And unexpectedly, if what he was saying was true, then Roka had never gone beyond touching for her sake and not his own. A less scrupulous person in his place would have slept with her and even impregnated her. After all, Roka never promised anything to her. He had no reason or obligation to honor anything he didn't personally commit to, and yet, because he knew what she was truly after, he'd held himself back from taking her. "You ask me why I fucked Athalia in less than an hour when I haven't done the same with you for months? The honest answer, while not noble, is simple. Because, I thought I'd never see her again. It was an exciting little fling that both she and I would forget soon thereafter as we moved on with our lives. I wasn't thinking I'll fuck her then kill her great-grandfather so I can take her with me in my adventures. That she ended up on my airship in my service was just as unforeseen for me as I'm sure it was for her," he addressed the question that had been quietl

Greg was led in silence to one of the teleportation platforms. A part of him was afraid that he'd be left on the platform expected to have the requisite mana to send himself as high as he wished. This would be a subtle way of knocking him down a leg or two by forcing him to admit that he didn't have the mana for what would have otherwise been a menial task for the true powerhouses of the city. That, however, wasn't the case. The sixth-tier mage that had been escorting him stepped onto the platform alongside him and barely a second later, Greg felt himself lose defined form as he was pulled upward by the teleportation formation. While the floor they'd left was a hive of activity with hundreds of people moving about around them, the one they appeared on was far more sparsely populated, with about thirty or so people out and about. All of them, however, were powerhouses at the sixth tier. "Please, follow me," his quiet guide broke his silence as he guided him to another more ornate tel

The seventh-tier mage didn't immediately reply, seemingly at a loss as to what the appropriate next move was. His gaze moved to Mage Ethia, probably looking to see if he'd get a hint as to what the right next move would be. In the woman's eyes, Greg could see a similar kind of confusion. Greg from a few years back would have taken Mage Ethia's words as a complete rejection. After years under both Olivia's and his teacher's tutelage, however, he knew better. The two of them had likely expected this to be some sort of negotiation. Greg wanted something from them, this meant that they had something of value that they could use to arrive at a deal of some kind with him. However, in this world where strength was king, how much you got out of any deal was first a function of how much power you had in your corner. To put it in terms from his old world, an item worth a hundred dollars was only sold at a hundred dollars if both buyer and seller were equal in power. If the buyer was stronger

Greg had to fight to keep a grin from splitting his lips even as he looked down at the maps spread out on the table before him. For obvious reasons, he wasn't standing on deck. Instead, they were deep in the belly of the airship, on the navigation floor. Even though they had left him alone for the most part, Greg didn't want to leave any openings for the powerhouses in the city to stick their noses where they didn't belong and sabotage him. The general attitude among them was that Greg was on a fool's errand. Annoying as Greg had found this at the start, he'd come to actually prefer things this way. Their general disinterest in what he was doing made them a nonentity as far as his plans were concerned. If, they were to figure out that things were going even better than he'd hoped, they could very well choose to be thorns in his side. There was no situation so wretched that you couldn't find someone ready to defend the status quo. To assume that everyone among the powerhouses would wan

If Greg gave up teleporting his people so far away, then perhaps there was a chance he could teleport a shorter distance off. However, not even for a second did Greg consider this option. Perhaps, it made him a monster, but he wasn't willing to risk the safety of his people over strangers. Innocent as the masses were in this whole debacle, Greg's first obligation was to his own people. Forget just saving a few of them, if saving his people required that they die, Greg was honest enough with himself to admit that he would readily become the monster in that scenario. As things stood, Greg just thanked his lucky stars that he wasn't forced into such a terrible decision. Letting go of that thought train, Greg turned to his teacher. "The old goal remains. We will still need a shield to protect the airship and those on board from any potential attacks. The teleportation formation, however, will have to be integrated into the shield," he declared. It was a lot to put on her plate, and part