“I don’t believe you,” Isidre said.

I leaned back and took a sip from my drink. “I don’t really care if you do or not,” I said.

It hadn’t been hard, with Kaito’s help, to get a private word with Isidre. The only hard bit was getting his girls to allow Manuela to get close enough to be distracted by a conversation. As I’d suspected, their dislike of the Envoy was half fear of her master and half that they could spot a would-be interloper from a mile away. Maybe spot was too strong a word— they assumed any female that came within a mile was a potential romantic rival and acted accordingly. In Manuela’s case at least, they weren’t wrong.

“It’s not like I expect you to do anything about it, before the event, or after,” I continued. “I’ve already passed the information up the chain. I just wanted to give you a heads up so you’re not surprised when it happens.”

And to avoid accusations of being kept in the dark, I added to myself.

She looked over at Manuela, attempting to make some sort of case to Kaito over the interruptions of Nori and Orino.

“She just doesn’t seem… serious enough for that,” she said.

“And Tom seems like a nice guy,” I replied, “But they put all that aside when their master comes calling. I don’t know if it’s training, brainwashing or magic, but their loyalty seems absolute. Did she make you an offer?”

“Several. Some that I’d already refused with Mr Parkes, and others… of an indecent nature. Those, I would have already refused even if…”

“Do you want to talk about Kaito?” I asked.

She shivered. “He… or she? I don’t…”

“Oh, she told you about that?” Now it was my turn to shiver. I couldn’t imagine changing my body like that. Not sure what was worst for me, the change of race or the change of gender. “Yeah, I’m not sure what to use either. Kaito doesn’t seem to mind either way, so I’m going with she.”

“Fine.” She stared at her beer for a long moment and then took a large swallow of it.

“Kaito explained about the [Harem],” she said. “I don’t feel manipulated, but…”

“You were never attracted to girls before?” I asked.

“No.”

“Are you attracted to me, right now?”

She looked me over carefully. I was pretty sure she hadn’t drunk enough yet to say something stupid. “You are beautiful,” she said reluctantly. “More so than the women on the billboards or TV.”

“Thanks,” I said wryly. The way she said that didn’t make it seem like a compliment. “You know my magic works on [Charisma], right? It’s not just for vanity.”

“Not just vanity,” she replied.

Ouch.

“But no, I am not… attracted to you,” she continued. “Not in the way I…” she trailed off, blushing.

“So…” I said carefully. “There are people back home who don’t consider themselves gay but have… exceptions that they make for certain people. It’s not that strange?”

“It’s perverse,” she said darkly. “The Church teachings…” she sighed. “I am not sure if they can still apply here.”

Sure am glad I don’t have that problem. I thought to myself.

“Has Duit said anything?” I said aloud.

“Only that I must make a decision that I can live with,” she said.

“A decision?” I asked. “So you think that you could choose… to not be in the harem?”

“The other girls seem to think so. They advised that I do that. They… don’t like me,” she admitted.

“I hadn’t noticed,” I said dryly. “And I’ll point out that when I talked to them back in Talnier about [Harem] they said you can’t fight the [Status].”

Hopefully, the girls were all too busy deflecting Manuela to hear me sell them out like that.

“I can’t help how I feel,” Isidre admitted. “But my duty might be more important. And… I’m not cut out to be in a… harem.”

“Plenty of harems in the Bible,” I said. “Maybe you could try meeting the girls halfway? They started out pretty hostile to me, but we get along fine now.”

Mainly because I didn’t have designs on their man, which was pretty explicitly their problem with Isidre, but you had to try…

“You’re you, though,” Isidre said bitterly. She finished her mug and banged it on the table for another. That was how you did it here— it was an adventurer’s tavern.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“Do you have any idea— I was so mad when I left Talnier. You went behind my back, stole Manchas, set yourself up to be in charge… I went north to prove myself… and then Kaito convinced me that you were right all along. Co-operation instead of conquest.”

“That was all Kaito,” I protested. “You can’t blame me for—”

“I know,” she said. “I was so ashamed, but… here we are, and I’m confessing the details of my shameful crush to you, like we were old friends! I feel grateful to you for hearing me out!”

“It’s not a big deal,” I said, “I’m happy to—”

“If you’d fallen in love with Kaito, you’d have the other girls eating out of your hand by now,” she muttered. “Your [Charisma] is just unfair.”

It seemed that [Charisma] had passive effects beyond attracting guys’ attention. Isidre looked like she was going to cry, and I didn’t think the alcohol was that strong.

“Look,” I said. “Do you want some… help? Advice for dealing with the other girls?”

Now I did see a few tears. “Yes,” she said, shaking her head. “No… I don’t know. I don’t know if I should stay. I don’t know if I can leave.”

