“Everyone, Mr. Mayor,” he nodded to a man standing at the head of the table. He was a man of medium height but well-built, and he looked to be in good shape. The mayor was of Asian descent with a traditional appearance otherwise. “This is the main character I had mentioned, Mr. Travis Porter.”

It wasn't how he looked that stood out to Travis; it was the intense vibe he got off the man's spirit. This was a very ambitious person. He was also quite powerful, reading at level 6, and very close to choosing a class.

Since he had reached level 9 and confirmed it in his book, the ability of his perception senses seemed to be much stronger. Now, information about people he focused on flashed across his mind like a ticker. Clyde had talked to him about how, in many of the game-type fiction that their world mimics, the players had prompts and windows in their vision.

This was not what he experienced. It was more like regular thoughts but much more vivid, and they didn't disappear with a slight distraction. He could keep the information at the front of his mind as long as he wanted, or as long as he had tried so far, which wasn't very long, he had to admit.

“Forgive me for speaking openly about your status as the MC, but without that, it would have been hard to get you admitted to this council session.” He really did look aggrieved that he had to speak out of turn, still though Travis could not get a read on the man.

The mayor spoke up, “Ah yes, the mysterious main character. How do you do? I am Mayor Katsu of Middle City, but you know this.” The man spoke with a full-on American accent but seemed to try and add a hint of Japanese to his inflection. It was very odd.

Katsu continued, “It is very strange that there is a main character at all. I wonder if there are others spread across this country or in other countries.” He seemed genuinely curious, nothing nefarious about his words. Still, he had the air of someone who just wanted to act like he was seeking advice from the people in this meeting, and this man was no military strategist.

An able politician maybe, but that was not needed now. How to get him down a peg Travis wondered, and then he found the thread.

“That's what I wondered too, but it's not so. For whatever reason, I am the only MC on earth.” He waited for someone to push back.

A man to his left was the one to do him the favor. He had on civilian clothes and appeared to be an NPC; his aura was messy, maybe a merchant.

“How would you know that, sir? There has not even been communication with neighboring states, no less other countries.”

“You are correct, but I was informed in my HQ.” He paused just a brief moment, long enough for the mayor to catch on. He had not told anyone, in this room at least, that he had access to a laptop with an advanced AI.

The mayor took the opportunity he gave and with a very faint nod spoke up, “I'm sure enough of this man's secrets have been shared today; let's not press him for more. How about we take our seats and get started. The dead aren't going to be preparing forever.”

Travis gave the mayor a slight look with a faint hint of aura attached. Exactly what they meant would be hard to translate directly to words, but it was something along the lines of 'we know something, and they do not, play nice or that can change in an instant'. He did not like playing these types of political games, but the risk of having incompetent leadership during times like these would lead to a far worse outcome.

Clyde elbowed his faction leader a little and sent a burst of emotion that said nice job, you SOB. They both had to hold back a laugh. Being together for so long, Clyde had learned that he could ‘feel’ things that would reach Travis, and so they had their own kind of silent language to an extent.

The mayor motioned for people to sit down; there were enough chairs for everyone, but a short man who bore a resemblance to the head of the city started to speak, “principals only; advisors sit back there.” There was a row of chairs behind each side of the circle.

They drew murmurs, and a woman who was three spots to the right of Travis was the first to call that into question, “principals, Harold, are you serious with that shit?”

He didn't have to have magical perception to know what kind of person this was. He probably had little to no real power but was here due to nepotism or other connections. Then because they feel insecure internally those people try to wield power with petty rules. It was the same type of thing that drove many overzealous HOA types.

Happy that he didn't have to speak up, he automatically started to like the women that did; she spoke and read as a firebrand too which was interesting. There was definitely some familiarity between the two, and he could sense both of them getting ready to revert back into old arguments.

The woman was in her 30s, if he had to guess. She had a very typical upper-middle-class mom look, like the type that goes on a run in the morning before going home to make breakfast and get ready for work. Fit with sharp features, Travis liked this one, in an "I want her on my team" type of way.

