Kaldalis woke up with the sun, and promptly rolled over and went back to sleep for an extra hour. He’d managed to dodge the fatigue debuff - he suspected due to his nap the previous day - and didn’t want to push his luck. A full eight hours would keep him safe from the dreaded debuff, in case the nap had only delayed it instead of staving it off entirely.

It was still early morning when he got up, and it didn’t take long to find his friends at breakfast in the mess hall tent. The cooks even had a fishing daily quest for him - they were really happy with the shoenosed salmon he’d caught, and were requesting more - as he picked up his own breakfast.

“Had to sleep in, huh?” Myrin teased as he sat down on her left side, opposite Balrim.

“It was a near thing,” Kaldalis said as he dug into his breakfast. “But I bravely rolled over and pulled the blankets over my head at the last second. The stuff of legends.”

“Songs will be sung of this conflict,” Balrim said with a flash of a grin. “But let’s hope the final verse includes a night without you waking us up in the middle of it.”

Kaldalis nodded with a mirrored grin. “Though, you know, I wish I had a wiki. I just wish I knew how the fatigue debuff actually worked so that I could make better decisions about my sleep schedule.”

“How do you think those wikis get populated?” Balrim asked with a laugh. “You think people are datamining this world? A system this sophisticated, if Monsoon doesn’t say it, nobody knows it. The only way to learn is by trial and error.”

“Yeah, and we’re the first wave,” Myrin added. “If anybody is going to learn it, it’s us.”

“Alright, fine,” Kaldalis grumbled. “I get your point. I can’t really volunteer for that testing without hosing us, though. Reducing my stats could get me killed even just on our usual quest rotation. After using ire potions against the jormungumo, it’s pretty clear that a little change in base stats goes a very long way.”

“Maybe if you had a bunch of free time,” Balrim said, “like, for example, all the quests in town drying up.” He gestured towards his upper right, where his minimap was.

Kaldalis’ showed that there wasn’t anything else available in the encampment. He felt a hollow ache in his belly at that.

“Or if you had a job that kept you in town all day?” Myrin suggested with a sly smile.

“You’re not wrong. If I can get elected expedition leader, I’ll have all the time in the world, and none of it for questing.”

“Are you really serious about that?” Balrim asked with a curious tilt of his head. “You don’t seem the type to go into politics.”

Kaldalis smirked, having had the same thought last night. Multiple times. “It’s really the best way to achieve my goals. I need this place to become a town, and nobody else has control over that besides the expedition leader. It also helps me build my stream - people who care about the lore and the organization structure will want to see what I’m doing. I’ll have access to systems and controls that no other player would.”

“And it also frees up your time to perform complex sleep schedule experiments.”

“I don’t think I’d actually do that,” Kaldalis said with a laugh. “But it certainly opens up options to me. When I got my payout, there were a lot of questions about stuff that’s no doubt cited on a fanmade wiki somewhere. Being the expedition leader would give me much broader access for those people to reach through me for information.”

“When you put it that way,” Balrim said, “it does sound a little enticing.”

“And that’s not even the start of it,” Kaldalis continued. “Would it give me the ability to generate quests? Could I give quests to new people with disproportionately large EXP rewards to help them level? Or otherwise game the system to help people?” He shrugged in an exaggerated way. “No one knows. But I could find out.”

“Hm. Yeah, alright,” Balrim said. “I’m convinced this is a good idea. And you’re our best candidate out of the three of us.”

Kaldalis smiled, and didn’t rise to the obvious bait. “So, now I just have to figure out how to pull it off.”

“Well, Ikzoz did half your work for you this morning,” Myrin said. “You slept through it, but he had an announcement. He told everyone roughly what happened to Onirioago, and explained that there would be a vote for her replacement. So you don’t have to explain that part to people during your campaign.”

“Ugh. Right. Campaigning.” Kaldalis groaned, remembering vaguely how he’d thought that would be a fine idea last night. “I kind of wish this was a single-player game now. Then I would only have to do a handful of quests, and the vote would wait until it was done. Now I have to actually talk to people.”

“You know if you get the job, you’ll have to talk to people,” Myrin said.

“I disagree,” Kaldalis said. “If I get the job, it’ll be other people having to talk to me.”

Myrin had a good cackle at that.

He even got a sensible chuckle from Balrim.

“Have either of you ever done anything like this?” Kaldalis asked. “Ever run for class president or something?”

“I was voted best eyes for the yearbook,” Myrin said. “But you don’t want to know how I got it.”

“What did you do?” Kaldalis asked.

“She was on the yearbook team,” Balrim said with a weary sigh. He turned to Myrin with a frown. “I don’t know why you insist on telling this story. It has never helped anyone.”

“It was a fair vote, thank you very much,” Myrin said. “I was running unopposed as the only nominee. Nominated by my best friend on the yearbook team. I won by a landslide.”

Kaldalis laughed. “I don’t expect to get that lucky.”

“Well, then don’t expect to get lucky at all,” Balrim grumbled. “I ran for class treasurer in high school, but it was a total popularity contest. No number of handmade signs can change that. People just vote for the most recognizable name. Even if Benny flunked his way into remedial mathematics.”

“That’s rough, buddy,” Myrin said with a sage nod.

“But at least somewhat helpful,” Kaldalis said. “All I have to do is be the most popular option, with no regard for qualifications. That checks out.”

“Politics is a tough game. The most dangerous game, some call it.”

“Nobody calls it that,” Balrim snapped. “Stop calling things that.”

“I mean, she’s not wrong, though. I’d love it if the best candidate for the job won. I’d like it better if that candidate was me, but I’d never be mad if the winner was the one who was best for the encampment.”

“If only that was the way elections went,” Balrim said in a callous tone. “Not that I’m bitter.”

“We’re all bitter on your behalf,” Myrin said, patting him on the arm. “But your days in the game are long behind you. You’re washed up, see? We need to focus on the new young up-and-comer with a chance.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Balrim waved a hand dismissively, “I get it, I can’t still be bitter about shit in high school.”

“So what do I do?” Kaldalis asked. “How do I make myself the most popular candidate?”

“Well, you should talk to people,” Myrin said. “Make sure you’re on their mind. See if any of them will commit to voting to you.”

“Start with people who you already consider friends,” Balrim suggested. “It’ll give you momentum to hear good things from them, and if you tell them that you’re looking for the job, they might spread the word for you, too.”

“Good thinking,” Kaldalis said. “So who do I start with?”

“Well, you’ve got us already,” Myrin said, and stood up, looking around. “Who else is here?”

“Easy there, short stack,” Balrim said. “You’re taller when you’re sitting on this bench. Let the tall people look.”

“Damnit,” Myrin grumbled. “Stupid cute short race making me four-foot-nothing.”

“So who are your friends?” Balrim said, standing up and looking around. “Besides us.”

“Well, Heluna, I guess” Kaldalis said, looking over the other people gathered at breakfast. “but she wouldn’t be here; the sailors have their own mess hall tent. Haldir, of course, but I don’t see him. Maybe Bangen?”

“What about the fishin’ finnian?” Balrim asked, pointing to the far end of the tent. “You two probably have a lot in common.”

Kaldalis looked over where Balrim was pointing. “Oh, Aurigeant?”

“Isn’t that what he said?” Myrin said with a laugh.

“I don’t know if I would say friends,” Kaldalis said, “I haven’t spoken with him in a while. But it might be a good starting point for a conversation.”

“Yeah, talk to him, then,” Balrim said, “and then you can use his support as momentum to go talk to someone important.”

“Alright,” Kaldalis said, “first, Aurigeant, and then… The world!”