Chapter 532: A Little Bit of Everything All of the Time
"Soooo…" said Kat somewhat awkwardly drawing out the word "You explained what I don't have to do… but what can I do? I mean… you said anything but… that's… that's a bit broad so… could I get some examples?"
Lillian gave Kat a polite smile at the question and said, "It really is that simple here at Lust. The biggest thing we do is simply being able to work with most of the other factions. We really do have everything on offer, even if they aren't always the absolute best.
"For example, we have our own chefs here. They work with people from Gluttony regularly and it's a fair exchange. We mostly specialise in quicker food, the type of things you'll grab while walking, or perhaps desserts. We still don't come close to the true expertise top Gluttony chefs have but we pull our weight.
"We also have an Enforcer division. Split between combatants and watchers. Watchers are the guards that you'll see around. They are combat trained but its more defensive in nature. Their job is to watch out for trouble and then call in a combatant if necessary. It's no Wrath, certainly, but we're more relaxed about a lot of things. Wrath is… it's a lot of pressure for some people.
"I know why they do it like that though. Wrath still has this… strange air of shared hardship. It's really hard to explain if you don't have it but even with our ability to make anyone comfortable here, we cannot replicate the feeling of standing beside someone you've fought for your life with.
"That's the thing. Fundamentally, we deal with entertainment, but are more than willing to branch out and work with others to keep ourselves somewhat self contained with collaboration. It's a strange philosophy but it works well for us. Greed even owns some of the stores in our compound, but we staff most of them. Things like that.
"Though… perhaps I'm also getting off topic. While these are selling points I'm sure I have a new question for you Kat. Do you know why demons are told to pick a faction at Rank 3? Why so many people chose to stop going out on Contracts?" towards the end, all three of Lillian's voices became more serious, even the youngest sounding one.
"No? I mean… I just assumed it was a thing that happened, perhaps tradition?" answered Kat vaguely.
Lillian shook her head. "No it isn't much like that at all. There are a few reasons. The biggest is actually that some of your Rank 3 Contracts won't really be worth what you'll get paid for them. Same for anything higher as well most of the time. Now, Rank 3 isn't too bad. Some of them will be worth it but see, the problem is…
"A lot of worlds don't have anyone at the power level of a Rank 3 demon so they struggle to understand they exist. Now, even saying that, a good chunk of worlds can get close. They can also use technology or magitech if it's available to help bridge these gaps so it isn't so bad. Rank 4 is where it starts to be a real issue.
"Rank 4 is overkill in some many places. Worlds with Qi can most commonly deal with it, but some Mana based worlds never develop ways to strengthen themselves to a point where they could pose a risk to a Rank 4 demon. Let's not even get started on Rank 5's, or a Rank 6 like myself.
"Because of this, the more powerful you get the more likely you are to just get Contracts you can complete in a day and make hardly any currency from it. Then the factions come in. They allow you to work to substitute that. Now some people prefer working exclusively for their faction, but that's actually quite rare.
"The most common thing is that they'll chose a much narrower set of Contracts they'll be willing to take, or perhaps a price floor and just work whenever they don't get called in. Obviously, people in management roles like myself, well I cheat with clones, but normally like myself, won't be able to leave so easily, but for receptionists they are quite interchangeable if one gets called away.
"On the completely opposite side, sometimes people just want something steady. A nice nine to five job or whatever hours they choose. Even if it's not really what they want to do, a lot of demons still think its better then waiting for Contracts." Lillian breathes out a long sigh and Kat is surprised that it actually sounds normal. "On the other hand, some people really just want adventure or bask in the more interesting tasks they get assigned. It's pretty easy to live on a Contract wage as long as you're not going overboard. Besides, you can take extra Contracts if you really want. Anyway, I'm getting distracted.
"What really sits at the heart of things, is that you can do anything here that you want. You might need to make some concessions, but that might be worth it to you." Finished Lillian. As she did a screen brightened nearby and she glanced at it for a fraction of a second before flinging it down to her clone.
*Well… that's all a bit to take in. But it makes sense really. Still that's a bit too much choice.* "What sort of concessions?" asked Kat
Lillian grinned showing off a full mouth of teeth that were currently transformed to look like sharks teeth, interlocking and razer sharp. "Well, that really depends on the area you want to go in. Let's start with the obvious. Our… carnal pleasure areas. In general, the pay is actually quite poor.
"Demons who sign up for it get an apartment to themselves and free food from the shops around here up to a certain limit, but they get paid almost nothing. That might seem harsh but it's a very common ambition Succubi strive for. So it's a balance on our part as well. They don't get much money but they get a very nice place to live and all the food they could need. Nothing super extravagant, but it keeps the applicants down to those who really LOVE the job" when Lillian said the word 'love' Kat nearly jumped as her voices jumped up to five but they were gone before Kat could distinguish them properly.
"On the other hand, our security task force, they don't get nearly as much combat as they would in Wrath. Things tend to be pretty chill because we focus on relaxation and fun. The main thing they deal with in the end, are intoxicated customers a lot of the time. Ohn the other hand, they get free access to top of the line gym facilities, decent pay, and if they so choose, they can apply for a discount on all goods and services in the Lust facilities if they agree to act as a semi on duty officer when they are there.
"Another example is the receptionists. Their compromise is that they can take on more work for more pay. Just sitting at the front desk gets you barely anything, but if you take on additional paperwork that needs filing or make sure you're the one answering requests you can make more and more money. I know we had one guy actually, it was a while back, and they worked almost 24/7 as a receptionist for about six months. They manage to get one of the highest salaries in the entire building for those six months but it was a lot of work. We had to get them to cut back actually, as it was causing medical issues even though they had an ability preventing the need for sleep"
*Huh… I guess… that is a balance between things.* "So… assuming I was interested, but mostly still planning to continue with Contract work for now… what would happen? And what benefits do I get just from agreeing?" asked Kat
"We'll get to the benefits in a moment. As for what you have to do on your end, well, it's illegal for me to force you to sign anything at the moment. Pressuring people into Factions is highly illegal." Kat tilted her head a bit and Lillian held up a hand to stop Kat from asking anything, "No, what I'm doing does not count as pressuring. The laws are very clear on that. The essential points that allow me to do this boil down to a few things…
"The first is that I'm not keeping you here. You can, at any point, walk right out the door behind you and leave. I'm being polite of course, and hopefully this has been an enjoyable conversation, but theoretically, if for some reason it got heated or you started to wish to leave, you could simply get up. Neither myself nor my staff would be able to stop you.
"The next thing is that I'm not forcing you to sign anything to say you'll join us. I will ask, if you are willing, for a specific verbal affirmation, but nothing will be signed and nothing permanently binding will happen until your Rank 3. Even then, as this is the Lust faction, we don't even mind people swapping to other factions as much. I would have an issue if you went to Envy or Pride, but that would be more of a personal issue then a legal one from our charter's standpoint. The final thing is that I'm not making any threats at all. Nothing bad will happen if you say no"
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