"Please, stop!" a new voice shouted.

Sythrak had appeared next to Jeeves, his scales all glowing bright gold, a sure sign that he expected some kind of giant commission. The reptilian humanoid wore a tuxedo much like Jeeves, but without the top hat. He rushed to me and bowed deeply.

"Please pardon the unusual circumstances, and thank you so much for agreeing to see me so quickly. Please hear me out, good sir. I have information that will benefit you greatly."

"You know something about these vaults?"

His excitement was kind of catchy, and I wanted to open the vaults now more than ever.

"I do, sir. As an exclusive agent, I interact with the representatives of some of the bosses who receive special access, not unlike your own."

"Wait, boss monsters can access the system store?" Jane exclaimed.

"On a limited basis, and usually only until contestants arrive," Sythrak explained quickly. "It is not something most people learn, and is not actually germane to our discussion."

"Then what is?"

"Of course. Pardon me for rambling. This opportunity is so unique, I am a bit flustered." The excited reptilian pulled out a purple handkerchief to dab at his scaly head. "When Jeeves mentioned you cleared the Grindstone Dungeon and gained access to the vaults, I followed up on a hunch, and I am so very happy I did."

"I'd like to be too. What did you find out." Usually Sythrak was the picture of composed professionalism. Seeing him so rattled had to be either really good or super bad.

He took a deep breath and actually looked around, as if worried we might be overheard there in my secret castle basement. His voice dropped lower and everyone leaned in.

"Velexis was one such with special access. She often received deliveries, mostly desserts and delicacies that would not affect her performance as a dungeon boss, but were granted as a special privilege."

I pulled out one of the desserts I'd looted from the giant table in her lair. It was one of the alien-looking ones, a glowing blue gelatin cube with swirling bands of yellow churning within. "Speaking of which, what is this thing?"

"Ah, a Nebula Custard. Highly prized by clan Shadrael and served at the most exclusive parties. It will trigger lifelike hallucinations of various wonders of their world, making it one of the easiest ways to sample some truly awe-inspiring sights."

"Wow," Steve said, extending a finger to snatch a bit.

I tossed the gelatin back into my inventory before he could. "We'll try it later. Together."

"Miser," Steve teased.

"Back to Velexis," I urged, even though I'd been the one to distract the conversation.

"Yes, of course. I was aware of her access and a bit about her history. When I heard that you had somehow defeated her, I made some discreet inquiries and confirmed that you had indeed won access to not one, but two secret vaults."

I gestured at the two steel doors facing each other across the room. "Which is why we're here. Is there a problem?"

"No! No problem. Just the opposite. Procuring the vault has placed you in an enviable position that could open doors of opportunity no amount of simple treasure could ever attain."

"Well, you've got me intrigued," Tomas commented.

It did sound good, but did Sythrak want to buy the vaults from me sight unseen, like a storage unit sale back on Earth? No way I'd sell them before looking inside.

"I took the liberty of reaching out to the Elaris clan with an anonymous request for information. They responded immediately with an offer I need to share with you before you open the vault marked as belonging to Sixel."

"Wait, like the clan up on that tier-4 world that Sixel was from before Velexis killed her and possessed her body?" Ruby exclaimed.

"You are as brilliant as you are beautiful, my lady," Sythrak said with a little bow.

"I hope you're taking notes, Lucas," Steve whispered loud enough for everyone to hear.

"That was fast. Can you communicate across the multiverse instantly?"

Sythrak hesitated and Cyrus interjected, his voice coming from 3 sides at once. "You can't hold back now, Sythrak, not if you're planning to arrange what I think you are."

Sythrak's scales muted to gray for a moment as he cringed. Not even employees of the system store could escape Cyrus's notice. For some reason, I'd figured they were exempt from his influence, but apparently I was wrong.

The lizard man's tongue flicked out a couple times before he straightened and collected himself. "Indeed. Am I safe to assume you will not object to my proposal?"

"Why would I? Velexis is the one who brought all this wonderful bedlam into the game. Let's see where it takes us."

"Very well." Sythrak's scales brightened a bit and he continued. "I can communicate between branches of the system store instantly on any world where a store exists. Given your imminent inspection of the vaults, I activated a time dilation feature too."

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"That's a handy feature?"

"Indeed. The system store is not physically located on any one world, so every transaction includes some form of time dilation. Did you not notice that our entire transaction completes in what appears to be the blink of an eye when you return?"

"I did notice that. Meant to ask about it." Didn't have to now.

Sythrak said, "The Elaris clan do a great deal of business with us and have an entire team assigned to them. My counterpart there happened to be delivering a custom order to the clan patriarch, so passed on my message. Their response was instantaneous and urgent."

"So they know Sixel is dead and that Velexis had her vault?" I guessed.

"Indeed. The news that Sixel had died came out not long ago and made ripples through many sectors. However, no one knew exactly how she had fallen or what had happened to her. The fact that Velexis, and therefore, the Shadrael faction was behind the murder will shake the demon faction deeply."

"Serves them right," Ruby said.

Sythrak bobbed a nod. "They have been growing in power in recent years. Now the truth that their power came from insider information provided by Velexis and that they not only murdered but engaged in illegal duels using a possessed body will deal the clan a terrible blow. No doubt it will result in a famous scandal."

"Good."

"I cannot take sides, but most will see it that way. Needless to say, the Elaris clan is overjoyed to hear their beloved Sixel has been avenged and Velexis slain. That she fell on a tier-0 game world only heightens the immensity of her fall."

