Published at 21st of April 2026 6:40 am

Chapter 353: Legal v. Morvain

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We do greet those we respect by shaking hands, murmured Nicolai, though it wasnt true. Thus it confuses me that you expect me to shake your hand.

The Person blinked up at him, mouth falling stupidly open in a pretty good act of confusion. If Ive done something to upset you, well, I he began.

Nicolai raised a sharp hand. You have very much done something to upset me. You dare withhold my reward? Dare accuse me of cheating? he hissed the final word, snapping his head forward at the Person. The man flinched back, and the black armoured guards shifted aggressively, one of them taking a step forward. As an inveterate cheater, he considered it important to act offended when anyone called him out on it. Plus, he hadnt actually cheated in either Tournament, only the Stake, and even that was debatable.

This Person recovered quickly, eyes narrowing as he flicked his fingers at the guards who calmed. Ah, deepest apologies Champion, said the Person, mouth forming a regretful line, eyes all downcast. He put his hands together, making a worried little steeple. Im afraid that numerous individuals accused you of cheating. He sighed with what appeared to be great dismay. One of our responsibilities is to ensure the Duel Arena operates smoothly, and that none flout the rules. Now

He spread his arms and smiled helplessly up at Nicolai. It isnt that we really thought you cheated. Not last Tournament, in any case. But, well, considering the one before thatwhere we kindly overlooked your indiscretionsand then the significant number of reports on your second win plus the simple fact of a second win we had no choice but to investigate. If we hadnt, we would likely lose the right to operate the Duel Arena entirely!

Koona let out a big, warm, were-all-friends-here kind of laugh. Now, Im happy to confirm that our investigation concluded without any finding of cheating on your part, and thus you may receive your reward. However, there is the small matter of our cost. He smiled like a shark.

Cost, repeated Nicolai, in a tone of total calm, much like an aquarium wall full of hairline fractures is calm in the moments before it bursts apart in one tremendous explosion of water, glass, and confused sea life that then proceeds to crush a whole roomful of families and tourists into mangled corpses.

Ye-es, droned Koona with a small frown. He gave a regretful shake of his head, lips tight with imminent bad news. You see, in the event a competitor must be investigated for cheating, we are permitted to charge the cost of the investigation to the competitor. He chuckled. These investigations are so expensive, after all. Why, I hardly think the Arena could function if we had to pay the costs entirely ourselves. So. If you would be willing to settle that, for a cost of 300,000 points-tagsor equivalent valueI will be happy to release your reward. And if not, no problem! We will simply take the cost out of your reward, downgrading it to a different reward which matches the new value.

Nicolai stared at him.

Or, said Koona brightly, the other option, which is

To join House Morvain? I assume in that case, all this could be considered some kind of joining benefit.

Koona tilted his head, looked him up and down. His smile had turned wry. You see very clearly indeed, Champion. Yes, of course, we could much more easily solve this issue if you were a member of our House. But Im afraid we couldnt extend the same privilege to just anyone.

Not even the Champion?

Alas Koonas tentacle-beard shifted, performing a kind of shrug to go along with the tilting of his shoulders. Not even the Champion. Unless the Champion was a member of our House. His smile had turned a little smug, now.

I have some questions relating to this matter. Legal had linked up closer with Nicolai, and he spoke its mind. What are the Duel Arena Tournament rules? Who conducts the investigation, and who ensures they are unbiased? Why were we not clearly informed of the existence of Tournament rules and the possibility of investigation, upon first signing up for the Tournament?

Koonas smug smile widened. The rules and all other details are available upon request, of course, as is required. Here, your Marked hand.

Nicolai extended it, and the Person gave it a tap. With that, he received something hed never yet seen in his Mark. The UI lit up as wave after wave of dense documents were delivered and placed into storage.

Legal merged with Cyberwarfare, who had the greatest ability to dig through the Mark. Then, giving off a buzz that Nicolai felt all through his Soulpure gleeit dived into the dense text.

Five seconds later it re-emerged, happy like a child whod been gorging on treats all night. Legal had a lot to say.

Nicolai settled into the chair and gestured across the table. Have a seat, he told Koona.

One eyebrow raised, Koona settled into his own seat.

In section 16b11, it states that anyone facing investigation is to be given a private waiting room and their choice of refreshments. Nicolai turned an irritable glance around the room. Where are my refreshments?

Koona blinked at him. Oh. Uh. Well, give me just a moment and

More importantly Regulation 21 prohibits armed personnel from being present during negotiation unless the contestant is considered violently unhinged. Nicolai glowered at the two armed guards. Am I violently unhinged, Koona?

It does? muttered Koona.

With Legal speaking through him, he was very aware of what it was feeling. The Modules reaction to It does? was comparable to a shark smelling blood in the water. Because if so, I note that I am also permitted to request the report in which that conclusion was drawn. I am hereby making that request. Section 7d16a obliges investigators to declare any House affiliations to the other party. Youre standing here in Morvain colours, but failed to verbally inform me of your affiliation. Section 9a requires the Arena Custodians countersignature before a prize can be frozen. I see only a House Morvain sigil. You are not the Custodian, are you? Section 18a8g19 grants the accused the option to respond immediately and resolve the matter before prize seizure. I was not given that right. Section 20b provides for counter-litigation in the event of frivolous claims, via a Heavenly Tribunal. If these accusations prove baseless, I am entitled to demand significant compensation. Which I anticipate being multiplied by your various failures to follow proper procedure.

With each sentence to pass Nicolais mouth, Koonas face had grown tenser, his grimace stretching ever wider, while his whole body gradually flinched smaller and smaller. Not unlike he was being beaten by a stick, only one made of words.