Harold, which was apparently the man's name, gave her a sneering look, in fact, most of his looks appeared to be sneering.

“You call my brother Mr. Mayor but refer to me as Harold?”

The auras around the room almost made Travis burst into laughter; no, he couldn't hold it. He started cackling before regaining control, “sorry, I was thinking of a thing.”

Everyone knew that was bullshit except for this Harold, because he just continued on.

“Haven't we talked about showing deference to those in positions of power, Chelsea?”

The look of absolute disdain on her face for this man was unmistakable. Her aura was even sharper. The mayor, his brother, was full of secondhand embarrassment and knew this was not going to end well.

“No, you brought it up, and we agreed to refer to the leader of our faction and the commander of our fighting men by their titles. No one is going to refer to you as ‘logistics officer Harold’; come on, man, it's not even a real position. Everyone but you know this.”

Travis found it interesting that the brother had not cut in to stop the verbal assault on his brother. People seemed resigned to this type of bullshit, it went back and forth for a few minutes before the woman finally decided she had gotten in all the shots she could and stopped replying. He added one or two more ridiculous comments before it ended all together.

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It was pretty awkward for certain people who weren't sure where they should sit. The mayor finally just told people to sit wherever. Then he introduced everyone. There was the head of security, Dalinger. Dalinger was another average looking fella, light skinned black gentleman of normal build and make up. His aura read as competent. Looking to be in his mid-40s, the mayor said that the man was a prison guard for much of his life. Travis hoped that wasn't the only thing that made him qualified for the job.

The most impressive person around the table Travis already met; that was the woman who had given the brother a hard time. Chelsea was her name, and her position was that of economic advisor and eventually he wanted to make her chief of staff, but things had to be organized further before a position like that was required. He wanted to ask her what she did before this all happened; but apparently there was no time for questions.

There was the commander of all forces not assigned to security, which he guessed was like cop's vs soldiers. Although that might not be the best tact to take in this new world. The man appeared to be Greek or Italian, because he had very dark skin and jet-black hair. it seemed people did not use their real names as he was just introduced as Commander. No one mentioned what his qualifications were.

Otherwise, everyone else was there because of something other than experience or talent in their field. The introductions took longer than they should have, but eventually, it was time to talk about strategy.

The undead had taken all of the surrounding structures and outposts around the building; then they just stopped and surrounded the place. Apparently, they were going to partake in a siege. Travis had been assured that they couldn't be starved out thanks to the teleport scrolls and magical farming taking place on the roof of the building.

First, the city watch commander and the commander of all other forces gave an overview of what they could throw at the undead. It was a decent presentation, and Travis was pretty happy; that was until they were asked what the plan for defense was.

It was unimpressive, to say the least. They wanted to hold the first floor with the bulk of the troops and fight a purely defensive struggle in which they were greatly outnumbered. He let them go on for a while longer before finally chiming in.

There was a slight break, so he stood up, “look, Mr. Mayor, I'm sure these guys are well-intentioned, but you cannot fight a defensive battle exclusively without a much better plan, and even with one, we are so far outnumbered that if it turned to an attritional battle, we will lose.

Every human life is more valuable than 20 of the undead chaff, but crowding our forces on the first floor and fighting straight up will lead to a much higher casualty rate than we can handle.”

He waited for that to sink in; he could feel the other two men stir, and their auras were discomforted, but they didn't say anything yet.

The mayor seemed to consider his words, but Travis could tell he was just trying to look the part, “I can understand where you are coming from, but the undead are not worth a damn in a fight, and we will be able to create chokepoints on the first floor and kill zones..”

Travis cut in, “yes, I heard those words a lot, I'm not sure they mean what your commander think they do. Chokepoints are fine when you have overwhelming fire superiority, but we will be fighting hand to hand with men that are not highly trained.”

That was the opportunity the commander of the regular ‘army’ was looking for. “I know you are the ‘main character’ and all, but it's obvious you are out of your depth. The first-tier units we will be using to head the defense have all read their tier 3 skill books, so they are, by definition, trained.” He put so much scorn on the word he almost had to pull it out of his mouth.

