Excerpt from The Profound and Pretty Princess' Ultimate Guide to Cultivation, Captivation, Cuteness, and Carving Your Way to the Top, English Edition (the worst-selling guide in the history of Putijama)

On AAI Messages

Privacy

Almost all people with an AAI have the same basic settings.

If someone is nearby to others with an AAI, they can send a one-to-one connection request to communicate via AAI.

Or, if you're quite rude, you can just blast out that you are open to connections.

If a connection request is accepted, you have the ability to send messages to that person for a specific period of time as set by the connection request. That can be for only a short period of time all the way up to permanently.

Similarly, few people allow anyone to send them messages without connecting first. That can make it a potential challenge if you haven't ever met someone because how can you communicate?!

Enter the AAI ID. If you have someone's AAI ID, you can send them a message. That person can of course ignore or block you but it's at least a way to get your foot in the door— er, message in the inbox.

It's considered extremely poor etiquette to give someone's AAI ID away without their prior consent but some people suck!

Types of Messages

People can send all kinds of things. Well, really four kinds of things, and maybe two if you really boil it down.

The first is simply text. Pretty easy to understand.

The second is a myriad of files. The most common three are images, audio, and video. I'm sure there are others, but those are probably boring!

Most people do send at least some text if they are sending a file as zero context messages can be a bit off-putting.

Functions

If two people speak the same language, AAI connections, at least in the moment of interacting, are rarely used. Why have your brains talking to each other when mouths are more fun?

But if people don't share a language, AAIs can live-translate the general intention if the AAI knows at least one of the languages. Of course, there are modules for the main languages on Putijama but AAI chips generally only come with one language and upcharge for additional ones.

There are also contracts like AAI-Backed Guarantees, sharing directional capabilities if using a map overlay, or the incredibly expensive remote live-streaming of your visuals where both parties need to be connected as well, but their use is far more rare.

"Sorry, I must have heard you wrong. Otherwise, I think I'm just going to leave," I said, stepping fully into the room and blinking in surprise at his greeting.

Though 'pig fucker' is a rather evocative insult.

"Oh, look at this one. Willing to just walk away from a meeting with a Councilor like that. Tell you what, you transition that delve to a city-enabled one and we'll call it even. I get my 50%, you get all that essence. And, of course, you don't get on my bad side," he said with a huge, smarmy smile. His accent marked him as clearly from The Monetary Might Kingdom.

It was then I looked the aggressor over, really took him in. In his early twenties, he was dressed like if Present Mic from My Hero Academia and Liberace coordinated to design an outfit and then three unicorns drunk on a barrel of moonshine each puked rainbows all over it.

The full-body jumpsuit had jutting shoulder extensions that reached out almost a foot past his shoulders; they were slightly different shapes too, one sharp and the other more rounded. It was covered in little clusters of what I guessed were rhinestones as they caught the glints from the muted lighting in the well-appointed private dining room.

I thought Lisa Frank would call the patterning 'a little much'. The only phrase I could think of was 'aggressively rainbow'.

His hair was comparatively normal, shaved on one side but falling in wavy turquoise to the other, reaching past his armpit. The man's pinkish-orange skin had a series of almost stripes though I could see they were tattoos in some kind of minute writing.

To say he was a lot was to make the understatement of the century.

I've dealt with this kind before. Showing weakness in any way will lead to them going for the kill.

"Why in the world would I care about that? You're someone who wrote a bad contract and it cost you. Be an adult, take the hit, move on," I said. While I was usually willing to deal with a bit of rudeness, this was far too much.

Isekonsultant Tip to Thriving #57: Sometimes the best course of action is to just be an asshole right back.

I sent the Councilor a quick AAI message asking what the hell was going on.

The man's smile, if possible, got smarmier. "Ah, you clearly don't know who I am. The Merchant Baron Travis Hozjan, Assistant Vice Underminister to the Merchant of Might of delving and war herself, Morgan Abolina."

I certainly didn't like how he emphasized the word 'war'.

[Incoming Message from Sigita Salub: I apologize, he replaced his colleague at the last minute. I didn't have your AAI ID to alert you to the situation. I recommend hearing him out. In addition to avoiding his retaliation, it could be quite lucrative.]

Ignoring the Councilor, I asked, "Am I supposed to know what that means? Maybe you haven't done your homework here; I'm not from this world. But none of that really matters. Again, I'll repeat: I think I'm just going to leave," I said, heading towards the door.

