--- Mia ---

  Tom eyed Vetunia skeptically. "So, if I'm getting this right, you are less evil than most people in your position, but the whole reason you aren't completely evil is because it wouldn't be profitable?"

  "We generally prefer to call it 'enlightened self-interest' instead of 'evil', but otherwise, yes." Vetunia replied.

  Good to know, although "less evil than others in her position" was not a very high bar to clear, in Mia's opinion. A politician who only murdered two people a year was technically nicer than average, when the typical Malumian politician killed five people per year, but she still wouldn't vote for someone with a slogan like "I murder fewer innocents than the other guy. Vote for the lesser evil!"

  Besides, she had to be careful with her very limited voting power. The Malumian government was an Ablative Plutocracy: Anyone could vote on any law, but you had to spend money every time you cast a vote and the strength of your vote was proportional to the amount of money spent. The details were complicated and the whole system worked more like a stock market than a democracy, but the basic idea was that people would only vote on things they actually cared about. Even poor people could get a law passed if they were willing to pool their money together and none of the ultra rich had an economic incentive to overrule them. At least, that was the theory.

  In practice, most laws were either directly designed to enrich whoever passed it in order to make a profit, or they were about patently obvious things, so that nobody voted against them, which kept the price low. The system was highly exploitative, but from what she heard from tourists, it did at least reduce the number of weird and pointless laws compared to other civilizations, since keeping a law on the book cost money every year and nobody was willing to spend money on maintaining a law that didn't benefit them. The Malumian legal code was horrifically evil, but at least it was brief and efficient.

  Mia was one of the few people in her compound who voted at all. Most of her fellow Purrians preferred to spend what little money their masters let them keep for themselves on personal pleasures, or doing nice things for each other. But Mia had always felt like she had a responsibility beyond that, even if she was too poor to actually make a difference. Maybe that was why FEI had made her a Nekomancer?

  "You can call it 'enlightened self-interest' if you want, but to everyone else it's still evil." Tom replied sardonically.

  His expression made it very clear that he loathed Vetunia, but the woman did not seem to be perturbed by this. Being loathed was the default state for people in her position, so she probably didn't really notice. Felix also looked at ease, but it did not escape Mia's notice that he had slowly moved right next to a wall that he could use for cover. It wasn't like that would do him much good in a fight, given Tom's flagrant disregard for natural laws, but it was not a good sign.

  Kate looked skeptical of Vetunia, but she stayed silent and just watched Tom talk.

  He sounded really passionate as he launched into a tirade about the evils of slavery.

  On the one hand, it was kind of awesome to see somebody stand up for them like this. But on the other hand, she wondered what his endgame was. And the more she listened the more she realized that she was probably being too charitable here: It was very likely that the human did not have a goal in mind at all.

  He wasn't pretending to be angry because he wanted to get some concession out of Vetunia. He was getting angry because he was acting on instinct, and if this kept going then Vetunia would probably write him off as a lost cause and they would have a fight on their hands.

  She should probably do something about that. But she was really nervous. She looked at Kate, and they shared a silent understanding.

  They were both just standing there and watching, while Tom caused a diplomatic train wreck with a woman who had extended an olive branch.

  That was uncharacteristic of herself, she noticed. She was normally much more vocal than this. But Kate and herself had both been conditioned to be obedient to Malumians, and Vetunia was the most powerful Malumian they ever met. Their instincts were screaming at them to stay silent and not interfere. But now she was letting Tom do the talking, which was obviously not a good idea.

  Mia took a deep breath and steadied her nerves.

  The first step to fixing your problem was realizing that you had them.

  If she was being too timid, then she would just choose to be more proactive instead.

  "Tom, I think we should hear her out." She interrupted the man in the middle of his tirade.

  "Huh?" He responded eloquently as he stopped waving his flaming swords in the air.

  "She seems way nicer than I was expecting, nyaa." She continued.

  Tom gave her a skeptical look.

  "Mind you, I wasn't expecting very much, but still. Would it really hurt to give her the benefit of the doubt?"

