Valterion: The Space/Arch? Mage

Location: Solar System; Earth; New York City; UNE Headquarters

"Now that everyone is here, let's get started, shall we?"

Prince Kai and his entourage walk over to one of the heads of the table, and he casts his own telekinetic bench to sit down. His lackeys stay standing behind him. Everyone else also walks up to the table, and they all use their own spells to get comfortable. Most of them follow Prince Kai's example, and only the leader gets to sit at the table while their teammates stand behind.

I do notice a few groups where everyone gets a seat at the table, though. My own group is one of them, of course. And I join Lisa on her telekinetic bench. I'm a bit surprised when three of the Kenjin Alliance people take their seats. Back when Prince Kai mentioned their participation, he only called out Tamiko… Let's see how this turns out.

Anyway, due to our unconscious positioning earlier, we're now directly opposite Prince Kai at the other head of the table. He wears his trademark smile when I look at him and raises an eyebrow when he catches my gaze. I just shrug, not knowing what he wants from me.

His smile doesn't waver when he tilts his head, and I suddenly feel pure magic emanating from him. He pointedly stares at me, while completely ignoring the others who detected his magic too and now look at him expectantly.

Oh!

Damn magical prodigy! I thought I got the Disguise spell well contained… None of my friends could detect it, not even Lisa. But the Prince just seems to be curious… I don't think he can make out the exact spell I'm using, hence his silent question. Hah, I'm gonna use this and stay all mysterious. Leaning back, I just wink at him and raise my own eyebrow.

The others, still oblivious of our silent exchange, continue to look at the Prince, and he carries on before the situation turns awkward.

"Thanks again for joining me here today! I hope today marks the day where the real fun begins. But to do that, we have to agree on some rules and on the general framework for our challenges. I took the liberty of drawing a first draft in advance; my AI will be sending it to you now. Take a moment to read, then I'm happy to hear your thoughts."

I get a ping and receive a new file. When I open it up, I'm a little surprised by how comprehensive it seems to be. It's a whole stack of pages, much more than I expected from the impulsive Prince. Good thing I have Clara to summarize, or I would have been stuck reading for a while.

"Most is as expected… I will leave out the obvious rules like no killing or purposefully destroying or injuring, as you know that already from the overall rules of the Earth Adventure. So right into the juicy stuff… The Prince proposes a weekly challenge schedule starting every Sunday, where representatives of all participating teams meet up right here and state the current whereabouts of their teams. Once that is done, a randomized software will form pairs which are then allowed to attack each other, starting every Wednesday. The two-day grace period has two reasons. One is so that every team can prepare its attacks and defenses. The other is so that the teams can trade their pairings with each other. For example, if you're matched with Bernd Schmidt, the Prince can offer Bernd some valuable salvage to switch places with him. That's it, pretty much… Oh, and there is one final line that I feel was added specifically for us. A team has to share every location they are currently investigating. It is not allowed to name a decoy site while secretly investigating somewhere else."

I almost laugh at Clara's final words. That little stunt must have really struck a nerve with him. Not that I expected anything else after living through the fallout of his attack on the shipyard. Other than that, the rules sound pretty reasonable. One point is annoying, though… Why does he want to meet up in person every week? That's just inefficient. I sent a quick Communication spell to Lisa to hear her thoughts as well.

"Hey Lisa, what do you think? I'm pretty fine with most of it. Sure, I'll make it clear that the shipyard is off-limits later on, but other than that, I don't mind sharing if we're occupying multiple locations in the Solar System. Everything's only one Teleportation away for me in case someone needs support. Just one thing… I'm not a fan of meeting in person every time."

Lisa doesn't show any sign of receiving my communication request, but I hear her reply in my mind anyway. She's probably trying to play the others, but I doubt she's fooling the Prince. He seems to detect every magical fluctuation here in the room.

"I mostly agree with you. As long as you can secure the shipyard… I'm really looking forward to how this will play out. Other than that, I don't really like the trade of pairings. I fear that the Prince will do everything to get the better of us, and that means trading to fight us every single week."

Hmm, that's a solid one. "Yeah, that would be bad," I reply quickly. "Maybe we can add the condition that one isn't allowed to trade for the same team two times in a row. Oh, and we should also advocate for a neutral party to oversee things. Best would be Aria if she's got the capacity. Without oversight, the rules are for naught after all. I mean, who can even stop the Prince right now?"

"Absolutely! The ones overseeing the challenge should also be the ones to randomize the pairings," Lisa answers, and we continue to chat until the noise inside the room starts to rise.

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Looks like the other teams are done with discussions too. Prince Kai's slight smile has never slipped, and he claps his hands once. "It seems we're all done discussing things. Now, please let me hear your thoughts."

It stays surprisingly orderly, and everyone raises their hand if they wish to speak. Prince Kai quickly calls them one after the other. At least it's quick, as the first three just ask for some clarifications. That changes when the fourth one gets allowed to speak. She's a rather small woman with mousy brown hair. Her eyes are much more interesting, though. The left one is a deep green, almost emerald, while the right one is a deep blue.

"That's Linda Myers," Clara whispers in my ear. "Her family is a big player in the farming industry, and they've risen to the rank of Marquess generations ago. There was even a time when the Myers had given the Silvanis a run for their money."

"So pretty big players, huh?" I send her back along the AI Call spell.

"Indeed."

