I immediately got out of bed and equipped my gear. I knocked on the tavern door next to me to wake up Graham. Graham opened the door and I informed him of the situation and told him to wake up the others. I told him under no uncertain terms to get Lincoln the hell out of here. He nodded and I trotted down the stairs of the Pony before heading out to the wall, or at least the fence that would soon be constructed into one.

At the entrance to the town, three men in purple cloaks sat on horses. All three wore silver helmets that completed blocked their faces from view. I took a mental note to give a compliment to their design coordinator before giving a half-hearted wave. “Morning.”

The front and center knight took a few steps forward on his horse. I could see several golden medals as well as a golden C sewn onto the part of his cloak where a shirt pocket would be. The cloaks themselves carried an insignia of a golden cross interlocked with an A. He removed his helmet and I saw tan skin with black hair. The man was athletic and appeared a little too confident for my liking. “Morning. Are you Jeremiah?”

I could see him scanning my profile while appearing to make eye contact. I opened his as well. “Vincent C. (Paladin, Level 20)”. Level 20? Damn. By myself, I’d have no chance against this guy. I turned to the other two. “Sarah A. (Mage, Level 18)”. She had a golden S embroidered on the left side of her cloak. The agender uniforms of the Abilene Crusaders didn’t allow for much distinction, especially as I couldn’t see their faces. I figured my internal biases were the reason I was surprised to see one of the three was female. I looked at the third member. “Dan G. (Paladin, Level 15)”.

I was careful not to let any emotion show. “Danny?”

Danny, his face obscured by the helmet, seemed to move a little uneasily on his horse. Where did he get a horse?

“Sir, I’ll ask again. Are you Jeremiah Lakewood?”

“I am. Who are you?”

“I’m Captain Vincent Caulfield, a soldier in His Majesty’s Armed Forces.” The man said the ridiculous title with all the seriousness of a soldier in the middle of a warzone. I figured that’s most likely how he saw himself.

I had taken the liberty of looking up the Abilene Crusaders after Lincoln’s appearance. The guild was ranked #16 in Texas with 1,175 members making up 7,000 or so levels. I didn’t find a single Perseus in the Top 100 Texas Player list, but I did find a player named Percy who was Level 24. We had decided that was probably their guild master. “Pleasure to meet you. Can I ask why you’re on my front porch?”

The guard-rabbits on duty seemed suspicious, but didn’t make any move to intervene or secure anything. I wondered if I’d be able to order them to attack anyways. We could assist this village, but it’s not like I controlled them.

He looked around and gave a shrug. “King Perseus of the Abilene Crusade has issued a decree that all settlements along I-20 between Persepolis and Dallas are now the domain of his realm. You are outside of the borders, so have no fear. We are not hear to claim your…rabbit town.”

“I had no fear in the first place.” That was a lie.

Vincent gave a half-smile. “We are looking for a fugitive.”

“A fugitive?” The pieces were starting to come together.

“Yes. It seems that one of your men is responsible for the deaths of one of mine and the injury of poor Sarah here as well as another of my men. We wouldn’t have been able to track him down if not for the help of one of our loyal new recruits.” Vincent made no move to implicate Danny, but the unspoken message was clear.

“I see. Well…which of mine would that be?”

“A ranger by the name of Lincoln.”

“What makes you think we have him?”

Vincent gave a shrug. “You are free to either provide him to us or allow us to search the premises.”

One of the guard-rabbits behind me began to casually walk back to the tavern. It seemed to go unnoticed by the soldiers, but I couldn’t have been more relieved. It seemed that the rabbits did in fact have sides. I wasn’t sure how committed they were, but I was glad to see some help at least. “Might I suggest a tour?” I had to stall.

The three looked at each other before Vincent shrugged. “I have no further appointments until late afternoon. I’d love to see your place of residence, Mr. Lakewood.”

I led them to a small fence where they could tie their horses up. As the three stepped down, Danny and Sarah unequipped their helmets. Sarah had long blonde hair that fell down to the small of her back. I wondered why she was wearing plate armor when she was a mage, but figured the tailoring must have simply changed the appearance. Sarah seemed entirely non-chalant about this whole thing, similarly to Vincent. Danny, on the other hand, seemed incredibly upset. His hair was fallen in his face and his eyes looked sunken in.

With a shrug, I began to lead them up main street. “Harehill is home to 53 NPC Rabbitfolk. It was 48 until a recent birth among the NPC population. As with most things, we are expecting the babies to grow rapidly. Along this street are most of the shops. We have several shops including a Smith, Alchemist, Tailor, and Cook shop.”

“Are all of your buildings Tier I?” Vincent seemed mildly curious, although I wasn’t sure if it was an act or not.

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I had absolutely zero idea what he was talking about, but I’d be burning in hell before I showed weakness to this asshole. “Well, I can’t share all my secrets can I?”

