Fighting to be Kind in a Cultivation World

As we return to the main cavern, we can see that a bonfire has been set up in the middle of the room. A quick look at Gong shows that she pretty much approved and help set it up. While there still seems to be different groups, people are now interacting with each other a little better.

I guess that the fact that everyone is well paid right now and eating well is working really well.

I do, however, see that three individuals have been removed from all the groups and are tied up in a corner. They are being watched over by some spiders.

Gong fills in the dots, since I wasn’t paying attention to what they were doing in the room.

“It appears those three, tried to steal coins from other people while here. I’m still considering whether to allow them in the group, though it appears everyone banded together to subdue them and single them out.”

Taking a closer look at the three, it appears to be a bird woman that looks more like a Crow type; a lizard man, with predominant lizard features; and a dog like demi human, with of rough looking face.

Gong speaks up and gives her opinion on the three.

“Based on what I know with this group, I’d say we keep the lizard man and the bird woman. If we keep the dog, he’ll eventually cause issues, no matter how tightly the contract is bound.”

I turned to her to give a whisper.

“Should we release him, or…”

“Anyone that has stayed to this point is a liability. We’ve already shown them that we can provide and have access to a lot of resources, so they could use that against us to give others more of a reason to raid this area. Which would compromise everything. We can’t let them go.”

“So, do we let them take the contract then? With the changes we have implemented, technically, we could just never take them out of the paralyzed state.”

“That would be a tough one to risk. With the current rules, they have an opportunity to change their mind on betraying us. But that doesn’t mean, that they couldn’t cause issues later. Or that their personality will mesh with the group.”

“Is there any place that we could use this person?”

Gong is thinking about this pretty hard, clearly taking my question seriously.

She slowly shakes her head.

“He’s not very skilled and is pretty horrible. I’m not sure he would do well and in a confined space like this, and I’m totally sure that I wouldn’t want to give him access to cultivation.”

“Alright then, is there anyone else in the current group of people that we need to watch out for?”

Going almost immediately shakes her head, a slight smile on her face.

“Nope, we actually pretty much drove out anyone who would be savvy enough to get around the contract and couldn’t be pulled over. I think we got a decent core group here. Obviously, we’ll need to work on a few people to make sure that they don’t die from the initial contract.”

But am I really okay with a man dying, just because he’s a conniving asshole?

Gong adds in a snippet, after carefully watching me.

“I also wouldn’t truly trust him near any women or children. He hasn’t done anything yet, but I’m not sure that he wouldn’t do something, based on past comments he’s made.”

That’s pretty fucked up then.

Wait. That was a bit suspicious. Why wouldn’t she mention something about this earlier? Hmm... It wouldn’t do to distrust my closest ally too much, but I might have to watch for things like this in the future.

Maybe she’s just including things that she thinks I would want to know.

Alright, I think this is worth not taking a chance for. If she’s right, we REALLY don’t want him getting cultivation.

“OK. Luckily, since he’s already essentially disqualified himself, we can use that as an excuse to get rid of him. I’ll admit, I don’t like not giving a person a chance to mend their ways, but if you truly believe that we can’t use them and that he is actually a problem, I trust you.”

She scoffs at that, giving a playful smile. Assuaging my worries.

“I would hope so. Especially since we’re going to be running this together.”

With those words, she steps forward and walks towards the group. I moved behind her a slight distance away, but still in lockstep. When she reaches a reasonable distance from the group, people’s eyes naturally turned towards her, centering their attention on her.

“I see that you’ve been enjoying just some of the benefits of what it means to be part of our group. As I mentioned before, this really is just a base level of the benefits you can expect when you’re with us. Regarding the contract, we’ve made some updates that we believe that many of you shall enjoy.”

At this time, the contracts all reappear in people’s hands. The updated sections glow in a blueish light, clearly showing what’s changed from their last reading.

Some of the allies’ faces look up in surprise at what’s being promised, but look around in different members and nod their heads. Others seem to be in skepticism of the action, but remain silent.

For people like the Tiger woman and the kid, they seem to be rereading the contract over and over again.

The Tiger woman, in particular, seems to have a relieved look on her face.

We’ll need to mention about bringing the kids to definitely get her on board.

Other than that, I think we may actually have a chance with this. To not have that many deaths. Maybe even none.

Gong claps her hands, snapping everyone’s attention to her.

“As you might be reading, we’ve decided to make many promises in this document. Not only that, but there is one additional thing we want to do that will take some additional time today.”

I can see Gong’s eyes land and share a look with the Tiger woman, as well as some other people in the group.

“If you have children, that are not here currently, we will allow select people to have the spiders bring them here. If they sign this contract, they will also have access to the same benefits as you would receive with this.

“Since I already know who and where everyone’s children are…”

Most people’s eyes seem to shake a bit at this casual comment.

It’s a subtle reminder that not only is Gong powerful and in a position to create this group, but also is an information broker, knowing countless secrets around the area.

A reminder that they may not be able to escape from here with information, if they choose to oppose her.

“… Those of you who would like to bring your children into this contract, are free to let us know. We can collect and bring them in here within the next two hours. Any secret codes that you need to be able to get them to come here, we can bring to them.”

At the mention of secret codes being given to people outside of the group, several people’s eyes flash for various reasons. It opens the potential to passing out secret information. Once again, some of Gong’s allies disapprove of this.

One of them raises a question in response. He appears to be a small, yet extremely confident lion demi human.

“Not to be disrespectful, but is that really safe to do? Not everyone here has… the best intentions.”

Gong gives a reassuring smile, revealing that she knows him.

“Actually, I’ll be utilizing the services of my partner in this venture and our resident alchemist.”

Uhhh.

“He actually has experience in determining the true meaning of secret codes. So, anyone who tries to pass out information that isn’t exactly right, will quickly discover the full foolhardiness of their actions.”

Everyone’s eyes turn to me, gazing at me intently.