RD 3 Ch 3

Chapter 3

Gloria's car pulled up to an office building.

I squinted, not expecting us to stop at this location. I had been expecting us to tour the fortress. Only after a moment did I realize where we were.

Right, I thought. “I should greet the family, having just come back into the city.”

Gloria smiled. "Here I thought you'd forgotten, or perhaps gotten a little too big for the respect of the family," she said.

Candidly, I had a few other thoughts on my mind, but she was right. Showing Carmen respect was something I ought to do. 

Jenny opened up the car doors for both of us, and I got out, straightening my outfit.

It wasn't quite nice enough to greet Carmen, having been on a plane up till now. However, I didn't think he'd care much, especially because we weren’t meeting in public. He was the kind of person to only put importance on something if it was truly important. Dress codes, for instance, were largely in public. 

Jenny closed the car doors behind us and leaned against the car, swiping at her system in the air to pass the time.

Gloria took my arm and led me into the building. 

"Oh, now you're going to be friendly," I said, scowling at her. 

"It's for my dad," she replied, not looking at me. 

Gloria walked straight into the lobby and past the secretary. Gloria wasn't the kind of person to ask for permission. The back room opened up to a small suite of offices. 

Bobby was carrying a big stack of papers, while Candy followed, two steps behind him. "Bran!" Bobby said excitedly. The big man shared Carmen's broad-shouldered build and height. Both of them looked like they could have easily been professional linebackers.

Candy was nearly able to hide behind him, but she poked her head around. "Wonderful to see you, Bran," she waved. 

I used Soul Gaze on both of them. Bobby was level 69, with Candy only two levels behind him. It seemed they had not been idle. 

"Our father will be ecstatic to see you," Bobby said. He put the stack of papers down, ignoring them for later, and led us back through the suite of offices to a wall that had but a single door.

Unobtrusive in its design, it made a statement by being the only one on the wall and being completely unmarked. 

Bobby opened the door and stepped inside. Carmen was sitting on a couch, his arms over the back of it, while Gloria's other brother, Orvin, was pointing at something on the table between them. Carmen's attention flickered from his son, only for his passive face to break into a slight smile. 

"Son-in-law, welcome in. Please, have a seat. We were just discussing a number of details related to the fortress, and I am sure, as always, your knowledge will be helpful," Carmen said. He waved at the table, and then the couches that sat on either side. 

As for Orvin, he had a flicker of hostility towards me that was quickly quelled, especially after his eyes shifted to Gloria.

I had to wonder just how much she was staking her claim on the Nester family. Gloria was, for all her faults, incredibly ambitious. 

"Orvin has been a great help," she said, patting his shoulder, already asserting her dominance within the Nester family. 

Carmen let out a full-bellied laugh. "That he has been. None of this could be happening without your financing, Gloria." The head of the Nester Family was in an incredibly good mood.

My fiance smirked and plopped herself down on the couch, her arms crossed under the full curves of her chest, straining in the top she was wearing. She crossed her legs and leaned back into the couch.

"Carmen, Orvin, Bobby, Gloria," I nodded to each of them in turn.

"Take a seat.” Carmen said, breaking from the normal formalities.

“I might be engaged, but I don't know if that quite makes me family yet."

"Nonsense," Carmen waved my comment away. "Gloria's in a little bit of a mood because you've been gone so long. However, she's not one to let go of, I dare say, the best man she's ever going to have a chance at winning over."

"Father," Gloria snorted. "I will do what I want."

"Of course," he smiled slightly painfully at me as if apologizing for what I’d have to deal with in his daughter. "Let's dispense with those formalities, and instead, what do you say to a toast for your return?"

Carmen gestured for Orvin to go to the liquor cabinet. He reached in and pulled out a simple Scotch. "Twelve-year reserves.” 

Carmen snorted. “Your brother-in-law is worth far more."

Orvin reached deeper into the cabinet for a custom-made bottle. "One of those small batch distilleries."

Carmen pursed his lips and waffled his head. "I suppose that will suffice. Some of those are rare, and even I can’t get my hands on a replacement," Carmen commented as Orvin quickly went about filling a handful of glasses.

"So, what has Gloria told you about the project?" Carmen took a glass and set it in front of him without drinking.

"To be frank, Simone and Gloria have been managing much of it without me. My only concern is that it's big enough to house the number that I suspect we will need, as well as be self-sustainable." I answered.

Orvin finished handing out drinks, but we all just accepted the glasses. Nobody would drink until Carmen took the first sip. He was a business-before-pleasure kind of man, though. 

"Sustainability is our goal, too," Orvin filled the silence, jumping in to be the one to explain. He gestured at the map. "We have solar and geothermal, though we've decided not to go with any sort of wind power." He gestured at the design, simply for a compact footprint with resources that we can defend. "Solar and geothermal make for smaller designs."

I nodded along, not knowing too much about the details. There was always a time as a leader to let those who had spent the time and had the expertise to take the lead.

