“…That would be the exact order I currently have in mind,” John finished the ranking of the islands, a list that was scribbled down and hung on a well-visible space so he didn’t have to answer that question over and over again. People were interested to see how high in the list their current living space was. Not really to see how well they had to perform, or who they had to attach to, to maintain that position, but to gauge how much higher up they could go.

He looked over the crowd standing around him. Rather nonchalantly, he was sitting on a table with Salamander looking over a nearby barbeque, from which Aclysia occasional served him a nice slice of grilled meat. As far as he was concerned, this was the best way to have a Q&A session. Especially since the serving didn’t end at the meat being put on the table.

While Aclysia moved a finely cut piece of pig up to his mouth, he gestured towards a random person in the crowd. As he was chewing, they presented their question. “Does your decision to include neighbouring guilds in the tournament include the Lake Alliance?”

“Yeah,” John answered, then swallowed and elaborated. “Whether they take the offer up or not is their choice, but I am putting it out there, war of aggression or not.” That last bit was a politically convenient framing more so than the absolute truth. It also wasn’t false though. “If they want to send someone over, they better hurry, write-ins end tomorrow morning.”

“If you lose, will you really leave all of these things here?” Was the next question.

John nodded affirmatively. “Everything I built will stay. If I land anywhere lower than first place, you are free to take over whatever island I would get as well, since I don’t have the free time or the resources to defend that. What I can’t guarantee is the bees staying, you would have to take that up with them yourself.”

“What’s up with the maid uniforms?”

Aclysia took that one, giving John time to chew on a new slice. “I instituted that change upon my victory against the former leader. Master really likes maid outfits, you see, and I saw no good reason that they should stay in their wholly inappropriate biker aesthetic.”

“We kinda had bad experiences with bikers in the past… like, repeatedly,” Rave added, lying nakedly nearby, working on her tan. Her presence caused all ‘serious’ publication to stand to John’s right, so they could take photos of him without her in the frame. All uncaring programs stood on the left and all dirty people were around her. Rave took the liberty to pose a little bit for the cameras, but generally just lay there, seriously uncaring about their presence. As she had stated yesterday, just being watched didn’t do it for her as much as doing things while being watched. Masturbating evidently wasn’t too high on the list of ‘doing things’.

“Next,” John pointed at the next person that caught his attention.

“What’re you going to do with us, if you win?” the question came from a native person, not a reporter.

“You are to guard the stretch of the border you share with the Lake Alliance, including the areas you previously had fights over, which Fusion is currently settling,” he had gotten news from Scarlett recently that that effort was already well underway, so there was no harm in revealing it publicly. “Would be, rather, sorry, I am kind of taking my victory for granted already.”

“Don’t you think you should keep your sexual exploits more private?” asked a new person.

“No,” John made it short, just yawning at that question. “You don’t have to like it, but it’s not affecting your quality of life in any way. Neither am I advocating any kind of free-use society. I exclusively fuck girls who know about it publicly. Again, feel free to dislike it, but I am not committing any moral wrong. Next, you, with the yellow necklace.”

“You briefly went into it during your speech, but could you tell us what exactly you plan for the Small Lake Pact long term should you win?”

“Well, first the entity known as the ‘Small Lake Pact’ will be disbanded in its entirety,” John stated and shrugged it off. “As far as I understand it, its just an alliance of convenience anyway as the people here turned away from bashing exclusively each other and decided to fuck over the Lake Alliance instead. Then the entire new area will be cut into new provinces and districts. Those will then have their local leadership elected along the guidelines Fusion dictates in general. Grand Isle would serve as base of operation for Fusion in the area.

“The main purpose I would have for the area is military and competitive development. Everyone that is part of Fusion’s military would be granted the right to take part in future tournaments, to be hosted every five years. People that win the islands would be paid a monthly sum, again depending on how high they went up, which they could spend however they want. People that joined them as supporters will be given administrative rights for that island, in other words they get to put out building permits and such things should they decide to even open that island for other people. Easily put, they would be allowed their miniature, independent entity within Fusion. As long as they remain victorious in the tournaments.

“This is to keep elite troops motivated to keep training even during peacetime. It would also be a great source of entertainment, as I do plan to have those tournaments broadcasted. It’s all in all a subversion of local customs, where I force a degree of honesty into the former backstabbing and remove the easy solution to permanently eradicate rivals when you have the opportunity.

“For everyone who doesn’t want to partake in that tournament system, however, life around here should be like everywhere else in Fusion, especially once the war is done with.” That giant explanation finished, John reached for the orange juice on the table. “Hope that covers everything.”

“Will you also be competing in future tournaments, then? I assume that people that want to keep their islands, or any islands for that matter, will have to keep fighting.”

“Ah, right, two things I should clarify there,” John acknowledged. “If you score higher than your current island, but you like where you are at that time, you can stay and the island you skipped out on will just go to the next available candidate. As to my own participation, as defending champion, and a guy with already way less free time than I want, I would probably stay out of the main tournament. If the ultimate winner feels like they’re strong enough to challenge me, then they’re welcome to do so and we’ll duke it out.”

