Lithmara quickly composed herself, sitting up straighter and putting on a stern expression as her staff filed in, Greg quirking an eyebrow at her as he continued to lounge in his chair. He glanced at the staff filing in, four people in total. One had a squid head, another looked like some kind of frog ogre thing, and the last two were orcs. Orcs were somewhat ubiquitous around Obleck, sort of like humans in Nobilis. Greg vaguely wondered if they had some sort of advantage when it came to breeding. "Are you ready to begin?" Lithmara asked, cocking an eyebrow at Greg.

"Right, sure, Chris." Greg called out and a portal opened, the other three stepping out and taking seats as Lithmara and her staff froze, the staff in surprise, and Lithmara at seeing him again.

She glared at Chris as he gave her a slight nod, taking his seat, before tearing her gaze back to Greg. "I believe introductions are in order. As you know, I am Lithmara, Mistress of Obleck. This-" She gestured to the frog orge, who sat to her right. "-is Datma'ad, Raid Coordinator." She then gestured to the orc sitting on the other side of Datma'ad. "Then we have Leviticus, Head of Asset Acquisition." Andrew perked up at that, narrowing his eyes at the familiar looking orc as Lithmara turned to her left, gesturing to the other orc. "This is Ezra, Minister of Defense." Chris nodded at him, noticing he was the same orc from yesterday. "And finally, Ghlid, Director of Internal Affairs." She finished, gesturing to the squid head on the other side of Ezra.

"Right, well, I'm Greg, the Body Eternal." Greg introduced himself. "This is Andrew, the Spirit Eternal, Thomas, the Soul Eternal, and then Chris, the World Eternal." He pointed out the rest.

"What is an 'Eternal'?" Datma'ad rumbled. "And why do they look so… noble?" He added, a hungry look sparking in the depths of his eyes.

"An Eternal is a self contained being whose existence is not dependent on any outside force." Chris replied. "An existence which simply is, and is therefore Eternal. As for looking noble, that's because these forms are noble. Is that a problem?"

Datma'ad frowned slightly at the Eternal explanation, not sure what to make of it, before grinning as Chris confirmed that they were indeed noble, at least in his mind. "Not a problem for me, no." He chuckled, a widening grin revealing a maw full of razor sharp teeth. "For you? Maybe."

"Oh-ho, buddy, I promise you, any problem we have will quickly become a problem you have." Greg replied with a chuckle of his own, giving Datma'ad a look that practically begged him to try something. It'd been a while since he'd hunted an asshole, and this guy reeked of asshole.

"Enough!" Lithmara snapped, cutting off Datma'ad's retort. "This is a meeting to discuss cooperation, not to start a fight!"

"Cooperation with you, yes. Him we're trying to put out of a job." Greg commented.

Datma'ad snorted derisively. "Of course you are. Why else would nobles come to negotiate with us monsters? What insulting offer do you have this time? Or are you simply going to ask us to roll over and die again?"

"Datma'ad!" Lithmara exclaimed, giving him a scathing look. "If you cannot be civil, then you don't need to be here! Be quiet, or leave!"

"But-!" Datma'ad began in protest, before another look from Lithmara shut him up, instead choosing to slump in his chair and cross his arms, glaring across the table at the Eternals.

Ezra let out a nervous breath of relief, remembering how difficult it was to deal with Chris yesterday. Further conflict with these people would simply be asking for trouble. "How, may I ask, do you wish to put Datma'ad out of a job?" He asked as politely as possible. "We do rely on a continuous influx of captives for our population… do you have some sort of alternative you wish to provide?"

"Something like that." Greg replied, grinning slightly. "Right now, you need more captives because you continually lose captives to whatever you're doing to them. Our offer is simple: we'll make sure you never lose captives again. No loss, means you no longer need to raid, hence, no more Raid Coordinator."

"You plan to sustain our current captives somehow?" Leviticus asked curiously. "You know a decent portion of our population kills the captive when they breed, yes? How do you plan to account for that?"

Greg shrugged. "Simple, really. We make it so your captives can't die. Might still be some kinks to work out in that, but for the vast majority of you, it shouldn't be an issue if the captives can survive whatever happens, right? It's just that they generally don't."

Leviticus nodded slowly. "Yes, that's true… death isn't a necessity for most, it's simply the price that must be paid."

Datma'ad snorted. "I'd like to see you save someone after a clutch of da'als rips their way out of them like living tumors."

Chris cocked his head at him. "You're just determined to be difficult, aren't you?" He snapped his fingers and Damselia appeared with a yelp. "Here, see if you can kill her."

"What!?!" Damselia exclaimed, eyes widening in fear.

Chris rolled his eyes. "You can't die, you know that. Calm down."