"The concern is always going to be food," Orvin said, running a hand along the map. "Fields take space, a lot more space than we are able to close around a wall. So the proposal we have right now," he said, glancing up at me to make sure I was paying attention, "is a vertical farm here for emergencies." He circled part of the fortress blueprints. "And then secondary crop fields outside of the fortress. Especially if we're going to build up stores for winters. We just simply can't fit it in the fortress without having more walls than we could possibly watch at one time with the manpower we are expecting."

I glanced over the map. Several of the buildings had numbers on them and I tapped, asking what they meant.

"Occupants," Glory answered quickly.

"How many people can we stuff into each of the residential buildings?" She tapped them out one after the other. "We have cold dorms filled with bunks for sleeping. As you said, a bed is a much bigger commodity than space. However," she grinned and tapped on a building that had a rather low number, "we do need some place to entice the elites. And not to mention, I don't think sticking you in the cold dorms would be a good idea. Particularly with the feelings of the Mul’Branova."

There was a strange tension in the room at the mention of my growing holy order. I chose to ignore the awkwardness. We could deal with that situation later.

"Alright, you think you can sustain enough people with this?" I gestured at the fortress, and they all nodded along.

"They'll be our people," Carmen said. "We look after our own. We've built in enough redundancies that as long as we keep the fields clear, we can most likely provide some food to the populace at large. That will earn us even more goodwill. We simply can't design something in the time constraints to shelter all of Vein City."

I grimaced. "You'll be surprised how quickly the population declines after the rapture. This is enough," I said.

"Bran won't personally deal with the invading demon army," Gloria said, as if explaining it to the rest of her family. 

"Why not?" Orvin snapped. 

I crossed my legs and leaned back on the couch, wrapping an arm around Gloria. She stiffened slightly at my touch. "Because the invading demon army is a massive opportunity. By fighting them, the Nesters will grow rapidly to prominence. If you think my strength and levels are prodigious, just wait until after you've been fighting demons for a year. All of you will level incredibly quickly. Not to mention gaining real combat experience."

Carmen narrowed his eyes. "It's brutal. There will be many deaths that you could have prevented."

I shrugged. "My goal isn't to save every last bit of humanity. It's to save the very planet itself from being captured. If I go and immediately destroy all nine hell gates, humanity will never gain the strength to fight future incursions. Not to mention the wars between humans will require the Nesters to have strength if they are to hold any territory." 

There was a stoic silence in the room as everyone took in my words. "Be that as it may," I continued, "with the strength of the Mul'Branova and initiated Nester family, I suspect you guys will be able to fight handily against the first waves of demons. And in doing so, you'll win the hearts and minds of all of Vein City. Sometimes people don't appreciate the prevention of a disaster as much as they should, yet they will all remember being saved in the midst of disaster." I told them all.

"That's cold, bro," Bobby said shaking his head, but he didn’t disagree. 

"He's not wrong," Carmen nodded along with my words, proving yet again why we should all be listening to his advice. His eyes lingered on Orvin for a second before continuing around the room. "The Nester family has been given a great boon in Bran's understanding of what is to come. Not to mention his personal power and the power he has so graciously lent to Bobby and Gloria."

"What about me?" Orvin shot back. 

"You and I have no way to receive the initiation at present. Without the kind of consequences neither of us want," Carmen's words were swift and sharp, and had the tone of having said those words before. Carmen did not like to repeat himself. 

Orvin fingered his drink but didn't lift it. "I understand, but it's hard to watch what my sister can do."

Gloria chuckled. "Those men were a nuisance." 

I raised an eyebrow at the room, looking for an explanation.

Bobby was the one who spoke up. "Some players tried to harass Orvin and Dad sent Gloria to clean them up."

Gloria had a giant grin on her face. "They were only level 30 and they dared pick a fight with the Nester family."

No doubt they found their lives far shorter than they expected.

Carmen chuckled. "A year ago we would have had to roll over to such players. Now we don't. Now we have a plan for a bright future. Brighter than it could have been." He reached for his glass and knocked it against the table as he lifted it up, mulling the amber liquid in the light of the room before turning to each of us. 

That was the signal for me to pick up my own glass, holding it up next to Gloria's. "To the future," I said. 

"To family," Carmen emphasized. "This only works because we work together." His eyes lingered at each one of us. "I understand we have varying personal strengths at present. However, for the family, we will use those personal strengths to the best of our ability. Whether it be having contacts in the industry," he lifted his glass to Orvin, "the financial sense," he lifted his glass to Gloria, "or the willingness to pitch in wherever he can," he lifted his glass to Bobby before his eyes settled on me, "or a personal power to smite the demons that will waylay us in the near future."

We all clinked our glasses over the table before Carmen sat back, taking a slow sip. "Now that is done. The fine details I'm sure Gloria can work out with you. Instead, I need to talk about when I'm going to be walking my baby girl down the aisle."

Gloria went rigid at those words and I pulled her closer. "I think let's not put too much pressure on that," I cleared my throat as Gloria's elbow slammed into my side with the kind of force that would dent steel doors. Luckily, with my physique, the result was only a small pause in my words. "I've been away longer than I've known Gloria. It's about time we work together to show each other and the rest of the family just how great of a team we make." I clinked my glass against Gloria's. 

Carmen smiled as he lifted his own glass and took a sip. "To family," and everyone in the room echoed him, "To family."