The Primal Hunter

”No, slaves would not be a desired gift,” Jake said, confused at why Izil instantly jumped to ask about that. Unless…

”Wait, was the Altmar Empire planning on gifting me a bunch of slaves?”

Izil looked a bit uncomfortable at the question before she sighed.

”During these past few years, the Empire has already expanded into the ninety-third universe and blessed quite a few planetary leaders, with many of these planets not only having elves on them. Some have humans, beastfolk, or other enlightened races, and as they cannot be citizens of the Empire, they are usually designated as slaves by default,” Izil explained like it wasn’t that big of a deal.

”So the Altmar Empire just enslaves everyone who isn’t an elf?” Jake asked with a raised eyebrow.

Izil seemed to realize she had messed up and bowed apologetically. ”I meant no offense, and naturally, if someone like the Chosen was from the Empire, he would be a citizen and hold a high position even if he was human. It is just only elves who get citizenship by default, while the other races will have to earn it through merit.”

”Kind of fucked up, isn’t it?” Jake grilled her.

”That is how the Altmar Empire has successfully operated for over ninety eras. It has ensured a sense of union within the Empire as we have a homogenous population, and it has allowed us to unite around shared goals. All that we design and all our research can also be better focused on only elves without having to spread our resources thin like some other places,” Izil tried to explain. ”I am not saying it is perfect, but it is how the Altmar Empire has found a way to survive in the multiverse.”

”Not saying it doesn’t work, just that it is kind of fucked up,” Jake didn’t really want to argue. First of all, he didn’t know enough about the Altmar Empire to really make judgments, and secondly, he still wanted to stay on good terms with them. Or, at the very least, not publicly antagonize them. He had to remind himself that if he came out as a Chosen, his words could easily be construed as coming from the Viper.

”Anyway, this is a side track,” Jake tried to get back on track. ”But as I said, no, I don’t want any slaves, and I have no need for slaves. Why would the Empire even think I would want them?”

”Well…”

Izil proceeded to explain a thought process Jake hated but honestly couldn’t fault too much. The Order of the Malefic Viper’s view on slavery was generally one of apathy or support. The Order actively used slaves in many of its practices, worked with factions using them without care, and let their members do as they wanted.

So, the general consensus was that the Chosen would be fine with slaves. Why wouldn’t that be the case?

Then there was the issue of how damn hard it was to get gifts for someone you know nothing about. Trying to get him ingredients could be viewed as insulting as that insinuated the Order didn’t have those already, and the same proved true with equipment and pretty much any kind of actually useful item.

This left only vanity gifts, unique presents they knew the Order could not provide, and, of course, slaves. The Order was large, yes, but they were still a small faction in the grand scope of the multiverse when it came to pure numbers. Chances are that even if Villy and the other gods who had rejoined the Order were expanding into the new universe, they would at most be able to conquer a few hundred or maybe a thousand planets. With how bloody big a universe was, it was seriously doubtful if any of these planets would be able to teleport any slaves Jake’s way, and if they could, then how many would they possibly be able to provide?

So, the factions banked on using their sheer size and scope of influence to provide their gifts. Many also assumed Jake would naturally conquer his planet and then expand from there to take over the galaxy, colonizing all planets he found worth occupying. For that, he would need people, so people were the best thing they could get him, right?

As Izil explained all this, Jake could see the logic. The sad thing for all these factions was just that the logic didn’t really work with Jake. He honestly had no plans on going on a galaxy-wide conquest. Shit, he had barely wanted to become the World Leader of Earth and only did it because he felt forced into the position to avoid everything going to utter shit after the entire Ell’Hakan debacle.

”So, you predict a lot of factions will want to gift me a bunch of slaves?” Jake asked with a sigh.

”Yes, I believe that would be the case,” Izil nodded.

”Well… fuck,” Jake muttered, wondering what the hell to do when the time came. He kind of wanted to send a multiversal message out telling all the factions to not gift him any damn slaves, but he also wondered what kind of impact that would have.

”Say, what would happen if I rejected any slaves gifted?” Jake asked, already getting the feeling he wouldn’t like the answer.

”Hm, in some cases, the giver will simply take them back and put them to use elsewhere-”

Okay, it could be worse.

they will kill them all as a way to preserve the dignity of the

with the fucked up

a bit. His gut reaction was still to just have Villy send out a mass-rejection letter, but would the snake god even comply? Would the factions still decide to kill the slaves? How the hell would they interpret his message? Why the hell did shit

what was gonna happen. At that time, he would also have Miranda there to give advice and help handle the situation. For now, he just had to remind himself: keep things simple,

what I am gonna

before looking at Meira. ”I know Meira

the plan,

have a hard time seeing her having any kind of normal enrollment if everyone knows she is the slave or even servant of the Chosen of the Malefic Viper,”

it alltogether, but her face told him that wasn’t the case. Her face was one of realization, as if she hadn’t considered that a

she

both nodded in agreement as Meira looked

what you work on, and you are pretty damn good at what you do. You may not do that well with poisons, sure, but your potions, flasks, and magic circles are

”But…” Meira tried.

from impressive, and your lack of general knowledge was baffling, but as time passed, you improved at an incredible speed, even

my teacher,” Meira

teacher? I had assumed it to be the backer of Lord Thayne, and while the number of surprises I have had today is already overwhelming, please tell me you were not

not!”

Duskleaf taught her,” Jake

The one who recently revealed himself as a god?” Izil

is,” Jake

”Does… doesn’t that make you the disciple of

head. ”No! No… the Grand Elder merely taught me a few things because

mumbled before yelling towards the ceiling:

looked at Jake with confusion, making

Jake said, knowing

voice spoke as the pudgy old alchemist entered the living room, having teleported into the hallway outside with his Sproutleaf Avatar. ”But yes, I do think Meira qualifies as my student, considering the amount of time I have spent personally teaching her. As for calling her a disciple, that classification is

opened in disbelief at seeing Duskleaf, and she quickly stood up

he waved her off dismissively. ”I just came to clarify

not daring to show up and clarify she is your student,”

looking back to Meira. ”May as well ask now: after Jake goes public as the Chosen of my master, what do you say to

”I…”

a nod of approval. ”I did also owe you thanks for winning me a bet. Good

alchemist briefly glance at

out a couple of weeks ago was earlier

You bloody bastard…

at Jake and Duskleaf both. Her mouth opened for a brief moment before she closed it again, and she adopted a steely look. Izil seemed to notice Meira’s reaction and moved a bit closer to her in support as the two seemed to briefly talk telepathically. Jake threw Duskleaf a look as

the motivation to keep progressing even after she joins the Order and regains her freedom. Planting the seed of expectation that she needs to attain a status

already gave her enough motivation before this,” Jake countered,

can always

believe I have said all there is to say,” Duskleaf said as he disappeared from the living room, leaving Jake and the two elves. Jake wanted to curse him out more for just bailing after having the last word like that, but he held it

we also took our leave?” Meira asked a few seconds after the god was gone. ”I want to no longer delay joining the

attend to business relating to the ceremony and relay the information you have given me today,” Izil added as she bowed. ”I thank the Chosen for trusting me with this task and will do my best not

with them leaving. He was surprised neither of them brought up what Duskleaf had said, and he