"Say, Jackal." Briella turned to me with a sickly sweet smile. "You were looking for a job right? A promotion? Well have I got the right one for you!"

Silence met her enthusiasm. I just stared at her with my unblinking horse eyes.

We both knew her idea was a fucking joke. It need not be said.

"Well then." Halbert stood up, making for the door. His voice was noticeably several octaves lower. "I must be going now. There may yet be those who call for help and are asking to be saved. I should also go looking for Flaze."

Arnold took the opportunity to follow Halbert out the door, and he forcefully dragged Jalley along, much to the woman's protest.

"Unhand me knave! Cannot you see that I am doing research? There is much entertainment to be had!"

"Other people's lives are not for your enjoyment." The man scolded.

"I beg to differ. I call a hold on this court."

Briella smiled at their antics, her tired disposition coming through. "Find me a replacement and we'll entertain you even further!"

"That sounds lewd. Sonuvabithch I'm in!" Jalley laughed, holding on desperately to the door as Arnold tried to pull her away.

Briella shook her head and chuckled, before retreating towards the hidden room, not even waiting for the commotion to be over.

I looked between all of them, wondering where I was supposed to go. I settled for annoying Briella. Maybe I could get her to sleep. Seemed like she needed that yesterday.

~~~

Boring. Boring.

With nothing better to do, I watched Briella's entire process. Her real office, the hidden one, was a room only the size of a small apartment. The kind that wouldn't be out of place in Tokyo, a truly small affair. There were guards on all for corners of the simple abode, making it feel even more cramped. There was another addition in Darci, an older woman who was Briella's attendant or secretary of sorts.

The addition of myself made the cramped space claustrophobic.

It was very inconsiderate of them to not leave so that I may be in comfort.

From here Briella received reports. The guards from outside were the ones to deliver it, or otherwise left by the visitors who interacted with the fake Briella who was vibrant like she had a good 8 hours of sleep. Those reports were then fetched and collected by Darci, Briella's assistant.

Since I'm such a helpful person, I offered to help out with that sort of work. I thought it'd be funny to lug around paperwork as a horse. And I was right, the guards that handed them out were either amused or indifferent. Few of them even cared much about me carrying the documents in my mouth and getting slobber all over it.

Well, Briella cared. And so did Darci. So I was given a tray that I had to balance with the stacks of paper that were placed atop.

Among the outside guards, there was that really strong one, over Level 100. He introduced himself to me, as he seemed really interested in my transformation into a horse.

"My name's Reaps. Might I know what is yours?"

Jackal. I wrote.

"Hmm. A fine name. A different animal." He stroked a non-existent beard. The helmet of the guards here covered the top and sides of the head, but were a lot more open in the face area.

"I find it really… interesting. The possibilities. You becoming a horse." His expression turned to one of guilt and regret. "Although I suppose it's very callous of me. I can't imagine it's pleasant for you. I can't imagine this entire thing, this apocalypse, was very pleasant for anyone."

Reaps had a faraway look to him, one that would not be out of place in a movie. It was an expression more fitting for an old and weary soul, than someone who should only be in their late twenties to early thirties. What kind life has he even lived? His Level made it clear that something was special about him. And I suppose that means that there was something very special about Orlean too. Which was no surprise really. My friends are great.

I don't mind. I finally wrote with my fire.

Apocalypse. Magic. Interesting.

Reaps smiled. "Yes, I suppose it is interesting… and it's only natural to ask questions."

I nodded sagely, and he seemed to find that amusing.

Who are you? How'd you get to such a high level? I decided to ask him some more personal questions, to which the man seemed reluctant to answer. I retracted the query, not wanting to make things more awkward than they have to be. Briella seems to trust him a good deal if nothing else. Reaps was apparently a local hero of sorts around here, perhaps only a little bit behind Halbert and Orlean in popularity.

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No pressure. I'm also not telling you my horse secrets.

"Hmm." He stroked nothing on his face again. Perhaps he had recently shaved. "That is troublesome. I would very much like to learn all of your horse secrets. It would do my plans well to know of them…"

Well you're not getting it! I huffed and wrenched my head away.

"By the way…" Reaps laughed as he turned around to walk away, the conversation over. He looked back at the floor that had become charred because of our conversation and shook his head. "I'll have, say, a whiteboard and marker fetched for you. Try not to ruin every surface you come across."

I have that effect on people. I mocked wiping a tear with my hoof.

~~~

The marker and whiteboard were delivered shortly after, and I was finally able to talk properly with Briella.

Naturally, the first thing that I wrote was a drawing of a penis.

She laughed too hard at something so juvenile. What a child.

"Why did I not expect that? I should have."

"Briella. I believe he may be a bad influence on you." Darci said, and I nodded eagerly.

