Notoriety, page 19
“Alex, thank you for your presentation. As the current student body president, I just wanted to ask you what things from your time here helped you succeed in Eternal Dominion.”
Alex wanted to groan at the generic question that had obviously been spoon fed to Travis by the faculty, but still he answered as if he appreciated the question.
“Thank you, Travis. As for what I took from my time here, it would be that life is always better when you have your friends around. I spoke about the wolf pack path earlier. Well, that was my original play before everything just kind of clicked and I wound up doing much better than I had believed was possible.”
“Thank you.”
The next question came from the current president of the VR gaming club, who Alex saw was a young man who made his old self look fit and needed some time in the sun, not that Alex could talk on that front.
“Alex, as the current president of the VR club, I have followed the ongoing situation in ED and I think I am not alone in wondering, what was the purpose of all of those raids you launched last month?”
“Sorry, but I will not be answering anything that would bring clarity to a situation that is meant to be obscured. All I will say is that it is important that you look at the bigger picture if you ever find yourself in a guild and they are giving you orders that make no sense. Often times your role is simply to confuse those who are watching your guild’s movements closely.”
Several more questions were asked and answered in rapid succession, with a few going to the other three but most going to Alex. With time left for only a few more questions, a young woman with wavy blonde hair that Alex had no memory of got up and asked her question.
“Hello, my question is for Alex. As someone who is openly engaged in multiple relationships, how can you stand there and talk to us like you are anything but a shameful philanderer who has no business being-”
Principal Lee took the microphone from the young woman and was about to speak when Kate beat her to it.
“It seems that I wasn’t clear enough when I was speaking about how Alex has stepped into a different world than most people live in. Well, looks like regardless of anything else, the elephant in the room needs to be addressed directly to avoid any extravagant misunderstandings. Alex, do you consider yourself someone that others should look to for moral guidance?”
“Not in the slightest, though I also don’t think that I am an immoral individual. My life just follows a set of morals that is rather irregular.”
Kate smiled as she looked back at the student who had asked the question in the first place as she spoke.
“You stand there looking dissatisfied with that answer and if I had to bet, you are rather religious judging from the tone you are taking and it’s fine that you don’t appreciate our lifestyle. That is your right and you are likely in the majority who find it distasteful at the very least. However, by the same notion, who are you to judge us? I believe that it is phrased ‘judge not lest ye be judged’ in the Bible, though that is me simply cherry picking something convenient for me. So let’s just say that before you attack Alex and at the same time attack those of us who are involved with him, you should try and walk a mile in our shoes. Alex didn’t seek any of us out, he just found himself at the center of all our worlds and after a bit of resistance to it accepted the inevitable.”
At that Kate looked over to Principal Lee who with a sigh spoke.
“Well that is the last of the questions for the day. Alex, do you have anything to say in closing?”
“Only that I hope each of you took something useful from this, even if you think that I am a terrible human being.”
Alex just smiled at the young woman who was frowning after having been cut off in the middle of what he was sure had been a well-rehearsed condemnation of his life. The question in his mind was if she had been simply authentically following her values, or was there something in the background that had prompted her act. The fact that she turned and walked away at his attention being on her didn’t help clarify anything, as the presentation ended and the four of them rejoined the rest of their group backstage as Kate started to speak.
“That little girl is lucky you have a heart, or I would have so much fun ruining her reputation in a matter of weeks.”
“Kate, you don’t need to be upset by the opinions of others.”
“Oh, I am not. I am just frustrated because the tactic that I want to use the most right now is to have her lose all moral ground in a rather public way. The issue is that you would hate me if I did that, because she is most likely just a teenager who stands for her beliefs.”
“You’re right, if that is what she really is. I don’t know if you could tell, but all of the questions before that had obviously been either screened, or force fed to the students.”
“So she broke script,” commented Tara. “Big deal. It’s not like you can expect every teenager to follow the rules.”
“Yes, but the timing was also such that it would clearly be the end of the presentation,” added Alex. “Kate, feel free to do a bit of digging to find out if that was an actual coincidence, or if it was planned. Also, if it turns out that she is the kind that stands for her morals in public while throwing them away the moment she thinks no one is looking, feel free to bring it to light.”
“Alright,” replied Kate with a smile that Alex knew was nothing but trouble. “Now we need to be ready to get out of here through what will likely be a crowd of students.”
With that Kate took the spot in front of Alex as Ava and Mia each took one of his arms and Tara and Harrison stood behind him. The rest of the staff that had come but didn’t have any role to play until tomorrow, surrounded them as they stepped out to find a fair bit of the faculty standing to the sides of their path. This allowed Alex and his group to easily leave without being surrounded by the roughly 100 students who had shown up. Alex recognized a few of the faces in the crowd from his memory, as individuals that he had an elective class or two with and could vaguely remember them. However, he treated them all the same as the others who called out to him by letting his staff take care of telling them all that he wasn’t taking questions or receiving requests. This hadn’t stopped several of them quickly writing something on a piece of paper and trying to get someone to hand it to him. Seeing this, Ava and Mia smiled as they started to grab and pocket a bunch of them as more and more of them kept coming in and Kate sighed before speaking.