Travis thought about suppressing the testosterone in the room with an aura burst but wanted to wait. The only people not happy to see him taken down a peg were Chelsea, Master Pavel, and of course, Clyde.

The mayor, who should have just wanted to defend his city, was one of the most self-impressed with this pushback. He spoke up next.

“So, you see, Travis is your name, right? May I call you Travis?”

Before waiting for a nod, which did come, he continued and got a few chuckles. His brother almost creamed in his pants, “you see that these men know what they are doing; let's keep the strategy talk to the professionals.”

He could sense that Pavel was going to stand up and speak to who the real professional was, but Travis waved him down before he even started to stand up. That had a strong impact on him. Unfortunately, for everyone else, they missed the significance.

“I see,” Travis said, “may I ask a question, though?”

The mayor nodded. Normally he would say no and push through, but he was enjoying this. With hundreds, if not thousands, of undead outside, this man was getting off on showing up someone with more innate power than him.

“I understand that these men have been given skill books; you got them from the same chest that I received mine (he thought about blowing up his spot with the AI info but was past petty BS by this point), but skill book knowledge needs to be combined with practical experience before it is put to its best use.

Not to mention the strategy being suggested here goes against everything ever said about siege warfare. We should be whittling down the enemy with ranged, magic, and our militia on the first floor. Anchoring our upper levels with the best of the troops available.”

The Commander had heard enough, “and who the fuck are you to say, General Patton?”

This time Travis did add some aura onto his words, making them even more impressive.

“No, I'm Major Travis fucking Porter commanding officer US Army Joint Task Force Syria.” The stunned silence was broken when Clyde decided it was time for him to speak up, "if that is not enough for you let's not forget he is also level 9 and the sole main character on the entire planet", Clyde said with more than a little pride in his leader, friend and longtime partner.

Now trying to really press home what was important information, this wasn't just about measuring dicks, “look guys, I know what I am talking about. This plan is not a good one. I do have experience writing up real military plans, and I have fought this same enemy before. If we want to send them packing, there needs to be a complete reorganizing of available forces, and a new plan put in place ASAP.”

Master Pavel knew this could go either way, "everyone knows me here, let me go on record saying that I vouch for this man and his companion", he pointed at Clyde, "100%. As he said when this same Undead leader, the Lich King he calls himself, attacked a small settlement to the south Major Porter happened to be there. I spoke to a fellow magician who lives on the farm where they fought and was told that they may not have won if not for this man and his party members."

The mage academy head was well respected. He did not push for power or influence when that was the only thing many of them had been doing since finding this place. He setup his academy and advised those in need of matters magical. When he spoke now it was the perfect contrast to the cold hard truth that Travis had hit them with.

"What do you suggest Major?", the mayor asked in a conciliatory tone.

Travis nodded at him and spoke softly but earnestly, "we have been up here for a pretty long time. Let's break up and get the most up to date information on the enemy's dispositions. I would also like to be privy to any special powers or spells that can be used during the coming fight. Then we should meet in a smaller group, just the relevant parties so we can get down to brass tacks. So, the Commander, you sir (he pointed to the security chief), obviously you Mr. Mayor and Master Pavel. Of course, Chelsea should be there as well."

The mayor looked hesitant so he was thrown a lifeline, Chelsea spoke up, "if I may sir, Commander can you have a report delivered to the relevant parties in say 30 minutes?" He thought about it for a few seconds and said yes. "Good, then if its okay with you Mr. Mayor we will meet in your office, just those mentioned by the Major in about an hour?"

There was nervousness in his aura, he did not want Travis in his office, He would have to find out why but there were more important matters first, "Master Pavel would your chambers be able to accommodate us, it's a much more central location?"

Pavel and Chelsea were surprised but they both agreed, the meeting broke up soon after that. Walking towards the elevator the Major felt bittersweet. Bitter that the mayor was so incompetent and it could lead to more deaths, but sweet that he would not be hard to replace and that would eventually see everyone more secure and prosperous. First, they had to win a battle though.