Vin frowned, doing his best to gently toss a small rock he’d summoned up and down while he waited for his audience to arrive. Since accidently shattering Kyle’s hand, he’d been rather conscious of the fact that his control over his new limb was severely lacking. Even now, despite his best efforts, every couple of catches his limb would flash with electric blue mana, and he would inadvertently crush a rock into dust rather than gently catch it.

  Sighing, Vin cast Summon Rock yet again, causing a small chunk of his mana to flow into the space above his hand and solidify into a small pebble. Part of him was glad he was alone for this, because not being able to control his own strength was a bit embarrassing in a way.

  While he was approaching his record of twenty-three catches in a row without destroying the rock, the door suddenly swung open, startling him.

  “Is this the…” A woman’s voice cut off and her face paled as Vin flinched at the sudden noise, accidently shattering the pebble in a flash of blue. Seeing her hesitating at the doorway, Vin sighed again, letting the dust fall to the ground and motioning for her to come in.

  “Yes, this is the meeting for the Foreign Branch,” Vin nodded, trying not to let the annoyance he felt at the name show on his face. Weeks ago, the camp had been divided into five loose sections, each with an appointed leader that had been either voted in by the members of the first wave, or hand picked by Spur. However, while Vin had been away hunting down the divine warrior, Spur had officially broken the camp down further into even more sections while dealing with the influx of people from the second wave. In order to prevent their council meetings from becoming overburdened, each of the people heading these subsections were given the role of sub-councilor, and would report directly to the councilor in charge of them.

  All that to say, Vin was rather surprised when, after Golrim had revealed he was also one of the king’s advisors and Spur decided he wanted to speak with the man alone, the colonel had informed Vin he had actual underlings he needed to meet with now that he was back.

  He didn’t know if his reputation preceded him or if it was the fact that she’d just witnessed him crush a rock in his mana-empowered grip, but even after he confirmed she was in the right place the woman waited a few seconds before finally stepping into the room.

  “Sorry about the wait,” she offered, giving him a polite nod and taking a seat across from him. “I figured we’d finally be meeting after hearing that you were back in camp, but I didn’t know it would be this quickly. I’m Kelly, a Diplomat.”

  “Nice to meet you, Kelly,” Vin said, sitting up and giving her a genuine smile. Just because he was annoyed at Spur for surprising him with all this didn’t mean he was going to take it out on his newest sub-councilor. He reached out to shake her hand, but stopped himself as the woman’s eyes widened and she flinched back slightly.

  “It’s just the left hand that crushes rocks,” he chuckled, raising the golem arm and spinning his hand around three hundred and sixty degrees with his strange wrist. “The right one is totally normal, I promise.”

  “Of course. My apologies for making assumptions,” Kelly said, blushing slightly as she shook his outstretched hand.

  Even at a glance, Kelly struck him as a rather kind soul. She had long brown hair, an almost perpetual tiny smile when she wasn’t afraid of getting her hand crushed, and an inquisitive look in her eyes. Unlike most of the Earthers wandering about camp, Kelly had also ditched her grey Project Ark fatigues. Instead, she wore an outfit that seemed to be made up of woven together leaves and knotted vines. It took Vin a moment to realize where he’d seen it before, and it was his turn to look surprised.

  “You’ve spoken with the elves in the Sacred Forest?”

  “Yes,” Kelly nodded, her smile widening and any concern still on her face vanishing in an instant. “After the battle for wave two, before you and your companions left camp, your friend Shia briefly introduced me to one of her people’s hunting parties when we handed off all the corpses. Once they realized I knew you and could speak their language, they brought me back to their village, and I even got to speak with Erik, the dryad in charge of their civilization. The entire thing was so magical and extraordinary! Though I thought his name was strangely plain compared to the elves I spoke with.”

  Vin cleared his throat, ignoring Kelly’s confused glance as he briefly regretted his decision to give the ancient and wise magical beast the name Erik of all things. He’d thought it was a good pick at the time!

  “Anyway, since then I’ve spent most of my time within the Sacred Forest, learning about the elves and forming good relations,” she continued. “I’d intended to head over to Sakis and introduce myself to the stone villagers as well, but I just got so overwhelmed by the elven culture I completely forgot! Did you know it’s customary for each set of elven parents to plant a new tree when their child is born? These trees are taken care of and treated like family, all so the elves can feel more in tune with the dryads that are literally part of the forest!”

  “No, I didn’t know that,” Vin admitted, leaning back slightly. Kelly's excitement seemed to grow almost feverish as she talked about the elves, and he had a feeling if he didn’t cut her off now while it was still building, he might never get her to stop. “Quick question! Spur mentioned you were a sub-councilor, specifically in charge of maintaining positive foreign relationships. How many people do you have under you now?”

  The fire burning in Kelly’s eyes seemed to flicker and die, and she leaned back in her chair, turning back into her more timid, calmer self. “…I was the only Diplomat from wave two, but last night Lieutenant Myers informed me that we had not only another new Diplomat as part of the third wave, but an Ambassador as well.”

  Huh… Wonder what the difference is between those two?

  “They both start with the Polyglot passive?”

  “As far as I’m aware,” Kelly nodded. “Spur has pretty much left the decision making on how to handle building and maintaining good relations with the other fragments up to us. My current plan is to divide our forces between our three immediate neighbors for now and potentially expand outwards as we gain more people with similar classes in future waves.”

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  “Let me guess… You’ll handle the Sacred Forest, and the two new guys will take Sakis and the citadel?”

  “Precisely,” she said, a hint of fire burning in her eyes again as if daring him to disagree with her idea. “I thought it made more sense than for each of us to rotate around after all.”