With the words Heavenly Tribunal, however, his eyes all but bulged out of his skull, and his face went white as a corpse. It seemed the People shared that reaction with humans.

L-lawyer, he squeaked at his guards, then let out a few coughs to clear his throat. Lawyer! Get me the lawyer! he screeched.

One of the guards shoved through the door and was gone. Nicolai and Koona regarded one another silently for a few minutes, Nicolai with his H-gram smiling beatifically, Koona with his face pale, increasingly sweaty, and tight with barely hidden horror.

A new Person arrived, in similar dark robes. This one had a pinched face and moved in the unhurried manner Legal recognised as belonging to heavy legal artillery. The Module hummed like a car engine.

The Lawyer smiled tightly across at him. What seems to be the problem?

Nicolai reiterated, at length and in detail. The Lawyers smile increasingly strained with each statement, and by the end it had transformed into a grimace. I see in that case

What followed was ten minutes of vicious debate. By he end of it the Lawyer was frowning as hard as Koona. There was now an untouched, steaming mug of Goolong tea in front of Nicolai, and the guards had been forced outside. The door had barely had time to close between the rushing in and out of various aids.

Please allow us a moment to confer, said the Lawyer, who rose from the seat then gestured sharply at Koona. The pair retreated into a corner of the room where they engaged in a frantic whispered conversation.

Nicolai sat back into his chair, hands together in a steeple. Legal informed him this was a power posture in these kinds of negotiations.

He had many methods to overhear the whispered conversation. The gist of it was: If we dont settle this now there is a high likelihood of extremely expensive complications.

After its conclusion the pair settled gingerly back into their chairs, staring at him in much the same way one might stare at a large and aggressively venomous creature which had materialised right beside them while they were driving down a freeway at eighty miles an hour.

The following negotiations were extremely pleasant for Nicolai and quite the opposite for the two representatives of House Morvain. Five minutes later he rose to leave.

Wonderful doing business with you, he said, extending a hand to Koona. The Person attempted to give him the most perfunctory of limp-wristed shakes, but Nicolai wrapped the hand with both of his and held it warmly, ignoring the little jerks as Koona attempted to pull it free. I dearly hope we can do this again some day, added Legal, and the Module really, really meant that.

Quite, squeaked Koona, face frozen in the same horrified grimace hed been wearing for the last quarter of an hour.

He left the Duel Arena with the low-tier killbot Permit, half-a-million in points-tags, and a second Toothbearer Blood Symbiote.

###

Midway to the Market, Threat Analysis picked up a Local transmission. It was a recorded message being continually pinged out with the intended target being the same machine-code identifier he tended to give out to people who wanted to connect. He recognised the source. The Level 3 Cyborg, Gregory.

Ive been trying to reach you. I know youre busy, but I have a business offer I think youd be interested in. How about it?

Nicolai approved the connection, and a moment later Gregory was on the line.

Ah! Nicolai! Good to hear from you.

Likewise. You have something for me?

A chuckle filtered through the connection. Of a sort. You see, I am working to dig out a little nook for myself, in this place, this world. Ive found work as a middleman, connecting people who want things with people who can deliver things. I already have quite a number of mercenaries, killers, spies, people in the know, and so on in my book, and quite a few moneyed friends eager to hire. This would be a very simple, zero-commitment kind of arrangement. Every week Id ping you with any jobs that I think you may be suited for, and you just let me know if you want to make a stab at any of them. Gregory chuckled at his own joke. Or, of course, if you need some help yourself, I have plenty of capable individuals I can connect you with.

Nicolai raised his brows. The role Gregory described was that of a broker. Hed worked with many, back in the days before GRECKON had chopped his head off and stuck it in Zero-Twelve.

The common wisdom was to cut out the middleman, but in his particular line of work thatd never been easy. People interested in hiring an individual like him tended to be rather obsessive about privacy, and were thus very unlikely to advertise their needs in any kind of public forum. Instead, theyd go to someone like Gregory, who guaranteed privacy.

He wasnt sure hed have time for these kinds of jobs, and the difficulty of murdering someone in this City was significant, but even so there was no reason to say no. Plus, this actually lined up quite nicely with one of his tasks from the Queen.

Im interested. My time is limited so the odds of me accepting a job are quite low, but its not out of the question. Send any jobs you have.

Immediately a request for a stronger, more heavily encrypted connection was made. He approved that and had Cyberwarfare manage the details. A datapacket was swiftly delivered. Not a lot of jobs, but interesting reading nonetheless. Even if he never accepted one, just the purposefully sparse details (Gregory was smart enough to remove any obvious identifying features, so each job was more along the lines of A Level 2 Cyborg in this Sector of the City must die by the end of the day, more information available upon acceptance than a detailed dossier) were still datamineable.

I am also interested in hiring a significant number of mercenaries, killers, and so on, for a future and as yet undefined job, he added. There was a brief pause as Gregory digested that. Especially those with more spiritual capabilities than the norm. Tell me, do you have any Cultivators in your list?

Not many, but Im working on that. I hope to offer clients a diverse listing of capable individuals, fit to solve a wide array of problems. In fact, if you know anyone you think might be interested and send them my way, Ill happily pay a finders fee.

Nicolai quirked a wry smile. Gregory had a good head for this. Ill keep that in mind.

Do you know how long it will be until this future job?

I anticipate between one and two months.

And how much can you offer to each hire?

That depends on their capabilities. What fee do most of the more competent ones tend to go for?

Gregory gave him a list of prices accompanied by anonymised details on capability. There would also be my cut, the Level 3 added, which is 20%.

Naturally. That was low, for a broker. But Gregory was just starting out; hed be looking to corner the market before he started raising his prices. When the time comes Ill contact you.

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