John watched Cindy stride through the room. In doing so, he did exactly what she wanted. The way she strutted along the shelves, its quadratic cut-outs filled with books of various topics and perspectives on them, was clearly meant to be for his viewing pleasure. Her round butt swung enticingly inside her pants. Teasingly, she pulled her well-sitting tank top back into place. Both articles of clothing were pure white, rising from her soft tan, and were adequate for the hot weather inside the Guild Hall.

Turning around, she inspected the chairs closely, leaning forwards in such a fashion that John got a deep insight into her cleavage. Cindy had D-cups, rivalling Siena’s breasts in size, and her choice of top created a hanging display that made it clear, beyond the shadow of any doubt, that she was not wearing a bra. Despite the gesture being clearly there to entice him, her inspection of the chair, and the round table in the middle of the room, were also genuine.

When she looked up, John had the decency of meeting the gaze of her red eyes. Cindy was beautiful, but expert make-up elevated her to gorgeous. The Gamer felt somewhat conflicted about that. Generally, he preferred it if women did not wear any make-up. Given the superhuman attractiveness of his women, that was an easy position to take, John realized, but even before he had gotten his powers, he had thought that way. Putting paint on their faces was manipulation of men, to put it rather crudely, and he would rather they didn’t. However, he couldn’t argue about the effectiveness of it. With the thin layer of make-up on her face, the mascara around her eyes and the treated eyelashes, Cindy did look much better. He was torn between knowing that manipulation he disliked in the first place worked on him and him not caring because the result looked so damn good.

For today, he just indulged in the latter.

“Where did you get these from?” Cindy wondered about the furniture. Her hand slid over the lacquered wood and the many holes and extendable hooks it had. Every one of the three chairs in the room was a tiny work of art, able to be adjusted in every way a chair could be adjusted. Despite this, they didn’t look overly bulky, only unusual. Albeit, everyone who knew something about bondage had an inkling what they were designed for. “They seem… useful.”

“They are,” John nodded, “Worlina told me where to get them. There’s a goblin craftsman that specializes in making them.”

“Hmmm, that does sound useful,” the blonde catgirl said and straightened up. “Maybe we should get some ourselves? Anyway, you have a nice set here. Surprised you went with a carpet, though.”

“It’s a special fibre, Worlina introduced me to that as well,” John reported.

“That so?” Cindy clicked her tongue, looking around. “I wish the CPDI was a bigger inspiration on your set than the shelves.”

“It’s a mixture of several podcast sets I looked at,” John returned and gestured at one of the potted plants in the corner. “I decided that some pottery might be nice though.” Then he pointed at several black drawers inside the red shelf. “Also we decided to hide the sexual items.”

“‘Items’ is a weird way to say toys,” Cindy suggested.

“It’s not just toys,” John returned. “I added aphrodisiacs of varying potency to the arsenal.”

“That does sound… enticing.” Cindy sighed that last word. “Maybe we should test some of them, on this occasion?” She hooked a finger into the top rim of her top and flashed her tits. “In general, we could pass the time by having a bit of fun, don’t you think?”

Before John could respond, the door opened and his second interviewer arrived. 1,36 metres of sex-appeal entered the room, her tits bouncing more than the red, silky strands of her hair. Her chest was a tad larger than Cindy’s which made it look enormous on her tiny frame. Her ass was equally stacked, giving her an almost absurd hourglass figure.

Like Cindy, she was dressed for the artificial summer of the Guild Hall, a short-sleeved, red blouse and a black pencil skirt covering her. The stockings she wore in addition only existed to bring her sexy teacher look together. The glasses on her nose, however, were genuine, although John wasn’t sure how bad she really needed them.

“Ooohhh, I like almost everything in here,” the short, stacked green-skin announced, her blue eyes dashing about the place. They first got stuck on John and the Gamer grinned, enjoying being devoured by her eyes in the same way he appreciated the female physique. When they finally moved on, they got stuck on Cindy. “Almost everything,” she repeated.

“Tsk,” the blonde clicked her tongue and flicked her left cat ear in a disrespectful fashion.

