The deal took Martin three weeks to hammer out. Most of that was wasted with that stupid council, mainly just the one woman. She kept trying to control everything and considering her class was called politician, it was no surprise. The fact that her level was only seven, spoke volumes of her talent.

Nothing changed until they brought in someone who had the Identify skill. I didn’t recognize the man and he didn’t recognize me or Martin. But that didn’t stop him from turning pale when he read off our levels to the councilwoman. After that, the woman was less of a pain in the ass, and Martin was able to push through a meeting between the two groups.

I saw well-hidden relief on most of the other councilors' faces. After having to perfect a stony exterior or face punishment as a slave, it was easy to see the telltale signs. It seems they had been hoping to come to some agreement with the Commander but were bullied by the woman not to offer anything in return. I didn’t know what she had on them to make her so effective at keeping control and I didn’t care. The Commander wouldn’t put up with it but it was no concern of mine what happened to her.

The actual meeting took no more than three days. It was a whole lot of posturing for insignificant gains and I didn’t even attend after the first day.

I spent the next two days, along with Ska and Fiona, searching for the goblin nest. We eventually located it in the old high school. The building had been abandoned as it was too far out of town to defend by either group. That hadn’t stopped goblins from claiming it and multiplying like damn rabbits.

My first thought was to burn the place to the ground and be done with it but the building was made from thick stone and concrete. Not much to burn. The hardest part was securing the myriad of exits to the building. With only the three of us, it wasn’t possible.

Knowing this was the case, we scouted the building. There were a total of eighteen exits. Some were closed up, like the garage doors, and likely wouldn’t be used. That still left fifteen doors. I didn’t include the windows in my plan because they were few and far between, and the larger ones were on the second floor.

Splitting up would net us the best results but none of us knew the layout of the building or if higher leveled goblins were inside.

“Some are going to get away,” Fiona remarked.

I nodded, pondering our options. I wished I had spent more time creating runic traps. They would have come in handy in this situation.

“Ok, here’s what we do. Clear out any goblins hanging around the outside of the building. Then Ska and I will head for one of the side entrances. This way the tighter halls will help us control the number of goblins coming at us at once. Fiona, watch the main entrance and kill anything that attempts to flee. Ska and I will drive toward the main entrance from inside. If it gets to be too much, just come join us.”

Fiona nodded, turning invisible as she hurried off. Ska split off as well, we could clear the goblins outside by ourselves without much issue. The goblins usually hung out in small groups, or alone, if they were trying to hide something they found. If this is all the creatures did they wouldn’t be much of a menace. But they always attacked nearby villages according to Frathsar.

The actual fighting was nothing to write home about. None of the goblins turned out to be above level ten and that was the Shaman. I had hoped for a rematch but the Shaman attempted to flee along with ten other goblins. Fiona spotted them and easily took the group down. Some goblins did flee but the three of us made a concerted effort to track down every last one of the little green shits.

With that and the alliance finally settled, we dropped Frathsar off, retrieved our money from Lord Shithead, and headed back to Texas.

Ten of the Commander’s men had left to follow the orders of the Lord. I shook my head at their stupidity but it was their choice. Our work in this part of the world was over. I didn’t plan on ever coming back. There were too many bad memories up here.

There were a few changes I noticed on the trip back. One was that weird mushroom biome. Everything appeared wilted and dead. It was probably for the best since those spores were dangerous.

The other change was a bit more of a concern. When we flew around the mountain over the sea, the cave entrance we had created was gone. It meant someone had repaired the hole and taken up residence again. Nobody tried shooting at us though, not that they could see us with the cloak up but it was a worrying development. I would keep my eyes and ears open for any hint that people were being attacked in the area again.

Pinging Reaper didn’t get me any hits, which wasn’t surprising. I didn’t know what to do about the Stygian Order and until I got a lead, nothing I could do.

Houston hadn’t changed much. The wall had steadily expanded in the month that we were gone, getting close to walling in another section of the city.

If anything the city and surrounding area seemed less dangerous. I knew the Marshall and his men made a great effort to clear out monsters of all sorts from the surroundings. Of course, our team helped with that goal.

I had turned off the cloak as I neared the city. I knew one of the Marshall’s men would spot us and let him know we were back. I set the fortress back down in our familiar parking lot and waited for the weight to settle on the landing legs before letting out a sigh of relief. It was good to be home.

Stolen story; please report.

***

The Marshall was the first person to greet us after we arrived. “I assume that since you are back that you were successful?”

“We were.”

“Then congratulations are in order.”

I accepted the outstretched hand and shook it.

“I’m glad all of you have returned, after so long we figured something might have happened.”

“I needed to go to my old hometown to see an old friend. Then we got caught up in some local politics. Martin can fill you in if you’re interested.”

“It’s always something,” the man groused. “I would offer to throw a celebration but I know you aren’t much for those.”

“Thanks, really, I just want to rest. A few days of doing nothing will do us some good. Then I can start on making Houston the shipping hub of the area.”

The Marshall nodded. “We never did get approval for more funding.”

