Jonathan pushed the door open abruptly, and forced his way past the mayor, placing himself between the man and the rest of the building. As the man tried to run, Jonathan shot out his hand and grasped him by the arm. The mayor shouted in alarm as Jonathan dragged him back inside the building, slowly shutting the door. There had been no witnesses, which was perfect. He half dragged, half carried the wayward politician back towards his room at the far end of the city hall, and upon reaching the ornate door, he pulled the key off the man’s neck and opened it.
As they entered, he set the mayor down, who walked over to his desk, in a dazed state. Jonathan ignored the man, instead searching the room for anything with the same traces of residue that had been on the mayor. He eventually found something, a small box that was liberally dusted with powder. Upon opening it, he found nothing inside, but his sharp eyesight noticed that there was an infinitesimal seam at the bottom of the box, which he placed his fingernail in. Lifting it up, he found a thin layer of white powder at the base of the box, beneath the false bottom. It glistened in the light, and Jonathan danced that he could see someone moving within the shards, dancing under a yellow sun. He quickly shook his head, and put the lid back on, turning to face the mayor.
“Now, I believe it is time for you and I to have a little chat about the future of this town,” Jonathan said, leaning over the mayor.
“What do you mean? I have been nothing but a good mayor to these people!” The other man spluttered, trying to conceal his fear.
“How much of the tax revenue of this town have you spent on this drug?” Jonathan asked, waving the box at the other man.
“Not much. Just about ten percent. It was only a tiny investment, nothing more. You still don’t understand how much I need it,” the other man said, his voice turning wistful at the end. He then stared at the box that Jonathan was holding, twitching slightly. Jonathan shook his head, and smashed the box over his knee, scattering the dust all over the room. A few pieces got into his mouth, and he had a strange flash of memory, a memory that was not his. It vanished as quickly as it had come, but the legacy of that image was still in his mind.
He shook his head, and cleared his mind. He could not afford to become addicted to the drug as well. The mayor let out a keening screech of anguish as the dust scattered all over the room, beyond reach. He leapt out of his chair and tried to catch it out of the air, but it was useless. All he achieved was a light dusting on his hands, which he still tried to use anyway. All that happened was that his body jerked for a moment, and then he snapped back to reality.
“Now that that is out of the way, I have a proposition for you. It seems that a few of the crafters are interested in paying their taxes, as long as you do not spend their money on illicit purchases. Everything has to be over the counter.” The other man did not speak, rocking from side to side of his chair, a haunted look in his eyes. Jonathan continued regardless. “In addition, I will require your help in rooting out your suppliers within this town. If you help me with that, I will not oppose your rule, unfit though you are. Do you understand me?”
“You…. You took her away from me. My beloved,” the mayor said, still rocking back and forth. “She was all I had left.”
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“Who?” Jonathan asked.
“The woman in the memories. She was the wife of whoever’s soul it had come from, back on Telvaria. Oh, to be back in the real world, just for a moment. To feel the sun on my face, to trail my feet in the verdant meadows once more. To feel the wind on my skin, even to see a proper city. Not this half world of dreams and lies that I am trapped in.”
“Well, you're just going to have to deal with it,” Jonathan replied, not feeling even an ounce of pity. One of his old friends, back from college, had gotten into drugs early in his life, and while Jonathan and him had slowly drifted apart, he had been keenly aware of the downward spiral that the man had gone through. First, he had broken up with his girlfriend, after she confronted him over his habits. Then he started to commit minor crimes to buy more drugs, as nobody would hire him. Finally, he ended up overdosing on the side of the street, and Jonathan had eventually forgotten about him, not even remembering his name. However, the memories were all coming back now, and it only made him angrier at not only the mayor, but the people supplying the drug. While the addict was partly at fault, the brunt of the problem lay with the suppliers.
In any case, Jonathan would have to excise both in this situation in order to have any sort of impact. The only problem was that he doubted if the mayor was the only person in the town using the memory stone. If suppliers had come through these parts, then they were likely selling to far more people than just one man, even if he had most of the money.
Jonathan sat back and began to think of a course of action for this. The next monster wave would be coming soon, meaning that he did not have any time to do investigation. There was always the option of packing up and leaving after the waves were done, but he had a strange compulsion to linger here and help, perhaps triggered by the kindness of Petrag and his daughter, the only good people in town. He nodded to himself, and then finalized the plan. He would need to be stealthy, which meant that he needed the mayor’s cooperation in this endeavor. If the suppliers got antsy, then the whole thing would be off.
In all of the undercover agent shows that Jonathan had watched back on Earth, the most important thing, above even blending in, was to keep a low profile. He would need to remain unseen until the last moment, when he would strike. There was also the possibility that the suppliers would be stronger than him, which he found unlikely. In that eventuality however he would have to separate them. Knowing how the power structures of this world worked, he was quite confident in facing anyone with a basic class that was up to ten levels higher than him. Past that, it wasn't really a question of stats anymore, but one of skills.
“Alright. I have a plan, but I will need your cooperation. I do not want to have to tell you what will happen if you do not go along with this. All I need is for you to sit tight here until the next monster wave ends, and not to do anything untoward. If the dealers come around, act normally, and tell them that you don’t need any more of the supply. Got it?” The other man slowly nodded his head, looking as if he was barely conscious. Jonathan nodded, and left the room, heading out towards the streets.
He emerged into the same bustling crowd that he had seen during the beginning of the previous monster wave, and he quickly let himself be dragged along with them towards the walls. He did not have his crossbow anymore, but as he approached the walls, somebody handed him a normal bow instead. It was a shoddy piece of work, but it seemed sturdy enough, and Jonathan quickly accepted a quiver full of arrows as well. Walking up the stairs, hemmed in on both sides, Jonathan began to hear the tell tale rumbling noise of the monster horde. He made it to the top of the wall just in time to see the wave of black crest the horizon, and he heard the townspeople around him swallow nervously.