He moved quickly from his chair to place himself between me and said exit, clearly of a higher Tier than my 1.4. However, he didn't do it with the predatory grace of a delver, more like someone who had Tiered up through being carried and wielded soft power instead of personal power.

Can't let myself get that soft, need to remember that with getting carried. Though kinda neat how I notice those things now. No, FOCUS.

"And if that action were to put my attention, my indomitable attention, on Velez, how would that sound?" Travis asked as though it were an innocent question. "I've heard these city conflict contracts are… an interesting proposition."

Councilor Salub took in a sharp breath like he'd just decreed he would eat all the babies in Chazin Mark. When I looked at her curiously, she returned a small shake of her head.

The annoying man from The MM continued like there'd been no interruption. "Though, I'm always far more in favor of the direct approach, aren't you? If you plan to wage war, economic or otherwise, just be direct and go for what you want. Announcing your intentions or following the rules others set are for fools, right?" He chuckled darkly.

"I'll use language someone from the MM might understand. And I'll use small words: I get what you're selling here but I'm just not buying. I am going to go." I indicated for him to move out of the way.

"Well shit, you just lost me another platinum," Travis said though his smile only seemed to get brighter.

At my confused look, he went to put his hand on my shoulder congenially. I shrugged it off. "They told me you were a pushover. I bet my Overseer I could get at least one of those essence stones from you. Was even going to flick a coin at you as payment and everything. See, look at this, I had it made today just for this." He pulled a coin from his pocket that had 'fuck' engraved on one side and 'you' on the other in Verdantese.

"I'm still leaving," I said.

"Give us the room?" Sigita pleaded to Travis who looked none too pleased at the request. After a beat, he finally agreed with a small nod, sweeping through the door in a grandiose manner.

"<Seven minutes>," he said, then slammed the door.

I walked over to the table and slumped into a chair across from Sigita. "Councilor, what the shit?" I asked tiredly.

We sat in a huffy silence for a full minute, her face holding on for dear life to dignity I knew she didn't feel.

Finally, Sigita Salub's face fell in resignation. "I didn't… don't want this any more than you do. That said, he can pull a number of strings here…" She took her time, clearly trying to find the right words.

Meanwhile, I fought against my nature, attempting to keep my face passive.

Isekonsultant Tip to Thriving #58: You don't need to drive everything, to pull the words out of people. Sometimes you just have to give them the space to feel they can say what needs to be said.

"Our city has not held up exactly well under this null zone hell – and it has been all kinds of hell; economic, social, political, military power… and this is the result." She waved her hand around at the gorgeous and lavish private room.

At my confused eyebrow, Sigita scoffed. "I mean," she indicated to the door. "Pitola abandoned us so we now have to bow and grovel for our scraps to The MM. Or," she put on a haughty voice, "'The Merchant Baron Travis Hozjan, Assistant Vice Underminister' and people like him." The Councilor literally spat to the side.

"I don't get why he's here, at this dinner. Is it really just to harass me? To try to extract money from me?"

"Possibly? I am not sure. You were to dine with a young woman I have taken a real shine to, a merchant that could set up cross-border trade. Unfortunately, as I said, he stepped in at the last moment. She might have met with 'an accident' if she hadn't agreed. I apologize, this isn't the impression I wanted you to have of our city."

"Yeah, it's not been a good one from almost any angle." She winced. "I first met Raisa near Struva and she was an asshole, we arrived and the inn seemed purposefully bad for some reason, one of your delve teams wasn't good enough and put me in a bit of danger, I had to deal with stupid negotiations today for a nearly worthless ball for my bond, then this… I just don't need to deal with whatever is going on here. Is there any reason I should stay?" I asked, genuinely curious if there was a good answer.

"I'll look into the other things but… Travis, he reports to someone who reports to someone and on up the chain until you hit a Merchant of Might with entirely too much wealth and not enough brains and—" she cut herself off suddenly.

Her purple eyes meeting mine, she started again in a calmer tone. "Two reasons. The first is he'll likely try to punish you if you leave. Yes, I see that look and no, I don't think a pissing contest into the wind is a good idea. A bit of bad conversation is better than the alternative. It's like when my husband is drunk, bad conversation is better than—" The Councilor stopped again, then seemed to regain a bit of composure.

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

"He mentioned some kind of city contract, what—" I faltered at her desperate gesture.

