Two guards stood at attention outside of the main entrance to the city hall, and they crossed their spears upon seeing Jonathan.
“Halt! All visitors to the city hall must remove their armaments before entering!” The leftmost guard said, a callow human youth of about twenty. He possessed the inklings of a beard, but the thing would be better off removed for the sake of common decency. It looked like a rat had died on his chin.
He clearly recognized Jonathan, but his attention to his duty was too high to allow him to simply pass unchallenged. Jonathan gave him a hard look, but then stripped off his armor and gauntlets and then placed them on a rack. He knew that nobody would dare steal from him. If they did, their lives would be swiftly ended, or at least made miserable. At least, that was what he wanted them to think. In reality, he hardly cared, given that he knew he could reclaim his armor no matter what happened.
There was a certain level of detachment that a high level of power brought on, as if the woes of the world did not apply to oneself. Jonathan was already starting to feel that effect. He walked into the ventral area of the city hall, listening in on the conversation.
“That man and his companions are simply squatting up there, on our territory!” One of the councilors said, a female version of some sort of beast race. She looked like a mix between a badger and a human, with dusky fur.
Jonathan had started to become inured to the plethora of races present in this world, but he still noticed it. There were twelve people seated around a table that was far too small for the vast room that they were in. It seemed like somebody had delusions of grandeur. Now that he knew that they were talking about him, Jonathan remained in the shadow of the archway, listening to them talk.
“You arrogant fool!” Granj said, the dwarven architect almost spitting. His accent was quite diminished in respect to other dwarves that Jonathan had met, but it was still there, and it seemed that anger brought it out. “We are only here because Jonathan suffers our presence! He could kill us all in the blink of an eye.”
“So we have simply walked from the domain of one tyrant into another?” The badger woman said. “I thought the whole point of this endeavor was to escape the depredations of the powerful.”
“You are a true cretin if you think that,” Granj retorted. “Face it. We are nothing more than scum on the feet of the truly powerful. What is the highest level among us in this room? Ten? Maybe fifteen? Jonathan is a Tier 2!”
“I would listen to Granj if I were you,” Jonathan said mildly, entering the chamber. “He sounds like he knows what he’s talking about.”
“Who are you?” Another councilor asked, some sort of elf. “Why are you here?”
“Just a concerned citizen, interested in how this city is being run. It is of my concern, is it not? With all of your talk of tyrants, surely the people should have a say?”
Jonathan made sure to keep his voice as placid as possible, so as to make it seem like he was really just another citizen. He knew that if the councilors knew who he truly was, they would be fawning over him in fear. He would judge them based on how they treated their lessers.
“Guards!” The badger woman called out.
“Stow it, Alyssa,” Granj barked. “This man is right. He does have the right to see how this city is being run.”
Jonathan nodded, and noticed that Alana was peering at him, as if she recognized him. Then he saw the woman stifle a gasp as she realized who he was. Jonathan winked at her, and she simply nodded. The others were too caught up in their little spat to actually apply their minds to the mystery of who he was, and most of them simply seemed annoyed at his presence, or wanting to use him to further their agendas.
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
After listening to about another minute of pointless bickering, Jonathan sighed, and clapped his hands as hard as he could. The noise echoed through the room like a gunshot, and a shockwave of air rushed out from between his palms as he did so. Everyone went silent at this, and they slowly turned towards Jonathan, deathly still.
“Enough!” He shouted. “How will you all be able to protect your people against Granath if you spend every waking moment arguing about pointless matters?”
“Who in the Hells do you think you are?” The badger woman who had spoken earlier said. She was the only one who was yet to realize who Jonathan actually was.
“Who do you think, you fool?” Another councilor whispered into her ear. “It’s Jonathan Harlowe.”
The woman paled, realizing that her easier words about Jonathan had not been framed in the best of lights. She got out of her chair immediately, and started bowing in front of him, slamming her forehead against the floor. Jonathan shook his head and raced forwards faster than anyone could see, lifting her up from the ground.
“To think that you were complaining about tyranny mere minutes earlier, yet you now grovel before a being stronger than yourself,” Jonathan said, shaking his head. He was a bit disappointed in the people who had been chosen to head this council. “You lot do not seem especially fit to address the needs of the city if this is the extent of your decision making.”
“We apologize for the insults that Alyssa threw your way,” Granj said quickly. “They were not the representation of the common will of this council. She will be dealt with swiftly.”
“No, do not punish her for speaking her mind. That would only reinforce the image of a tyrant that you lot seem to have of me. Let her speak her mind, and only punish people for causing harm to this city,” Jonathan said. “I came here to speak with Alana about the state of this city, but it seems like I have found enough on that matter. Farewell.”
Jonathan strode out of the city hall, and picked up his armor and weapons.He was calm on the outside, but more than a little bit angry on the inside. The insults had not helped, but mainly he was enraged that the councilors could not put aside their petty quarrels for the good of the city. Alyssa in particular would be a thorn in his side, especially after he had embarrassed her so thoroughly. If not for the fact that he had no wish to rule, he would have gotten rid of the council and put himself or Edgar in charge. In fact, seeing as Edgar possessed a politics skill, it would have been a good idea.
However, Jonathan could not let himself be tied down by such petty matters. These people had come to him of their own free will, and as such they should govern themselves with the same free will. He needed to calm down, and the only thing that would help him do so was to go out and hunt some monsters.
He was sitting at level 101 from his battle against the Pseudo Drake, and he was eager to gain more power. However, he would also need to focus on finding a solution to his problems with mana density. A few ideas about a solution were percolating within his mind, but he would need to at least reach Journeyman Rank in Runecrafting for him to be able to achieve them. Most of them revolved around his Rune of Consumption. If he could find some sort of modulator rune, he would be able to set up a weakened version of the rune on his body that would allow for him to suck in ambient mana and supplement the dearth of the energy in the air around him.
He already had access to thousands of runes within his various skill matrices, but he still needed to figure out which were the right ones, as well as a way to do so. Testing out runes could become dangerous, and his previous method of inference would not always cut it with runes whose shape was not indicative of their meaning.
In any case, he was looking forward to a good fight to settle his mind. A bit of life or death struggle would cleanse his palate of the taint of politicking for a bit. Back on Earth he had despised politicians, and the same held true here. When he had lived in America, political polarization had become almost universal, with terrible people on both sides. They were almost universally corrupt, ineffective, or flawed. A person who was a representative of the people should act in the interest of the people as a whole, not for their own voters, or for their own interest. It certainly made a good case for a dictatorship, especially in a world like this where power was everything.
Jonathan could set himself up as king here, and nobody would be able to do anything. It was an interesting thought, but one that he was completely uninterested about in reality.