  “That makes sense to me,” Vin quickly nodded, not wanting to get on the woman’s bad side. Honestly, he didn’t know the first thing about diplomacy, so Spur putting him in charge of this entire section of camp was like a sick joke. Though he did know a thing or two about the other fragments from his own adventures. “Fair warning, whoever you send over to meet with the citadel is gonna have a bad time. They’re not going to let them inside you know.”

  “Myers explained the situation,” Kelly nodded. “Even if they don’t open the gates, however, we can still get started building good relations so long as they’re willing to speak with us.”

  “I don’t think that will be a problem,” Vin muttered, remembering the bored guard calling down at them from atop the citadel wall, happy to have any distraction from his watch over an empty field.

  Empty besides all the corpses of course.

  “Okay, I’m liking the plan so far,” Vin admitted, happy his subordinate knew what she was doing at least. “Spur mentioned I had two people under me in the Foreign Branch. Who’s the second? The guy in charge of… Foreign Concerns?”

  As if he’d been waiting for that exact moment to make his appearance, the door swung open once more, and a widely grinning man strode into the room. Based on the neatly cut hair and a carefully trimmed goatee, the man clearly cared a good deal about his appearance. Even his standard grey Project Ark fatigues looked like they were designer brand somehow.

  “Good morning!” He said, closing the door behind him and giving both Vin and Kelly an elegant bow. “To answer your question, I, would be the second sub-councilor for the Foreign Branch. You may call me, Theodore!”

  “Greaaat…” Vin said, staring at the man as he held his bow for what felt like far too long. Damn it Spur, why didn’t you warn me about the weirdos? “So. Theodore. What’s your class?”

  “If anyone else asked me that question, the answer would change depending on the circumstance,” Theodore said, finally coming out of his bow and giving Kelly an appreciative tip of his invisible hat. “But as you’re the boss, you will receive the privilege, nay, the honor, of being one of the few people to know my true identity. For I… am a Spy.”

  Vin could only stare at the grinning man still stroking his goatee as he tried to come to terms with what he’d just heard.

  “You took… Spy, as your class? Not knowing anything about this world, or if there would even be other civilizations or people?”

  “Indeed I did!” Theodore nodded. “A good Spy is worth his weight in gold after all. We are capable of filling any role, of completing any task asked of us. Even if there weren’t other people, I knew my talents wouldn’t be wasted with such a class.”

  “Most of the people I’ve met on Edregon aren’t even humans!” Vin said with exasperation, trying to figure out how the hell a Spy was going to infiltrate a fragment filled with infernals or dwarves.

  “I love a good challenge,” Theodore shot back, a twinkle in his eye.

  “…What the hell is even your starting passive?” Vin finally asked, already tired of speaking with the energetic man.

  “Adaptive Attire,” Theodore said, gesturing to his pristine and crisp looking fatigues. “Whatever I’m wearing shifts to look appropriate for the role I’m trying to fulfill. For example, if I were pretending to be some poor farmer, trudging home after a hard day in the fields…”

  Theodore slumped over, grimacing as he rubbed his back and squinted, grumbling quietly under his breath. To Vin’s bewilderment, just as quickly as the man’s entire stance and demeanor changed, so did his clothes. His grey fatigues suddenly grew dirty and ragged, looking like they hadn’t been washed in days, and he swore he could even smell the filth sticking to them.

  “That’s amazing!” Vin laughed, clapping as Theodore stood back up straight and took another bow, his clothes returning to normal. After that quick demonstration, Vin’s entire opinion of the Spy class had done a complete one-eighty. “The difference in race would still be a huge issue of course, but if your class can do that at only level 1, I’d bet it won’t be long before you get your hands on some sort of passive or Capstone that will do the same with your own appearance.”

  “That is my hope as well,” Theodore nodded. “Despite how long we’ve been here, I haven’t had much opportunity to practice, meaning I’m still only level eight. Assuming my Capstone gives me something to work with, I’m hoping it won’t be long before I’m able to start power leveling.”

  “I’m actually level seventeen,” Kelly admitted, blushing slightly at their impressed glances. “I do spend most of my time with the elves after all, so I leveled rather quickly.”

  “Okay, I’m starting to see what Spur had in mind for this branch of camp,” Vin said, looking between his two sub-councilors. “Theodore, do you have anyone under you from wave three yet?”

  “Possibly,” Theodore nodded, his smile widening. “Myer’s hasn’t actually told me about her yet, but I may have taken a look at her working list of new classes after she went to bed. One of the third wavers, a woman named Krystal, took a class called Saboteur. Myers had her marked as ‘potentially problematic’ in her notes, and I believe she is planning to speak with her more closely before deciding what to do with her.”

  “Wait, how on Earth did you manage to sneak a look at Myer’s notes?” Vin asked, shocked at the man’s admittance. If it was one thing Myers was known for, it was her organization and no-nonsense attitude.

  “I’m a Spy,” Theodore chuckled, stroking his goatee as if that explained everything. “I have to level somehow, don’t I? Anyway, by definition, a Saboteur is someone that infiltrates and sows destruction. I can’t imagine Myers placing her anywhere else but with me.”

  “Makes sense,” Vin slowly nodded, beginning to come to terms with his new role. No longer was he the lone member of the Foreign Branch, running around and dealing with the other fragments all on his own. Out of nowhere, he suddenly had two Diplomats, an Ambassador, a Spy, and most likely a Saboteur of all things under his command. And those subordinates would only grow in number as the future waves tumbled in.

  Grinning, Vin couldn’t help but rub his hands together. Forget maintaining good relationships with the other fragments, he had the perfect team of people to not only mess with Spur, but to talk their way out of any real consequences afterward. Sure, that was just a small side benefit, but it was absolutely something he was looking forward to.

  “Kelly. Theodore,” Vin said, nodding at each of his sub-councilors in turn.

  “I think we’re going to get along just fine!”

  Discord