"A criminal," I said. "That sounds interesting, at least. She is a person of the Fortress, and other than not harming other people I don't have any laws that she could have broken. If she's broken that one then it will go poorly for her. That you have laws that she has broken is between you and her."

"Yes, my lord," Mal'Thorn said. "The question is whether you can trust her, or the people she represents."

"That isn't the question for me, actually," I said. "The question for me is what the cost of a betrayal of my trust would be, and whether I can afford to pay it. With the contingencies I have in place I can afford to be trusting."

"As you say, my lord," Mal'Thorn said.

I left Mal'Thorn's Forest simulation and returned to my body at normal time to finish filling in the stone of the presence near the Heart of the Forest tree. Forest Keepers started using the presence as I was finishing it, but they were keeping as far from me as they could. The majority of them were getting their purchases from the doors in the presence, not having an inventory. After the first one awkwardly moved around me to access the doors I moved to the back of the presence.

With the presence finished I walked in front of it, causing the next Forest Keeper in line to hesitate and step back, and walked through it into my Pocket Dimension, moving the stone to the side as I did.

I pulled up the list of people that had bought the Demi-AI conversion from the System.

Demi-AI Candidates Candidate Vouching Demi-AI Relationship Lea Mal'Thorn Wife Gerry Lizzie Husband Michael Veya Husband Wynn Dael Wife Rala Dael Wife Shade - -

Dael having at least two wives, as well as having come up with thirty Fortress Coins between them, was interesting. And I had been expecting Ailfrid, the leprechaun wizard, to be on the list of those first converted.

I moved an interconnecting portal within my Pocket Dimension to link the portal nexus room to the area that had the twelve tables set up that I had used for the conversion of the people in my army. After that I made a quest asking the Demi-AI candidates to join me there, submitted it, and began walking there myself.

I got there before anyone else and began building up a room around the tables. They were on top of the large mass of stone that had been placed in my Pocket Dimension from excavating, and lights could be seen in the distance. I was just finishing the roof when the first person arrived, Gerry. I began pushing my power against him right away.

"Hello my lord," Gerry said. "I'm the only one being converted?"

"No," I said. "There are five or six of you. I was expecting Ailfrid?"

"Ah," Gerry said. "He is saving up for the large Bag of Holding, says it will make an ideal work space."

I opened the shop listing for the bags of holding, and sure enough it didn't mention the blocking of mana in the storage space. Though I'm sure I could make a specialised storage space that did allow it, I would just have to have a second portal that led to a secure space under the fortress.

"By default it won't allow magic to work there," I said. "It's a property of the bags. Get him to contact me if he wants to use it as a work space for magic."

"I will my lord," Gerry said. "On the topic of contacting you, my old partner Frank Steelborn, the mage who helped you in the priest city, has expressed an interest in emigrating to the Fortress. There are quite a few other shop owners from that city who are interested as well. But none of them want to join up under any of the species that already exist here, they value their independence too much."

"They'd like a general city level in the Fortress?" I asked. "I can do that. There would need to be a leadership of some sort though, I don't really want to have to deal with people directly. It could solve one of the other concerns I've had as well."

I dropped my perception of time down so that I had time to work. What I wanted was an independent citizen application that people could use through a Fortress Presence. If someone who wasn't a citizen approached a presence they would get a notification explaining how to use it, Fortress Shop, Fortress Jobs, and other direct options, as well as the option to join the Fortress as a citizen.

They would need to agree to work for the best interests of the fortress, and for the people living there, and the agreement would count as an oath that was enforced by the same world magic that enforced treaties. I was confident that the System had a close enough link to the world magic for that to work.

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

Once a person had become a citizen of the fortress they would get a second notification that gave them five fortress coins and recommended using them to purchase a small Bag of Holding for the inventory functionality.

I submitted the entire proposal for the change to how the System worked with Fortress Presences to my interface with the System.

System expansion proposal Proposal submitted through correct channels...

Assessing...

Expansion deemed within scope...

Approved

Great. With the System itself recommending small Bags of Holding, and providing enough Fortress Coins to buy it immediately upon joining the Fortress, the demand for them was going to explode. The background process I had duplicating items for Fortress Storage was running an adaptive algorithm to keep things in stock, as demand rose it would keep more. Small Bags of Holding were set at a value of five, and every so often I would have to focus on them to create the portal they required. I upped the number to keep in storage to fifty. After the initial demand passed that should give enough to cover any later peaks.