“Harrison, if you would be so kind as to hang back with part of your staff and take any notes that they wish to give up and filter them, we will wait for you at our next location.”
At her words, Harrison tapped two others as they stayed behind as they returned to the shuttles, where another group of students were awaiting them. This time the blonde from before seemed to be at the head of them as she stepped out and spoke.
“You may have dodged my full question earlier but, you will have to answer for your way of life at some point!”
“Give it a rest,” chimed in Ava.
“We get it, you’re pent up,” added Mia.
“You don’t need to over compensate for your own desires.”
“By condemning those who don’t deny themselves like you.”
“How can you stand there and defend him?” rebutted the blonde. “Oh wait, you two must be nothing but a pair of gold digging twins that don’t care about anything but his bank account.”
Alex was about to rebuke the blonde when Ava and Mia started to laugh almost uncontrollably.
“Oh man, how right you would have been a year ago,” replied Ava.
“Yeah, all we were looking for was to have enough money to not care about it,” added Mia.
“That was even how we first approached Alex here.”
“It worked about as well as a lead balloon.”
“Though we managed to insert ourselves in his world somehow.”
“Our mistake is once we knew what we were really chasing, we were the ones hooked.”
“So do yourself a favor and leave now.”
“Before you find yourself lusting after him as well.”
“I would never-”
“Just like I would never fall in love with someone,” interjected Kate. “Ha, I came after him expecting it to be more of a business transaction. That didn’t even last a month. Now I would step away before I ask Ava and Mia to make an exception to our little rule about letting any women get to know him, just to get you hooked and shut you out.”
Alex could see the blonde looking like she was ready to scream when Tara spoke.
“You three are too much. Honestly, you act like all Alex has to do is look at a woman and they fall for him. I have been around him for months, years if we are talking about ED time and I am not pining after him and he hasn’t tried to make a move on me. Even if I was worried about it when he first started attracting women left and right, if anything he just needs to stop saving women who don’t mind sharing him.”
“Fair, that is more or less how he ended up with over half of us, though some politics was also involved in a few of those,” commented Kate. “It is why he is not supposed to play hero for any women anymore.”
Alex almost wanted to laugh at the look on the blonde’s face as she tried to piece everything together as they slipped past her and onto the shuttle, as the rest of the crowd simply looked at them sternly. Once the doors were closed, Alex had to laugh at them as they spread out and surrounded the shuttle such that it couldn’t leave, as Kate made a few calls before settling into Alex’s lap.
“Her name is Brianna Anderson,” commented Kate. “She is the daughter of a local Baptist pastor who it seems just received a rather large donation from an anonymous source.”
“It’s scary how fast you work,” responded Ava.
“Yeah, we would have never stood a chance if you had been around,” added Mia.
“Not necessarily true,” replied Kate with a smile. “You two have a genuine sob story and refuse to use it. I respect that and at the very least you bring something to the whole when it comes to the relationship.”
“Back on the topic at hand. So we believe that it was her father that was bought, not her?” asked Alex to confirmed his thoughts.
“Most likely,” replied Kate. “As annoying as she is, I wouldn’t say she is acting out of anything but a loyalty to her faith and obedience to her father. The question is, do you want me to do anything or leave things be?”
“All I want you to do is uncover anything between her father and what I assume would be Abysses End being an opportunist, or your father wanting me to think that and send it to her. Anonymously of course. We want her to start digging herself and confirm the truth on her own, without dismissing it due to its source.”
“Do you really want to have her faith and trust in her father shattered?” asked Tara.
“If this is all he had done it will only shake either of them,” replied Alex. “If he has done more and she finds it, then I am fine with her trust in her father shattering as it will likely be for her own good. I doubt this would turn her away from her faith completely, even if her father turns out to be a terrible pastor. If anything, it will just open her to learning about other faiths, until she finds the one for her.”
“Nana would be happy to share some thoughts with her,” commented Ava.
“Yeah, Nana always did raise us to believe, even if it never stuck,” added Mia.
“And while she doesn’t approve of our relationship.”
“She still loves us, to include you, Alex, all the same.”
Alex just smiled as Harrison and the others arrived with campus security and a few other members of the faculty, to include Principal Lee as they cleared the group of students and allowed them to leave. With that, the conversation shifted to other topics as they made their way to their hotel and dropped their stuff off, before Alex left with Ava, Mia, Kate and one of her bodyguards for dinner. For this they switched to a rental car that had been arranged to be waiting for them at the hotel, as they headed across town to a sushi restaurant that they were meeting others at. When they arrived, they were quickly shown to the private room that they had paid to have reserved all evening. There waiting for them was Sensei Sano, Sensei Kikuchi, Officer Chen and Mr. Fredholm as they all chatted, though Mr. Fredholm seemed to not know what to talk about as the rest were speaking about martial arts. So it was at seeing the five of them enter that Mr. Fredholm was the first to greet them.
