“Will you idiots shut up?” Hope asked exasperatedly. “This is the fifth time this week we’ve gotten onto this topic and I’m sick of it. I know you all are losers who like it when I yell at you, but I’m not playing. Mods, for the next three days, if anyone talks about Fae unprompted, I want you to time them out for a day. I’m not joking about this, and I’m done playing around.”

  As if the universe heard her complaints, she received a call from Fae at that very moment. She grappled with herself internally, then sighed. “All of you. Quiet. Now.”

  She picked up the call, and Fae began to speak almost immediately. “Hope? Are you streaming right now?”

  “I am, what of it?” Hope asked frostily.

  “Well, would you mind going to your hold screen for a few minutes? I have something to talk to you about.”

  Hope sighed. “Chat, I am doing this because I respect Fae’s privacy, unlike some of you out there. Do not be annoying about this, there will be none of the things you perverts are imagining.”

  Hope transitioned to her hold screen, then deactivated Masked One and returned her attention to Fae. “Alright, stream’s on hold, Title’s off. What’s up?”

  “Um…do you mind if we video call?” Fae asked, uncharacteristic hesitance in her tone.

  Hope raised an eyebrow, turning the video setting on her phone app on. “Okay.”

  A screen popped up in the corner of Hope’s vision, showing a fidgeting Fae. “I have a bit of a…proposition.” Fae said. “But…can I ask a favor first?”

  “A favor?” Hope asked. “May I hear it first?”

  “I’m just hoping that you’ll keep this secret for a couple of days. You may be tempted not to, but it’ll all be public in a couple of days anyway, and if it was a huge deal this knowledge would already have been made public by the gods who are against the Swarm, I think. Or…maybe it would be restricted information? I’m not sure, but…please.”

  Hope thought on that for a moment, then sighed. “If it’s not out within three days, and I think it’s really important, then I’ll leak it. Or, if I think it’s world-changingly huge information, I might leak it anyway. Is that fair?”

  “More than fair.” Fae said. “It’s not that huge. Basically…the gods who are against the Swarm chose to look at my mothers’ mental states knowing they would break information restrictions. The Swarm now knows about World Saviors, and as a result, has internet access. Queen Lia will be giving a statement in a couple of days.”

  A chill ran down Hope’s spine. “Wait, they did what?!” She asked. “Why?!”

  “I don’t know.” Fae replied, shrugging. “If they weren’t gods, I would assume they didn’t realize that breaking the information restrictions would give the Swarm internet access. I didn’t, but I also wasn’t as familiar with those restrictions as the gods. My guess is that they think that the advantages the Swarm gains from the internet will be less than the insights they gain from understanding what will happen to people who are converted while playing World Saviors.

  Fae paused for a moment. “Or…who choose to ‘switch sides’ while playing? I’m not totally sure if they’ll get any insight about what happens to people who leave their bodies before conversion fully completes.”

  “And…what do you think?” Hope asked. “Do you think the Swarm will get comparatively more out of the deal?”

  A thoughtful expression crossed Fae’s face. “I can’t say for sure.” She said. “But I think we will. It all depends on how long people take to adapt to more advanced technology, and with some of the things I’ve seen and heard…I think the time needed to get up to speed will be significantly lower than you might think.”

  Hope took a second to process that, then sighed. “I suppose this can wait for a couple of days.” She said. “It’s not like it changes things in a way that matters to the average person. Why are you telling me now, though?”

  “Lia is going to start streaming in much the same way I am, and I was wondering if you’d be interested in doing a few collabs with her.” Fae said.

  “What?” Hope asked, taken aback. “How?! Why?!”

  “It’s not my place to say.” Fae replied. “You’d have to ask her yourself and see how much she’s willing to tell you.”

  “Well, I’m not going to say no to this.” Hope said. It was clear that this was something that would give her a massive signal boost, and she would be a fool to not take advantage of the opportunity. “Still…why me? Why not Aleister or Isadora or someone in that group?”

  “A few reasons.” Fae said. “First, let me make it clear that I trust you just as much as I trust them. While I’ve been getting my mothers settled, I’ve only had a little bit of time to look over your streams so I can’t say for sure, but even if the Title is getting to you, I trust you to keep everything reasonable and not too overwhelming for her.”