  Tom looked confused. "I guess not? I mean, I'm really surprised that you would take her side here. She is literally your slave master. This has gone so far off script I have no idea what's going on anymore. Are you sure you want to trust her?"

  This wasn't really about trust at all, she thought. It was just that they had nothing to gain from pissing her off and everything to lose. Their goal for now should be to ensure the immediate safety of their families and to buy some time to think things through. If Vetunia showed her true colors later, that was a problem for Future Mia.

  But all of that would take more than a sentence to explain and more than two brain cells to comprehend, and she didn't want to overstrain Tom when he was being so nice to them. So instead Mia just said: "I think we can trust her."

  Kate looked to Mia, then fought her way out of her own paralysis: "I agree, nyaa."

  "Alright. Cool. I guess we are negotiating with the slaver, then. There is a first time for everything!" Tom said, suddenly no longer angry.

  He put away his swords.

  Felix took a step closer. He looked relieved, but sounded perfectly confident: "In that case, let us talk specifics, nyaa."

  To Mia's surprise, Kate immediately spoke up: "You said you agree to freeing the slaves. Which slaves exactly are we talking about?"

  Vetunia shrugged. "That depends on what I get in return. I would assume you care about everyone in this district?"

  Both Kate and Mia nodded at that. They had friends and family here. It would feel awful if her family was free, but a friend of a friend remained a slave.

  "I want to free all of the slaves! Let's start with this entire city." Tom declared.

  Mia did not know what to make of that grand declaration. Sure, it was awesome that he was standing up for them all. But this demand was also totally unrealistic and they might very well all die if this negotiation went wrong.

  "You ask for a lot." Vetunia stated neutrally.

  "Innocent people have to suffer under your yoke and I won’t stand for it!"

  "Please don't be so dramatic, I would much prefer to negotiate in good faith and there is no need for insults. Nobody has been using yokes on humanoids in decades.

  “I could be convinced to free more slaves than just the local ones, except for two reasons:

  "The first issue is that it would cause more harm than good if I free too many people at once, and if I understand you correctly, that is something you care about. If I were to free all the slaves on Mammontum today, just the ripple effects on the economy would get thousands of people killed indirectly."

  Tom furrowed his eyebrows. "I have no idea if that's plausible."

  He looked at Mia and Kate for confirmation.

  Kate shrugged. "Don't look at us. We don't know either."

  Vetunia gave a frustrated sigh. "The second issue is more important anyway: I don't have a reason to trust you.

  "I am willing to free some slaves as a show of good faith. But my generosity has limits, especially when all I get from you is constant hostility. So my offer is simple: Do something to demonstrate that you are a trustworthy and valuable business partner, and I will free more slaves."

  "How am I supposed to do that?" Tom asked. "I'm a celebrity and a tourist. I know how to kill things and how to punch things into other things. I don't know how to make money, and nobody wants to buy my poetry anymore since I became stupid."

  Vetunia shrugged. "I have no idea. This is all very sudden and I haven't had the time to make plans. But sometimes you just have to take an opportunity when it presents itself. You are the only member of your species I can contact and you already managed to cause a planetary incident. I would be extremely surprised if there isn't some way to make a profit from this. We just have to find it.

  "I'm sure Mr. Serenus would be happy to talk to you and help you figure out the specifics for a modest cut of the profits."

  The Shadewalker's face lit up at that remark and he nodded happily. Mia had to admit, out of all the intermediaries Vetunia could have chosen, Felix was probably the most trustworthy option. He had a really good reputation in the criminal underworld. Even though he was obviously extremely dangerous, he was most well known not for a heist or an assassination, but for getting two gang leaders to talk it out and find a peaceful solution.

  Based on that, Mia guessed that Felix probably wouldn't fleece them too badly, and his suggestions might even be ethical.

  "The bigger issue is that I am sensing a lot of animosity from you and it is difficult to build a working relationship on such shaky grounds. Would you care to tell me your key pain points, so that we can address them?"

  Oh gods, that phrasing. Vetunia was clearly used to dealing with coldly calculating business people, not someone like Tom. Would it hurt her to at least pretend to be empathetic?