She shot me a look with narrowed eyes.

I stuck out my tongue.

"I don't just think it." Darci amended. "I know he's a bad influence."

I drew a vagina next to the dick. None of my illustrations looked good given that I wasn't used to holding a pen with my mouth. And the pussy especially just looked like a bunch of oblongs. But the context still got the idea across.

Darci seemed to be fuming underneath her desperately maintained facade of professionalism. Briella was laughing harder. I was laughing too.

"Don't worry too much about it, Darci." Briella tried to reassure the older woman. "Jackal's a friend. And we very much have overlapping senses of humor."

"That's exactly what I'm worried about. You're the leader of this place. You must maintain a bit more decorum than, well… this."

I nodded eagerly. Again.

"And I do it because someone must." Briella countered. "Someone who can actually do a good job and get us through this crisis. But you will not take away the few opportunities I have to destress."

Darci's eyes widened and she sighed. "I'm… sorry. I know how hard you work… And I know you can also get quite vulgar when with friends, like when Orlean's around… But did he have to open with that?"

"Yes." Briella and I both nodded very sagely. So deep our wisdom that I manage to say that one word with my horseful throat. Probably.

"...Very well." Darci conceded.

I drew an asshole next.

~~~

Time passed as I laughed and conversed with Briella. My whole method of communication, that of a horse writing with a marker in his mouth, proved to be an inherently absurd and hilarious concept. It was just fun to do.

We laughed harder when I had to erase to writings on the board, and I decided to lick it. Including the genitalia depicted. Darci quickly ruined the fun by fetching a rag for me to use, but I still managed to thoroughly service the relevant illustrations that I drew.

We chatted about lesser and unimportant topics too. Like what we knew of monsters and of this whole apocalypse scenario, of which the settlement of Friendom had a lot more knowledge of. Collated through a constant stream of scouting and reports, Grand Supreme Overlord Dictator Briella had made it a priority not only to map out the current state of the city and beyond, but the constant changes that happen henceforth. The apocalypse was not static, nor was it stagnant. This was a time of great change and to fall behind was to die.

Darci pounced on this opportunity to heap praise upon praise over Briella's achievements. "Insight that rivals the greatest scholars, and foresight that overshadows all the presidents I've lived through," were here exact words.

As funny as Briella's embarrassed reactions were, it was nice to see how proud the older woman was of my friend. She wasn't just there to be a stick in mud. Although she is still that. But her presence makes things funnier so it's fine.

Flaze and I, the both of us alone, were unable to truly view the world at a macro level. So it was interesting to learn about the large-scale trends, and how we've seen the signs of it during our travels. The monsters have indeed been rising in Levels, but it greatly depended on the species, and they naturally taper off at some point. Things we already learned from that one goblin family.

The quantity of monsters to start with was ridiculous because of the many people and animals that were turned or simply Systemized, but overall, the number of living beings have been steadily going down, humans or otherwise. Monsters do not hold back just because their fellow too was a monster, and therefore they end up killing each other in droves. Though that also means that those who survive are all the stronger for it.

There were also cases of cohesion among certain species, like we'd seen with the goblins or the provataurs. They do not fight each other, whilst other types of monsters would have no problem ripping their own siblings apart.

I told them about how we've seen said goblins and provataurs gather in their own little areas. Such a phenomenon was apparently known to Briella, and there were many parts of the city that have been turned into the settlements of certain specific monsters. They called them lairs.

"By the way, Jackal." Briella said after a lull in the conversation. "With you and Flaze here, that's like five us accounted for already. Orlean's not here, but I'm sure she's doing something important. Like say building a magical electric vibrator, or something." Briella laughed. I think I actually saw something like that back at Orlean's place… "That leaves one more. Have you tried looking for Darkvoid?"

I paused. I gulped at the question. It was a subject that I had tried to banish to the darkest corner of my mind. But now it was here.

Briella's tired smile fell away to one of worry. She scrutinized my face, and I didn't know whether to be thankful or the opposite for my horse face that made her unable to be sure.

"Jackal? Have you… heard anything?"

I nodded, decided that I'm unhappy at my inability to convey facial expressions, and wrote on the board.

He's dead.

"Oh."

I stayed there while Briella cried, and Darci too tried to be supportive. It didn't take long for my friend to wipe the tears away and jump back into her work. I gave Darci a worried glance, but she just shook her head.

So, I found myself outside of the real office, and into the fake one that's used for entertaining guests. Apparently there'd been some nasty figures that might want her dead, which is why she'd taken to using a decoy like this, with Darci providing a visual of the adjacent room using some clairvoyance type spell. It was a process that I'd seen happen multiple times today, and I'd see it many more times as I planted myself onto the floor of the fake office as another layer of defense.

None will interrupt Briella. Not right now.