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 Rift Instance Cycling

Rift instances – the specific version of a rift where people can enter together – cycle every half bell. Each rift can have multiple instances running concurrently, so each group that goes in can experience the same rift but they are in different copies and the people inside are delving their own instance. Each instance will be slightly different and will have different rewards.

So every half bell, whether people went into the rift or not, the rift cycles to a new instance. If no one went in, the rift didn't waste any of its essence to create an actual instance but rifts still all operate on that timeline.

Each rift cycles at different times, they aren't all cycling universally at the same exact moment. However, some rifts do seem to be synced as they have been measured to cycle at time intervals down to the second.

Research into why rifts behave like that is sparse as it's just a fact of life and any attempts to change the cycle time – either how quickly a rift cycles or to adjust when it cycles – have been, as far as I can tell, utter failures.

Small Note on Timekeeping

On Putijama, there are twenty bells in a day. If someone used normal people time, a bell is 73 minutes long but the rift instance cycle time is precisely why a bell is as long as it is. Two rift cycles equals one bell. The day was easier to cut into twenty slices rather than double that, which is why it is two instance cycles per bell.

"Follow my lead," Nina Asani said to me in a gruff tone as we neared Chazin Mark's Council building after our 30 minute run from the rift.

I, rightfully in my mind, bristled at her command. "Nina, we discussed this. I am not yours to order around. I understand you run the Council in Velez but you don't run me. You don't own me." While I was glad Steve was with the rest of The Order, I still couldn't help but smile slightly at the idea of him pointing and chittering at the woman in rebuke.

Isekonsultant Tip to Thriving #62: Sometimes you need to tell someone the equivalent of 'per my last email'. Remind those around you that you won't take shit and that just because it's a new day, that doesn't mean choices from the previous day have magically changed. There are just some people who need to be told repeatedly that you aren't theirs to do with as they please.

"Yes, yes, poorly phrased," she said, giving another non-apology. "I simply meant their protocol is far different from Velez. Though I suppose you rarely follow even our protocol," she murmured with a laugh to herself.

Injecting more force, she continued. "But especially for a hearing, not simply a meeting, where tensions may run high, I recommend you follow my lead. Strongly recommend even. If not, it could lead to dire consequences."

I stopped immediately, turning to her. "What am I walking into?" I realized I was used to the mostly reasonable Council in Velez. They were better than typical high-level execs from Earth; the Velez Councilors usually only lightly jabbed the dagger in my back rather than a full stab.

Nina looked me in the eye. "I don't care about Chazin Mark. Essentially no one does. But if they are as under-the-thumb of The MM as I've gathered, they could be a problem. This little trip of yours is crucial to Morgan Abolina's business expansion into our Kingdom."

"Why does a Merchant of Might care about some Tier 1 rifts?" I asked, rather confused.

"We'll discuss that later. Suffice it to say, this is important to someone who could cause you trouble."

"Have enough of those already," I muttered.

Nina laughed with genuine mirth.

At my surprised look, she shrugged. "What? I may not enjoy dealing with you – you seem like a fine person but all I get with you is trouble – but funny is funny."

We entered the building to be immediately ushered into a small waiting room. The person who escorted us was dressed in a long, black piece of fabric, covering their features from head to toe, almost like a slightly more regal ghost costume made from a sheet.

Nina just nodded and said to me, "They have a thing about being pompous. I think that comes from Uros' time here, especially when his niece Raisa joined the Council and felt the need to one-up the man. They will all be in robes similar to that. Someone wants to put on a show."

"So what's our play?" I asked. "They just haven't been living—" I stopped at her raised hand.

"Unlike in Velez, this room is not guaranteed to be free from outside listening. Suffice it to say, we have a clear case, we'll present that," Nina said with finality.

I wanted to argue as we could at least get moderately on the same page but at that moment, the attendant opened the door. They said in a clearly modulated voice, "The Council of Chazin Mark, Stalwart Protectors on the Front Line, Jewel of the Green Zone, shall see you now." I could hear the capital letters in their inflection.

"Thanks Violeta," I said, hazarding a guess it was the main assistant to the Council I'd been dealing with.

The figure shrunk in on itself slightly.

Oops, was going for friendly not for whatever that was.

Isekonsultant Tip to Thriving #63: Don't piss in people's Cheerios. There's often no need to make it clear you saw through something if there's no benefit and it might upset the other person. It's basic Golden Rule stuff.