  "The problem is that it's all just about profit for you." Tom responded. "Nothing else matters. You hunger for power, and you do not care for the slaves you oppress."

  "As CEO I am legally required to be ruthlessly efficient in maximizing shareholder value. Not being an asshole would violate my mandate. That said, I have never been a fan of slavery. It should be illegal. Slavery is like employment with a 100% tax rate, and that is basically socialism."

  She pronounced 'socialism' as if the word itself was poisonous and fighting its way out of her mouth.

  "I am on public record for saying that. You can look it up if you don't believe me. I'm just not going to free any of my own slaves while it's still legal for everyone else, because that would put the Quaestrive Consortium at an economic disadvantage." She added.

  Tom looked surprised. "Ok. That's good, in a weird sort of way, I guess? I don't get your reasoning at all, to be honest, but the goals sound good. Still, don't you see the ruthless power seeking as a problem?"

  Vetunia shrugged, but sounded frustrated as she responded: "It is what it is. Positions of power will always be filled by power-seeking people. I can either compete and ensure that person is me, or give up and let someone else take the reins. It's not ideal, but it is the nature of the society we live in. The system has numerous flaws, but I have to play the hand I am dealt."

  Mia was surprised at first to hear Vetunia say such a thing out loud, but then she realized that she must hold a license for Unlimited Free Speech.

  Tom nodded slowly. "I guess that makes sense. I'm really not used to thinking like that, because people in my government aren't power-hungry. They are nice, and want to help people, and power-seeking behavior gets you disqualified from holding high office."

  The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  It was so silent, Mia could have heard a pin drop.

  Then Vetunia, Felix and Kate all started laughing out loud.

  "Lol." Kate said.

  "Rofl, even." She added as she collapsed to the floor holding her ribs and started rolling around.

  Mia had to laugh at her girlfriend's antics more than Tom's running gag. Unfortunately it was unlikely that anyone else in the room would understand Kate's meme.

  Kate regained control of herself soon after and stood back up: "Heh, it was even funnier the third time."

  Vetunia started hyperventilating and fell from her chair. A few seconds later she pulled herself back up to her desk. She was barely holding on and tears were streaming down her face.

  "Thank you for bringing some levity into the situation, Tom. I really needed that." She said, still giggling.

  "I wasn't joking, though." Tom said.

  That just made the others laugh harder.

  Mia still wasn't sure if Tom was pulling her tail or not, but she decided to humor him and treat his outrageous claims at face value. A question occurred to her: "If you humans have a way to keep power-hungry people from ruling, then where do they go?"

  "They mostly try to become celebrities." Tom responded.

  Vetunia stopped laughing and looked at him thoughtfully. "Oh. I see. That's good to know."

  Tom sighed. "I don't get why people keep thinking I'm joking about this, but I guess if your government is all that horrible, then I shouldn't be so surprised? Still, you worship demons. That's like Bad Guys 101. I'm pretty sure that even CEOs on Earth didn't worship demons back before we invented Faith Engines."

  "We don't worship demons. We make deals with them, which is quite different from worship. For example, there is a demon bound in this calculator I have here. I managed to bind it because it did not read the fine print, and I assure you it is not having a good time."

  "I am not sure if enslaving and torturing a demon makes you more or less evil. To be honest, my main gripe is that everything about you screams 'evil' and you are smarter than me and very manipulative. So it just makes sense not to trust you, because you could convince me of anything."

  He turned towards Mia and Kate: "But you two are also smarter than me and you don't really sound angry at all. Am I overreacting? She sounded like she treats people like objects. Why are you ok with this?"

  Mostly because saying anything bad out loud would serve no purpose and possibly get them all killed, Mia thought. This was really the sort of situation where it was safest to just nod and play along.

  "Oh, she definitely treats people as objects." Kate said instead.

  Tom looked confused, but before he could ask about it, Felix clarified: "Malumians make no distinction between people and objects. The Quaestrive family is also a company. Miss Quaestrive is technically a subsidiary and partially owned by her parents until she purchases complete independence. In many ways, I am more free than she is."