  “Are you sure she can handle someone like me?” Hope asked worriedly. “She’s not familiar with internet tropes, right? Won’t I seem a bit…much?”

  “I’ve told her of your circumstances.” Fae said. “And, as it turns out, Rose used Masked One herself for a while. She’s probably more familiar with the Title than us and can even help you with your worries.”

  Hope frowned. “She did? Why?”

  “Something about using it to make Rose more comfortable commanding Lia during battle?” Fae said. “I’m admittedly a little fuzzy on the details, but the point is that Lia won’t be taking anything personally. And, as she puts it, she’s taken direct hostility from the gods in-person, she isn’t overly worried about being overwhelmed by a sharp-tongued, mischievous, but ultimately friendly person.”

  “That’s…a fair point. Still, why me in particular?”

  “Honestly, I’m using your chat a little here. I know it grates on you, but the fact that they’re already shipping you with me makes it much less likely that they’ll start any sort of big ship with her and you. She’s in a happy relationship, you’re very open about not being into women, it’ll just make it that much less likely either of you have to deal with that. And, also, you’re much more capable of being harsh to chat.” Fae paused, looking to the side for a moment. “She’s a bit too soft at times, to tell you the truth. There are times where you need to lay down the law and tell chat to behave, and I think you can help her identify those.”

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  “Wait, why’d you look away?” Hope asked. “She’s not…there, is she?”

  “I wanted her nearby in case you or, if you say no, others, want to talk to her, but she said she’d be putting a sound muffling spell on herself to give us privacy. She’s busy reading through Yasato’s online encyclopedia, and she’s pretty engrossed in it. Um…do you want to talk with her? She’s totally open to it, and she’s really nice, not stuck up or anything. I think you two would get along pretty well.”

  Anxiety welled up within Hope, but she took a deep breath and pushed it to the side. “Yeah, why not?” She said. “It’d be good to get a feel for how she is before I agree to anything.”

  Fae nodded, standing up and turning to reveal Lia sitting on a couch, staring intently at a tablet. She walked over and gently tapped Lia on the shoulder, prompting the woman to jump in surprise.

  Lia gave an embarrassed smile as she turned to look at Fae. “Sorry.” She said. “I forgot that I wouldn’t be able to hear you and got too caught up in reading about electricity. Um…is that Hope? Can she hear me?”

  “Yes, she can hear you.” Fae said. “She wanted to talk with you before making any decisions.”

  Lia shifted in what Hope would normally say was a nervous manner, but…what did she have to be nervous about meeting a nobody like Hope? “Hi.” Lia said shyly. “Um…you can just call me Lia, no need to treat me special or anything. From what I can see, they didn’t mention this in the promotional material, but I was a peasant before all of this, so I’m…normal, I guess. I don’t know, point is I’m not going to be mad if you’re disrespectful. Uh, unless it’s like…what people would normally get mad at? You know, clearly meant to be rude and mean-spirited. And not with…whatever is going on with you and your persona, I’m fine with that.”

  “A peasant?” Hope asked, taken aback. “Then how did you end up…you know, in charge?”

  “I ask myself that sometimes.” Lia said. “Best I can tell, something of a cosmic coincidence. I happened to meet Amelia, who happened to be a Hero with an unbelievable amount of raw talent, and she latched onto me…I’d say it was the gods’ intervention that caused it if I didn’t know for a fact that they didn’t mess with the situation at all. Um…I’m sure you have a lot of questions for me, so, ask away, I guess?”

  “Um…”

  “Don’t worry about being rude.” Fae reminded. “She really doesn’t care.”

  “Yeah.” Lia agreed. “Don’t hold back.”

  “Why…carry on? You apparently know you’re doing something wrong, so why? I’ve heard what you said to the Goddess of Hearth, but I want to hear it directly.”

  At this, Lia seemed to gain confidence. It was clearly a question she was used to answering. “Partially, it’s because I’m at the point of no return. I can’t stop now, not without ruining the lives of my people, and I can’t even stop with just this plane because things have been set in motion, but…even with that aside, I believe I can make things better for people. It seems like people from other planes often don’t understand the things I’m looking to stop.

