I relaxed on the beach as the ocean waves lapped at the sand a dozen feet away. The weather was perfect, a sunny cloudless day and no apparent monsters in sight.

Ska and Martin were enjoying the water but keeping close to the shore. We knew the ocean had some nasty creatures in it. I had already gone for a swim but I preferred just lounging in the sun.

When we returned to the Houston area we parked the fortress near a beachside resort. The place had been deserted for quite some time but there had been plenty of signs of fighting in the area. This was our last day of rest. We had been here a week and unwinding had helped. Martin was starting to come back around, Ska was being less ornery and even I was given time to process all the fucked up shit that had happened in the last few weeks.

I realized having a high intelligence didn't always help with making the most humane choice. It allowed me to come to a choice much quicker but not to think about the consequences of that action.

I didn't regret killing the dwarves or the creatures in the Abyss. But had I thought it through I would have done things differently, especially with the dwarves, fuck those creepy bastards in the Abyss, they got what they deserved.

No, with the dwarves I realized I may have made another powerful enemy. I should have used explosives to level the entire cave system, if not before utilizing the nerve agent, then certainly afterward. Half-assing stuff like this is what had gotten me into trouble with the Black Dragons again. If I had gone through their loot then and there and disposed of that stupid ring, none of what happened to Arman or that desert outpost would have happened.

I glanced toward the fortress, the smooth stone gleaming in the sun from the parking lot. The first thing we needed to do was offload the spoils. I didn't want that stuff being tracked back to us.

Bella hissed next to me, throwing up sand as she dug deeper into the beach, creating a nest to lay in. She had recovered from her starvation, during the course of the week, and was back to her normal ornery self. I pulled out a piece of raw meat and tossed it into the air. She snatched it and chewed happily on it.

As for Fiona, she floated around town, not really interested in floating into the water or sunning her non-existent skin. It was at times like this when she truly missed her body and wanted to be alone with her thoughts. I knew it depressed her but there wasn't anything we could do about her condition. Certainly not from a lack of trying. We always asked around in the Bazaar when we were there. We got different answers but they all boiled down to no, you can't resurrect a person from the dead unless you wanted to make them undead. We would keep looking in any case.

***

We set the fortress down in some superstore's abandoned parking lot. We crushed a few cars just for the heck of it before we extended the landing gear in a clear spot. I remembered this place from my visits to the Marshall's office. It was a few miles away but much closer than we had been before. Most civilians in the area had evacuated to the green zone. An area that they had started constructing a wall. It was massive in proportion to even Biloxi and would cover a significant portion of the town when complete.

The Bazaar was also located in this district but was separated from the locals by a checkpoint and barricades. We didn't often go into the green zone, there was no need to since the Bazaar was accessible without going there.

The Marshall's office was still located outside the green zone and would remain that way. In his words, "we aren't police, our job is not to keep the peace. Our job is to bring the really dangerous criminals to justice."

The town had managed to stabilize a month after the System and elected a mayor and hired police to help keep crime down. It was an interesting system that they had in place but I still avoided the town unless I had to go. Ska and Martin were heading to the Bazaar to offload as much of the dwarven spoils as they could, while I went to talk with the Marshall and let him know we returned.

"Paul, you're back... just the person I wanted to speak with."

"Uh oh, should I just turn around and leave?"

"No, nothing bad, come. We can speak in my office."

I followed the grizzled man into an office cluttered with papers and folders.

He cleared off a chair for me, setting the lopsided stack on top of another before sitting behind his desk. "Paperwork never ends, even if the world does," he said with a sigh.

Stolen novel; please report.

"So, what's up?"

"That can wait. How did your mission go? Gotta say you surprised a few people with your invention."

"Not as good as I would have liked. We managed to catch up with one of the men but not until after Martin's sister was killed along with his whole town."

"I'm sorry to hear that," the man added sincerely. "Well, I won't keep you long. What are your thoughts on this Lord Vik't... is he trustworthy?"

"Hmm, hard to say. I only met the man briefly. My guess is he has an agenda and he is quite frankly scarily high level."

The Marshall grunted, "I feared as much. We agreed to use his enchanted badges but some of the men feel they might be used to track our activities or spying on us. We were hoping you might be able to shed some light on them with your crafting skills."