“Ah, Alex, it is good to see you, Ava and Mia again, though who are the other lovely ladies?”
“It is good to see you as well, Samuel. This is Kate and her personal bodyguard. Yes, like Sam and Nicole, all three of them have found their way in to my life, though I am taking things a bit slower with them. Speaking of Sam and Nicole, they want me to say hi and apologize for not being here as they are too far along to travel, but really wish that they could say hi.”
“Ah, yes, I do hope they are doing well. Tell them that their smiles were missed,” replied Mr. Fredholm. “Though why does one of your ladies need a bodyguard?”
“That would be due to who my family is mainly,” interjected Kate.
“Oh, well then,” responded Mr. Fredholm, unsure as how to continue.
“Kate is a bit much at first, but I assure you that she seems more intimidating than she is,” stated Alex with a chuckle. “I will make sure Sam and Nicole know that they were missed. Sensei Sano, Sensei Kikuchi, Officer Chen, it is good to see you all as well. I hope you all have been well.”
Sensei Sano and Sensei Kikuchi both nodded in confirmation as Officer Chen spoke.
“It is just Stacy now. I have been relieved of my position and put on administrative leave without pay indefinitely for some BS reasons. I thought you knew?”
Alex frowned as he looked at Kate who smiled as she started to talk.
“That would be my bad. I didn’t want to distract him and at the same time I was doing a bit of my own digging. From what I can find, you were tossed out for being too clean cut and getting in the way of other’s goals. That said, I wonder if you would be interested in moving to Colorado?”
“Can’t say I have given it too much thought. Why, do you think that the force there would hire me?”
“No, we need a head of security as my bodyguards have been working with Alex’s groundskeeper and handyman to make do for the last five months.”
“I don’t know. I would lose all the benefits that I have built up if I just left.”
“No, you won’t, as not only will we pay you better,” replied Kate with a smile. “But we will take care of ensuring California pays you as if you had retired after 30 to 40 years of service once my lawyers are done with them.”
“You make it sound so simple,” replied Stacy. “What makes you think that I am even a fit for the position?”
“Ha, don’t look down on yourself,” interjected Sensei Kikuchi with a smile. “I have long since told you that you should have reached out more directly to Alex and see if he had a job for you. After all, he is the type to quickly take advantage of the mistakes of others.”
“Thank you,” cut in Alex with a smile. “Stacy, you’re a hard worker who just does her job. You’re not the kind who can be bought from the sounds of things and that is what I need. My biggest concern is that anyone who I hire would be bribed at some point.”
“I see, what kind of staff…”
Alex smiled at Stacy, as she insisted on being called, while he launched into the details of what would be expected and what she would have to work with. After an overview was done, Kate was more than happy to sit next to her and go into the details of the job. While they focused on that, Alex shifted to catching up with the two senseis as they discussed how things had been going with the new senseis that Alex had hired. Meanwhile, Ava and Mia were happy to chat with Mr. Fredholm as everyone only stopped to place their orders when the server arrived. Once they were done with their meal, Kate turned her attention to Sensei Sano and Sensei Kikuchi as she had long since secured Stacy as their new head of security.
“Alright, so what will it take for you two to actually accept the offer Alex tentatively extended you before he left?”
“I will only speak for myself, but it is not something I see as part of my path,” responded Sensei Sano.
“Exactly. While I appreciate how my students who have stepped foot onto that path have been treated, I feel that they have lost something in doing so,” added Sensei Kikuchi.
Alex was about to speak when Kate put a hand up to stop him as she stared at both men before countering.
“You say that, but you are only hindering your own path. The issue with your students is that they are simply focused on training others and have failed to truly start to temper themselves. One of our vice guild leaders walks the path of a true samurai as he hones himself while facing the foes that can only be faced in virtual reality. I only wish that we had a few more members who walked the same path as him, though I would hate to have too many as it could be problematic if we did. You see, he will quit the game should he die a single time. In past games he would simply restart, but with ED he made the decision to only live once and refuses even to use a revival item. While I would suggest you follow the restart method at first as this will be your first time playing a VR game, tell me that following this path would not be of benefit to you.”
Alex frowned as he had not known about Takeshi having such a pledge and expected that Kate had once more done more digging than she should have. Though in a way it made sense to him as he knew that Takeshi was always cautious and measured in his actions despite how skilled he was. Alex was also not overly concerned because he knew that Takeshi had still been playing when he restarted in his last life. This meant that he must have succeeded and it was likely a large part of how he reached the heights he did.
“Interesting,” responded Sensei Sano. “Where is he from and what is his name here in reality?”