As Nina forewarned, we walked in to see seven people dressed in similar robes, covering them from the top of the head to brush past their toes. They had ornate androgynous masks covering their faces, each with a slightly ominous but different facial expression.

The seven Councilors were sitting on a raised platform in essentially thrones, chairs even more lavish than those in the Velez Council room. The three people in the middle wore green, while the remaining four were dressed one each in the main essence colors of the Kingdom: brown, yellow, red, and blue.

They really are playing shit up, aren't they? Even dressing in the official colors. Now we see if that is because they want to impress or oppress…

Keeping my face passive, I stepped forward to speak. Nina's hand, suddenly at chest height, held me back.

"You will only speak once spoken to!" a booming voice to the left of center, who I was calling Left Green in my head, said. "You have accused this city, nay this Council, of misdeeds!"

Weird that it's a bigger offense to say it of the Council than the city but gives me a sense of their mindset. 90% chance this is just an attempted shakedown.

Right Green spoke next. "And you, Councilor Asani, what right do you have to be here?" They were far more polite, still trying to play into the pomp and circumstance but it was clear their heart wasn't in it.

"If you mean Chazin Mark, it is because there was a credible threat of someone initiating a city conflict contract against Velez. In front of a Councilor of your fair city who did not refute the threat no less. I came to investigate. If you mean why am I here in this room right now, I am declaring an official breach of contract on behalf of the city of Velez," Nina said with steel in her voice.

With no real change in body language from any of them, I knew the entire Council saw this coming. She had met with them earlier in the day so it made sense to me.

"That's preposterous!" Red yelled, banging on their throne only to clearly wince slightly as they shook their hand out. I thought the crimson robe they wore probably matched the color of the Councilor's face, embarrassment clearly leaking through their actions. They continued in a slightly less angry tone. "Your boy here broke the contract and you are trying to pass the blame?"

"Have you reviewed the footage Councilor Tra… Councilor in Red?" she asked.

Ah, clearly she knows who at least some of them are. This really is just bullshit theater…

"Yes, and he was just whining. The team yesterday were more than adequate and he didn't get a scratch! Did he have another monster get within twenty paces and he shat himself? If he's so precious and fragile, maybe he shouldn't be on these contracts," Red said, sitting back like they'd just won the entire argument.

"This afternoon, another clear team let even more monsters through to threaten him. The incompetent delvers you hired failed to activate a spell properly. Once our 'precious and fragile boy' eliminated part of the threat himself, something those far superior to him in training and sub-Tier were unable to do, he chose to leave," Nina said.

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

Before she could continue, Blue cut in. "That is grounds for a discussion and not continuing the delve, not a full cancellation of your extended delving contract with cause. There are penalty clauses for small failures to fully protect the asset but the terms are clear."

There are penalty clauses? I really need to fully review these damn contracts. Velez probably owes me a bit more money…

Keeping my face passive as best I could, I considered the contract penalties. It really wasn't a surprising aspect to include after I thought about it. I assumed there was a massive penalty if I died but it would make sense to put in clauses for poor performance too to incentivize the cities to not scrimp on providing good teams for my delves.

Vowing to review not just my own contracts, but those of the other null affinity teams – can't put Milda or Vesna in harm's way unnecessarily – I stepped forward, ignoring Nina. "That's entirely fair. I was trying to walk from the rift – I couldn't trust those two teams – when one of the members of the clear team started yelling, bringing fifteen or more monsters at once. I had to kill multiple of them myself. Is that not a full breach?"

The body language of four Councilors shifted. It wasn't subtle either.

Ah, they weren't all forwarded the video.

"Of course, if you'd like the Arbiters to decide, we are happy to seek their wise judgement," Nina said.

A number of the robed Councilors began shouting simultaneously.

Well, that riled them up. That sounds like a good threat to use even if I'm not sure what it means…

I held up my hand, waiting for them to quiet. "We don't want that either. Let's take a brief recess so you can review the footage," I said, heading for the door.

I wanted to add 'and reassess' but knew that was confrontational and letting my ego win over my best interests wasn't something I wanted to do too often.

My main goals were pretty simple. First and foremost, I wanted them to have the actual facts. From the little I'd gathered, it was a clear breach of contract.

Second, I knew from experience if they had time to discuss, the more reasonable people were far more likely to convince holdouts versus having someone dig in their heels just to look and/or feel powerful. Being put on the spot and told to reverse an opinion went against human psychology, even in the face of overwhelming evidence someone was wrong.