High [Charisma] or not, I didn’t know what to say to that. Casting about for wisdom, I found myself looking around the room as if searching for inspiration.

“What’s going on there?” The words popped out of my mouth, for no good reason. What had attracted my attention was a nearby table, filled with adventuring types. Another adventurer had joined their table and had been speaking to them urgently, but quietly. Too quietly for me to make out what they had been saying.

As I watched, they all stood as one and left the room, one of them leaving a handful of silver on the table. Even at Dorsay’s prices, it looked like a substantial tip. The one who’d been speaking didn’t leave. Instead, he looked around the room and found another table to speak to. They too left, this time taking the speaker with them.

“I don’t know?” Isidre answered. “They just left… perhaps there is some news?”

“I suppose,” I said doubtfully. I turned my attention back to the knot of not-quite-arguing girls. “Listen, I can’t make your decision for you, but if you decide to stay, you’re going to have to find a way to get along with the others.”

“I shouldn’t have to— they’re not… special, like Kaito is.”

She wasn’t making sense, but I knew what she was saying. I’d felt the temptation to think that way myself, and I wasn’t even in contact with my patron. It must be easy for her to believe that her relationship with Kaito was so much more important than that of the others.

“I don’t think that the Champion thing has any relevance here,” I said. She frowned at me, but I kept going. “You all feel the same way about Kaito. If their feelings are artificially created, then so are yours. If yours are real, then so are theirs.”

“But—”

“You wanna say that they’re less real than you are? Than Kaito is? It might be true, I can’t prove otherwise… but is that somewhere you want to go?”

I was sure that I wasn’t the only one who had the sense— the fear— that this was all a game and we were the only players. From the look on her face, I could tell that she’d had similar notions, but…

“I can’t let myself believe that,” she confessed. “If I did, then…”

“Yeah,” I agreed. I might be willing to die on the hill that said I was better than some, maybe even most people in this dumb country, but if I got to thinking that the other people didn’t matter, then that would be a quick slide into… something bad.

“So you need to approach them as an equal,” I told her. “And recognise that they outnumber you, and they will gang up on you. There’s nothing about [Harem] that says the girls have to get along, only that you all love Kaito.”

She nodded, but there was a pained look on her face. I didn’t think she was quite there yet.

“If you don’t find a way to get along, they will keep you from being with Kaito,” I tried, and that seemed to get to her. “If you like, I’ll have a word with them, get them to give you a chance… what the fuck?”

She looked at me, startled, but I was looking at the entrance and the person that had just come in. He saw me as well and started swaggering over.

“What are you doing here, Cutter?” I asked, glaring as he approached.

“There’s no curfew, is there?” he said. “I was just out and about.”

“Who is this?” Isidre asked. I’m sure she’d seen Cutter around, but they’d never been formally introduced.

“This is Cutter, an orphan that I find myself looking after,” I told her. “Cutter, I know you know who she is.”

“Course I know the Paladin,” he said with a grin. “Pleased to meetcha, your mightiness!”

Isidre shook his offered hand, clearly bemused. She must get all types coming up to her.

“Is this wise?” she asked me. “Taking care of someone so young, when you have responsibilities…”

“I don’t have those responsibilities, remember?” I countered. “I may do a lot of things, but a god’s bidding is not one of them. Keeping this urchin out of trouble is something I chose to do… though I’m having trouble remembering why.”

I glared at him again. I could feel all the scoldings that my mother had given me welling up for the occasion.

“It’s cos I’m occasionally useful,” Cutter told Isidre. “I get around where others can’t, and no one notices kids.”

“I’m not sure that’s a good reason,” Isidre started, but I cut her off.

“Not the time,” I told her. “Cutter, you know you’re not supposed to be out, so the fact that you’ve come here means that you must have had a reason.”

“I sure did, boss,” he said cheerily. “See, I was at the Shattered Bat, making a little money…”

“The fighting pit?” Janie asked, coming over. “I still haven’t gotten to go there yet.”

“You were fighting for money?” Isidre gasped.

“Nah, I was placing bets,” Cutter replied. Isidre didn’t look less shocked.

“Get on with it,” I interjected before she could call Child Protection Services.

“Right. Well, part of that is keeping an ear to the ground, about any rumours that are going on, see? Might affect the betting.”

“Right.” Cutter seemed to have found his true calling here. Were there any fighting rings in Talnier? I wasn’t sure, but I thought that there might be. I made a note to ban them when I got back.

“So…” Cutter said, drawing it out longer the more people were paying attention to him. “I heard this rumour, and it was wild! I thought you’d want to know, boss, so I cut things short and went out to check it out!”

“Okay, so what—”

“And it was true! So I came over to find you, and let you know. It’s really happening!”

“What’s happening!” I shouted, exasperated.

“Oh, didn’t I mention?” he said innocently. “They’re killing each other on the streets.”