John looked down on the crowd that had gathered in front of the hotel turned headquarters turned hotel. It was a sensible mass of people for this early time of the day, about a hundred, maybe two hundred people. The total population of Abyssal Boston was unlikely to exceed 4000, so John felt like he was drawing quite a bit of attention for what was little more than a pre-scheduled event. Wouldn’t be a visit of the head of a foreign power if there was no speech or something.

“Hm, it’s gone,” the Gamer said, speaking more to himself than anyone else.

“What’s gone?” the voice of his girlfriend echoed out from behind him. He turned to see her sitting on the couch, dressed up in a sky-blue top and skinny jeans. She looked especially good that day, although John couldn’t quite put his finger on the why. Everything about her seemed about as beautiful as ever and yet still there was this little bit extra. Some slight change that he subconsciously noticed.

He would try to solve that mystery another day, because he was absolutely certain he could or already had, just not actively.

“The discomfort,” he responded, turning back to look at the crowd. “I used to be afraid of speaking to crowds, then I was just uncomfortable with it, now I just… think of it as normal, I guess. It’s not much different than going into an important ranked game in League of Legends. Sure, if I fuck up, I get demoted, but there is nothing I’m inherently nervous about anymore.”

“Isn’t that a good thing?” Rave asked; she must have noticed that he didn’t sound all that excited about that revelation.

He slowly nodded, “It definitely is. Just feels like I’m getting further and further away from the person I used to be, you know? Not that that is all that bad either, I was an objectively worse person in all aspects, as far as I can see. It’s just…” he gestured helplessly, “…slow change is weird. You wake up one day and notice that you have been doing a thing for six months and you don’t even know when it became a routine. You look at an old photo and notice that your face just looks a bit different and you have no idea when age did that.”

“Ya giving me… dunno, uncanny valley over here,” Rave stated.

“Uncanny Valley is when something looks human, but not quite,” John corrected her, “but I have no idea if that feeling I talk about has an actual term. Non-stalgia would be what I would call it. That sounds negative again, though, it’s more of a ‘Huh…okay’ kind of feeling.”

“I guess I get that,” Rave stated and got up, putting an arm around him once she arrived at his side. A slow, gentle kiss was placed on his neck. “Wanna stay here and philosophize all day or do we go down there and get it done?”

“Hmm, I guess we’ll get it done and then I’ll see about doing things I am more interested in,” he conceded, and they, along with the two maids, left the room to go attend that meeting on the proper schedule. “By the way,” John spoke up while they went inside the elevator, “I think I’ll try an Instant Dungeon today. Just a level 100 one, don’t want things to be too dangerous, but just some actual action.”

“I’m gonna tag along for that,” Rave smiled, evidently approving of the idea. “Can either laugh at ya stumbling around or help ya if things get dangerous somehow. Beats sitting around here anyway.”

There was a loud ‘ding’ and the doors of the lift began to open. Immediately, there was the follow-up sound of numerous cameras going off at every second, causing a bunch of flashes to burn themselves into John’s retinas. Well, no, he had no retinas to be burned into, so it was just annoying flashes. Something that Aclysia didn’t take too kindly to either way.

As she stepped out of the elevator, the journalists hurried to the sidelines, creating a corridor that John could walk through unobstructed. Her reputation must have preceded her, as Aclysia was already known for her aggressive handling of overly obnoxious reporters back home. Then again, John recognized a few of the faces in the crowd, local news wasn’t a particularly developed part of the Abyss, so most of the stations were active across the entire continent.

They made their way through, Aclysia marching ahead, while John took the liberty of putting his left arm around Beatrice as well. If they were going to take a lot of photos of him, he would be on them with his girls, looking unapologetically well dressed, groomed and happy. That he had to part with them about fifty metres later, as he was guided to the podium, didn’t mean he wouldn’t take any short amount of body contact he could get.

Aclysia and Beatrice took position standing shortly behind him, while Rave just stood directly next to him, taking a pretty carefree pose. She, or any of them really, could have sat down at one of the many chairs lined up behind the podium. They were there for exactly that purpose. It seemed like they preferred to be close to him, though, and John loved that.

“Why don’t you hold the speech, Jane?” he joked, loud enough for the front row of people to hear it but away from the microphones.

“Nah, I am fine with looking good, addressing crowds isn’t my thing,” the Lightbearer waved off. “Like to actually see who I am talking to and all that.”

