Jeremiah came down the steps the following morning and was greeted by the aroma of a homecooked breakfast. Sabrina stood behind a magic-powered hot plate wearing a long flannel shirt like a dress. Bacon sizzled in the frying pan in front of her, and there was already a steaming bowl of scrambled eggs on the table.
He wasn’t sure what animals the bacon and eggs had come from, but he’d found the flavors of foods from across the Integrated Universe to be remarkably similar to those he’d known before the Integration.
Sabrina flashed him a smile. “Good morning. Did you sleep well?”
Jeremiah’s mind jumped back to the first day after he’d met Sabrina when she had cooked a similar breakfast as a sort of peace offering for trying to bash his head in when they first met. Or maybe it had been a thank you for saving her life. Either way, he had fond memories of that breakfast and the early days of the Integration. It had been scary, for sure, but it seemed so much simpler back then. More like a role-playing game than the life-and-death struggle for world domination it had become.
It was a struggle he had no way of escaping. As the Premier Elite, he would be forced to either become King or become dead. And if he died, he wouldn’t be able to avenge everyone that had been killed in the ambush.
Jeremiah frowned as thoughts of the ambush pushed their way to the front of his mind. The only time they ever really went away was when he was focused on something else. He sighed and tried to focus on the delicious-smelling breakfast. “I slept about as well as can be expected.”
Sabrina loaded up two plates with the bacon she had been cooking and brought them to the table, setting one in front of Jeremiah and the other in front of the chair next to him. She turned around and returned to the kitchen, and Jeremiah couldn’t help but notice how long her flannel shirt was—or more specifically, was not—leaving a whole lot of leg exposed.
She grabbed a couple glasses of juice and returned to the table, giving him a questioning glance as she saw him looking at her.
Jeremiah gave her a warm smile. “I was just remembering that first day after we met when you cooked breakfast for us.”
Sabrina shook her head. “That seems like a long time ago.”
“Yeah, it does,” Jeremiah agreed. “I miss those days. It was definitely a simpler time.”
“Other than the world coming to an end and dangerous monsters springing up everywhere.”
He shrugged. “It just seemed more manageable back then.”
“You mean before the betrayal and assassination attempts?”
Jeremiah frowned. “Yeah, definitely.”
They were both silent for a few moments as they ate breakfast, lost in their own thoughts. After Jeremiah finished eating, he raised his half-full glass of juice to his mouth and downed the rest in one final drink. He slammed the empty glass onto the table with a clink and nodded resolutely, coming to a decision. “I can’t keep ignoring everything but monster hunting.”
He felt a weight lift off his shoulders with the declaration that he was going to make a change.
Sabrina smiled at him. “I’ve actually been kind of envious of you being able to do that—ignore things. I’ve had to keep track of my settlements and take care of all the upgrades since my Mayors were never empowered to do that stuff.”
Jeremiah shook his head. “You need to fix that. I can’t imagine keeping track of every little thing.”
“You’ve got someone really experienced you can trust to take care of things. I had someone I thought I could trust, and he betrayed me . . . us.”
“Yeah, but still. I don’t know what I’d do without Phillip spearheading everything. You should at least give someone authority to take care of some of the simpler things.”
She nodded. “I definitely need a Phillip.”
“You can’t have him,” Jeremiah said with a smile. “He’s mine.”
Sabrina smiled back. “I know. I just need to find someone like him.”
“Speaking of Phillip. I really should check in with him before we go out monster hunting again.”
***
Jeremiah sat at a table in a side room of the recently upgraded City Hall, waiting for Phillip, the Mayor of Midnight Mountain and de facto leader of all of Jeremiah’s settlements. Back when he had founded Midnight Mountain, the structure had been nothing more than a large single-room building that had served as a gathering place for a group of mountain men. The building had been surrounded by houses, including the one that had become his Manor House. Regu’s Trainer’s Hall had been there, too, as well as a house for Sabrina and another Trainer’s Hall for her Elite Trainer.
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Now, the building resembled the classic city hall you’d see in historic downtown areas before the Integration. The houses had been turned into businesses and restaurants, and the people that had lived there—himself included—had been relocated to a residential area on the north side of the settlement.
The settlement had grown far beyond anything Jeremiah had expected, and his empire had grown even more. His empire now consisted of forty-six settlements organized into five Counties that had subsequently become a State. They had been strategically linked to cover the vast majority of what used to be the United States into a single state.