Vincent’s constant scanning of the buildings made me uncomfortable. It was like he was seeing menus that I couldn’t even conceptualize. Still, I kept my confident face on and continued to walk them through the town.

“You’ll see here a series of small gardens. Potatoes, cabbage, carrots, wheat, tomatoes, and some spices are the main production units. That said, some of the house gardens have some more unique goods.”

The trio followed me without speaking, their metal boots clanking as they walked. Vincent smiled as we walked near the tavern. “Is this where the rest of your guild resides?”

“Hm?”

“I can see on your leaderboard page that there are 7 members of the Harehill Commonwealth. I’m wondering where the other 6 are.”

I thought of what to say. I couldn’t be caught in a lie. I didn’t know how many had left after the guard-rabbit warning, if any at all. If I said they were all gone and one of them showed up, I was in trouble. If I said all of them were here and none of them showed up, I was in trouble. “You still believe we have this fugitive?”

“That’s what my source tells me.”

“What does your source say?”

“That our fugitive would have no where to go but here.”

“Last time I saw Lincoln, I tried to convince everyone in Eastland to move North. They refused.”

“You understand lying to a Captain in the Crusade is punishable by death, yes?”

“Your laws don’t apply here.”

“On the contrary, Mr. Lakewood. Laws apply wherever the person applying them can enforce them. Your 7 members constitute a total of 109 levels. Assuming that’s divisible by 7, you only have a few 15s or 16s like yourself. The Crusade is home to hundreds of combatants, and dozens are Level 20 or higher. Were I to issue a kill order, be it by 4th Company or any of the others, you and your NPC town will be burnt remnants of the early era of the game.”

I rolled my eyes. “The early era?”

“You don’t see where this is going? Humans have not been wiped out. There are still 300,000 people in Texas alone. We are not extinct. We are regrowing. Our research team in Persopolis have shown that people have nearly stopped the aging process entirely. The humans alive now have the potential to be alive in perpetuity. We are all immortals, Mr. Lakewood. It makes life just that much more valuable.”

What did he just say? Immortal? My brain was rolling. I felt as though I was still aging. I was young, but I could significant changes in the past few months. “The aging process has stopped?”

“Indeed. Well…just about. It seems that those younger than the age of 30 will continue aging. Those above it will stop, and in some cases regress slightly.”

This was new information.

“I take it this is new information?” Vincent gave me an inquiring look.

Fuck.

“I had a similar idea. No confirmation though.”

“You seem like a smart kid.”

My eyes flashed. Vincent seemed entirely undisturbed. “Listen, Mr. Lakewood. We are not the bad guys in this story. There are those who are much worse than us out there. We need a trade route, and we need power. We need to hold our own against others quickly and decisively so we aren’t steamrolled by kingdoms that are currently much larger in number than our own.”

“I’ve met your types before. Red Liberty took my sister.”

Vincent flashed a smile. “Got taken to the slave camps, did she? That’s a shame. I’ll have you know that our fourth tenant prohibits slavery.”

“Slave camps?” I turned. “What are you talking about?” I had to feign ignorance. I couldn't let anything slip. I knew that all of this was just the Captain looking for any excuse to start ransacking things. Besides, maybe he'll give me information I can use instead through all of his exposition.

“King Perseus meets with High Lord Armistice occasionally. Our borders have more or less met, although we are much stronger on our western front. The Red Liberty intended to push all the way through to Dallas. We ensured that did not happen. A war between the kingdoms would be disastrous for the survivors. Therefore, the situation is in a state of…cold war….you could say. The Red Liberty violate three of our major tenants on a daily basis. We are not allies, but we are acquaintances.”

“That didn’t explain what the slave camps are.”

“It’s pretty self-explanatory. I thought your question was rhetorical.” Vincent gave me the most punchable form of a smirk.

I was getting sick of this guy. “What did you do before this, Vincent?”

“I was a lawyer.”

That explained it. “Tell me what the slave camps are.”

He gave me a look that seemed to ask just how stupid was I. “Right, well…they are camps…for slaves.”

I pinched the bridge of my nose. “Where are they? What do they do there? How many are there?”

“They are all, more or less, closer to Lubbock. They gather and craft materials for the Liberty. I have no idea how many there are. I doubt our King, blessed be his name, knows that either. Slavery is the driving force behind the Liberty’s success and it’s not something we endorse.”

“You just endorse conquering?”

“We are providing food, shelter, jobs, income, markets, and safety to over a thousand people every day. We are conquering no one. They may leave anytime they wish.”

What an absolute lie. “Is that why you hunt them down after they choose to leave?”

His eyes narrowed. He spoke the words slowly, letting each one go from his lips as the soldiers behind him stiffened. “Oh…and just who would have told you a lie like that?”

Oh.

Fuck.