Jocelyn burst into the Hidden Blades central lounge, where most of the members of the Hidden Blades were resting after a long day of manning the examination centers, and of course, talking about the announcement of the Eternal Sect. “From this point on, finding information on the Eternal Sect is our highest priority!” Jocelyn announced furiously, eyes blazing as she barely contained her rage. “I want to know everything from where they're based to what they have for dinner every night! I don't care if we recruit a single other disciple during this exam, I want these Eternals found!” Everyone in the lounge stared at her blankly for a moment. “Now!” Jocelyn roared as all of them jumped, rushing out of the lounge.
Similar scenes repeated in the other sects as everyone scrambled to figure out who these Eternals were and what they wanted. Elder Constantine was practically apoplectic over the idea of his daughter using one of the damn cards! Callowa was inundated with sect members rushing through the streets, gathering cards and interrogating anyone who might know anything about the Eternals. Yoseph's mansion was practically a war zone as the sects tore it apart, searching for any evidence they might have left behind, his guards, servants, and the remaining slaves all taken into custody by the three sects and interrogated thoroughly.
On the top floor of an elegant bordello, Vernon peeked out the window at the chaos unfolding outside. He'd escaped the moment he'd learned of Yoseph's fate, knowing the sects wouldn't let anyone related to this matter go. He turned from the window, glancing at Helga. “We know nothing of these Eternals?”
“As far as my people can tell, they didn't exist until tonight.” Helga frowned, snapping the fan she held in frustration.
“Then why would they target us?!?” Vernon growled. “What could we possibly have done to offend them!?!”
Helga grimaced. “Could it be as they said? They simply found Master Yoseph vile and decided to get rid of him?”
“Preposterous!” Vernon snarled. “There are dozens of others in this city who do far more vile acts than Master Yoseph! There is no reason for these Eternals to target him over anyone else if that was what they cared about!”
Helga paused as a thought occurred to her. “Unless… could it be that they simply don't know?”
Vernon frowned. “What do you mean?”
Helga tapped her fan against her lips thoughtfully. “What if… what if it isn't as if they didn't exist until tonight, but instead that they truly only arrived recently, with no knowledge of Callowa, and Master Yoseph is simply the one they happened to discover first? It's hardly unlikely. Master Yoseph enjoys flaunting his… eccentricities. Anyone at the market could have seen him with his purchases and discovered his inclinations.”
“Are you suggesting this is all simply… bad luck?!?” Vernon asked incredulously.
Helga shrugged helplessly. “What other explanation makes sense? As you said, Master Yoseph is hardly the worst individual in Callowa, nor is he the most influential merchant, or information broker, or anything! He had his hand in many things, but he was never the primary force. If they were looking to target a certain industry, someone else would have been targeted first.”
Vernon's expression twisted. “It just seems so arbitrary.” The idea that someone they had no knowledge of could simply remove a person on a whim wasn't something he could bear.
Helga sighed. “Arbitrary or not, we must determine what our next move is. Without Master Yoseph I'm simply a Madam, and you are a steward of nothing. All our skills mean nothing with no one to serve.”
Vernon shook his head. “Who do we serve if our master can simply be taken from us on a whim? No one in a position to value our skills is any better than Master Yoseph.”
Helga hesitated. “There is one organization that may have a use for us, that we could be sure wouldn't be threatened by the Eternals.”
Vernon frowned. “Who? The only organizations that have any assurance against these Eternals are the sects, and they have no need of us.”
“There is one sect that may have need of us.” Helga replied, fiddling with her fan. “The Eternal Sect.”
“What?!?” Vernon exclaimed. “How could you even think of serving the very people who are torturing Master Yoseph!?!”
“How could I not?” Helga retorted. “I value Master Yoseph's support, but now that he can no longer provide that support, I'm not going to let sentimentality get in the way of my own well-being. If these Eternals are really as new as I suspect, my skills could be very useful to them. How could I ignore that?”