"Best to speak on that later. If that's a real threat, it's… it could be calamitous. For Velez and any other city involved."

I couldn't tell what was so distressing but it was clearly a real potential problem. I sent an AAI message off to Lurka, the main assistant to the Velez Council, for more information.

She cleared her throat. "The second reason is that he has business opportunities. As much as dealing with him is a pain, it is lucrative."

"I'm not hurting for wealth and I have good protection. I think I'll just head out, this is a headache I don't need."

I stood up and shook her offered hand. "Sorry our meeting was commandeered, maybe we'll have one in the future." I started walking to the door as the man burst back in, a huge smile plastered across his face.

"Time's up! Now that you decided to stay, let's chat. Would hate for that pending application to the Adventurers Guild to be denied. Only one more contract to complete, right?" He threw out a wink and an obnoxious smile.

I held up a finger, sent a quick AAI message to Inara to book us an Adventurers Guild delve on our ride back towards Pitola in a few days, got a confirmation she did, then smiled. "All good there but thanks for offering to make sure everything went smoothly."

"Ah, then Velez it is. Councilor, what does Chazin Mark have at its disposal to aid in one of these city conflict contracts? Maybe we just restrict trade to start? I have ballistae at my disposal but would have to move them… Probably too drastic to start with that, no?" He started stroking his chin like he was thinking deeply.

"What are you trying to do here? In this 'meeting' that you crashed? I get you want to be the big man but it's not working," I replied, just utterly tired of his bullshit, though walking back to stand behind my chair.

I won't give him the satisfaction of sitting just yet, petty as it is. Still, putting Velez at risk feels too far to avoid eating with a jackass.

Before he could respond, Sigita finally couldn't contain herself. "Really boys, let's stop with this asinine dick-measuring contest. Besides, if Terry is anything like Cornelius, he'd win."

She blushed furiously before continuing despite chuckles from Travis. "Ahem, yes, Baron Hozjan, you have been less than kind here, maybe lay out your proposals rather than threats. The stick isn't working, try the damn carrot. Speaking of carrots, I'm hungry. Either get to it or don't, I want to eat." She clearly sent an AAI message as the poor server, who presumably had been waiting just outside the door, stuck her head in and quickly left after acknowledging Sigita.

Travis laughed so hard he slammed his fist on the table, eliciting an ominous crack.

Ah, now I know why I especially hate this one. Everything, even life-and-death decisions, is just a game. Who can win is more important than what you're playing for.

"Well said Councilor, I knew I liked you for a reason. Yes, your little stunt yesterday Terry, you and that silly-named group of yours, will hurt my quarterly report. The quarter closes in just a few days. I was likely to move up—," he turned to Sigita, "—I'm guessing you heard that the Assistant Minister and her whole family were, let's say, 'terminated'. That means a lot of openings above me. Nothing like a good bloodletting to free up the ladder." He looked genuinely happy at the prospect.

Travis paused as they brought in a creamy soup for us to enjoy. Talking with a bit of the tasty liquid falling from his mouth – like a savage – he continued, slurping between sentences. "But with a stain as big as that delve on my quarter… That incompetent moron at the Adventurers Guild didn't see the loophole in the contract… A child could see it! In fact, my own progeny from my mistress, who's only eleven, saw it in a matter of seconds. My numbers aren't going to be good enough."

He looked at me like I should fix it but I still just couldn't care. I finally sat down before asking, "Is not getting a portion of the reward that bad? Rift rewards are random, I don't even see how that could be part of your quarterly forecast. None of what you're saying makes sense other than being a sore loser. Aren't you the one who placed the contract?"

I was still antagonizing the man but it was hard not to. He had a very punchable face with a worse personality.

"First, I sent over the information and they formed to contract. That is on them."

I knew passing the blame when I heard it.

"As to why that delve is an issue, a few reasons. The rewards are required to be reported and that rift has been underperforming, starting just after I took it into my portfolio. So it was already 'due' for something big to hit. There is increased scrutiny and I only manage twenty rifts right now so I can't bury anything. Especially this late in the quarter."

He sighed dramatically while starting to lap at the soup like an animal drinking water. It was clear now he was just being obnoxious for fun. "It will be seen. And noted.

"The other reason is the bastard son of a paramour of my Merchant of Might was scheduled to Tier up there."

'Bastard son of a paramour of my Merchant of Might'? That means the side-piece of the oligarch had a son with another woman and he's important in some way? Or gender-swapped and the side-piece had the kid? The MM is really open about relationships, like France times twenty.