“And what if they win?” the same person asked a justified follow-up.

One for which John didn’t really have an answer. “That’s difficult… I would obviously dislike it if they decided to secede at that time… I would have to negotiate that with the person, if it ever comes to it.” Which John very much doubted. Since he planned to put up the next tournament in five years and he was 16 days away from his first complete year with these powers, which had already made him one of the strongest people in the Abyss, he doubted that there would be anyone who could stand up to him at that time.

Especially since Sigmund had done John a favour, although through means the Gamer didn’t really approve of. The Contender chewing his way through every single elite individual in the area meant that John faced even less of a challenge from some random mighty people coming out of the woodwork than usual. Of course, there might be people who survived that encounter, but John doubted they would be interested in facing the guy who had beat Sigmund.

They may have been if they had been aware of the Gamer’s exact involvement in the Contender’s demise, but they weren’t, so it wasn’t a problem.

“Can you explain how the top 25 placements are going to work exactly? From what I understand, it will be a 1-on-1 bracket tournament.”

“That’s easy, we’ll have drop-out brackets for every phase that has people that could place in the top 25, mathematically speaking,” John answered. Following that was a bunch of trivia or questions to some affairs that were happening back home, some of which he had heard from, some of which he hadn’t. He stayed pretty light on the opinions there, just reiterating that he was trusting Chemilia, Magoi and everyone else currently operating the state to do the wise things. He could have accidentally undermined their authority if his hot-take differed from theirs. Some news stations liked to exploit such missteps.

Eventually, someone more pleasant stepped to the forefront. The black haired catgirl he had spied earlier stepped up to his table, her camerawoman in toe. “Hi, I am Harilia with CPDI, mind if we ask a question live?”

“Only if I get to ask a question first,” John retorted, his mood immediately rising.

“Because your public persona is that of a bit of a smartass, now I need to have a clarification,” Harilia shot back, her tail sassily curving behind her tight, latex covered butt. “Do you mean you only mind if you get to ask that question first? Because, if so, it’s in my interest to say no.”

“I think this is one of the times were ‘takes one to know one’ applies,” John answered.

“Oh my Gaaaaaiaaaa,” Rave groaned from the background, “just…” she raised her head from her lounger and blinked at the newcomer. “Just lemme pat ya in the bedroom, ya sexy lil’ thing.”

“Not that big into patting, unless you actually mean to eat out my pussy until I scream. We can do that,” Harilia responded with a flirting smile, and Rave giggled affectionately. “Or we can do it right here, I don’t mind and clearly you don’t either,” the catgirl liked her lips as she looked up and down Rave’s body. “Ya sexy beast.”

“Can we keep her?” Rave asked her boyfriend, then was distracted when Copernicus jumped up to her. “What, Cappy, ya jealous?”

“I do, incidentally, require some pats,” the suncat replied. “And since Nia isn’t around, you’re the best candidate. You may scratch me under the chin.”

“I may do that, but only because you’re warm and fluffy,” Rave said and began giving her elemental some attention.

“Anyway, I just wanted to ask where Cindy is,” John finally got his question out. “She seemed rather enthusiastic to see me again after our last encounter.”

“And here I thought you were an ass man,” Harilia half turned, twisting her round booty in his direction and giving herself a nice slap that the latex jiggled with the soft meat underneath. “Yet you’re asking for the big-tit blonde.”

‘8 out of 10,’ John thought, scanning that ass as quickly as he could before she turned away again. ‘That puts her on Sylph and Salamander’s level of ass, that’s pretty good.’ “I mean, I can have all two, pardon,” he winked at the camerawoman, “three of you at the same time, I was just curious.”

“Well, if you need to know,” Harilia bowed over the table, looking around conspiratorially. She had a more cute than sexy face, which worked quite well with her somewhat bratty attitude and shorter height. “Truth is, she couldn’t really feel her legs for two days and missed the opportunity to sign up for on-site work. Especially because I signed up immediately after cumming like ten times from that porncast you did with her.” She licked her lips, they were surprisingly red for her lack of make-up. “Had the hunch you would have something to say soon after leaving.”

“I see,” John grinned, finding all of this to be quite spectacular news. Then he looked into the camera. “Hey, Cindy, if you’re watching this, hope your legs recover quicker next time. I’m open for repeat sessions and training.” Then he looked back to Harilia. “Alright, you can ask your question now.”

“What do you think about nailing me in the ass right here, right now?” she came out of the gate pretty strong.

“I sadly have to decline,” John told her. “Other things to do and I still need you working for the next two days. Don’t want to have your program miss anything important during the tournament because you can’t walk anymore, you know?”

“I’m a bit sturdier than Cindy,” Harilia countered.

John knew, her Endurance was more than thrice that of her blonde colleague. “Still…” He leaned towards her and whispered in one of her cat ears, “You can take this as a promise that we’ll have some fun after the tournament is over, alright?”

“I can work with that,” Harilia grinned. “What’s your general position towards anal?”