Jay was confused why Ichibad needed to be present if he wasn’t going to speak. Lucille spoke up before he could ask about it.

“There are some things you need to know about Lester,” Lucille said darkly. Her body language was still taut with lingering anger at Ichibad, but everything in her demeanor was serious. “Some things he didn’t disclose to you that he probably should have. His interest in politics isn’t just something he enjoys in the game. He’s a political guy.”

Jay eyed the other player. The air was tense, which didn’t make a lot of sense. It was all just a game. If the leader of one of the most prominent guilds in the Elvish Faction was playing politics—that was hardly surprising. But Lucille was acting like Lester was working for the Demon Faction.

“Alright,” Jay said. “So he’s a political guy, and you need to tell me some stuff. I’m here. You have my attention. What do you need to tell me?”

Ichibad was smiling next to Lucille like he was in on a secret the rest of the world didn’t know. The fact that his smile was on a cat’s face made it all the more disarming. Reaching into his pocket, Ichibad pulled an item from his inventory like he was doing a magic trick.

At first, Jay thought Ichibad was simply holding a tangle of string in hand. Ichibad was holding a puppet, which he controlled by a long mess of strings. He was making it dance. The puppet was multi-jointed, allowing for surprisingly complex maneuvers. Somehow, he even managed to spin the item into a pirouette.

“I’m not going to tell you who you can and can’t trust, even though I want to. But here’s what you need to know: Lester is deeply connected to Tumult Corp. There’s no official documentation of him working for them, but he is solidly on their side. They’ve likely passed him information on how to advance his Politics skill, which explains why he got so much farther than most players.”

Jay’s face grew concerned, “That’s not possible. Friends, family, and employees have huge restrictions on how they interact in the game.”

Lucille scowled. The look on her face was one of utter disappointment. “You really think that Tumult cares so much about the rules? They bent the rules to give you Taylor Lynn. They created a spontaneous duel prototype mini-game to introduce you to the most welcoming, nicest healer in Ilra. What else do you think they would do to manipulate you? To manipulate the game?”

Jay had absolutely no idea how Lucille knew about Tumult bending the rules for Taylor Lynn, but that didn’t mean she was wrong about the other stuff.

“I don’t think…” He began, trailing off. Some things were starting to line up. The original duel over the quest did cause Jenny and Taylor Lynn to get talking. That led to them helping Jay with his first quest, which introduced him to Nora. The strange merchant was invaluable, already providing him with solid weapons.

“No disagreement here,” Lucille said without a hint of humor, “Sometimes you really don’t.”

Jay was still mulling over the oddities he had experienced. Jenny and Ken had provided another quest to deal with the goblins. Fighting those goblins eventually led him into conflict with the Demon players. Those players had led him to find the original dire wolf and pup. The pup had shown him, Casey, and Lucille the goblin camp, which had led to destroying the Demon players’ respawn point.

The whole situation connected to finding the rare Pathfinder goblin, one of his contractual obligations to Tumult Corp.

“I can see you’re thinking it over,” Lucille said, not allowing Jay the chance to reply. “Keep thinking it over. I’m not saying you and your friends need to quit the guild. Actually, that would make me look horrible at this point, and I’m not ready for that yet. The game has only been out a few days.”

At least to a point, Lucille was starting to be honest with Jay. But she didn’t lack an agenda. She was just being more straightforward about it. In some respects, he felt like it was a little late. His temper was rising, so he asked for answers before his anger got the better of him.

“Why didn’t you tell me this stuff sooner?” Jay asked. “Don’t you think I would have wanted to hear you out about Lester before joining the guild? Before joining his party?”

“I need you in the guild,” Lucille said bluntly. “And I need you in his party. From there, he can keep an eye on you, but… you can also keep an eye on him.”

“And what will I be looking for, exactly?”

“As your party grows closer, Lester will likely start divulging information to you. This is a lure. He’s going to start giving you some information about himself. He’ll try and build a closer bond with you,” Lucille said, speaking with intensity. Jay didn’t realize she knew Lester that well. “He’s doing this to learn more about your Monster Hunter class. Lester will feign a passing interest, but I say this in no uncertain terms: you cannot give him any important information. I also have a request.”

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Jay thought it was a little rich for Lucille to start asking things of him at this point. She had essentially fessed up to manipulating him for her own benefit. And now she wanted a favor.

Ichibad retrieved another item from his pocket. The second item was a smaller puppet, which he grabbed the strings for with the larger puppet. The big puppet was now being manipulated to make the little puppet dance a weird staccato shuffle back and forth.

“What’s your request?” Jay asked, crossing his arms over his chest. “I’m not saying I’ll do it, but I’ll hear you out. I think I’ve made it pretty clear I’m willing to listen.”