John found the sudden switch fascinating. When they weren’t around each other, neither Cindy nor Worlina seemed to have anything against the other’s species, network, or person. Only when they were in the same room did their rivalry really flare up. It was like watching a wrestling show. Which, John knew, was the point.

Grinning, John said, “You’ll like each other soon enough, I’ll see to that.” He leaned slightly to the side to check that Worlina wore her ear piece. Like the ‘porncast’ sets of their networks, John’s own set-up had cameras at all angles embedded into the wall. That had the advantage of both letting viewers decide their own camera angle and the Gamer could ignore the technical crew one room over. His media crew, even when it came to porn, contained men and John really didn’t want anyone he could make accidental eye contact with while he was ploughing Cindy’s bubble butt. He didn’t think it was weird that males would be cameramen in such a scenario, a job was a job, but he still didn’t want them directly around. It was just a comfort thing.

The ear piece was necessary to stay in contact with the technical crew. Luckily, a microphone was not required. There were enough microphones all over the room that it was certain the sound would come out of the stream as clear as the boxes of their viewers could handle. Modern technology allowed a lot of great things, especially when it was handled by technomancers.

“Well, where were we on the aphrodisiac thing?” Cindy purred. Worlina raised one of her eyebrows with interest.

“You know that you won’t leave my Palace today, right?” John tilted his head with a puzzled expression. “Just like last time, after I’m done with you, you won’t be able to stand. There is a reason why there are guest rooms all around this one.”

“We’ll see about that,” the somewhat squeaky voice of Worlina stated with a level of pride. “It’s our second attempt and you don’t have your back-up around. We can take you, together.”

John opened his mouth to try and persuade them, but he noticed the look in their eyes. They were both serious about this. ‘They probably want to prove they can take me. Given that they’re part sex workers, they must have some level of pride in their ability to blow men’s minds,’ it occurred to the Gamer. ‘Well, It’ll be fun to see what happens either way. Either they blow my mind or I completely obliterate their minds for the next few hours.’ “As you say then, ladies. Look away.”

“”Why?”” they asked in unison, even as they did follow his command.

“I want to keep the surprise for the start of the podcast,” John explained, kneeling down to access one of the drawers. He pulled out two things and shortly hid them under his seat. The position and number of the chairs had been chosen for the three of them. Partly because he was an orderly fellow and partly because he didn’t want Worlina to hold them up by having to adjust the height of her chair. John was on one side, the two women would be next to each other opposite of him. “Hey, service, can we get three wine glasses?” he asked and looked over to the now curious ladies. “Why don’t you sit down? We should get ready to start soon.”

“We could have started ten minutes ago, were it not for someone coming in late,” Cindy declared, as she plopped down on her chair.

“I’m right on schedule, you thirsty pussy,” Worlina shot back, while climbing hers.

‘As if you want it any less,’ John had an amused thought, while the dedicated maid brought in the requested glasses. They were placed alongside the water bottles, normal glasses, and small array of food on the table. “Thank you,” he said, once everything was in position. The maid bowed her head and obediently marched away. ‘Aclysia’s academy isn’t exactly operational yet, but that maid is doing fine.’ The thought ended abruptly when Worlina bent over the table to reach for the water bottles. With the uppermost three buttons of her blouse open, her green tits pressing against the tabletop were a fantastic and, once again, braless sight. John licked his lips, feeling his appetite rise. “Should we begin?” he asked. The sooner they started, the sooner they would get to the second half of the show.

“Yes!” Worlina responded enthusiastically, once she had all she needed in her shorter arm’s reach.

“Ready when the crew is,” Cindy responded, slightly turning the tablet she had in front of her. There was a similar one sitting before Worlina. They were used to watch the livechats and comments from their networks.

As a last preparation, John landed the Mandala Sphere on a custom-made socket standing on a shelf. “Alright then, take it away,” John ordered and heard a voice in his ear respond positively. He looked at the one camera that was overtly visible as a black ring in the wall, being the one to be used for introductions, and waited for the countdown to end. Then he spoke up. “Hello there, ladies, gentlemen, multi-sexual and anything else of Fusion, to this special Sunday program. To get the warning out of the way, this podcast is not suitable for minors in any way, shape or form. With me are the reasons why that won’t be the case, the lovely ladies that I will tumble with after the interview, Cindy Caithsin from the Catgirl Perverts Do the Interviewed network and Worlina Smickl from the Shortstack Sluts Searching News network.”

