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Jake had talked with Caleb about current events, and he at least had to give these City Lords credit. Their response had simply been to do their jobs as best they could and act as neutral forces. They invited everyone to make teleportation circles, and they prioritized their citizens over petty politics and focused on rebuilding and ensuring public order after all the beast attacks. That was pretty damn respectable and made Jake feel a bit better about what was to come.

For the final stretch back to Haven from the Fort, Jake still had to run. He decided to be nice and not rush, as they were now aware of his arrival back in Haven and could prepare stuff. A bit to his surprise, something unexpected contacted him on the way.

“Had a nice vacation?” Villy asked after the deity descended with his presence.

“I know you peeked in at me pretty much all the time, so you tell me?” Jake asked in return.

“In my defense, I wasn’t really paying attention. Think of it more as me having a security camera on you where I can pull up the footage if I actually want to see something. Anyway, you had a good vacation, and now it is back to work, which is why I pulled you into a fast meeting. What are your plans with Valhal?” Villy asked.

“Not thought much about it, but I am a bit pissed at them for making a deal that is pretty much contingent on my death. Arthur, I can excuse for being ignorant and getting fooled by Ell’Hakan or whatever, but Valhal? Nah, fuck that; they did it with full knowledge. So something has to give, that is for sure, be it telling them to get the fuck out or demanding some kind of hefty compensation for being assholes,” Jake said, a bit miffed.

“Okay, allow me to offer an alternative. Don’t. I won’t share much, but I will say that things aren’t quite as they seem. Valhal is a good ally to have and a beneficial force to keep on Earth. The entire thing with Yip’s Chosen is also far more complicated than you know, and again, while I won’t share much, then you hit it right on the money when you said they went in with full knowledge. Including the knowledge that the contract would never materialize and become relevant,” Villy said, making Jake frown.

“Explain,” Jake simply said.

“I can’t; that would potentially ruin future plans. Some things are simply best left unsaid. But know that Valhal never actually saw you losing as an option. They are allies, and it would be best to keep them as allies,” Villy answered, refusing to give an actual reason.

However, Jake frowned with suspicion. “You were involved in them even making the offer, weren’t you? What are you up to?”

“Things. We are playing a long game here, and some things will only make sense in due time. For now, just keep positive. Shit, if you want to excuse your sudden sense of forgiveness, just blame it on the Runemaiden. Wait, maybe you can demand to make her your mistress to-“

“Okay, bye!” Jake cut Villy off as he severed the connecting, a faint echo of a laugh still left behind as Villy clearly enjoyed teasing him.

He knew it was just a method to make Jake not discuss the topic any longer. Jake honestly had no idea what the hell Villy was doing or what he planned, but his gut told him it wasn’t anything that would impact Jake negatively. He was aware that things between gods were rarely simple and that something bigger was brewing than just Yip and the Viper deciding to duke it out in a straight-on fight, so he decided to play along for now and be a good Chosen. While potentially using it as something to hold over Villy’s head. He was still a heretic, right?

With all that done, Jake finally made his way into Haven proper. He had already felt Miranda observing him on his trip, not that he didn’t expect her and everyone else to know about his arrival. As he got closer to the city, he also felt more powerful presences, making it clear he was the last to arrive.

The Sword Saint and Fallen King were already there. He had kind of assumed at least one of them to be late due to all the things they had to deal with during this month. Both had territories to stabilize and take control of once more, and while Jake had gotten some updates, he wasn’t entirely clear on how things were looking elsewhere on Earth. Primarily because he didn’t really care much and didn’t wanna ruin his vacation by hearing how the rest of the world was potentially in turmoil.

Jake headed straight for the office, where all the others had already gathered. The King, Miranda, Sword Saint, Lillian, and of course, Arthur. Jake saw them through his sphere before he entered the office, and it was quite the sight, especially with how overly stoic Arthur looked. However, it at least looked like the man wasn’t too uncomfortable. Jake would hope not. He had been in Haven for weeks already, so he should have had plenty of time for Miranda to set him straight.

Entering the large meeting room, everyone turned to him.

“You are late in your arrival,” the King said with a bit of snark. The Unique Lifeform felt a lot better than a month ago, and the many cracks in both masks were close to healed. Jake’s own mask naturally reflected the healing of the Fallen King in front of him, but he hadn’t really followed the mask regenerating during his break. Most of the time, he hadn’t worn the mask, as that had been unnecessary.