"I don't care about dying, I care about getting hurt!" Damselia snapped. "Dying hurts!"

"Eh, you get used to it." Chris waved dismissively.

"No you don't." Andrew grumbled.

"You don't?" Greg cocked his head.

Andrew shook his head. "You don't get used to it, you just get over it faster."

Greg frowned. "I dunno… though I'm not sure how much dying really bothered me in the first place."

"I definitely got used to it." Chris interjected. "Dying is just something I do now. Might be different if people weren't constantly pasting me, though…"

"I don't think I've done it enough to notice yet…" Thomas commented. "Though I will say I have more of a 'shit my body is fucked again' reaction. More frustration than anything else. Though the pain still sucks…"

Ghlid surreptitiously pinched his arm, making sure that yes, this was in fact reality. "Utterly ridiculous." He muttered, shaking his head.

"Less than you might think." Ezra replied under his breath. "I've seen what that one can do." He gestured towards Chris. "Underestimating them would be… unwise."

"Anyway, whether you get used to it or not is irrelevant." Chris shrugged, turning back to Damselia. "You don't have a choice here."

Damselia groaned. "Fine. Just make it quick."

Datma'ad looked between Chris and Damselia hesitantly. "You- you actually want me to kill this woman?"

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

"It won't stick, don't worry." Chris assured him.

"I-" Datma'ad glanced at Lithmara.

She raised an eyebrow at him. "Well? You've been doubting them this whole time, and now you hesitate when they offer you proof?"

Datma'ad gritted his teeth. "Fine! But don't blame me for the results!" He growled, rising to his feet and approaching Damselia, who shrinked back with a whimper. Datma'ad hesitated again, before hardening his gaze and lashing out with his claws, digging into her skull and crushing her head, killing her as quickly as he could. "There! Ha-" He cut off as her body disappeared, reappearing a moment later with a groan.

"See? No problem." Chris commented.

"No problem my ass!" Damselia spat. "That freaking hurt!"

"Pain is an illusion." Chris replied with a wave. "Just let it pass."

Leviticus leaned forward. "You- actually can't die?" He asked incredulously.

"Yeah, and the same goes for anyone connected to my world." Chris nodded. "As long as I connect all your captives to my world, no matter what you do to them, they'll be fine."

"Huh…" Leviticus blinked, turning to Datma'ad. "You may actually be out of a job."

"My question would be what you all want in exchange." Ghlid asked, frowning. "This would change everything for us. What could you possibly want that would equal it?"

"Not much. See, over in the noble lands, we're hooked up with the Raiders, so in exchange for all this, we want to collect some bounties. Not to kill, but to put them in Chris's world, where they'll be safe." Greg explained. "We get the money we need to establish ourselves in noble lands, you get a stable means of repopulation, the Raiders get certain threats removed, and in case the worst happens, all those people are still there, ready to defend you. They won't be there to help you raid, but you won't need them to raid, so it balances out."

Ghlid nodded along, before pausing. "Wait, if you're depending on Raider bounties, and we stop raiding, wouldn't your source of income dry up?"

"It would, but we're mostly just using this for some initial funds." Greg replied. "Plus, we aren't planning on doing this with just one city. We're going to try and pull the entire Line in on this, which should give us more than enough bounties, right?"

Ghlid considered that for a moment. "It could, yes… though I'm not sure how eager some of the other cities would be to take you up on your offer."

"Well, there are other ways to collect a bounty." Greg chuckled.

Ghlid froze, before giving him a slight nod. "Indeed."

"So, everyone on board then?" Greg asked.

"We shall discuss your proposal." Lithmara replied. "If you'll wait outside, we should have an answer for you shortly."

"Man, I hate waiting." Greg grumbled. "But fine." The four of them got up and filed out, Chris sending Damselia back into his world.

"I don't like it." Datma'ad growled the moment the door closed. "Smells like a trap."

"I don't think they need to trap us." Ezra muttered. "I've seen what one of these people can do, and it's terrifying enough. The four of them together? We might be safe, but I doubt the city would be."

Lithmara's expression twisted. "No, it wouldn't."

Leviticus tapped the table thoughtfully. "There's risk here, but the reward… it could be worth it."

"I feel the risk of rejecting their offer is more serious than the risk of accepting." Ghlid added. "I do not know what powers these Eternals draw on, but I sensed danger within them. Minds that would not hesitate to cull those they determine to be unworthy of their mercy… given how nobles view our very existence as an affront, I believe it would be wise to do our best to conform to their wishes, lest we become the target of their ire."

"I would rather die in defiance than live at their mercy!" Datma'ad hissed. "What you are suggesting would leave us in chains, our very survival held in their hands!"

