The principal from the school spoke up. She looked like she wished that she had brought a weapon to attack him. “You think you can just waltz in here, take everything we have, and we'll be fine with it?”

“Yes,” Josh said bluntly.

She scowled. “You're just some random stranger! Why should we trust you?”

“For two reasons. First, I want you all to be honest with me. Really honest.” He gave her a long, hard look. “Is there anyone here, one single person, who genuinely thinks Mayor Hawkins would do better than some random stranger?”

The silence was deafening. Josh had done his research before he even met Hawkins in the first place. That idiot hadn't even built the wall himself; he had collected taxes, then let the people build it themselves. He didn't pay for so much as a plank.

People didn't really expect much from their mayors out here. You didn't live in the middle of a monster-infested Jungle because you liked government oversight. Still, there was a very low bar, and Hawkins had utterly failed to clear it.

“Second,” Josh continued, “I'm emptying the town coffers. Giving back what I can of what Hawkins took. Call it a stimulus package.” That caused an excited hubbub, but Josh waved them down. “Now, it doesn't come out to much. Seems like Hawkins liked to spread the wealth to his cronies. But it's a few days of pay for most people, and that's not nothing.”

The principal scowled again. “How do we know you didn't pocket it?”

He shrugged. “I've got plenty of witnesses. A few of his secretaries and paper-pushers stuck around too, and they're already working out exactly what he spent money on. They'll find a paper trail for you, if you want it.”

She scowled again, but that seemed to just be her default expression. She didn't make any more trouble.

Finally Abraham, the man who had escorted Josh into town in the first place, raised a hand. “Yeah, hello. Do you remember me?”

Josh nodded. “I do.” He didn't say anything else. He didn't want to insult Abraham by assuming he was going to ask for a favor.

Thankfully, that didn't seem to be the plan. “I was just wondering... I thought you said all your friends were dead?”

The people around him looked at him like he was a crazy person. That was the question he wanted to ask?

Josh just let out a breath and smiled. “Thankfully, I was mistaken. They escaped the destruction of the town, and brought the children with them.” He looked around at the people of San Juan Bautista, and his smile faded. “You all did hear about what happened to Gilroy?”

Abraham nodded. “Word had already gotten around when I started asking.”

It was nice that there was decent communication out here, at least. “Well, that's why I'm here, and why I've taken over. I'd like to see this place get built up a bit more. Deliberately hobbling your growth out here in the Jungle just gets a town eaten.”

Quite a few people flinched at that. Good. They knew that Hawkins hadn't been good for the town. They'd be more willing to accept changes.

“To that end,” Josh continued. “We're going to be looking into renting out enchanted tools to the delvers, and of course enchanted weapons to the hunters.” He smiled. “In fact, I think we have a few shroud focus items that people will find helpful.”

There was some more murmuring from the crowd at that, but now they sounded interested. Even weak shroud focus items vastly improved survivability, and people always wanted them. Good. Practicality and greed working together could be a very powerful force.

“That's about all I have to say. If there are any representatives from big delving crews, please stick around. Your help will be invaluable.” That was Ruth's idea; Darius had argued against it. She said more people had more ideas, while he said they just caused more confusion.

The crowd dispersed, leaving behind four people: Abraham, a man in a soot-stained smock, a woman with a hard hat that had a light on it, and a woman with an overly complicated bow slung over her shoulder.

Josh stepped down from the podium. Best to get down to eye level. Looking down on people too much never sat well with him. “All right,” he said with a grunt as he popped his neck. “Let's get started.” He pointed at the woman with the bow. “You got a story or a song?”

The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

She didn't seem to understand what he meant, but she just blew right past it. “I'm Anna, one of the town's main hunters. I kill things, and that's usually enough to keep us safe even without a Burn Line.”

Josh raised an eyebrow. “Most towns go fine without a Burn Line.” Considering how fast the Jungle grew, maintaining any reasonable Burn Line was usually an exercise in futility. It was generally more cost-effective to just keep the wall repaired. The City was the exception, and even they had problems with the sheer scale of territory they had claimed.

That thought was sour. Sheer scale. They hadn't even claimed the entire valley. How far they had all fallen.

Anna grinned. “Well, that's more of a side benefit. I just like killing monsters. I go out and burn out any big monster nests, close up any dungeons before they get too troublesome. Seems to help, regardless.”

