Chapter 1111 (2/2)

After a few moments of silence, Felicia began to fidget. Then she blurted out. “Are you… strong? Like you have a lot of Stats or a high Level or whatever?”

After blinking, Tatiana began to laugh. Oh yes, this was the Felicia that she knew. Always quick on the uptake and even quicker to identify the person in the room who was in charge. The walk to the penthouse suite and the rich decor of Tatiana’s office wouldn’t have escaped her notice. “Well, I’m not the strongest. Most of my Skills are geared toward management. But strong enough, yea. Why?”

“Well, I’m just wondering like, how strong you are. How strong everyone is now, you know? It’s just such an abstract thing.” Felicia shrugged.

Struck by a sudden impulse, Tatiana stood from her chair and walked around to stand in front of Felicia. Felicia straightened as he approached, but otherwise just watched Tatiana curiously like a cat that was ready to take offense. And Tatiana reached out, grabbed the wooden armrests of Felicia’s chair, and lifted the woman up into the air.

Honestly, it wasn’t even that hard to do.

“Wow.” Felicia watched Tatiana in fascination as she continued to hold Felicia up without apparent effort. Then Felicia slowly turned around ran her fingers over the flexing muscles of Tatiana’s forearms. Only after examining Tatiana’s arms for several more seconds did Felicia flash a smoldering smile. “That’s kinda hot.”

Feeling exhausted for a very different reason than the physical exertion, Tatiana set Felicia back down and walked around her desk once more. Suddenly Tatiana wondered if it was such a good idea to bring Felicia here for a personal chat. She really was so busy. And soon she would need to make a decision over whether to send someone from the Order Ducis to help catch whoever was committing the gruesome bloodless murders…

Then Felicia spoke, and her question took Tatiana by surprise.

“Who is Randidly Ghosthound?”

“... I’m surprised you already have heard his name.” Tatiana said slowly. Then she shrugged. Perhaps it wasn’t so strange. But to hear Felicia say Randidly’s name now… it was like her two lives were colliding with each other. Seeing Felicia wreathed by moss spirits, it was extremely surreal. “He’s our leader.”

“Like the mayor of this town? This place really looks like it’s something out of a fantasy novel…” Felicia replied as she gestured and the moss spirits spun to follow her gestured commands. Felicia’s eyes crinkled at the corners as she clearly enjoyed the control.

Like she always did.

Tatiana snorted, looking away from the almost sadistic gleam in Felicia’s eyes. “No, not the mayor. We aren’t… very governmental. And wait until you see the city when it moves. It has these giant legs-”

Interrupting Tatiana with a look in her eye that was oh so familiar, Felicia continued. “All I’m saying is that its weird how everyone speaks so highly of him… but he left you all to just go somewhere else? That’s not really a very enjoyable leader to follow, right? Besides, it seems like you are the one doing all the work. But I guess I don’t really understand the situation...”

That bone-deep weariness that Tatiana felt came surging back. It’s really been so long for me, but it hasn’t been for you, has it, Felicia?

Tatiana leaned back in her chair and steepled her fingers. “You are right, you don’t understand. Hopefully, you someday have the pleasure of meeting him, but he’s a very busy man. Speaking of which, I need-”

“Oh, don’t get grumpy,” Felicia waved her fingers at Tatiana. Then she curled up in the wooden chair with all of the arrogance of a spoiled cat and stretched her arms above her head. “I’m not criticizing your decisions, I’m just asking questions I think need to be asked. Don’t pretend you haven’t thought the same thing.”

“Felicia.” Tatiana gritted her teeth.

“Oh, now I’ve made Tati grumpy.” Felicia made a face. “Well, I can see why you are stressed by this job, but that’s no reason to-”

“Felicia.”

Felicia froze. Because when Tatiana spoke, she wasn’t just speaking as an individual. She was suddenly the individual who had risen to become the de facto leader of Erickson Steel and the one that Randidly Ghosthound trusted implicitly. Despite the fact that Felicia had spent several months talking to Tatiana just like this, telling her she shouldn’t need to sell herself so cheaply to the Washington politicians in a way that should have been a compliment but really just made Tatiana feel like shit, Felicia didn’t know her any longer.

When the world changed and the System arrived, everyone had a choice. Change or die.

Tatiana had changed. The System gave weight to things that had been insubstantial before, so now when Tatiana glared at this woman who had been such a negative influence on her life, Felicia couldn’t even move. That was what it meant that Tatiana had lived in the System for the past two years.

“You…” Felicia tried to begin, but her voice was a small and weak thing. She was trembling, still shocked by the sudden steel that Tatiana had shown so it was quite easy to speak over her.

“We should catch up later,” Tatiana said with a fake smile. “But for now, I’ll have to ask you to join the other new arrivals. We have some experienced staff that will help explain some of the rules of this new world that you should listen to.”

Just like Randidly Ghosthound had things that only he could do, there were things that only Tatiana could do as well. The very reason that the Ghosthound was freed up to leave Kharon was that he had absolute faith in Tatiana to manage things while he was gone. Such was the breadth of capability that the most powerful man in the world held no qualms with leaving her to manage things while he was gone.

Tatiana gave Felicia one last razor-sharp smile. “I wouldn’t want you to make a mistake you would regret. Our new world… is not as forgiving as the old one.