"And that's a good thing?" Steve asked.

Sythrak smiled, showing short, rounded teeth, and nodded several times. "Better than that. The Elaris clan wishes to send a delegation to meet with you."

"Is that possible? I thought access to Arasha was strictly controlled during the game."

"It is, but there is a way." Sythrak hesitated, glancing up again, before squaring his rounded shoulders and adding, "The meeting can happen in the system store at your private shop. The clan's envoy will be but a projection, but the meeting can happen real-time."

"Like an intergalactic teleconference call," Ruby said.

"Exactly," Cyrus interjected again.

Sythrak added, "It is extremely expensive to arrange a cross-planet meeting like this, but the clan has stated their intent to do so and to cover all of the costs, if you are willing to meet."

"Sure. It sounds great."

I'd love to meet elf representatives from a higher-tiered world who weren't planning to kill me. Could I learn anything useful to help us in the game? I'd be stupid not to try.

"Wonderful," Sythrak said, clapping his 4-fingered hands together. "The clan has requested that you do not enter Sixel's vault. They wish to purchase the entire space, along with all its contents."

"Why?" Jane asked suspiciously.

Sythrak hesitated again before saying, "There are rumors that many of the clan's treasures have gone missing. That was one of the reasons the clan has been losing prestige and power in recent years. I suspect they believe Velexis pillaged their treasuries as Sixel and they may recover at least some of the artifacts."

"How will they know how much to pay Lucas for them?" Steve asked. "If a tier-4 clan thinks their best treasures are in there, can they even pay enough mana crystals to cover it all?"

"An excellent point," Sythrak said. "Indeed, the price of the vault is an item that must be negotiated, but mana crystals may not be the best or most valuable payment the clan could make."

Huh. Good point. The more I thought about it, the more the reptile's words made sense. I honestly had a lot of mana crystals. Sure, when epic and legendary items became available in the system shop, they'd probably chew through my mana crystals pretty fast, but that was assuming I didn't keep finding ways to make more money.

What could a tier-4 faction who wanted to reward me for slaying the killer of one of their golden rising stars do for me? The clan ran very lucrative dueling combat arenas, and it sounded like their faction's fortunes would rise sharply again soon. Could they get me stronger weapons and gear than I could find on Arasha? Or use their influence to help Earth?

"What about the demon faction? Did you inform them too?"

"Of course not, my lord. I would not dare risk alerting them of your identity or location. Of course, some information will spread as the scandal plays out, but despite the damage it will cause to their power, the Shadrael faction is still a mighty tier-3 player."

"And they'll want you dead," Tomas said grimly.

That wasn't nearly as fun as thinking about the Elaris clan wanting to reward me. If the other demons had powers like Velexis's, they could snuff out my life in a heartbeat. As a tier-3 faction, they were already like 100 times stronger than me.

They might have trouble reaching me on Arasha, but what about after the game? Assuming we won and returned to Earth, could they find our planet and send a strike force to wipe out all life on the planet?

As if reading my thoughts, Cyrus said, "Inter-planetary travel has many restrictions, and it is notoriously hard to reach newly-inducted planets for all but select groups. The Shadrael faction may eventually learn your identity and wish to avenge themselves, but finding you will be very difficult. Plus, they'll want to blame Velexis for the scandal to distance the rest of the clan. If they do, they will not be able to openly put a bounty on your head."

"That's not as comforting as you seem to be trying to make it sound," Steve said.

I added, "Are we going to run into more issues killing bosses and riling up other multiverse factions?"

"Not usually. Velexis was a special case. Most factions send bosses with full understanding they are likely to be killed. As long as the sponsoring factions gain preferred access to harvest treasures after the game, they still consider the exchange a win."

"So can you help remind the demons of that?" Tomas urged.

Cyrus didn't answer.

Sythrak said, "Sir, if I may. The demons may also wish to reclaim some items from Velexis's vault. Brokering such an exchange could be done anonymously, and could win a great deal of goodwill."

"Do you want goodwill from a faction of murdering, soul-possessing demon assassins?" Jane asked.

"If they're strong enough to wipe out all life on Earth, might be wise," Ruby responded.

I considered it for a moment. Velexis had been a piece of work, but was I stupid for holding a grudge? I had her scythe, which the description said had been in the clan for generations. I bet they wanted that back, if nothing else. If I arranged to sell it back to them, I might get a big payout and ease their hatred for me and my world.

Did I want to, though? The demons would no doubt give it to another assassin who, like Velexis, would use it to murder, kill the souls of their victims, and take their abilities for a while. That wasn't technically my problem, since that would be happening on worlds entire tiers above us, so we'd likely never run into them again.

Somewhere, though, people would die because of a weapon I returned to the demons. That thought did not sit well with me.

No doubt the demons had other weapons, so maybe I was making too big a deal out of it. I killed a lot of things pretty much every day, but most were monsters. Bosses were different, but it sounded like they came to Arasha knowing full well the dangers. I didn't murder for profit, but to survive this death battle game. I might still be killing, but there was a difference.

"Sythrak, please arrange for the meeting with clan Elaris and let me know when you can schedule it."

"At once, sir."

"I do have at least one item the demons might be interested in."

"You're not going to barter with demons, are you?" Jane asked.

"I haven't decided yet. Sythrak, can you see what you can dig up on the Shadrael clan and maybe enemies of theirs who might want Velexis's scythe? In the meantime, it's time to take a look in Velexis's vault and see what kind of loot we're dealing with."

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