  "Wait. The slavery is recursive?" Tom asked. "And parents own their children? That's messed up!"

  "Why is that messed up?" Vetunia asked. "Children in other species are as dependent on their parents as Malumian children are, we are just more formal about it. Childhood is a time when parents invest resources into their children. Once they are grown up, the children are expected to repay their parents for that investment. In other species, this is nebulous: children are expected to help their parents and to take care of them when they are old and infirm, but there is a lot of ambiguity about how much support is appropriate and expected. We Malumians are more concrete and simply put numbers to it.

  "Ultimately, it's about knowing your place in the world. Money quantifies and gives certainty. I have a very specific amount of debt to my parents, no more, no less.

  "There are good reasons behind these things. We are not some cartoonishly evil parody.”

  She paused dramatically, but then kind of ruined the effect when she continued talking: "Although, admittedly, our vilification is mostly our own fault: Cartoons about Malumians being evil do sell very well. I am a villain in one of the most popular comics sold by my own companies"

  Tom was silent for several seconds as he processed this. "Alright. So it sounds like I was being prejudiced and culturally insensitive towards the slavers who deal with demons? Is that what happened here?"

  Oh no! Now Tom looked guilty and ashamed, and it was heart rending! She just wanted to apologize and hug him! Why did humans have to look so cute?

  She fought back that instinct and wondered: Did Vetunia do that on purpose? Making him feel bad? Business people like her were supposed to be really good at manipulating people, but it would be terrifying if she was this skilled at it!

  Still, this was probably a better outcome than the alternative, where Tom ruins their negotiations through his zeal and gets everyone killed in a pointless fight.

  She decided to cheer him back up. "It's ok, Tom! I really appreciate you helping us! Nyaa!"

  She put her hand on his shoulder. Hopefully that wasn't too forward?

  He brightened up at the gesture.

  "Yeah, you are just doing what you think is right! That's really cool! Nyaa!" Kate joined in.

  Then she hugged him.

  Mia was alarmed at first. You shouldn't just do that out of nowhere with a man you barely know! But fortunately Tom didn't seem to mind. He looked surprised at first, but then he relaxed and he even hugged her back.

  Soon afterwards he was back to his usual smiling self.

  Mia thought that was more than a little odd. She would have expected him to react much more negatively. Did he warm up to Kate’s personality so quickly? She was about to ask Tom about it, but then Vetunia cleared her throat, drawing attention back to herself:

  "So where does that leave us, Tom? I told you that freeing too many slaves at once is not a good idea, but you won't believe me. How about I simply improve their living conditions instead? They technically remain as slaves, but I find some excuse to make their lives much better.

  Vetunia looked at Tom. Tom looked between Mia and Kate. Kate looked at Mia.

  It looked like the decision was up to her, now? When had that happened?

  "I think that sounds like we can make it work, nyaa? We would just need to think of a way to make sure you can't go back on your word." Mia said.

  "How about I just call you every couple of days and check in on you?" Tom asked. He sounded kind of hopeful.

  Mia had to fight down a blush. What he said sounded romantic, but she was pretty sure that was just wishful thinking. Women had a tendency to see romantic intent in men when they were just trying to be nice, after all.

  "I'm afraid that won't work." Vetunia interrupted before Mia could respond. Then her eyes locked onto Mia's and she felt like a deer in a headlight. "Mia, you are a wanted woman now. Count Scelus reported that you did not come to his aid when he fought with Tom, even though he was your rightful owner."

  Mia could not believe what she was hearing. Of course she didn't help him! The man wanted to sacrifice her to demons!

  "Yes, this law is ridiculous." Vetunia said when she saw Mia's expression. "But I'm afraid that it is the law, and with how many enemies Tom made, the government is not going to let it slide. You are going to have to go on the run together with Tom. Felix is going to help the two of you escape once we are done with our negotiations, and he can take care of your cover identity for you."

  Felix nodded at that, but Mia did not pay him any attention. Her heart was stuck in her throat.

  She would have to run away? Leave all her friends and family behind?

