just trying to look at it from another perspective, Merlin.” I held my hands up. “I can say without a doubt what she did was a certain type of fucked up, and your reaction is not in any way unreasonable. However, the woman I’ve come to know doesn’t seem like the type to run in and spoil your relationship for the fun of it. After all these years, I have to assume you’ve talked to her about it at least once?” I waited, hoping the two women had not passed time without having any conversation about what had driven a wedge in their relationship.

“Of course.” Merlin said sharply. “At first she tried to play it off. Then later she completely denied ever having done it. And now here I am again, finding myself interested in… ” She suddenly hesitated and looked away, looking far more bashful than I had seen her before. “Anyways, it’s the same old story, told again.”

“Well, perhaps this time there can be a better ending,” I suggested, not at all oblivious to what she’d just said, or more specifically left unsaid. “If you would do me a favor, though, Merlin, talk with Circe. Not about the old stuff. Don’t rehash that. Instead, how about the new problem? Or better yet, you could ask Simone for perspective.” I offered. Simone would be far better at navigating the issues between Merlin and Circe, and I would rather it be her than me.

Merlin scowled again. “I’ve made moves against her in retaliation. I’m not so sure the air can be cleared as easily as you hope.”

“Well. Worst case scenario, I keep the two of you apart. But I am interested in keeping you around, Merlin. I’d appreciate if you gave it a try.”

“I’ll think about it,” Merlin said, eyes casting over my shoulder. “But I think you’re out of time to talk to me.”

I spun and found Gloria approaching. Her hair looked much the same, if perhaps a touch more purposeful in its placement. It had darkened to a deeper purple with the awakening of her bloodline, but she still wore it largely pulled up behind her head with two strands framing her face. I knew it could come down and be surprisingly long, but today it was swept up, neat and controlled.

Her eyes were a beautiful orange. She was wearing a little more makeup than usual, heavier eyeshadow and a brightening white around her eyes that made them pop. She’d changed clothes too, now wearing a maroon top and a dark gray, slightly blue pencil skirt rather than her typical white and black color pallette.

“Look at you,” I chuckled as she walked up, her gaze roaming me and apparently finding whatever she saw satisfactory. The smile that spread across her lips told me as much.

“You don’t look half bad yourself. Now let’s get out there and do some of this showmanship my father thinks is so important.” Gloria pretended it was a chore, but I wasn’t stupid enough to believe she wouldn’t enjoy the experience, and I wasn’t going to miss the chance to make her smile.

“You made me dumb for a moment,” I said. “I forgot to tell you just how wonderful you look.”

“Well, thank you.” Gloria’s eyes crinkled at the corners. “A woman knows it, but it’s always nice for the confirmation.”

“If you ever need another confirmation, feel free to dress up like that and strut around in front of me. I won’t be able to help myself.” I pulled her against me.

She raised an eyebrow and I chuckled. If I had the chance to take her on a date, of course I wanted it to end exactly how she’d imagined.

“Are we going to take a car?” I asked.

“That sort of defeats the purpose, doesn’t it, Bran? If we need people to see us, then we need to walk around and be seen.” She told me.

“Fair point. But I reserve the right to jump over anything too tedious.” I told her.

Gloria smirked, nodded, and added, “I expect to be carried, like the princess you like to remind me that I am.”

“You’re a little feisty today.” I teased.

She bit the air in front of her, snapping her teeth together in front of me. “Careful. I might just take a bite out of you if you let me.”

“Correction: very feisty,” I leaned in, giving her a quick kiss. “I’m glad to see that my coming back has perked you up that much.”

“Don’t give yourself too much credit,” she replied, pushing back a little bit but still staying close to me. “With everyone back, everything has simply gotten a bit less complicated now.”

She gave me a very Gloria answer, the kind that reminded me why she was called the Mob Princess. Gloria always put on a strong front, and she was always strong when it mattered. But underneath that armor of toughness there was definitely a woman who liked to be pampered sometimes, who allowed herself the small things she otherwise denied so the men of the mob would take her seriously.

In many ways, I thought Almeria and Gloria had quite a bit in common: both had lived harsh lives and denied themselves many comforts.

“Well, if we’re going to make this look convincing, why don’t you take my arm?” I offered.