“It will be a pleasure to be here,” Cindy purred.

“Definitely will be,” Worlina squeaked her enthusiastic agreement.

“I’ll make sure it is,” John joked and then continued with the introduction. “This podcast is being streamed from my Palace, but I will be taking questions as if I were the guest. The footage is being streamed to both networks and I don’t own any of it. Cindy and Worlina will take turns asking questions and both will stick around for the traditional end of it.” He looked to the catgirl. “As the one who I visited first, Cindy gets to start.”

The blonde smirked and gave Worlina a smug side glance, as if this was a sign of immense favour. “Thank you, John,” she said in a suggestive tone. “Thank you especially for letting us come to the upper floor of your Palace, since this is basically your home and all of that. I guess my first question would be about this room. I know why you have it, but the viewers have to wonder: why is there such a great podcast set-up in your Palace?”

John nodded, thankful to have an opportunity to explain. “Aside from being just a wonderful opportunity to hang around with you two, this stream is going to serve as a test for this set-up. I’ve been considering the idea of my harem and I starting our own podcast. It’s the age of the internet and there is no reason why the politicians shouldn’t have a direct line to the people.” He took a short pause. “Not that this theoretical podcast will be entirely political. It’s mostly going to be just us having fun. That’s why this room is in our home, we plan to do all the technical stuff ourselves eventually. We’ll create a similar setup in our media office soon enough. It has to be said,” he grinned widely, “that there are fewer fun things that can be done in an official podcast than there can in a private one.”

“I suppose there is some decorum that goes on around government,” Cindy laughed and looked over to Worlina, signalling that she was done with that question.

“To start with a similarly light-hearted question, before the program began, we asked you to take out some aphrodisiacs. Can we see them now?”

“Yes,” John grinned and reached under his chair. “First we have this.” He placed a bottle of wine on the table. “A bottle of Pinkberry Wine, vintage…” he looked at the etiquette, “…1987. This is supposed to increase one’s sexual drive slowly. I thought it’d let us concentrate on the serious questions early and then softly lull us into the right mood for later. Sound good?”

“Sounds fantastic,” Worlina answered and the blonde next to her nodded.

“Great, Cindy, if you would pour us all a glass,” he instructed and then bowed down to get the second aphrodisiac. Catching the way Worlina looked at Cindy in the same smug way the catgirl had earlier, while the blonde filled everyone’s glasses, he couldn’t help but chuckle.

Worlina also took the time to ask a follow-up question. “Do you have a lot of aphrodisiac alcohol, John?”

“It’s a growing collection,” John responded. “Eliza’s extreme metabolism doesn’t get along with regular alcohol, but pairing it up with certain aphrodisiacs somehow makes it easier for her to tell her body to ignore it. Also, I have several drink-happy women in my harem, so it works out for them as well. Anyway, here is the second aphrodisiac.” He placed another bottle on the table, this one was clear and filled with an oil. “This is Fae Daemonica body oil. I had some fun with this and Nathalia in the past. If you’re up for it, we can use it later.”

Both women looked at the bottle and gulped with both obvious lust and nervousness. John couldn’t blame them, it was one of the most infamous Libido increasing massage oils out there. “We’ll see how we feel then,” Worlina said and took her first sip of the wine. A pleased expression bloomed on her face. “This is delicious!”

“Glad you like it.” John smiled, as he and Cindy drank as well. The wine was sweet in his mouth and a bit smoky in the aftertaste, as if someone was burning incense nearby. He looked to Cindy for the next question.

“The simple pleasantries out of the way,” the catgirl said in a more serious tone of voice, “we should start talking about the topics of the past four weeks. There is certainly a lot that has happened. I’d like to go chronologically, if that’s okay with you?” She looked to Worlina for that question, who nodded. “Alright. On Monday the 22nd of October, you led a small force into the then East Gestalt territory due to a distress call from them. If you don’t mind, would you walk us through why you did that, how you went about it, what you found and what you did about it? Most people are already aware, but your perspective, especially in hindsight, is going to be interesting for all of us.”

