I still wasn’t sure why Pryte had been so upset by the roof collapse in the pavilion. They had been bound to make a few mistakes yesterday. Most of them had no idea about construction work, and Alex wasn’t in any shape for heavy labor. The important thing was we had managed to get it fixed up, and now, only a day and a half after the ninth floor, we had a new building that could double as a recreation and meal room when it wasn’t needed for meetings. Which also meant we could repurpose my barely functional kitchen into an extension of the garage.

  The bunkhouse exterior was entirely good to go as well. Trolke just had to finish up some of the interior rooms, but even now, several people had camped out in the common area, which was much less crowded than they had been on the bus. I barely even remembered building the veranda that morning, the combined effects of the food, Connie’s music, and Trolke’s orders had just set my brain to work in a way I hadn’t really experienced before.

  The strangest part was I woke up this morning entirely relaxed. Despite working for nearly a day straight, I felt like I had taken both a vacation and managed to accomplish something huge I had been putting off. That feeling on top of the ninth floor being done, John being so happy, and my core working correctly again was what was keeping my mood up for the call I had to have later that day. I wasn’t looking forward to it, but we needed to have this meeting before the tenth floor because they deserved to know what would happen if we lost. This wasn’t just my planet to make decisions for, even if some legal entity of the Spiral claimed it was.

  With that in mind I retrieved the cell phone and made a call I had been avoiding.

  “Hello,” Laura’s voice said on the other side of the cell phone.

  “Hey, it’s Dave. We are ready for the meeting whenever the president wants to be here, but the sooner, the better, as we don’t have much time before we have to head back to the Arena,” I said, not sure how much she would press about that topic.

  “Okay, I assume you still live where you used to?” Laura replied.

  “Yes,” I said.

  “Good. We’ve restored communication with an airfield in Alaska in preparation for this, and we’ve been working out of there for the last several days. The president was just waiting on your call and the go-ahead. We can be there in four hours,” Laura said, surprisingly bubbly. She was using her diplomacy voice on me, which was probably fair considering I was more or less a head of state now.

  “Wait, what was the plan if I didn’t reach out then? Were you just going to show up?” I asked, a little annoyed at that part of the implication of them already being here.

  “Kind of. If we hadn’t heard from you in another three days, I was going to take Sergeant Grant and head to your place to check-in. I figured with how close you two had gotten so easily, against what should have been his orders and your personality, he’d make the best person to accompany me,” Laura said. That was probably also fair, and I liked Grant. Even if Connie had been keeping everyone a little calmer with her own magics, he seemed already to be what I considered a reasonable guy.

  “I suppose I can understand that. Will he be coming for the bigger meeting as well?” I asked, deciding to play it nice myself.

  “Yes, we’ve settled on ten people. A couple of them are diplomats from other countries we’ve managed to reestablish contact with already, but for the most part, the United States will lead this on our end,” Laura replied. Well, at least that was some good news for the world. I was glad other countries were starting to recover as well.

  “Alright, just anyone you bring, make sure they are prepared for people that aren’t humans, okay?” I said, worried about what kind of reaction we would get there. Getting people talking, though, was Laura’s special area, so I hoped she understood.

  “I know Dave. This isn’t some kind of take-charge mission. This really is a sit-down and discuss the future and where everything stands, at least as far as you know where this is all going. That and I want to see my children,” she replied, taking a weight off of me. As big of a game as I had talked about previously, I really didn’t want to start another war.

  This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

  “Got it. Just as a heads-up, both of them are doing surprisingly well. John and his girlfriend, while nowhere near as powerful as I am yet, have gained their own cores and some magic of their own. Alex’s pregnancy is going great, too,” I said, giving her some happy news that she probably needed. She wouldn’t admit it, of course. She was busy with her own world-size crises, just as I was.

  “I’m glad to hear that. I’ll check in more with them when I arrive. Going to go make the last preparations. Call us if anything changes,” Laura said, hanging up before I could give an answer. We were still stuck in the not knowing how to talk to each other about the good things phase, and I expected that might not ever truly end.

  I placed the phone back where it had been and went to look for Pryte. I probably should have told him before I agreed to a meeting in four hours, but what was done was done. I didn’t like to think about it this way, but the reality was the power was in our hands anyway. The people coming here today had to at least somewhat accept what they were told, or things would just get worse for all of us. I found Pryte still in the bus, now with only Timon and Chip as company.