“After everything he's done for you-!” Vernon growled.
“He treated me like a whore and used me to train more whores for him.” Helga snorted. “Everything he did for me was ultimately to benefit himself!”
“You are a whore!” Vernon snapped. “You should be honored that Master Yoseph ever deigned to use you!”
Helga snapped her fan, glaring at him coldly. “I'm honored to have gained everything I could from that bastard before he finally received the fate he so rightly deserved!”
“How dare you!” Vernon snarled, stepping towards her, clenching his fists in anger.
Helga scoffed, flicking a bell on her desk and two large men immediately entered the room. “This gentleman is no longer welcome in the Velvet Parlor. Please remove him from the premises.”
“Right away, Madam.” The men bowed, grabbing Vernon's arms and dragging him away.
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“How dare you- get your hands off me! Helga, stop these miscreants this instant! I order you to release me!” Vernon demanded as he struggled to resist being pulled away.
“A steward with no master has no authority here, or anywhere.” Helga sneered as Vernon was dragged from the room, turning back to her desk and picking up a card. She examined it for a moment, considering whether this was truly what she wished to do, before tearing it decisively.
A portal opened into a small office, Chris appearing behind the desk and taking a seat. “Please, come in. Have a seat.” He waved for her to enter, gesturing to the seat in front of the desk. Helga entered, putting on a front of cool confidence while her heart beat nervously. She hadn't expected to be greeted by one of the Eternals themselves! Did he already know who she was? Was this a trap!?! She pushed her nervousness down as she took a seat, watching Chris warily. She opened her mouth to greet him, freezing as he tossed a pamphlet at her. “Read that first.”
Helga blinked as she picked up the pamphlet titled ‘The Eternal Sect and You’, before looking back at Chris. “I-”
“Read.” Chris cut her off. “Unless you're illiterate, in which case I can read it for you.”
Helga's expression hardened. “I can read.”
“Then get to it.” Chris gestured to the pamphlet.
Helga snapped her fan indignantly, but Chris just ignored her, pulling out a book to read as he put his feet up on the desk. Helga gritted her teeth in frustration, fuming slightly as she opened the pamphlet. *What could possibly be so important that-* She thought to herself, cutting off as she read what was inside, her eyes widening in shock. Immortality, riskless Awakening, Rune Advancement, cultivation support, a vast world to create anything one could imagine… even with the caveats, it seemed too good to be real! Helga looked up at Chris. “This is- real?”
“Yeah, it's real.” Chris nodded, his book disappearing as a gun appeared in his hand. “Do you need a demonstration?”
“What kind of demonstration?” Helga asked suspiciously.
“I'll kill you, and you won't die.” Chris shrugged.
Helga froze. “I- don't think that will be necessary.”
“Nonsense.” Chris cocked the gun, pointing the gun at her head. “It'll be quick.”
Helga went pale. “W-wait!” *Bang!* Helga was thrown from her chair as her head exploded!
Chris sent the gun away as Helga sat up with a gasp. “See? Quick.”
“I- I'm fine?” Helga muttered incredulously, rubbing her head to make sure there weren't any wounds.
Chris raised an eyebrow at her. “You read the pamphlet, didn't you?”
Helga flushed slightly as she got up and returned to her seat. “Yes, right, immortality…”
“Yup.” Chris nodded. “So, do you want to join?”
Helga paused, composing herself as she straightened in her chair. “I would like to offer my services to the Eternal Sect.”
Chris cocked his head. “Weird way to put it, but okay.”
Helga frowned. “No, I mean- I am in charge of an extensive information network within Callowa, and I would like to offer my expertise in that regard.”
“Ah, gotcha.” Chris nodded.
Helga blinked. “Are you- in need of an information network?”
Chris considered it for a moment. “I suppose it could be useful. But you really don't need our permission. Just do what you want and let us know if you need anything.”
“You- what?” Helga asked, completely confused. “Do you want my services or not?!?”