“For the why, the answer is simply because I was asked,” John started his explanation. “I, Collide, and Fusion are dedicated to the principle of helping those we can. Of course that doesn’t mean that we just blindly stretch out our hand. There had to be cautious advance, which is partly the answer to your how.” He considered complaining about the initial block by parliament on his request for troops, but decided against it. There was nothing to be gained by that political strategy, at this time. “As you say, I led a small force of myself and a couple of my haremettes into enemy territory. At first, we found somewhat unnerving corruption and then we found seriously unnerving corruption. Namely, we found Lorylim involvement.”

“You found primarily dead Lorylim, correct?” Cindy interjected. “Returning soldiers interviewed by other networks reported that much.”

“Correct,” John nodded.

“What killed them? Does that have anything to do with the sand phantoms that were also talked about?”

“The details of that are, currently, unknown,” John responded with a half lie. He had a very good hunch on what had happened, but he hadn’t witnessed it himself so he didn’t factually know what was going on. He was still keeping details about the Sands of Time under wraps. “The sand phantom is a mystery we cannot completely explain yet either. We do know it came about as part of the usage of that sand in the Gestalt’s alchemical mind-melding.”

“I see. Please continue,” Cindy said.

“Following our scouting, we started a massive sweep of the area, saving who we could and cleansing what we couldn’t. On one occasion, I interacted with one of the, if not the, major consciousness of the Lorylim hivemind called Izha. I learned a couple of things about the Lorylim during that dialogue.”

“Things you can believe?” Worlina chimed in.

“In this specific case, yes.” John’s answer came swift. “I know that sounds absurd, especially given the corruption of myself that we will doubtlessly talk about in a minute, but I have more than enough reason to believe that it, or he, told me the truth about things there.” He took a sip of his wine before continuing. “That put aside, the pacification of the East and West Gestalt territory went off without any large surprises. The problem was what to do with the survivors. Their lifestyle enabled a complete takeover of the Lorylim through corruption of only a few key individuals and they refused to change it. As such, I had to take some sort of drastic action. Luckily, my system came to my aid and I got to create a Kingdom for them. This came at a personal cost to me that I’m not looking to ever pay again. Not that I’m even sure I can.”

“Do you not have control over that?”

“My ability is extremely potent, but there’s certain reliability issues when it comes to aspects of it,” John explained. “To not lose ourselves in the details, there are powers I unlock that I can use as I see fit and there are the mechanics to unlock these things. The latter usually react to what I wish for, but it’s not guaranteed. This time, they gave me a power that I could use once, I used it to create a new Kingdom for the Gestalt survivors and now I would rely on the system to unlock that power for me again.”

“I understand,” Cindy nodded, ceding the floor to Worlina again.

“The next big event would be your press release about Scarlett Thorne and your personal corruption. Both are important, but I think the latter has more gravity to it. Could you walk us through how you got corrupted and what you did against it?”

“It’s a long story as for why that even happened, but I got corrupted because Salamander decided she had to deliberately corrupt herself in order to prove something and, in the process, she managed to reject corruption, but part of the Lorylim manifested in me instead,” John summarised it as best as he could. “We cleansed the overt corruption but, as I learned pretty recently, some of what stuck around still had some minor psychic effects. Now, again, my own powers gave me a unique path to confront that.”

“Any chances a solution to such a problem will become available to the wider public?” Worlina asked.

“We have people working on it, but it’s more historic research than scientific experimentation,” John told her. “We aren’t going to get people deliberately infected to see what works. It’s inhumane and remarkably dangerous. If we caught some people already fully infected, we might be able to do some research, but it is unlikely.”

“I see… Cindy, you can continue.”

“Alright then, just this past week…”

“One second,” John interrupted. “Don’t you want to know about the Scarlett story?”

“I think you adequately laid everything out there in past interviews,” Cindy let him know. “Unless there is something you want to add at this juncture. To both flatter and insult you, John, you are known as a schemer. Past the surprise of who was involved, there having been some nebulous ongoings even in your early conquests are just to be expected.”

“It’s like being surprised by a goblin who knows how to sharpen a knife,” Worlina added.