She daintily slipped her hand into the crook of my arm as we began walking out of the fortress proper and onto the wall. Vein City in the distance had changed drastically since the Rapture. The change was expected. The city had encountered over two years of disrepair and combat in the streets. Any building above ten stories had been abandoned, purposefully or accidentally demolished. Skyscraper construction, it turned out, was not engineered for flying monsters, and certainly not for humans capable of throwing cars.

It typically only took one fight to break out higher in the structures to send them crumbling down.

The damage had built up on the structures in the years since the Rapture; on more than a few occasions buildings had been purposefully toppled for resources. That same steel and stone that once sat high up in the air, now was reallocated to building squat, square stone huts, with only a little concrete or mud slathered together to make up for uneven fittings.

Those stone huts trailed away from the city proper in a straight line towards the Citadel of Blood, as if everyone wanted to get closer to the safety that our fortress offered.

“What are you thinking about?” Gloria asked.

“Just the skyline. Everything looks far more open without skyscrapers in the view.” I told her.

Gloria nodded. “I always thought they were marvels of engineering. But after a certain point, they became an eyesore, didn’t they?”

I shrugged. “I think they just reminded me of the corporate world. Not that I ever experienced it myself, but I do recall a few TV shows as a kid that made it sound like corporate jobs were both cushy and somehow turned people into living zombies.”

Gloria laughed. “You are not wrong on the living-zombie part. They were also glorified a bit…” She shrugged. “I can’t say much even though I did some work you might consider corporate. I was always a mob princess, and life was far more exciting than they had any reason to be, mostly because there were always dangerous men with guns following me around.”

“Carmen’s?” I asked.

“Do you think Carmen would let his little girl go anywhere without men he could trust watching over her?” She scoffed. “Not a chance. My dad isn’t bad, don’t get me wrong, he was just a little overprotective of me simply because I was a girl.”

I grunted. “Any biological differences in strength have been far outstripped by the benefits of the system. I mean, your level matters far more than anything else at this point.”

She poked me. “Unless you’re a freak of nature who gets to level multiple times.”

“Guilty as charged,” I said, chuckling. “Just do me a favor and don’t let everyone else know. I think I can pretend to be low level, right?” I gave her a silly grin.

“Yeah. Not gonna lie, especially if you’re letting people see your stats, you’re going to turn a few heads simply for how low your level appears.” She waved a hand. “I can see it now. People will speculate how Bran Heros got so many stats, and then the first person to investigate your life will ask: did the stats come first, or the women?”

I laughed. “It’s not that bad.”

Gloria gave me a sidelong glance as we reached the edge of the wall. “Carry me as you jump down?”

“Of course, princess.” I scooped her up and leapt off the wall, landing with a thud in very different scenery. While the fort was made of tough material, it still felt like a city, perhaps because of all the gray and the lack of green.

However, as soon as we stepped outside the fort, the crops were splayed out beyond the fortress. Our early development had placed the fields as close to the fortress as possible so they could be defended. Now there was a growing village on the path between the fortress and Vein City proper, and that was just the path we took.

With daylight still burning, anyone moving about was busy with some activity. They were either running about carrying items in their spatial rings or hauling makeshift carts if they were not lucky enough to have a ring. Most of the population at this point at least had a low-rank ring, but those weren’t able to carry massive stones and tree trunks, leaving no other option.

More than a few people stopped what they were doing to stare at the two of us. I felt the Inspects hitting me. Apparently people had all heard that I was allowing the Inspects through now.

“What were we saying?” I asked, turning to Gloria.

“How pretty I am?” she batted her lashes.

“Oh, that’s right, you were talking about the influencers and what they would say about us,” I winked. “Speaking of that, I thought the internet was dead since we left the vault.”

Gloria waffled her hand. “The internet is definitely dead. Electricity as a whole is harder to come by. Some people have solar installations, but there’s nothing on the scale to run a large number of servers. But that doesn’t stop people from using phones. They charge them with small solar stations and make videos. To share them now, they have to actually go to a public terminal to upload them.”

“That seems rather tedious,” I said.

“It means that now we have local celebrities rather than international ones,” she shrugged. “But the reason the printing press was one of the most ingenious inventions was because it was the first way for knowledge to be disseminated easily from generation to generation. Even if the internet’s down, we want people sharing information. The terminals are full of people doing walkthroughs on nearby dungeons, explaining certain ways to fight, farm, fuck, the usual.”

I did a double take. “What was that last one?”

Gloria grinned, having caught me. “You heard it just fine, Bran. Now, why don't we ask one of these nice people who won’t stop staring at you if there’s any good place to eat around here?”