"Our survival is already in their hands." Lithmara sighed. "Destroying this city would be simple for them. Stealing, or even killing our captives even more so. They already infiltrated the mating quarters once, capturing me in the process, though that involved more than a few mistakes on my part… no, if they wished for us to die out, it would only be a matter of time. For some reason, despite their apparent preference for the nobles, they are invested in our survival. We would be foolish to not take advantage of that."

Ghlid nodded. "I agree."

Ezra grimaced. "I don't think we have any other choice."

Leviticus cocked his head. "I am tired of sending all our best talent to die in raids… It'd be nice to see what our people could accomplish when our best and brightest are no longer being cut down in their prime."

Datma'ad sneered. "You're a pack of sniveling cowards!"

"You're an arrogant fool!" Lithmara snapped. "We are being offered the light of progress, and you would reject it out of pride and fear!"

"I reject it to remain free!" Datma'ad retorted. "I'm not going to become their dog just because they wave a juicy steak in my face!"

"Then don't!" Lithmara sneered. "Greg was right, they are putting you out of a job. This city no longer needs a Raid Coordinator. You are dismissed."

"You will regret this!" Datma'ad growled, his expression darkening, before stomping out of the room, snarling at Greg and the others as he passed.

"Think that's a good sign?" Andrew asked.

"Probably?" Thomas shrugged.

"Yeah, it is." Chris nodded. "The other four are all on board."

Thomas blinked. "Wait, are you spying on them?"

Chris cocked his head. "No? But my portal point is still in there, so I heard everything."

"Chris, that's spying." Andrew sighed.

"Then it's okay, because I spy on everyone." Chris shrugged.

"That's not an excuse!" Andrew protested.

"Isn't it?" Chris cocked his head.

*

With everything decided, Chris and Thomas headed to the mating quarters with Lithmara to handle the captives, while Chris and Andrew headed to the military complex with Leviticus and Ezra to deal with the bounties, and Greg went back to the tavern to set things up with Renaedica. The first awkward roadblock Chris and Thomas ran into with the captives was actually getting the women connected to Chris's world and letting Thomas mess with their head. For some reason they didn't seem to trust that this wasn't going to hurt them somehow, which, you know, was fair.

"Crushing their wills just seems wrong." Thomas muttered as the three of them stepped out of the latest room, leaving the woman sitting there scared and confused.

"Plus it's inefficient." Chris commented. "It'd take like… a month or so to handle all these women."

"So how do we convince them this is actually good for them?" Thomas frowned.

Chris cocked his head. "Well, if I force the connection for one, I could prove to the others it would actually make them immortal… as for you, I don't know how you get someone excited about having their mind fucked with."

"I'm losing confidence in this plan." Lithmara grumbled.

"Eh, we'll figure something out." Chris assured her, waving dismissively as they entered the next room. "Hello-" He began to greet the woman inside.

"Oh my, you're a handsome one, aren't you?" The woman purred, cutting him off as she got to her feet and sauntered over to him. "Ooh, two of you! And- oh, Mistress Lithmara!" She stepped back, curtsying towards her. "Is- is it finally time?!?" She asked excitedly. "Are you finally going to turn me!?!"

Chris turned to Lithmara, raising an eyebrow as she awkwardly looked away. "For those who seem to enjoy our… ministrations, we offer them the opportunity to join us." Lithmara explained. "I believe Sandra here wishes to be a succubus?" Sandra nodded eagerly. "Which requires having the entirety of your Energy drained by an incubus. Which requires multiple sessions, and often multiple incubi to speed up the process." Sandra frowned, beginning to suspect that this was not her chance to be turned. Why would an incubus need this to be explained to them?

"So, do you actually want us to do anything then? Seems like you already have a plan to take care of her." Chris pointed out.

Lithmara hesitated. "It'd- still be good to get her connected, to keep her safe."

"Fair." Chris agreed with a shrug, turning back to Sandra. "So, you want to be immortal?"

Sandra's eyes widened. "Wh-what?"

"I have a world that I can connect people to, and it makes them immortal." Chris explained, opening a portal. "Just step inside."

Sandra's mouth opened and closed wordlessly, turning to Lithmara who nodded and gestured for her to go. She hesitantly stepped through the portal, and a prompt appeared in front of her, asking her if she wished to connect to the Eternal World. She hesitated once again, before agreeing, feeling the connection form between her and Chris, frowning slightly. "That- that's all?"

"Yup. You're immortal now. Congrats." Chris gave her a thumbs up. "Want to help us convince the others to do it too?"

Sandra blinked. "I- suppose?"

"Outstanding." Chris grinned. "Hopefully an example will make this easier."