  "I will go with you, nyaa!" Kate said, and gently squeezed Mia's hands.

  Mia squeezed back and gave her girlfriend a sad smile, then pulled her into a hug. Kate was willing to give up so much to stay with her. She really did not deserve her.

  Tom stood by awkwardly, unsure how to react. Felix shared a look with Vetunia, then simply commented: "One more cover identity, then."

  Mia would have to leave, but her girlfriend would stay with her, and everyone else would be safe.

  Or would they?

  "Wait." Mia said. "What if the government offers to buy the other slaves to get to me? If they offer a high enough markup you couldn't refuse without making it clear that you are on our side."

  Vetunia looked surprised. "That is a good point. We will have to work something out."

  "Actually, I have a suggestion for that." Felix said. "You could start a longitudinal study on the effects of happiness on productivity, using the slaves as the test subjects. That way you have a plausible reason for improving their standards of living.

  "But more importantly, the monetary worth of studies like this for research is hard to estimate, which means that if the government interferes by buying the slaves, determining the cost of that will go to arbitrage."

  Vetunia looked like a lightbulb went off. "I see! And it just so happens that arbitrage for this type of study is handled by the Zenite Corporation, whose CEO is known to have a personal vendetta against the government of Mammontum ever since the governor declared that his gold-plated yachts fall under double-taxation laws for try-hard bragging. If the governor tries to interfere with this supposed study, they are going to bury him under so much paperwork, he will never see the light of day again.

  She smiled brightly at all of them.

  Tom looked more confused than normal. "That's good, right? You sound like that is good. Gotta be honest, I heard too many legal terms in a short amount of time and my brain just sort of shut down."

  "Yes Tom, that's very good. Nyaa!" Mia responded.

  "Awesome. You know, at first I was disappointed that the cool slave rebellion I was hoping for is getting replaced with boring business deals and Realpolitik. But this is really novel and unexpected, so that's fun too, and you seem to be happy about it, so it's all good."

  That human was so damn nice! And why did he have to look so hot, too? Mia didn't know how to deal with it! She smiled at him, then turned her attention back to Vetunia. She still had some important questions to ask.

  "Will we be able to see the others again?"

  "It's difficult to say." Vetunia responded. "Once government attention has moved elsewhere I will be able to free them, or simply reassign them to a new location where they don't have to work and you can visit without anyone asking questions."

  "Wow. That sounds too good to be true." Kate said.

  Vetunia smiled and swept her hands grandly. "Welcome to your first taste of power, Kate. People will fall over themselves to arrange things for you even if you don't say anything. One of the benefits of being rich, and the reason why I work to stay that way."

  "On that note: Would you like me to take revenge on Count Scelus for you?"

  Mia was shocked by the offer. "He is a Count. Taking revenge on him must be expensive even for you. That money could be put to better use. Maybe a charity? Or maybe you could buy his slaves and treat them more nicely? Add them to the study?"

  "That's a great idea." Tom said. "You are a better person than I am. I wouldn't have thought of that."

  Vetunia smiled and nodded. "I can do that, if you prefer. Taking revenge on Count Scelus would not be tax-deductible anyway, since it isn't personal, so it makes no difference to me."

  Demons had a powerful political lobby and they loved it when mortals got into never-ending feuds, so revenge was sometimes tax-deductible.

  "Well, it sounds like we have the basis for a deal, then. Let's talk details." Vetunia said.

  "Wait, you want to keep talking?" Tom asked. “I thought we were finally done!”

  Mia watched as his soul left his body.

  Despite his misgivings, the five of them then started talking about the plan in more detail. Which slaves would get which benefits, and what exactly was Vetunia expecting to get in return.

  Tom mentally checked out of the conversation soon, but he left it to Mia to negotiate for him.

  Vetunia was happy to talk to her instead, especially when Felix reminded her that Mia was empowered as well and that FEI called her a Nekomancer.

  "Your 'class' is interesting, Mia. Being named a Nekomancer sounds like this will make you a power in your own right." Vetunia said with faint traces of excitement in her voice.

  "Aren't you worried about that?" Asked Mia.

