I frowned at the overseer in confusion. "Choice?" I asked then realized what she meant. She was going to leave Selia's punishment up to me. Was that wise? She had said Selia had a good reason for what she did, so was leaving the choice up to me, the one affected by her actions, a good idea?
I glanced around to see everyone else's reactions, but stopped on Vanessa. She too had betrayed me, but had a good reason. I let that pass because of the reason, and maybe because she was pretty. Selia wasn't pretty. Maybe later she would be attractive but right at this moment she wasn't. I hated the idea that I didn't immediately want to discover the reason she acted that way just based on appearances. I reassured myself that I had spent more time with Vanessa than I had Selia, but even I was doubting myself.
I closed my eyes then sighed loudly before grabbing an empty spot to sit. "Can you explain the situation to me?" I asked.
The overseer nodded. "Interesting." she said. "I can understand your ability to forgive Vanessa because you had already figured a lot of her issues out beforehand, she is pretty, and you were lonely. None of that applies now."
I shrugged. "True," I said without denying anything. "However I am a bit curious to know what you consider to be a good reason."
The overseer nodded again. "Very well then. I will explain the options before her reasons." she told me.
I frowned, knowing what her punishment could be, would definitely influence my thoughts as I listened to the reasons. "I.." I started but she stopped me.
"No really, I insist. I am placing the decision on you whether you like it or not. Call me petty, or bitchy if you want. I don't actually care. I want to see what you will choose, and I will not allow you to say that you had no idea the punishment would be so harsh." she told me.
I nodded. If that was what she insisted on, then that was what we would do. It wasn't like I had the ability to refuse.
"Good, now she can have one of three options, as she is a participant in this mess, I wanted to have her executed." she told me, before I could object she continued on, "Fortunately for her she was unaware of this plan so I will take that off the table. Her information has already led me to confirm her family's involvement in this mess, therefore firstly she can be completely banned from all dungeons that I have any influence over, and returned to her family, the same punishment the others in her family.
Secondly she can be allowed to stay here as your slave. Thirdly she can be exiled to a prison world." the overseer informed me.
I frowned remembering the fact that Selia had said I didn't understand the gravity of being banned from the dungeons. I also didn't know what being a slave entailed in worlds that had magic, or what a prison world was.
"You seem confused." the overseer said, "I guess that is to be expected. I will give the others a chance to explain what the punishments entail."
I nodded then looked to Zephirah, but it was Candice who explained. "Being banned from all dungeons is a harsh sentence for her family. They will decline under that as gaining strength and resources outside of the dungeons and this dungeon world is difficult and much more dangerous. Slavery entails having powerful spells placed in her mind so that she cannot disobey your orders or have any thoughts against you. Any form of deception is also difficult as the spell will act against them if they try and hide things from their master." Candice explained.
"I only use the best, so those shackles will be worse than those Vanessa had to deal with from Seth, or those she has now." the overseer said.
I glanced over to Vanessa but she just smiled at me.
Candice also looked to Vanessa but didn't question her. "The prison world is a dangerous world that has been deliberately cut off from the other worlds in all ways except for a single one way path. It is barely a step down from execution as no one is able to monitor or police the actions of those sent there." Candice finished her explanation.
"Very good, though you aren't completely correct, there is one path of escape from the prison worlds, those who gain enough strength are able to ascend from that world. Admittedly it has never happened." the overseer explained.
"My mistake." Candice said in a tone that made it clear she didn't think so.
"Ascend?" I asked.
"An ability greater than teleportation. We can discuss it later." Vanessa told me.
I nodded then focused back on the overseer.
"Ready? Great. So her reasons for her betrayal. Firstly she was sent here to watch over you and pass on information that would be helpful to them, like your living water experiment. Good job on that by the way. Kind of fell into your lap, but few would be willing to risk those resources." the overseer told us.
"Off topic." I told her.
"Not really. The living water heart is a large part of why the plan changed. Someone somewhere got greedy. For her family, it didn't matter all that much. They still had every intention of stealing the core back from you." the overseer told us then looked over at Elisia, "You might want to inform your father that other clans do not follow the same laws as his own, especially not when it comes to the clan heir. I don't currently think that he was a part of this, but his words bore some weight on the decision to even accept Selia here."
Elisia nodded, "I will do as you say Overseer." she replied politely.
"Good." the overseer said then looked back at me. "Did you want me to explain their clan rules?" she asked.
I shook my head. It was too late now, while I was suspicious earlier it didn't help now. Just more trouble Zephirah had gotten me into by agreeing so quickly.
Zephirah caught my thoughts, I could feel her regret and sorrow through our bond. Thinking about that reminded me of the agreement I had made with Selia's father. Besides taking on Selia which was supposed to restrict Seth, which obviously didn't work. There was no other agreement to prevent him from harming us. I frowned then looked to the overseer who was watching me closely. There were other things we agreed on though. As there were frost crystals in the pouch I couldn't be sure of that, but I hadn't seen any soul stone, or advancement coins. 'Zephirah did we actually get everything we were promised from Selia's father?' I asked mentally.
