Imri gave everyone a moment to process his declaration. It took everyone a few seconds before they all started voicing objections. However, before Imri could respond, the system did so for him.

New Quest

Control New Chicago County: Claim the New Chicago area and form a county under your control before the auction. County formed 0/1.

Reward: Achievement and credits based on contribution and settlement experience for all settlements in the county.

Judging by the look on everyone's faces, they had also received the quest. Joel shook his head in disbelief while some of the other had their mouths agape.

“Well, who are we to argue with the system,” Joel said.

“I wouldn’t go that far. So far, all the quests have required overcoming steep odds and brutal conflicts. If this was going to be easy, I doubt we would have gotten this quest,” Imri said.

“Either way, I want to continue the planned operation. If we want to take the city, we’ll need more intel, and we still don’t know what happened to Maggie,” Joel said.

“You would be on your own until we come back,” Imri pointed out.

“That’s fine,” Joel said, nodding resolutely.

Imri didn’t waste any time, wanting to return to Celestia as soon as possible. More than preparing for the coming conflict, he needed to make sure the settlement hadn’t been compromised by the Azala, as New Chicago had. With the recent population influx, one could have eluded their current detection methods, which was a combination of typical border crossing interviews and an Identify being used. However, the Azala probably had countermeasures for this, especially with their infiltration specialists.

Before leaving, Imri also placed another Spatial Beacon, which he anchored to the ground in an out-of-the-way location. This gave them an alternative to the mobile portal, which he handed to Joel after sending the signal for Celestia to open the portal. He also gave Joel the Dimensional Bag after he emptied most of his personal enchanted items.

It didn’t take long before the portal appeared, and Imri quickly strode through. An emergency response team had assembled near the portal, dressed in quickly donned armor and weapons. Major Harper stood there, assessing the situation, ready to send his soldiers to New Chicago.

“Stand down,” Imri ordered. The major repeated his order, though it hadn’t been necessary. As soon as everyone was through, Imri ordered the portal closed.

“What happened? We received the quest to take New Chicago, and then the portal request came minutes later,” Laura said as a civilian crowd formed around the commotion.

“No one is in immediate danger, but we should discuss what we learned,” Imri explained while he used Identify to check everyone he could. Fortunately, he had yet to find anything out of the ordinary heritage of human.

It didn’t take long before everyone had gathered in the conference room. Imri explained everything they had learned about the city's condition and his speculation on the reason. He also told them about the Azala infiltrator.

“What makes you so certain there are more of them?” Major Harper asked after Imri had finished his explanation.

“I used Identify on a few thousand people and found one Azala. The rational conclusion is that there is one Azala for every few thousand people in the city. It is extremely unlikely that there was only one, and I found it randomly,” Imri said.

“That would mean it's likely there are hundreds, if not thousands, of them,” Steve said, agreeing with Imri’s reasoning.

“If that’s the case, why are we concerned with taking over the city? I understand it’s not being managed well, but that seems… excessive,” Laura said.

“I have to agree with Laura. While they might not be doing a great job, I’m not sure that warrants such an extreme reaction,” Emery agreed.

“We have to do something,” Imri insisted.

“We agree on that. I just think there should be some sort of intermediate action. At the very least, give them a chance to rectify their mistakes,” Laura suggested.

“A show of what we are capable of would go a long way in convincing them. Allow them to see our abilities and have Imri make an entrance,” Major Harper added.

“We can also offer trade in exchange for cooperation. Offer access to some of our unique resources at a fair price while we would get access to modern conveniences that we couldn’t carry from Minneapolis,” Steve added.

“That seems reasonable, but I won’t compromise on a few things. They need to allow everyone access to the nexus, specifically the store. That would at least give people a way to earn a fair amount of credits for their items rather than forcing everything to go through the nobles. I also want to establish a portal in New Chicago, allowing people to immigrate to Celestia and vice versa,” Imri said.

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“I’m not sure how many immigrants we can manage. Our resources are already strained, and that could be just a small fraction of those interested in coming here, especially if things really are as bad as you say,” Laura said.

“I’m not going to budge on this. Celestia will be a home for anyone willing to abide by our laws, not just the first few thousand people who happened to be nearby when it was established,” Imri insisted.

“We’re not going to turn anyone away, but Laura does have a point. We can’t handle hundreds of thousands of people at once. We’ll have to limit the amount of new immigrants per trip,” Emery said.

Imri sighed. It definitely felt like his councilors were reigning him in. However, that was exactly why he had put them in charge. He wouldn’t be a dictator like those in New Chicago; he would listen to his people and compromise.

“That’s fine. We’ll only be able to keep the portal open for so long anyway,” Imri agreed.