Especially with the Arbiter threat Nina tossed out like a live grenade.

And third, it gave them a sense they weren't the only ones dictating what was happening. Showing people on a power trip they didn't control me was becoming a bit too common an occurrence.

There was a push and pull to it all but letting cooler heads prevail usually worked if the people involved were moderately reasonable. My bet was there were at least four 'moderately reasonable' people among the seven Councilors.

As we left the room, Violeta was out of her 'ghost costume', hair messed up in a huge tangle of brown curls. She gave me an annoyed look. "I lose a vacation day every time someone 'figures out' it's me. So thanks."

I held up my hands to apologize but Nina successfully cut me off this time. "You two can flirt later, have they called a full recess yet?"

Violeta's upset with me… If that's what Nina thinks is flirting, that's a big yikes. For a lot of reasons.

[Incoming Message from Inga Balodis: Heard you were having some trouble. Happy to help. If this is of interest, just reply 'yes' and I'll contact the Chazin Mark and Velez Councils. File]

The Mayor of Pitola sent me a proposal: all of my clear and protection teams for the final day of delving in Chazin Mark would come from Pitola and would show up the day after next.

Many of the specifics were labeled "To Be Determined" as paying the teams, who got what percent of the delve rewards, and so on would need to be negotiated with the Chazin Mark Council but there were no changes to my or my team's take.

I sent back [Tentatively interested but not a yes or no question]. She replied [That had a yes.]

Uh oh.

A few seconds later, Violeta looked to Nina Asani. "Now they've called for a full recess. If you would please return at one bell past first light – well, both of you – that would be most appreciated." She nodded before waiting for an answer and started legging it for the front door, picking up speed as she barreled out into the street.

As she turned a corner, disappearing into the late afternoon, the Council chamber doors exploded outwards.

One of the green robes started advancing towards me as Nina chuckled slightly, scooping me up and shouting, "See you tomorrow Raisa!"

Why do the women on this world insist on the princess carry? At least throw me over your shoulder or something.

Once we were inside the shielded private room at the same restaurant from the morning, Nina chuckled again.

"Okay, what the absolute fuck?" I asked. "One, that isn't cool. Two, what just happened?"

She ignored my first question. "I'm assuming she got the same proposal I did from Pitola. Chazin Mark does not like Pitola interfering, especially right now. Who can blame them? The entire Council believes Pitola abandoned them." She shook her head with chagrin. "They aren't exactly wrong. Though I blame Zalano and the monarchy more than Pitola."

I was getting very suspicious. "The Mayor sent me an outline of the proposal and asked if she should move forward. Wait, how did you know about Pitola's involvement before me? You asked if they called for a full recess even before I received the proposal. What did you do here?"

"Oh, quiet down, I did no such thing." She rolled her eyes at my anger.

And here I thought she might be chill and not a dick for a few seconds.

Nina said, "I only received the proposal a few <seconds> before that mousey girl ran away. The Council needed to recess because two of the members were fuming mad and needed to have intercourse to behave rationally. The other members know that enough that they pretend to discuss before dispersing for the night when those two get riled up. I ordered a courtesan for each to be waiting at their door within <ten seconds> of leaving the chambers, even before receiving the Pitola proposal."

I was slightly shocked but then remembered how normalized sex work was on Putijama.

"The unasked question was 'did I leak anything to Pitola?' Because otherwise, how could they know?"

I nodded. "Who else would have the information to send them in near real-time?"

She shrugged. "No, I was not the person to send information to Pitola. However, I am not surprised someone sent them information. But first, the timing of when Pitola received information was probably far earlier than when we entered the Council chambers. Second, it could be anyone from Chazin Mark's Council, Velez's Council, any of the delvers involved today, your team, your bond, many different people. I don't think it matters. Here."

She sent me an AAI-backed guarantee that the only people she told of the situation were her husband and people who were either on the Velez Council, worked directly for the Velez Council, or were on the Chazin Mark Council.

I was surprised she'd offer a guarantee that easily but she shrugged. "I need your trust. I also know I haven't done enough to reasonably earn said trust. And there's no reason for me to get Pitola involved, especially that Mayor. Completely runs circles around their Council which undermines all the Councils in the region. Besides, I thought you were still mostly rather disliked in Pitola so why would I go to them for help?"

