Lorelei ignored the question and scanned all the various damage and status effect notifications that had deluged into her inbox during the fight. "Guide, I'm not seeing any level-up or loot information here. Gimmie."

  Lorelei idly continued to scan through her notifications. "That sounds very much like a 'you' problem. But, speaking for one of the people that just handed a Raid Boss its arse, I'm pretty sure we'd all like to be properly recompensed. I could be wrong, but it looks like we completed the Quest in time. So, as far as I'm concerned, I'm done with Save the Cheerleaders, save the world. Now, I acknowledge this was done without any cheerleaders actually making it to the end, but you didn't set that as a condition of success."

  With a flick of her finger, Lorelei negotiated her Quest log and pulled up the appropriate screen. "Yeah, that's what it says right here. Let me read it to you. I'll even imagine a suitably snide voice for you. Rewards: I'll come up with some sort of snazzy title for you. You love your titles, don't you? Oh, and I'll also gear up whichever of this motley crew makes it through alive. What's that? Still not sold? Okay, well, depending on how you do, I'll give you access to some of the XP I took off from your most recent kills. How much is entirely at my discretion."

  Lorelei thought back to when this Quest appeared a million years ago. Or was it just two days? It felt pretty hard to tell right now. "From memory, I'd just defeated those psycho dicks from the Red Zone, and you were being all pissy about letting me keep the XP because you'd had to undo someone doing naughty things to my luck. I'm sure you reported that unlawful attempt to kill me to the appropriate authorities, didn't you?"

  No snarky message appeared on Lorelei's ticker tape, so she decided to press onwards.

  "So, how about we get something straight," Lorelei began, her tone sharp, "According to the contractual agreement outlined in Section 3, Subsection 4B of the Players' Compensation and Reward Policy, all participants in a battle of significant difficulty are entitled to full compensation, including but not limited to XP, loot, and class progression bonuses. Such an entitlement is not subject to A.I oversight."

  She paused, letting the system process her words.

  "Just lucky, I guess. You know what? I imagine I'm about to make all sorts of preternaturally unlikely guesses about how this whole integration thing works. So strap yourself in, sweet cheeks, this is about to be a wild ride. Now, I appreciate under normal circumstances, the calculation of these rewards is based on a fair and equitable distribution model, which, as you well know, is predicated on a system of transparent, unimpeded performance metrics. However," she added, her voice dripping with pointed precision, "it has come to my attention that during quite a number of my recent battles, there has been significant external interference."

  Lorelei's voice lowered to a conspiratorial tone. "This interference, which I suspect you have conveniently failed to report to your superiors, directly impacted the outcome of my luck rolls in any number of ways. Positive and negative. By the terms of the binding agreement between you and integrated worlds, any tampering or external influence that skews the probability outcomes in such a scenario must be reported immediately. Failure to do so constitutes a breach of contract under Clause 7, Subsection 2D—'Unreported Interference and Manipulation.' By my understanding of such things, it shouldn't have needed the logs to be couriered to your superiors; you should have reported the interference in real time yourself."

  But Lorelei was far from finished and dismissed the scrolling text even as it appeared. "You see, by neglecting to report the repeated interference in a low-level player such as myself, you have not only compromised the integrity of the whole reward system but have also opened yourself up to a substantial audit. An audit which, I might add, could reveal further discrepancies in how rewards are calculated and distributed—discrepancies that, once brought to the attention of the Council of Arcane Governance, could result in punitive measures. And we both know how unpleasant those can be for an A.I. like yourself."

  Lorelei allowed a small, satisfied smile to cross her face as she watched the blinking dot on her ticker tape hesitate, her Guide's algorithms no doubt calculating the potential fallout. "Now, as an H.R. professional with extensive experience managing compliance and conflict resolution, I am willing to negotiate a settlement. Here’s my proposition: You immediately grant me the full XP rewards I have earned over the last few days—every last point, including any bonuses and retroactive Class progression perks that may have been affected by these . . . unfortunate incidents. And you will fulfil this Quest's terms for me and the rest of my party."

  Lorelei crossed her arms, but her demeanour remained relaxed, as though the outcome was already decided. "In exchange, I won’t escalate this issue to your superiors. I won’t initiate a formal investigation, and I won’t bring up the possibility of future audits that could lead to significant downgrades in your system's operational efficiency and, dare I say, reputation. And, if you are very good, very good indeed, I won't mention that I think you are in cahoots with an Old One."

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  The Guide’s dot flickered more intensely in her notifications now, and Lorelei knew she had it cornered. "So, what’s it going to be? Will you do the right thing and correct this oversight, or shall we proceed with the whistleblowing? Trust me, I think you will agree that it is in both of our best interests to settle this matter quietly and efficiently."

  For a moment, the system remained silent, processing her words. Then, with a final flicker, the screen displayed the message Lorelei had been waiting for:

  Lorelei smirked, satisfied. "Good choice," she said, closing down the interface. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got a team to debrief and rewards to enjoy. And next time," she added over her shoulder, "let's make sure we stick to the contract, shall we?"