“I didn’t know we agreed to meet at midnight,” Jake answered back. “I apologize for assuming we would meet at reasonable hours.”

“For the record,” Miranda intervened. “The Fallen King is the only one complaining. I am personally surprised you even showed up this early. I would have expected you to come a few minutes before midnight tonight to barely meet the meet-three-days-before-World-Congress deadline.”

“Okay, I am starting to feel attacked here,” Jake said with a smirk. He met Miranda’s eyes and knew what she was doing. Humanization. She was trying to show that Jake was a normal person in front of Arthur by treating him casually and friendly. Jake didn’t think the King was in on it; he was just being a dick with Miranda then proceeding to make use of his dickishness.

“Who would have thought that previous history would be used as a predictor of future behavior,” Miranda smiled. “Anyway, good to have you join us, Jake. You aren’t actually that late; Lord Noboru arrived only an hour or so ago.”

“The lateness of one does not excuse the tardiness of another,” the King once more interjected.

“Or maybe you were just early. This is my meeting, so it begins when I arrive. Not my fault you decided to misread when I would come,” Jake just answered, not caring how unreasonable that sounded. He then finally turned to the guy in the room he was truly there for.

“I must admit, when I saw you last time, I was surprised, but I guess I shouldn’t expect anything less of Jacob’s dad. What I did not expect was for you to effectively try and start a civil war leading to millions of deaths for no good reason,” Jake said, not holding back right from the get-go.

To his credit, Arthur didn’t deflect or back down.

“Much has become clearer to me in the last few weeks. Light has been shed on my numerous misunderstandings and misinterpretations, and I now realize my mistakes and can only take full responsibility for my actions. However, I will not apologize for my ultimate reason for doing what I did. What I will apologize for is not realizing that perhaps we want the same thing, making my actions unnecessary and harmful,” Arthur answered.

“I am pretty sure you already know that I am quite skeptical of all this. I assume Miranda has filled you in on her plans?” Jake asked.

“She has made me aware, yes. And I also know the decision is ultimately yours to make. What I will make clear is that I also remain skeptical about her proposed arrangement. In all truthfulness, then before I even try to sell myself to this council, I will have to know it will truly be a council and not just a farce to try and sell the mirage of fairness and representation. That it will be a council that can actually lead to positive change and not just work to advance your personal whims or the wishes of the Order of the Malefic Viper,” Arthur answered, his gaze firm.

He and Jacob are quite a bit alike, huh, Jake thought. Miranda looked a bit nervous at the standoffish demeanor Arthur had adopted, making it apparent that wasn’t how she had expected things to go. Arthur also seemed to misunderstand something.

“It will be to further my personal whims,” Jake answered truthfully. “Why else would I bother becoming World Leader except for purely selfish reasons?”

Arthur frowned, but he didn’t look surprised. “Which begs the question: why even make a council? Why not just have the Order of the Malefic Viper come and take over? With them in charge, it would be-”

“Didn’t you hear what I just said?” Jake interrupted. “I said it was for my personal whims; what does the Order of the Malefic Viper have to do with anything? This entire council idea can be boiled down to a personal whim. Tell me this, why do you think I decided to become World Leader?”

The other man looked at Jake, confused by the question. “To take control and rule the planet?”

“Wrong,” Jake shook his head. “I don’t give a shit about ruling the planet. What I do give a shit about is to make sure no one else is ruling the planet. I don’t want to see the Holy Church or some other bullshit faction take charge and do whatever they want. So, I decided to selfishly just claim the planet and tell everyone else to play nice or fuck off. The system clearly wants someone to take control at some point, and if that is the case, it may as well be me. But that doesn’t mean I want to actually rule anything. That is what you are here for.”

After talking, Jake threw Miranda a questioning look. He was a bit confused why the hell Arthur was still so ignorant even after all this time. Shouldn’t she have explained all this already? However, she just gave him a smile in return.

Arthur looked to be considering Jake’s words for a moment before asking: “What is your ultimate goal after gaining control of Earth? What is the goal of the Order of the Malefic Viper, and what, if any, role do they play?”