  Pryte bolted awake as I started toward him, as though realizing I was here in his sleep. “What did you do this time?” he asked, looking both annoyed and tired.

  “The meeting is scheduled, but it’s also in four hours,” I said.

  “Okay, that I can deal with. It’s not great, but at least it means we can get the stress of it off our backs. I’ll find Rabyn and Mel, you start waking everyone else up,” Pryte said, standing up and stretching.

  “Is there anyone we want to keep away from the meeting?” I asked. Other than the obvious answer of the kids, I wasn’t sure.

  “Me, you, Elody, Mel, Connie, Timon, and Alex will be handling things from our side. The Twinoges and Glorp will be on serving duty while John and Rabyn stay in the kitchen. Finally, Maud is in charge of babysitting,” Pryte responded, apparently having already planned this out.

  “Alright, works for me. Why Alex, though?” I asked, not that I was against her being there, but I wasn’t sure what Pryte’s goal was with her.

  “She’s the next in line for the Empire. It’s important she is involved in all meetings like this, even if only as a power play, especially if we want to unnerve her mother’s resolve in any demands. Now, unless you have any other very pressing questions, we need to get to work,” he said, shooing me out of the bus as Timon yawned loudly. So he was going to use Laura against the president? I was glad I had given him this task, I just wasn’t capable of those kinds of power games.

  Since he was heading for the bunkhouse, I headed back to the main house and found Alex, John, and Maud now awake. “You’re up earlier than usual,” John said as I entered.

  “Yeah, I made the call on getting our meeting with the president going, turns out they were waiting in Alaska for the call. Your mom and several people will be here in four hours. Pryte is a bit annoyed with my surprise, but we are going with it,” I said, trying to hide my own feelings on the matter. The longer I let it sit with me that Laura had been sitting only a few hours away for a few days, just waiting to surprise us, the more annoyed I was getting about it. Voicing that annoyance wouldn’t help anything. They deserved to be happy to see their mom again.

  “Wait, Mom is already in Alaska?” Alex asked, her eyes narrowing.

  “She is, but that’s a topic for a different day. For today, let’s just support Pryte as best we can. Do you three already know your assignments?” I asked, looking at each of them.

  “Yeah, I get to be in the big meeting, and I’m not allowed to trade Maud no matter how much I want to,” Alex replied, the other two nodded along.

  “How well do you honestly think this is going to go, Dad? Governments aren’t known to cede power easily, and everyone else can think they know what will happen here all they want, but they aren’t the people from the planet,” John said, some of his earlier happiness giving way to a worried tone.

  “I don’t know. I know Pryte isn’t planning for us to demand ownership of Earth or anything like that. He wants for us to be able to act as a small independent nation more or less, and how well they accept that probably heavily depends on how much of the world is functioning again,” I said. I was reasonably sure the reality was that no matter what they agreed to now, they would eventually want to revisit it in terms of power-sharing until they had all the control back, which wouldn’t ever happen. But that was a conversation that could be put off for a long time.

  “What your Dad is saying is that we can likely keep a real explosion from happening for a few years at least,” Maud said with a smile, which was more or less what I was trying to say.

  I sighed. This morning had started so good with how I felt. Was that the only reason I had even been able to make the call? I sighed. “Let’s just all do our best here. We can figure out the rest later.”

  While bard-type classes can excel at matters of diplomacy, the specialized dedicated negotiating classes tend to beat them in all aspects of state-related matters. This isn’t to suggest a bard isn’t a great idea to have as an extra member of any peace delegation, but if either party can afford their own Diplomancer, that is where the real concessions start to be made. As followers of the class are few and far between, the fees they can cost are extreme. Even the larger factions don’t have guaranteed access to that class. Most people settle for a simple Diplomat or Relations Manager when it comes down to it.

  Classes Volume 2 by Zolinjar

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  I am a Table [A LitRPG Progression Story]

  by Daniel Newwyn

  The Uninspiringly Named Medieval Realm, he expects the usual isekai treatment—powerful abilities, legendary weapons, maybe even a hero’s destiny. Instead, he finds himself in the most prestigious role imaginable.

  A wooden table. Featherwood, to be exact, which allows him to become super fast. If he can walk.

  Status Window appears, he realizes something:

  He can level up.