'Huh? Yeah, I gathered the soul stone, advancement coins, and serpent gem when I took the currency." she told me mentally. 'Too valuable to leave lying around.'
I breathed out a sigh of relief, I had assumed that we received everything we expected, but with our concern for those in the orbs I hadn't verified everything. 'Next time tell me.' I told her mentally then looked back to the overseer.
"So what else?" I asked.
"Shouldn't we hear the clan rules?" Candice asked.
"Does it matter?" I asked. "Their father is the clan head, doesn't he make and change the rules?"
"No." Elisia said. "The serpent clan is an old clan, and while he is the clan head, he still has to answer to the clan elders."
I looked over at the wolf wondering if this was going to be another case of differences between their clans.
"Selia told me about it." Elisia added seeing my doubt.
"Alright then, what are the clan rules for the serpent clan?" I asked.
"Only two rules, bring no harm to the clan, and do not cause any trouble for the clan." The overseer replied.
"Huh?" I asked confused.
"The serpent clan allows their family to grow in whatever way they see fit as long as it will not harmfully affect the clan." she informed us.
"Oh, dad really messed up there." Elisia commented.
"He did." the overseer agreed.
"Alright I get it. So the rest of the story?" I asked.
"Hmm? Oh, right. Selia was threatened with the life of her mother and younger sisters." the overseer replied.
"How, isn't she also Seth's mother?" I asked surprised.
"She is, but that doesn't matter to them. Besides the heir, the other children mean little to the clan head, and she is one wife among many. She might even be considered a nuisance now that he has his heir as she keeps giving birth to new offspring." the overseer told me.
That didn't make any sense.
"Stop viewing them like they were humans." Rena spoke up. "A heir is only important for the continuity of the clan, and is required by the elders, if it wasn't I doubt he would even care about Seth."
I frowned, "Then whose plan was all of this?" I asked completely confused.
"Now that is the real question, isn't it." the overseer commented happily.
I glared at her. "Don't you have some traitors to find?" I asked.
"So angry, and they are hardly traitors, just taking too many liberties with the power granted to them." she told me.
"How do you figure?" I asked.
"They weren't planning to make a move against me." she replied.
It finally hit me then. This competition wasn't fair. Stealing from us wasn't a crime, as long as you weren't caught. Outside influence was alright as long as they didn't get caught. If she hadn't been watching and could verify that only a mediator could have stolen the living water heart, she wouldn't have cared. As they were supposed to be the guards it was an abuse of their authority, and more importantly it had happened right under her nose.
I had somehow let myself be lulled into a sense that she cared after her conversation with my mother, but that was a mistake. She didn't care, she was just trying to be entertained.
"I see." I replied. I wanted to rage, but I held it in, it wasn't her fault I misinterpreted the scenario. As far as I knew, and what others implied she held complete control over this area. Offending her wouldn't help us in the least.
"So what should her punishment be?" the overseer asked me.
"Jason..." Candice started to say but the overseer held up her hand.
"Nope, you have already had your chance to sway him." she told Candice.
Candice frowned but didn't say anything though she gave me a look like she is trying to convey something. I just couldn't figure out what it was. Then she looked over at Vanessa who was watching me worriedly.
Looking at the other women I could see that my decision would have a dramatic effect on their opinion of me. After hearing her reason, and knowing that the girls seemed to bond while fighting together, I had a feeling I knew what they wanted me to do.
Yet there was something that didn't make sense to me, a nagging feeling that I was missing something. I could understand that sending her back to her clan might be the worst of the options as she could be accused of breaking clan law. Yet there still seemed to be something else.
Finally I realized it, if Seth and his father didn't care about Selia's mother and children, why did Selia? In fact her own words made her seem like an outcast in her family.
"Why is Selia concerned for her mother and little sisters?" I asked.
The overseer laughed. "Good!" she exclaimed. "I was wondering how long it was going to take you to stop taking everything you hear as the truth." She told me.
"Even from you?" I asked.
"Is there any reason you would think I wouldn't lie to you?" the overseer asked in reply.
No, there was no reason at all.
My expression must have been enough answer her. "It might be best to follow that saying from your world, trust but verify." she told me.
I nodded, though I did wonder how I was going to verify whatever it is she was going to tell me from here on out. Then again, how often would I actually interact with her, this much already seemed like an anomaly.
"Good, now since you made more progress than I expected, I will make the correct decision for you. Oh, and she doesn't care about them, it was her own life that was threatened, seems Seth learned his tactics from his father." the overseer told us then disappeared. A second later Selia appeared where the overseer had been.