Sam turned towards the rest of the captains, looking for more insight. However, it seemed that either they had mostly been wondering the same thing as Addas, or were confident enough in their abilities to defend the city. Sam nodded, proud of how far his people had come.
“Very well then. I will leave tomorrow, and I entrust this city to your hands.”
Sam stood, and bowed low to the captains, a gesture that he felt was appropriate. He was basically leaving the entire future of the faction in their hands, while he went off to chase his destiny.
The captains rose, and bowed back, even the aliens who remained ambivalent to his leadership. Sam noticed that the one who had been hostile to him earlier spent a little longer getting ready to bow, but it seemed as if he was improving.
Sam nodded at his captains, and then left the room. Jeffrey followed him out, the man presumably wondering what was going to become of their relationship when Sam left. He still felt guilty about how he was neglecting his friendship with the man, but such were the problems with ruling over a faction.
“Jeffrey?” Sam asked. “What are you looking for now?”
“I just wanted to know whether we will be able to go hunting again when you come back,” the man said, trying to sound nonchalant. Sam knew the real emotion behind his words however. Jeffrey had been on his own for decades on Earth, and Sam was likely his first true friend in quite some time.
“I know that I have not been the most dedicated of friends-” Sam began. Jeffrey tried to cut him off. “No, listen to me, Jeffrey. I may not have been the best of friends to you, but one day I promise that you, Rax and I will be able to have a grand adventure together, and explore the universe. Maybe even the Multiverse if we escape Tantalos. For now though, we all have responsibilities. If I had never left your side, then we would not have a faction here, and we both would likely be dead.”
“I know, but it is only the barest of consolations,” Jeffrey replied.
There was a dark need within his eyes, a need for company. Sam could tell that it was not anything of the untoward sort. Jeffrey had no interest in anything other than as many women as he could get his hands on. No, this was the result of pure and utter loneliness. He had been keeping it buried this entire time, but he was unloading onto Sam now that he was about to leave.
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Sam looked all around himself, and then leaned in, hugging Jeffrey. The man froze, and then slowly extended his own arms around Sam. They stood like that for a moment, and then broke off when it grew to be awkward. Then the moment was gone, and they were simply faction leader and captain once more.
Jeffrey left without another word, leaving Sam standing there, unsure of what had just happened. Whatever it had been however, it had been needed. Sam sighed, and walked off, heading towards his quarters to prepare for whatever was to come when he embarked upon his journey to power.
Rax was waiting there for him, the herpetopede excited to see Sam. He had matured almost completely by now, and he no longer possessed the puppy dog qualities that he had at the beginning. He was his own creature now, and he did not need to constantly be near Sam anymore. However, that did not mean that he didn’t like it.
Now an F Rank beast, and a true power in his own right, the herpetopede might have been mistaken for a strangely shaped armored car. Rax didn’t speak, but he followed Sam back towards his sleeping quarters, not that he had actually used them, well, ever. He mainly used them as a place to cultivate in peace, or enter the Interweb if need be.
Rax curled up at the base of the bed, and Sam smiled, hopping up onto the bed himself. Rax knew that Sam was leaving, but he was fine with it, and he trusted that Sam would return safely, no matter what. More importantly, Sam had some things to do before he left for his trip, not least of which was setting up his faction for when he was gone.
He knew that the captains had things in hand, but there were some things that would need to be addressed. Firstly, Sam opened up the interface, and selected Talnor as the acting captain, with Eduardo second in command. He knew that Talnor was quite experienced in the art of running a faction, more than any of them in fact, and he was sure that he was making the right decision here.
In addition, the man was the strongest fighter other than Sam, so he would naturally fill that position. In reality, it was still the captains that would be making most of the decisions around here. Sam set a thirty day timer on the man’s position as acting faction leader, which matched the amount of time that he would be away for. Sam nodded in satisfaction at seeing that everything had panned out the way that he had anticipated.
Closing that part of the interface, he then sent a good portion of his funds into the city treasury. He wouldn't be needing such an obscene amount of money where he was going. He placed almost 75 million credits into the city treasury, which would pay for quite a few upgrades, not least of which would be making more space for the new faction members.
Sam smiled at this, and closed his interface, deciding to cultivate for a bit until he was ready to leave. He would be leaving in about five or six hours, and he wanted to be physically and mentally prepared for this journey that he was about to set out upon.