It was decided, after our talk with Zeke, that we would head down to  the WCP and take a look around in one of the larger districts. The E  district, specifically, was the target of our next outing, despite the  fact that we were absurdly poor by the standards of that place. We took  the day off however, and called to apologize to Grimmengap. If I did  join a faction I would tell them about my powers at the same time. I'd  decided they deserved to know if it was getting out anyway, but until  then we couldn't really have them involved.

Once we were  done with that we took the rest of the day to calm down and rest, making  sure to relax a bit before the big trip. To prepare for it, we did some  research on E district, and exactly what we might run into down there.  All the major organizations had headquarters in the E district, and  while I wasn't able to find much on them, Callie had dug up quite a bit  with her hacking ring, managing to uncover some very interesting facts  about our next destination. I was curious as hell about what we might  find down there, so I left her to explain things.

She spun  up the screen, showing me the photos she had found of a massive  sprawling gold and white palatial complex. "Ok. So this, from what I've  found, is E district. It's completely unique actually, because this  place isn't mostly frequented by E rankers. There ARE always E rankers  down there, but there's a hundred of them tops, and not all of them even  live down there or even use the place. Most of the residents are guild  or gang members who represent part of a faction run by a powerhouse."

She  spun to another picture. "Despite what it may seem like, only half of  the E rankers on this planet are actually Unity. Some are from other  places, though they're rare, some are gang lords who moved here to live  the high life, and some are members of powerful families that paid to  get them the resources needed to rank up, but regardless about fifty  percent of the people we might meet won't be involved with the guild.  This is extremely important for multiple reasons, but the biggest one is  that the ones outside of the guild's influence are mostly guest elders  of the WCP itself."

I felt a light bulb go off in my head.  "Of course. Giving the local talent leadership position lets them poach  up and comers, and a deeper access to local politics. I take it that  these guest elders are the ones most likely being courted by this new  candidate? What kind of power do they have in the branch? Guest elder  sounded more honorary than anything else, but I knew better than anyone  that things didn't always make sense. It would be extremely bad if we  overlooked something important because of my assumptions.

She  smiled at me. "Surprisingly, a lot. Guest elders form a council that  acts as a counterpoint to the branch manager. Considering the manager is  only E rank it makes sense to share some of the power. The WCP is huge  and powerful, but that's far off power, not immediate intrinsic power.  If they pissed off all the E rankers on the planet it could make  problems for their people on Callus, even if I doubt anyone would be  stupid enough to actually kill one the WCP's executive branch without a  damn good reason."

Her logic made sense to me, I'd seen  from the Jerks first impression that being scary didn't keep everyone  off. Some people were too stupid to be afraid. "Ok, then they're a full  half of the decision making process. That does make them pretty  important, especially if this little game is to get them on board. In  that case how do we win them over instead? Can we bribe them or  something? I couldn't think of a proper diplomatic way to change minds,  but bribery would be a language everyone spoke.

Sadly it  wasn't to be. She shook her hand. "No. We don't have the resources. We  literally can't pay enough to motivate them all, or even probably one of  them. They're E rankers, two full ranks above us. Their pocket change  is more money than we'll make in a year. Still, there are other ways to  win friends. The Jerks are using one of them, from what I can tell  they're taking care of the Cavalcade to open up the way for the Flame  Riot Militia to take control of the territory. With Aiden gone they're a  huge force in G district now, and they want to make that an official  thing."

I knew the Flame Riot Militia was run by an E  ranker, but I hadn't realized the political situation of the district. I  groaned. "Ok, fine, if the Militia is backing them that's one of the  fifty or so guest elders, that can't be enough. How is she going to get  the others? Hell how will she get the guild master?" I doubted the  branch manager was going to be someone to underestimate if you were  smart. They might not be Zeke, but anyone who got to that position had  to have the strength and cunning to back that up in a fight.

That  got me a snicker. "Because life is a mess. The Militia is part of a  bloc of power inside the WCP. They represent a small subset of the  elders who are dedicated to expansion at any cost. They're not well  liked, because they tend to pick fights for no reason, but still,  they're powerful. In this case they wouldn't have time to act on you,  but I do wish I knew what the other factions were so we didn't have to  go down there. As it is we're stuck with more recon, and this isn't  going to be condensed. Lots of traveling in our future I suspect."

