Rimelion: The Exploiter

Riker leaned back in his chair, his fingers steepled together in that way that meant he was shifting into business mode. The frost on his glass had mostly melted now, but he kept glancing at it as if it might spontaneously do something else magical.

“So,” he said, his tone somewhere between curious and calculating. “What do you plan to do? With your kingdom, I mean.”

I took another sip of my drink. “Build it,” I said simply. “Make it work. Keep people from starving. The usual kingdom stuff.”

His eyebrow arched. “The usual kingdom stuff,” he repeated, as if he were tasting the phrase. “How delightfully vague.”

Before I could respond, probably with something equally unhelpful, Riker’s gaze shifted to Lola.

She caught the look and let out a small, resigned sigh. The kind that said she had already accepted her fate.

“We’re currently facing a crisis in Altandai,” she began, slipping into a professional tone she used for briefings. “Our troops are tied up managing the transition of power and ensuring the city doesn’t collapse into chaos. However—” she paused, straightening slightly, “—if we can solve the agricultural sabotage issue, the situation should stabilize within a few days.”

Riker blinked. “A few days?” His voice carried genuine confusion. “For an entire city’s infrastructure to stabilize? That’s... remarkably fast.”

“Magic,” I said, taking another sip.

He stared at me.

“Oh,” he said finally, the word dropping like a stone.

Lola nodded, continuing smoothly. “Additionally, we have access to a world fragment. We don’t fully understand its power yet—” her tone suggested this bothered her more than she was letting on, “—but it’s in an uncontested territory. There’s a river flowing directly from Altandai to this location, which makes it a perfect staging ground for expansion. Our new capital.”

Riker turned to me, his expression shifting into something that looked almost like approval. “Amazing planning,” he said. “Truly. Conquering Altandai before continuing. The logistics alone—”

I held up one hand, stopping him mid-compliment. “Totally,” I agreed, then took a long drink before adding, “Not by me, though.”

His eyes narrowed slightly, confused again. He looked back at Lola.

She glanced at me, then back at Riker. “Someone planned it?” she offered, her tone suggesting she was just as confused as he was.

“A crow,” I said flatly, setting my glass down with more force than strictly necessary. “I feel manipulated.”

There was a beat of silence.

Then Riker’s face lit up like someone had just handed him front-row tickets to the apocalypse. “A crow!” he shouted, leaning forward with renewed energy. “What a magnificent turn of events! The symbolism alone—”

“It’s a God of Death and Change,” I interrupted, my voice carrying an edge. “As in, an actual god. Since magic is real and all that.”

Riker’s enthusiasm froze mid-gesture.

His eyes widened, the theatrical mask slipping for just a moment to reveal something rawer underneath. “I...” he started, then stopped. Swallowed. “I see.”

He picked up his glass again, took a long drink, and set it down carefully.

“A god,” he repeated quietly. “Not a metaphor or a game mechanic. An actual deity.”

“Yeah,” I said. “One who apparently enjoys chess and thinks I’m a fun piece to move around the board.”

Lola’s hand found mine under the table, squeezing gently.

Riker was quiet for a long moment, his gaze distant. Then he let out a breath that might have been a laugh. “And here I thought I was offering you the opportunity of a lifetime,” he said, his usual theatricality creeping back in. “Investment. Resources. Connections.” He gestured vaguely. “But you’re already playing a game on an entirely different level, aren’t you?”

“I’m not playing anything,” I said. “I’m just trying to keep people alive.”

His smile returned, but it was different now. Less performance. “That,” he said quietly, “is exactly why you’ll win.”

He stood abruptly, moving toward the edge of the dome where the city sprawled below. “You’ve got a city now,” he said, more to himself than to us. “The river provides logistics. Magic solves the timeline.” He turned back. “What do you need from me?”

I rose and joined him near the window; the city sprawling below us like a map of everything I wasn’t. “We have a deal. It still stands,” I said. “You helped me; you are my ally.”

Riker turned to me with a smile that could have powered a small nation. “The revolution!”

I cringed, actually physically recoiled. “I offer you a duke position, and lands with it.”

His expression flickered: surprise, calculation, interest, all cycling through in a second.

I turned back to Lola, who had stayed seated at the table, watching us with that careful neutrality she wore when she was three steps ahead and waiting for everyone else to catch up. “I haven’t told you what the world fragment can do?”

She shook her head slowly.

“Resources,” I said, gesturing vaguely at nothing and everything. “We can manipulate it to make any resources.” I glanced up and addressed the air itself. “I know there are limits, Cloudy!”

No response. Thankfully.

I turned back to Riker. “I plan to create dungeons of all levels, so people in my kingdom can start from level zero and stay till they reach max level. Everything in one kingdom.”

“And I’ll be part of that,” Riker said, not a question. His voice had lost its theatrical edge, replaced by something sharper. Business. “Controlling it.”

I turned to Lola, who had already pulled out her tablet, stylus moving. She nodded without looking up. “You’ll have subordinates. I don’t know, counts, barons and like.” I waved my hand vaguely. “Whatever the proper hierarchy is.”

Riker went back to the table, and I followed. We sat in silence for a moment, the weight of what I’d just offered settling between us like frost on glass.