"The little… duke… thought it would be funny to see his in-rift guards struggling at significantly reduced speeds. Now, the essence density is such that they will almost certainly actually die before he could reach the peak of Tier 1. He's still interested but his father doesn't pay his guards enough for that."

"Good information but I'm still coming back to the carrot. Thus far, all you've done is complain. What do you want and what's in it for me?" I asked.

He tilted his head to the side. "Other than preventing harm to Velez?"

"Yes, other than that. It's all rather vague. Were you so lonely and petty that you decided to invade this meeting just for your own ego?"

The first look of actual rage flitted across his face. It was gone as quickly as it came but I knew I'd hit on something.

"You are rather rude. Now I won't present any opportunities until you hand over one of the essence stones," he said petulantly.

"That's not going to happen. So, I think we're at an impasse. I'll just go then?" I asked.

The Councilor looked at me pleadingly. Whether it was to give in or simply not leave her alone with the man-child, I wasn't quite sure.

"Yes, if you're going to behave like that, you best be off. But be wary of crossing me again. If not for your own safety, then that of this city you hold so dear and its people."

I shrugged and left, grabbing one of the plates of a nice pasta dish with a cream-based sauce that was waiting on a table just outside the door, presumably waiting for the Councilor's signal to be brought in.

I give it a seven out of ten. Tasty but, as always, far too small of portions.

***

"Thanks Inara, did you have any trouble with him?" I asked as she handed Steve over to me.

"He did suddenly get grumpy a few times, which I assume is your doing. Other than that, only issues were his taste in literature. Little guy wouldn't allow me to read any of his picture books but seemed very invested in a teen romance story I had from my first days with my chip. We're talking a romance story a thirteen year old girl loved." She rolled her light purple eyes. "It was bad…"

Steve gave an indignant squawk like that was a secret only they were supposed to share. I could feel through the link said indignation was genuine.

"He did help me work out a knot on my shoulder though," she said with a smile. "Seemed to like listening and kneading. His hands are getting strong for his size."

Steve flexed and it was my turn to roll my eyes.

Wait, should he have understood that? Maybe he really is getting smart.

I took him back to my room – far nicer than at the previous inn – and tried to process my meeting.

"I still don't get why he crashed the meeting. It almost seemed like he did it because he could but that doesn't make sense to me. Yes, some people are that narcissistic but I got the impression he is at least mildly smart and capable… I don't know, what do you think?"

My rubber duck – outfitted in a duck-patterned onesie Tiesa got him – was nodding along, though mostly trying to signal he wanted head pats.

"Yeah, I wasn't my best self in that meeting but I just hate that type. What's the likely fallout? Does this change any of our priorities? I think it was just some guy trying to wave his proverbial dick around."

I hemmed and hawed before moving on.

"It sounds like The MM is trying to strengthen their power over Chazin Mark, who are already in dire straits. And when you make people desperate – or more desperate in this case – you gain a lot of power over them, even just via their hope you'll make their lives a bit better. That is, until you push too far and they snap…"

[Incoming Message from Violeta Pocius: Per your dinner conversation, here is your updated delving schedule for tomorrow. File]

The message from the main assistant to the Chazin Mark Council was brief as always but they changed up a few rifts for the next day.

"Okay, we at least have some movement on things getting better, at least hopefully. I'll send a thank you to Councilor Salub. But who on the Council do we think was messing with us today? That little trick with your ball was just obnoxious. The obvious answer is Raisa Barno but… I just don't know."

The niece of Uros Barno, the Velez Councilor I had the strangest relationship with, had been an asshat when she harassed us in Struva. I mulled it over for a minute or so, tossing the ball back and forth with Steve.

"Even if she's a bit arrogant and petty, it feels a little too dull-witted for someone related to Uros. I just don't see her being so ill-trained from her uncle to leave a paper trail. Yes, you're right a digital paper trail. I wonder if they use that phrase here…"

I pushed some frustration through my link and Steve patted the bed. I sat down from my pacing and he climbed up, walking from shoulder to shoulder. It was cute and actually helped me calm down.

"You're right, I think we have to try to bait someone out tomorrow. I'll try to work with this Violeta, the Council assistant, to get official assessments of rift rewards if they try something again. Hopefully the teams are a bit better tomorrow…"

Deciding I couldn't really make progress on such limited information, I worked out a few plans and then sent for an update on the other delvers I had helped gain a null essence dual-affinity.