“Fair enough.” Josh gave a wry chuckle. “Sensing a 'but' coming, though.”

She raised an eyebrow. “But, it's been a bad couple of weeks. I suspect it's only going to get worse, if the monsters from Gilroy migrate in our direction. I think they're might be something big coming down. Having some extra help would be a good start to your... mayorship.” She paused, considering. “Or whatever it's called.”

Josh grinned. “I don't have a problem with solving problems by killing monsters.” He thought for a moment. “Just gotta make sure solving this problem doesn't cause more problems. I'd have a problem with that, for sure.”

Anna looked like she was trying to count backwards in her head. “...what? I lost track somewhere—”

“Killing monsters isn't a solution,” he said, as firm and serious as he could be. “That's treating the symptom instead of the disease, if you get me. So how do we treat the disease?”

“A better wall?” Ruth suggested cheerily. “With runes for support?”

“Or better guns,” Mary suggested, bored. “With more guns for support.”

Anna laughed. “Everyone wants Gunners! Everyone wants the big boom, and who can blame them? You get some nice blood splatters with guns. Almost as much fun as swords.” She sighed wistfully. “But Archers are more reliable. It's not as though we have the money to get whole shipments of firearms out here. What we have is what we have.”

Josh nodded slowly. “Understandable. But better defenses would be a step in the right direction, yeah?”

“It can't hurt.” A slow grin of anticipation spread across her face. Josh had the feeling of staring down a shark. “You have something that can help?”

He smiled. “Yeah. I have something.”

They walked out to the southern edge of town. This was the bit of the wall with the least traffic. There wasn't so much as a gate in this direction, as there hadn't been any towns this far when the wall was built. Even now, it was easier to just have the caravans go around to the north entrance.

The wall wasn't in disrepair, exactly, but it could certainly be doing better. Several of the logs were splintered from old attacks, and rot had started to spot the breaks. In the Jungle, you had to clean off rot daily, or it would quickly overcome any defenses.

Josh nodded. “This is a good place to start. Let's expand the wall by a few feet.”

Anna crossed her arms. “That's boring. What will that do?”

He raised a hand to forestall her arguments. “Please, let's just give it a try, and then we'll see if you have any further suggestions.”

Clearing the requisite area of the Jungle didn't take long. Even putting aside Josh and Ruth's abilities that were specialized in cutting down trees, they had all lived with the Jungle for years at minimum. They all had experience with this matter. Darius had the most trouble, due to his abysmal Strength score, while Beor felled trees almost as fast as Josh did.

“All right,” Josh said, cracking his neck. He grinned down at the pile of logs they had created. “Now we can really get started.”

“What's that supposed to—”

Josh touched a pile of logs. “Hands-Free Crafting.”

The pile of wood began to turn itself into planks. The logs floated in the air, spinning around with sawing sounds as if he was putting them through an invisible sawmill. In just a few moments, it was done.

Both Anna and the man from the delvers stood there, speechless. Beor at least had been prepared and knew somewhat what to expect, but the other two didn't even have a hint that he was a [Crafter] before this.

Josh took off his mask, giving her a chance to identify him fully. He grinned as her eyes went even wider. “Sorry for keeping a lid on this,” he said. “We're in a bit of a bind, as I'm sure you can guess.”

Anna groaned, then let out a chuckle. “The world quest. The one that's still blaring. The Crafter and the kidnapping?” She looked over at Mary, grinning. “That's... you, I take it?”

Mary made a whistling noise like a missile and pointed to Ruth.

Ruth waved. “Hello! My father is overprotective and for some reason he thinks Josh is evil.”

“He did take over a town,” the last man in the group said.

Josh hadn't thought about him much. He was the leader of one of the bigger delver teams, and he hadn't done much besides give his name. Terah had helped with the wall, but otherwise was content to just stand by and watch. He seemed the type to fade into the background.

Josh gave him a grin. “That's fair, that's fair. Not going to try to argue with you. Deeds over words, all that.” He picked up a stack of planks. He'd need tools eventually, if for no other reason to improve his mana efficiency, but that could wait until later. “Why don't we talk while we work? See what you and yours might need.” He winked. “No reason we can't enjoy ourselves on this job.”