It  said something about the relationship the Wish Curse Palace had with  the other powers that they had an active population of Ascendants equal  to members of the leadership of the dominant faction in this region on  Callus, even if the tiny backwater wouldn't be a priority for the Unity  as a whole. This was Unity territory, and for them to be willing to  tolerate a WCP branch that could equal the leadership of this planet  was...terrifying. Speaking of, I looked at my girlfriend. "Anything in  there about the boss here? Must be someone pretty scary to keep all this  in line."

She grimaced. "Surprisingly little actually.  His name is Facade, but he's very low key. People don't talk about him  much because he isn't too active, but I did a deep dive and managed to  pick out a few bits of info from the forums I managed to get into.  Facade isn't considered to be particularly awe inspiring in a one on one  fight. His seconds are supposedly terrifying, but the man himself,  despite being peak E rank, is more of a political animal. He's a fop, a  partier, and spends most of his time schmoozing with the other E rankers  and having expensiove galas at his palace in E district."

Her  words were innocuous, but I could tell from her tone she didn't really  buy what she was saying. "Why do I get the feeling you think he's more  dangerous than he lets on?" I didn't say it in a skeptical tone, if she  thought so she had good reasons I was sure, but I wanted to hear her  thought process from a fresh point of view, without adding on my own  reasons, Maybe I'd see something she missed.

That got me a  smile, she could tell I was playing sounding board more than skeptic,  and was happy to play along. "Because he's been in power too long. The  WCP is a huge power here in Rajak, no way people aren't constantly  gunning for his role as branch head, but he hasn't been directly  challenged in about two hundred years from what little I was able to  find. Scary minions are one thing, but Facade seems to also have a knack  for making sure his enemies run into each other when trying to deal  with him."

Realization dawned on me. "You said he's social, always cozying up to other E rankers. You think he's manipulating them

to  make sure he has a consistent equilibrium in the branch, keeping  everything balanced just right to maintain a stalemate. He gets to  stay  in charge without seeming dangerous, and still gets to spread his  reputation by playing the party animal, continuing to gain power using  the WCP without dealing with direct challenges or having to show his  hand." I smiled ruefully. "Kind of makes the name a little on the nose,  don't you think?"

Callie just chuckled. "I think that's  the point. He's so in your face about it people don't even notice.  Hiding in plain sight and all that. I think we need to be a lot more  careful of Facade than most people think is necessary." She paused.  "Though, maybe not. If he knows about Zeke he might be too terrified to  mess with you. E rank is within his window, and if Zeke decides he's  actively interfering he could swat the man like a bug. Speaking of Zeke  being able to swat anyone we might run into like a bug..." She trailed  off, her face morphing into a worried frown.

I  exhaled noisily, having been worried about this myself. "The other  guardian. Of course, it's possible that Zeke is an arrangement dad made  just for me, but I doubt it. The rules Zeke follows are too concretely  defined. More likely there's another terrifying guard on Callus  protecting the other candidate. Granted that's not an issue for us  personally, since she's G ranked like we are, but if we do end up  teaming up with another faction we need to worry about them sending  someone too strong to deal with her. It would be pretty shitty to have  our allies get wiped out."

That  drew a wince from my girlfriend. "Agreed. We'll take that into account  when we figure out who to work with, if we work with anyone. For now  though, I think our best bet is to spend the rest of the night just  relaxing." She grabbed me by the hand. "We have quite enough to worry  about without driving ourselves crazy dwelling on things. For the moment  we're going to watch cartoons with Cass and cuddle the wolves. Big  fuzzy puppies are good for the soul, and I'm curious what exactly  cartoon goblins get up to."

Despite  the seriousness of the current circumstances I chuckled as she pulled  me out of the room to head to where our youngest housemate was enjoying  her animated show. When we got down there I was unceremoniously tossed  into a huge pile of oversized canine before Callie jumped on top of me  with a shout like a diver cannonballing into a pool. Cass giggled  uproariously as I groaned and rolled around, pretending my girlfriend  had injured me with drop and making comments about how heavy she was.

That  got me a pout as she decided she didn't feel like playing anymore, put  I'd wrapped her up in my arms and pulled her against me, nuzzling my  face into her neck until she started giggling herself and got past it,  though Cass apparently decided we were no longer amusing and hurled a  pillow at us, shushing us both so she could watch her show. We grinned  at each other before settling in to find out what exactly this goblin  show was about. As we quieted down I took a long look around the room at  friends and family (Zeke had slipped back in) and smiled. Whatever was  coming we could handle it. For now we would just relax and enjoy life.  Tomorrow would be soon enough to deal with our trip.