“That’s more than I expected,” he admitted finally, his fingers drumming once against the table. Then his gaze focused on me with an intensity that made me want to check if I’d accidentally promised him my firstborn. “How safe will your kingdom be?”

“At the start, not very much?” I admitted, running a hand through my hair. “We don’t have a capital yet, and the Empire is gunning for our world fragment. Thus the reason Lola is pestering me to solve the agriculture problem to get our army moving.”

“Who do we border?” Riker asked, leaning forward slightly.

I couldn’t stop my smile. He said we. “North is Altandai, which is a kind of part of our kingdom, but isn’t. Lola?”

Lola nodded and slipped into her professional briefing tone. “Charlie is the de-facto ruler of Altandai, but we cannot incorporate it into the kingdom title yet. There needs to be a proper annexation process. Rimelion laws—”

“Yeah, bullshit rules,” I interrupted, waving a hand dismissively. “Altandai is weak, but Dmitry is working on it. There are city-states east, northeast, and north of Altandai, and steppe to the east. South is our kingdom.”

Riker nodded, absorbing this. “And around the kingdom itself?”

I smiled. “East and west are mountains nobody can pass. At least not as it is. Too dangerous and even not-a-dragons are there.”

Riker blinked. “Not-a-dragon?”

Lola smirked, and I could feel the incoming mockery. “Charlie is paranoid—”

“I’m not!” I shot back, feeling heat rise to my cheeks. “This is very important to say! Anyway—” I shifted in my seat slightly, trying to regain composure, “—we’re safe from east and west. The only danger is south. Well, except north through Altandai. And south is...” I paused. “The Empire.”

Riker’s smile widened, and he threw his arms out in that theatrical way of his. “Only the largest empire on the continent, and they are against us! Magnificent!”

I waved my hand. “Mom has it covered. Her elven empire will lock them in a fight, and I can ask for help if needed.”

Riker’s eyes brightened with genuine interest. “Of course! Your mother, that mythical queen who is considered one of the strongest powers in Rimelion. I still don’t know the details of that relationship.”

I sighed. “Complicated. She’s like... soul-mom. Don’t ask.”

“She offered us to join her empire,” Lola added quietly.

“No,” I said immediately, my voice firm. “We’re independent.”

Riker nodded slowly, his expression shifting into something that looked almost like respect. “You’ve actually thought this through.”

I blinked. “Yes? One thing is this,” I motioned to the room, the garden, the entire tower beneath us. “The other is Rimelion. That is my playfield.”

Riker nodded again, more definitively this time. “Then this brunch is irrelevant. I expected we’d have to pool resources together, coordinate our efforts, and build something from scratch. But you’ve already started building a nation. Your spirit is admirable.”

Lola straightened slightly, sensing an opportunity. “We have investor schemes inside Rimelion. Altandai properties need privatization; we also have an abundance of land—”

Riker held up a hand, laughing. “I have to stop you there.” He nodded toward the servants who were still making final preparations in the background. “I don’t think anyone here knows who you are yet, and I expected you to be introduced at this brunch. That would be counterproductive now, so...” He spread his hands. “You can either stay, meet potential investors who don’t yet know what they’re looking at, or—”

“We’re leaving,” I said, grinning at him.

Lola’s hand came up to cover her face. A full, genuine facepalm.

Riker started laughing, that deep, theatrical sound that filled the entire dome. “Of course you are! Of course!” He stood, still chuckling. “Charlie, you are exactly as advertised. Never change.”

I stood too, offering my hand. “Thanks for the drink. And the duke’s position stands. We’ll be in touch.”

He took my hand, shaking it firmly. “I look forward to it, Your Majesty.” The title was delivered with just enough mockery to be affectionate rather than insulting.

Lola had already risen, her tablet tucked under her arm, her expression caught between fury and resignation. “Lady,” she said quietly, “we could have at least finished our drinks.”

“We can take them to go,” I said brightly.

“That’s not how—” She stopped, sighed, and just gestured toward the elevator. “Fine. Let’s go.”

Riker walked us to the elevator, still grinning. “Let me know when you’re ready for me to visit this kingdom of yours. I’m quite curious to see what you’ve built.”

“Will do,” I said as the elevator doors opened.

We stepped inside, and just before the doors closed, Riker called out: “And Charlie?”

I looked up.

“Good luck with the not-a-dragons.”

The doors slid shut on his laughter.

Lola turned to me immediately. “You just walked out of a networking brunch with potential investors.”

“Yep,” I said cheerfully.

“Before it even started.”

“Yep.”

“After arriving early.”

“Also yep.”

She stared at me for a long moment, then let out the longest sigh I’d ever heard. “You’re impossible.”

“You keep saying that,” I pointed out, “and yet you’re still here.”

Her lips twitched despite herself. “Someone has to keep you from completely destroying every social convention known to humanity.”

“My hero,” I said, echoing our earlier exchange. She rolled her eyes, but I caught the small smile she was trying to hide. The elevator descended smoothly, and I leaned against the wall, feeling lighter than I had all morning.

“So,” I said casually, “want to go clear a dungeon and save some crops?”

Lola pulled out her tablet, already pulling up schedules. “The team should have been assembled by now. Lucy’s ship is ready. Katherine, Lucas, and Frozna are waiting.”

“Perfect,” I said.

The elevator chimed as we reached the ground floor.

Time to actually do the kingdom stuff.