I returned my time perception to normal, Gerry was nodding.

"Alright, done," I said. "Anyone can become a citizen of the Fortress now and receive five Fortress Coins in exchange for their oath to the Fortress."

"What about the people who have already joined?" Gerry asked. "Do we just miss out on the sign-up bonus?"

"Of course not," I said. "You are a person of the Fortress, but you aren't a citizen for the purposes of this. Citizenship is a completely new thing. You can join as a citizen and get the Fortress Coins, just like anyone else."

"I will tell Frank and the others," Gerry said. "Where should they go to set up in the Fortress?"

Two floors below the ward room floor was designated as the Party Floor. And if I wanted it to be a full city then I would want to be able to expand it outwards as needed, which counted out any of the floors that were at a level with the soil outside the fortress, they would be occupied with tree roots. The first floor at the level of bedrock was a reserved utility floor, so the next floor down from that made the most sense, six floors below the ward room floor.

"I will set up a destination in the portal network to a Fortress City Floor," I said.

The other five people had arrived while we were talking, including the mysterious Shade. She was wearing a dark hooded robe with the hood pulled all the way down hiding her features. Even her tail was hidden, not revealing her species to anyone who looked at her.

I had begun pushing my power against each of them as they had arrived and they were all ready for conversion whenever I was ready. But I wanted to interview Shade first, I was interested in her motivations.

"Shade," I said. "I would like to interview you before I begin the conversions. Would you like to do it here, or somewhere more private?"

"More private, please," Shade said.

Her voice was husky and seductive. I opened a hole in the wall of the room and led her out to the edge of the stone, closing the wall behind us after moving a light outside so we could see. Shade ran her hand along my arm as we looked out to the lights in the distance.

"It's a very impressive view," Shade said, stepping closer to press against my arm.

I frowned and pushed her away with the hand that she hadn't trapped. Her grip tightened and she shifted with me as I turned.

"Let go and step back," I said.

"Aww, but we're just getting cosy," Shade said, her hood pushing back to reveal her pouting lips.

"Last warning," I said.

Shade sighed and loosened her grip, but instead of stepping back she slipped her tail from her robe and wrapped it around my waist. I pushed against her with the elbow of the arm she was still holding, making her take half a step away from me. Then I used my other hand to hit her with five rapid strikes, shoulder, elbow, wrist, solar plexus, and throat. None of the strikes were hard enough to cause permanent damage, but they definitely hurt.

Shade fell backwards and rolled to her feet, settling in a fighting stance with a dagger in her right hand, her left arm dangling loosely at her side.

"None of that either, I would have no trouble killing you," I said. "Your best chance is to speak plainly. What are you doing here?"

Shade held her stance for a few seconds before slowly rising to stand upright, returning her dagger to within her robes.

"I'm second in command of the organised criminals within the Fortress," Shade said. "As new groups arrive the inevitable criminals within the group join us or are eliminated. We deal in drugs, slaves, spying, assassinations, theft, prostitution, and exotic meat. We had someone who was getting meat from sentient beings within the Fortress, but he was executed."

"Second in command," I said. "What are you doing here?"

"No one was sure whether you would allow a criminal to be converted," Shade said. "So the first suggested I go. I was going to seduce you to loosen you up to the idea. It is rumoured that leaders in the Fortress must be Demi-AI, and the existing leaders have become much more efficient since they changed. I want to replace the current first."

"If you become a Demi-AI you will personally have to swear the oath to work for the betterment of the fortress, and the people in the fortress," I said.

"I am already bound by the agreement of Mal'Thorn, as are all Forest Keepers who live in the Fortress," Shade said. "There will always be a criminal side to cities, when it's organised there is a minimum of disturbance."

"I don't disagree," I said. "The criminal side provides a reason for the police and guard forces to exist, as well as various professions to protect against criminals. However, I guarantee the Fortress is a safe place for the people within it."

"Safe from outside threats," Shade said. "Not internal ones. The police forces within most of the groups are there for internal threats. We aren't your problem."

"That isn't how I see it," I said. "Enslaving any of my people is something that will offend me, I would track down and kill any slavers that acted within my territory. I only have one rule. Do not harm my people. Knowing that, and my response if you break it, do you still wish to become a Demi-AI?"