  "Not any more than I am worried about the humans. I would rather have you all working with me than against me. Even if your goals end up being harmful to Malumian interests, and let's be honest, they probably will be, I still stand to gain greatly if I can point you at my competitors and you remember that I was the first to cooperate with you."

  "Isn't that treason?"

  Vetunia shrugged. "Of course. But treason is only illegal if you can't afford the bribes.

  "I am interested in the implications of all this, though. Nekomancy is an old and storied term. I find it strange that human technology would refer to alien cultures like this."

  "I don't know what it means." Mia replied truthfully. Then she straightened her back and added with conviction: "But I know that I want to live up to the title. Nyaa!"

  Kate and Felix looked at her with wide eyes at that declaration. Vetunia was as hard to read as ever. And Tom was ...giggling? Rude.

  "How do you intend to do that?" Vetunia asked.

  "I don't know yet, but I know how to decide. Tom, can you tell me what the limits of FEI are? What do you think is the most worthy goal I could aim for, now that I have all this power from my subscribers? You must have experience with this."

  "Huh. I don't know. I never really asked that question." Tom responded.

  Mia looked at him incredulously, and he continued: "I just trust the system. Smarter people than me are working on ethical issues, so I don't really think about it at all. I know I'm sounding callous right now, but if my behavior was actually bad I would probably have been manipulated into being nicer by a superhuman intellect beyond my comprehension long before I set foot on this planet."

  He shrugged nonchalantly.

  That sentence was a lot to unpack, but Mia did not want to get sidetracked from her question, so she decided to ignore it.

  "There is so much suffering out there in the galaxy. I need to know how I can help."

  "I don't have much experience with suffering, to be honest. We humans are immortal. If we die, we just go back to our artificial afterlives. I don't know how it is for everyone else, but I trust the government that they can figure out how to solve the question of theodicy."

  There was not a hint of irony or humor in his voice. Mia couldn't believe it.

  "You really weren't joking about your government, were you?" Felix asked.

  "I wasn't." Tom said.

  "Alright, I am officially even more wary of humanity now." Vetunia added. "Only the truly powerful can afford to be kind."

  "But your government isn't here, yet." Kate said. "You said that the Facinus Sector is one of the last places in the galaxy they will help. And we don't have an afterlife like you do, so what will happen to all the people who die before then?"

  "Wait, you don't have an afterlife?" Tom asked.

  "The topic is hotly debated by various religions." Felix responded. "The Nishera, the precursor species that created all other sapient life, allegedly created afterlives for at least some species. They deliberately kept the details from us. We have recovered some knowledge from their vaults as a reward for solving their challenges, but much of that has also been lost to time or distorted by propaganda.

  "The Malumian demon gods are some of the few gods we know to still exist, and they do not offer an afterlife. They encourage gaining power in this life and strengthening your descendants instead.

  "Very little is known about the Purrian afterlife. Our gods died when the Malumian gods killed them. It is possible that we used to have an afterlife, but that it was destroyed in the process.

  "Every religion has its own official truth, but very little of it can be scientifically verified."

  Felix's brief summary sounded so simple. It hid just how important the topic really was. An 'afterlife'. It was a simple word, but it was really the most important thing she could imagine.

  If only everyone could have an afterlife, like the humans did.

  Oh.

  Mia did not know how to respond to this. Her emotions overloaded and suffered an overflow error, looping back around to extreme calm. She spoke like a robot, while her brain was busy rebooting: "I just got a quest from FEI. I am supposed to create a universal afterlife."

  "Nice!" Tom said and held out his hand for a high five.

  She high-fived him back. Somehow she felt like he did not react with the gravity her statement deserved.

  "This will help everyone who will ever die in the future." Felix responded in awe.

  But not the ones who already died, like some of her older relatives, Mia thought.

  "Oh. It updated."

  "What happened?"

  She told them.

  Everyone was at a loss for words this time, even Tom.

  Vetunia was the first to regain her voice: "Well, this deal looks like it's going great! Having a messianic figure indebted to me who controls the afterlife and bends causality to her will sounds extremely profitable."