“Fair enough then,” John gestured for them to continue.

“Alright, for the final of the serious topics, this Friday the small guilds to the west joined Fusion by consolidating into a new federal guild. How exactly did that happen?”

“To be honest, I was fairly uninvolved with that one,” John told them. “Of course, Fusion has been trying to have diplomatic interactions with our neighbours wherever possible, but them approaching us came pretty much out of the blue. I’m happy that the Federation expanded in a peaceful manner though.”

“Is there any risk that they are a covert operation by the Lorylim?” Cindy asked.

“Not as far as we could determine. Which means, if they are, and we weren’t able to detect it, then the Lorylim could infiltrate every rung of society anyway, at which point we are so absolutely fucked that we don’t even have to worry about it. Because it would be utterly useless.”

“Alright, that’s the basic news recap of the past month done… it was a pretty turbulent month, wasn’t it?”

“Not the most turbulent one of my life, but it’s up there,” John confirmed.

“Anything you would like to announce for the near future? Aside from the upcoming podcast?”

“Yes.” the Gamer looked straight at the marked camera. “I hope that someone from New Libraria might hear this: please respond to our communication attempts, or I’ll come to you in person. I’ll come with peaceful intent, but I have to know what you are up to. With the Lorylim slithering around, I cannot take the risk of a silent neighbour. My announcement to my people is to expect some kind of development there.”

“What about the Death Zone?” Worlina followed that up.

“We’re looking into that as well, but that’s a bit harder, as you may imagine.”

“I can imagine a lot of hard things…” the goblin mumbled and sipped on her now half-empty glass of wine. Her face was a darker shade of green as before. The aphrodisiac alcohol was slowly getting on. “Is it your turn or mine, Cindy?”

“You go ahead,” the cat girl allowed.

“Right. I’ve actually been sent here with a question by the Gobbo Nation's government,” Worlina revealed. “How is the Token coming along and how would a guild go about opting into it early?”

“The Token is ready to roll out by next week,” John responded. “Well, I’m still not entirely happy with the minting design, but the metal in every single coin will be consistent, so we can start spreading them next week. As for the how, you can opt in early, you can simply pass a law that allows it as payment in your country or appeal to people to use them on the Abyss Auction, since that’s the primary way for the Token to spread outside of Fusion’s borders.”

Cindy picked up her tablet. “A fan question,” she said, suggestively licking her lips. “By Omnius, which are your favourite kinds of monster girls?”

‘Always wondering how that is not an offensive term for them,’ John thought, but answered swiftly. “I would get in trouble with some of my girls if I didn’t answer elementals first,” he joked. “Along dragons, golems and small submissives with a potty mouth. With the obvious ones out of the way, I’m quite partial to catgirls and goblins.” The interviewers chuckled. “To talk about monster girls I haven’t slept with yet… I suppose I have an interest in harpies, succubi and…” the sinfully delighting curves of a golden entity he had seen a few times flashed before his mental eye, “…angels.”

“I’m not aware of any angels being around,” Cindy stated.

“Oh, I’ve seen one,” John said with a grin. “Let’s leave it at that, don’t want to upset her.”

“A question for me,” Worlina downed the rest of the wine glass. “How much do you cum in a single load? Did you ever test that?”

“100 millilitres, my powers let me cap it there, although I’m theoretically capable of a bit more.”

“You could seriously fill up my stomach, huh?”

“Slightly more serious question,” Cindy interjected, getting down to the last quarter of her own glass. “New parliament members are due to join both houses of government starting next week. Do you expect any great developments because of that?”

“Not really. The majority of new members will come from Florida and, weird as much of their leadership is, the people living there are mostly normal and in line with Fusion’s values.”

Cindy bit her lower lip, her eyes glued to the bit of muscular chest he showed by leaving his upper two buttons undone. “Are you… considering any term limits? Wendy was elected as governor of Florida, and critics are worried she might just get re-elected endlessly.”

“Maybe there should be a limit on consecutive terms, but if I were to impose such a limitation, it would only be in Collide. Other states and the Federation are out of my hands.”

