Trepidation pulsed across Ian’s mind as he and Claire left her office. As he passed by other Keepers and administrative personnel, he dropped his eyes to the ground and let Claire take the position in front of him.
“Ian,” Claire said, stopping after they passed by the third person in the hall. “Are you feeling okay?”
Ian blinked as his eyes darted up to meet hers. He took a deep breath as he saw the concern on her face. He cleared his throat before looking around.
“Sorry, Claire. I…ah…promise not to laugh, but I suddenly felt really exposed.”
“I’d never laugh at you for that,” she gently replied before putting a hand on his shoulder and guiding him forward. “Just remember, things aren’t the same as they were before you came here. What we just did is going to help the world see you for who you really are. There isn’t a reason to hide yourself anymore…but you can always put your skill back on to see if it makes you feel more comfortable.
“However, I also hope you choose to walk out there with your head held high. You should be proud of who you are and what you have accomplished…and as your friend, I want to see you move past these chains that have held you down and watch as you push yourself forward.”
Ian struggled with the thought as a woman walked out of the office right in front of them. Ian felt a rush of panic as the woman’s gaze met his eyes.
“Good morning, Mr. Spelling,” she said, giving him a bright smile. “The news just started reporting on the documents and the resulting public outcry.”
“Oh?” Claire said, catching the woman’s attention. “I take it things are going well for us then?”
Ian’s mind finished rebounding, realizing the woman wasn’t going to react in the ways that he had grown to dread. His mask had given him a sense of security from the outside world, but now that it was gone, he realized that he wasn’t sure he was emotionally ready to give it up.
Closing his eyes, a shiver ran up his spine as he tried to let go of the fear. He reminded himself that while his sister may have been a driving factor in why he had outed himself, he had also done it for himself. Regardless of what would happen in the future, his actions had hopefully achieved those goals. Now he just had to get used to people seeing him.
“Ian?” Claire asked, snapping him out of his internal conflicts.
“Sorry,” Ian said, looking down after seeing the second woman staring at him. “I think I may need to put the mask back on. Maybe I’m not quite ready for this after all.”
“I’m sorry if I am making you uncomfortable. I promise it was not my intent,” said the woman, causing Ian to look back up at her. “I just wanted you to know how happy you being here makes all of us at the AO, and we are fully behind you. We’ve heard that you plan on staying with the AO, and hope that your efforts will help others realize that they can stay here as well.”
Ian straightened a little as he felt Claire’s hand touch his shoulder. Ian looked over at her and smiled before turning back to the woman.
“Thank you,” he said after a moment’s hesitation. “And I’m sorry. I’m not used to being able to walk around without my skill activated. I’m used to people…reacting poorly when they see me.”
The woman gave him a small smile as she nodded in understanding. After a moment, a smirk came to her face as she looked over at Claire before looking back at him.
“I think you might have a different problem than what you’ve dealt with before, though.” She looked down the hall to ensure no one else was around and leaned in conspiratorially. “I think a lot of your female fans are going to riot if you put your shadowy face back on. You were good-looking before you started leveling, and now you look like the firemen that were always on the front of my mother’s books growing up.”
Claire snorted, “Just your mother’s books, huh?”
“Please, Claire, you know I have more class than that,” she said with an impish smirk. “I prefer my smut to have hunky adventurers.”
Both women looked at Ian, causing him to cough as he fought to keep the look of embarrassment off his face.
“You’re too much,” Ian said with a chuckle.
“Yeah, I get that sometimes,” she replied. “But seriously, hold your head up high when you go out there. Unlike your ex, you got to where you are with your own efforts. Nobody can take that away from you. They can claim all they want, but you don’t have to let them have any power over you anymore.
“Besides, if someone out there can’t come to the correct conclusion from reviewing the information that you made available, they are either stupid or hiding ulterior motives. You’d think we were still stuck in the early days of E-media with the way some people blindly believe every drama they read about online.”
“Thank you,” Ian said. “That really does make me feel better.”
“Thanks, Tiff,” Claire said.
“No problem! Throw back a drink or two for me. I have a few more meetings before I can make my way over there.”
Promising to do just that, Ian and Claire waved goodbye. Walking out of the building, Ian nearly panicked when he saw so many people running around, but the fear quickly dissipated when it dawned on him that nearly everyone had AO uniforms on.
“Looks like the guild master really decided to go all out,” Claire murmured as she watched staff members hustling between the different buildings. She turned to Ian and began to giggle. “Looks like you really kicked over an anthill with this one.”
Ian was so shocked by all the activity; it took him a moment to realize he had temporarily forgotten his fear. Chuckling to himself, he stepped up next to Claire as they continued their walk.
“I wonder if there really is a huge crowd out there?” Ian asked, looking over at one of the walls. “I know they said so when they escorted Avra away, but it seems like such a stretch. Besides, I can’t hear anyone.”