Lucille was very blunt, but that didn’t surprise Jay based on the other things he had learned about her. She wasn’t telling him what to believe, but she was leading in a specific direction—hard. She obviously didn’t trust Tumult, which was reasonable. Jay didn’t, either.

“I want you to tell me what’s going on with the Monster Hunter class,” Lucille said. “I know it’s a big ask. The truth is that I know something is going on with the class, but I don’t know the details. If I don’t know how the class details manifest, I can’t help you.”

Jay wasn’t about to start divulging information about the Angerine to Lucille. He was even less likely to tell her than the first time he considered it. He would be watching her, too. Jay could only hope things would work out because he sincerely wanted to talk to someone about the Angerine.

He had no interest in telling her about his class, at least not yet. “Why should I trust your information that Lester and Tumult Corp. are working together? You could just be making stuff up to undermine our relationship.”

Lucille didn’t answer his question about trust directly; instead, she launched back into talking about Lester.

“Lester’s full name is Lester Green. He has three brothers and a sister, but you only need to concern yourself with one brother. If you search for ‘green senior manager tumult,’ you’ll find his brother. There are pictures of them together, and you’ll see the resemblance.”

“And the fact that his brother works there implies he’s working for Tumult Corporation?” Jay asked. “That seems a little loose.”

“Do some digging,” Lucille offered. “You’ll be able to find a picture from a company party where Lester happens to be seen in the background. That’s a little bit of a stronger connection, at least. You’ll be the first to know if I can find proof he’s getting checks from the company.”

Jay intended to go looking for Lester’s connection to Tumult. If he was being babysat—and that’s why he was in the guild—Jay wanted to know. Guilds were built mainly around trust, and Jay didn’t want to waste his time being watched. Especially when the corporation could seemingly observe him playing the game through their system. If Lester wasn’t a babysitter, then he would be a spy.

“Digging through internet searches like an amateur sleuth. Keeping my eye on my guild leader. It feels a lot like you’re asking me to play politics,” Jay deadpanned. “This whole thing feels like politics. I absolutely abhor politics.”

“Great word,” Lucille acknowledged, moving on quickly. “I hear what you’re saying, but think about it. We all have to play politics through guilds, forming parties, and communicating with other players. It’s all based on relationships. And remember, in this game, political powers will have the power to change the game world.”

“So what?” Jay asked. “I don’t care about who becomes Mayor. I don’t care about who gets to be King. I care about getting to level one hundred, so I can accomplish my contract with Tumult Corp. I need what they’re offering.”

Lucille scoffed, “That’s short-sighted. How are you going to make it with only a couple of allies? What about when Lester decides to declare open season on Monster Hunters? What will you do when Ken and Jenny decide they’re not enjoying being murdered back to level one?”

Jay ignored the rest of her hypothetical questions. It wasn’t that Lucille was wrong about the loose attachment of his allies. He just didn’t care about that. His job would remain the same with or without them. After all, he had only known the other players—except Taylor Lynn—for a couple of days.

“Mayors can just declare a whole class as Faction traitors? What happens then?”

“That and a whole lot more,” Lucille said. “The Mayor can brand a class, creating open player-versus-player on the class. The Mayor can even offer a bounty for kills. Anyone in Ilran territory will be able to attack you, and you’ll be considered a rogue member of the Elvish Faction.”

“That’s insane,” Jay said, considering how overpowered the option was. In the end, it would almost always weaken the Faction. But it was an option. “Could they target an individual player instead of a class?”

“The game allows for a vast number of political options. Any politician can accomplish a lot with the right amount of political capital,” Lucille said.

Targeting individual players would be extremely useful. Jay figured it was also possible to issue bounties on enemy Faction players. Lost levels eventually would weaken players, especially as they lost access to statistics and abilities.

Jay had decided to look into Lucille’s information. He wanted to know about Lester, how he connected to Tumult, and what Tumult’s goals might be, anyway. There was one thing he needed to learn more about. Jay would likely consider her information more trustworthy if she could explain it.

“Alright,” Jay said. “Since I’m considering your favor, I’ll ask for one in return. A show of good faith.”

Jay pointed to Ichibad, who was now using the small puppet to smash the larger puppet to pieces. The whole process was strange to watch since the big puppet still controlled the smaller one, even as it was smashed to pieces.

“Please explain how Ichibad is blocking Tumult from observing our conversation,” Jay said. It had occurred to him that there could only be one reason why Lucille was so comfortable discussing things in the open.

Ichibad looked up from the destruction of the puppet and turned his eyes to Lucille. Interest glowed in them for the first time.