"Sorry, Marshall, I don't have any idea about what the enchantment does on the badges, other than what Lord Vik't told me. Why the sudden concern?"

The man drummed his fingers on the desk for a bit before replying. "The Mayor and some of his cohorts are worried about the state of the nation. They are fearful that we are going to become second-rate citizens in our own country."

I had to choke back a retort about us doing the same thing to the Native Americans, but that was neither here nor now.

"The Mayor wants to form a unified coalition with surrounding cities and states to protect against this eventuality. He wanted me to go as a liaison to plead our case but I can't take months away from my post to try and convince people to join."

"So you want me to do this instead?"

"Not exactly. I think we both know where that would lead, Paul. Let's face it, you are not the most diplomatic person."

I snorted, he wasn't wrong.

"The Mayor has a man that used to be a lawyer. He would like you to fly him around to local communities and farther."

I rolled my eyes, "a lawyer? Why would I bother doing this?"

"The Mayor assumed you would do it out of civic pride. I convinced him to offer you something more tangible in its place. He is willing to offer you a mansion and all the land that went with it."

"Yeah... not interested," I said flatly.

"Yep, I told the Mayor you would probably say that. So I offered him an alternative. Instead of flying some asshat lawyer around how bout you take one of the deputies."

I rubbed my chin in thought before answering him. "Are you asking me to do this or is the Mayor?"

"Well, I would appreciate it if you helped but it's not like I would force it on you. If worst comes to worst I can have my deputy go by horseback."

"Not to be a dick, Marshall, but I don't feel like being a courier. That being said, I do believe that cooperation will be necessary for survival. I can offer you an alternative for now. I will stick around and build you your own vehicle or vehicles. Nothing as slow as these mana engine-modified cars that are running around. And in the meantime, Martin and Ska can take your man to the first few locations. The Mayor can foot the bill."

"Alright," the man said slowly, "but I will have to run it past the Mayor first."

I simply nodded. "We are parked in the old supermarket parking lot. Just ring the bell," I added with a smile.

I had wondered how long it would take the new leaders to notice what offworlders were up to. And I'm not talking about the ones and twos that came to trade or find a better life. No there were massive kingdoms that were pouring enormous amounts of wealth into gaining a small foothold into our world. Then there were places like Biloxi that I suspected were run by the Enchanters Guild. Dangerous people to cross.

Eventually, these rivalries would lead to war as it always inevitably did but that would be years or decades away. The smart leaders would join forces and push out any others contesting their claims. It remained to be seen which side that was, Earth or the offworlders.

I wanted to stay away from politics. As far as I was concerned all those greasy fucks needed to crawl back into their holes and leave the world alone. But that was a pipe dream. I knew that someone needed to govern the idiot masses. I just didn't care who did it. I was helping the Marshall out because I liked the man. I didn't know the Mayor, nor did I care to get to know him. My track record with post-apocalypse Earth authority figures was abysmal.

Instead of dwelling on that, I turned my thought to what to build for the Marshall. I certainly wasn't going to build them a fortress. I thought something more along the lines of the bus would be more practical and affordable.

I entered the broken doors of the store and went in search of a pad of paper and a pen to write my ideas down. Like most stores, it had been thoroughly ransacked after the System came into being. I wasn't expecting to find anything of value but I didn't expect the two men that came from either end of the aisle with knives.

The lanky man in front of me spoke. "Gib us all your credits and anything on you and you can go."

I looked over my shoulder at the man behind me, he had a similar appearance to the man in front. I used Identify on both as the one in front of me fidgeted nervously.

Alan | Tweaker | Level 8

Bart | Tweaker | Level 7

My guess was these guys were stoned off their ass when the system came online and either they picked the class because they thought it was funny or the System picked it for them. The names rang a bell and I looked at the one behind me again before it clicked. I remembered seeing their description on one of the wanted posters at the Marshall's office.

"The Tarly brothers huh... you sure you guys wanna do this?"

"Give us all your shit or we will fuck you up bro!"

"Alright. I was just gonna let you go because I had better things to do, but you forced my hand," I replied, my armor and weapon appearing.

The men tried to run, probably the first sensible thing they had done... not that it helped them.

I stuffed the two corpses in my ring. The reward was for dead or alive. Two fewer assholes on the planet. I would give them to the Marshall when he stopped by next.