“The walls are designed to keep out the sounds of the city,” Claire responded absently as she pulled her phone out. Swiping a few times, she suddenly froze. “Damn…they weren’t kidding.”
“Really?”
She whistled before moving the phone so he could see the screen, the stream clearly showing a large crowd from a news feed taking place on the sidewalk surrounding the AO’s main entrance.
“There have to be hundreds of people out there,” Ian whispered, staring at the screen in shock, their walk completely stopping.
“Thousands,” Claire responded before turning up the volume to hear the reporter on the screen.
“—shocked and appalled that she had received financial support from multiple organizations focused on empowering women who were trapped in physically and emotionally abusive relationships. These non-profit groups have released statements condemning her false accusations against her ex-boyfriend, Ian Spelling. Many have stated they are considering lawsuits against both Avra and Peerless to recoup the money that should have gone to real victims.
If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
“This new information comes on the heels of reports that dozens of sponsors have already publicly severed ties with Peerless. With three similar stories being published right after Zero’s big reveal, it is quite possible we are just in the beginning phases of—”
The reporter suddenly stopped and put his hand up to his ear before shaking his head in disbelief. He took a deep breath and put his smile back in place.
“This just in, there are now two additional stories with corroborating evidence from the AO and the dungeon curator. That brings the total up to six in less than an hour, making it apparent the problems are just beginning for Peerless. We will have more to share on this new development in just a moment.
“This is Bevin Collins for Channel Six, bringing you more live updates after a brief break.”
Claire turned off her screen and met Ian’s wide eyes with her own. She stared at him for a second before she started giggling.
“Wow…I wonder how much more Aunt Mavin has to throw at Peter,” she said.
“I kinda hope she doesn’t have anything else,” Ian said, looking at his phone. When Claire didn’t answer, he looked over to see her, giving him a confused look.
“What do you mean? I thought you wanted to see Peter get what he deserved?”
“I do,” he said before his countenance dipped. “But every punch we hit him with is another person who suffered from his ego and greed. How many of them went through the same types of things I did?”
“Yeah. I get what you are saying,” Claire said with a grimace. She put her phone away and reached over and clicked off Ian’s screen. “Don’t worry about it today. Let’s just go get ourselves lunch and wait for our friends.”
Ian nodded and gave her a smile. “You’re right. Lead the way!”
*~*~*
They had gotten waylaid multiple times when different people called out to speak with them. At first, it was anxiety-inducing, but the more people who talked with them, the more confident Ian grew. The staff members and his fellow adventurers saw him as Zero first and Ian second. A few of the more seasoned adventurers clapped him on the shoulder and gave him words of encouragement, while some of the youngest ones didn’t really seem to grasp the situation.
Ian held the door for Claire as they entered the cafeteria.
“You still looked a bit shocked,” Claire said with a knowing smirk.
Ian snorted as he held a small slip of paper, “I never expected a random woman to give me her number. It’s honestly never happened before.”
Claire shook her head as they looked around the room. It was a little early for the lunch crowd to show up, but Ian saw a man waving at him from near the back of the room. Ian waved back and went to make a grilled chicken salad before heading over to his friend.
“How is it going, Jason?” Ian greeted the grizzled adventurer.
“Oh, I’m loving every single moment of this,” he replied, pointing to the screen that was showing a list that was growing as he read it.
“What’s this?” Ian asked, sitting down next to the man.
“It’s a list of all of the sponsors and partners that have cut ties with Peerless,” Jason responded with a largest shit eating grin Ian had ever seen on the man. “And this is just the tip of the iceberg! Did you know the top adventuring contracts in Peerless have a clause that states that Peerless must provide them with access to an AO scheduled and managed dungeon within a week of it being requested?”
Ian shook his head as the man began to laugh maniacally as he switched one of the secondary displays to a letter. After just a moment of reading it, Ian began to chuckle.
“Oh Mavis, you devious, devious woman,” he muttered before looking over to Claire as she sat down. As he caught her attention, he pointed to the screen. “Hey Claire, did you know about that?”
She read it quickly before she burst out laughing, “She cut them off from every special privilege she was legally able to. Without access to special dungeons or the better rates for their goods from their sponsors, they are between a rock and a hard place. They have nearly twenty dungeon teams, though The Conquerors are one of their highest leveled groups. They do have a single soloist who is over 630, but they never show his streams.
“But after reading that, I’ll be surprised if any of their main groups stay. Avra probably won’t have a choice, though. She has been barred from the AO grounds for a year without special permission from the guild master, regardless of whether she stays in Peerless or not.”
Jason chuckled as he activated another display showing the guild master talking outside of the Adventuring Office to a crowd of reporters. He whistled before taking another drink.