Chris raised an eyebrow at her. “Is that really important? If you want to join the sect, join. If not, then don't. What does it matter what we want?”
“Because it's your sect!” Helga exclaimed in frustration.
Chris cocked his head. “Why should that matter? It's your life, do what you want.”
Helga slumped back in her chair, completely lost. What the hell kind of organization was this?!? “If I joined the Eternal Sect, what would I do?”
“Whatever you want.” Chris frowned. He felt he'd been very clear about that. “Unless you want to hurt people. Don't do that. Unless they're bad people. Then you can hurt them.” He paused. “Just do whatever feels right at the time, and if you fuck up, we'll talk about it. We don't expect you to be perfect, we just expect you to try to be better.”
Helga hesitated. “What do you mean by better?”
“More right?” Chris gave her a weird look. “If you do something and afterwards you realize it hurt someone who didn't need to be hurt, you should try to not do that thing in the future. Sometimes people getting hurt is inevitable, but whenever possible we should try to minimize the hurt we cause, as a matter of basic human decency.”
“Then how do you justify what you're doing to Ma-” Helga cut off with a cough. “-to Yoseph?”
Chris sat back with a sigh. “Honestly? I don't. I find the man absolutely repugnant and his suffering satisfies me. There are probably better ways to handle him, but I don't care to find them, because I don't want to see him get better. I want him to suffer. So he is.”
“But that goes against everything you just said!” Helga retorted.
“Not necessarily.” Chris replied. “Is it true that there is probably a better way to handle him? Absolutely. Do I know what it is? I do not. What I believe is that letting him continue to walk around unrepentant and unpunished would be an affront to everyone he's hurt. If someone can convince me otherwise, I'll pull him off the star. Better if someone can give me a way to convince him everything he's done is horrible so he can become a better person. Not something I want to see, but ultimately I recognize it would be the better result. But at the moment, burning on a star at least leaves him punished, and that's the best I can do.”
“And how do I know you won't decide I need to burn on the surface of a star?” Helga asked.
“Do you unrepentantly take enjoyment from abusing people who can do nothing to resist you?” Chris asked in return. Helga blinked, before shaking her head. “Then you're good. At a certain point, being a bad person is a choice. As long as you don't make that choice, you'll be fine.”
Helga tapped her fan on her knee as she considered her options. If she didn't join the Eternal Sect, she could still maintain her position as a Madam. If Chris was being honest, the Eternal Sect wouldn't take affront to her business. Prostitution was simply a fact of life, one of the few professions women had available to them, not something that intentionally spread cruelty. On the other hand, if she did join the Eternal Sect, there might be… complications with her business. Prostitution was a fact of life, but it wasn't always a pretty one. Though… with the abilities of the Eternals, it would be a lot easier to protect her girls. Though if they all joined the Eternal Sect, they wouldn't necessarily remain her girls… and without them, her information network would fall apart. But did she need her information network? If she joined the Eternal Sect, she could be anything! She could be a Cultivator! “I- would like to join the Eternal Sect.”
Chris raised an eyebrow at her. “You already said that. Are you ready?”
Helga grimaced slightly, shaking her head. “Yes, I'm ready.”
“Alright, just accept it.” Chris waved, pushing the connection at her, and she quickly accepted it. “And here's the system.” He added, tapping her hand. “Do you want to stay in my world, or do you want to head back to where you came from?”
“Back to where I came from.” Helga replied. “I have some matters I need to take care of before I can determine my future position.”
Chris nodded. “Right, you have an information network. If you want us to know anything you can just send it through the connection. Like so.” He sent her an information packet on how to send an information packet.
Helga blinked. “I- will, thank you.”
“No problem.” Chris shrugged, opening a portal back to her office. “Have a nice night.”
“You-” Helga cut off as the portal closed behind her. “-too…” Helga sighed. That had to have been the weirdest experience she'd ever had. She glanced at the system tab in the corner of her vision. Hopefully it was worth it.