“Speaking of the portals. Your early return trip almost completely drained the mana reserves. It will be at least a few days before enough mana is stored for another trip. I would also recommend waiting longer in case there is another quick turnaround,” Steve pointed out. Imri agreed with that decision and expected a good amount of his downtime while waiting would be enchanting more panels.

The meeting continued for a couple more hours as they discussed what they would be willing to accept from the New Chicago nobles. He started to tune out the discussion when it got into the minutiae of foreign policy after a general framework had been agreed upon. Eventually, the meeting adjourned, and Imri headed back home.

Imri rubbed at his chest; the feeling of something drilling into him that he had felt the other night only seemed to be intensifying as he could now sense it without meditation. He still couldn’t pinpoint what part of his body it was, but it was concerning that it was steadily getting worse.

Imri’s concern melted away when he saw Emelia. She was still in her nurse's scrubs, having only just been able to leave the clinic while they were short-staffed. He smiled at her, embracing her tightly and kissing her passionately.

“I missed you,” he said.

“It was one day,” she teased. However, the way she fiercely kissed him a second time told him it had been the right thing to say.

Imri’s mind subconsciously drifted to the ring in his backpack, and he instantly grew nervous. Emelia probably didn’t need to be an empath to know he was hiding something, but she didn’t press for answers. Instead, she simply continued to hold him tightly.

“Would you want to go for a walk around the lake?” Imri asked, stammering and barely managing to get out the words as his mouth refused to cooperate.

“Sure, just let me shower first,” she said.

“I could join you. It would be more efficient for both of us to shower simultaneously,” Imri said.

“I know how you can’t stand inefficiencies; we can’t have that,” she said with mock seriousness.

They ended up spending more time in the shower than it would have taken for them to shower separately. Imri had a stupid grin plastered across his face as he dressed in some of his new clothes: a polo shirt and blue jeans. It took Emelia a bit longer as she tried on almost every dress he had purchased for her. She eventually decided on a light blue sundress.

“You look beautiful,” Imri said in awe.

“Thanks,” she said with a rare moment where she almost seemed shy.

It was nice not to wear armor or raggedy clothing, which they hadn’t done often since the integration. Imri rubbed at his chest as the strange feeling intensified again. It was now manifesting as a sharp physical pain.

“Are you sure you’re alright?” she asked.

“Yeah, it’s just nerves, I guess,” Imri lied.

Imri was fairly certain that Emelia knew what he was going to do. If she didn’t want him to ask, she would have stopped him long before this point. So, it wasn’t his nerves causing the physical sensation, as they had been more intense earlier. Not knowing what else to do, Imri did his best to ignore the discomfort.

Given the time they had taken to get ready, it was getting dark as they began their walk. Imri created a small globule of light and anchored its relative position a couple of meters ahead of them.

He held her hand as they walked around the lake. Imri began rehearsing what he would say in his head while looking for a scenic spot. He realized he was stalling as he kept looking for a perfect spot that probably didn’t exist.

“It’s a beautiful view of the lake and the town,” Emelia said as they walked.

It was indeed, as the city lights could be seen in the distance and moonlight reflected off the water. The sound of cicadas-like insects could be heard from the nearby groves, but no insects bothered them directly. It was warm, but not too warm, as a pleasant breeze blew across the water. It was a perfect night.

Imri slowed down their pace, his breaths coming in quick succession, and his heart felt like it was trying to pound its way out of his chest. He noticed Emelia was nearly as nervous as he was, as she had a similar countenance to his own. Despite this, they were both smiling with manic grins. For every bit of fear and anxiety that they felt, it was outweighed by an equal amount of excitement and elation. If Imri had the smallest amount of doubt, he wouldn’t have done it, but there was no doubt.

They stopped, and Imri got down on one knee. “Emelia Fields, we’re living through an apocalypse with literal monsters, yet these past months have been the best of my life. Anyone who is around can’t help but smile and instantly be in a better mood. You are the most kind-hearted and amazing person I’ve ever met, and for some reason, you want to be around me. I don’t know how I got so lucky, but I can’t imagine a world without you. Will you marry me?”

Emelia had her hand over her mouth as tears streamed down her face. She nodded vigorously several times before she could say it out loud. Imri let out a breath he hadn’t realized he had been holding. Giddy excitement was all that remained as the anxiety drained away. He stood up and kissed his fiance passionately.

Mid-kiss, Imri stopped as he was wracked with intense pain. It felt like it spread to every fiber of his body as if the core of his being was affected. It felt worse than when he had been stabbed by the soul-stealing dagger.

He collapsed to the ground as he was unable to stand. He could hear Emelia, though it felt like she was far away as his consciousness faded.