“I gotta say,” Jason said as he watched the words roll across the bottom of the screen, “if there is one thing the guild master has, it’s the ruthlessness to slide the knife in over and over again for maximum pain.” He sighed happily as he picked up his beer. “It couldn’t be happening to a worse group of people!”
Claire snorted as Ian laughed.
“I don’t think you’ve ever mentioned what your beef with them was,” Ian said, as he looked over at the man.
“It’s actually pretty simple. Their high-level soloist was like my apprentice of sorts. He was supposed to be the leader of your ex’s party, but something went wrong shortly after he signed his contract. His contract only has a little under three months left on it, but I haven’t heard from him since it started. From what I understand, he practically lives in dungeons, though it appears he’s recently stopped leveling.”
“He hasn’t contacted you?” Claire asked.
Jason shook his head with an angry look. “And Peter, the slimy git, wouldn’t give me any information. If I wasn’t able to look up his name every day, I’d probably be convinced he’s dead.”
“Couldn’t you just find the dungeon he is in and go talk with him?” Ian asked.
“Didn’t work. He just sighed, looked down at the ground, and walked past me out of the portal. I can only guess that there’s something in his contract that’s preventing him from reaching out. Peter is a slimy enough man to do something like that.”
“He’s a monster,” Ian said. He was interrupted by someone placing a tray down next to Claire.
Ian turned his head to see Ashlyn walk over behind him and give him a tight hug.
“I’m so proud of you, Ian,” she whispered.
“Thanks, sis. Hopefully, this will make life easier for you. I’ve heard you’ve been having some issues with your class.”
Ashlyn smiled as she went to sit back down in front of her food, “Honestly, it will definitely help in the long run. However, I don’t think a lot of them really believe it. We just heard about it as they released us for our lunch break, and a lot of the women in that class are actual victims of abuse. Regardless of how much I love you, I can’t blame them for their skepticism. What some of them have gone through is absolutely heartbreaking to hear about.”
“It really is,” Jen said, coming up and putting her tray down next to Ashlyn.
Ian did a double-take when he saw that she didn’t have her elven features activated. He got up and gave her a hug as she came over.
“I’m proud of you, Ian,” she said as she let him go.
“Dang, Ian. I might have to tell Glade Runner if you keep hugging pretty girls. Not even I know about this one,” Claire said with a snicker.
Ian began to chuckle as he let go of Jen, “Actually, do you want to tell her, Jen?”
“Sure, sure,” Jen said, turning to Claire.
“Ian, do you actually have a girlfriend?” Claire asked with wide eyes.
Both of them began laughing as Jen reached out and patted Claire’s shoulder.
“Claire, it’s me, Glade Runner,” Jen said with a smile. “I figured that if Ian wasn’t hiding who he was, maybe it was time for me to give it up when I’m not in the dungeon.”
Claire’s mouth hung open for a second before her eyes glowed with a green light. Her eyes got huge as she verified Jen’s statement before she looked over the woman.
“Dang, Jen. You are a dangerous combination,” she said, pursing her lips.
“Right?” Ashlyn cut in around a mouthful of fries. “First, she is all petite, athletic grace, then, baam! Suddenly she’s got a larger chest and curves in all the right places…while still having a tiny waist.”
Ashlyn looked over at Jen as she sat back down, squinting her eyes, “You might be my favorite teacher, but I’m watching you.”
Jason began chuckling as Ashlyn smiled and bumped the older woman with her shoulder.
“So, I guess you don’t really need to explain anything to me about your meeting,” Jen said, leaning forward to make eye contact with Ian. “Ashlyn and I caught most of it when James pinged me during the stream. I guess we got kinda lucky that I volunteered to be her skills trainer today.”
“Yeah, I didn’t really know what to expect, nor how everything was going to shake out. But I feel like it was the right thing to do.” Ian replied.
“Hell yeah it was,” Jason said after a moment. “Now I just need you to kick the shit out of their team during the tournament next month. Honestly, though, you may actually out-tier them by then if you keep leveling like you are.”
Ian and Claire looked at each other with knowing smiles before Ian turned to see Jason giving him a quizzical look.
“No worries on that one,” Ian said with a smirk. “If I’m not in the right range, I’m sure my sister and her party will be.”
“Oh yeah, let me at ‘em!” Ashlyn said with a predatory smile. “I’m down for some petty revenge.”
“Daydream about revenge later,” Jen said, nudging the younger woman. “You need to hurry up and eat because we have to be back to getting your hours in skill training in less than thirty minutes.”
“Yeah, you need to finish the course so we can get you up to speed,” Ian said.
“And get you some more people to group with,” Claire said. “Though the hard part will be finding trustworthy people.”
“It’ll happen,” Ian said, shrugging. “We just need to find people she can grow along with.”