>
>
> Counties of the United State
>
>
>
> Mountain Country
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> * Settlements: 12
> * Population: 102,132
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> Great Plains
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> * Settlements: 10
> * Population: 47,845
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> Cactus Country
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> * Settlements: 6
> * Population: 24,312
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> New England
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> * Settlements: 7
> * Population: 20,991
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> Dixie Land
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> * Settlements: 11
> * Population: 54,054
Jeremiah still struggled with the idea of being responsible for nearly fifty settlements and almost a quarter million people. Responsible was a relative term, though, as he knew almost nothing about most of the settlements. Each settlement operated more or less autonomously with Phillip coordinating things that affected multiple settlements.
Organizing the Settlements into Counties and the Counties into a State had given Jeremiah the title of Governor while allowing him to appoint individual Barons for each County. Creating a State also provided benefits for anyone living within its boundaries, and the boundary was huge, stretching from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean—sea to shining sea as the song said.
>
>
> State:
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> A collection of Counties under the rule of a single individual. Provides bonuses and protections to citizens and settlements. Also provides protections for allied Cities within the borders of the State.
>
> Requirements: 3 or more Counties with at least one settlement with city status
>
> * Member settlements receive a one-level upgrade to city defenses.
> * Member settlements receive two building upgrades.
> * Citizens of member settlements receive a 50% defensive bonus when defending themselves, other citizens, or settlements from attack.
> * Citizens of member settlements receive a 25% attack bonus when battling monsters within the borders of the State.
> * Allied settlements receive a one-level upgrade to city defenses.
>
>
The protection for allies was a crucial part of the State. There were over a hundred allied settlements within the borders of Jeremiah’s United State in addition to the settlements he officially owned. That extra protection had been, and still was, a key selling point for bringing in allies. The Integrated Universe was an incredibly dangerous place, with monster attacks a constant threat, and improved settlement defenses were a valuable boon.
None of it would have been possible without the leadership of the man who had just entered the room.
“It’s good to see you, Jeremiah,” Phillip said.
The Mayor of Midnight Mountain and Mountain Country Baron smiled, but there was a tightness to his face that conveyed a lot of the same emotions that Jeremiah felt. Phillip had also lost friends in the ambush and betrayal.
“It’s good to see you too,” Jeremiah replied. “I’ve been reviewing your little empire while I waited.”
Phillip’s brow furrowed as he pressed his lips together in a slight frown. “My empire? I’m no king. This is most definitely your empire. I’m just the landlord.”
“I’m more like a silent investor while you do all the work,” Jeremiah playfully retorted then added in a more serious tone. “In all seriousness, I couldn’t do this without you.”
“Pfff.” Phillip shook his head then smiled. “I can’t argue with you there, but I do have to wonder why you trust someone who is insane enough to do all this for you.”
Jeremiah laughed. “Insanity is the mother of expansion . . . or something, right?”
Phillip shook his head. “Anyone who wants the responsibility of ruling the world has to be insane.”
Jeremiah’s good mood evaporated, and he shook his head. “I don’t have much choice. They won’t stop coming after me and my friends until I’m dead or the last person standing.”
“Oh, come on. It’s not that bad.”
“Isn’t it?”
Phillip blew out a breath. “I don’t know. Maybe it is. You’re not completely alone though. You’ve got me and Sabrina. Maybe that crazy Christmas dude too. And Yuri. And Derek’s at least an ally now.”
Jeremiah shook his head. “I don’t know if five is enough support to take over the world.”
“It’s not,” Phillip said solemnly. “That’s your job.”
“I thought you said I wasn’t in this by myself.”
“You’re not, but you are the strongest, so you will have to defeat the most dangerous enemies. Our job is to make sure you can do that without being overwhelmed by others.”
Jeremiah nodded. “Just like the movies. It comes down to hero versus villain, one-on-one.”
“Would you rather have it any other way?”
“No, I guess not. Fewer people die that way.” Jeremiah snorted then shook his head. “You know, there was a time when I thought I could pull this off peacefully, at least mostly peacefully.”
He locked eyes with his Mayor, fire in his eyes. “That time has passed.”
Phillip nodded. “Just make sure you stay the hero.”
The words hit Jeremiah like a bucket of cold water, and his head dropped a little. Does he really think I will become a villain?!
He looked back up at the Mayor and assured him, “I am not a villain. I won’t seek out needless battles, but I will end the ones that are brought to me . . . to us.”
Phillip studied Jeremiah for a moment then nodded. “Good. Just be careful. It can be easy to lose track of what is right and what is wrong when you’re in the middle of life-and-death struggles.”