Of course, it wasn't so simple. You couldn't just walk into a village and declare it yours. Getting full admin access to a citystone meant getting rid of anyone else who had access. In some communities, that meant killing every adult in the village. Here, Josh suspected that the mayor was literally the only person with full access.

There were non-lethal ways to remove his access. They could buy it from him, or they could physically drag him out of range of the citystone. If he stayed out of range for eight full days, he would lose the permissions, and they would fall to the next person to touch the citystone.

It was an idea, but Josh wanted to put all those violent options in their back pocket for now. Though he knew he might look like someone who solved all his problems by bashing through it with his skull, he preferred to talk his way out

That meant meeting with the mayor.

This wasn't as hard as Josh expected. Bautista might be a big town considering how far it was from the City, but in the end it only had a population of a thousand people, at absolute most. Their party was a big one, and the mayor had heard about it. He made time to speak to them.

“Well,” he said when Josh walked into his office. “What an interesting specimen.”

The mayor was almost aggressively average. He had a brown skin tone of indeterminate ethnicity, he had brown hair cut short, he was of average height and even average age. Josh would guess him at thirty or forty at the outside, just in time to be the product of the first big baby boom the Eight Immortals had encouraged. Josh would bet this man had more than one sibling, older and younger both. He was even average level, scanning as a [Level 17 Defender].

His bodyguard was something else entirely.

He didn't wear a mask, likely to advertise his status as a [Level 43 Attacker], well above Josh's level 33 Stonecrafter. He was a big, broad-shouldered man, almost as tall as Josh himself, wearing a leather jacket and well-worn jeans. He had a dozen different weapons strapped to his body, from half a dozen knives to a short sword to a rifle to a couple pistols, a mace...

Josh stopped counting when he realized that every single one of the weapons was glowing with magic power.

Not strong magical power. Even with his untrained eye, he could tell that most of the items were rather weak. But getting so many would still be an impressive feat, and an expensive one. Josh was already wondering if they could get some of those weapons for Ruth to practice more runes.

Judging from the glare the guard was giving him, he didn't think it was likely.

“More refugees?” the mayor said. He said it like it was a curse. “If you're going to complain, do it elsewhere. I've already given you more than enough. Everyone has to pay their way, here. No handouts.”

He had a deep, strong voice, the kind that made you want to listen to everything he had to say. That was rather frustrating, considering what was actually coming out of his mouth. Josh wondered whether or not this guy even realized what laws and fines the town was putting on outsiders.

He probably did, Josh decided. He was too smug to be unaware.

“Joshua Hundredborn, was it?” the mayor asked. “Your party asked me to keep an eye out for you.”

Josh inclined his head. “I appreciate that.” Even though he doubted that the mayor had spared him a second thought before now. “I'm afraid you have me at a disadvantage. My friends didn't tell me much before suggesting we come talk to you.”

“Hank Hawkins.” He smirked, like a dare. “My friends call me Hawk.”

Josh didn't take the bait. “Mayor Hawkins. You understand there is some trouble between us, yeah?”

“Oh, yes. You broke some laws and owe some money.”

Josh glared. “We stumbled into your trap.”

Hawkins grinned wider. “You broke some laws and owe some money.”

Josh let out a long breath. “I didn't think this would be easy. Don't suppose you're willing to just let bygones be bygones?”

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

That earned him a snort. “No.”

“I see.” He nodded to the bodyguard. “And what about you, big guy? Why do you work for this arse?”

“Hey,” Hawkins said, frowning. “There's no need for name-calling, dick.”

Josh ignored his outburst, keeping his eyes on the bodyguard.

The guard shrugged. “He pays.”

Josh nodded. “In enchanted gear, I'm guessing?”

The guard shrugged again. Somehow, it seemed more of an affirmative than the previous shrug.

“I want to hire you to depose this idiot.”

“Now wait just a minute—”

Josh ignored the mayor, and took off his mask.

Both the mayor and his bodyguard flinched. It was the first real emotion he had seen from the guard.

“Rogue's bloody knives,” the mayor cursed. “You're the ones that world quest is about!”

“Yep.” Josh gave a broad grin. “And I'm done running.” He raised an eyebrow at the bodyguard. “So? What'll it be?”

The mayor scowled, then glanced at his bodyguard. “Don't be stupid. If we turn them in for the bounty, I can split the profits with you.”

The bodyguard considered this for a moment, then walked towards Josh and his team. Just as Josh was gearing up for a fight, the bodyguard spun around and punched the mayor right in his smug face.

The punch created a flash of light when it connected, and there was a sound like a boxing glove hitting a punching bag instead of bone crunching against bone. The mayor crumpled to the ground in a heap, but he was still breathing.

“Huh,” he said. He looked up at the bodyguard. “You're a Brawler?”

“Ring Brawler,” the big man said with a grunt. “It's Improved-tier.” He held out a hand. “Beor.”

Josh took it. “Call me Josh.” He let go of his hand and jerked a thumb over his shoulder. “Our second Crafter is Ruth. She's the one with actual enchanting abilities, so she's the one who you're going to want to talk to.”

Ruth raised a finger. “Technically I'm a Rune Warrior now, but I retain all my crafting abilities! I'd definitely like to see what you've got!”

Beor nodded.

Josh frowned. “How did you get so high level so fast, anyway?” It was certainly possible to just grind out against monsters, but Hawkins had the stink of a man who didn't want his bodyguard to stray far.

Beor grunted. “Fed monsters.”

Josh paled. Feeding monsters bloodstones to level them up was a trick everyone thought of sooner or later. After all, killing monsters lower level than you gave pitiable experience, so at a certain point you hit a wall. Why not level them up yourself, then kill them when they were strong enough to provide decent experience?

The problem was that monsters evolved every eight levels. And they always evolved into whatever would be least convenient for nearby humans. They could turn into some incorporeal monster that would slip out of a cage, a flying monster that could escape, or a giant monster that was too much to handle. Sometimes they just evolved into bomb monsters and exploded, denying their captors any experience that way.

“Are there any monster pens around here?” Josh asked seriously.

Beor shook his head.

“Good.” Josh let out a breath. “We'll start getting you those enchanted items as soon as possible.”

Beor nodded. “No rush,” he said, his voice rumbling like a rock slide. He looked down at the mayor. “What should be done with him?”

“It depends. How does a new mayor normally take power in this town?”

Beor shrugged.

All right, that explained a few more things. “There's a prison, right?”

Beor nodded.

“Stuff him there until he agrees to give up control of the citystone.”

Mary gave him a look. “That might take a bit.”

“Then we can take it as it comes,” Josh said. “Not going to jump straight to murder without even trying the easy way first.” He didn't mention that he almost wished Beor had killed the mayor. That would have left the citystone unbound, which might have resulted in complications if anyone else was nearby, but it would have been better than dealing with the mayor more.

Beor nodded, then slung the mayor over his shoulder and walked out the door.

And that was how Josh took over a town.

At the town meeting later that night, the various shopkeeps and other prominent citizens of the town sat there in stunned amazement as he explained his actions.

“So,” Josh said, clapping his hands. “That's what happened. Mayor Hawkins is still alive, and has given up control of the citystone. Most of the salvage and mining taxes are being rescinded.” And thank Darius for being willing to help with that headache. “For the most part, things will continue as-is. Any questions?”

Everyone stared for a long moment.