Kalter fell silent, but for whatever it was worth, she did remain a participant in the discussion. Rittan seemed more comfortable with the outcome as well, but it was clear that he wasn’t quite as willing to let things end on that note.

“I am sorry for the things I said to you, Kalter,” Rittan said, clearing his throat. “I lost myself to anger, and I sought out things that I knew would hurt you. I should have attempted to resolve our disagreement in a more appropriate manner.”

Kalter turned her head to look up at him and then folded her arms across her leafy vest, a clear look of struggle on her face.

“An apology that she most humble accepts,” Haiko interjected, deliberately bumping into Kalter’s arm to jolt her into action. “Isn’t that right, Pet?”

Kalter closed her eyes in visible annoyance at the name, but the nudge seemed to make up the difference.

“We were both angry—so it’s whatever,” Kalter said, clearly uncomfortable. “We’re moving on now.”

“Thank you,” Rittan said, ducking his head.

August sent a silent thanks out to Eric for being such an unfortunate role model.

“So everybody is friends again, and we’ve got a tentative agreement to work together on an actual plan for the future,” August said, crystalising everything. “I’d normally suggest that we wait a while to discuss this, but considering the summon timer, it’s probably better to do this now.”

Haiko shifted in place to draw attention to herself.

“Trying to discover a simultaneous solution for every problem we are facing isn’t a small task,” Haiko added, drawing their attention. “It is probably best if we hyperfocus on a specific facet—I suggest the rate at which we should summon more of our people going forward.”

Rittan glanced down at him for a moment, and August wondered if he was thinking about their previous discussion.

“The rate?” Rittan murmured, turning back to Haiko. “If the twenty-four-hour timer isn’t… appropriate, then how would we decide what is best?”

“I’m surprised you’re willing to slow down at all,” Kalter said and received another nudge from Haiko. “What, I’m not allowed to talk now?”

Haiko just smiled at her. August turned his own mind towards the problem—in order to artificially restrict the number of Voithos being summoned, they would need some other metric to tie the decision to. His first thought was the number of houses or huts they built, but the speed at which they could do that would do nothing to slow it down.

“I am not willing to stop completely,” Rittan said, addressing the comment. “But I am willing to trade some speed for the sake of unity.”

August opened the [Menu] and paged through to the [Faction].

Population – 1/1

Assigned – 0

Unassigned – 1

Settlements

Lakeside Hovel

“I have access to a population tracker,” August said, speaking up. “But it’s tied to how many people have joined my group. It’s currently capped, but I do have enough points saved up to increase that by three points.”

August tabbed through to the Menu just to make sure.

Skill Points: 3

490/1000 EXP

Three points saved up, and halfway to a fourth point.

“You’re suggesting we link the summoning rate with your population limit?” Rittan said, pressing a knuckle against his chin. “That would mean it’s entirely dependant on how quickly you can obtain the points needed to increase it.”

August paged over to the [Leadership] menu to double-check the numbers.

0/10 – Ruler I

Others are more willing to follow you. +1 Population limit.

0/1 – It’s like this

You can pass on an understanding of a blueprint to a member of your Faction on touch.

0/1 – Morale

Members of your Faction have an easier time maintaining high spirits in the darkest of times.

2/5 – Replenishment

Members of your Faction will experience an increase in their natural health regeneration and restfulness after sleeping. +20% per point. Lasts 2 hours.

Ten more points were possible, including the one he already had by default, for a maximum of eleven. It also said [Ruler I], which meant there was probably a higher level available at some point.

“It says it will increase ten times for a maximum of eleven members,” August said, reading through it, “After that, I’m not sure how it works, but if we run into a hard block, we could always reevaluate how to do it.”

“What is the purpose of those eleven slots?” Haiko asked.

“It’s the limit of how many people I can give roles and skills to,” August said, “I sent a request to Kalter the other day, but it gave me a failure message because I hadn’t put any points into it yet.”

“I see,” Haiko hummed, “And what if those who are summoned do not wish to join?”

Kalter, obviously, and whoever else refused to consider the idea.

“Then it immediately falls apart, and we need to figure something else out,” August said easily, “I’m not that invested in the idea—if you’ve got an idea for a better metric to tie it to, I’m here for it.”

“One per week,” Kalter suggested, “That gives us a much larger portion of time to establish ourselves.”

“That reduces the amount of those we can save from Limbo by a factor of seven,” Rittan said, watching them. “I think that I would prefer the option August suggested—how many would that be per week?”

“I don’t know,” August admitted, “It’s getting slightly slower with each level, and it really depends on what I make—at a guess, two days for a level right now?”

“So we would summon once every two days,” Haiko said thoughtfully. “With a slight decline to that rate over time.”

“Once every three days, and we don’t tie it to his levels,” Kalter countered like she was bidding at an auction. “Or force anyone to join his group.”

“I haven’t forced anybody to join in the first place,” August said, rolling his eyes. “But I will offer it to everyone we summon; that’s not changing.”

“Rittan?” Kalter prompted, ignoring him entirely. “Do you agree?”

Haiko leaned forward between the two of them, drawing their attention to her again.

“I believe we agreed to vote as a group on the issue,” Haiko reminded them gently before straightening up once more. “On the issue of summoning, who is in agreement for one summon every three days?”

August lifted his hand in agreement with the idea, content with a few extra days between each summon. Kalter lifted her hand a moment later, brow furrowed slightly as she looked across at him. Rittan closed his eyes, hand pressed against his mouth as he wrestled with the idea. Eventually, he came to a decision and raised his hand in agreement. The three of them turned to Haiko, who smiled again before raising her hand—August wondered what she would have done had Rittan decided against it.

“Then it’s settled,” Haiko said, clapping her hands. “I suppose that leads us straight into the next vote; when do we start?”

“Three days from now,” Kalter said immediately.

“Today,” Rittan said a moment later.

Haiko started laughing at the quick responses, and Kalter crossed her arms defensively at the noise.

“Tomorrow at midday,” August said, bridging the gap. “Haiko?”

“Have I become the resident vote maker?” Haiko said, still giggling. “Very well—all in favour of starting our new schedule tomorrow at midday?”

The four of them lifted their hands in unison—and that was the end of it.