“I don’t have any goal besides keeping things as they are and keep things peaceful. As for the details, that isn’t anything I want to deal with. Honestly, I just want a place to return to whenever I want, and for those I care about who remain behind and be safe. As for the role of the Order? Well, they don’t have any, at least not from your point of view. Sure, they will function as a deterrent to other factions, and I probably can’t avoid anyone going here in the future. But it will be clear that this is my home turf and for no one to fuck around. There are certain perks to being the Chosen of a Primordial, and with the Viper at my back, no other faction will try to lay claim to Earth either,” Jake answered.

The man once more fell silent, his frown making his skepticism obvious.

“And the Order of the Malefic Viper will simply sit back and allow this? What if your Patron asks for you to do something with the planet?” Arthur asked pointedly, still with the same misunderstanding.

“Well, the Order doesn’t really have a choice, and if the Viper asks me to do something with Earth I don’t like, I will tell him to fuck off,” Jake shrugged. “You seem to fundamentally misunderstand the relationship I have with the Order and with the Malefic Viper. I don’t serve him for shit, and I am more just a member of the Order by association and shamelessly leeching off them for my own benefit. The Malefic Viper and I are, in the simplest of terms, just good friends. So if he asks me for something, I will listen, but I will listen to him the same as I would listen to Miranda or anyone else here in the room. Well, besides you and the Fallen King.”

This time Arthur really didn’t know what to say, prompting Miranda to insert herself.

“I have been trying to tell you that you severely misinterpreted who you were dealing with and the current situation. You moved based on biased and false information with little criticism and few attempts to truly verify anything yourself. Was your interpretation one that would be true in ninety-nine percent of cases? Probably, but you still ultimately messed up,” Miranda said harshly.

The Sword Saint also decided to talk. “I do not wish to see Earth fall either and would defend it if necessary. My reason for supporting Jake is that I trust him as a person. I learned about him as a hunter before I learned about him as a Chosen. But let me clarify that I will also take a laidback approach to Earth, similar to him… but should the planet be threatened, I will be here. No matter who the threat is, even if it is the Chosen of the Malefic Viper.”

“Well, there you have it,” Jake shrugged. “And, again, If it was up to me, you would not be sitting here. However, I have also become aware that just chopping your head off would lead to even more annoying issues, and while you are wholly ignorant of a lot of things, you seem to at least understand how to manage cities and politics. Your role will be the same as before, just on a council with a few differing opinions.”

Arthur seemed to listen and sighed as he looked at the floorboards.

“I do understand that my actions were inexcuseable, and I trusted people I never should have. Before I met Ms. Wells, I wasn’t even aware of the existence of these Bloodlines, much less that the Chosen of Yip had one. I do realize now it influenced me, but that is no excuse for what I did. Let me also make it clear, Lord Thayne, that I do not fully trust you either, but I also know that trying to oppose you at this point will result in nothing positive,” Arthur said before looking up at Jake. “I shall try and do my utmost on this council to try and make up for the mistakes I have made, but I will not compromise who I am or my beliefs. My priority remains the well-being of humanity and preservation of Earth.”

“Great,” Jake said. “That is exactly what the job description entails. Well, this was easy. Why did we need to meet three days before the World Congress for this again?”

Miranda sighed. “Because there is still a lot of work to prepare and contracts to draw up. Also, Jake, you have some personal matters you should attend to in the meantime.”

Jake raised an eyebrow. “Such as?”

“I have been informed that the snakes at the Grand Mangrove River require your presence for a teleportation circle that should allow you to travel to the Order of the Malefic Viper again. Also, Arnold would like to see you. Finally, would it be possible for you to ask Carmen to come to Haven? The teleportation network should allow it,” Miranda said.

“Oh, no need to worry about Carmen,” Jake said with a smile. “She and Sylphie are already well on their way, though they didn’t take the teleportation network but chose to take the more cloudy and scenic route. They should be here in a day or two, according to Sylphie.”

Miranda nodded, surprisingly unsurprised. “Very well. In that case, maybe head over to Arnold or to the Grand Mangrove River. Ah, a teleporter to the Mangrove is already finished, and you can teleport there directly from the Fort. We shall reconvene when Carmen gets here.”

“Got it,” Jake nodded as he headed out to leave all the political nerds alone.

It was time to see what the resident mad scientist had been up to in recent times.