  “They don’t get being hungry, or living with the knowledge that one noble could end your life because you looked at them funny, or often even the fear of war. I can end all of this forever, and I’m the only one who can. I carry these sins now, but thousands of years from now I think I’ll have improved the lives of far more than I’ve temporarily worsened.”

  “What do you mean, ‘things have been set in motion’? Why can’t you stop?”

  “The gods will it.” Lia said simply. “The Swarm will take over and become the new status quo everywhere, or it will be stopped, and the remnants will be allowed to live the remainder of their lives without being able to make more members of the Swarm in any way. Personally, it’s not a decision I fully agree with; things do seem much better on other planes than they are here, so introducing a variable like the Swarm that could potentially cause some damage if we fail seems unnecessary.

  “But the gods know more than me, and they seem to think that there is something that might warrant this, so we get pushed onwards. In that respect, I have little more say than you in whether we continue. If we were to just sit here on my plane, I have no doubts that World Saviors would be brought to us. So, there’s nothing for it but to make the best of it.”

  “I…see.” Hope said. “I hadn’t considered that you might not have a choice. I don’t know if that changes how I feel about the Swarm at all, but I’ll think on it more later. That aside…what kind of content are you looking to make?”

  “Uh, if you mean what I’m going to stream, it’s mostly just going to be me doing what I’d be doing anyway. I figured the best way to combat whatever misinformation is out there would be to show people how we operate, to show that we’re not an existential threat, just…I don’t know, a normal one?”

  “And…what would you be doing with me, then? It’s not like we can meet up…right?”

  “Yeah, we can’t meet up.” Lia confirmed. “Not yet, anyway. And I was thinking…I dunno, we can talk? I could tell you about life here, you can tell me about life there, you can help filter through questions your chat may have for me…that sort of a thing. It wouldn’t be all the time, of course, I don’t want to take too much of your time, but, you know, just…on occasion.”

  Hope sat back, thinking hard on that. “I…think I want to go through with this.” She finally said. “Ask Fae to get you my details, we can discuss more later.”

  “Do keep in mind she only has access to Yasato’s internet.” Fae said. “She can stream to our planes, but only properly use the internet from Yasato. So, she’ll be contacting you via your accounts there.”

  “Oh. Weird.” Hope said. “I’ll keep an eye out, then. I gotta get back to stream now before they get too antsy, it was nice talking with you, Lia.”

  “Um, you as well, Hope.” Lia said. “Thank you.”

  “No problem, talk with you later.” Hope replied, cutting the communication. She didn’t hesitate to activate Masked One the moment she had finished; worrisome though could be at times, she had to admit that the Title helped in situations like this, where she needed to put her thoughts to the side and focus on something. She didn’t have much time for trivial worries while she was in her stream persona, and everything felt so much…clearer.

  She straightened up, then resumed her live feed. “Alright, losers, I’m back.” She said.

  “How was your time with your girlfriend?” Her text to speech immediately asked.

  “She’s not my girlfriend, and I am this close to expanding the criteria for being timed out to include shipping and not just unprompted talking about her.” Hope snapped. “She’s a friend, and you all know I don’t like women in that way. It was one thing when it was even within the realm of possibility, it’s another when the idea makes me actively uncomfortable.”

  “But if you join the Swarm–” Hope cut the text to speech short and gave the chatter a one-day ban. “Aaand you’re timed out.” She said flatly. “I am serious about this. Keep your lewd fantasies to yourselves. Now, we’re going to get back to what we were doing, and none of you are going to be annoying, got it?”

  “Serious question: can you give us any hints as to what you were talking about?” Her text to speech asked. “Is it something about the stream or something private?”

  Hope sighed. “You’re on thin ice, but I’ll allow it. Yes, it’s about the stream. You’ll understand in a few days, Fae just wanted to run something by me. Now, that’s all you’re getting from me on that, so no more questions, got it? And don’t even think about trying to outsmart me, you idiots can’t even count, much less pull one over on a genius such as myself.”

  And so, Hope fell back into her regular stream bantering, and it wasn’t long before the topic had shifted to something entirely else. In a few days all of her streams would be upended, so until then, she was going to enjoy what remaining normal time left. And maybe, just maybe her chat would come to realize how serious she was about them shipping her with Fae. Still, knowing them…she wasn’t holding her breath.