John just smiled in agreement, that did seem more like her. He turned to the actual crowd, the people who had come early got to sit around the tables that had been carried outside by the staff. Around them, respectfully allowing those sitting to watch unobstructed, stood the later arrivals.

He leaned onto the podium, grabbing the rim and bending towards the microphones. All actions in order to make his body language create an aura of readiness or just general concentration on the topic, signalling that he was all there for the crowd. At the same time, he kept a relaxed impression and swayed a little bit while he talked, not wanting this thing to be too serious.

“Many times,” he finally started, “I am asked why I am even doing this. What stakes do I, a mundane born latebloomer, even have in the state of the world? Of America? I have thought about it numerous times. Is it because I am patriotic? Well, yes, that is part of it. The USA has its many faults, but I think having been born here was definitely one of the better draws in my life, so I think it’s good to have a level of pride in what the founding fathers put together and we have to maintain. That’s not quite it, however. Is it because I am prideful or, perhaps, even arrogant, thinking that I get to carve out my part in the world? Well, yes, again, that is part of it. I have the power and the mind and the will to change the world, and I am going to be damned if I don’t use it.

“Those reasons, however, have a shared part to them. Carrying things from the past into the future. Creating new things in the present for the future. Both of them deal not with what I have right now, but what we will have tomorrow. I have found a philosophy in my time in the Abyss, shaped by the many people that I know and, most profoundly, by the ladies that I have come to share the good and the bad times with.

“It is the duty of every human being to create a world that is better than the one they found. Everyone in the measure they find themselves able to. Workers, innovators, businessmen, politicians, parents, servants, bureaucrats, everyone can do their part as who they are. Be it just to serve breakfast as good as they can make it or create a whole country for the reason of people’s safety and the conservation of their individual liberty.”

John stopped there for a moment to take a sip of water. With a dry giggle, he then continued, “Although that last bit is doubtlessly me expressing aforementioned pride again. And that isn’t necessarily a bad thing, I guess. The Christians believe that pride is the deadliest of the seven deadly sins. They also have a virtue to oppose it… humility… I personally don’t believe in God, but I think religion has some interesting things figured out… I can happily admit that I shouldn’t boast as much as I do, but I am getting side-tracked.”

He was tempted to continue on that little tangent, as the people seemed to be pretty interested in the things he was saying and this unplanned, more organic bit was causing them to ease up towards him more visibly. There was a schedule to keep, however, so he had to wrap this speech up sooner than any more tangents would allow him too.

“Following through on making the world better will give you purpose,” his voice was firm again, as he went on with what he had planned to say, “and accomplishing things along the way will certainly give you something to be proud of. Of course, there will be failures along the way. Honest missteps or self-deception that what is best for you is best for everyone. A little lie here wouldn’t hurt, would it? I can do better with this money than they can. If I just avoid this uncomfortable talk, things will work themselves out eventually. Pathologies, small ones, big ones, and a constant struggle against complacency, arrogance, stagnation and nature itself, as it tries to upheave everything through the sheer force of unknown, unforeseen circumstances.

“Sure, it’s hard. It’s a struggle and there will be sacrifices…” John hesitated, halfway reached up to his head before he stopped himself and went back to gripping the podium, he went on as fluidly as he could, “…sacrifices along the way. There is no guarantee anything is ever going to work out. I firmly believe, however, that if you, the individual, continue to work for what is best not just for you but also your community, then the world will reward you with opportunities. The struggle is life and knowing it is to be human.

“Now, being here today is part of my struggle, although a rather pleasant part of it. The people of this… I want to say country again, but you Abyssals prefer guilds… anyway, you have been giving me a warm welcome and it’s been a pleasure so far to talk to all of you. I am happy to make more business with you where I can, and Fusion would be happy to increase its ties to the American Canadian Trade guild whenever we can. Thank you all for listening.”

He went to standing upright, moving away from the microphones, and the people cheered. There were a few standing ovations, but for the most part the crowd had a moderate level of happiness with his speech. Which was about what John had expected, since he hadn’t delivered anything world moving or any great announcements. Just his personal beliefs and some pandering.

The thunderous applause was reserved for the true achievements he would hopefully earn in life.

