Chapter 77: Book 1: Chapter 27 (Part 3 of 5)

Regina spoke and refocused my attention. “This is my husband, Governor Richard Reynolds and the frowning young woman beside him is our daughter, Raven,” she introduced them with a hint of reproach for her daughter’s blatant distaste for us. They sure did like the double R alliteration in this family.

“Richard, this is Captain Torin Carter and members of his crew. He wishes to discuss the possibility of a trade.”

“Must we entertain this…scum,” Raven spat, scorning the very idea of treating with me. “I can smell the filthy taint of corruption on him from the other side of the room.”

<So, as an Angelblood she is going to instinctually know you are an Acheronian, not that you are hiding it these days. Plus, I should probably warn you that as a Justicar she can tell truth from lies. Your social stats are decent, so there is a chance you could slip a falsehood past her, but likely as not, she’ll know> Quixbix informed me.

Even as he spoke up, I felt my hackles rise at Raven’s heritage and felt the same wrongness she no doubt experienced about me.

There was a critical difference between us, though. Whereas her instinct seemed to veer towards rejection and condemnation, mine had a more avaricious and domineering flavour. She wanted to exile or destroy me; I wanted to conquer, tame, and make her mine.

The instinct was powerful, very powerful. So powerful, I was on the verge of drawing my scimitars and launching myself across the table and slaying her father and kickstart making my claim.

Anastasia and Shana must have sensed something through our bonds as they each put one of their hands on mine. The electricity in their touch was enough to bring me back to myself and I faked readjusting my belt as the reason for my sudden movement towards my weapons.

<Keep it together, big guy> Quixbix counselled. <If you want to go all berserker fury, best we do that outside where they don’t get any bonuses, yeah.>     

I plastered a smile on my face and beamed it directly at the winged beauty who shuddered as she looked away.

“Now, now, honey,” Governor Reynolds admonished his daughter and patted her on the hand. “I’m always happy to meet with my constituents.”

Something brushed up against my psyche as Governor Reynolds spoke, but it did not find any purchase and slithered away, unsuccessful.

What the Governor had attempted to do hadn’t felt the same as what Luca had tried to pull on me via the walkie-talkie. That had been a brute force effort that tried to penetrate and subdue my will. This was more like a probe searching for something specific that it could latch onto, which then retreated when it couldn’t find it.

“Ah, I will have to correct you there, Governor Reynolds. Our affiliation lies elsewhere,” I said meaningfully.

“He speaks the truth,” Raven sneered.

“Shame, shame,” he said, though if he were truly disappointed, he hid it well. “Please, take a seat,” and pointed to the collection of chairs on our side of the table. “It pains me that I can’t offer the usual hospitality to guests, but we are in extraordinary times.”

I grinned at his understatement and pulled out chairs for my ladies and we took our seats. Regina sat beside her husband on the other side of her daughter who continued to glower at me with unconcealed hate.

Once I’d settled myself in place, I let my analyse do its thing on the Governor.

 

Richard Reynolds (Noble Human)

Ruler (*R) *1

Character Aptitude: N/A

Loot Value: High

Threat: Moderate

XP Value: 3,300

Current Affiliation: Ruler of Michigan State

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As we suspected the Governor had chosen a special class called Ruler. Rulers did not accrue experience in the same manner as other characters. The grade of the class was determined by the area of land directly ruled over and the level was based on the number of people who acknowledged them as their sovereign.

There were advantages to such progression if you could secure large tracts of land and supporters. The flip side of the coin was that if you lost territory or people then your character growth was lost in kind.

Being Governor of Michigan State granted him control over all state land which had boosted his Ruler class to R-grade. However, the only people who could accept him as sovereign so far would have been here on Mackinac Island and this restricted him to level one.

Obviously, this class wasn’t offered to everyone. Richard Reynolds would have been given the option as he was the Governor of Michigan and the Framework recognised him as a potential sovereign of the region.

According to Quixbix it was taken as a class frequently on freshly integrated worlds but was less favoured by established dynasties, who went with the kind of class his wife had taken. One of Ruler’s downsides was once you took the class you could never switch to anything else. It was also a single point of failure and successful assassinations severely weakened the faction which made recruitment in the wider Darkwyrlds problematic.

“What can I do for you fine folks?” Governor Reynolds asked as he relaxed back in his chair.

“Brevity is the soul of wit, they say, so I will get straight to the point,” I started. “And your lovely daughter being a walking, talking, lie detector, will speed up the process as I’m sure she’ll sing like a canary at the slightest hint that I’m trying to pull the wool over your eyes.”

Raven rolled her eyes and refused to acknowledge my backhanded compliment, but Governor Reynolds nodded sagely. There was a gleam in his eyes, a hunger I couldn’t quite place. It didn’t matter, we had anticipated him being a Ruler and Raven’s presence really did simplify this whole negotiation.

“Go on,” the Governor said simply and steepled his fingers under his chin.

“There are two things I want from you, Governor. The first is land. I want you to cede the whole Beaver Island archipelago to my faction the Shattered Storm,” I laid out my first demand calmly.

There was a deep belly laugh from the Governor. “Is this a joke, son? Did my wife put you up to this?”

“He is serious, Father,” Raven interjected reluctantly.

“Like a heart attack,” I added. “I shall be forthright. Beaver Island is essentially already mine. Sure, officially it still belongs to Michigan State, but your only township on the islands is gone. In its place is one that belongs to me. I can and will take the rest of the island group, that is inevitable. You don’t have the capacity to stop me.”

When I said this Governor Reynolds face flushed a shade of red as his ire was awoken. In the background, his two lawyer flunkies were desperately tapping away on podium tablets.

“What is the meaning of this? You come to my home, issuing threats,” Governor Reynolds spat angrily.

“Not threats, Governor Reynolds,” I said reasonably. “I’m just establishing the facts. On the face of it, requesting that you give me a chunk of your territory seems like a big ask. What I need you to understand is you aren’t giving me land, as I can take the land for myself. No, what I’m asking for is time. The time it will take me to secure those islands and fully sever any hold you have on them. And time is a precious commodity, for the both of us.”

At this point, one of the lawyers came over and started whispering in the Governor’s ear. Quixbix whispered in my mind in return, informing me they had confirmed that St. James Township was no longer listed as a town within Michigan State.

Raven must have overheard the lawyer. “Did you slaughter the innocent people of that town, you spineless pirate filth,” she growled at me.

I grinned back. “I am indeed a pirate, miss. But to answer your question, no I did not. That would be the monsters that now spawn at regular intervals who cleared out the town. Monsters I slew in return and took the town for myself as reward.”

Raven grunted unhappily at my explanation, but not a word of it was untrue so she was stymied on that front. Then the Governor started talking again.

“Fine. Say I was to entertain such a notion of ceding the archipelago to you Captain Carter. What is it that you are offering in return for such a generous bounty?”

“I’m glad you asked, Governor,” I replied. “A simple trade, time for time. You are stuck on this island, and I happen to have a way to get you off it. I can safely transport you and up to five hundred of your people from Mackinac and have you in the heart of Saginaw before the sun sets today.”

Governor Reynolds tried to remain cool, but that hunger in his eyes had ignited again.

“My people are already working on that,” he claimed instead. “I don’t think your bargaining position is as strong as you think it is.”

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