They found the mayor on the first floor of the inn, watching a play. All the tables had been removed, and all the chairs moved to one side. That gave enough room for an audience of about thirty to watch the performers. It was still a bit cramped; this was hardly a grand theater in the City. But it had a warm, friendly atmosphere, and Manny the bartender was quietly moving through the crowd, distributing drinks.

Ruth tried to ask Josh about Mary a few times, but he brushed her off. This was not something he wanted to talk about. He had a feeling that once his blood cooled, he might even feel bad about airing their dirty laundry in front of relative strangers.

Mary was Josh's best friend; they had known each other for years. Unfortunately, that meant loads of time for grudges to build up.

They came into the play right in the middle of a big scene. Josh recognized it immediately, and smiled.

“—never told you what happened to your father,” one of the actors was saying. He wore black armor that covered his entire body and face, and his voice was unusually deep and booming.

“He told me enough!” the other actor said. He was on the floor, doing a decent job of pretending he was dangling over a precipice. “He told me you killed him!”

“No. I am your father.”

Most of the younger audience members gasped. Josh was surprised at how many kids were in the audience, before realizing that was a silly thought. Children showed up everywhere, one way or another. Just because it was more dangerous out here than in the City didn't change that.

As the scene continued, Josh and Ruth sneaked their way around the back of the room, trying to stay out of sight. It didn't take long to find the mayor. She was sitting in the back, close to the bar, and there was a suspiciously large man standing nearby, trying very hard to pretend he wasn't a bodyguard.

Josh and the bodyguard eyed each other as they approached. Almost everyone was wearing masks to prevent the system identification, but Josh still had experience in this sort of thing. Despite the bodyguard's size, Josh guessed that he was a speed class, maybe Rogue. Quick reflexes were often more important for a guard than raw strength.

The mayor was a young Japanese woman with short black hair. She wore a simple shirt and pants, both black. Nothing fancy, but it counted as formal dress out here, away from City sewing machines. Josh and Ruth still wore their wooden armor—which he had repaired with his improved blueprint—because they didn't have anything better.

Josh thought the mayor was about their age, but the dark circles under her eyes made her look older. It was hard to pin her down. Was she an older woman who had aged well, or a younger woman who had aged poorly? After a moment, he decided she was likely on the older side. Even out here beyond the Burn Line, where rules were loose, it would be strange to see someone younger than thirty or so running a real town. Even if she was as old as forty, Josh still wasn't clear how she had enough political capital to get her hands on a citystone.

She didn't have a mask, so Josh could see that she was still a [Attacker: Level 20]. She hadn't leveled in the few days since he had seen her last. That wasn't all that unusual, though most people at least made their way to an advancement before letting their progress lapse.

The mayor looked at them with polite curiosity for a moment, before she nodded. “Ah I forgot you two came in together. Nice to see you again, Mister Hundredborn.”

Josh blinked. “You remember us? That's a surprise and a half.”

She favored him with a small smile. “This might surprise you, but I do not receive many visitors out here. Especially so early in the reset.” She nodded at Ruth. “And of course I remember your friend here.”

Josh looked between them. “You're boinking the mayor?”

Ruth blushed crimson and smacked his arm. “Don't be crude! I just talk to people when I'm doing our shopping! Miss Vashti usually makes her rounds at about the same time, so we talk! That's all!”

The mayor raised an eyebrow at that. Josh suspected that, even if he had been off the target, he had at least been in the right ballpark.

He recovered his composure. “I suppose.” He nodded his chin at the door. “You mind if we ditch the eyes? Think you'd prefer we keep this private-like.”

He didn't mention that he would very much prefer to keep this private. He disagreed with Mary's stance on authority figures, but he didn't want to shout his secrets from the rooftops. Not at first, at least.

The mayor did not look surprised, or curious. She just nodded, as if this happened every day. She rose and spoke to Manny. The bartender smiled, nodded, and then waved to Josh and Ruth. Josh waved back hesitantly, and Ruth waved back enthusiastically.

The mayor—or more accurately, her bodyguard—led them out of the inn and into the warm night. Despite it being fully dark, it was still pleasantly warm, and Josh would have felt comfortable walking around in short sleeves. If not for the ever-present threat of monsters, anyway. The mayor didn't seem all that concerned, but her bodyguard kept his eyes on the sky, clearly aware of the possibility of Chiropterans or Strigans swooping down in the night.

Once they reached the mayor office and settled in their chairs, she met both their gazes. “I apologize for the delay. Normally I would be here, even so late, but we wanted to distract the kids with a play. I thought it best to put in an appearance.”

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Josh raised an eyebrow. “The kids need something shiny to focus on? More than typical?”

The mayor gave a small sigh. “Those towns you reported destroyed were not the only ones. Good people died. Friends and family members of the children in this town.” She shook her head sadly. “You understand how it is. Kids are strong, but they need things to do. While our guards and scavengers are leveling as fast as they can, somebody has to make sure they don't wander out trying to solve things themselves.”

Josh winced. Everyone gained access to the System if they were eight years old on the day of the solstice. This meant that they could, in theory, match adults. This did not sit well with anyone, and it was always a chore to keep the kids from wandering around trying to fight monsters.

Well, Josh had heard it was a chore. He had never been put in charge of kids.