[Incoming Message from Lurka Horvat: It is late and I have better things to be doing. Use that for future reference. That said, we had already compiled the reports. File]

[Incoming Message from Lurka Horvat: And you'll be getting a briefing on city conflict contracts tomorrow. I am not allowed to send without the approval of the majority of the Council. We will want a full understanding on why you are asking… We have already dispatched someone to speak in person…]

That's ominous.

Looking over what he did send, my two Tier 3 teams were actually the least productive. Most Tier 3 rifts were delved often enough that the null essence wasn't a major issue yet.

Strangely enough, one rift that was delved very often near Pitola had its percentage of null essence rising rapidly, so Aras and his team tackled that rift. Since it was frequently delved and low on essence, the reward drop was nothing to write home about: five gold coins worth of Tier 3 iron.

Ratmir was speculating about why the null essence as a percent of total essence was higher than any other rift in the area.

He thought it was because that rift was so low in general on essence, most of the essence it currently had was null. There was no green essence left to overcome the null. Most Tier 3 rifts were never allowed to dip below around the midpoint of their total possible essence so the Tier 3 rift drops would generally be more valuable.

Vesna and her team of fellow Tier 1s were actually more active than we were. They themselves were taking on carry duties in delves in a very convoluted mess of contracts for extra money each day.

I didn't mind the specifics – Nikolaj had looked over the terms and conditions for me and said they were fair – and said carry delves were apparently safe. Generating a steady amount of seven to nine gold coins a day for me each of the last five days was a nice little boost to my coffers.

Milda, my Tier 2 choice, was about to leave on her first big trip as she needed to group up with an entirely new team. They had been in intense training so were going to head out soon, first to Struva then over to Pitola just as Vesna's team left the area.

My last message of the night was to Gabor looking for an update on when we might be able to sneak into Zalano to further investigate the first assassination attempt against me. He sent back a picture of the least lifelike wig I had ever seen. It looked like a skinned animal rather than something a human would naturally grow.

Groan.

I looked at my top three priorities in my AAI – 1) Steve's and my safety, 2) figuring out issues related to Barry, and 3) preventing getting shackled in general – and none of them really changed so I didn't do any major updates, only adding a short-term section to include the issues of the day's events like looking into city conflict contracts and potentially meeting again with Councilor Salub if time permitted.

***

As we ran towards the first rift of the day, our guide Natalia meeting us at the inn sporting her typical manic grin, the message finally came through.

I nearly face planted, distracted the second I started reading.

This is far worse than I thought.

City conflict contracts were close in some ways to noble contracts – the mechanism that allowed a group of Tier 2s to try to slaughter our team on the way from Pitola to Velez – just targeted at a city. Their original stated purpose, at least according to Lurka's notes, was to 'enable high-performing cities to assist underperforming cities via influencing their operations and to settle city-to-city grievances'.

In practice, they had two real uses: cities annexing smaller cities in all but name or as a form of revenge, damaging a city in some way all the way up to destroying it via siege.

They were pretty rare – only three had been initiated in the last decade – and usually only involved a small spat over something inconsequential resolved via champions. Cities would nominate a person or group to do battle, usually in an arena to prevent serious harm or death, and whichever side was victorious 'won' the disagreement.

But they could escalate to full city-on-city warfare, with long sieges and the like. It hadn't happened in nearly a century but it had happened quite frequently prior to that.

The last time a city essentially destroyed a smaller city, the thirteen surrounding smaller cities joined together to siege the larger city, eventually leading to a truce after the entire Council 'suddenly keeled over dead without their heads'.

Lurka sent tens of pages of legalese from The Verdant Kingdom's laws on the contracts and another few hundred pages of analysis about how they could be used.

Without going overboard, a clever person could cripple the trade of a city the size of Velez with just a few corrupt Councilors in a larger city like Pitola – or even most of the Council in Chazin Mark. Simply restricting the export or import of certain goods could quickly demolish the economy of cities that relied too heavily on one industry.

It was why most of the smaller cities paid deference, in one way or another, to the larger ones like Pitola or especially the capital of Zalano.

And that asshole threatened Velez like that? Over getting mildly tricked? This might actually mean war…

I was fuming so bad, Inara actually asked if I was okay.

When we arrived at the rift, I decided to take my frustration out on some poor, helpless rift monsters.

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