_______________________________________________________________________________

Later that day, much later, John was sitting in a talk show. He was one of five people on the panel. One host and three other guests, separated into two camps. John had heard of none of them in his life. Something that just irritated him further with being part of these talk shows where they had a maximum of two minutes to formulate their thoughts about issues that sometimes needed hours to be discussed properly.

“Do you think the war against the Lake Alliance by Fusion is just?” That question, for example, from the host was so extremely loaded, John just wanted to scream. “I am going to give the word to you first, Lesley.” And then the guy just handed it to his opponents first, just brilliant.

‘At least the seat is comfortable,’ John thought as he leaned back into the red cloth with a straightforwardly annoyed expression. The whole program had been a catastrophe, as far as he was concerned, and he would be damned if he took part in it again in the future. Even if the host would have been a hot catgirl, he wouldn’t have let this kind of dirty tactics run over him. That it was just some journalist guy instead just furthered his annoyance.

“Well, how could it be?” Lesley, his opponent on the couch and an in-shape middle-aged woman, with a resting bitch face that John just wanted to punch, stated that with such a level of smug righteousness that the Gamer threatened to actually get angry. “Just look at Fusion’s stage on the world. They are steadily expanding, they are using numerous dirty tactics and they are just always trying to meddle in things they have no right to. What kind of just thing could ever be created by a person known mostly for his harem building?”

“Interesting,” the host said. John knew they were using that word specifically to not sound partial. “Well, what does the opposition have to say to this?”

‘Oh, opposition, am I?’ John thought, catching every single one of those little snipes. “For the first part,” he started, immediately drowning out his co-speaker. “Your question is loaded to the extreme, the war was not started by Fu-“

“Formulations really aren’t the thing we should be discussing here,” the host interrupted. “Please stay on topic, Mister President.”

John ground his teeth. “Fine,” he spat out, trying to keep his cool. “If you know me only by my harem building, then-“

“This is also not addressing the question,” the host went in again.

“Yes,” the person sitting next to Lesley grinned, “stay on topic, Mister Newman. Is the war just?” She was someone just there to reaffirm the opinion of the middle-aged woman, while John’s partner was some meek professor that barely spoke loud enough, if he spoke at all.

“It’s not as easy as to whether or not it’s just. We have to start by asking ourselves what just would mean in this context and who is to blame for what. I can throw accusations of this simplicity around as well, but what would that-“

“Ah, it seems time has run out on this question,” the host interrupted for a third time. John’s knuckles had a white colour at this point. “Somewhat related, Fusion’s takeover of the Small Lake Pact has caused controversial rumours to surface. Mainly, Mister President, it is said that you forced someone to betray you, is that correct?”

“No, I didn’t force anyone to do anything,” John returned quite firmly.

“So, there was no betrayal by anyone?”

“No, some parts of the former Small Lake Pact sided with the Lake Alliance in an effort to overthrow me. This is despite me working with local culture and creatin-“

“So, there WAS betrayal that was motivated by you?”

John furrowed his eyebrows, shaking his head somewhat. “What even is that question?”

“Just give me a yes or no, please.”

“You can’t just… what do you mean by motivated? That could mean so much.”

“Don’t play dumb,” Lesley forced herself in, without being put into her place by the host whatsoever. “There was a report released publicly that detailed how Zensie was goaded by you into betraying him. That certainly happened, didn’t it?”

“Sure, if you only take the heavily edited version the Lake Alliance published as gospel, then you can say I made him betray me,” John answered, his voice dripping in sarcasm.

“So, what you are saying is,” the host chimed back in again, “parts of the report are true?”

“Yes, of course they are, they haven’t just made up the event,” John couldn’t believe the kind of tremendously stupid grilling he was receiving here. “I appeared weak because I chose to no longer wear my glasses all the time, so Zensie betrayed me, as I anticipated. He already had the reason, then he got the conviction, and when Jeremiah appeared, he had the opportunity. The true thing about that report is that I wanted to antagonize him. Because he, from the start, gave me no respect. I could see from the start that he would take the first opportunity to remove me. I was just smarter, that’s it.”

The prolonged silence of the host told John that they had gotten something that they wanted out of that statement just now. If he had said something that destroyed their narrative, he would have interrupted him.

‘Fantastic,’ John couldn’t hold back sounding bitter inside his own head as the show continued. He had a tremendous few days, but it seemed that the world wasn’t done yet throwing struggles in his way after all.