“You say that but someone of your might…” Worlina’s voice gave in for a moment and she reached for the water. When her breasts brushed against the edge of the table, she gasped audibly. Next to her, Cindy squirmed and emptied her glass of wine. John echoed the motion, waiting for the goblin to get herself under control.

He could feel the effect of the wine himself. The windows that popped up were easily ignored, but the growing fire in his loins wasn’t. He had been almost fully erect for two minutes now and his cock was aching for the touch of a woman. Not even the accidental rubbing of it against the inside of his pants brought him anything remotely like pleasure. Source of Satisfaction saw that as a form, however minor, of self-pleasuring and he was barred from that.

“Someone of your might,” the goblin started again, “doubtlessly has ways to get what he wants into the legislature.”

“I can apply pressure, in public or in private,” John admitted to the obvious, “but I shouldn’t and will not, unless I see it as absolutely necessary. I will not undermine the system I penned myself just because it is convenient for me.”

“Admirable,” Cindy gasped and distributed the rest of the wine between their three empty glasses. Worlina emptied hers immediately and stared at him with glassy eyes. It was clear the interview part had already ended in her mind. The blonde next to her remained a bit more invested. “A final lightning round of questions, if I may?” she suggested.

“Hit me,” John responded and sipped on his half-full wine glass.

“Is there any potential conflict of interest because of your ties with Scarlett and Lydia?”

“Potential? Yes. Factual? I will do my best to avoid it. If Scarlett doesn’t do the best job she can, she won’t get the best jobs. Her knowing that is part of why I love her. She doesn’t slack off just because she could. As for Lydia, that’s a bit more complicated and part of why we rarely make contracts with each other directly. It has to be said, though, that she, as a monarch, doesn’t have to worry about conflict of interest as much as I do. That form of corruption isn’t seen as ‘valid’ to the same degree there.”

“Where do you see Fusion in ten years?”

“Among the greatest powers in the world.”

“Isn’t that overly ambitious?”

“Not really. In history, powers often rise to prominence in a very sudden way, especially if they have a lot of land around them to expand into. The Mongols would be an example, Alexander the Great another, Denmark to a lesser degree, with the Kalmar Union. The Timurids and Mughals, maybe. Anyway, powers rise quicker than they fall.”

“What do you say to your male fans?”

“Eat healthy, think for yourself, know how to protect what is dear to you and only hitch yourself to a woman you are certain will be a good mother.”

“Are you saying childless relationships are invalid?”

“No… maybe?” John hesitated for a second. “The biological pejorative of humans is pretty clear and the lasting union of a man and a woman follows from it. In that sense, I guess I’m saying relationships to have children are more valid than others. I would never tell anyone that they shouldn’t get married at all, even if they do not want to or cannot have children. It’s a difficult topic. Fundamentally, every individual should be free to make their own choices, however, so don’t take my advice as anything more than it is.”

“What would you like to say to detractors?”

“Depends on the detractor. If you have genuine criticisms of me, please continue. I’m not perfect and keeping me in check is good for all of us. If you hate me with your gut and you would do everything to get rid of me, no matter how awful you have to get: stop. Get some help. Start with taking a walk and try to see things from the other perspective.”

“What is your favourite part of a woman?”

“As is well documented, I’m an ass-man. After that it would be thighs.”

“So boobs are third?”

“Third or fourth, not sure if they come before or after midriffs.”

“Do you think I could raise your appreciation for tits a bit?” Cindy squished her breasts together with her upper arms, as she leaned forwards.

John put the empty glass in his inventory. “I think I appreciate breasts quite a lot already,” he told her with a smile, “but I wouldn’t mind the attempt.” In response to that, Cindy and Worlina exchanged a glance.

“Dear viewer,” Worlina said, but stared at John while she did so, “we’ll end the interview section here. We’ll continue after a short break.” A voice in their ear confirmed they were off-air for the moment. “Fuck I NEED your co-“

“Shut up and sit still during the break – both of you,” John commanded and reached out to the table, picking up the bottle of Fae Daemonica oil. The women blushed intensely, as they were hit by a wave of obedient pleasure. While they sat there, John opened the Guild Hall menu and tabbed around until he found their current room. The Palace was a Building, a special one at that, and, as such, he could manipulate quite a few things. With the simple tap of a button, the table disappeared.