“I'm sorry,” Josh said, and meant it. He had seen far, far too many cities and towns fall. “This is always a difficult time.”

The mayor nodded somberly. “We always lose one or two towns. I can't tell you how many times we've lost South Valley.” She gave a sad chuckle. “It's fine. We are, unfortunately, used to it. We rebuild and continue on. This was just a worse year than most.”

“I would have expected more guns,” Ruth said obliviously. “I mean, walls are great, but you need to be able to kill the monsters! If you can't kill them before the reset, then you have to kill them after!”

The mayor gave her an indulgent smile. “Unfortunately, we're not a high priority out here. We can hardly afford to give every adult a gun. If a town survives the Surge, they're usually too exhausted to make a big push before the reset.”

The Surge was the last day before the reset, when monster attacks got much worse. Josh wasn't sure if it was because monsters were coming out of dungeons and disrupting established territory, or if the monsters were actually being driven to supernatural aggression. Maybe both.

The Surge was part of the reason for the Burn Line. If everyone wasn't so busy at the very end, then all the high level fighters could just cut back the monsters in the days or weeks leading up to the solstice, leaving everything clear. Instead, if you didn't clear out everything, the monsters would just return stronger and angrier than before. They had to advance step by step, year by year, burning out the Jungle and reclaiming land.

“Surely you have something to trade the City,” Ruth insisted. “You can grow food faster out here!”

The mayor chuckled with polite amusement. So did Josh. Ruth looked put out.

“Kind of a double-edged sword there,” he said dryly. “You can grow a ripe tomato in two days, but it might try to eat you.”

“Of course, we still do grow food for the City,” mayor Vashti said, back to a business tone. “It's just there aren't enough guns to go around.” She waved her hand. “Oh, they'll sell us muskets by the ton, but no one can make modern firearms yet.” She brightened slightly, though she remained composed. “I heard that they reclaimed a new factory up north. Wasn't that area known for guns?”

Josh snorted again. That was an exaggeration if he ever heard one. “Not exactly. I'd be surprised if there was a single gun factory in a thousand miles.” California was not known for anything like that. “This one made screws.”

Vashti nodded. “Well, I'm sure that will be helpful.” She looked at Ruth again. “The point is, all the real guns are in the City. Most of us here just go with the Archer class if we need range. A close friend of mine is a Hunter already.”

“But we might be able to help,” Ruth said, giving Josh a plaintive look. “With... making defenses and stuff.”

“Of course. That is part of the reason I gave you that land. Just being there will help distract the monsters a little.” She looked around on her desk. It was cluttered with papers. “In fact, I recall that you went into that Apid dungeon.”

“It's full of ants now,” Josh said dryly. “Not sure if that's harder or softer.”

“B-but that's not the point!” Ruth insisted. “We can do more! We just... need your help to do it!” She looked back at Josh, eyes wide and pleading.

Josh sighed, then nodded. They both removed their masks.

The mayor raised an eyebrow, then focused on them. A split second later, her eyes widened. She glanced between the two of them in shock.

“The World Quest...” she whispered.

“Is a pile of muck and leaves,” Josh interrupted, before she could jump to any conclusions he would regret. He went over the events of the past couple weeks quickly, from finding the bloodstone to getting chased out of the City.

His missing fingers throbbed when he got to that part.

“Then we came here,” he finished. “We've been crafting in our little pen, but we need scrap and shine to get much farther.” Seeing the confused look on the mayor's face, he rephrased. “Ah, materials and money. You understand why we're not keen to go public, yeah?”

The mayor sat in her chair-straight backed and motionless, for a very long moment.

“...I have no idea how to handle this,” she said at last.

“You don't have to do much,” Josh promised. “Mostly, Ruth just needs to see some runes.” He jerked his thumb at her. “Let her look at some enchanted gear, and she can make more. Might even be able to copy what you've got.”

“Though no guarantees!” Ruth said quickly. “I'm limited by my mana pool!”

“Still, it's worth a go.”

The mayor nodded. “Yes, yes, we can do something there. I have a few personal items.” She gestured at the compound bow in the corner. Looking closer, Josh realized it had a few runes scratched into it. “That's Judith's bow. You're free to start there. I'll see what I can do about the rest tomorrow.”

Ruth cooed and ran over to the bow, and pulled out her notepad. She sketched out the runes and took measurements to be sure. It would take her a few minutes until she was confident that she'd be able to reproduce the runes, but she wouldn't be absolutely sure until they got back to their land and she practiced.

Josh thought there had to be a better way for her to measure the runes. Some sort of quick-drying plaster, to make a mold, maybe? At the very least, she could carry around some wooden tokens so she could practice the runes. She only had to get a rune perfect once, and then she'd get a blueprint.

“And you, Mister Hundredborn?” the mayor asked him. “You are a Woodcrafter, you said.” She nodded at his armor. “Your wooden armor is better than nothing, depending on how fast you can craft it. What else can you do? Can you build structures?”

Josh smiled. “You bet I can. More importantly, I'm a Stonecrafter now. I haven't had a chance to push the edges yet.”

“Well then.” She steepled her hands in front of herself. It seemed she had recovered most of her poise. “I am very interested in seeing what you can do.”