Linda quickly clears her throat and focuses on the Prince. "Your rulebook states fighting may start every Wednesday, but it doesn't define when it ends. That has to change! Otherwise, someone might get funny ideas and attack while we're already on our way here. I propose ending all fighting on Saturday at 23:59 at the latest, and any offender immediately gets disqualified."

After that, she leans back on her telekinetic bench while continuing to stare at the Prince. She almost talked like a lawyer with her precise words. Crazy, I didn't expect that. Prince Kai, on the other hand, just takes her words with his indifferent smile. "You are right, of course, Miss Myers. Let's put it to a vote. All in favor of banning fights after Saturday 23:59, raise your hands now."

The vote is unanimous, and the next person gets the stage quickly after. The following few concerns are all minor things that we quickly vote on, and the rulebook that I have still sitting in the corner of my eyes steadily gets longer and longer. Still, so far, there is nothing really concerning, just a few more clarifications on what counts as damaging and what not. Pretty basic stuff all in all.

After about thirty minutes, my own concern about the weekly in-person meetings finally gets addressed. And the topic was brought up by none other than Tamiko Nakamoto herself. How do I know it was her? Well, Prince Kai called her out by name. She's the one sitting in the center of her delegation, so it should have been obvious, but well, reading people has never been one of my strengths.

Anyway, Prince Kai tries to bring up some arguments why in-person meetings are superior, and some of them even sound plausible, but when the final vote comes around, about half of the people present vote for keeping the rule as it is. The vote for changing it to digital meetings follows right after, and the same number of people raise their hands. Well, that is, until I slowly raise my hand as well while fully focusing on the Prince.

I think I just caught a slight scowl in my direction before he begrudgingly announces the change of the rules. Lisa's Communication spell comes knocking right after.

"I think he wanted the in-person meetings to better keep track of everyone's travel routes."

Huh? Wow, sneaky bastard!

"Good thing we managed the change then, I guess."

"True enough, but I think he will focus on us even more now. You should talk to Tamiko later. She looks like she liked the way you riled up the Prince."

Yeah, I didn't notice that. As I said, not a people-reading person.

"Will do, thanks, Lisa. Are you ready to speak up for your rule adjustment?"

"Let's give it a few minutes. I don't want to propose a second major adjustment back-to-back."

I give her a slight nod and focus back on the proceedings. Let's see what other changes there will be…

We even go through a short refreshment break before Lisa finally raises her hand and gets acknowledged by Prince Kai. She starts right into it and states her concern about the matchup trade system. And boy does that start a discussion! It's by far the most discussed topic and takes more time than everything else combined. In the end, we have a solution, though I'm not completely happy with it.

Instead of completely banning back-to-back matchups, we now have something that still allows it. Sure, it gets increasingly expensive pretty quickly as the price for a buyout doubles with every consecutive matchup against the same team, but I fear that this won't stop the Prince if he's determined… He said it himself that he isn't interested in a good placement in the overall Earth Competition, so why would he care about lost valuables he's found here?

Dammit, I just know that this will bite us in the ass, but what can we do? Lisa and, surprisingly, Tamiko Nakamoto gave it their everything, but in the end, the majority decided. After that, the discussions slowly come to an end, and Prince Kai's AI finalizes the rulebook.

I receive the file about five minutes later and give it a quick read. So far, so good. Not everything's perfect, but I can live with it. Clara also gives her okay a second later and confirms that there shouldn't be any hidden loopholes.

Before we move on to the next step and share our locations, Prince Kai calls for another break, which gives us a chance to mingle. Lisa nudges my side and subtly points over to the delegation of the Kenjin Alliance. I guess it's time to meet Tamiko Nakamoto.

I get stopped by someone else wearing a kimono before I reach her, though. "Stop, you've got no business here!" The tall Japanese man holds out his hand and blocks my way.

"Hiro, not everyone is a threat. Please let her through," comes the tired voice of Tamiko from behind him. She sounds like she's very sick of his behavior. Probably her bodyguard or something. I chuckle inwardly while walking past Hiro. Behind him, Tamiko greets me with a broad smile. "Sorry about that… Hiro's a bit overprotective sometimes."

I smile back and take in her appearance. She wears a bright red kimono, and her dark hair frames her pale face perfectly. She's also quite tall compared to her companions, almost as tall as I am. Oh, and she's wearing a gorgeous set of earrings! Thin silver hoops that reflect the light. They suit her very well. Her dark eyes scrutinize me as well, and I quickly respond before things turn awkward. "No harm done, I totally get it. I'm Sara, by the way."

She shakes my outstretched hand. "Tamiko Nakamoto, but you probably know that already." Then she raises an eyebrow. "Just Sara, huh?"

I think for a moment and shrug inwardly. It's just a few more minutes anyway. I pull her closer and whisper in her ear. "I could tell you that my last name is Green, but that would be unfair because this disguise won't last much longer."

She stiffens, then her eyes quickly flip toward Prince Kai before she shoots me a questioning look. I nod once, and she huffs out a short but silent laugh. "Oh, this better be good! He can be so annoying sometimes."

Said Prince uses that moment to speak up and call the assembly back to order. I'm about to head back toward Lisa when Tamiko's arm stops me. "It was nice talking to you. We should repeat that sometime."

Grinning back at her, I reply. "It will be my pleasure, see you around, Tamiko."

Then I get back to my seat. Not much longer now!