As much as I was frustrated with the woman, I couldn't help but respect her approach. She wasn't exactly fun to deal with but I was pretty sure, at least from her side, there really wasn't anything underhanded going on. I essentially had to grin and bear it.

She's an ass but an ass on my side. I guess that's better than the other way around of nice but against me.

I read Nina in on the situation with the Mayor and my upcoming Pitola trip. She knew I was visiting the city on the way back to Velez but thought it was more of a contentious layover to ease tensions rather than a budding partnership.

Nina steepled her fingers. "Well, this complicates things but also makes them simpler in some respects. Pitola, despite its troubles, is a far better ally to have than Chazin Mark. We go with all or nothing, all in with Pitola or leave."

"Don't I have a say?" I asked.

Nina smiled deviously. "Yes, but you are smart, logical, and rather upset at Chazin Mark. So you will agree."

After a beat to consider what she said, I genuinely laughed. "Got me I guess? Was that an actual compliment?" Nina smiled again. "Okay, you're right, but explain why so few of the Chazin Mark Council knew about the big fuck up in the rift."

"Simple. I messaged ahead, saying I was cancelling the contract, attaching the recording. The people who were not occupied with other business were able to review the message in full. Others had to rush to be part of the hearing. That was by design; I wanted them on the back foot because it gave us the best chance at success in actually cancelling the contract legally. The Pitola offer was a complete, if welcome, surprise."

I could feel my head tilting to the side like a confused dog. "Care to run that by me? Rushing them made us more likely to succeed?"

"Yes. I understand your surprise but if we gave them sufficient time to prepare, the craftier Councilors might have invented some rather obnoxious reasons to contest the cancellation. By forcing them into the room before they could confer then giving them enough evidence to realize they were already beaten, said scheming Councilors had to focus on limiting the damage the more anger-fueled Councilors may want to do."

Well, shit, that's a great plan… Game recognizes game.

We chatted for a bit before I remembered why she was in the city in the first place. "So what happened with the city conflict contract and checking if someone was running Tier 2s or higher through the rifts?" I asked.

"On the second question, the Council denied knowledge but the man measuring rifts – Pal I think his name was – suddenly went on vacation and more than a few faces looked guilty when I said some of the rifts had essence below expectations. So I do think they were aware the delves with your team would likely have mediocre rewards. I'm not sure of the reasoning other than spite."

My face gave my feelings away so I said, "Yup, makes sense but still a stupid move. Seems like they really want to make things contentious for some reason."

Nina rolled her eyes at my interruption. "However, when I mentioned the null essence concentration was above expectations, and that it probably meant higher Tiers were running through the rifts, there was mostly confusion. A few Councilors have good enough poker faces to fool me – including one with an actual rare skill called [Obfuscate Emotions] – but most seemed genuinely shocked."

We discussed for a few more minutes but nothing more came from that line of inquiry. Someone was fucking around, but for now, they probably wouldn't find out.

"Okay, all of that is far less important than the city conflict contract threat though," I said.

Nina looked genuinely surprised and at least a little impressed.

Does she really think I'm that much of an asshole? That I'd put some petty money squabble above the fate of a city?

"It seems to be a rather toothless threat. This Travis Hozjan has little power in the grand scheme, Merchant Baron though he is."

I felt at least a bit lighter at that. "So why make the threat if he couldn't actually come through? Was it just to intimidate or bully me?"

Nina shrugged. "I do not know. But myself and the Velez Council are not overly concerned unless he can convince someone higher up in his Merchant of Might's organization. Travis is not well-liked by even his own family so we seem to be safe from him. At least for the time being. He simply can't rally the support to initiate much more than a tickle fight."

My relieved breath had Nina smiling slightly before a dark look passed over her face.

"With all that said, Chazin Mark is far more under the power of The Monetary Might Kingdom, and specifically Travis' Merchant of Might Morgan Abolina, than I'd like. I believe we are currently safe but not out of the woods yet. We might need to speak with this Mayor friend of yours in Pitola as Chazin Mark could be a beachhead into The Verdant Kingdom. Whether that is militarily or just economically, it would be of considerable concern."

She stood with a deep and weary sigh. "I am off to my accommodations. It has been a trying few days. Do try to get some rest and don't cause further trouble."

Nina swept from the room before I could respond. As she left, I received a message she'd see me early the next morning.

She just can't help but poke at me. I truly, truly hope that isn't her version of flirting.

With that ominous ending and even worse thought, I headed back to Inara and Pavel's room to grab Steve for the night.

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