“That’s fine, I’ll build it myself and hire workers. The Mayor will be kicking himself when he learns how much money I will be raking in.”

The Marshall chuckled at this. He didn’t much care for the mayor either, but he was a public servant, even before the System.

Martin and Fiona headed off with the Marshall. I knew the two of them were going to clue the Marshall in on Fiona’s condition. Also, Martin wanted to get caught up with what happened in his absence.

“You sticking around or going hunting?” I asked Ska.

His throat rumbled while he thought about it. “I will rest a day, then I will hunt. Will you join me on occasion?”

“Sure, we also need to have a duel, it's been too long.”

He rumbled in approval, jumping onto the fortress and running toward the top to sun himself. I shook my head as I pulled out an awning from my ring and set up a hammock below. I plopped into the hammock and drifted off to sleep to the sounds of small wildlife that had returned to the city.

***

A month went by in a blur. I had the duel with Ska, who finally bested me in combat. I didn’t make it easy for him though and it was only a mistake of footing making me slip that ended with him taking the match. As proof of that our next three duels went my way. But they were closer matches.

The two of us hunted more criminals and wildlife, occasionally joined by Fiona. Martin was busy as the summit now included four other cities to the Northwest, West, and even one in the South, across the old Mexican border.

Today was my day to work on the barges. The preliminary work to find a suitable barge, gather the materials, and somehow get the damn thing on land had taken longer than expected. It had taken posting a job offer in the city. Now I had three Earth mages in my employ, much to the anger of the Mayor. It wasn’t my fault he wasn’t paying the Earth mages to help build up the wall. Besides, he still had two.

I lucked out though as two of mine were civil engineers, prior to the System. With their help, we quickly… well, they did mostly, construct a dry dock for the barges. Then all I needed to do was pump the water out and the barge would settle on the pylons. It took days to pump the water out, using the industrial pump I sourced. I had plenty of mana engines to power the unit.

The Earth mages also reinforced the warehouse walls that we had commandeered for the project. The dry dock was located over ten miles from the walled-off section of the city. So secure transport needed to be provided for my employees. While they built the dry dock, I assembled a ground-based vehicle for them to use. It wouldn’t do to have a dump truck-sized critter like the porcupine attack them while I wasn’t around.

I arrived at the entrance to the warehouse, the thick steel door was layered in runes of protection. I didn’t include defenses like the fortress, that would be overkill. There wasn’t anything in the warehouse, I just used it to layout the runic plates I was working with. And I stored those away before I left each night.

I was about to get to work when one of the mages entered from the dry dock entrance.

“Boss, we got a bit of a situation out here.”

I looked up with a frown, I think the mages name was Charles. “What sort of situation?”

“Um, best if you see for yourself.”

I sighed but followed the man outside and around to the dry dock where I heard people yelling.

What met my eyes was a group of people dressed as if they had freshly walked off a golf course, yelling at the other two mages. I only caught the tail end of the argument.

“…is, I demand that you stop at once.”

“Can I help you, folks?” I said, stepping up next to my employees.

“Are you in charge here?” the man demanded.

“Depends on what you are referring to?”

“This,” the man gestured to the dry dock, spittle flying from his lips.

“Yes, this is my project, what of it?”

“I demand you stop at once!”

“Why would I do that?”

“Because, those barges belong to me, and I never gave you or anyone else the authority to use them.”

“I don’t see your name on them,” I answered back, crossing my arms.

“Then, open your fucking eyes, you moron! My name is on the side,” the man said, emphasizing every word before he went to poke me in the chest at the last word.

My hand whipped out like lightning, bending the offending wrist back with a snap. The man cried out and his cronies or guards, reached for weapons, but I wasn’t done. I kicked the man in the knee eliciting another snap before I grabbed him by the throat and hauled him toward me. I did this all before his goons could draw steel.

“Pull out those weapons and I will break his neck. Then I will do the same to you three.”

They paused, frozen in indecision so I continued.

“I don’t give a fuck who you are, or if this shit belonged to you before. It’s mine now. You have a problem with that?”

The man I was holding shook his head.

“Good, now, why don’t the four of you runoff, and if I see you fucktards bothering my people again, I will not go easy on you.”

With my last words, I shoved the man at his goons and walked away.

They quickly pulled him along as they rushed off.

“Fucking dickwads,” I muttered.

“You sure that was ok?” Charles asked. “Those people are from that fancy gated community.”

“Fuck em. I haven’t seen those elitist pricks lift a finger to help anyone around here. If they want to pick a fight with me, I will show them the error of their ways. How is the draining coming along?” I asked, changing the subject.

The mage looked at the retreating people a second before responding. “Almost done, another day and it should be good. We had to patch a hole that was letting water seep in.”

“Alright, keep up the good work.”

The interaction put me in a sour mood but I had work to do. Too many people still thought money equaled power in this new world. The only thing that truly mattered was power. If I were so inclined very few people could stop me from taking over Houston. Not that I wanted that responsibility. I was happy with what I had, a few good friends, and a way to leave everything else behind.